Taking Back Our Church: Is an “Occupy Wall-Street” Style Attack the Right Thing to Do?

 – Tom Varkey

As the December 17, 2011 deadline for the inauguration of the newly built Garland Syro-Malabar church fast approaches, one of the common questions being asked is: Is resorting to an “Occupy Wall Street-style” confrontation with the Chaldean group the right thing to do to take back our Syro-Malabar Church from the claver fanatics? The answer is not o

nly “Yes” but also it is the urgency of the moment. The Bible gives us clear guidelines for protesting in ways more forceful than the Gandhian way when it comes to confronting those who destroy our faith. For example, we have the valuable examples set by Christ Himself when He twice cleaned up the Jerusalem Temple by driving out the coin-changers and those who were selling doves and cattle. While doing this, He was forceful by using whips to drive out such ungodly people who had no regard for the things of God. Our claver maniacs of today also have absolutely no regard for the things of God nor for the commandments of God. They have made a mockery of our faith through ways that are more appropriate for criminals than Christians such as committing perjury in a court of law and carrying out crimes against parishioners by installing their ‘Mar Thoma Cross’ idol in the darkness of the night.

They have been commanded to become the light of the world and the salt of the earth as we read in Phil. 2:15: “… by becoming blameless and pure children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life”. Instead they themselves have become the crooks. What does the Bible tell us to do in such circumstances? We can take a cue from Jesus who in Mt. 26:39 prays for His cup to pass from Him if it were possible. But then He added that it was the Will of the Father that should be done. As we are getting frustrated with the situation in Garland and other churches, we have to remember that Jesus did not compromise with the status quo even though He knew well that the Father was not going to take His chalice away. He prayed repeatedly for His wish to be granted not one time but three times. In fact He prayed for it so fervently that His sweat turned into drops of blood. This is a lesson for also. Just because we are not seeing the degree of success that we like to see in our fight for the Crucifix, that is no reason to give up or get discouraged.

In Num. 25, we read an incident about Phinehas who was full of zeal for the Lord and what he did to purge idolatry from the midst of Israel which was brought on by their committing sexual immorality with Moabite women. We read in Num. 25:4: “The LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of these people, kill them and expose them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that the LORD’s fierce anger may turn away from Israel.” We are presently faced with a situation even more serious as Bishop Powathil, Bishop Alencherry and Bishop Angadiath are leading their flocks into idolatry by removing the Crucifix and replacing it with the idolatrous ‘Mar Thoma Cross’. It is high time that we also expose our leaders in a dramatic way. I am not saying that they should all be killed as God asked Moses to kill the leaders of Israel to purge idolatry from their midst. But it is high time that we also should take some drastic steps to stop our Syro-Malabar Church leaders from spreading idolatry in our churches.

As Moses had gathered everyone in the Tent and as everyone was waiting for orders from Moses to carry out the slaughter of all their leaders, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest did something really drastic as we read in Num. 25:7. As they waited, one of his fellow Israelites brought a Midianite woman into the tent. Instantly, he was filled with holy indignation triggered by his fervor for the Lord. So much so that he drew his spear through both his fellow Israelites who brought the woman into the Tent and also through the Midianite woman. The Lord was pleased with what Phinehas did and therefore He instantly caused the plague to let up. Until that time, 24,000 Israelites had died in the plague that was caused by the anger of the Lord who was punishing the Israelites for spreading idol worship. We also read that God rewarded Phinehas greatly for doing what he did by making a “covenant of lasting priesthood” with him for defending the honor of God.

This is a great lesson for us who are the venerators of the Crucifix. We are also full of zeal for the Cross of our Savior which Christ has given us as an instrument for gaining forgiveness of our sins. According to the Bible, this is the only object that we have that we should be boasting about mentioned in the whole Bible (Gal. 6:14). The claver advocates not only want to eliminate it but they want to replace it with an idol. If there has been a time to take back our church, now is the time. If there ever was the need for a Phinehas, this is it. According to Jn. 3:14, the Crucifix has been given to us as our chief means of obtaining forgiveness of our sins when Jesus told us to lift up the Son of Man “just as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent”.  But here we are living in the New Testament era which is a period of grace and not of judgment. So we have been commanded to show grace and “to submit ourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority” as we read in 1 Pet. 2:13.

Therefore, let us show grace and respect towards them. But like Phinehas, we are to restore the honor of God and remove the Mar Thoma Cross from our churches in whatever peaceful way that is available to us as Jesus prayed to have the chalice be removed from Him. Thus, it is totally appropriate to peacefully protest both in and outside the church. We have to refrain from violence and any physical assaults. It is perfectly fine to protest on the streets just outside the Garland Church which is in fact less violent than Jesus driving out the merchants from the Jerusalem Temple. Therefore I am inviting the parishioners of Garland and all other Syro-Malabar members to conduct a protest rally and resort to any other peaceful actions that are available to us. Such protests and rallies should start beginning from December 17, 2011 the day the Garland church is scheduled to be consecrated. Sympathy rallies or other forms of protest should be conducted in other cities within the U.S. and in Kerala to put an end to the Gadhafi-style dictatorship of Bishop Alencherry and Bishop Angadiath to spread idols in our places of worship.

 We should continue this “Occupy Wall Street-style” form of protest in ways that are peaceful without violating civil laws so as not to get into trouble with civil law. In my opinion wearing Crucifix both in front and back and thus attending the Holy Mass as our priests wear the idolatrous ‘Mar Thoma Cross’ on the front and in the back is perfectly legal and peaceful. We must conduct protest rallies in front of American Bishops houses on certain feast days of the Catholic Calendar such as all Fridays of Lent, Easter, Christmas, etc. in ways that are effective such as conducting only one rally in a City on a certain day, etc. Based on the Word of God, I can assure you my fellow warriors that success will one day be ours.  It is time for each of us to turn into a Phinehas to restore the honor of our God by ending the idolatry that has infiltrated into our Church through the so-called ‘Mar Thoma Cross’ idol. We must fight for our cause in our churches, in the streets, in front of Bishops’ Houses both in the U.S. and in Kerala, and in our courts of law. We will succeed because our God is an awesome God who will not withhold any good thing from us as He promises us in Ps. 84:11. “Occupy Wall Street” may or may not succeed. But “Occupy Garland” and “Occupy Syro-Malabar Church” will mark the beginning of a great battle that will take us to the end of idol worship within the Syro-Malabar Church by trashing the ‘Mar Thoma Cross’ idol from the landscape of the Syro-Malabar Church. We will not only make Bishop Alencherry and Bishop Angadiath shiver in their boots but also the multi-colored feathers of the peacocks that adorn their hats. They belong to Satan who is presently “masquerading as an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14). We have let him into our churches by allowing the ‘Mar Thoma Cross idol’ in our churches. It is time to get him out once for all. It is time to take back the Church of Jesus Christ from the clutches of Satan for the greater glory of God the Father and His most glorious Cross.