dippu.com

This could be called a plug of sorts. This year, I got a chance to work with the new york chapter of KPWF ( Kerala Pentecostal Writers Forum) as a Joint-Secretary and Webmaster. The webmaster title is self appointed. I don't know what Joint-secretarys do. But for now I get to talk about KPWF NY as if its the best thing since a perfectly round chappati.

So take a look around the site if you feel like clicking on the link.

Yes, we're still sneaking around on this website, writing subversive posts like this.

muhahahaha. said the dandy man.

We've covered him before here on Dippu.com and hung with out with him at our conferences. George Andrews was here for the first ever Western Youth Conference in Portland, Oregon during the month of August. He also came here for the Western Pentecostal Conference in 2005. The man has just made the entire Malayalee community proud by being appointed to the position of Executive Director of the Orange County Republican Party. For those of you who don't know what this means, our very own George has just become one of the leaders of the most important counties for the GOP in the state of California. We covered him before in our Desi of the Week post. And while this is an awesome achievement, this will not be the pinnacle of his career; this is just a beginning for him. While we are ecstatic for him as fellow Malayalees and Pentecostals, we know this will not be an easy job. Thus we will continue to pray for him as he moves into this position of responsibility. George will be the youngest person and the first minority to hold this position. I also think that the odds of him getting married to a beautiful Malu girl just got better. So George Andrews, Mr. Executive Director, we tip our hats to you. God bless you, brother!

George with Governor Schwarznegger in 2003.  

 UPDATE: From Calraces.com:

George was in charge of the first Republican operation in San Francisco in at least ten years.  Not only did he smoothly run that office, from what I heard from the surrounding operatives, his phone banks were always filled and he met all his goals.  The headquarters was full of volunteers of all ages from all over the Bay Area.

 UPDATE 2: From the man himself, an idea of what kind of work he'll be doing:

Just checked my email a few minutes ago and recieved this email from Finney Samuel:

Please visit out web site www.captainsamuel.com for the latest on Pastor A.M. Samuel's persecution in Haryana on the 16th of November 2006. Please post it on the web site for the saints to pray

Yours in His battlefield

Finney

 As you may have gathered from that email, A.M Samuel is also known as Captain Samuel in Malayali Pentecostal circles. I have seen one of his tapes that have floated around the community. From what I have figured out about him, Pastor Samuel seems to be a fearless servant of God who preaches the gospel in some of the toughest parts of India. I went over to the site and found a report on what exactly happend:

But the RSS, Bajrang Dal activists came inside the compound and started beating Pastor Hansraj Saini (the local Pastor), Pastor Abhishek and then they switched off the lights and attacked Pastor A.M. Samuel who was sitting near the stage. They kicked and beat him very badly that he lost consciousness, and then they kicked him while he was on the floor and kicked him on the chest and head, then they started removing his clothes. They removed his sweater and tore open his shirt and then started to remove his pants, then suddenly the lights came back on. By this time he was nearly dead. When they saw his physcial condition, they left the place thinking him to be dead. Then the police, who were till then standing outside, came inside and took charge.

The saints then put his body on the stage and started praying and there was no pulse. But the crowd gathered outside the meeting compound baying to attack again. But by the grace of God, his life returned and his pulse came back. Now he is resting in the very same place where he was attacked, sleeping there itself. He is physically not able to walk or talk freely. He has a lot of pain in his head and chest.

 I think it's important to note that we have prayed about persecution on this site before. But never have we actually had the son of the victim email us and plead for prayers. The least we can do is take a few minutes out of our day and pray for Pastor Samuel and the others who were attacked at this event. Stay tuned to Dippu.com as we continue to update you on the situation. If you know anything else, please email us as soon as possible. The servant of God's website is www.captainsamuel.com.

 UPDATE: I didn't realize this but we've mentioned Pastor A.M Samuel in relation to persecution before. Ashish wrote about this issue on July 5th of this year. At that time Finney was injured from beatings recieved by RSS activists.

It's a lie. All of it. We have spent the last year or so, living a lie. All at the behest of a mandan whose hearing disorder has resulted in a combination of syllables that may be the perfect malayalee name, but is actually the result of faulty hearing.

dippu.com. Does it sound like a real name for a website?

and yet it is us.

dippu.com.

I finally heard the truth from Decruz. He broke down completely and wept. "It's all a lie. How could they do this to me? Is everything I've ever believed a lie?" In the midst of this soul searching, I had the temerity to ask him what the problem was and found out the whole sad story. A story which puts the very existence of dippu.com at risk. Yet, in the best interests of journalistic integrity, I leave this story with you.

He was sitting at his ancestral home in Kerala when his world crumbled around him. Feeling very proud of himself, he mentioned that he had a website which provided a unique perspective on the south asian christian movement. And he added a kicker. "I named it after that dog we used to have here. Dippu."

He got blank stares.

"You know, Dippu, that little black and brown mongrel that used to bark incessantly whenever people came from foreign."

A lone voice piped up,"We didn't have any dogs named Dippu."

Indignantly," What? Of course we did, and we called him Dippu, Dippu."

Comprehension seemd to dawn on a few faces. There were "Ohhh"s and some of them started laughing. "That wasn't Dippu. That was Tippu. You thought your grandmother called it Dippu, so you always called it that. Now we know why." Decruz wasn't ready to let it go, so he had his grandmother come out and asked her what the dog's name was. Sure enough, she said "Tdippu" with the T silent.

This is a moment of loss for all of us. We are mourning the loss of a dog's name, a name that defined who we were. A name that inspired my slogan in better days.

We dippu in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

What can we do with Tippu? On a related note, why are there so many dogs in Kerala named after kings and generals. Tippu, Raja, Kaiser, Captain, Rex, Sultan, Rani, the list goes on.

We must find new meaning in dippu. No matter the cost, we continue to dippu. I Dippu. We all Dippu. Mad love, and much respect to the memory of our lost dippu. Pour some out for the name. We keep the faith.

With the Mumbai bombings that have happened in these recent days, we would like to ask the readers if you know anything about the situation that's going on there. With the death toll now at 200+, we must ask questions once again with regards to growing world terrorism. Please feel free to respond in any way you see fit...we welcome your story. If you have pictures from the blast...please let us know your web url so we can show those pictures here on Dippu.

When 9/11 happened here in America, all of us felt the pain and scars. Right now all of us here would like to say that we grieve with those who have lost loved ones and are praying for all of you who have been affected by this situation.

with love,
dippuTeam

I was just at the PCNAK conference in Dallas. It was an awesome time with over 7,000 Malayalees from all over North America. I was privileged to hear speakers like Ps. Brian Jarret and Ps. Richard Crisco. The worship teams led all of us in awesome worship. I think my attitude towards this conference has changed quite a bit.

Sorry about not writing on Dippu for so long. We've kind of had a long vacation, but we're ready to start writing again. I want to know who else attended PCNAK this year and your thoughts throughout the conference.

Ashish Joy

(PS...next year's conference is in Orlando, Florida) 

Yesterday, National Geographic had a 2 hour special on the Gospel of Judas.  I really don't have much to add to the information that has been gathered here and here.

However, I will provide some excerpts and note that while its a nice show that National Geographic is putting on, I fail to see what relevance it will have on the Christian faith. If anybody does want to use this as a conversational gambit, have fun. I'd like to see if this makes any sort of splash in the wider world. While trying to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, how would you deal with this account of Judas' betrayal?

The content of the Gospel of Judas was referred to by Irenaeus, an early Bishop of Lyons, in Adversus Haereses,  written in about 180 C.E., who said that some

declare that Cain derived his being from the Power above, and acknowledge that Esau, Korah the Sodomites, and all such persons, are related to themselves… They declare that Judas the traitor was thoroughly acquainted with these things, and that he alone, knowing the truth as no others did, accomplished the mystery of the betrayal; by him all things, both earthly and heavenly, were thus thrown into confusion. They produce a fictional history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas. [1]

Thanks for the tip, Karthik.

And you ask me what I want this year
And I try to make this kind and clear
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days
Cuz I don't need boxes wrapped in strings
And desire and love and empty things
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days

UPDATE: DayCruz here, I've decided to also put my money where my heart is or something like that-- I will be matching Zimbly Mallu's donations. Enigma has also decided to do this. So please- tell your friends. You are welcome to donate more by clicking on the links provided.  I will be donating to World Vision. 

UPDATE: Add Bobby to the list, this makes it 4 dollars per comment. Awesome!

We here at Dippu, would like to announce a youth retreat geared toward high school and college age youth. Deeper Walk will bring together youth of the Northwest, for a weekend of worship, teaching, and fellowship. It's going to be held in Vancouver, BC on November 11, 12, and 13. It's a WPC youth event in association with SAC.

What do we plan to do here? This is a brand new event that's starting this year. It's a time of refreshing and equipping for youth. Benita Joy is the organiser for this whole event, and if you would like more information regarding this, please contact her through her website. We'll post more about this here as we get more news, but just wanted to give you all a heads up to start planning for attending this.

thanks,
dippuTeam

I haven't blogged about it yet and I have no idea why. Hurricane Katrina is turning out to be one of the worst natural disasters to hit the United States in a long time. Some are already making references to 9/11 in scales of cost and destruction. Dippu.com is currently looking into ways to help out. While all who were affected by the hurricane are important, we would like to focus on the Indians in the area. If you are aware of any organization or blog that is being updated with a desire to help Desis in need, please contact us and we will immediately link to it. As the Dippu staff is out here on the West Coast we have no real connections in Louisiana or Mississippi. Meanwhile, head on over to Glenn Reynold's blog Instapundit- he has dozens of links to various charities -- some of them Christian, that are contributing to the relief efforts. After watching the President speak last night, it has become more clear to me that they need cash more than anything. While we wait for word, the Dippu team would like to remind you to keep your brothers and sisters in the South in your prayers. They have a lot of work ahead of them.

By the way, was anyone else as livid as I was when watching those looters run off with cases of beer and football jerseys and the like? People's true characters come out when things like this happen and I really don't enjoy watching it.

UPDATE: List of links stolen from Instapundit-- I have taken the list of Christian organizations right off the website. If you do decide to send them a donation, be sure to email us and tell us about it:

Mennonite Disaster Services.

Methodist Relief.

Operation Blessing.

Salvation Army

Samaritan's Purse

Catholic Charities

Nazarene Compassionate Ministries.

Wow. If you know of more, please be sure to let us know. Take care guys..