From the Editor's Desk

Hey! It’s good to be back again! Isn’t it amazing how time flies so fast? I got up this morning and my gaze chanced upon the calendar. I saw the date and I thought, “Whoa! Where have all the days gone??!!”

A lot of us live each day without realizing the importance of it. We simply take each day as it comes.. do nothing worthwhile with our lives and suddenly we wake up one day and look in the mirror and find our faces wrinkled with age and the impact of it all suddenly hits us and we can do nothing but regret.

Let me give you an example – We all attend seminars and speeches and there are very good speakers who motivate and inspire us.. but only at the time of listening. We come back home and carry on with our lives doing mundane things. We, each one of us have the capability of doing something worthwhile … something good.. which you can look back at someday and smile.

We’ve had a long spell of monsoon this year. But very soon, it’ll be winter and with it comes festivities and also the welcoming of a new year. As we all march towards it, let us remember that time waits for no one and it is upto us what we want to do with our lives. May the Lord Almighty inspire us to do good!

We are living in a very challenging world today – challenge to live a righteous life in this deprave generation.

“The spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon their faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons” I Tim. 4:1

There is no doubt that there are many who have abandoned their faith and are following the spirits of deception. There are so many things around us that pollute the mind which leads to vicious practices. To mention but a few – obscenities in the media highly attracting the viewer, films and T.V Productions are going higher in its various forms of sexual perversion. As a matter of fact there are countless temptations besetting our young people and many lives being ransacked by these perverted things.

This clearly indicates that the Biblical truth has come to pass and that we are in the last days. Hence, we need to protect ourselves from various deceptions by reading our bible everyday, staying full of the Holy Spirit and being a committed member of a local church. God, who called us to live a holy life, has given us His divine power that we need for life and godliness, so that we can escape from the lust and rottenness all around us. As a Christian, it is our utmost duty to agree with God for His divine working power in us and guard against these prevailing filth from our lives.

Those who live a sinful life cannot go very far. Their sins will find them out and eventually it will become their greatest burden- living with constant bitterness, weariness and fear. The very things they enjoy so much off the track only bring them sorrow. We need to be careful not to be swayed by these things which appear to be pleasurable at first sight but for a brief moment. They not only ruin the soul but in reality benefit us nothing. So, rather than falling for these glamorous things, one needs to seek things which bring lasting joy and happiness.

The source to keep our lives free from evil contamination is the word of God. “Sanctify them by your truth. Your Word is Truth” (Jn. 17:17). If you are feeding your spirit with trash, the outcome will be only trash. On the other hand, if you are feeding yourself with the Word, you will see a metamorphosis in yourself, despite evil all around you. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” (Heb.12:2). The way we think determine what we say or do and portray what kind of individuals we are. Therefore, there is nothing as important as renewing our mind with the Word to live an upright life and being a worthwhile person in the society.

We often talk about the flesh and the spirit which are always in conflict with each other. As long as one yields to the things of God, the flesh will protest but the Spirit can gain the upper hand. And you will always live a victorious life in Christ that God intends you to be.

“Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness..” (2 Tim.2:22). It is indeed a big labour to live to a high calling (righteous living), but the most satisfying life is found in no other than in living the life that God desires. May the Lord strengthen you to live a righteous life for His purpose and glory.

"TRAIL" interviews Mr. V.R Whiso, Proprietor of C.D. King School, Kohima and a prominent Educationist

Trail: You have a rich experience of being associated with young people for so many years, what are the challenges you face working with them'?
V.R. Wbiso: So many years indeed! I thank the Lord for this privilege...I hope I will have many more years of association with young people. Erosion of Christian values and traditional values in our young folks is one of the challenges I see.

Trail: You've already conducted a seminar on Conflict Resolution for our youth, how important do you think this topic is to our society?
V.R. Whiso: It wasn't a seminar. They were workshops. I did a few times with young people. Conflict Resolution is a nascent concept in Nagaland. Conflict can be positive or negative, constructive or destructive depending on what we make it. If it is resolved, it will build better relationship and create opportunities. But unresolved conflict can destroy marriages, friendship or organization and finally your health. People learn the skills of Conflict Resolution for personal, professional and international effectiveness. So you see, it is not just for young people. Everybody must learn the skills of it because everybody, consciously or unconsciously, have been dealing with conflict all their life one way or the other. Jim Van Yperon in his book 'Guide to Overcoming Church Conflict' says "What is presented as "problem" is usually a symptom of what lies beneath. As long as we treat the symptom and not the underlying problem, the conflict will return. It may lie dormant for a time but it always comes back. Always." As individuals with different needs, taste, views and values we are bound to encounter conflict. Conflict Resolution shows us different ways to recognize and cope with conflict.

Trail: What are the different levels of Conflicts? How can one rectify such Conflicts?
V.R. Whiso: The levels are: Crisis, Tension, Misunderstanding, Incident, Discomfort. We clash due to cultural differences, religious differences, personality differences, generation differences, language barriers and so on. The clash is the result of unresolved conflict. When you are not comfortable with each other, subtle it may seem, conflict has entered. Attempts can be made for conciliation or it will inevitably escalate and move into incident. Once an incident is created, reconciliation should immediately take place or it will escalate and move into Misunderstanding. If reconciliation does not take place here it will inevitably escalate and move up to Tension level. Here the parties involved roll up their emotional sleeves and prepare to attack. The conflict is now becoming public property. Unless reconciliation takes place the conflict will escalate to Crisis. Here the two sides will use all the weapons at their disposal. Members of family, sympathizers are all dragged in and they suffer for no fault of theirs. There is a saying in Swahili that where two elephants fight, the grass gets hurt. The higher the conflict escalates the more dangerous the situation becomes. So it is best to intervene at the early level of conflict and end it to make a new beginning of relationship.

Trail: According to your view, what role can the Church play in resolving such issues?
V.R. Whiso: This is a question I've been waiting for all these years. The Biblical view of conflicts is much wider. It also includes broken relationships between men and God. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the story of God's redemptive work to restore those broken relationships. Conflict in the Church, therefore, is not limited to people. It is relational and spiritual as well. It is spiritual because all conflict is in some measure about spiritual warfare. If all conflicts are relational and spiritual, then all Christians will face conflicts because we are relational and spiritual beings. Conflict, like sin and death, is inevitable. Therefore, all church leaders have to know the skills of Conflict Resolution because they have indeed a great obligation.

Trail: Can you give certain suggestions that will enliven the Church activities and attract more of our youth members?
V.R. Whiso: To attract more young people to the Church, I think, the first and most important thing is to build relationship and establish friendship. Relationships are the glue that holds a Church together. Friendship is the key to retain members. Warren, a pastor, used to say, "If you concentrate on building people, God will build the Church." If we are genuinely interested in their spiritual welfare the church will be much enlivened.

Trail: Thank you.

The Lord be praised!
My guided decision into His ministry was kind of hard (without God) with the world offering so much with all its enticements which I was much into, yet it was the simplest and the wisest of all, for as I exercised my free-will He did give me the strength and the anointing.

Today as I write the many wonders He did in me I pray unto Him and anticipate of great things to come upon every soul that reads/hears it.

Years back, little did I know about the plan God had in store for me. After my birth into a family of seven (including me), during my young and ignorant age I struggled with my life suffering from malarial fever but God did work wonders to save me. As I grew up to be a teen, hearing the words of God, though reluctantly, through parents and occasional church goings (later, which I came to know were the foundations), I accepted Christ as my personal Saviour not quite understanding about His love. As years rolled on I started giving in to the desires of the flesh, deriving worldly pleasures and also engaging in anti-social activities for which I was jailed. In later years (continuing in the old habits) while pursuing my further studies I underwent a surgery which then got infected leaving me in the mouth of death but God saved….After being healed I fell again into my old habits (….die hard) as I just could not break from it. But then from September 2002 the event for what is to be for the Lord to work through me begun. I began to hear voices in thin air which at first I thought were human voices. But later as I came to know that the voices were just out of thin air, I gave in to fear and the spirit of fear got hold of me and started tormenting me. As I put my trust in God, after a deep spiritual battle, He delivered me from the evil one.

During all the days of my struggle my prayer to God was that if I’m healed/saved I will obey Him and do His will. God answered my prayers one after the other and led me from victory to victory all those years though I could not do His will, for I was so blinded from the truth by the cloud of darkness that whatever success/victory God led me through I thought were by my own strength (Jesus never became a reality for me). But all along it was He.

Today as I am baptized in the spirit, by faith, and as I look back over those years of struggling I see clearly that what hindered me was unbelief. I therefore lived in bondage (though calling self as Christian) for many years, which was not God’s will for me. Things have been different for me ever since my eyes were opened to the truth that God loves me just as He loves Jesus - as God delivered me from the evil one He also opened ways to equipped me with the deeper revelations of His power filled words preparing me, breaking through the strongholds that had formed over the years (II Cor. 10:4&5). My prayers through all these days were as I desired (worldly success) but as I obeyed the still small voice (my inner man) speaking to me and as I gave myself unto Him to work as He will for His Great Commission, He counted me faithful and put me into the ministry, though I was before a blasphemer, a persecutor and injurious, I obtained mercy, for I did it ignorantly in unbelief (I Tim.1:12&13) and He is working with me which He had purchased with the precious ’Blood of Christ’( I Cor 7:23&24).

I Cor: 7:23: Ye are bought with a price, be not ye the servants of men.
I Cor:7: 24 Brethren, let every men, where in he is called, therein abide with God.
May His name be glorified throughout our lives.

Jesus is Lord!

Finding the will of God is often difficult for even the most spiritually mature. It's not always easy to discern between God's voice and our own. For instance, the Apostle Paul and his companions made three attempts to determine God's direction for their ministry before they got it right. They tried to preach the Word in the province Asia and were stopped by the Holy Spirit. Next they attempted to enter Bithynia, but once more the Spirit prevented them. "So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.' After Paul had seen the vision,” Luke says, "we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them."

That’s encouraging. If a spiritual giant like Paul struggled to discern the will of God, then may be there is some hope for us, if God gave Paul three chances to get it right, then surely He won't give up on us. In truth, God is far more determined to make His will known to us then we are to know it.

While God made His will known to Paul through a vision (or a dream), He usually speaks to us in more ordinary ways. Take David Wilkerson, for example. In 1958 he was the pastor of a comfortable church in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, when God spoke to him in a way that would shape his ministry for the rest of his life. It started while he was reading the Life magazine account of seven teenagers who were on trial for the murder of a fifteen – year – old polio victim named Michael Farmer. For days afterwards their youthful faces, desperate and angry, haunted him. Escape was impossible; no matter what he was doing they were never far from his mind. Even in prayer they were before him, and intercession only amplified his concern. Finally, he surrendered and drove to New York City.

Once there, he was at loss as to how to proceed. In desperation he decided to approach the judge Davidson, who was presiding over the trial. Perhaps he would grant him permission to visit the accused in the jail. There had been several threats against the judge's life, and security was tight. Still, David managed to approach him as he was leaving the courtroom and promptly got himself arrested. He was finally released after he convinced the authorities that he was a preacher and not some kind of assassin.

When he emerged from the courtroom a group of reporters were waiting for him. They immediately surrounded him and began firing question. Several flashbulbs popped, and David suddenly saw it all: "Bible-waving preacher interrupts the Michael Farmer murder trial."

And he was right his worst fears were realized. Not only did the New York papers run the story, but several smaller papers also picked up the United Press syndicate account. By the time he arrived back in Philipsburg, the whole town was buzzing, his telephone was ringing off the wall, and none of the call was complimentary. He felt like a fool. It seemed as if he had embarrassed, not only himself, but also his church, and perhaps even God.

For several days he buried himself in his work and tried to forget the whole humiliating episode, but it was no use. That Life Magazine had become his Macedonian vision. He was literally driven to return to New York City. God simply would not give him any rest.

Once he was back in the city everything began to fall into place. He parked his car and started walking. Before he covered the first block someone called, "Hey Davie, preacher," turning, he saw half a dozen teenage gang members approaching.

"Aren't you the preacher that got kicked out of the Michael Farmer trial?" one of them asked. "I saw your picture in the paper. I'd know your face anywhere."

"He's one of us," the leader said. "The cops don't like him and they don't like us." That incident was David Wilkerson’s carte blanche with the street gangs of New York City, and the rest is history. Subsequently, he founded Teen challenge International, one of the most successful Drug rehabilitation program in the world. With John and Elizabeth Sherril he wrote 'The Cross and the Switchblade', the account of his work with the street gangs in New York City, which became an international best – seller and a vital part of the Charismatic Renewal. The book was later made into a major motion picture starring Pat Boone.

As a result of his experience, David Wilkerson says, "The will of God grows in you. That which is of God will fasten itself on you and overpower and possess your entire being. That which is not of God will die - you will lose interest. But the plan of God will never die. The things God wants you to do will become stronger each day in your thoughts, in your prayer, in your planning. It grows and grows!"

Ask yourself these questions; Is God trying to speak to me through my desires? If so, what is He trying to say to me?

Have I been obedient to these inner urges of the Spirit? If not, what keeps me from doing so?

It is with a grateful heart and a pleasant sense of accomplishment that I look back at the five days of Vacation Bible School (VBS). It was truly the Lord's doing and it was marvellous in our eyes. While we are aware of all those human instruments in this great task, we are deeply conscious of the hand of God.

The Vacation Bible School under the theme 'You are my Friend' (John 15:14), charged with an atmosphere of great expectancy and excitement, got underway on the morning of 15th June, 2004 with a prayer by Mr. Tepusaho Tase, Asst. Pastor.

The five-day enriching programme featured Bible lessons, praise and worship, workshops, recreations, and devotions. Altogether 151 (one hundred and fifty one) participants were guided by 27 (twenty seven) teachers.

The closing ceremony saw the CEM choir singing You are my Friend. This was followed by a prayer by Rev. Dr. Neiliezhü Üsou, Senior Pastor. Parents of the participants, church members, elders, and friends were invited to grace the occasion. The session ended with tea and snacks.

I am grateful to God for the untold blessings He had bestowed upon us during our VBS. I take this opportunity to thank all our well-wishers who generously extended help towards this ministry. I would like to acknowledge the following people for helping us in cash and kind:


Mr. Phekhwe Tetso: Rs. 500/-
Mr. Kulto Zao: Rs. 100/-
Mr. Rokose Tetso: Rs. 500/-
Er. Visekholie Nakhro: Rs. 3000/-
Er. Kevisekho Kruse: Rs.2000/-
Mr. Vahie Ltu Rs.500/-
Mr. Zasilhuto Makritsu Rs. 3000/-
Mrs. Kelhuyieno Senotsu Rs. 500/-
Mr. Dzuviho Rs. 500/-
Dr. Neiphrezo Rs. 200/-
Mrs. Akuno K. Rs. 200/-
Mr. Visutha - Rice and Potatoes.
Youth Dept.- Sweets.
Mrs Letono -Tea, sugar, snacks.
Women Dept – Rs.10,000/-
It is our deepest prayer that the Lord bless you for your encouragement, prayer support and financial help.

(....it has been raining since the last few days but today there is sunshine with lots of new promises. I packed my bags and with my guitar hanging on my shoulder I left for the youth camp. I was happy for I've been preparing myself for this day yet I carry along with me responsibility as an Asst. Camp Director and I said to myself I'll do my best to make this camp a difference, a turning point for me and the campers as well....)

Everyone's spirit was high when we reached the camp site at C.D.King School, Jotsoma, for the four day long Junior Youth Camp (17th - 20th June 2004). Finally, the days of preparation and hardwork were coming together and we could see that the campers had come with expectation during their stay - and the Lord will not let them down for the next few days- they will experience the joy of the Lord like never before. Thirty five (35) young exuberant youth registered for the camp where they were grouped as LIGHT, SALT and VINE.

"You will receive power.." Acts 1:8, the theme for the camp kept some wondering what power it was talking about, but not for long as on the first evening of the camp, Rev.Dr Neiliezhü, Senior Pastor spoke on the theme. It was a wake up call for many and changes were beginning to grow deep within. The following days through our anointed speakers (Neino Zhotso, Ako Whiso, Acübu Medeo, Kelhoukhrieno Savi) the spirit of the Lord brought in a burning desire inside every camper through their teachings, a thirst to receive the power - The Baptism of the Holy Spirit and it was overwhelming. Adding to our joy, nine (9) campers received Jesus afresh as their personal Saviour. It was just so wonderful to see how God was using the campers to encourage one another with their doubts, fears etc. Not a day passed by without us discovering the love of God and His blessings just for us. The last day of the camp witnessed a spiritual revival. God poured out His love without any reservation and every camper received with faith and were so blessed. During alter call, not one camper remained in their seats but was there upstage singing worship songs and God poured out His spirit and every camper started praying in tongues (the most beautiful song I've ever heard). We prayed like never before, sang like never before, a joy nowhere to be found but in Christ Jesus alone.

The next morning as the campers were leaving, there was a mixed emotion of joy and sadness that the camp had ended and at the same time to share their experiences at the camp.

MHBC Junior Youth Camp has changed the life of many - a time which will not be forgotten and as the Word of God says "... not by might but by my spirit..". All the accomplishment was from God for which we give all glory and honor to Him and also for the prayers of believers who have been ceaselessly praying for us. The Lord has answered their prayers and that today God has blessed us!!