In Remembrance of a Brother in Christ

A Brother in Christ

Brother H S Shylla, to me, was my dear brother in Christ. Before the 7th of August while he was in the hospital and when he could talk over the phone, we prayed together whenever he had the physical strength to. He was so happy that we could pray together. Every time he prayed, he gave thanks to the Lord and asked the Lord to bless me. And he requested me to pray for him and that the will of the Lord be done in his life. He even said, once he gets well, he will fully give himself to serve the Lord and come along with me to travel the whole world to preach the gospel and visit the local churches. I amen his prayer and prayed for him too. 

Prayer for His Recovery

My sincere prayer for my brother was that the Lord would recover him fully for the sake of the Body of Christ and for the sake of the Lord's testimony in Shillong and Meghalaya. What the Lord had begun in him and through him must be accomplished to bring all the saints in fellowship with the fellow members of the Body of Christ. My prayer was for his physical recovery for the spiritual recovery as well.

The Lord Took Him

The Lord is the Lord, and I amen all that He deems best. The Lord took my brother on the 7th of August morning and it took me quite some time to digest the sad news; I could do nothing but read the word, and prayed and prayed. On the same day, the online news report read:

Meghalaya veteran political leader H. S. Shylla passes away, NorthEast Today
Former Meghalaya Assembly deputy speaker HS Shylla passes away, NorthEast Now
Former Chief Executive Member of Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) and a former MLA and a Minister of the State, H S Shylla passed away on Friday at around 10 am following a brief illness. Shillong Times

To the world, he was a veteran politician. But to me, he was my brother and my relationship was just this, a brother in Christ, nothing more, nothing less. 

My First Contact

It was on the 3rd of May 2012 that I received a phone call from a brother who introduced me to brother H S Shylla over the phone. Later, I prayed over and sent him an SMS, "Praise the Lord brother! We are all members of the Body of Christ. We fellowship with CHRIST our Head and with the many local churches, the local expression of the universal Body of Christ. Grace be with you all." A day later he wrote me a letter which read:

From: H.S. Shylla
Date: Fri, May 4, 2012 at 11:27 AM
Subject: From Shillong.
To: PALMEICHUNG@gmail.com 

Dear Brother,

We have started the Local Church at Shillong from June 2011. We are yet to learn so many things. We are happy that we do not divide the body of Christ any more (1Cor.1:13). We are really very surprise to learn that in Manipur they have already march ahead. It is really the work of our heavenly Father. The Books of Watchman Nee has really open my spiritual eyes. It would be very kind of you if you can suggest other websites which I can learn more about the local churches. I would like to spend some time with you all at Gurgoan. I may come next week and hope it is God's will that I should be there. Please feel free to tell me anything with regard to local churches. Bye for now. Our Lord Jesus Christ will bind us with His love.

Yours in Chirst,
H.S.Shylla
Demthring, Shillong-793021

Since then, my relationship with brother Shylla began as a brother in Christ. Though we did not meet yet face to face, we started fellowshipping over the phone which went on for over four months until we finally met on the 5th of May 2013 in one of his houses where the believers in Shillong just had their blending meeting.  A Miraculous Connection One morning in my morning revival, I enjoyed the verse in 1 John 3:2 so much so that I text him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been manifested what we will be. We know that if He is manifested, we will be like Him because we will see Him even as He is. 1 John 3:2  Since that incident, we had a miraculous closeness and mutual trust in one another. A year later, when I met him he narrated the reason behind the miraculous connection. He was in great need of finance then. Yet the only source he had was to sell his wife's ancestral property, which was a very unlikely and unwise thing to do according to the custom of the local tribe there. As he was contemplating the matter and visited a friend who had dealings in lands and properties, he casually inquired what would be the cost of his ancestral property. The reply his friend gave was astounding. A huge amount, as the piece of land was located near the main road. But he was in a dilemma if he should sell or not. It was at that very moment that I sent him an SMS of the above Bible verse, not knowing what transpired in Shillong while I was in Gurugram. I sent that message because I had a strong leading from the Lord to do so.  That message became an affirmative answer to his dilemma. He took my SMS of Bible verse as the Lord's leading and went home to fellowship with his wife, and the deal was done. In his word, he told me, the deal was done in just one day, miraculously! This experience of his strengthened our brotherly fellowship which led us to pray together over the phone almost daily until we finally met a few months later. Often, he would call me to pray for his sick grandchild. I would simply pray by faith. Then, the next day or later in the evening he would call me and exclaimed, "Brother the child you prayed for got healed!" So, we would prayed together again giving thanks to God. My First Meeting When he met me the first time on the 5th of May 2013, he exclaimed in awe, "Are you brother Palmei? I thought you must be a very elderly man!" Then he hugged me and took me to his new home where we spent about three hours "fellowshipping". By the way, I later learned that I am as young as his youngest daughter, physically speaking. But we embraced each other as brothers in Christ; thank God, age no bar in Christ. An "Interview?" In fact, in our very first meeting, he was very cautious about the truths and the ministry I believe and uphold. So, questions after questions were asked to me. But the Spirit of the Lord led me and I answered all the questions with much grace, quoting relevant Bible verses whenever necessary, to support my answers.  After the "interview" fellowship, I jokingly asked brother Shylla, "Brother, did I pass the interview?" He laughed out loud and exclaimed, "Praise the Lord brother!" Then, he made an arrangement for me to stay in his youngest sister's home where I ended up staying for the entire week, with everyday fellowship, full of life. My experience of my first meeting with brother Shylla and the believers there was recorded on 18 May 2013 as below:  18 May 2013 https://palmeichung.blogspot.com/2013/05/spiritual-discipline.html  Last year the Lord burdened me to pray with a brother in Shillong over the phone almost every day, and we did it faithfully for about four months. In prayer, the Lord had prepared us in spirit, and many things had transacted between us. When we finally met this year for the first time, we were just in one spirit and our fellowship was so sweet, just in one flow. All the hurdles had been dealt with through prayers already and when we met it was just the harvest of what had been already sown. This led to the recovery of the brothers and those believers with him into the fellowship of the Body of Christ and into the oneness of the Body of Christ, standing as the church in Shillong, a local expression of the universal Body of Christ. Hallelujah! Meeting Out of Burden In fact, I just went to meet him out of an inexplicable burden, not knowing what will happen. I had no idea if I would ever be welcomed or given hospitality at all. But the burden within me drove me "crazy" to meet the saints in Shillong. Till today, I do not understand the inner leading and guts I had to meet them, not knowing. I know the culture there a little bit as I studied at St. Anthony's College from 1995-2000. Only once, one of my female classmates invited us as classmates to visit her as she delivered her first child. That was my first home visit to the local home, never before and never after. One Family in Christ It was at that time I could stay with my fellow brothers and sisters as one family in Christ though I may not be "local" to the ungodly eyes. The love, joy, and fellowship we shared in Christ were beyond words. Christ knows no distinction and made us all one in Him. Khasi, Jaintia, Garo, Bengali, Assamese, Naga, Kuki, Mizo,...all tribalisms, traditions, cultures were crucified with Christ already, and are still being crucified in our experience day by day in the mingled spirit.  I noted the testimony of my meeting with the saints in Shillong as below   https://palmeichung.blogspot.com/2013/05/god-power-and-wisdom.html God' Power and Wisdom (19th May 2013)  1 Corinthians4 And my speech and my proclamation were not in persuasive words of wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 In order that your faith would not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. These were the words the Lord spoke to me before I met different brothers in Shillong in past the few weeks. It was also my prayer that the Lord's words only be spoken and the Lord Himself be my wisdom and words. When I actually met those brothers one by one, though they asked a lot of questions on various topics ranging from biblical truths to life experiences and even church practices, the instant and timely word of God just popped up. (I myself was amazed! I didn't know how that happened, anyway it happened.) All those proves that when we are one with the Lord, His present speaking and instant anointing will abide with us all the time. Because the Lord has to carry out His work through the Spirit, in power, through the vessel available for His use. Not that the vessel itself is special, but of God who please to choose the vessel He uses. 6 But we do speak wisdom among those who are full-grown, yet a wisdom not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are being brought to nought;7 But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom which has been hidden, which God predestined before the ages for our glory,8 Which none of the rulers of this age have known; for if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;9 But as it is written, "Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not come up in man's heart; things which God has prepared for those who love Him.''10 But to us God has revealed them through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. One whole week of my stay with the saints, day by day, morning till night, the grace of God was abundant. Every fellowship was full of life, and every question was an ignition for more light to shine forth; a subjective foretaste of the early days church life as in the book of Acts. Besides, there were forgiveness of offenses and debts among brothers; even confession of hidden sins, repentance and consecration to begin a new living; and a glorious baptism of a brother and a sister! Physically or psychologically too, the Lord preserved me. Though my family back home experienced some difficulties due to sickness, the Lord eventually recovered them all. All these were the manifestations of the power of God and His wisdom. What a mercy that I can have such a foretaste! Lord, may my whole Christian life be an experience of Your power and wisdom. Since then our relationship has been one that of a brother in Christ. Once he visited us in Gurugram and stayed with us for a couple of days for fellowship. Then, he visited us again for his medical check-up at Delhi and stayed for another couple of days. A Brother in Politics When he re-entered into politics again in July 2016, I was in California, USA, for a Bible translation project. One afternoon a deep feeling within me prompted me to search for him on Google. To my shocking surprise, a newspaper reported, "H S Shylla entered active politics." I had a very mixed reaction then. I was tossed between the two questions; should I agree with him or should I weep for him. The matter troubled me a lot. Therefore, the following day, I went into fasting and prayer concerning the Lord's testimony in Shillong, especially for the saints in Shillong, and for my brother Shylla. Immediately after I came back to India I fellowshipped with the brothers with whom I am coordinating in the Lord's service about my burden on the current situation in the church in Shillong, and I went to visit my brother in Shillong. A Solemn Visit Brother Shylla came to pick me up from a taxi stand and took me for lunch fellowship. We ate a meal together in a restaurant where he narrated to me the reason for re-entering politics; mostly due to pressure from people to be their voice. Personally, I had no issue as long as the Lord led him, but my main concern was for the Lord's testimony in Shillong. I did my best to shepherd some of the saints who might have been disappointed due to his stance. Anyway, the Lord is the Lord, and I could only pray and do my best to shepherd the saints by WhatsApp messages. That's when a sister invited me to join the church in Shillong WhatsApp group. Since then, I regularly posted truth messages as shepherding material for the saints. That's how the Lord led me so far, and that's all that I could till date.  My Last Fellowship Last year, 2019 Nov, we visited Shillong and that became my last time to meet him physically.  My last fellowship in his presence along with the brothers in Shillong was recorded in my blog: https://palmeichung.blogspot.com/2019/12/shepherding-in-shillong-brothers.html Shepherding in Shillong: Brothers' Fellowship On the 8th of December 2019, the Lord's day afternoon, the leading brothers of the church in Shillong came together for fellowship. Initially, a brother and I thought of fellowshipping on the truth concerning oneness as desired by the Lord in the Bible as expounded in the book, The Genuine Ground of Oneness. But as we gathered together and started the fellowship, the Lord's leading was to speak on the more urgent need, I believe, as the Lord saw it for the church. The burden on truth constitution was released. Constitution For about three hours, we enjoyed the flow of life through the ministry of the word. We ministered from the life of the children of God, how the Lord led them out of Egypt into the wilderness and fed them with just manna and manna only for forty long years with the main goal of reconstituting them. Using this analogy, we fellowshipped at length on the urgency for the saints to be reconstituted with the up-to-date speaking of the Lord in His recovery. For the practical constitution, we introduced the Holy Word for Morning Revival and encouraged the brothers to try it first and then introduce to the saints. To avoid misunderstanding, we also clarified the distinction between the publication work and the local churches.  The publication works are for the feeding and shepherding of the saints in the local churches. For the constitution of the saints, we also encouraged the brothers to pursue the ministry books, especially the Holy Bible, Recovery Version, and also some crucial ministry books. The ministry books are meant to help enjoy and understand the word of God and not to replace the Bible. For this, I also encouraged two brothers to take care of the ministry books; one for Hindi for which I gave one entire set of Hindi books, and one for English for which I left two boxes of the ministry books by brother Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. Fellowship, Blending, and Building We also fellowship the need for the saints in the local church to be blended as one though there may be different language speaking meetings. Here in Shillong, they have Khasi speaking and Hindi speaking meetings. The two meetings should just be one church under one administration within the same local church.  We also encouraged the church to blend with nearby local churches in North East India. If possible, they may also blend with churches in different parts of India and abroad. We released our burden to help the brothers see the vision and the need for fellowship, blending, and building up of the Body of Christ in oneness.  Prayer After a sweet time of fellowship, we brothers prayed together and committed ourselves, the saints, and the church to the Lord. The brothers in Shillong also are in fellowship with at least 15 other local churches all over Meghalaya. May the Lord shepherd and recover all of them! May the Lord bless the church in Shillong!  Last Phone Calls Since then, it was only through phone calls that we could communicate and fellowship. Then I got the news about him being admitted to a hospital, then to ICU. When I was informed that he came out of ICU, I made a call on the 13th of June and prayed with him. He was so happy about the prayer over the phone. Then, I told him he could call me any time he wanted. So he began to call me whenever he got better; on the 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19th of July. Every time he called, we had a wonderful time of prayer and praising the Lord together. He even blessed me and prayed that the Lord would bless me. Then his health weakened and I did not want to bother him. When he got better, he called me again on the 25, 26, 28, and 31st of July. And on the 4th of August, he called me and we prayed together; his voice was weak and I prayed mostly for him, and he requested earnestly, "Brother, please pray for me," to which I replied,  "Amen." And that became my last call with him. A few days later, I was informed that he was taken to ICU, and then, he went to be with the Lord on the 7th of August 2020. I still could not believe that he is no more physically. I wish I could just call and talk to him and pray with him. The Lord has taken him. I have no words to say anything to anyone.  I still feel a void somewhere and pray that the Lord would raise up someone to fill the gap in his absence for sake of the Lord's testimony in Shillong. I could only send a word of comfort in the church's WhatsApp group: A Word of Comfort to All Especially to the Household of Br. H S Shylla Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassions and God of all comfort, Who comforts us in all our affliction that we may be able to comfort those who are in every affliction through the comforting with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 2 Corinthians 1:2-4 1 Thessalonians 5:9-119. For God did not appoint us to wrath but to the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10. Who died for us in order that whether we watch or sleep, we may live together with Him. 11. Therefore comfort one another, and build up each one the other, even as you also do. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-1813. But we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who are sleeping, that you would not grieve even as also the rest who have no hope. 14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so also those who have fallen asleep through Jesus, God will bring with Him. 15. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are living, who are left remaining unto the coming of the Lord, shall by no means precede those who have fallen asleep; 16. Because the Lord Himself, with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17. Then we who are living, who are left remaining, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we will be always with the Lord. 18. Therefore comfort one another with these words.