Our Beloved Late Pastor T.U. Thomas’ Testimony

Late Pastor T U Thomas

“Praise be to God! I was born in a Christian Jacobite family. When I was six or seven years old, a great desire for a holy life arose in me. I felt that family life would not be helpful to live a perfect holy life. Hence I decided to become a priest and to live in celibacy throughout my life. When I was about 10 years old, I started learning the Syrian language as a preparation for the priesthood. But the feuds within the church discouraged me so much that I came to the conclusion that by being a priest in the Jaco-bite church, I would not be able to achieve the goal of living a holy life.

After some time I happened to learn about the Roman Catholic church. Their exclusive doctrines like Papal supremacy, purgatory, bodily ascension of Mother Mary fascinated me so much that I decided to become a priest in the Roman Catholic church. In that church there are many priestly orders such as “Franciscan Priesthood”, “Carmelite Priesthood”, ”Society of Jesus”, ‘ Jesuit Priesthood” and so on. I found that out of them all, the Carmelite Priesthood was the most sacrificial and modest one. Hence I wanted to join the seminary at Mannam near Kottayam in Kerala. It was the providential care of my Jesus that I happened to stay in the seminary of the Carmalites for a few days before joining the priesthood. To my utter shock and amazement, the things that I found taking place inside the seminary made me flee from there.

Finally, I thought that it was better to become an atheist communist rather than a priest or believer in religion. Then I fell into all sorts of abominable sins that a youngster could indulge in. Nevertheless, no worldly pleasure or sin could give me the peace or happiness that my soul longed for I was desperate.

One day, when I was in that state, I was praying to the Lord Almighty to reveal the true way for a holy life. All of a sudden, a glorious light shone in the room where I was and I could see Jesus with a crown of thorns on His head. But what struck me was that He had two drops of tears in His eyes which I had never seen so far in any crucifix or picture. At first I thought that Christ was crying because of the pain of the piercing thorns. Then I heard a voice from heaven, “My son, the pain of the thorns on my head is not so great as the pain I endure because of your sins” This voice made me realize that I was a desperate sinner. I crumbled down and could not but shout and cry for all the sins that I had committed. At that moment I felt the warm blood of Christ coming down to wash my filthy heart and to make it as white as snow. In a few seconds I felt, as if a mountain was taken off my head and I was relieved of even the smallest burden in my heart. In great relief I got up on my knees and when I looked up, I again saw Jesus standing before me. A great heavenly love saturated my heart and I thought of jumping up and embracing my Jesus as a child would his father. I really thought Christ was standing before me in His physical body. The moment I jumped to embrace and kiss Jesus, I felt Him kissing me and the love of God and the power of God began to flow through me–an experience which is beyond all explanation. The Holy Spirit operated in me mightily and I began to rejoice and speak in tongues. That was the night when day dawned in my life. There was a radical change in my character and behaviour. My only desire thereafter was to serve the Lord in holiness and humility.

In various ways the Lord revealed the true water baptism to me, which is to be given by dedicated and anointed servants of God. I searched through the entire Bible but could not find even a single instance in which an infant was baptized. I obeyed the Lord in water baptism. And this was the cause for my spiritual progress. The Lord further revealed to me that I should join the saints who have forsaken their all and live by faith.
And in a particular vision, the Lord showed me the servants of God of the Ceylon Pentecostal Mission and guided me to their fellowship. My life was filled with His love and every moment my insatiable thirst was to serve Him.

I would like to explain how the Lord called me and separated me for His glorious ministry. One day I asked the Lord to give me a guarantee on the following points, so I could serve Him forsaking my all :

1. Once I come for the ministry, even the thought of looking or going back should not arise.
2. I should always do His will.
3. I should always be found living in His holy presence.

I wrote down these conditions in my diary and told the Lord, “Till you give me a guarantee, I will wait upon you, even if I have to wait for sixty years; yet I will live in celibacy, serving you as a believer”. Days passed by; I myself wondered how the Lord could give me a guarantee for all that I had asked Him for. One particular night at about 12 ‘0’ clock, I saw heaven opened and a snow-white paper coming down to me. All the three conditions were written in that paper. I heard a voice say, “Sign it”. Then in that vision, I saw my right hand moving to sign in the lower right hand side corner of the paper. Instantly I saw the Lord’s hand signing the paper on the left hand side and the paper rolled itself and came down to my bosom. I was even more excited to see that a duplicate copy of the same paper was rolled and taken up to heaven. From this it was crystal clear to me that the Lord had wonderfully given me the guarantee and that an agreement was signed between us. Immediately, I surrendered myself for His glorious ministry and I saw all the hosts of angels rejoicing and singing in heaven. I resigned my job and joined the fellowship of the saints. Hitherto, the Lord has been Healer and by His immense mercy He gives me the grace to live a holy life in this young age.

Dear friend, if you are sincerely seeking the truth repent and confess your sins and take right water baptism and join the true fellowship of the saints. Our Jesus is coming soon! May the Lord help you to be ready for His soon coming!”

Bro. T. U. Thomas