Answers to all questions
First Hindu, then Methodist, and finally New Apostolic: Virendrasingh Daniel was a born preacher. When he was sealed with the Holy Spirit his search for a spiritual home came to an end. The Apostle died ten years ago today.
Virendrasingh Daniel was born on 15 March 1932 in Manjhariya in India. His father, Thakur Jai Bahadur Singh, wanted him to become a Hindu priest. After his father’s early death, Virendrasingh Daniel was brought up strictly in the Hindu religion and attended a boarding school, from which he graduated as a priest.
Seeking a spiritual home
„Virendrasingh Daniel later wrote, “My soul continued to be restless and dissatisfied; the many forms of worship in this religion did not give me enough security—not to mention divine security.”
His work as a pastor required a lot of travelling. In 1951, he was once again travelling through the huge country and preaching. At some point, he realised that he was hungry and thirsty and knocked on a door to ask for food. “The old man who opened the door for me not only gave me something to eat and drink and a place to stay, he also showed me love like a real father,” Virendrasingh Daniel later said. The man introduced Virendrasingh Daniel to a minister from the Methodist Christian Church and for the first time the young Hindu learned about Jesus, His teachings, His love, His sacrificial death, and the forgiveness of sins. There were still some unanswered questions, but Virendrasingh Daniel felt that he had finally found what he had been looking for.
Getting to know God
Virendrasingh Daniel was baptised on 26 January 1953. For fourteen years, he attended Bible studies in the hope of finding answers to his questions. In a Christian church in Barreilly, in which he was active, he took on various pastoral tasks and ministries. “And yet I felt that something was missing in this Christian community,” he later wrote. “I had read about the baptism with the Spirit in the Bible, but I was not able to get any satisfactory answers to my questions about it.”
Baptism with the Holy Spirit
Angel Robinson was the first person in India to become New Apostolic. She was sealed in 1968 on a trip to Denmark, and back in her home country she told everyone around her about her new faith. Her son John Robinson was ordained as India’s first Priest in 1970.
Virendrasingh Daniel met him in 1971 and learned about the New Apostolic Church, about living Apostles, and about the fact that they dispense the Holy Spirit. “That was the answer to my questions,” he said later. He said that he was very happy to hear these words and to experience how the ministers responded to his many questions and left nothing unanswered. He was happy to commit himself to the New Apostolic Church. “Once introduced to this realm of light, I had no desire to go back to any other place,” he wrote.
Contributing his gifts
The trained preacher was adopted into the New Apostolic Church on 8 June 1971 by the later Apostle John Robinson and ordained a Deacon on the day of his Holy Sealing on 11 October in Delhi. In 1972, Virendrasingh Daniel was ordained as a Priest by District Apostle Michael Kraus. He had found his spiritual home in the New Apostolic Church: “I was once an orphan, but today I have a spiritual father.”
Virendrasingh Daniel was invited to Brisbane in Australia for a divine service on 9 June 1985, where he was ordained an Apostle by Chief Apostle Hans Urwyler. He also contributed to the development of the New Apostolic Church in India until his retirement on 2 February 1999.
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Katrin Löwen
26.03.2024
India,
Apostle,
Denominations,
People/Personalities
