Thursday, July 17, 2025

It is the 17th of July 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

For the second day in a row- no, no apologies for misnaming characters from beloved fantasy novels (Is Lord of the Rings “fantasy”- if it’s not, hold on 1517 email servers- we’re gonna get wrecked!)

No, for the second day in a row, we have a story from the 19th century, related to the global missions movement and one of the most populous countries in the world today.

Yesterday we heard about the “shadowy” Cai Gao (the first person baptized by Protestant missionaries in China, then the most populous country), and today a similarly faint but fascinating character from an early convert in what is today’s most populous country.

He was Radhu Das (spell), and we don’t know much about him at all. In fact, I’ve tracked down three sources from the last two centuries, and they seem to be borrowing from each other and perhaps an unknown oral source. When it comes to exact dates, we only know one… more on that in a second.

Radhu Das was a member of the Oriya Chasa caste in India, born sometime around the year 1800. He lived near Cuttack, a village in North East India, and was orphaned at the age of 12.

He made his way to a Hindu monastery at Panchgoliah and spent six unhappy years there. It was then he heard of the roaming sage Sundara Das, a miracle worker and prophet, whom Radhu would join. He took on the traditional garb of a devotee, wearing only a small strip of cloth and covering himself in mud and ashes. On one occasion, he was sent by Sundara to Cuttack on an errand. While in the larger village, a missionary was present and gave Radhu a number of tracts in his own language. He couldn’t read them but took them back to Sundara, who also couldn’t read them, but he had an assistant who could.

This “Das Agyan” was a copy of the Ten Commandments, which the assistant eventually cracked and read aloud. The group was in awe, and Sundara proclaimed, “This is the living truth!” And they soon got to hearing from the other tracts- a catechism by Isaac Watts, and eventually a copy of the New Testament.

However, Radhu learned that Sundara was less concerned with getting this message out to others, as he was concerned with claiming the teachings to be his own. Radhu and the others, learning that Sundara was now claiming to be a reincarnated Jesus, left him and went back to their old lives and various labors. But a number of them, including the one who first read the texts aloud, and Radhu, couldn’t shake the teachings of Jesus and made their way back to Cuttack to the missionaries.

And so we know the ONE date in the life of Radhu Das- the Hindu holy man and devotee brought to Christ- it is this, the 17th of July in 1831, when Radhu Das was baptized- the 7th to be baptized by the local missionaries.

Radhu Das would, according to the source, take to the new life quickly, discarding his old dress and taking a wife. He would have four children with his wife and work in missionary schools and a missionary print office.

He was an ardent missionary to his family and, as is sometimes the case with fervent converts, the sources suggest he could lean into a kind of Christian “perfectionism” (the belief that Christians in this life could become free of any sin), although this seems to have been only a phase.

A slight and sometimes sickly man, he developed a growth on his neck that required medical attention. He was relieved of some of the discomfort with surgery, but it grew back, and he took this as a sign of the end. Our sources tell us that he and his family gathered at his bed near dawn, sang “the water of comfort o savior impart”, prayed, and at 8 o’clock in the morning, Rhadu Das “quietly resigned his soul into the hands of the savior”. It is the story of an early convert, but also the story of the power of missionaries publishing in foreign languages and the power of the word to go out and accomplish what it will- we remember the baptism of Rhadu Das on this day in 1831

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and Hebrews 5:

Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. 3 This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. 4 And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.

5 In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him,

“You are my Son;
    today I have become your Father.”

6 And he says in another place,

“You are a priest forever,
    in the order of Melchizedek.”

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 17th of July 2025, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who was also once in a cast… he was convinced he was the reincarnation of Superman and couldn’t go in the pool that summer… he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by someone who will let it go for now… but if the Eagles could rescue them from the mountain, couldn’t they have flown them to the mountain? I’m asking for trouble, and I'm Dan van Voorhis.

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