Nunnak Biatak

Unity or Ruin: The Chin Revolution and the Urgent Need for National Unity  (Danny Bawibikthawng)  The revolution of the Chin people against the Myanmar military regime is one of the most painful and heroic chapters in modern Chin history. Villages have been burned. Churches have been destroyed. Thousands of innocent civilians have fled into forests and foreign countries. Young men and women who once dreamed of education, family, and peaceful futures now carry rifles in defense of their people.  As a Chin from Myanmar serving among immigrant communities in the U.S., I write not as a politician or military strategist, but as someone who deeply loves his people and longs to see justice, freedom, and lasting peace for our nation. I support the revolution because silence before evil is not neutrality. Silence can become participation in injustice. Yet at the same time, I fear that our greatest danger may not only come from the Myanmar military regime, but also from our inabili...

  Book Review:  Fat Church-Claiming a Gospel of Fat Liberation  by  Anastasia E. B. Kidd By Danny Bawibikthawng     Anastasia E. B. Kidd’s  Fat Church: Claiming a Gospel of Fat Liberation  is a prophetic, courageous, and deeply compassionate work that reimagines what it means to proclaim the gospel in the twenty-first century. Written with both academic precision and pastoral sensitivity, Kidd exposes one of the most hidden injustices within Christianity: the moralization of body size and the church’s complicity in promoting anti-fat bias. Her central argument is that the gospel’s liberating message has too often been reduced to a spiritualized and body-denying theology that fails to affirm the sacredness of all human embodiment. Kidd’s theological reflections invite believers to recover a holistic gospel where the love of God affirms every body, not as an afterthought, but as the very site of divine grace.   Summary and Core Argument   ...

  Honoring Those Who Serve in Silence, Poverty, and Hardship in Myanmar (A Reflection on Pastor Appreciation Month) Danny Bawibikthawng Every year when Pastor Appreciation Month arrives, my heart turns to those faithful servants of God laboring quietly in the countryside and small villages of Myanmar, those who continue to preach, shepherd, and care for souls with very limited financial support, in the midst of poverty, hardship, and uncertainty. We all face struggles and anxieties in ministry, but the burdens carried by pastors in those rural places are often heavier and lonelier than those of pastors in cities or well-supported congregations abroad. While some churches celebrate this month with gifts, words of encouragement, and appreciation, many humble servants of God in Myanmar do not even have the means to buy proper clothing or food for themselves and their children. Yet they serve the same Lord with the same passion, often with tears, unseen and unthanked by the world. Man...

God’s Man, Your Pastor: Love Him and Be Blessed (  Jer. 3:15; 1 Thess 5:12–13; 2 Kings 4) (Danny Bawibikthawng) 1. God’s Gift of Shepherds Jeremiah 3:15 declares, “Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.” Pastors are not chosen by human hands but by God Himself. They are gifts from the Lord to guide, teach, and care for His people.   In many immigrant congregations today, pastors serve far beyond the pulpit. They pray, preach, translate documents, take members to hospitals and immigration offices, enroll children in school, and help families find jobs and housing. They read members’ letters, fill out immigration forms, and attend to emergencies at every hour. Yet many receive very limited financial support from the church, often not enough to provide for their own families, and in many cases the church does not allow them to work outside to supplement their income.   Still, these pastors labor faithfully, carr...

  The Mystery and Work of the Holy Spirit (Danny Bawibikthawng) The work of the Spirit of God is both deep and wide, transcending human wisdom and comprehension. Scripture reminds us that  “The Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God”  (1 Cor. 2:10). Such truth humbles us, for no human mind can fully grasp the boundless work of the Spirit. As John Calvin once wrote,  “Without the Spirit, the Word of God is of no avail. Illumination by the Spirit is necessary for understanding.”  If we have not personally experienced His work, it is dangerous to ignore it, and even more dangerous to pretend to understand it fully. It is not sin to confess our limitations in understanding spiritual mysteries. Augustine observed,  “If you understand it, it is not God.”  Humility in the face of mystery is wisdom. Yet when we resist or criticize the work of the Spirit simply because we do not comprehend it, we place ourselves in spiritual danger. The Apostle Paul...