Last year, upon my inquiry, Rev. James Singh of Singapore was kind enough to send me his latest book His Name is Satnam. SATNAM, the term given by Guru Nanak, is being reapplied here to mean the name of Jesus Christ. This is a comparative study of Christian and Sikh concept of salvation. Being a student of the Bible, this book caught my interest because it is the latest propaganda material on the market intended to convert the Sikhs. Rev. James Singh heads a ministry called “Re-Fire.” His website http://www.re-fire.org is certainly worth exploring.

The verses of the Gurbani are literally taken from “Sri Guru Granth Sahib Discovered: A Reference Book of Quotations,” a flawed text authored by Rev. Hakim Singh Rahi. These selected verses are then compared and contrasted with the willfully selected verses from the Bible using the evangelical interpretations for the purposes of making an argument to convince the Sikhs to convert.

Rev. Singh

Spread in ten chapters, in the bibliography section, Rev. Singh has listed eleven references that he consulted; out of which four are on Sikhs, one on Sadhu Sundar Singh , one on Indian history, and the rest are Bible related. Amazingly Sadhu Sundar Selvaraj (latest “reincarnation” of the earlier Sadhu Sundar Singh) wrote a foreword.

Rev. James Singh harbors a shallow knowledge on both the Sikh religion and the Bible. This is self-evident in the book. Then, how did he convert to Christianity?

As a young man serving the prescribed mandatory military service of Singapore, unexplained circumstances landed him in the prison. Rev. Singh tells us

I requested for a Bible from a Christian friend, intending to use it as a pillow. In fact, it was a far greater blessing than I had thought. It not only served me as a good headrest, but also dynamically transformed my life. Even as I flipped the pages of this wonderful book, the words seemed to have such a profound impact in my life ministering right into my innermost being. I began to reflect on my sinfulness; pondered about my entire life; wondered what would become of me when I die, being certain there was no way I could save myself. At that point of intense reflection, I remembered the words of a friend who once told me that I could sincerely talk to God/Jesus just as I could to any other person…. I decided to kneel down on that wooden board, lifted my hands towards God and prayed for the forgiveness of sins.

I have serious problems with such kinds of descriptions. I suspect at the lack of details in comments such as these, mindful of the miraculous nature of the experience attributing credibility to those who fall for the magic. Recognizing much of the Bible being essentially un-readable, I highly doubt whether Rev. Singh read the Old Testament portion of the Bible in the cell on that night. Most likely he had the New Testament in his hands. How carefully he “read” the New Testament is also questionable! In fact I even doubt he read the New Testament that night. Being psychologically compromised, Rev. Singh’s “spiritual experience” is not too far off from that experienced by Sadhu Sundar Singh when he first “read” the New Testament about a hundred years earlier.

Astounded by the inaccuracies littered all over, I opted not to touch the Sikhism side of the comparison, but concentrate on the Biblical elements brought forth by Rev. Singh in chapters six through eight--those dealing specifically with sin and salvation interposed with topics of karma, reincarnation, heaven, and hell.

ON SALVATION: On page 84, Rev. Singh begins his expose of salvation via grace emphasizing that the gift of salvation is not via works. He lays out his somewhat childlike description of six points against works under the following headings: (1) What kind of works can give life?, (2) How much work is enough to be sure you’re not going to hell?, (3) Who will say we’ve done enough?, (4) Why did God send Jesus to die as Savior?, (5) What chance do we have that we will not fail?, and (6) Why faith and not works. The evidence provided in support of salvation via grace only is painfully weak and he fails to acknowledge and accept the concepts of salvation by methods other than the grace being promoted in the New Testament.

ON HEAVEN: Beginning on page 89, Rev. Singh describes heaven under the following four headings: (1) Heaven is a place, (2) Heaven is the Throne-Room of God, (3) Heaven is the Place of God’s Full Glory, and (4) Heaven is the future Home of all Believers. As if that’s not enough, he pursues the matter further by elaborating on the “nature of heaven” under the following three headings: (l) A Place of Great Glory, (2) A Place of Continual Worship, and (3) A Place That Will Never End.” Such naive descriptions of serious theological issues only point to project Rev. Singh as weak and immature. The same is true regarding his commentaries on hell, reincarnation, and karma, and I will forgo any comment on it in this review. I request Rev. Singh to pay attention to details and not fall for the misinformation. His knowledge on Sikhism and the Biblical theology is highly flawed.

I recommend this book to people interested in learning the methodology often adopted by the Christian propagandist and missionaries’ actively seeking converts. In addition, I also recommend Rev. Singh to read the ongoing discussion on SikhSpectrum on topics that include the Bible, heaven, hell etc. He might learn something of value!

Photo insert source: re-fire.org


Copyright©2006 G.B. Singh. About the author