Questions from Email:
What is Nettara?
Nettara is the name given to the ecclesiastical territory where Mshikhanim and Christians live in and near Burma. Nettara is not a political organization and does not fight against the local government, although Brothers and Sisters do stand up for their human rights and more importantly their right to serve God in peace. The people in this area do not and never have requested financial aid from governments or from individuals or organizations. The people of Nettara work as "tent makers" to provide for their own communities and do not depend on the world to provide for their needs. The word "nettara" is Assyrian Aramaic and means "protected."
I was told to visit this site by a man who claims that Nettara is a fake kingdom and a scam or hoax. Is this true?
First, Nettara is not a worldy kingdom ruled under un-Scriptural methods. As stated above, Nettara is an ecclesiastical territory which consists of Nazaraeans and Christians who have sought refuge from persecution by the Burma Army, Burma's cancer. Nettara is not a scam or a hoax. A scam is a system that dupes people into sending money or other contributions. No one associated with Nettara has ever requested money or any other kind of contribution from anyone and contributions are refused. Those people who are making claims that Nettara is a hoax are usually uneducated about the serious political problems in the general area or they are the very ones the Burma Army praises, because they spread propoganda against the Christians in this area.
Sadly, because individuals that had once been part of the Church (that assist this area), and for their own reasons have sought to openly slander this very real, authentic and apostolic Church, its beliefs, practices and people, there are certain forums and online groups that provide those who should have been held in high esteem and failed to honor their vocation, a medium to vent. Caring little or nothing for the thousands of serious believers worldwide or for their safebeing.
The Church is real. Its beliefs are authentic and Nettara and its people are very real. Persecution takes many forms, sometimes its physical, other times it takes the form of slander. As the vast majority of believers of this Church (A not-for-profit organization), live in regions that live very simple lives and of simple means; they do not have the tools to defend themselves from all forms of attack. The claims about Nettara is proof of this.
Take no ones word; examine the evidence for yourself and come up with your own conclusion.
I heard that Nettara was a religion or church?
No, Nettara is not a religion or a church, and it is not a religious organization; Nettara is a community of Christian believers living along the borders of Burma and Thailand. There are people of different denominations in this area. There are Shan, Kachin, Chin and Karen Christians as well as Orthodox Nazaraeans. The people who live in these communities are expected to live according to the Scriptures and as upheld by the Church of Jerusalem.
One clergyman of the Church of Jerusalem, Rabban +Mar Andreos, said: "Nestorians now have a homeland...Nettara. Nettara is more than a land mass and a temporal kingdom. It is an Oasis of the Faithful; Nettara is an Idea of God. If evil forces overrun a landmass, Nettara, just like Nestorianism itself, will rise again. The vision of Nettara will stay adamantine, impenetrable, it can never be destroyed, as a Nestorian homeland transcends the physical. The angels of God watch over the faithful in the here and the hereafter.
Nestorianism (the dominant faith of the area) will not be killed by Evil Imperial Forces, Mongol Hordes, Communist regimes, predators that lie about peaceful submission to God or Deviant pseudo-religious entities that misrepresent the Faith of our Messiah. Too many have fought and died for this Faith, to simply allow their efforts and their memories to be ignored. Quite the contrary, we should be honoring them and following in their footsteps!"
