Agrippa: The Tale of – ‘Black FOX’

(1886-1967)

As A Wild-Child

He was born in a poor family of weavers to parents named Nagappa and Obulamma in a village called Kothapalli in 1886. In those days accepting Christianity was one way to escape social persecution. Agrippa was welcomed into the world, made Christian only in name and the sprinkling of water. His parents adopted the names of Paul and Gynamma. They were blessed with eight children with Agrippa being the fourth.

Agrippa grew up as a notorious cheat and mischief-maker, earning the nickname Achhalaagam Bayanna or Deceiver.

He grew addicted to alcohol at the age of 12 by covertly sipping from the bottles he would carry to the local preacher (not uncommon amongst even preachers in those times). His thievery went unnoticed as he would later top up the bottles with water.

During those days, people however rarely drank coffee as it was a luxury. Agrippa found a way to deceive the preacher and have his fill of this highly coveted drink by dropping a fly in the coffee right before he delivered it, forcing the irate preacher demand Agrippa to replace the tumbler (container) and fetch fresh coffee. In this way, Bayanna grew up in notoriety and even reacted to beat up his parents when they tried to correct him.

Apprentice

In the harvest season, Agrippa would steal grain in the night-time and earn money by selling it in the market. He practised stealing eatables and things that were placed on the streets in front of the stalls. His brother caught him on one such occasion and handed him over to his father. As a consequence, his father forced him to learn weaving clothes at a handloom weavers' workshop. He became an expert in weaving. But when farmers placed orders for clothes, he would steal at least a yard from the stock. Once, a farmer placed an order to weave his clothes. Agrippa stole a yard from the finished cloth and got a shirt stitched for self and then delivered the rest. After two days, Agrippa saw a new shirt being dried in front of his house in open air and couldn't resist its siren call, and stole it. As the collar of that shirt was of a larger size, he got it altered to his size but from another tailor. On seeing him wearing that shirt, the owner got hold of Agrippa's neck and forcibly claimed that the shirt was his and dragged him to the tailor to settle the claim. Since Agrippa had got the alteration done to smaller collar from a different tailor, the owner's tailor declared that shirt under dispute was not stitched by him. Until then, Agrippa who was nervous and shivering then started yelling back at the owner for accusing Agrippa (falsely?)

He would steal rice weighing several kilos by wearing a bag under his shirt and covertly fill it up with rice from the jute sacks kept outside the crowded shops; the booty used to get happily and thankfully accepted by his family. He was also a member of gang of thieves who devised plans to steal from people visiting the local Pushpagiri Tirnala celebrations. In those days, people would consider it safe to hide their money in their turbans. But this money would get nicked by one of the members and get passed on to another while the other members would yell 'Thief! Thief!' and divert the mob's attention. The money would get passed into safekeeping to be shared among the gang later, leaving the poor victims to fend for themselves.

Agrippa developed to become an expert thief and pickpocket, and even trained others with skills to steal. However, Agrippa miraculously escaped his getting caught and punished on several occasions; even when his theft operation went wrong. At times he escaped death by the skin of his teeth.

Murderer

There were two warring groups among the Christian community in Agrippa's hometown, and he belonged to one of them. One party member thrashed one of the opposite party members badly with sandals. This issue became serious and even ended in a murder. Though Agrippa didn't kill anyone with his own hands, yet he was part of the entire episode.

Adultery

Taken from Agrippa's own account of his life, , he stepped into adultery by the time he was 18. In order to curb his destructive behaviour, his parents decided to get him married. He was married to Anandamma, a young virgin from the Gudur village of the Tadipatri taluk in April 1905. She remained his beloved wife and helped him serve the Lord honourably during the years of Agrippa's ministry.

Salvation

In those days, Rev. Veparalla William – an Evangelist visited the village to conduct youth meetings and share the word of God. He described the joy of salvation and its eternal benefits extremely clear. His emphasis on sin and its consequences pricked Agrippa's heart. In his own words: “As I was praying in the name of the LORD and pleading for salvation, I felt the confirmation of salvation in my heart. I felt peace as my sins were forgiven. I was happy on hearing HIS whisper “You are my child!” I was granted and assured of peace by Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Soon after, my heart weighed light. The incredible joy of glory welled up in me. I realized that I am saved. At once, I praised God. Immediately, Agrippa went to his parents, rest of the family members and relatives and asked for their forgiveness for all his transgressions and exorbitance.

Agrippa continued weaving cloth for his living and shared the word of God during his free time with people who visited his work place. Those, who noticed the extent of God's grace in his life, came forward to listen to the word of God in awe! He would tell everyone about the Lord Jesus Christ and the joy of salvation granted by the LORD. This changed life of his, brought joy not only to his parents & family, but also to his relatives and friends.

Initial Mission Days

After his salvation, Agrippa's brother, Mr. Charles who worked as a teacher in a London mission school, resigned to join the Methodist Mission in Raichur as a preacher. He spoke to the missionary personnel and got Agrippa invited for 2 year of Bible training in Gulbarga. After his training, Agrippa was deputed to Raichur in 1914 to be a preacher there. Christians in that region concealed their castes and practiced drinking liquor and the like. These habits were practised not only by the church members but also by the teachers, preachers and pastors. As he was living frustrated, an awful toxic fever and coughs spread in that region that year. This gave Agrippa an opportunity to resign and join the C.I.G mission at Kalyanadurgam as a preacher and continued to work therein.

Scott, missionary was a great devotee then in that area. He could foresee the gifts of grace and ministration that God had granted to Agrippa and so strengthened Agrippa in the word of God.

However, Satan is a fearsome foe and tempted Agrippa to succumb to his old habit of stealing. Missionary gave Agrippa some money to accomplish an activity, but Agrippa separated some portion and purchased a vessel for household use and got his name inscribed on it for daily cooking. Sadly, vessel became a sore reminder of his theft whenever they sat to dine.

Agrippa was pricked in his conscience and could not hide anymore, so he approached the missionary personnel and admitted to having misappropriated the money to purchase the vessel for his family.

He asked for their forgiveness and they forgave him gladly, but the scar of that theft remained. Agrippa later removed the vessel from the home.

Independent Evangelist

After some years, Mr. Scott got transferred to Kadiri from Kalyanadurgam. Mr. Silas Fox came in place as a missionary, with whom Agrippa ministered for about 10 years. Agrippa learnt several truths from Mr. Silax Fox while ministering in that region. Mr. Fox realized that the missionary rules and regulations are only framed by men and are not from God and so was not satisfied with getting involved in such service. He decided not to bow to the customs of men while doing the ministry of LORD as it contradicted the will of God. So, in the year 1925, he resigned working for the mission and went to Bangalore. convinced with what Mr. Fox did was right in the sight of God, Agrippa too resigned from the mission and moved to Anantapur, put up his family in a small, rented house and started the ministry work. He preached the gospel of Christ in streets, lanes, bus stops and nearby villages and during fairs around Anantapur and even conducted prayer meetings to small gatherings under the shade of a tree nearby his home. As they continued in prayers a small group gathered together for the glory of the LORD.

The days of depending on a monthly salary came to an end after Agrippa left the mission and they had to live by faith only. Noting that Agrippa left the mission and continued in the LORD's service independently, the mission sacked his children from the boarding schools and didn't extend any favour to them from the mission.

Agrippa's story is the story of a man who was a sinner. Not once or twice. "Where sin abounded grace did much more abound” (Romans 5:20). And like every one of us who has experienced God's forgiveness and love, he realised that no matter how damaged, broken or far gone you may be, the One above wants you.

The life of an evangelist of yesteryears, coming from village and with no background of formal education has not been an easy one. The children rush home after a long tiring day, hoping to quench the hunger to whatever little extent possible and end upfinding that there isn't any food. As usual they stay quiet about it: A flaming hearth may arouse expectations for availability of food, but the flame translates to a long night of silent prayer. Yet God sustained in mysterious ways and that was manifested many times in the life story of Agrippa.

Miracles of Providence

There were several instances where help arrived in the most unexpected ways possible.

Anandamma (Agrippa's wife) once found a ring in cow dung, she gathered from the cattle trodden streets to apply on their muddy floorings. Assuming it to be an insignificant copper ring, placed it on a shelf and forgot about it. After a few days they realised it was a golden ring and sold it for about Rs. 15 (a lot in those days) and used it to buy groceries for cooking.

One day, Andrews being hungry kept pestering his father for food. Unable to bear the frustration, Agrippa hit him with a stick. Andrews broke the stick and threw it over behind the adjoining wall. Agrippa asked Andrews to get the stick back. In the process, the family found a bandicoot's food stash, amounting to about 6 seru (7 ½ kilograms) of ragi behind the wall to their shocking surprise. Like to Elijah of old, the Lord provided them using the lowest of animals, be it rats presently or ravens then. This miracle was never repeated again.

Once a visiting devotee was offended when Agrippa's family shared with him a simple meal of ragi, which in fact was the only available food then in their house. Assuming that they served him 'poor' food intentionally, the visitor went about telling the neighbourhood that Evangelist Agrippa treats his guests shabbily. A neighbour heard and sensed the condition of the family to be deplorable and brought them a full jar of rice that she had been setting aside for a year ( whatever her fist could hold, on daily basis; it was the tradition of those days to help the needy or even beggars). They praised God for the blessings God bestowed on them.

His Virtuous Wife

A supportive wife can make or break her husband. Anandamma proved to be an invaluable partner to Agrippa throughout his ministry days, of abundance or in poverty and in sickness and in health. When she could not bear the look of the empty stomachs of her children and husband, she would kneel down and pray. She taught the children too to do likewise. She knew to spread thin and fine the food cooked in their house, with whatever money and food that became available to them, not only to the family but even to guests and orphans. She encouraged Agrippa in his ministry and never urged him to find a money-making job even in the toughest of times. In all this she expressed her unwavering faith in the Lord.

Ministry Around Anantapur

Thus Agrippa and his family served the Lord; they would conduct a worship meeting once a week and prayer meetings four to five days a week. Not satisfied with these services, they decided to request Mr. Silas Fox (who was posted in Bangalore) to come and preach to their congregation. A great revival took place in the assembly through these meetings, after which Mr. Silas Fox decided to move to Anantapur.

A house was purchased to cater as a Bible School for the region's spiritual needs. Several young men who stayed at Anantapur for their studies and jobs attended and got strengthened in the word through the ministry done there by Mr. Silas. The church grew exponentially and was strengthened in faith as well.

Youth camps and bible training was provided to the young men who would thereafter travel to nearby villages on bicycles to share the gospel. Servants of God were invited to share word of God in large gospel meetings and many who experienced salvation joined the Church. The gospel reached Pullivendula from Anantapur.

Agrippa and his fellow evangelists reached Srisailam from Anantapur (200 miles) and were able to share the word of God even in the Tirnala celebrations. In one of the gatherings on the outskirts of Pullivendula, they held a large meeting under a tent where about 76 people, both men and women accepted Jesus and received salvation. The same day Mr. P.V. George, Mr. Silas Fox and Evangelist Agrippa baptized them all in a nearby pond near Pullivendula. Obviously, God was glorified then in the Reddy community of that region. Several of them were in the Government service and continued to remain a living testimonial to GOD wherever they got posted subsequently!

Village ministry was never easy and was fraught with danger, hunger, and a lot of unpleasantness.

Agrippa was once reduced to eating potentially fatal cactus fruits as he had return to his village on empty stomach. The house to which he was invited to dinner was deserted and found locked when Agrippa went after the meeting. It so happened that the lady who invited Agrippa was dissuaded and admonished by the Karanam (village head) that Christian evangelists were used to eating meals of pork and chicken and would not like to eat the simple ragi meal she intended to provide.

In the year 1947, Agrippa went to preach gospel along with some brothers in Ursu of Guntakal which is densely populated by Muslims and non-Christians. While he was preaching, some troublemakers pulled the gospel tracks from his hand and burnt them. They held his neck and threatened to kill him, and their intent became clear when they started throttling his neck with more force. When he was being tortured like this, one of the brothers who accompanied him to the meeting got frightened and ran away. Yet God strengthened Agrippa instantaneously and so he began preaching loudly. Nobody did anything to oppose him even when Agrippa preached at the same spot on that day and even subsequently.

Though he faced many similar problems while expounding the gospel in Nandyal, Kurnool, Tirupathi, and Nellore among others, yet God protected him at all times. In some places, a few people argued with him based on their own religious books. God strengthened Agrippa to give convincing and heart comforting replies for which they had no reply and so no more arguments.

The Hubli Railroad Revival

Agrippa attended a spiritual gathering in Hubli in the year 1938 after he was invited by a few brothers from that area. Their hearts were pricked by word of God while he was preaching about sin, righteousness, and upcoming judgment. Moved by the Holy Spirit, many confessed their sins in public. Being railway workers, they were stealing goods frequently (because of their access as employees) but after having got convicted by God's Word they returned the stolen goods to the company.

About 73 men and women received salvation that day and were baptised by immersion in water pool and not by sprinkling of it in accordance with the word of God. Some heads of a few denominational churches in the region became furious and filed false complaints against Agrippa to the police saying that the evangelist had instructed the people not to participate in wars, not pay tax and was spreading propaganda against the government.

Based on the report, Agrippa was arrested by the police and put in jail. On hearing this, about 150 Christians reached the police station and requested the officer to arrest them as well as they too were Christians and so were willing to undergo the punishment along with Agrippa. On this, the police officer unlocked Agrippa from jail and took him to Trunk Road and made him preach so that he could hear by himself and find out the truth. Strengthened by the Spirit of God, Agrippa preached the crucified Christ in Kannada and proclaimed that Christ alone can redeem the sinner from eternal fire by forgiving the sin of one who confesses Him as Lord, as He has paid the ransom by shedding His sinless blood on the cross. The police officer was convinced that there was nothing against the government and wanted to punish the fake complainants by arresting them. Agrippa did not allow the officer to punish the complainants by pleading that Christ his master wanted such wrong doers (who did not know what they do) to go free. This piqued the interest of the officer who requested for and got the Bible and Agrippa, and the team left the place giving praises to God.

The Magician and the Lawyer

Local conjurers (magicians or witch doctors) tend to draw a large crowd; this happened while Agrippa was once preaching at the banks of a canal. The conjurer noticed him and challenged Agrippa that he would shut his mouth with his magic. He stepped forward and stood in front of the evangelist and started chanting mantras and uttered poems now and then along with the names of his gods. God's servant Luke was also with Agrippa then. He was asked to keep praying while the magician continued chanting. Both sides continued for quite some time. Agrippa preached, Mr. Luke prayed, and the conjurer chanted, murmured, bent, and lifted his hands and body…

As expected, similar to Elymas in Acts 13, the conjurer conceded his failure and testified that the power of Satan could not withstand the strength of God and left the place. The crowd that had built up during the incident was all amazed. T he word of God was then shared with them.

Another time, Agrippa was able to prove the might of God to a proud young lawyer with a BA LLB degree who believed in the supremacy of money and education over the Bible.

The Death of His Wife

During Anandamma's last days, Agrippa had been conducting Gospel meetings in Guntur. On the night of 9th June 1956, the evangelist who never believed in dreams or visions suddenly woke up feeling that his right eye had gone blind. That very day Anandamma had complained of an unsettling headache and was taken to the hospital by her son-in-law, Mr. Saul in a motorcar where she spoke her last words, “I am leaving this world to meet the Lord. Lord, I am coming.” Agrippa's son sent telegrams to the nearby villages and to his father. Before receiving the telegram, however, Agrippa had left the village for his home and was on his way back after feeling that he was needed there.

She was unable to speak in her last days of her life and was called home on 11th June 1956 at about 6:15 PM. The funeral procession attracted a huge crowd that followed in horse carts; all of whom were told about the Lord Jesus Christ.

About the Two Foxes

In many ways it was a strange partnership, but nonetheless a beautiful one and even when there were times of tension in their relationship, nothing could break the bond in Christ that bound them together.

Agrippa and Silas Fox had several things in common. Both had drunken fathers, though Agrippa's father was mild in comparison to Silas's. Both had experienced a dramatic change at conversion, were natural talkers with histrionic gifts. Both had an independent streak and found convention and formality irksome.

Though Agrippa was the older man by some six or seven years, Silas was nominally his boss in the mission, but since neither rested much on the privilege of age or rank, a brotherly relation soon sprang up. It is interesting how God brings diverse people together to fulfil His purpose. He delights in forging partnerships in His service.

When Silas first met him, Agrippa was not as well-versed in Scripture as he later developed to become one. When Silas left the mission to follow a more independent line of ministry, Agrippa too followed suit, but he was looking more to Silas than to God. Naturally Agrippa was disappointed when Silas was not forthcoming with his support. So, he later re-joined the mission. From time to time, he visited Silas, especially at Kuppam.

There they studied the Bible together, spending many long hours in systematic study. Silas literally gave of himself, his knowledge, and his time to Agrippa. Over time, his vision of God expanded. "He took his eyes off me," observed Silas, "and got them on Almighty God. He was now ready to take the step of faith he had taken prematurely before. Now, not just to copy Silas, but to go forward in the call of God for himself, he left the mission and never looked back.

Agrippa became a deep student of the Bible and absorbed its message. He could truly be pointed out as a man who had studied only one book in his life, and that book was the Bible. But this book furnished him with all that he needed. His ministry got deepened; and while he had used many anecdotes before from outside the Bible to illustrate its message, he now began to illustrate the Bible from the Bible itself”.

God gave Silas and Agrippa nearly fifty years together, and when Agrippa died on February 24, 1967, Silas wrote in his diary on March 4 - "Agrippa gone, one era over." What an era it had been! Extending twenty years into the independent India Agrippa had hardly dreamed of as a boy, an era filled with exploits for God. At a time when the burden of preaching fell mostly on the white man and the foreign missionary, Agrippa demonstrated that when God gets hold of a man, He can use that man whether he is black or white, of high or low caste, educated or uneducated and that all God requires is a willing heart, a spirited soul and a passion for His people.

That is the life story of God's chosen servant, AGRIPPA from Kothapalli, nicknamed 'the black FOX'. Praise God for using Bro. Silas FOX, who encouraged AGRIPPA, 'black FOX' for spreading His Word in Andhra Pradesh.

– V E Chandrashekar

This article originally appeared in the Harvest Times magazine's April, May 2016 issue.