I finished up in Nellore, India by spending a couple of days with a batch of new evangelist trainees. Theses are villagers who have been converted to Christ and now want to spend their lives serving the one who saved them. Some of them are illiterate and most could not find the book of Luke in their Bibles when I was teaching them. Nevertheless, it is exciting to know that these humble soldiers have an equal, or better chance of being first in the kingdom of God and ahead of the wealthy religious leaders with their PHD’s.
I asked the evangelists to begin our time by telling us their testimonies. Amazing stuff! In the picture titled ‘Evangelist Trainees,’ the following stories apply to those pictured from the viewer’s left to right.
Marthanna and her husband, Irmiah, (next to her in the photo) had a daughter whom they arranged to be married but the daughter returned because her husband was beating her. The daughter swallowed poison and in spite of taking the girl to the hospital, she died.
In her grief Marthanna’s health began to fail. She and Irmiah began to be visited by a village pastor who encouraged them to give their lives to Christ. At this time, Marthanna had a vision of a hand touching her body for healing and sure enough, she started getting better right after that.
Next, their only son became a drunkard and he too took poison to kill himself. This distressed Marthanna so much that she now became suicidal. She tried to hang herself but the rope broke. She took it as a sign that God wanted her to live. At this point in her testimony, Marthanna wept.
The Christians took Marathanna to the hospital and she prayed that if God would save her son, she would give her life to his service. The son’s life was spared and now Marthanna and Irmiah are training to be full-time evangelists. Marathanna wonders how she can serve as a church leader in her male dominated culture, but she will trust God to show her the way.
Monohar was raised as a Christian. His father was an evangelist, but Monohar remained backward in the Lord. Some years later his baby was very sick and even after spending much money at hospitals the baby was still ill. Monohar finally decided to ask Jesus for help and when he did, the baby got better. In recognition of God’s healing of his precious daughter, Monohar decided to serve the Lord as an evangelist like his father.
Shekhar and his wife were Hindus. His wife became very sick and came near to death. He was filled with fear that she would die and he would have no way of caring for their children. Shortly after, he attended a Christian funeral and heard the gospel. The couple began to attend a Christian church near their village.
Whenever they went to the church, the wife had demon problems. During the singing, she would fall down and writhe on the ground. His neighbors and family criticized him, “She is having these problems because you are taking her to the Christians.”
Shekhar’s Hindu father supported him in attending the Christian church and gradually the demonic problems left his wife.
Shekhar had a vision in which he had two crops divided by a path. One crop was strong and green, the other weak and small. A man came and showed his wife how to use fertilizer and both crops grew strong. By this vision Shekhar knew God was calling him to serve him and learn how to care for God’s people correctly.
Three years ago, Kamalakar had a young son who drank his own urine and slowly ate his own body. They took him to the witchdoctor who said the boy would die. Next they took the boy to the Christian church and he was prayed for. When Kamalakar looked at the boy, he was dead, but when the Christians looked at him, they saw his eyes blinking. The demons were deceiving Kamalakar’s sight.
After praying for one month the boy was healed and five families came to the Lord as a result of the boy’s restoration.
Sorry, that is just James pictured in the middle; no great story here.
Anard was an idolater. At age 16 he had a vision of fire that consumed all people around him. Even when hiding inside buildings, people were dying. In the vision, he saw a man he knew and ran to him. Only this man, his daughter, and Anard were safe from the fire.
After the vision, Anard searched out the man in his vision and asked him what it meant. Then man did not have an explanation.
Because of the vision, many Hindus came to Anard for spiritual guidance. Anard and the man were able to leverage their new fame into a growing business where Hindu’s gave money for blessings from them.
At age nineteen, Anard married the man’s daughter, not knowing that she was a secret Christian. After some time, Anard developed a disabling back problem. His wife took him to the Christian church and got him to say that if God would heal him he would serve Christ. Anard resisted because he knew that it would mean giving up his income gained as a Hindu guide. However, the back pain was too great and he did ask the Lord for help.
The back pain gradually went away and when Anard heard a Christian testimony given in a church, he was touched and agreed to be baptized and serve the Lord. Five family members were baptized with him. Now he wants to be an evangelist because of the great things God has done for him.
Simon felt the Lord calling him into ministry but avoided the call because he had addictions he did not want to give up. His mother said to him, “Son you are called into the ministry and if you don’t heed God something bad may happen to your wife.”
Sure enough, one day Simon’s wife developed an acute pain in her stomach. She doubled over on the ground and was soon near death. Simon prayed and agreed to serve the Lord if his wife was healed and that same day his wife was better. Now Simon is eager to be an evangelist for Jesus.
Two years ago, Jacob was a heavy drinker and had a kidney problem. His boss took him to two hospitals but they discovered it would cost $16,000 to operate on him. The amount was impossible to raise so Jacob sat in his village an waited to die. He was unable to get up and urinated on himself and no one would help him. All his family and villagers abandoned him; his wife also left him. According to their tribal custom, family do not care for the terminally ill, but leave them where they are and move away from the body into a new hut in another location.
On the night he was expected to die, Jacob cried out a simple plea, “Jesus, please heal me.”
That night Jacob saw a pastor place his hands on him and pray for him. By early morning he felt better and in two days he walked into the Christian church. People were amazed to see him alive and encouraged him to continue on with Jesus who had rescued him. From then on, Jacob began to serve Christ.
I have been able to make some observations about these events and their commonality in India. God is sending healings, visions, and miracles into areas where there is little or no witness. The goal is not miracles, but conversion. In every case people come to Christ.
In the cities, there are long existent churches begun by missionaries years ago. Unfortunately, the majority of these churches are mired in denominational traditions and hierarchal preoccupations. The truly selfless, humble leaders are far and few between. These churches and missionaries complain that India is hardened against the gospel and have all but given up on evangelism.
Another factor is the politically correct blending of religions meant to foster harmony between three opposing faiths: Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. Yesterday I saw a slogan painted on the wall of a Christian school that typifies this mindset: ‘There is one language, love; one God, love; one religion, love.’ These are attempts at removing the offensiveness of the gospel that Jesus assured us was necessary:
Mt 10:34 –Mt 10:36 NIV
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
For I have come to turn
“‘a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’
One more observation is in order. From inert churches that never witness the miraculous transforming power of God, to power hungry refusals to die to self, we are much like India.
The words of Jesus have been troubling me much:
Mt 10:39 NIV
Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
I hope you will enjoy the pictures which include a visit to a 14th century fort of the last Maharajah, a Bollywood film set we stumbled across, the shoe shopping victory of team members Kirstan and Jenifer, a bit of Hyderabad, and the beautiful AIDS orphans I visited in Chennai. I made balloon flowers for the orphans as I listened to the story of a little girl who one year ago was near death with 1 and ½ failed lungs, a failed liver, heart problems, and a brain aneurism that left her left side paralyzed. Because of the power of prayer, you can see her healthy and shinning with her balloon flower.
All praise to our incredible, amazing God.
JDC--
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