DAWN Fridayfax 1997 #7

DAWN Special Report from India

India: Head doctor prays for the sick: cripple healed, church planted

Dr. Sam Thomas, head doctor at the Herbertpur Christian Hospital in Dehradun at the foot of the Himalayas in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, told us of new evangelistic breakthroughs. In the village Andheri, 140km away from the hospital in the almost completely unreached state Himachal Pradesh (with 5.5 million inhabitants and less than 100 known Christians), the head man experienced how his second son was healed by an operation and prayer by Christians. He invited the team to visit his village. A doctor's visit is very exciting for such a remote village, so the news of their arrival spread very quickly. Men from another village in the area brought a severely crippled man, whose legs were set in a sitting position. To bring him to the doctor, they had to carry him over three mountains in a basket. Dr. Thomas examined the man, but the diagnosis was hopeless. He prayed for the man in Jesus' name, and the man was healed in front of their eyes. Since then, a church has been started in Andheri with between 35 and 40 members. 7 churches have been planted in recent years due to the hospital's evangelistic work.
Source: Dr. Sam Thomas, Christian Hospital Herbertpur, District Dehra Dun, UP 246142, India

India: God, what should I do today?

Ramesh, a ex-Hindu, has become a Christian through the hospital's work. "I have been persecuted and avoided, simply because I became a Christian," says Ramesh. He now gets up at 3am every day to pray and ask God what he should do that day. One day, God told him to go to a particular village. Ramesh thought to himself "I've already been there. I'll go to another one." On the way, though, he asked himself "Why should I follow my flesh?", and went to the village God had shown him. When he arrived, he spoke to a woman outside her home, who was interested in the gospel, but her husband came and chased him away. He went on to the next house. The woman followed him secretly, because she suffered from very strong headaches. Ramesh prayed for her in Jesus' name, and simply stated that she was being tormented by a demon, which vanished after prayer, along with the headache. As a result, the woman's husband and many other villagers came to hear what Ramesh had to say about Jesus. According to Dr. Thomas, Ramesh has been able to convince many people to become Christians.
Source: Ramesh, reported by Dr. Sam Thomas, Christian Hospital Herbertpur, District Dehra Dun, UP 246142, India

India: 5 people raised from the dead last year in Punjab

He told me almost in passing "Oh yes, last year we experienced how God raised five people from the dead through prayer." 'He' is pastor C.M. Rustam from Ferozpur in Punjab, northern India, close to the border with Pakistan. The hospital in Chandigarh regularly sends people to the church for "prayer treatment" after seeing people healed of tumours and crippled limbs through prayer.
Source: Rev.C.M.Rustam, Jesus Niwas St, Bharat Nagar, Ferozpur City 152002, Punjab, India.

India: Revival in Madhya Pradesh

One of the most amazing church movements in India at the moment is in Madhya Pradesh, a state in central India. According to reports from Dr. Victor Choudhrie, Betul MP, ex-medical director of the Christian Medical College in Ludhiana, the number of Bible schools in the almost unreached state grown from 4 to 14. Also, the number of churches has grown from 500 to over 1,000 in the last 4 years, a growth rate of around 16% per year, even greater than the current growth rate in Madras, 13%. Dr. Choudhrie attributes the growth to a new vision amongst the Christians for co-operative evangelisation and efforts to gather 1,000 regular intercessors for each of the state's districts from all over India as well as another 1,000 from all over the world. An increasing number of Christians in Madhya Pradesh have been forming a network since 1993, with the aim of planting a church in each village and part of town in each of the 66,000 villages in the state's 45 districts with a total of 66 million inhabitants. If the current developments continue, the number of churches will grow exponentially to reach 100,000 in the next 30 years.
Source: Dr. Victor Choudhrie. Padhar, District Betul MP 640005, India.

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