DAWN Fridayfax 1998 #13

News from India, Syria, USA

In this issue:
India: Prayer and the Kumbh Mela
Syria: Government donates land to Christians
USA: Evangelistic event - openness in Baltimore

India: Prayer and the Kumbh Mela

The 'Kumbh Mela' is one of India's most important Hindu festivals, which takes place every three years at one of 4 possible locations. The background of the festival is a myth concerning a battle between the forces of good and evil for a jug ('kumbh' in Hindi) filled with the 'nectar of eternal life'. During this 12-year battle, a drop of the nectar fell on each of the places where the festival is held: Haridwar and Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh state, Ujain in Madya Pradesh and Nasik in Maharashtra. Hindus believe that they will receive physical and spiritual blessings if they bathe at these places during the Mela festivals.

Which god is really attractive?

These festivals belong to the largest religious events in the world. They are the focus of a corresponding amount of attention, also from Christians all over the world, who pray for the people attending the festivals to receive 'blessings'. Many Christians have been praying for months that "only the living God will be honoured in India, and that other spiritual forces will lose their attractiveness during such festivals."

Unfulfilled expectations

A Kumbh Mela is currently taking place in Haridwar, on the River Ganges. This year's festival, focussing particularly on worshipping Shiva and the River Goddess "Mother Ganges", lasts from mid-January to May 1998. Pilgrims are expected for the whole duration of the festival, but with peaks on special days. The organisers expect a total of 20 million pilgrims. Indian newspapers have been reporting about the preparations for the festival for months, and many people expect this Kumbh Mela to be special because it is the last one this millennium. On the ground, though, it looks different. The first special day was February 25, a Hindu holy day called Maha Shiva Ratri, for which the media predicted "more than a million people will come to bathe in Haridwar". Between 3,000 and 4,000 pilgrims showed up. Many Christians see that as an answer to prayer. Human factors included national elections in February, very bad weather, and media reports that militant Muslims wanted to avenge themselves on the Hindus for the destruction of a mosque in 1992. Surveillance cameras at the most holy bathing places, police with loaded guns everywhere, metal detectors and walky-talkies are not conducive to developing holy feelings or receiving special blessings, according to one visitor. Some observers have already noted that there are more police than pilgrims at this year's Kumbh Mela. The last high point of the festival is expected on April 14, another Hindi holy day.

Open heaven over Haridwar

Some Indian Christians who visited the festival speak of an unusual openness for the gospel in the traditional Hindu homeland. They spoke with policemen, beggars, pilgrims, street sweepers, Sadhus and other 'holy men', and found that many of the people attending the festival were asking many questions about God. A high-ranking police officer even asked some Christians to address 200 of his men at the start of their shift. A naked Sadhu, listening to some Christians as he meditated, summed it up: "This world will soon be very different, because of such active people as you."

Source: various

Syria: government donates land to Christians

According to a number of reports, Christianity is continuing to expand in traditionally Islamic Syria. Observers speak of many Muslims deciding to follow Jesus, and attribute this to the country's Christians' intense prayer and fasting. The government is also easing restrictions placed on Christian movements in the country in the past. One Christian organisation was recently granted permission to print and distribute thousands of New Testaments. Syria's Christians are also restricted in their rights to meet, but the government has now donated land to build chapels and churches. In addition, water and electricity are available free of charge, as they are for mosques.

Source: Joel News Service and others.

USA: Evangelistic event - openness in Baltimore

At least 1,000 people have decided to become Christians during the first week of an evangelistic theatrical production in Baltimore, USA. At least 7,000 people watched the drama 'Eternity', which deals with 'life, death and life after death', in Baltimore's Rock Church between 23rd and 27th March 1998. Church reports speak of alcoholics and homosexuals responding positively to the altar calls at the end of the production. The event was spontaneously extended to April 3rd.

Source: Baltimore Rock Church, USA

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