DAWN Fridayfax 2001 #32

India

Revival in the Himalayas

A few years ago in the Christmastime snow, Caleb (name changed) wanted to go shopping. He was new in the Himalayas and wanted to stop in a town before traveling on. He noticed a group of passers-by gathered around a girl who was obviously demon-possessed, screaming and breaking the chains with which people had tried to keep it under control. A witch doctor was trying to drive the spirits out, but with no apparent success. Caleb was unsure of himself, so walked past to carry on with his shopping. "But within me, I was sure that Jesus could help the girl, so I eventually went back and offered to pray for her," he says. "The witch doctor simply smiled, and showed me the long list of sacrifices which he claimed the girl's family would have to make in order to appease the gods, telling me that I obviously did not realize the power of the spirits here. I remained steadfast, and was finally allowed to pray in Jesus' name. In my uncertainty, I prayed in tongues for the girl, and within a few moments, she calmed down and was completely freed. That caused some excitement, and the bystanders started asking where I lived and who I was."

"Does Jesus live here?"

"At 5am the next morning, we were all awoken by loud knocking: some 70 locals stood in front of the house, torches in hand, asking if Jesus lived here. Somewhat cautiously, we answered that he did, because he lives in us. At first we thought that the girl had relapsed, and the people had come to kill us. That was not the case! They had brought a number of sick people, and wanted us to pray for them before we moved on. It was amazing: every time I laid hands on someone, I knew exactly what to pray, and every person for whom we prayed was healed or set free. A steady stream of locals prevented us from continuing our journey that day as planned; we prayed with them until 8pm. There must have been 3,000 in total. We told them about Jesus as well as we could, and remained in the town. In a short time, so many people came to faith in Jesus that we could hardly keep count of how many we baptized. We began to organize them into house churches; the movement has become so strong that I estimate that already 10% of the population in the region follow Jesus," Caleb told us recently. "I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had simply ignored Jesus' voice telling me to pray for the girl on the street that day."
Source: Name and address withheld for security reasons

India

Pilgrimage to the Ganges becomes baptism

Rani (name changed) was a proud Brahman, who inexplicably married a Christian evangelist four years ago. She had a good job in the government, and whenever her husband tried to explain the gospel to her, she refused; she had her belief, and was a woman from the leading Hindu caste. In January 2001, her husband traveled as part of an evangelistic team to the Kumbh Mela, the Hindu festival which took place in Allahabad this year. Rani accepted the invitation to go along, thinking "finally, the chance to make a pilgrimage to the Kumbh Mela, even if I come as part of a Christian group." When she saw how the Christians prayed and fasted, she was amazed. "The God to whom the Christians prayed seemed to answer their prayers within ten or twenty minutes. I had never seen anything like it. That was disquieting, and I finally decided to try it for myself. Inexplicably, the money for our return journey had not yet arrived, so we were stuck in Allahabad waiting for the money transfer. That can take some time in India, so I prayed myself to Jesus: 'Please send us the money. If it is here in twenty minutes, I'll be convinced and will follow you like my husband. Twenty minutes later, we received a message telling us the money had arrived. I fulfilled my promise, converted and was baptized by my husband in the Ganges. Since January, I have led many women to Jesus, and have baptized 25 myself. Together with my husband, I travel around some forty villages, telling the people about Jesus and planting churches," she says, smiling.
Source: "Rani", name and address withheld for security reasons

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