We are coming close to another Christmas and in India’s present situation Hindu radicals are intimidating and attacking churches and Christian activities. They are putting pressure on the Christians that are sharing the Gospel with others who have never had an opportunity to hear the Gospel before. Christian festival seasons are always an open door to reach out to the unreached.
Last year our Christmas outreach team went to an unreached village in Rajasthan. No one in the village had heard about Jesus. Our team visited each home sharing the Gospel and distributing the Gospel of John to the ones who could read. Two members of our outreach team, a husband and wife entered a yard of a home and found a 30-year-old man lying in the bed in the sun. Our team tried to speak to him, but he did not reply. After a few minutes the man’s wife came out to our team members, and they shared the Gospel with her and inquired why her husband was laying unmovable in the bed. She told them that he had a bad stroke and became paralyzed two years ago. Our team members asked her permission to pray for him. As our team members approached him the man’s wife said please don’t go near him, he smells bad because he has bed sores, and they are in very bad condition.
She said the doctors in the government hospital won’t keep him in the hospital and sent him home. She told them that they have three children, the ages are from 7 down to 3. She is cleaning other people’s homes so she can feed her children. The past three days her youngest child was sick so she could not go and clean. It was a very sad situation. Seven of our team members came together and laid hands on the paralyzed man and prayed for him.
While they were praying for this man a group of Hindu radicals came to the house and began to shout praises to their Hindu god and goddess. Before finishing the prayer, they forced our brothers out of the house, and even kicked the backs of two of our brothers. They humiliated them and chased them out of the village. Our team members, with very heavy hearts left the village praying for our Lord to heal that paralyzed man.
Our brothers were busy with the Christmas outreach and public meetings. Near the Christmas outreach at a nearby village our brothers started a prayer meeting for the first time. A month after the weekly prayer meeting started, in the neighboring village, two young men brought a 30-year-old man to the meeting. Everyone thought he was brought in for prayer. During the prayer meeting this man stood with the help of the young men and shared that, “a husband and wife came to my house along with a few other young people [referring to our Christmas outreach team], they laid their hands on me and prayed for me. While they were praying for me because I was paralyzed, I felt a burning sensation going through my body. I lost my voice two years ago but that day I was able to make some noise. But no one could hear my voice because of the Hindu radicals shouting. The people praying were forced from my home that evening. But then, I was able to call my wife and my children by name. This past month I was able to talk and able to eat with my own hands and with the help of my wife I can walk. We wanted to meet the brothers and sisters who came and prayed for me, but we didn’t know where they were located. Yesterday, these young men who were part of the Hindu radicals that beat up and humiliated the brothers and sister came and told me that they have seen some of them every Friday.”
This man had been paralyzed and bedridden with bedsores. He smelled badly and there was no one to care for him or help prevent bedsores by turning him from one side to the other. He lived in poverty and had been left to die by the doctors. He had even asked his wife to give him some poison to kill him because of his hopelessness these past two years. But by the power of prayer and by our Lord’s mercy, this man was standing and giving the testimony that Jesus healed him by His power through his people.
This testimony being shared in the village has opened doors for invitations for our brothers to come back to the same village from where they were chased out. In the month of October, I (Regi) had the honor to conduct the first baptism in that village. 32 people took baptism including the man who had been paralyzed and his wife along with 11 men who beat up and humiliated our brothers and sister.
Help Us Share the Gospel
As we prepare for the 2024 Christmas outreach, please pray for us that our Lord would give us directions and lead us and guide us to reach the unreached with the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have a great need for resources, and financial needs for this outreach program. See this month’s partner letter for more details, and please prayerfully consider helping us to reach the unreached. Without your prayers and support we would not be able to harvest this harvest. To read more inspiring and exciting testimonies of what God is doing among the unreached people groups of India, click the links on the right, and keep reading!
Proclaiming the Gospel…
…until He comes