Last month Sherly and I (Regi) visited our mission stations in the tribal areas. During a meeting I was dedicating the child of our missionaries Arun and Vidhya, who have been involved with our mission work the past six years. Vidhya is a medical doctor who works in the tribal area. Their testimony amid personal suffering is a real miracle and a life-changing experience.
Arun’s Story
I was born in a high caste Hindu family; our family members were very strong idol worshipers and well known to the surrounding area for our position and views in favor of strong Hinduism and its practices. From childhood onwards, I was taught by my family that I was superior to other children by birth. I was especially taught how I should look down on the untouchables, and low caste children and mistreat them. I literally mistreated my classmates, but because of the fear of my parents no one came to talk, and no one was friendly with me in the school. As I grew up, I became desperate, seeing the low caste children playing and enjoying their meals together. But I was not allowed to join them.
During my college days, for the first time in my life I became friendly with one of my college classmates. I never asked whether she was low caste or high caste. I was afraid if she came to know my family background she would stop being my friend. Our friendship grew for over two years. Later, somehow my parents came to know about my friendship with Vidhya. She was from a low caste family, and my parents misunderstood our friendship. They mistreated and humiliated her and forced Vidhya and her family to flee our area. When I came to know about it, I was shocked and fell into a great depression. I was taken to many doctors and psychiatrists; I became the laughingstock of my family. Sixteen years ago, I ran away from my family, I was wandering from one temple to another for peace and comfort, followed all Hindu religious practices, followed many so-called Hindu saints but everywhere I saw the double standard and mistreatments to the low caste and untouchables.
I was getting desperate and tried to commit suicide by jumping in the holy river Ganges, thinking by doing so I would receive salvation. By our Lords grace, I was saved by a few untouchable children who were collecting the coins thrown in the river. In that untouchable village I met Ramesh (one of our house church leaders), who was leading a house church in that village. Seeing my weak physical condition, Ramesh took me with him to his village and his parents treated me as their own son and nursed me back to health. Through Ramesh I heard the gospel and the name of Jesus. The gospel changed my life and spread light into my life. As Ramesh spent long hours praying through the night, I sat with him in prayer. Over time, the Lord gave me my own words to pray, and for the first time my heart was moved with compassion; in tears I prayed for the people I met.
I began to travel with Ramesh, visiting different house churches and meeting new Christians. As I had fellowship with them, I discovered many of them were new Christians, who had been freed from the bondage of idol worship, the caste system, the untouchable label, and all kinds of demonic activities. They met with one another with respect, love and affection, and showed genuine care and concern. They treated everyone equally, cooked together, ate together, and served one another. It was completely against what I was taught in my childhood by my family, but I really liked it and enjoyed it.
Under Ramesh’s guidance, I was sent to another tribal area, where the house church was starting. It was an unreached area; people were poor and most of the people were bound laborers. The high caste and rich people were exploiting them by luring the poor tribal people into alcoholism and drug habits and forcing them to work for the high caste.
At this point in my life, I was fully dedicated to the Lord’s service and, along with other young people we were reaching the unreached villages with the gospel. By our Lord’s grace through signs and wonders the gospel began to transform the people, physically, spiritually and emotionally. As is said in the Bible “the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”
By our Lord’s grace we started 57 house churches in the tribal villages, fighting against all kinds of human threats and persecution. I was attacked by Hindu radicals, I was beaten up by the police and imprisoned for more than 6 weeks. While I was in prison, the authorities informed my family of my whereabouts, and my father and mother came to visit me. They asked me to reject my faith in Jesus and come back to the family, and they would accept me. When I said I would not reject Jesus, they officially disowned me. My own family then sent people to kill me. One evening I was returning from a house church meeting along with another brother, and a group of 9 people, including some of my cousins, attacked us in the middle of a field. They attacked us with sharp weapons and stabbed us repeatedly until both of us lay unconscious on the ground. Thinking we both were dead they left us by the roadside.
After three days when I opened my eyes, I was in a hospital receiving treatment. The people who saved us that night was another group of Hindu radicals. They were coming to the village that night planning to attack us. They were waiting to ambush us in another location, and since we didn’t show up they came searching for us. Finding the two of us wounded badly and bleeding, they became our “Good Samaritans” and rushed us to the hospital. They took care of us, even donating their own blood for us since we had lost a lot of blood. We urgently needed blood, and since there was no blood bank in the hospital, our own enemies became our helpers.
In the hospital our Lord had a great surprise for me. I recognized my old college friend Vidhya who was treating me. I could not believe my eyes! She and her family had been forced to flee because of her friendship with me. According to her, they ended up in another state where her parents worked as farmers. There she got a scholarship in a college and continued her studies. In the college through a friend, she heard the gospel, joined a youth group and became a believer. Her parents and relatives also disowned her and forced her out of their community for becoming a Christian. By our Lord’s grace she studied, became a medical doctor and was serving in the tribal area.
Two years ago, I (Regi) conducted Arun and Vidhya’s wedding. No one from their blood relations attended, but there were over 1,200 people from different tribes, their spiritual family, in attendance at the wedding. Today Arun and Vidhya are leading more than 68 house churches with the help of other house church leaders. Because of their leadership roles, they are facing lots of pressure from the government and from Hindu radicals. Their house and Vidhya’s hospital were raided last week. Arun and two other brothers were arrested last week and held in jail for 4 days. By our Lord’s grace we were able to raise bail for them to be released. The current situation is very tense and dangerous; the authorities have threatened Arun and Vidhya to leave the area, or they will bring fabricated charges against them and put them in prison. Arun and Vidhya need all our prayers.