51 Sermon Illustrations on Hinduism

While Christians and scientists have often clustered in opposite camps, scientific discoveries are exploding evolutionary theories that helped spark this division, according to astronomer Hugh Ross.

Ross, president of California-based Reasons to Believe network of Christian scientists, said new, more accurate dating methods are disproving past theories about fossil records. Scientists now know the geologic period known as the Cambrian Explosion is much briefer than they had thought, he said.

During the Cambrian period, 100 phyla (classifications of plant and animal kingdoms) emerged - the most significant appearance of life forms in history, Ross said. Since then, 70 phyla have disappeared, which he said contradicts evolutionary theory that more phyla should have materialized.

These discoveries forced one leading evolutionist to admit Darwinism had been "punctured," along with some of his pet theories, said Ross, who holds a doctorate in astronomy and has done post-doctoral work at the California Institute of Technology. "On secular university campuses, I haven't heard any defense of Darwinism the last two years, although I do get that on Christian campuses," he said. "With the recent scientific discoveries, many Darwinists realize the evidence for their position is so weak they don't bother to defend it publicly."

Besides deflating Darwin, scientific advances make it possible to prove the existence of God, Ross asserted, saying astrophysics can demonstrate that God transcends matter, energy, height, length, width and time.

This discipline also can prove God is a personal being encompassing intelligence, creativity, power, care and love, Ross continued. "Once you get to that, you have a bridge to Jesus Christ. Some astronomers concede that there is some great entity out there that is personal and cares for humanity, but then they drop the matter," he said.

Not only does science give proof of God, recent developments help shatter the claims of various cults and false religions, Ross said.

For example, Mormon scriptures claim life originated at the center of the galaxy on a planet called Kolob, Ross said, which supposedly has a 1,000-day rotation period.

However, because of the huge stellar density, life is impossible at the center of our galaxy, he said.

"Plus, a life-supporting planet must have a rotational period close to 24 hours. If it is brief, like Jupiter or Saturn's, the result is 1,000-mile-per-hour winds. If it as long as Kolob's, the night temperature would be near minus 460 degrees and the day temperature would exceed the melting point of lead.

"Astronomers can prove that (this) rotation would make it impossible for life to survive," Ross said. "Mormons picked the very worst place in the galaxy for their source."

Buddhists and Hindus also rely on a faulty foundation for their beliefs in reincarnation, he said. These religions teach there is a 4.32-billion-year cycle of reincarnation for the universe, which doesn't stand up to scientific examination, he said.

"If we can prove these religions are wrong about the universe, why should we give any weight to their other statements about reincarnation?" Ross asked.

Of course, the disappearance of various theories opposed to Christianity doesn't mean skeptics will quit, Ross added, citing a biologist at Cal Tech who has abandoned Darwinism in favor of "chaos" theory.

The latter is a belief that hidden in the complexity of chemical reactions is some unknown "self-organizing" principle. But, Ross said, scientists have never observed any self-organization outside of biological systems.

At the heart of every dispute over the origins of the world and humankind, James Odom reflected, lies the question: Where did it come from?

When Odom, of Huntsville, Alabama, was managing the Hubble Telescope in the mid-1980s, he came in contact with numerous astronomers. Many of them supported the "Big Bang" theory - which Odom doesn't necessarily disagree with, saying such an explosion may be an accurate way to describe how God created the universe.

"But when you asked, 'OK, but who created it? Where did the object come from that was exploded?' they spun out at that point," chuckled Odom, now senior vice president of an aerospace firm. "They would say, 'I can't answer that.'"

Hinduism is the world's oldest active organized religion. It is a complex family of sects whose copious scriptures, written over a period of almost 2,000 years (1500 B.C. - A.D. 250), allow a diverse belief system. Hinduism has no single creed and recognizes no final truth.

At its core, Hinduism has a pagan background in which the forces of nature and human heroes are personified as gods and goddesses. They are worshiped with prayers and offerings. Hindus can be divided into Popular Hinduism, characterized by the worship of gods through offerings, rituals and prayers, and Philosophical Hinduism, the complex belief system understood by those who can study ancient texts, meditate and practice yoga.

Other key areas of beliefs include:

• God: God (Brahman) is the one impersonal, ultimate, but unknowable,

spiritual reality. Sectarian Hinduism personalizes Brahman as Brahma

(creator), Vishnu (preserver), and Shiva (destroyer). Most Hindus

worship two of Vishnu's 10 mythical incarnations: Krishna and Rama. On

special occasions, Hindus may worship other gods, as well as family and

individual deities. Hindus claim there are 330 million gods. In

Hinduism, belief in astrology, evil spirits and curses also prevails.

• Creation: Hindus accept various forms of pantheism and reject the

Christian doctrine of creation. According to Hinduism, Brahman alone

exists; everything is ultimately an illusion. God emanated itself to

cause the illusion of creation. There is no beginning or conclusion to

creation, only endless repetitions or cycles of creation and

destruction. History has little value since it is based on an

illusion.

• Man: The eternal soul of man is a manifestation or "spark" of Brahman

mysteriously trapped in the physical body. Repeated lives, or

reincarnations, are required before the soul can be liberated from the

body. An individual's present life is determined by the law of karma

(actions, words and thoughts in previous lifetimes). The physical body

is ultimately an illusion with little inherent or permanent worth.

Bodies generally are cremated, and the eternal soul goes to an

intermediate state of punishment or reward before rebirth in another

body. Rebirths are experienced until karma has been removed to allow

the soul's reabsorption into Brahman.

• Sin: Hindus have no concept of rebellion against a holy God. Ignorance

of unity with Brahman, desire, and violation of one's social duty are

humanity's problems.

• Salvation: There is no clear concept of salvation in Hinduism. Moksha

(freedom from infinite being and selfhood and final self-realization of

the truth) is the goal of existence. Yoga and meditation taught by a

guru is one way to attain moksha. The other valid paths for moksha are

the way of works, the way of knowledge or the way of love and devotion.

Hindus hope to eventually get off the cycle of reincarnation. They

believe the illusions of personal existence will end and they will

become one with the impersonal God.

Witnessing to Hindus:

• Pray and trust the Holy Spirit to use the gospel message to reach the

hearts and minds of your Hindu friend.

• Share your personal faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Keep

your testimony short.

• Stress the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as God's revelation of himself.

• Stress the necessity of following Jesus to the exclusion of all other

deities. Keep the gospel presentation Christ-centered.

• Share the assurance of salvation that God's grace gives you and about

your hope in the resurrection. Make sure you communicate that your

assurance is derived from God's grace and not from your good works or

your ability to be spiritual (1 John 5:13).

• Give a copy of the New Testament. If a Hindu desires to study the Bible,

begin with the Gospel of John. Point out passages that explain

salvation.

Condensed from the North American Mission Board's Interfaith Evangelism Belief Bulletin on Hinduism by N.S.R.K. Ravi.

In recent months, two different Hindu cults in India have begun to embrace ancient sacrifice rituals, one using horses and the other using the "Nara bali" practice of human sacrifice. In the village of Juna Padia, Assam, 150 priests participate in ceremonies to slaughter 10 horses and collect their deified blood for, they say, peace and prosperity. And in the state of Orissa, because of a paucity of human volunteers to sacrifice, the Kamakhya Temple cult uses human-size effigies made of flour, which its leaders insist are just as powerful in impressing divine forces.

[BBC News, 4-3-02] [Washington Times, 4-11-02]

"I am by birth," said a converted Hindu, "of an insignificant and contemptible caste; so low, that if a Brahmin should chance to touch me, he must go and bathe in the Ganges to purify himself. Yet God has been pleased to call me, not merely to the knowledge of the gospel, but to the high office of teaching it to others." Then addressing a number of his countrymen, "My friends, do you know the reason of God's conduct? It is this: If God had selected one of you learned Brahmins and made you the preacher, when you were successful in making converts, people would say it was the amazing learning of the Brahmin, and his great weight of character, that were the cause. But now, when anyone is convinced by my instrumentality, no one thinks of ascribing any of the praise to me; God gets all the glory."

India: Couple hanged for forbidden love

Thursday, August 09, 2001

Police in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh have arrested seven people after two young lovers were hanged because they came from different Indian castes.

The boy and girl's parents were among those arrested.

The brutal deaths highlight the problems of the rigid caste system in India.

The couple, 19-year-old Vishal and Sonu, who was 18, were hanged one after another from the roof of a house in their home village in the Muzafarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh.

Their crime - to fall in love and come from different castes.

Rigid system

Vishal was a high-caste Brahmin and Sonu was a member of the lower caste Jat community.

Hundreds watched as the couple died.

The police have arrested their parents and other close family members and according to police reports, the entire village had been opposed to their relationship.

Caste - a complex system of social stratification with its origins in Hinduism - is very rigidly observed in parts of Uttar Pradesh, and the deaths of these two young people emphasises the huge divisions in Indian society.

But India has refused to allow the caste system to be included in discussions about racial discrimination at a United Nations conference on race and xenophobia in South Africa at the end of the month.

The Indian Government claims that the caste system is based on social rather than biological differences and therefore does not fall under the ambit of racial discrimination and intolerance.

Vrindavan, India (CNN) -- Ostracized by society, India’s widows flock to the holy city of Vrindavan waiting to die. They are found on side streets, hunched over with walking canes, their heads shaved and their pain etched by hundreds of deep wrinkles in their faces.

These Hindu widows, the poorest of the poor, are shunned from society when their husbands die, not for religious reasons, but because of tradition -- and because they’re seen as a financial drain on their families.

They cannot remarry. They must not wear jewelry. They are forced to shave their heads and typically wear white. Even their shadows are considered bad luck.

Hindus have long believed that death in Vrindavan will free them from the cycle of life and death. For widows, they hope death will save them from being condemned to such a life again. Watch how some widows are rebelling »

“Does it feel good?” says 70-year-old Rada Rani Biswas. “Now I have to loiter just for a bite to eat.”

Biswas speaks with a strong voice, but her spirit is broken. When her husband of 50 years died, she was instantly ostracized by all those she thought loved her, including her son.

“My son tells me: ‘You have grown old. Now who is going to feed you? Go away,’ “ she says, her eyes filling with tears. “What do I do? My pain had no limit.”

As she speaks, she squats in front of one of Vrindavan’s temples, her life reduced to begging for scraps of food.

There are an estimated 40 million widows in India, the least fortunate of them shunned and stripped of the life they lived when they were married. It’s believed that 15,000 widows live on the streets of Vrindavan, a city of about 55,000 in northern India.

“Widows don’t have many social rights within the family,” says Ranjana Kumari with the Center for Social Research, a group that works to empower women.

The situation is much more extreme within India’s rural community. “There, it is much more tradition-bound; in urban areas, there are more chances and possibilities to live a normal life.”

But the majority of India’s 1.1 billion population is rural. “The government recognizes the problem,” Kumari says. “It can do a lot, but it’s not doing enough.”

One woman, a widow herself, is working for change. Dr. Mohini Giri has formed an organization called the Guild of Service, which helps destitute women and children.

Giri’s mother was widowed when Giri was 9 years old, and she saw what a struggle it was. Then, Giri lost her husband when she was 50, enduring the social humiliation that comes with being a widow. At times, she was asked not to attend weddings because her presence was considered bad luck.

“Generally all widows are ostracized,” she says. “An educated woman may have money and independence, but even that is snatched away when she becomes a widow. We live in a patriarchal society. Men say that culturally as a widow you cannot do anything: You cannot grow your hair, you should not look beautiful.”

She adds, “It’s the mind-set of society we need to change -- not the women.”

Seven years ago, Giri’s organization set up a refuge called Amar Bari, or “My Home,” in Vrindavan. It has become a refuge for about 120 of India’s widows. Giri’s organization is set to open a second home, one that will house another 500 widows.

But as she says, “Mine is but a drop in the bucket.”

At Amar Bari, most widows reject traditional white outfits and grow out their hair. Along the open air corridors that link the house’s courtyard are green wooden doors, leading to dark tiny rooms, home for each widow.

Bent over by osteoporosis, 85-year-old Promita Das meticulously and slowly sweeps the floor just outside her door and then carefully cleans her dishes. “I came here when I couldn’t work anymore. I used to clean houses,” she says. “Nobody looked after me, nobody loved me. I survived on my own.”

She married at 12 and was widowed at 15. Seventy years later, she finds herself at Amar Bari. “I used to live in front of a temple, but then I came here,” she says.

She carries with her not only the pain of a life without love, but also the loss of her only child. She gave birth at 14; her baby lived a year.

Another widow, Ranu Mukherjee, wearing a bright red-patterned sari, shows off her room at the home and wants to sing for her guests. The lyrics of her song are about a lost traveler.

“When did you come here after losing your way?” she sings. “When I remember the days gone by I feel sad.”

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #22775]

Chuck Shepherd’s News of the Weird reported that priests in Kali temples in Tamil Nadu, India, still practiced an ancient ritual in which a child was buried alive (for 60 seconds) as a method of activating the Goddess Kaliamman to bless the child. Indian human rights activists complained; so this year, a priest in Madurai district demonstrated an altered ritual. The Goddess blessings would be conveyed, he said, by having each child lie down on special leaf mats while the priest leaped over each one.

__________

www.NewsoftheWeird.com; December 2003

“By the grace of God I am a Christian, by my deeds a great sinner, and by my calling a homeless wanderer, roaming from place to place.”

So begins the 19th-century spiritual classic “The Way of a Pilgrim.”

The words were written by an anonymous Russian peasant who strove to learn to pray without ceasing. But they accurately describe any follower of Christ with an honest view of self, a healthy disdain for the world and a true hunger for God.

Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah and other faithful servants of old were “strangers and pilgrims on the earth,” Hebrews 11:13 recounts. The Apostle Peter likewise urged the redeemed “as strangers and pilgrims” to abstain from fleshly desires (1 Peter 2:11).

Pilgrimage can become an unholy end in itself, however. “Those who go on many pilgrimages are seldom made perfect and holy by them,” Thomas a' Kempis warned five centuries ago in “The Imitation of Christ” as the Roman Catholic Church was sinking under the weight of superstition, idolatry and shrine worship. Yet he appealed to the true believer to “keep yourself as a pilgrim and a stranger here in this world, as one to whom the world's business counts but little.”

The urge to go on pilgrimage -- in search of holiness, revelation, wisdom, cleansing or divine favor -- is as old as mankind. There are countless inspirational (or irrational) destinations, from the birthplace of the Buddha to the tomb of Elvis. Seekers go to holy mountains, rivers and temples. Penitents walk or crawl great distances in hopes of gaining redemption. One holy man recently rolled sideways 1,500 miles across India to worship at a sacred site. Jews long for Jerusalem. Muslims take the hajj to Mecca. Hindus go the Kumbh Mela and other festivals.

At such events, Hindus believe physical time and space rendezvous with the spiritual and the eternal. “To them, going on a pilgrimage means going to heaven,” says one observer.

“There are thousands of holy sites in India,” a student of Hinduism adds. “Each day millions of Hindus are on pilgrimages. A pilgrimage may be a day trip to a holy banyan tree by a wife seeking the prosperity of her husband, or it may be the long journey to Varanasi to die in Hinduism's holiest place.” By bathing in holy rivers during the Kumbh Mela festival, they believe they will be “absolved of sin, receive bountiful blessings and attain salvation.”

In one sense, the Kumbh Mela captures Hinduism in a single time and place. Seekers come to worship any of a staggering variety of gods, to “make puja” (show reverence to some aspect of divinity through prayers and rituals), to seek power and purity, to attain release from the endless toil of the world.

“Pilgrims, not only from India but from around the world ... pour in, wave after wave, from every walk of life, caste and sub-caste.... Brahmin and untouchable, male and female ascetics, religious leaders and gurus of countless sects,” writes Cambridge University religion scholar Julius Lipner. “The journey itself to the site is a pilgrimage, gaining merit and expending sin and bad karma for the pilgrim.”

If conditions are just right, pilgrims believe, they may even attain “moksha” -- liberation from the cycle of rebirth.

There are nearly 840 million Hindus in India, and 40 million more in neighboring countries of South Asia. Faithful Hindus long to worship. God desires faithful worshipers. Can they be united to Him in spirit and truth? Yes, if they see that Jesus Christ offers true liberation, that He is the true Incarnation of God -- unique and absolute.

“May the Ganges River become known as the place where Indians go to be baptized in the name of Jesus,” a follower of Christ in India prays. “From the Himalaya Mountains to the tropical islands of the Maldives, may the glory of the Lord cover South Asia as the waters cover the sea. Dear brothers and sisters, I urge you, pray, pray, pray!”

I readily admit that forgiveness is unfair. Hinduism, with its doctrine of KARMA, provides a far more satisfying sense of fairness. Hindu scholars have calculated with mathematical precision how long it may take for one person's justice to work itself out: for punishment to balance out all my wrongs in this life and future lives, 6,800,000 incarnations should suffice.

Marriage gives a glimpse of the karma process at work. Two stubborn people live together, get on each other's nerves, and perpetuate the power struggle through an emotional tug-of-war. “I can't believe you forgot your own mother's birthday,” says one.

“Wait a minute, aren't you supposed to be in charge of the calendar?” “Don't try to pass the blame to me - she's your mother.”

“Yes, but I told you just last week to remind me. Why didn't you?”

“You're crazy - it's your own mother. Can't you keep track of your own mother's birthday?”

“Why should I? It's your job to remind me.”

The inane dialogue bleats on and on through, say, 6,800,000 cycles until at last one of the partners says, “Stop! I'll break the chain.” And the only way to do so is forgiveness: I'm SORRY. WILL YOU FORGIVE ME?

The word RESENTMENT expresses what happens if the cycle goes uninterrupted. It means, literally, “to feel again”: resentment clings to the past, relives it over and over, picks each fresh scab so that the wound never heals. This pattern doubtless began with the very first couple on earth. “Think of all the squabbles Adam and Eve must have had in the course of their nine hundred years,” wrote Martin Luther. “Eve would say, `You ate the apple,' and Adam would retort, `You gave it to me.’”

It is with great pleasure that I recount how the Lord by his grace saved me. In order to present more clearly the abundant mercies of God in saving me, I believe it is necessary to share a comprehensive background of my life. I shall endeavor to accurately portray the various events that led to my spiritual birth.

I was born and raised in the cosmopolitan city of Bombay (now Mumbai), India. I come from a family of five. I am the only son of my parents, and I have two sisters, one older and one younger. My parents are Hindus, and by default, that was what I called myself when asked about my religious beliefs, prior to being born again. Both my parents received their medical degrees and practiced medicine for several years, but as ironical as it may sound, they chose to leave that profession and become entrepreneurs because it is easier to support a family as entrepreneurs in Bombay. They would have loved for any one of their three children to become a doctor, but we all had other plans.

My ambition in life, from early childhood was to become a professional Cricket player. For those who may not be familiar with ‘Cricket’, it is a game somewhat similar to Baseball. I can recall having a Cricket bat very early in life. Through my school years, I played a lot of Cricket in a non-competitive environment. With the exception of having competed in one inter-school tournament, it was only after going to college that I started participating in competitive tournaments. During my undergraduate work, my life revolved around Cricket, and I would spend between ten to twelve hours a day in training. My efforts proved worthwhile, when in the summer of 1987 I learned of my inclusion in a nationally selected under-19 Cricket team that was to tour England and Scotland. I toured again with different members of the same team the following year, and was pleased with my performance during the tour. Upon my return to India, with hopes of representing the country, I found myself not being selected to play for my local college team. This was very disheartening to me, and I started to lose hope of ever making it.

As my aspirations were dashed to the ground, I despaired, and attempted to drown my sorrow by using alcohol. My continued frustration with Cricket led me to start smoking and increase my consumption of alcohol. I was now even willing to try drugs, and on occasion, I tried to comfort myself with the drug Hashish. The music and literature of Jim Morrison and The Doors, the writings of Neitzche, and existential philosophy were also influencing me.

During this time, my friend’s mother was involved with the National Association for the Blind (NAB) in Bombay, and suggested that he and I volunteer to help the blind children. We complied with her wish and volunteered infrequently. At this time my friend suggested that we apply to ‘Camp America’, which is an international program that recruits volunteers from all over the world to work at summer camps in the United States. His idea was that we could do the same type of work and yet see a new country. Our application made it through the selection process and Camp Dogwood for the Blind, North Carolina recruited me. It is at this camp that I met my wife Emily.

It was at Camp Dogwood, that Emily first shared with me the love of the Lord Jesus. She seemed very different than the rest of the counselors to me. Most of the counselors, including myself, eagerly anticipated the end of the day when our duties ended, so that we could indulge in partying. Emily would forsake this time with other counselors to be around the campers and would frequently sit with them on the porch listening to their life’s joys and trials. I could not understand why someone would do such an unselfish thing. Her tender acts of kindness caught my eye, and I found myself being attracted to her. For reasons I can not understand, she reciprocated my feelings, and for the first time in my life I had a girlfriend.

Emily must have been backsliding as a Christian to go out with an unsaved person, but I thank the Lord that he permitted it. Even when she was not walking closely with the Lord she stood out to me as different from the rest. On several occasions she talked to me about the Lord. She even convinced me to attend church with her and I enjoyed the hymns, but could not accept the message of Jesus Christ being the only way to heaven. In fact, during one of our discussions, I distinctly remember having told Emily quite emphatically, “I will never, ever say, that Jesus Christ is the only way to God!” However, I continued to attend the morning devotions because I knew I would see her. Some campers too, had asked me if I believed in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, to which I would nonchalantly decline. Both Emily and I returned to the same camp the following summer.

My mother had always insisted that if I had exerted the same efforts towards school and college work as I had towards Cricket, I would surely succeed. With a lack of better direction and purpose, and with Emily being in the United States as an incentive, I decided to pursue a Masters degree in the United States. During my second summer at Camp Dogwood, I received news of my acceptance into the Masters program at Clarkson University, New York. I did not return to India after the camp as planned, but instead went directly to New York for my Masters program.

I did not have a scholarship to attend Clarkson University, and my parents were paying for my education. Since the Indian Rupee is much weaker than the US Dollar, the cost of education in the United States was formidable. I was keenly aware of my parents’ sacrifice in order to lavish on me the privilege of studying in the United States. In an attempt to ease their burden, I strove to obtain a graduate assistantship.

I decided to take only three courses the second semester at Clarkson, hoping to obtain a high grade point average, and thereby secure a graduate assistantship. I had a class on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, each one being held late in the evening. This gave me plenty of time for introspection. Although I had had a good childhood, wonderful parents, loving sisters and friends, had traveled to various parts of the world, had the privilege of studying in the United States (in India, it is considered a great privilege to be able to ‘study abroad’), I was unhappy. I knew there had to be more to life. I began asking some basic questions like “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” and “Where am I going?” Having had a Hindu background, I immediately turned to one of the sacred Hindu books (‘Gita’) for answers. As I read the book, I found the thoughts quite profound and philosophical. However, it did not have any impact on my life. After I put the book down, it was as if I hadn’t read anything, because nothing changed in my life.

About this time, I happened to meet Heather, a Christian, over the computer network at Clarkson University. She witnessed to me about Jesus Christ, and asked me what I believed. I told her that I was very open-minded and believed all religions were a way to God. She replied, “If you are so open-minded, why don’t you read the Bible?” I complied, and she gave me her red-lettered Bible that had the words of Jesus in red. She suggested that I start with the book of John. She also invited me to a Bible study/prayer meeting, and to church. I attended the Bible study/prayer meeting one time, and decided that I would never return. Emily’s sister had also given me a book called ‘Death of a Guru’ which was about a Hindu priest giving his life to Christ.

Although I did not return to the Bible study, and tried to avoid Heather as much as possible, I continued to read the Bible. As I read it, I felt as if someone in the Bible knew my every thought, although I hadn’t shared it with anybody. When I read the word ‘hypocrite’, it was as if my name was being substituted because I did all my “works” to be seen of men (Matthew 23:5). When I gave to the poor, it was because I thought of how noble I was being in doing so, and how much better I was than the others who could care less. As I felt the words of the Bible piercing my soul, I ran across Hebrews 4:12-13 “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do”. I was convinced that there was something different about this book. Across from the page I read “…today if ye hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the day of provocation…” It seemed to be alive, and someone in there seemed to know me in a very personal way. I seemed to agree with everything that Jesus said. Well, almost everything. When I came across John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me”, I was very upset. “How could he make such an exclusive statement?!” I realized that if that statement was true, then I was certainly on my way to hell, and for that matter, almost everybody I knew was on the same path. I simply could not accept John 14:6.

About this same time Emily and I broke up on the grounds that I was not a Christian. She had promised her grandfather that she would marry someone who was definitely born again. I could not understand why she held such a strong view, especially because I accepted her religion without a problem. I was even willing to go to church with her.

Throughout the semester, I was greatly perturbed by John 14:6 and now, in addition to that, my break-up with Emily aggravated my frustration. I could not understand how Jesus could be the ONLY way! I could easily accept him as one of the ways, but I was upset that that was not what the Bible said. Also, I could not understand why Emily would not accept my then ‘Universalistic’ approach, when I accepted her religion.

One morning, as I sat on my bed, I was contemplating John 14:6, I had a gnawing unease about its meaning. I wanted to know the truth. I closed my eyes tightly shut and somewhat tauntingly asked Jesus Christ… “If you ARE the ONLY way, THE truth, and THE life, Why don’t you reveal yourself to me? … Or else I will not believe in you.” What followed is perplexing and to this day I do not understand it, neither do I think that it is crucial to do so. Nonetheless, here is a description of what ensued.

I saw myself surrounded by a glass cage that was mirror from the outside. Evil thoughts in the form of sentences were approaching this mirror “cage” from all sides. The mirror was really bright. It repelled these thoughts with amazing power. However, there was one persistent evil thought that kept attacking the mirror. (I don’t know have any knowledge of what that evil thought possibly was, but I knew it was evil.) It managed to make a small crack in the mirror, and kept increasing and widening the crack. I believed that if that particular thought broke through the mirror that my very life was endangered. At this point, I felt like someone lifted me out of this mirror cage, which was now slowly but surely cracking due to the evil force. At the same time, I saw a pair of caring hands dressed in white robes lifting a new born baby still attached to the mother’s umbilical cord about 2-3 ft. in the air. At that time, I believed the hands were Jesus’ hands. I also saw the words “propagate life”. After that I spoke to Emily about what I had seen, and she talked to her brothers and sisters about it. They suggested possible implications of such an event.

Also later in the day, I experienced something unusual. As I was reading Chapter 20: “New Life” of the book ‘Death of a Guru’, I felt like I was being drawn towards Christ. I looked out my window and watched the snowflakes gently settle on the trees. At this point I really felt like going to church or talking with Christians. But a voice inside of me said “Ashish, you are so obsessive, you will get all tied up in anything that appeals to you… first it was Cricket, then Jim Morrison and The Doors, and now it’s Jesus Christ… but this will not last long.” Then I tried to brush that thought aside, and continued reading the book. The very next sentence I read was “It is one thing to begin a Christian life with great enthusiasm, but it is something else to grow stronger daily in the faith and win others to Christ.”

I wrote a letter to the author of ‘Death of a Guru’ and asked… “Do you feel like Jesus is trying to tell me something through your book? Do you think he is knocking on the doors of my heart?” (At that time, not knowing to whom it was written, I believed that Revelation 3:20 was written specifically for me)… “If you dedicate your life toward a humanitarian cause, shouldn’t that help you attain salvation? Please recommend any books you feel appropriate, and enlighten me with your wisdom. I am hungry to know the truth”. I never heard from him, but I did decide to go to church that Sunday with Heather. She was ecstatic that I wanted to go.

That Sunday morning the preacher said that if anybody did not know Christ, and would like to know him, that they should see him after church. After the service, I made my way to him, and told him what had been happening in my life. I asked him if he understood the implications of what I had seen. He told me that he did not understand it, but what he did know, was that Jesus died for my sins. He asked me if I thought I was a sinner, to which I plainly affirmed “Of course”. He asked me if I wanted to know the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ, and receive the gift of eternal life by asking him to come into my heart. I had come to realize that Jesus was the way, the truth and the life, and I accepted it for what it said. I asked the Lord to forgive me my sins, and to come into my life. Leaving the church, I had the assurance that my sins were forgiven.

The pastor met with me on a weekly basis, and taught me the Scriptures. I had many questions in the Old Testament, and could not understand many things. However, I did believe that the Bible was true, and that it was the inerrant word of God. As I submitted myself to its teachings, I was convinced that I should be baptized. When I told my parents of what happened, they were very upset, and asked me to not be impulsive. They asked me not to get baptized. I asked them how long I should wait for them to know that it was not an impulsive decision, but one that I had carefully thought over, and they replied “a year.” Therefore, a year from the time that I talked to my parents, I publicly acknowledged him as my savior and invited all my friends to church. I was pleased that they came.

The Lord has since given me a better understanding of the word of God, and of things that I had no knowledge of then. It is my heart’s desire to study the riches of God’s word, and to please him and to serve him. In keeping with that goal, I have decided to study the Bible in a formal environment, where I can devote more time to it. I believe it will hold me in good stead wherever the Lord will have me serve.

Sincerely,

In Christ,

Ashish Majmundar

Bob Jones University student

Bitter over the death of his mother, Sundar Singh blamed God. The fourteen-year-old boy became vicious toward his Christian teachers. He threw filth on them, mocked their Scriptures, and interrupted classes. Then he made the ultimate gesture of scorn. He bought a Bible from the Christians. Outside his house he built a fire and page by page tore up the Scripture and burnt it.

“Although I believed that I had done a very good deed by burning the Bible, I felt unhappy,” he said. Within three days Sundar Singh could bear his misery no longer. Late one night in December 1903, he rose from bed and prayed that God reveal himself to him if he really existed. Otherwise -- “I planned to throw myself in front of the train which passed by our house.” For seven hours Sundar Singh prayed. “O God, if there is a God, reveal thyself to me tonight.” The next train was due at five o'clock in the morning. The hours passed.

A DRAMATIC CONVERSION

Suddenly the room filled with a glow. A man appeared before him. Sundar Singh heard a voice say, “How long will you deny me? I died for you; I have given my life for you.” He saw the man's hands, pierced by nails. This could only be Christ. In that moment of recognition, the boy who had burnt the Bible became a man who would endure anything for the Christ taught in it. He knew Christ as the Savior of the world and fell to his knees with a wonderful sense of peace. To meet Christ was only the beginning for Sundar Singh. He was a Sikh. Sikhs had endured terrible persecutions in their early history. As a consequence they were fiercely loyal to their faith and to each other. Conversion to Christianity was considered treachery. Now every effort was made to woo or coerce Sundar Singh back to his ancestral faith.

WHATEVER IT TOOK TO RECLAIM HIM!

His father pleaded. An uncle opened his cellar full of treasures and said they were all Sundar's if only he would return to Sikhism. A cousin with connections at court introduced him to the prince, who appealed to the boy's patriotism. His own brother spread lies about him. The gang he had led hurled muck at him. He was made to feel that his actions endangered others. Because of him the mission was attacked. Christians were denied service at the stores and driven into exile. A boy who followed Sundar Singh was poisoned to death. Sundar's father alternately pleaded with tears and raged with fury. Thinking marriage would change the boy's attitude, Mr. Singh ordered the fourteen year old to marry. Although parental commands are law among the Sikhs, Sundar Singh refused in Christ's name.

ACCURSED FOREVER

Finally Sundar Singh realized he must break with his people. He cut off the hair he had worn long like every Sikh man. Then he heard the words of outcasting spoken over him. “We reject you forever.... I declare you are no more worthy to be called our son.... We shall forget you as if you had never been born. You will leave this house with nothing but the clothes you wear on your back... .” Hours later he experienced wrenching pain in his gut. His family had poisoned his last meal. He staggered to a mission hospital. The missionary-medic was able to save the young man's life. Sundar now had a decision to make. Conventional Indian churches were willing to grant him a pulpit, but their rules were foreign to his spirit. Indeed, he felt that a key reason the gospel was not accepted in India was because it came in a garb foreign to Indians. He decided to don the yellow robe of India's holy men. Unlike them, he would not let dirt accumulate on his body or torture his body with ascetic practices. Dressed in his thin yellow robe, Sundar Singh took to the road. Wherever he went he preached the gospel of Christ. Sometimes he was blessed, sometimes cursed. He visited his own village and many of the gang members listened to him with curiosity and interest. A few became Christians. Sundar Singh was still a very young man. Already he had endured far more than most mature Christians ever experience. And his sufferings had only begun.

INTO FORBIDDEN LANDS

The mountains of Tibet called to him. In those remote regions were souls starved for the word of God. Buddhist monks exerted tremendous power over the nation. They wanted no part of the Christianity which might rob them of income and influence. Sundar Singh determined to enter the forbidden land with the gospel of Christ. Before his death he would travel into Tibet about twenty times.

HOW DID HE ESCAPE?

In 1912 in the Tibetan village of Lazar, he was beaten and thrown to die in a pit filled with rotting bodies. His arm was broken; the pit was sealed above him, and only the Grand Lama had the key. The stench was unbearable. Three nights later, Sundar heard the grate open. A shadowy figure lowered a rope and pulled him out. Next morning he boldly showed himself again, preaching in the streets. The Grand Lama seized him. Furious questions followed. Who had helped him? Who had stolen the key? He pulled the key ring from under his robe. But the key to the pit was still on it. Terrified, he freed Sundar Singh, expelling him from town.

REPEATEDLY DELIVERED

One time, Sundar was left bound to die in the forest of Nepal. Secret Christians came to his rescue. Another time, when he sang of Christ in prison, he was bound in stocks and hurled into the jungle to die. Again secret Christians came at night and released him, speaking to him for long hours of the faith they shared. Men who knew him said he was more like Christ than any other man they had known. He himself said, “A Christian is one who has fallen in love with Christ.” Later -- and amazingly -- his father became a Christian. To make amends for his former actions, he paid for Sundar's passage to the West to preach. Sundar visited Europe, England and America. What he found here upset him deeply. Shocked by Western materialism, Sundar Singh paraphrased Christ's words: “Come unto me all ye that are heavily laden with gold, and I will give you rest.” The Sadhu was glad to return even to Tibet after his experience in the West. Worn down, he no longer possessed the strength and will power of former years. For months he was very sick. In 1929, before he had fully recovered, he climbed again to Tibet. He never returned. Nothing was ever heard from him again.

JESUS WAS THE WATER OF LIFE TO SUNDAR

In Sundar's words: “Christ is my savior. He is my life. He is everything to me in heaven and earth. Once while traveling in a sandy region I was tired and thirsty. Standing on the top of a mound I looked for water. The sight of a lake at a distance brought joy to me, for now I hoped to quench my thirst. I walked toward it for a long time, but I could never reach it. Afterwards I found out it was a mirage, only a mere appearance of water caused by the refracted rays of the sun. In reality there was none. In a like manner I was moving about the world in search of the water of life. The things of this world -- wealth, position, honor and luxury -- looked like a lake by drinking of whose waters I hoped to quench my spiritual thirst. But I could never find a drop of water to quench the thirst of my heart. I was dying of thirst. When my spiritual eyes were opened I saw the rivers of living water flowing from his pierced side. I drank of it and was satisfied. Thirst was no more.”

ANOTHER SIKH, ANOTHER SINGH

Another Sikh who became an internationally known Christian was Bakht Singh. Born to wealthy parents in 1903, Bakht Singh was converted in 1929 (the same year Sundar disappeared) while studying in Manitoba. Knowing that his parents (like Sundar Singh's) would not accept his conversion, he returned to India with great trepidation. His fears were well-grounded. His wife left him. His parents and relatives rejected him. Despite suffering from a speech impediment, Bakht Singh became an evangelist. He spent hours a day on his knees studying the Scripture. He carried the Bible wherever he went and urged converts to read it daily. His sermons quoted extensively from Scripture. Revival followed wherever he went, but he was unsatisfied. Converts were not receiving the follow up they needed. What should he do? After a night praying on a mountain, he determined he must form a new kind of congregation for Indian believers, a congregation based on New Testament principles. He started over 500 of these local assemblies in his lifetime. Thousands of these Christian brethren gather each year in designated cities to hold Christian festivals which Bakht Singh established. They march singing and holding aloft Scripture banners. Bakht Singh helped make Indian Christians independent, the very thing Sundar Singh had wanted to do.

Remember CORRIE TEN BOOM, Heroine of the WWII Story The Hiding Place?

As a teenager, Corrie so badly wanted to hear Sundar Singh when he visited Europe that she came to his conference with a blanket, prepared to sleep in a field. It was not necessary. A kind student found room for her. So Corrie listened with awe as Sundar told how he had met Christ. Disturbed that as a Christian she had never seen a vision of Christ or performed miracles, she asked the Sadhu why. Sundar responded that she was the real miracle. He believed in Christ only after seeing Him. She, on the other hand, had merely heard and believed. He quoted to her Christ's words, “Blessed are those who have not seen but believed.”

“I was doing pretty well running my little shop in the Himalayas. The money was enough to keep my parents fed. But I knew I was missing something. Surely there was more to life than this. Yes, I looked forward to the day when I would marry and have children. But would they fill up the void in my life?

“My name is Ram. My father is Nepali. I can read three languages, Hindi, Nepali, and English. And how I love to read!

“For several years I studied the mystics, considered philosophies, and tried to understand the cosmos. One day I bought a Hindi book costing four rupees. I knew you couldn’t purchase the binding for that price. As I read, I discovered it to be the most valuable book in my library.

“It told me how this world began. It was full of exciting stories. It described a God unlike any I had ever read about. I began to ask if anyone else had read this book. But it seemed that I was one of the few in our high mountain valley who could read. And no one else seemed to have read this book.

“When I told my friends it was a Bible, they told me to stop reading it immediately. They said it was a book for foreigners, not Indians. They said that missionaries had sent the book to our town, but that these people could not be trusted because they did not respect our culture and would try to force people to change religions.

“I was curious and decided to find out for myself if these things were true. I asked if there were any missionaries in our town and was told there were not. A few months later I saw some strangers walk past my store and asked one if he was a missionary.

“‘Yes, I am a missionary,’ he replied. That’s when I met pastor Ravi. I told him about my heart’s desire to know the truth about reality. He lived several miles away in another Himalayan valley. But he often came to see me. Over time our friendship developed as he became my teacher.

“Soon I was sharing everything I learned with my family and neighbors as soon as my shop was closed each night. But I really wanted to spend every waking hour doing that.

“Recently pastor Ravi has provided me with a small stipend so I could close my shop, and learn how to make disciples full time. A few months ago, he appointed me as the shepherd of Dr. Jesus’ disciples in Anu’s village not far away, where we are praying that a house of prayer will soon be built on the former devil priest’s property.”

________

By John McGhee as told by Ram - Names have been changed to protect the Christians

Submitted by Leora DeWitt

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #20923]

As a child, “Salaam” loved to visit his grandfather, a devout and respected Muslim sheik, in the great man’s study.

They would talk of matters large and small, of God’s mercy and the things of this world. After his grandfather died, Salaam often returned to the silent study to feel close to his beloved elder. He perused the shelves, looking for the most well-worn books in order to seek out some of his grandfather’s wisdom.

One day he found a volume his grandfather obviously had read and studied for many years. It was the New Testament. As he turned the pages, Salaam encountered the loving God his grandfather had earnestly sought for a lifetime.

As a young man, Salaam met some local followers of Jesus Christ and discussed what he had learned from the New Testament with them. He soon committed his own life to Jesus –- despite the fact that he lives in a place where persecution for Muslim converts is guaranteed.

“We had the privilege of hearing him verbalize what had been going on in his heart since he was a little boy,” said a Christian who knows Salaam. “We saw him claim that truth for himself. Nothing we said or did meant anything, except as a channel for God’s work. God was working before we got there.”

Quiet decisions such as Salaam’s are being made around the world by Muslim-background believers in Jesus. But they’re easy to miss amid all the sound and fury about the supposed “clash of civilizations” pitting East against West.

A recent example: Muslims reacted with rage and violence after Pope Benedict XVI, during a September lecture at a German university, quoted the remarks of a 14th-century Byzantine emperor. The emperor had claimed the Prophet Muhammad brought “things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

The pope repeatedly apologized for the “unfortunate misunderstanding” caused by his use of the quotation, which he insisted did not represent his own views. The larger theme of his address was a call for reason and dialogue, an end to persecution of Christians in Muslim countries and a ban on forced conversions by any religion.

Benedict has made no secret, however, of his concern about the challenge of Islam in Europe, Roman Catholicism’s traditional heartland. The pope -- and some European political leaders -- see the sheer number of unassimilated Muslim immigrants flooding the continent as a threat to the Christian roots of Western civilization.

To the east, some of the pope’s Muslim counterparts view the onslaught of Western ideas with similar alarm. In India, meanwhile, increasingly militant Hindu leaders see Western influence –- and the growth of Christianity and Islam on the subcontinent –- as threats to their age-old culture.

“The chief driver of events right now is not only globalization –- the integration of economies and peoples,” observes David Brooks of the New York Times. “It’s also the contest among cultures over the power of consecration -- the power to define right and wrong.”

Many people believe a titanic new struggle has begun between East and West. Some see it as a political-military confrontation between freedom and totalitarianism. Others see a battle between dying (or resurgent) medieval superstitions and modernity.

Some leaders within the major Islamic, Christian and Hindu traditions –- including the pope –- worry that materialism and competing religions are overwhelming their long-held geographical bastions. To vastly oversimplify, “Christendom” generally dominated Europe and the West for centuries. Islam ruled Central Asia, the Middle East and large parts of Africa. Hinduism, Buddhism and related faiths permeated much of the rest of Asia.

But religious “spheres of influence” no longer exist. Practicing Muslims outnumber practicing Christians in many parts of Western Europe (although numerous Muslim and Hindu immigrants and refugees are coming to faith in Christ as they leave their homelands and establish themselves in Europe). The number of secularists and pagans in Europe surpassed the number of worshippers in the region’s Catholic and state-sponsored Protestant churches long ago.

The spread of Christian faith beyond its historical centers, however, is much more dramatic. Christianity’s main growth has been moving away from Europe and North America for decades. Historian Philip Jenkins described the shift in his groundbreaking 2002 book, “The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity” (Oxford University Press).

The world has arrived “at a moment as epochal as the Reformation itself,” Jenkins wrote. “Christianity as a whole is both growing and mutating in ways that observers in the West tend not to see.... (N)ews reports today are filled with material about the influence of a resurgent and sometimes angry Islam. But in its variety and vitality, in its global reach, in its association with the world’s fastest-growing societies, in its shifting centers of gravity ... it is Christianity that will leave the deepest mark on the 21st century.... Christians are facing a shrinking population in the liberal West and a growing majority of the traditional Rest. During the past half-century the critical centers of the Christian world have moved decisively to Africa, to Latin America, and to Asia.”

The church, in other words, may be experiencing a season of decline at “home,” but it has become truly global for the first time in its long history. That is a tribute, in part, to the success of the missionary movement over the last two centuries. But it has more to do with God’s Spirit moving across the globe to draw people to Himself.

God works through many cultures, but He is above and beyond culture. His sphere of influence is the globe. All cultures, all peoples ultimately will bow before Him.

Believers like Salaam know that. They are willing to live for Him and tell others about Him within their own varied cultures –- despite the threat of suffering or death.

“When you taste something so sweet, you want your family and friends to taste it, too,” says another determined follower of Jesus in Salaam’s homeland. “Isn’t God great?”

You’ve been sharing the Gospel with your father for years, but he has yet to trust Jesus as Lord.

Your daughter says she believes in Christ, but she doesn’t live for Him when others pressure her to live like the world.

The friend you faithfully taught and discipled seems to have abandoned his walk with God.

“Almost persuaded” goes the old hymn. “Almost persuaded now to believe, almost persuaded Christ to receive ....”

Almost persuaded, like King Agrippa after listening to the Apostle Paul’s powerful testimony (Acts 26:28). Almost persuaded to believe, to follow, to obey.

Almost –- but not quite.

You continue to love and share and pray. One day, you hope, the people you care about so deeply will follow the Lord with all their hearts.

As you pray for the ones close to you, however, add a word for “Awwab,” a Muslim-background follower of Jesus in South Asia. He served for more than a year on a Christian ministry team reaching out to other Muslims, but fell back into his old life of drugs and drug dealing. He wants to break free once and for all of the lies, the misery and the crime, but he needs to display true repentance. Pray that his hunger for God will outweigh all other desires, and that the team will know when and how to offer him a second chance.

Lift a prayer for “Maria,” a 27-year-old mother of five who lives in a one-room wooden shanty on the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia. She sells eggs and produce to feed her children, but it’s not enough. She wants desperately to live for God, to sense His love and forgiveness, but her boyfriend threatens to cut off his minimal support for the children if she “gets religion” and stops letting him sleep with her. Maria represents many Lucian women caught between trusting in Christ and in tenuous relationships with others, between faith and fear. Pray that she will step out for Jesus -– and lead others to follow.

“David,” a house church member among the Zulus of South Africa, also feels caught -– between his growing faith in Jesus and his wife, a “sangoma” or witchdoctor. She’s angry about his involvement in the church. Pray that she will see beyond Satan’s lies and embrace the truth of the Gospel. Pray that David will remains steadfast in his commitment to Jesus and lead his wife to saving faith.

Intercede for “Jacob,” a Jewish man in full religious dress who recently approached a female Christian worker on an ancient street in Jerusalem. She was amazed, since Orthodox Jewish men in Israel seldom speak to non-Jewish women.

“I know you don’t know me, but I have seen you for years here, and I know you are a believer in Yeshua (Jesus),” he quietly told her. Then he took something out of his wallet: the fish sign early followers of Jesus used to identify themselves and greet one another. He has been a believer for years. Jacob’s late father followed Jesus, too, but he suffered harassment for his faith and saw his store burned down. So Jacob decided long ago to worship in secret to protect his family and livelihood. Pray that one day he will declare his faith openly and without fear.

“Zoya,” a high-caste Hindu in urban India, has other reasons for hiding her interest in Jesus. She’s a powerful businesswoman who spends most of her days taking calls on her mobile phone, meeting clients and supervising work in her manufacturing centers. She admits getting her greatest satisfaction from achieving success, making money and enjoying her many possessions. She also continues to perform traditional Hindu rituals and prayers.

Recently, however, Zoya told a Christian friend that she was “praising God” after attending a worship time centered on Jesus. Pray that she will see that life is more than collecting things, that it is a relationship with the God who is beginning to reveal Himself to her.

Pray for the Muslim villagers in West Africa who recently prayed to receive Christ but now struggle with persecution and isolation. “I just can’t leave” Islam, admits one village woman. “When the prayer call sounds, I just have to bow down, or I shake. No one will help us if we become believers in Jesus. We’ll be all alone” –- a fate worse than death in her culture.

Pray for the three Palestinian Muslim students who were out “cruising” one recent Sunday and offered some Christian friends a ride to church. When they reached the church, the friends invited them in. Two of the students nervously accepted. Within minutes, they were singing and clapping along with the worship choruses and listening intently to a message about God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Now they’re asking questions about “the three gods.” Pray that they will comprehend the one God –- and how much He wants to enter into a relationship with them.

Across the world, people are struggling to understand who God is, to give their lives to Him fully, to declare His love to their families and villages and cities. Their ultimate decisions will change history -– their own and their cultures’ –- for eternity.

Almost persuaded. Lift them up, so that “almost” will become “yes.” Completely persuaded.

From the outside looking in, an intelligent observer can see the signs of a once-great civilization in decline: rising corruption, sexual licentiousness, and the abandonment of once-cherished moral principles.

The once-great civilization is Western Christendom. And the outside observer is Indian scholar Vishal Mangalwadi. His new book, TRUTH AND TRANSFORMATION: A MANIFESTO FOR AILING NATIONS shows how dearly the West is paying for abandoning the Christian worldview — the very worldview that made its greatness and prosperity possible.

It is no coincidence, Mangalwadi argues, that reason, science, and advanced technology developed and thrived in the West. That’s because Western man believed that God created an orderly universe that could be explored and understood — and whose resources could be harnessed to benefit mankind.

And because they believed that man was created in the image of God, the American founders could write that all men “are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.” Such thinking would have been preposterous in Hindu India or Confucianist China.

Mangalwadi, who has spent years in rural India trying to help the poor escape poverty, knows firsthand the practical consequences of a false worldview.

He relates how a village of poor farmers has been unable to overcome the repeated catastrophic flooding of their fields. Why not? Because they worship the river that destroys their livelihood. They never would have thought to create channels to divert the water. Instead of establishing dominion over the river, they have let the river — a god in their eyes — establish dominion over them.

Many of Mangalwadi’s efforts to help India’s “untouchables” develop a sustainable livelihood have been thwarted by upper-caste Brahmins — who feel they have a religious right to steal the fruits of the lower caste’s labor. No wonder India, the world’s largest democracy, still struggles with corruption and catastrophic poverty.

Thus Mangalwadi wonders why the West, rich in material and political blessings, would turn away from the source of its success — the Christian worldview anchored in the Scriptures.

And turn away it has. We see the fruits of this rejection in the economy (where debt is embraced and “thou shalt not steal” is ignored). We see it in our courts. Mangalwadi actually predicts the collapse of the American judicial system within a generation. “As Americans cease fearing God,” he writes, “they no longer keep their vows and promises.” The result is “a costly litigious society ... of godless people ... unworthy of trust.”

And every day we see the rejection of the Christian worldview in the media and in our universities — where Mangalwadi notes, the totalitarian philosophy of naturalism demonizes anyone who dares to believe in God or the supernatural.

Mangalwadi says the West has a choice: “either to seek the knowledge of God once again, or to slide into an abyss of pagan ignorance, corruption, and slavery.”

What makes this book so important is that Mangalwadi views us from outside, looking in as an Indian. He sees what the Church must do to help the West make the right choice.

________

Copyright (c) 2009 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

Ms. Malathi was born into a Hindu family and brought up in that religion. She knew about Jesus but always thought that he was one of the gods. One day, a woman in her neighborhood gave her a Bible. Her family did not own a TV and there wasn’t much in the way of entertainment so she started to read the Bible.

As she read the Gospels she was surprised. In Hinduism, gods came to rescue good people from their enemies’ hands, but Jesus Christ came and gave his life for sinners. This grabbed her interest and she continued reading the Scripture regularly. She noticed that her behavior started to change day by day. Eventually she made a decision to become a Christian.

Her desire to know and serve Jesus grew and it motivated her to enroll in the Jubilee Memorial Bible College in Chennai, southeast India. However, the classes were conducted in English, which she did not know well, and on her very first day she dropped out and went home. Fortunately she returned to spend a year mastering English and taking a pre-theology course and she continues in her studies there.

Recently, a man in Pakistan’s Sindh province took a bath, met with his family, and then killed his three daughters and himself.

This was not your run-of-the-mill murder-suicide. It was human sacrifice to a god who couldn’t be more different from the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That god was the Hindu deity Kali, who is often depicted wearing a garland composed of severed human heads. When the British arrived in Calcutta in the 18th century, a boy was sacrificed every day at her temple.

Over the years, pumpkins, effigies, and goats have replaced people in the sacrifices. What hasn’t changed is the belief in Kali’s appetite for blood. Thus, while what happened in Sindh was rare, it was not unheard of.

Several devotees, known as “tantrics,” have been arrested for performing human sacrifices. In every case, the goal was the same: to appease Kali and obtain favors such as wealth, happiness, and, ironically, children.

I want to emphasize that Hindus are among the most peace-loving people in the world. The actions of these people are by no means representative.

What is representative, however, is their belief that worship largely consists in appeasing the deity. In order to obtain favor, the worshipper must offer the proper sacrifice. Get it wrong and your prayers aren’t answered. Or worse.

This worldview is very similar to that of the ancient world into which Jesus became incarnate. The pagan gods were a fickle and demanding lot who demanded blood and abasement from their worshipers — and even then “answered” prayers only on a whim.

This is why so many classical philosophers, like many of their Indian counterparts throughout history, were put off by popular religious practices. So they substituted an “unknown” god and an unknowable god.

Once you understand the options, it’s easy to see why the Gospel turned the classical world upside down. It revealed a God who was neither remote nor capricious. He wasn’t driven by human-like appetites and petty emotions. He is motivated by love for His people and the good of His worshippers.

This God desires “mercy, not sacrifice,” and to prove how much He meant it, He sacrificed his only Son so as to render all other sacrifices unnecessary.

This message took the classical world by storm — and continues to do the same thing in our world today. Its message that Christ has triumphed over death and “the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” is liberating, not only on a personal level but also on a societal level.

The idea of man made in God’s image revolutionized ideas about human life and ethics and provided a whole new way of seeing life in the Western world.

How ironic that we in the post-Christian West are exchanging belief in the “personal, benevolent God” of Christianity for a sanitized paganism. Whether it’s “new age” mumbo jumbo or Wicca for Dummies, we have forgotten the dread these beliefs caused our ancestors and the awful things it made them do.

On Good Friday, as we commemorate Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice on the cross, we’d do well to remember that we are no longer slaves, we are heirs — children of God. And that is very good news, indeed.

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Copyright (c) 2010 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

It’s amazing how many celebrities wreck themselves trying to ride a motorcycle. The long list includes Bob Dylan, Ben Roethlisberger, Gary Busey, Liam Neeson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, T.E. Lawrence, Keanu Reeves, Duane Allman, and French actor Gerard Depardieu, who’s been in over a dozen crashes, one of them breaking a leg in five places. But he keeps riding, saying he’ll never be able to give up the “feeling of freedom.”

When I see professing Christians, indeed professing preachers, go goofy over Gandhi, I think of the amateur motorcycle enthusiasts enjoying the frisson of their first rides. Despite generous biblical warning, they jump on the Gandhi machine and roar down the road toward pluralism. I have no doubt it makes them feel good and the waves and cheers from the sidewalks can be intoxicating. But the cost is dreadful.

Which brings us to Rob Bell, author of the hot-seller, “Love Wins.”

He begins his book with an anecdote and some “penetrating” questions. His church held a “peacemaking” art show, and one of the pieces featured a quote from Gandhi. When someone attached a piece of paper saying, “Reality check: He’s in hell,” Bell headed to the Harley dealership:

“Really? Gandhi’s in hell? He is? We have confirmation of this? Somebody knows this? Without a doubt? And that somebody decided to take on the responsibility of letting the rest of us know?” (page 7)

First, it’s important to note what he doesn’t say. He might have attempted a conciliatory defense, something like this: “Granted that Gandhi needed to accept Jesus as his Savior and that, without Christ, he did, indeed, face hell, we can still appreciate some of his words. And though this is a Church-sponsored show, it doesn’t hurt to draw from outside sources for wisdom. Indeed, all truth is God’s truth. Besides, the Mahatma might have privately turned to the Lord for salvation in the days or moments before his death. We’ll never know this side of the grave. We can only pray that he had a heart change which he didn’t have time to express.”

Of course, Bell has no taste for this. He’s saying something else -- that such a great, sensitive guy as Gandhi may well have gotten into heaven on some sort of great-sensitive-guy track.

Actually, he doesn’t quite have the oomph to say this, so he goes the haughty-question route, which protects the “inquirer” from heresy charges, even elevating him above the merely orthodox to the higher plane of disinterested, non-parochial reflection. This approach is akin to that taken by those who want to slam something but they prefer to test the waters before they commit, as in “What did you think of today’s chapel speaker?” A bit less than manly, I would say.

I suggest that Bell catch up on his reading. He might start with Richard Grenier’s 1983 book, “The Gandhi Nobody Knows,” a reaction to adulation generated by Richard Attenborough’s worshipful and Oscar-winning film, “Gandhi.” Or Andrew Roberts’ “Among the Hagiographers” in The Wall Street Journal. Roberts’ review of the new Gandhi bio, “Great Soul” by Joseph Lelyveld, picks up on the book’s evidences that Gandhi was in no more position to stand in the judgment on his own merits than anyone else.

Check out these sources and you’ll find that Gandhi was callous toward his wife and kids. He was contemptuous of God’s good gift of sexual intimacy within marriage while, at the same time, taking grotesque liberties in intimacy. Though he softened his stance toward “untouchables,” renaming them “children of God,” he never rejected the Hindu classification system. He urged the English to surrender to Hitler, while he, himself, refused to surrender to Christ. And you can read the rest.

Of course, Gandhi was fortunate that he took on the British. His efforts would not have gone down so well had the colonialists been Muslim, Shinto or Stalinist. And he’s been very fortunate to enjoy the adulation of those inclined to declare him spiritually acceptable if not transcendent. But it’s time for a reality check. As Jesus said, in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” That’s true for Gandhi as well as for you and me.

________

Mark Coppenger is professor of Christian Apologetics at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and director of the seminary’s Nashville extension. This column first appeared at the blog of BibleMesh.com, a Christian website with the goal of helping “people learn the comprehensive story of Scripture” and applying “it to all aspects of life.”

“I was doing pretty well running my little shop in the Himalayas. The money was enough to keep my parents fed. But I knew I was missing something. Surely there was more to life than this. Yes, I looked forward to the day when I would marry and have children. But would they fill up the void in my life?

“My name is Ram. My father is Nepali. I can read three languages, Hindi, Nepali, and English. And how I love to read!

“For several years I studied the mystics, considered philosophies, and tried to understand the cosmos. One day I bought a Hindi book costing four rupees. I knew you couldn’t purchase the binding for that price. As I read, I discovered it to be the most valuable book in my library.

“It told me how this world began. It was full of exciting stories. It described a God unlike any I had ever read about. I began to ask if anyone else had read this book. But it seemed that I was one of the few in our high mountain valley who could read. And no one else seemed to have read this book.

“When I told my friends it was a Bible, they told me to stop reading it immediately. They said it was a book for foreigners, not Indians. They said that missionaries had sent the book to our town, but that these people could not be trusted because they did not respect our culture and would try to force people to change religions.

“I was curious and decided to find out for myself if these things were true. I asked if there were any missionaries in our town and was told there were not. A few months later I saw some strangers walk past my store and asked one if he was a missionary.

“‘Yes, I am a missionary,’ he replied. That’s when I met pastor Ravi. I told him about my heart’s desire to know the truth about reality. He lived several miles away in another Himalayan valley. But he often came to see me. Over time our friendship developed as he became my teacher.

“Soon I was sharing everything I learned with my family and neighbors as soon as my shop was closed each night. But I really wanted to spend every waking hour doing that.

“Recently pastor Ravi has provided me with a small stipend so I could close my shop, and learn how to make disciples full time. A few months ago, he appointed me as the shepherd of Dr. Jesus’ disciples in Anu’s village not far away, where we are praying that a house of prayer will soon be built on the former devil priest’s property.”

________

By John McGhee as told by Ram - Names have been changed to protect the Christians

Submitted by Leora DeWitt

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #20923]

Dr. Jacob Chamberlain, an early missionary to India, recalls that while preaching to a group who had come to bathe in the “sacred stream” of the Ganges, a man joined them who had crawled many agonizing miles on his knees and elbows to reach that spot. The poor exhausted soul made his prayer to Gunga, and then slipped into the water but emerged with the same conviction of sin as before. The fear of death still tugged at his heart. Then he heard Chamberlain tell the wonderful story of grace and how Christ died on the cross to rescue needy sinners. With new hope the man staggered to his feet, clasped his hands together, and cried, “Oh, that's what I need! Forgiveness and peace!” The missionary soon led him to Jesus.

India: Couple hanged for forbidden love

Thursday, August 09, 2001

Police in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh have arrested seven people after two young lovers were hanged because they came from different Indian castes.

The boy and girl's parents were among those arrested.

The brutal deaths highlight the problems of the rigid caste system in India.

The couple, 19-year-old Vishal and Sonu, who was 18, were hanged one after another from the roof of a house in their home village in the Muzafarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh.

Their crime - to fall in love and come from different castes.

Rigid system

Vishal was a high-caste Brahmin and Sonu was a member of the lower caste Jat community.

Hundreds watched as the couple died.

The police have arrested their parents and other close family members and according to police reports, the entire village had been opposed to their relationship.

Caste - a complex system of social stratification with its origins in Hinduism - is very rigidly observed in parts of Uttar Pradesh, and the deaths of these two young people emphasises the huge divisions in Indian society.

But India has refused to allow the caste system to be included in discussions about racial discrimination at a United Nations conference on race and xenophobia in South Africa at the end of the month.

The Indian Government claims that the caste system is based on social rather than biological differences and therefore does not fall under the ambit of racial discrimination and intolerance.

Friendship evangelism is easy to initiate with Hindus because they esteem religion. To build a positive witness and break down understandings, follow these principles:

1. Don't criticize or condemn Hinduism.

2. Do not argue or debate on points where we must disagree. Focus on Jesus.

3. Don't suggest that a separation from family or culture is necessary to

become a Christian.

4. Avoid all hints of triumphalism and pride.

5. Do not speak quickly on hell, or Jesus as only way of salvation.

Let them come to their own conclusions.

6. Never hurry. Pushing for a decision does great harm.

7. Do not force Christian ideas into passages of Hindu scripture.

8. There must be no sectarian Christian appeal.

9. There must be no pretense or pretending.

Positive principles in evangelizing Hindus:

1. Work into your life the traditional Hindu (and biblical) values of

simplicity, renunciation, spirituality, and humility.

2. Empathize with Hindus.

3. Know Hinduism and each individual Hindu.

4. Be quick to acknowledge failure.

5. Center on Christ.

6. Be quick to acknowledge mystery and lack of full understanding.

7. Share your testimony.

8. Lead in prayer and worship together with your Hindu friend.

This is a story written by Dr. Donald McGavran in 1937 and published in a very scarce book, "The Founders of the Indian Church." The story presented here is true and as applicable to our mission strategies today as it was in 1937.

The Story of Ditt

=================

There once was a man named Ditt who lived in the land of the Punjab in India. The Hindus called him an Untouchable. He was short, dark, and lame. He was a laborer in the village and also bought and sold hides. He was in good standing in the Chuhras caste there.

One day Ditt heard about Jesus Christ, the sinless Incarnation of God, had gone about doing good, had given men wonderful teaching, and had died on the Cross that men might obtain salvation. Ditt said, "I want that kind of Lord, One who loves sinners and saves them from sin and ignorance and teaches them the truth about God. I want a religion in which there is no caste, where we Chuhras will learn that we are men every bit as good as Brahmans and Thakurs." Ditt set to work at once, before seeing any padre or preacher, to learn about the Christian religion. He visited a nearby Christian, and from him learned the Ten Commandments, the Apostles Creed and the Lord's Prayer. He committed them to memory. Then he walked 25 miles to the Mission House in Sialkot and said to the padre there, "I wish to be baptized."

The padre said to him, "Stay here in Sialkot for a few months. Attend Church. Learn further. Then I will baptize you." But Ditt said, "Sir, I already know all that you require for baptism. I cannot stay, I have my work to do. My family is expecting me to return. Please baptize me now."

The padre examined him again, and finding that Ditt really did know the Commandments and the Creed and the Prayer, baptized him. He then said to him, "You are a new Christian. If you go back to your village, people will laugh at you, and persecute you, and put you out of caste. You had better stay here with us. We shall give you a job and you can earn your living here. Bring your wife here and she too will become a Christian."

But Ditt said immediately, "No, Padre Sahib, I must go back to my village. I have not abandoned my people. I still love them. I am mot a coward to run away and become a Christian. I did not become a Christian for a job. I have my work. I shall go back and bring all my people to Christ, that they too may be saved."

So the padre had a prayer with him, and asked God to bless Ditt and strengthen him and make him a good Christian, and help him to bring all his people into salvation.

Ditt had five brothers living in Shahbdike with him. They and their families numbered sixty persons. All these people were angry with Ditt when he returned as a Christian. They shouted at him, saying, "You are ruined. You have disgraced us. You are a fool. You cannot eat or drink with us. You cannot sit in our panchayat. You cannot smoke with us." They abused him and ridiculed him. His wife refused to cook for him or to eat with him. The village landlord refused to give him any work. The money lender said, "Since you are a Christian I will not loan you any more money.

But Ditt remained firm in his faith. To his brothers he replied, "I am not ruined. Instead, I have found a Savior who will benefit me and you as well, when you too obey Him. To his wife he was kindly, and did not abuse her for refusing to cook his food. This surprised his wife very much. To the landlord he was respectful, more respectful than before, and said, "Sir, I will do your work faithfully and well. What difference does it make to you that I have begun to worship Jesus Christ?" After about a month the landlord gave Ditt a bit of work to do. Ditt did it so well that after that the landlord gave him work regularly. At the end of the year when the money lender refused to give the Christian money, the land lord gave him a loan. Thus Ditt remained with his people and refused to consider himself an enemy or an outcast. He said, "What I have will benefit all my people."

A few days after his baptism, when his wife was scolding him for becoming a Christian, he said, "Listen to these words of God. Are they not wonderful? Why don't you learn them too?" His wife answered, "I? I cannot learn. I am a woman." Ditt replied, "Christ gives women power to learn. Repeat these words over together with me and you will learn them." They repeated the words of the Lord's Prayer over forty times and Ditt's wife to her surprise found that she too could say the Lord's Prayer. Then she listened with great attention to the stories of the great and wonderful works of the Lord Jesus, and of His death on the Cross for sinners. She decided to give her heart to Jesus Christ. Ditt's daughter too decided to become a Christian and the man and wife living in the next house learned the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments and the Creed with the wife and daughter. They too were soon ready to become Christians. Three months from the date of Ditt's baptism these four people walked 25 miles to Sialkot and were baptized and then walked back to their village.

Now the whole village was aroused. Five people had become Christians. People asked Ditt, "What did you get for becoming a Christian? Money, legal help, a loan?" Ditt answered them clearly, saying, "Whoever changes his religion for money is a rascal. I work as I did before. I live in my old home. I have received nothing from the Christians but the true religion, a religion in which there is no idol worship, no worship of the Brahmans, and no castes. I now have a Bible which tells us that there are no high caste and no low caste, but all are equal in the sight of God, and all are brothers here on earth. This is the true religion. I have found the true religion, therefore I have become a Christian." This testimony greatly impressed his relatives. Four men started to come and learn Christian truth from Ditt and his family. Six months from the date of Ditt's baptism he took four men to Sialkot for baptism. There were now nine Christians in Shahabdike Village. The padre visited the village now. While the padre was there Ditt was able to convince many others of the truth of Christian religion. All these Christians continued to live in their village and to do the work they formerly were doing.

Part of Ditt's work was buying and selling hides. He had to travel around to many villages. Wherever he went he said to the Chuhras, "My friends, we Chuhras must find a way out of our sin and ignorance. Our present religion tells us that we are untouchables. It keeps us ignorant. We have no Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ came to save just such people as we are, save them from sin and from ignorance, and to make it possible for them to live a good life and go to heaven. All Chuhras ought to accept the Lord Jesus Christ."

Chuhras would object, saying, "If we become Christians, we shall lose our relatives." Ditt would say to them, "Not at all. Look at me. I became a Christian, and while it is true that for a few weeks people were angry with me, first my wife and then my neighbors and relatives have become Christian. Within a few years all of my relatives will be Christian. Because this is the true religion, everyone will become Christian. You become a Christian and others will follow." Hearing this many Chuhras in many villages started to become Christians. Eleven years after the conversion of Ditt, 500 Chuhras were received in the church. By 1900 over half of the Chuhras in Sialkot District had become Christian and by 1915 all except a few hundred of the Chuhras had become Christians.

Thus Ditt's example caused 100,000 people to become Christians. He led them out of darkness into light, out of slavery into freedom.

Hearing of the people who were becoming Christian in Sialkot District, other Chuhras in the Punjab became Christians, so that in the 1930's in the Punjab there were 450,000 Christians and the number is growing rapidly year by year. Recently, all the Chuhras of the Sialkot District have started to raise money to build a great church to the memory of Ditt, the man who was used by God to bring Salvation to all the Chuhras. His memory is held sacred.

The four previous encounters between the Hindu man and the young Sri Lankan pastor had been violent. Each time, Balram [a pseudonym] led a mob attacking Vijyaraj, the young pastor. Each time Vijyaraj was tied up and severely beaten and his church set ablaze.

And each time, the congregation of Heavenly Mission Harvest Church rebuilt and Vijyaraj kept preaching about Jesus.

But when the two men met for a fifth time, in the horrific aftermath of Sri Lanka's tsunami, Vijyaraj lived out a sermon on forgiveness.

In four years since becoming the first Christian convert in his rural fishing village of 300 people, and despite the fierce persecution of the militant Hindus, Vijyaraj has led his church to grow to include 27 families. They all were worshiping on the morning of Dec. 26 when the tsunami swept onto the coast of Sri Lanka. While many church members lost homes and fishing boats, not a single Christian from the village drowned, though as many as 10 of their neighbors died.

When a disaster-relief team from Baptist Child and Family Services of San Antonio, Texas, arrived less than two weeks later, two volunteers -- medical doctor Andrew Bentley and psychologist Richard Brake -- went to the village to set up a clinic.

“We were told not to mention Gospel for Asia [the group Vijyaraj's church is part of] because of the hostility,” Bentley said. “And I imagine that's why the clinic was at the pastor's house instead of at the church. The idea was to help the entire community.”

“I noticed an old man with a glazed look,” explained Bentley, from Tyler, Texas. “...The translator told me the man had lost his entire family -- and that, by the way, he's the one who has been persecuting the pastor.”

When it was obvious the wait would be long, Vijyaraj invited the Hindu man into his house and fed him. “It was amazing that Vijyaraj was not making any difference” between Balram and the others seeking help, Bentley said.

“The man ... was already dazed, primarily from grief over losing his family,” Brake said. “But I think he was further stunned by the way he was welcomed and loved.”

Bentley agreed. “I don't think he even realized he was going to Vijyaraj's house. The word was just out that there was a medical clinic in the neighborhood. Then when he got there and was met with love instead of fear or animosity, he wasn't sure just what to do.”

Brake, the psychologist, counseled the man extensively while he waited to see Bentley. Then Bentley treated him “for some cuts and bruises that were already healing” and confirmed that the soreness in his chest was not life-threatening and likely “from being beaten up by the waves.”

The two Texans know they performed only “minor ministry” that afternoon when compared to Vijyaraj.

“I flew halfway around the world to share my faith and help needy people. And then, as I watched Vijyaraj do exactly what Jesus said and love his enemy and forgive those who persecuted him, I thought, 'Wow, I just got nailed,'“ Brake added. “In America we have trouble forgiving the jerk who cuts us off in traffic. And here this Sri Lankan pastor basically says, 'Jesus said to love, so I guess I have to do it.'

“When I told him how impressed I was, he just kind of looked down at the ground and didn't make a big deal out of it. And that's what Jesus told us to do too.”

“We never knew for sure that the man accepted Jesus because of that afternoon,” Bentley said. But he added he is confident Balram either became a Christian then or will in the near future.

“I just feel in the deepest part of my heart that the truth of the gospel reached him because of Vijyaraj's willingness to be faithful to his God and to God's Word.”

________

Robert Marus contributed to this article

In recent months, two different Hindu cults in India have begun to embrace ancient sacrifice rituals, one using horses and the other using the "Nara bali" practice of human sacrifice. In the village of Juna Padia, Assam, 150 priests participate in ceremonies to slaughter 10 horses and collect their deified blood for, they say, peace and prosperity. And in the state of Orissa, because of a paucity of human volunteers to sacrifice, the Kamakhya Temple cult uses human-size effigies made of flour, which its leaders insist are just as powerful in impressing divine forces.

[BBC News, 4-3-02] [Washington Times, 4-11-02]