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This document has been manipulated to fit on the webpage and may contain errors. Download the document in it's correct format and entirety above. ENTERING THE FIELDS
Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life John 4:35-36
FOREWARD From March 23 to April 11, 2001 Jimson Lounsbury and I (Travis Hunt, the pastor of Camas Valley Christian Fellowship) flew to Southern India to visit the Body of Christ Ministries (BCM). BCM is an organization that evangelizes unreached villages (those who have not ever heard the gospel of Jesus Christ). BCM sends native Indian evangelists and pastors to share the good news with those who are lost in hopelessness. Many of these ministers have either been martyred or starved while serving the Lord. During our visitation with these saints, both Jimson and I were spiritually changed. Included in this booklet are a series of nine e-mails that we sent back to the U.S. during our trip. Within these e-mails is a message from the Lord to His body in the United States: Gods Spirit ties every believer in the world together (Ephesians 4:1-6) and when one part of Christs body suffers, the whole body should suffer (1 Corinthians 12:26). Worldwide, men and women are sacrificing their lives
daily to spread the gospel to those who are lost before their lives end
along with any hope of salvation. Please pray for these brothers and
sisters. If after reading this booklet, you feel led to support a native
missionary (at a cost of $50 per month, of which 100% makes it to the native
pastor, with no administration costs withdrawn), or if you feel that you
would like to give a gift offering to them, please contact Travis Hunt at
(541) 445-2800. THE TRIP TO INDIA If there is any picture that characterizes the Christians that Jimson and I saw in India, it was found in an elderly man that we came across during our first Sunday service with the Paulose family. This elderly gentleman (perhaps 75 or 80 years old) entered into service late, with a soiled looking lungi (skirt) and a white shirt. The church has no chairs, so the believers sit cross-legged on a concrete floor during worship. During prayer everyone moves to their knees, kneeling on hand-woven coconut mats. This gentleman didnt have a mat to kneel on so during the prayer time, although obviously crippled by arthritis, he hunched over on his swollen knees to pray with every last bit of strength he possessed, to the God who loves him. Though I never actually met him, this man has been burned into my heart forever as the image symbolizing the Body of Christ Ministry in India. Two things characterized this ministry; suffering and death in this life and true joy and abundant life in the Spirit. If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16:24-26 May God bless you as you read about the saints involved in the Body of Christ Ministries, and may His Spirit transform your life (Romans 12:1-2) Travis Hunt
E-mail #1Hi Everybody! Praise the Lord, we are in India. We flew into Chennai last night (Sunday night here) around 10:30 pm. What a ride. We took the plane from San Fran to Hong Kong (looked out the windows but didn't get off the plane because it was only going to stay a short time. The harbor had wall-to-wall boats, just like all of the pictures you see. Then we flew into Singapore and had a layover for about 8 hours. What a country, everybody looks nice, not any poverty to see. It was extremely lush (what you would expect from SE Asia) and we wanted to see a little bit of the countryside so we took a taxi to the local zoo. The lush vegetation reached all the way down to the roadside and was absolutely beautiful. The birds were very interesting, with wild storks and what look like little great blue herons (although yellow). One interesting note; the cabby said that the cost of living in Singapore was so high that everybone works long shifts seven days a week. Nobody takes a day off. All he could talk about was how they want the best education and so on for their family, yet I wonder if his family even knows who he is. The second cabby (on the way back) told us he also worked every day and not just one job, but two. To buy a car you have to pay ~$25,000 to get a permit to buy one, and then the cars cost around ~$100,000 (and that is U.S. dollars). Is that amazing or what? And guess what? There was no shortage of cars on the road. Everybody seems to buy their "flats" (apartments) from the government (90% of the population lives in these apartments and nobody seems to own any land). As we were driving these were the majority of the buildings. I asked what their major crop was, and he told us it was nothing. They don't produce any crops, it is all imported even the water. But he told me that they had a good labor force. I think they have bought into one massive lie, that if you work hard and earn money you will find worth. They don't seem to have found it yet.
From there we flew out to Chennai (last night), when we
disembarked we found ourselves in line with hundreds of people and when we
finally got through customs, we were unsure of what to do or where to go.
We were going to look for a hotel (none within 12 miles of airport, we found
out later). Well, the Lord led Jimson to approach a smiling Indian in the
corner of the entryway with a sign that said "pre-paid taxis", I wasn't sure
if maybe Jimson had snuck over and pre-paid something that I didnt know
about. But he was able to arrange with another "smiling Indian" a hotel
room and a cab ride for the night. The poverty is overwhelming. Everywhere
there were people sleeping in the streets and on the sidewalks, it was sad.
However, you had very little time to be said in between the near death car
accidents. Although this is a slight exaggeration, its only slight. To
quote Stan Avery "It is a white knuckle adventure of swerving and honking."
And that is exactly what it is. In fact we almost ran over a pedestrian
when our cabbie was too close to a stopped vehicle and had to swerve towards
the sidewalk, missing the car and almost running over somebody getting off
the bus. Well our night ended with a shower and a bed. In the morning we
woke up to find that our "picture window" looked out over a vacant lot where
a dozen people or more were in the process of going to the bathroom, washing
in stagnant water, looking for paper (Jimson said they would wrap their food
or other products in these papers at the storefronts), dogs eating garbage,
and children playing. No Kidding! It was gross, unsanitary and sad. I was
shocked by the fact that everybody was doing their thing and not really
concerned whether anybody saw them. The adjacent houses and rooftops were
moving with people in the process of waking up (middle class people) and
dumping their waste and garbage over the wall into this lot. We take a lot
for granted. After a while one little kid caught Jimson's eye and we tossed
a little money out the window to him. We finally flew into Madurai around 1
pm (India time) and were picked up by Billy. Since then we have been
wandering around the city doing certain errands. It has allowed us to see
the real inner workings and the dramatic caste system up close and
personal. One caste is called "untouchable" and they are not hard to pick
out in a crowd. They live in misery and sadness and have absolutely no
hope. They can't even be blessed by their false gods because that costs
money. Just for Sherri Payne's benefit, we came across a city street that
looked identical to the one in her magazine, the one where she said, "Can
you picture Travis and Jimson in this photo?" Well Sherri we took a picture
of me in the middle of that photo so we can see how well the albinos blend
in. Ive noticed that people hardly even look twice at me, but they sure
stare at Jimson a lot (ha, ha). The Orphanage: Jimson and I went to the school and the children all ran out to meet us with "Good Afternoon Sir! What is your name! and Praise the Lord!" I had one child run up to me and say, "What is my name?" Rather than What is your name? They are precious. We were able to talk with them for quite a while, but they had other things to do. That evening we delivered and assembled the chairs, which was beyond anything I could describe. The children beamed and laughed and rocked. We then gave them balloons if they could tell us a memory verse. Get this! From the ages of 3 to 9 they all had a verse and not one of them had the same verse as anybody else. That means we heard more than 25 verses recited by babies. Praise God. Once they had the balloons we taught them a song and then they taught us a song. They just followed us around everywhere waving their balloons and saying, Praise the Lord! Blessings to God for the gift of these chairs. One overwhelming incident was when Sarajom asked Jimson and I if they could keep the suitcases. We said, "Sure, that is what we planned on doing." She said, that a woman who cooked for the orphanage had been praying for some way to carry her life with her (having virtually nothing). When we gave her the suitcase, she openly wept and couldn't talk. Just for a suitcase with duct tape all over it. May God change our hearts to understand what wealth is. Another woman asked for $1 to by some shoes. Her name is Menashi, she was a Hindu who has been rejected by her family and village because she believes in Jesus. Her husband is dead and she is in her late 60's and has ABSOLUTELY NO WAY TO EARN MONEY FOR FOOD. The Paulose family gives her food and she comes over to help in any way she can. She was sitting in her one outfit on the concrete and she looked up to me and asked if I would give her one-dollar for a pair of shoes. Her feet are gnarled and ugly. Yet she walks everywhere because that is all she has. Jimson gave her a dollar and her eyes welled up with tears as she put her hands together like a prayer and lifted them over her head in thanks to God and to us. A dollar has never hurt my heart so much before. Please pray for the elderly who suffer and pray for her family that they would become believers. We are about to head out to pastor Stephens village. The place where the goats were beheaded on the video we saw. A very dark place. But we bring the light of God and the power of the Spirit with us. Pray for us!
Jimson here, I just had to relate something. I want to
testify to you that the things Travis is writing to you are true. I am a
skeptic for those of you who don't know me, but the power of the Holy Spirit
is manifesting Himself in such a way here that I could not understand it if
I had not been witnessing it myself. You have to realize that we have
Love from great depths, Travis (I love you kids) Love, Jimson.
PERSONAL NOTE TO MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST.
PLEASE MEDITATE ON THESE FOLLOWING WORDS AND ALLOW THE SPIRIT OF GOD TO
SPEAK TO YOUR HEARTS. TAKE THEM WITH YOU INTO YOUR PRAYER TIME. What are
the words? In Romans 12 Paul says to be transformed by the renewing of your
minds. What is that? Jimson and I are experiencing it for the first time. We
have encountered a living, breathing Lord. One who speaks to you, and leads
you daily. When I say that we have encountered Him, I mean we are watching
others who have this life within them. It has deeply affected both of us. It
is as if we thought we were rich, wealthy and had need of nothing, but
didn't know that we were wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. (Rev
4:17). There is spiritual life beyond memorizing the bible. There is a
relationship that goes beyond doctrine and analysis. It is the abundant life
that Jesus promised and Jimson and I have never experienced (John 10:10)
There is life in the
Loriena, I love you dearly and miss you. Pray for me
PLEASE! I need God to finish this work, that I might fulfill His purpose for
our life. Tell Amanda, that her five dollars bought brother Isaac a pair of
shoes. He is the man who had his eyes poked out for preaching the gospel. He
has been wearing a pair of flip-flops for years. They are about 3 sizes too
big and completes his extensive wardrobe of two lungi's (skirts) and two
shirts. That is all he has. He had been previously supported in the
missionary work, but has been forgotten by his sponsor. Well we felt led by
the Spirit to buy him a pair of shoes that didnt fall off his feet as he
walks. We had to force them on him, but afterwards he told us that he had
been praying for TWO YEARS for a pair of shoes. Thank you Amanda for giving
that money, it gave him unspeakable joy. Tell Theran that I love him and
miss him dearly. Honey, I love you and cannot wait to bring the life of
Christ into our family. I look at your picture all the time. Everybody
thinks that my family is beautiful. I'll be home soon. Love, Sweaty and Sweatier
In addition to these nine e-mail transmissions, I kept an audio journal of our trip which has been transcribed on the following pages.
We have been at Rameswaram for a few days and have now loaded the van and are headed into the unreached areas. Our first nights stay was at Ravees house, which is surrounded by rice fields. We came in extremely late (midnight or so), but the family was still waiting for us with food prepared, so we ate and then took the brick stairs (the concrete was so fresh we had to step on the bricks so that we didnt ruin the concrete) up to the roof where we slept on some very warm bricks. From the roof we could look down in the morning and watch all the activities. They have Ginny hens running everywhere and there are pigeons flying overhead. It really reminds me of what you see in movies depicting Asia, Vietnam, and Korea. In the distance you can see some mountains (rugged peaks), not real high but solid rock.
We are now at pastor Stephens church. We spent the day out doing evangelism in the unreached villages (ones that havent ever heard the gospel before). It is really, really warm. Its incredible the love they have for us. And to see the roof that our church was able to supply for their church is heartwarming. Its tin and definitely helps keep the heat out. I just want to thank God for the goodness He has given. Stephen is just a pleasure to look at. He is so full of joy and happiness, and so is his wife.
Today was incredible, we went to three villages. At the first one we stopped underneath a tree, where they cut the heads off of goats and sacrificed them to their gods. We stood underneath this tree and brother Isaac (the blind one) sang until a crowd gathered around to see what was going on. Then Isaac taught the kids and told the adults about the gospel. Then the whole group handed out tracts to the crowd. At the second village (which was much larger) we stopped near an intersection and even though it was incredibly warm (105 degrees) everybody gathered around. People tried as much as possible to cram into the shaded areas of the local market. Many people stopped and listened to the gospel and then we handed out tracts. It was interesting, because we didnt want to evangelize further down, because there was a police station, and the police often chase you off if you havent received their permission to have a public event. However, we were close enough that the police chief could hear us on the bullhorn and came down to see what we were doing. It turns out that he is a believer and he was blessed to see what we were doing, so he encouraged us to keep it up. That was pretty awesome. And then praise God we went to a third village. Again, we ended up under a tree, right next to a little temple. In the little temple there were people sitting in the shade and talking. So we pulled up in a van (which had never happened in that village before) and we began singing and many people gathered around. Then I preached and Billy Paulose translated. There was one man in the crowd who was about 45 years old. He kept looking into my eyes and nodding his head. I really was nervous and unsure what to do, so when I was done I thought we would just hand out tracts. But Billy politely interrupted and asked if anyone wanted to receive Christ. It turns out that thirty-five to fifty people gave their lives to Jesus, Hallelujah! Afterwards, that one man who kept nodding told me (through Billy) that God had sent me to tell him about Jesus and that every word that I said about hopelessness was exactly how he felt. It turns out that he was the leader of the village. There were so many people believing in Jesus that they didnt want us to go. Mylari (the mans name) kept saying, Youve told us about God, but you cant leave now, we dont even know what He looks like. (I can see this man becoming an evangelist or pastor and training up people to send them out) So they asked us to stay and they want us to build a church there on some land that they are going to give us. They kept saying they want to know about Jesus and they want Him to stay in this village with them and I dont know what to say except PRAISE GOD! We are going back tonight to do a 3-hour film show with a projector on a white sheet that hangs from the side of the van, so that they can learn more about their Lord. We will show them the video on the crucifixion and another movie about an Indian gangster who gave his life to Christ.
It is absolutely incredible but the whole entire village showed up. Maybe 300 people sat on the ground and watched the movies. The entire village was moved by the gospel and they kept wanting to honor us by giving us chairs to sit in (even though everybody else was on the ground), and wanting to give us hot drinks (which wouldve probably knocked Jimson and I down with dysentery if we had drank them). Finally, at the end they wanted so badly to bless us for the blessing we had been to them, that we were taken to the rich mans house (which was simply a small house with a concrete floor) and chopped coconuts open for us to drink. Just PRAISE GOD FOR HIS GOODNESS! To see all those people wanting to be prayed for and receiving Jesus Christ. They had never even heard of Jesus before (thank you for sending us Lord). This little village is going to become a place where the Lord is going to send people out to preach the gospel. Authors note: John Wheeler has adopted this village and is paying to build a church for them, Praise the Lord!
I am going to get a chance in just a little bit to talk with pastor Stephen. I am really looking forward to that. Billy is going to translate for me and were going to talk and I am going to give him the picture of my family to keep. It is going to be a wonderful time of sharing.
I was able to sit down and talk with pastor Stephen for a while and he talked about the struggles he had gone through. He has a vision to plant churches in over one hundred villages that surround his house. He is going to use this church to send out evangelists and pastors to the North, South, East and West. Right now there are four churches that he has started already in four different villages (not counting Mylaris). He goes to each church every week and preaches on different days. He is living at the home church. His little house is literally about the size of a hallway. It is tucked up against the back wall of the church and about seven feet wide, one room. That is where he lives (no Taj Mahal). Their nearest available water is about half a mile away and they have to ride on a bike and haul it in the 130 degree heat, just to get water that is precious to them. There are two wells behind them, but they are owned by Hindus who wont give them any water because he is a Christian. He tried once to get water back there and they took his bucket and dumped it out on the ground. They tell him, Hey youre a Christian. You dont need water. I asked him what his needs were and he said they had only three needs. First, there is no bathroom (holes in the ground is all they are) in the area and there are hardly any trees around the church to go to the bathroom, so they just wander out as best as they can and do their thing as far away as possible. Well, because they are Christians, the Hindus have been harassing his wife when they find her going to the bathroom, so he has to go with her, just so she is safe. So he wished they had somewhere to go to the bathroom that was safe for his wife. He also wished there was some water, so he wouldnt have to go so far to get water for his family. Finally, the last thing he wished for was a small wall to put around the church compound, because he is gone for such long periods of time and comes back home late, he is concerned that the Hindus might hurt his wife and two babies. These are the three things that he asked for. Can you imagine that? He just wants water, a bathroom and safety for his wife while he is gone. I told him that we would be able to do that for him and he was deeply touched. He told Billy that he had been fasting for twenty-one days last month, asking the Lord if he would just meet these needs because they were desperately needed, and he told Billy that this was Gods answer to his prayer. This man is so full of the Spirit of God! AMEN!
Its Friday night and we just got back. It is about two in the morning. We just returned from pastor Stephens place, where they were having an all-night prayer meeting. They have one of these every month and they just share the gospel and words about the Lord and the bible and then they give testimonies of Gods goodness. Then they pray and sing together, and it is absolutely incredible. When they praise God, it really rocks too. One interesting little story that Billy shared with us was about a woman in a nearby village. She went to the hospital and was sent home to die. It looked so bad that the villagers began to dig her grave. The family had asked Billy and the team if they would come and pray for her so they went and prayed for her and the Lord strengthened her so much that she was able to walk (they had been carrying her everywhere). The day they were digging her grave she walks into the village (a village that the team had previously visited and had a brick thrown through the van window, and rocks thrown at them). Well, the team walked back with her and she led them to her house and started taking all her idols off the shelf and saying I dont want any of these idols anymore! She started pitching them outside and saying, I need help moving these out! So Billy and everyone didnt waste a second, but started helping her move the idols out of her house. Needless to say, the villagers started gathering around, wondering what was going on. There was strong opposition from the crowd, but they couldnt really do anything because the woman who was supposed to be dead was completely healed by God. So the woman began screaming at the people that these idols were false gods and they almost killed her and she didnt want them because she had given her life to Jesus Christ. Then she went inside the house and found some hammers and gave them to the team and they all started breaking up the idols and throwing them into the Indian Ocean. It was really awesome. Since then, 200 people have given their life to Christ and they have started a church. Billy says they took a pastor and dropped him off at the village and said, Here you go, instant church. It is like that wherever we have gone. Instant church, just add the gospel. This area is truly ripe on the vine. People are begging for salvation.
In fact, today we stopped at an altar site right after a group had made a sacrifice and shaved their heads in dedication to their gods. They were trying to cleanse themselves from sin and so we stopped. There were maybe twenty people not including little kids. The sacrificial meal was all prepared and the food that had been offered to the idol was ready. Nathan (an American) shared the gospel with them and something very powerful happened, the whole group came to the Lord and man it was real! They understood coming to Jesus meant leaving behind all their false gods. The reason they gave their lives to the Lord was their desire to be rid of the guilt in their lives and have their sins forgiven. That was the whole reason they had sacrificed this meal to the idol. There was a lady who was blind and wanted us to pray for her eyesight. God didnt heal her on the spot, but Jimson felt confirmation that God was going to heal her and I sure would like to find out in the future if He does. Authors note: The following Sunday, this small group took a 3 œ hour truck ride around the mountain to come to pastor Stephens church so they could learn more about Jesus. This is the closest church to them.
Right before stopping at the altar site we visited a village and twenty to thirty people received the Lord. It is just incredible to say these things out loud. At this village a man had just died (at nine in the morning) and we arrived at eleven in the morning (two hours late). The interesting thing is if our battery hadnt died we would probably have been there by nine. We were delayed because we had to ride a scooter into the nearest town (quite a distance) to get a battery for the van. I know that God is just and he is right but it was so hard to see the funeral for this man, knowing that he had not received the gospel. However, we were able to share the gospel with his wife and comforted the family by sharing hope for their life. I just pray that they would continue in that faith.
Oh! One more interesting note. The most popular singer in India is a late fifties catholic priest who has been thrown out of the Catholic Church when he became a born again Christian. He takes the scriptures and puts them to music and sings them. I guess his songs are the most popular in India. Isnt that incredible? Leave it to God! This man also went and preached at the location that Paulose talks about in his book. The place where Billy kneeled in the van and prayed for his father and friends who were being beaten and one of the boys was being pulled apart (which by the way was pastor Stephen) and they were going to try and skin them alive and throw them in the Indian Ocean. There is a church of about two hundred fifty there along with many branch churches that have sprung up from it. Well, as he was preaching two guys came forward (men which had been involved in trying to kill Paulose and his group). And this born again priest I have been talking about embraced both of them and received them as brothers. I guess one of them went and found pastor Paulose and invited him to spend two days at his house so that he could just serve Paulose hand and foot, so that he could make up for the beating he had given to him. Paulose turned it down. Isnt God just amazing? He is just incredible! Oh, at the very last place we stopped it was Jacob (Nathans boy) who shared with the crowd, and it was really good. Many people were hungry for the word of God. But something strange happened with the kids. They became violent, trying to rip the tracts out of our hand. It felt like a bunch of sharks in a feeding frenzy. It was so crazy they almost managed to knock Jimson off of his feet and take his backpack. These were an only 6-8 year old kid, thats how many there were mobbing him as he handed out tracts. Jimson gave some to the rest of us so that it would disperse the crowd, but it seemed to get even worse then. They were ripping the tracts out of each others hands and knocking each other down. It was definitely the work of the devil right in the midst of the gospel presentation. But praise God! Many did come to the Lord despite the strange reaction of the children.
Jimson had a full day. First he shared his testimony with a man at the first village. This guy was walking through the village on the way to work and Jimson spoke to him through a translator and it was obvious that it had a profound affect on him. Then when we reach the mountain village later that day, he shared his testimony and several people wanted to come and talk with him afterwards. Three or four of them received the Lord Jesus. Praise God!
Jimson and I were sitting in the van this evening while everybody else went in to eat at a hotel. We began talking about how he needed some sandals because he was continually taking off his shoes to go into peoples houses (a custom). So as we visited different houses he was continually tying and untying. He wanted to pick up some cheap shoes that he could slide off and on. Since we were skipping this dinner he went and found a place where he could buy a pair of sandals for the amazing price of $4.50 (U.S. currency). Well, while he was gone, brother Isaac had come back from the meal to sit in the van and wait for everybody else. While we were sitting and talking about what Jimson was doing, Isaac asked to feel my tennis shoe. I told him how much shoes cost in the U.S. and he said, Oh, those are nice shoes. He told me that his shoes slip off his feet too easy (since he is blind). I looked down at his feet and noticed that he was wearing some really over-sized flip-flops, and it was obvious that it would be hard to keep them on your feet. He told me that my tennis shoes were good shoes because they went around the heel and didnt fall off very easily. So, when Jimson came back to the van we forced Babu (our van driver) to take Isaac to the same shoe store and get a pair of slip-on shoes that go around the heel. Isaac battled for a while and then finally went with Babu. We spent a total of $4.50 for Isaacs shoes and he was very emotional about it. He just kept praising God and saying thank you, thank you, thank you. He told me, I have been praying for two years for a pair of shoes. God is so good! Imagine, two years! This man has had his eyes poked out for preaching the gospel, he has a total of two shirts that his son has purchased for him (50% polyester no less) which cook him. But he wears them, because they are the only ones he owns. Brother Billy told us that Isaac doesnt have a sponsor and praise God, Jimsons going to pick him up. The $5.00 that we spent on his shoes came from Amanda, who had donated it from her piggy bank.
This Sunday, brother Isaac shared a testimony about how he was saved and something that happened to him more recently. Isaac was a Hindu witchdoctor before becoming a Christian. He had walked over the hot coals multiple times and had also stuck steel rods through his back and arms and danced around with them in him. He said that the only way he could do these things was to pray for the demonic spirits to possess him and then he could do it. Finally he contracted leprosy. For two months he was unable to sleep because of how bad it itched. To the point that he was scraping away his meat with a knife. He was able to sleep for just short little bits if his mother would scratch his leg while he slept. After two months he decided to commit suicide. So, taking a pilgrimage to the temple, he was going to make an offering to his gods and kill himself. However, God had different plans. He met a missionary who shared the gospel with him. Isaac was skeptical, so the missionary invited him to spend the night at his house and eat dinner with them. That night Isaac cried out to Jesus that if he was truly the only God that He would reveal himself to him, and immediately he had a vision of a cross in the room above him. A white light came from the cross and entered into his mouth and then went back to the cross. Immediately he felt someones hands touching his body all over and he looked down to find that he was completely healed of leprosy. He gave his life to the Lord and has been an evangelist ever since. This is why he is so driven to share the gospel, because it is real to him, not just historical. He has felt the love and power of God in his own life. Another testimony that happened after he had his eyes poked out by a bunch of Hindus: Blind Isaac went into one of the Hindu villages and began preaching the gospel. Several Hindu men told him that they would like to have him come to their village and tell them more about this Jesus. So, he agreed to go with them. However, rather than taking him to their village they took him out into the middle of a thorn patch (the thorns range from 1 to 6 and pierced clean through my tennis shoes). Isaac told them, I thought you were taking me to your village, but all I feel are thorns everywhere. To which they answered, We are not taking you to our village Christian. We are going to kill you unless you give up this Jesus. Fear struck his heart and he began to debate with God. He told God that he would just pretend to forsake Jesus and then when they left keep preaching. But God said back to him, Isaac, do you love me? Twice the Lord said the same thing to him, so he knew that he couldnt deny the Lord. So, they began to beat him on his left side until blood came out of his ear and then they began to beat him on the right side until blood came out of that ear. Then they drug him over to a tree in the middle of this thorn patch and tied him with ropes in the sun on top of an army ant hill. Authors note: I was bitten by two army ants while over there and it really hurt, like a bad bee sting. He sat covered with ants biting him for about six hours, crying out to the Lord that he hadnt denied him and yet received no answer. Then all of a sudden he heard a womans voice say, Isaac, I dont want you to be here anymore. Then the ropes went slack and he heard Gods voice in his ear say, Isaac, your shoes are right in front of you step forward. So, Isaac stepped forward with his right foot and it slid right into the flip-flop. Then he did the same thing with the left foot. Then the Lord said, Follow me and I will take you home. So, Isaac began to walk blindly into this thorn patch. But then he became afraid and got on his hands and knees and reached out in front of him. He was feeling for the thorns and not sure which way to go. The amazing thing was that there were no thorns in front of him, yet on every other side. So he got up and the Lord led him through the thorn patch all the way home. Isnt that incredible! Praise God! Now remember, this is the man who cant afford to buy shoes. This is the man with only two shirts to his name. God bless this man to eternity. Isaacs wife is against Christianity and he has actually had to separate from her for a while and live at the training center because she is not accepting what he is doing. But he told us that he has the faith that the Lord will bring her to Jesus.
At church today, we worshipped the Lord for four hours. Praise God, we started at ten oclock and were done around two in the afternoon. Before Jimson and I shared, we spent some time just worshipping the Lord. It is awesome not having chairs, because people feel free to stand, sit or kneel as the Lord leads them. At one point in time, Jimson and I were kneeling and praying with the group and we looked over and there was a seventy to eighty year old man who was definitely arthritic and in a lot of pain, sitting on his knees hunched over just praising God with his hands clasped tightly together in intense prayer. It just moved my heart and humbled me and made me sad all at the same time. We can be so disgusting in the U.S., full of empty griping about useless things (time, seating arrangements, etc.). Another thing jumped out at me during service today. There is a real and true sense of humility that runs through this church. This group has seen many incredible miracles and yet no one seems to be puffed up. I think the answer is that everyone understands all gifts come from God and not men. They all take their marching orders from the head of the church, Jesus Christ. When they pray, they are truly speaking to God, and he truly leads their lives and so there is no need for pride, because everybody understands who the head is. There is real peace because everybody (whether beggar, leper or businessman) is talking to the same person, and has the same access to Gods throne through Jesus. Sure, gifted people go here or there and have different ministries, but they are all in total submission to God and one another. I feel like God is beginning to give me vision for the church on how to share the Spirit of God with them on Sundays. I wrote down: Start with worship, followed by prayer that leads into congregational led worship. As the Lord leads encourage people to share the word or exhort or sing a song or anything the Lord would have them do. I understand that this means I must be willing to sacrifice my preaching time so that others may also share, and that is OK.
On Monday, brother Billy took us down to the Hindu holy temple on Rameswaram. People travel from all over India to pay big bucks to have their sins forgiven and washed away in the Indian Ocean by the temple priests. Some of the priests make as much as $350 (U.S.) a day doing this work (as compared to $1 per day for hard labor). He then took us to the fish house where they lived when his mother went into labor and the family was kicked out, because the owner didnt want a baby born in his fish-packing shed. This whole story is found in Pauloses book. Then he took us to the house they were able to rent (with the scorpions and the snakes). You have to understand, this house is one good rocks throw away from the militant Hindu headquarters and just a few blocks from one of the holiest Hindu sites in the world. God sent them to an impossible place and now he has saved thousands of souls and will continue. Praise God!
Then Billy shared about the building of their house (which is further away from the temple). God gave Paulose a vision exactly where the house was to be built. However, Hindus owned the land and there are several temples and a Hindu school right next to it, so they wouldnt sell it to Christians. So, one of the recent Hindu converts, who had a really bad reputation for chopping peoples hands off, went and asked if he could buy the property. The owners didnt know that God had changed his life, so they were afraid to say no, and sold the property to him. He then sold the property to pastor Paulose. But this was just the beginning, because even though they owned the land, the neighbors wouldnt allow them to build on it. In fact they threatened their lives several times while they were digging the well. The Hindus would get rocks and look down into the well where they were digging and pretend like they were going to drop the rocks on their heads. So, whoever was in the well would begin to frantically scramble to the top of the well and get out. So, the Paulose family was unable to get any help building their house or digging their well because the workers were all threatened with murder if they helped. At one point, the Hindu police showed up with guns and wouldnt allow them to build for about three months or they would be shot. They couldnt build, they couldnt build, they couldnt build they couldnt make a wall, they couldnt put a brick down. Just to live they had to make a hut with cloth around it. That was all that the Hindus would allow them to do. So the whole family lived in a one-room cloth house. But they started weaving coconut leaves into the wall behind the cloth at night, until one day they took the cloth down and voila here was a coconut shed rather than a cloth wall. This was too permanent for the Hindus who demanded that they tear it down, but pastor Paulose said, If you want it torn down you will have to do it. For some reason the Hindus left it alone. Then a Christian man came into political power for a very short period of time and pastor Paulose felt that God told him to ask this man for help. So he did, and guess what? Within a week, this governor ordered the same Hindu police who stopped them at gunpoint, to surround the property with their guns and protect the Paulose family as they built their house. Isnt that awesome! Just like God to do something so incredible! This family has built their house in the heart of the darkest stronghold in India I believe. Every step of the way (even still today) the Hindus have been one breath away from killing them. Outside of God the entire family would have been murdered. They are Gods little outpost in the middle of the militant radical Hindu headquarters and the second holiest Hindu site in India. Surrounded by Hindus, they have been opposed every step of the way, every inch. Billy said, that when they were building the well, he would be lowered down into it by rope because he was a small boy. He would have a chisel and a hammer to break out the rocks. They would post a guard near the road so they could see if anybody was coming and when they saw someone coming they would yank Billy out and he would run into the cloth house and clean up so that there was no white rock residue on him. This is how they built the well in secret. I just cant comprehend this.
We are at Graces church. Her husband Peter and her son Israel organize this body of believers. The Camas Fellowship brought a gift offering so that they could actually have a building to meet in, out of the sun and monsoon rains. They began building the church the moment we set foot in India. They live in a house with mud walls and some sort of leaf roof. This, along with a small concrete structure (8 by 15) has functioned as the church for the last 10 years. They live within the Sri Lankan refugee camp, which is an extremely depressed area even for India. There are about 200 people who consider this their church family. Grace and Israel have done an extensive amount of outreach to surrounding villages so that their church body doesnt get any bigger. Many people are filling their church simply because there are so many signs and wonders occurring. So to keep the church from being too big they are planting many churches in the area, so that there are more local pastors to meet the spiritual needs of the flock.
Here are some testimonies from various pastors that the fellowship supports:
Q. Jabas: He and his wife are working along with the Paulose family. He is a great blessing to the work that they are doing. He came from pastor Stephens village, and was saved through Stephens ministry. He has a real focus for the children being murdered because of the dowry system and he is the one who saved baby Grace (the baby girl that the Paulose family adopted). His is currently traveling around in the villages and taking a team with speakers and microphones tied to their bikes. His wife is working at Rameswaram to help the ministry. He explained to me that the Lord has given him the heart to touch the children and before he was able to save baby Grace from being murdered he was helping other children. However, he now feels burdened to save the Hindu people who have the same background as him. He wants to fill them with the love of the Lord and bring them into the kingdom of God.
M.K. Singarayen: A quote, Praise the Lord. God bless you. We pray for you. Pray for me!
Unnamed: This man has had his arm cut off and has had his head and leg chopped up with a machete. His wife left him when he became a believer. She then moved in with another man and sent a man back to kill her husband. He has also one of his legs. Because he is crippled and has no way to earn money, he has placed his son in the Rameswaram orphanage. His elderly father is also being taken care of through the Paulose family. He is currently pastoring one of the small churches right now and is a blessing.
A. Erudayaraj: This brother has suffered a great deal in the Lord. A quote, The Lord has granted me life to live and I want to go with the strength that God has given to win the perishing souls that are dying in India. And India will know Jesus by His power. Amen
M. Alexander: He spoke about how happy he is to receive the answer from God today. He has been praying a long time about getting a scooter for the ministry. He has been riding on the bus and sometimes it doesnt show up and he has to walk many miles. He is thrilled and excited about how good God is to him and he is blessed because the scooter is going to enable him to enlarge his mission area. God has given him the vision to plant churches and bring souls to the kingdom of God.
Unnamed #2: This man was a Hindu priest and was heavily involved with witchcraft up until the day he became terminally ill. He began to drip fluids all over his body from the waist down. He was diagnosed as being terminal and should only live a short time because there was no medicine available to help him. Nobody ever told him about the Lord. So, he was just lying there in bed waiting to die. He prayed out loud, Is there any god out there who can help me, because I am going to die? All of a sudden a word came to his mouth. Lord! He kept saying, Who is this Lord? I have never heard mention about the Lord. He said, he just kept crying and then he had a vision of a white light that came down from his ceiling and entered into his mouth. Then suddenly he felt a warm feeling in his whole body. He then got up and told his wife that he felt completely different. He told her that he thought he was healed and wasnt going to die. Something that I call Lord has healed me. Some god is helping me. His wife couldnt figure out what was going on, when he kept asking her if she knew who this god was. She said, You are the priest. You are supposed to know who the gods are. So he began to pray to this Lord and seek after Him, even though he didnt even know who He was. Then one day he suddenly heard in his ears, I died for you on the cross. Then he began to realize that he did know this Lord, because he had seen pictures of someone named Jesus on a cross. So now he knew who the God was that healed him. He began to follow Jesus from that very day onward. He never showed any indication of his illness again and now he is spreading the gospel and praising the Lord.
Daniel A. Swaminathan: A quote, God Bless You! God is Great!
S. Sathiya Nadan: A quote, Greetings in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks a lot! Pray for me! I will pray for you!
L.R. Antreya: This pastor is working in the unreached villages.
M. Yesudas: A quote, Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Amen
D. Mandrikumar: This brother is an integral part of the Paulose ministry. He does all of the translation work for the profiles as well as working in the field. His wife will soon be in Rameswaram to help in the ministry. He was born in a nominal Christian family. The Lord called him in college and he has followed ever since.
A. P. John: The Lord told this brother to become a pastor, but he refused. Instead he started a candy business and was making a lot of money. He kept telling the Lord that he couldnt be a pastor right now because he was too young and healthy and could make a lot of money for the kingdom. So, he told us that God paralyzed him completely. He was stuck in bed and the only thing that he could feel was the breath going in and out of his nose. Then he heard the Lord say to him, So, now do you think you are too young and strong to become a pastor? John gave his entire life to the Lord at this point. Then he gave up his job and his wealth, on the promise that God would supply all of his needs if he went into the ministry. For many days, things went well, as he would go out to the villages and preach about Jesus. But eventually his money ran out, and his family began to starve. Every evening his children would meet him at the door and ask if he had brought any rice home, to which he would answer, no. To feel full, he would give his family a bowl of water to fill their bellies and then they would chew on a green onion to put taste in their mouth. He had a two-month old baby who was unable to nurse off of his wife because she was so malnutritioned. This was very hard for him and a great test of faith. One day, they didnt even have an onion, until his wife found one that had fallen in the corner of the house and was growing in the dirt. When she brought the little onion to him, they all bowed their heads and he thanked God that even if he didnt understand how, God was going to provide for his needs just like he promised. Before he could finish his prayer, he heard a knocking at the door, and it was a woman with two great big buckets of rice and curry. He asked her what she was doing and she told him that she had prepared all of this food for company that was coming over and nobody showed up. So here she was with all of this food and no people. Then God told her in her ears that she was to carry all of that food to this mans house and give it to him. So they praised God and had their first meal in a long time. Another example of how Gods promises can be believed. His wife also only had one sari (pronounced sorry). So, she begged him to buy her another, so that when she washed the one, she wouldnt have to hide in the house until it was dry, but could just put the other one on. He told her that they didnt have any money and so she needed to ask God. So, she did. Well, in a nearby town a non-Christian man had just sold his crops at the market and was beginning to head home, when he heard a voice tell him to go and buy a sari and give it to this man who was preaching in the village. He thought this was extremely strange and knew that he was going crazy because why would you buy a dress for some strange man. So, he ignored the voice and started walking home with his partner. Well, after he left the village he heard the same thing again in his ear and he ignored it. So, then something strange happened, something invisible grabbed his ear and pulled him down to the ground and wouldnt let him up until he went back to the village. His partner kept asking him what was going on and so he told him he couldnt go any further until he went back and bought a sari for this man. His partner didnt understand, but they went back to the village and bought the sari. But, he couldnt find the pastor, so he had to ask around to find out where the preacher lived. After finding out where he lived, he took the sari all the way to pastor Johns village and knocked on the front door and when Johns wife answered, he told her this story and gave her the sari and left. Our God is real and alive and truly watches over us. This man is so full of faith toward God that even though he receives $50 per month to live, he gives $30 a month to other pastors who are starving. Praise God for men who are willing to give their lives so that others might be saved.
Anton: Steve and Dianne support this pastor. His village is located about four hours NW of Graces church. His church has grown to about 25 families and they have been able to get a piece of land outside of the village where the Hindus couldnt stop them from building. Pastor Antons church is where the collapsing baptismal killed the child and Grace was able to raise him from the dead through prayer. Anton has four prayer cells going right now and has ten different villages that he visits. He has thirty more villages that he wants to reach. He is also training up a number of men to help run the prayer cells and to start churches in the area. Most of the village men work until four in the afternoon and because he has to take public transportation to get to these villages he cant visit the villages at the right time of day to speak to the men. He really needs a bicycle. Praise the Lord! Steve and Dianne sent a money gift that will be able to buy him a bicycle. So, Praise God for His faithfulness. It is a real blessing for Anton to know who is supporting him and he has been wondering about it until now. The following is his conversion experience as he told it: He was a Roman Catholic until one day he went into the city to buy some food and he purchased a lottery ticket. The ticket was a winner worth several thousand U.S. dollars (a great deal in India). He immediately had all kinds of people wanting to borrow money from him (both friends and strangers). Finally, fed up with giving away his money, he stopped lending it out. This made one man extremely mad. So mad, that he went and hired a Hindu witch doctor to send a demon to possess him. Well, that is exactly what happened. This demon tormented him during the day, and at night it wouldnt let him sleep, but instead would pick him off of the ground and drop him onto the concrete. He ended up spending the remainder of his money hiring witchdoctors to cast out this demon. Finally, he ended up hiring one witch doctor to stay up all night long and put his hand on his chest. Then the demon wouldnt lift him off of the ground and he could sleep. But realizing that his money was about gone and that he couldnt live the rest of his life this way, he went to a Roman Catholic priest that had cast out demons before. When he visited this man, the priest attempted to cast the demon out and the demon entered the priest and threw him around the room, leaving him bloody and unconscious on the floor and re-entered Anton. Then Anton heard how Grace had cast out demons before and he went to see her. She told him about Jesus and he gave his life to Christ and the demon was cast out. Since then, he has four or five of the witchdoctors that he had previously paid in his church. And the Catholic priest has been talking to Grace and she believes that he is going to accept Jesus as his Savior. Praise God! 1 John 3:16-18By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this worlds goods and see his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in Him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. |
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