Solomon Baski lay on his
bed. He was dead. The whole village had gathered in his house.
His wife and other women were weeping.
The news reached the
surrounding villages. People were
streaming in from different places to pay homage to the departed soul.
Solomon Baski hails from
Beddia village in Jharkand State, India.
He belongs to a tribe called Santhal.
In spite of his poverty, he accepted Christ’s Lordship and was leading a
witnessing life. Whenever the Church
Elder was absent, he used to conduct the church service. His wife too was a strong believer in
Christ.
Last month, Baski fell ill
with Malaria. Also he had the attack of
the deadly disease “Kala-zar”, which was caused by sand flies. He went to the doctor a few times. But they were not helpful. Finally, bereft of all strength, he
committed himself to God’s care. He
grew steadily worse and became bed-ridden.
When he was struggling for his
life, his relatives came to his house.
They accused his wife saying, “Because you accepted Christ, Baski has
become like this. Listen and do what we say.
Throw away the Bible and all things relating to it. We will bring a witch doctor. If we perform some religious ceremony
through him, he will be alright.”
But the wife did not heed to
their advice. She retorted, “Even if my
husband dies, I will not allow a witch-doctor to enter my house. Jesus will surely heal my husband. No one else can help us in this matter”.
One week had passed since
then. Again Solomon Baski suffered from
breathlessness and soon he breathed his last.
It was past 12 Noon. The man who
was arranging the funeral was asking whether all had come.
A group of people was coming
at a distance. The women were beating
their breast and weeping. But the men
in the group were angry.
One of them came to Solomon’s
wife and was shouting, “You have killed Solomon by not allowing the
witch-doctor to come”. Another man
shouted, “Kill her also”.
Soon Solomon’s wife found
herself surrounded by a hostile crowd. They
began to beat her. Some people rushed
to her help. She ran into another room
and bolted the door inside.
The people outside were
knocking at the door while she was knocking at the Heaven’s door.
Suddenly, there was pin-drop
silence outside. Solomon’s wife opened
the door and came out. Her husband got
up and was sitting on the cot. Praise
God!
Jesus is alive today. He is the same, yesterday, today and
forever. Solomon Baski stands as a
powerful testimony to God’s power to raise the dead to life.
(Courtesy: Friends Focus, FMPB – Oct.2002)
Jorgi
Bhai of Gangothalli, Jhalod, in Gujarat State, India had three sons. Two years before, his first son died of
rheumatism. A few months later, his second son too was afflicted by the same
disease and died. A few months later,
the third son also began to suffer from rheumatism. Jorgi Bhai was very much upset.
As it was the tribal custom, Jorgi Bhai took his son to the witch
doctors and spent a lot of money. But
none could heal him. Much discouraged
and disheartened, Jorgi Bhai brought his son to a Gospel meeting held at
Jampoodi. Our missionaries preached the
Gospel and prayed for him. The Lord
touched the young boy at that very moment and healed him. This miraculous healing challenged all the
other members of the family and made them to accept Christ.
Healed of a 12 year old disease
Sukh Devi of Dipli
village, Hanumangarh, Rajasthan, India was suffering from stomachache for 12
years. She had spent about Rs.80, 000/-
for treatment by the doctors. But
nothing worked. Some said her
intestines were fully damaged. Others
said she has been affected by cancer in the stomach. Finally, her condition grew worse and she became bed-ridden. She could not take any solid food. At this desperate situation, the family came
to know of Christ. They stopped their
traditional worship and began to pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus heard their prayer and granted a
miraculous healing to Sukh Devi. Having
experienced God’s touch, she now proclaims the Gospel to her neighbors.
(Courtesy: Friends Focus – Sept.2002)
Prayer of a blind woman in Danora, Maharashtra State, India stopped
rains.
Our village used to experience torrential rains during the month of June. The marriage of my relative was arranged to be held during this season. There were heavy rains during the first two days. The marriage was to be held on the third day. My relative’s family is very poor. We were worried that due to the continuous heavy rains, all the arrangements would be futile and that all the catering arrangements would come to a standstill, resulting in wastage of a lot of money which we could not afford. Amongst all the people there, I am the only Christian. But I am blind. So I could not help them in any manner. However, I called them and told, “Do not fear. The God whom I worship is great. I will pray for you”. I started praying to our Lord. The Lord stopped the rain and the marriage went on well. This news led many people to our Lord.
(Courtesy: IMS monthly magazine – Sept.2002)
The following is a true account,
published as narrated by an evangelist of Friends Missionary Prayer Band,
namely Samuel.
Samuel began his work for the day
not knowing that God was going to do something beyond the imagination of a
common person.
He was waiting in the bus stand
near his house, but it was a longer wait than usual. His eyes fell on the folks who met regularly in a canteen across
the street, the children with their pretty uniforms – the scene that he was
very familiar with.
The bus eventually arrived and he
along with 5 other passengers boarded the bus.
The next stop was at a village called Sunganahalli and two or three
people boarded the bus from there. One
of those men was a soothsayer by profession.
As soon as he got into the bus, he promptly began to predict the future
of the passengers sitting in the bus.
The passengers too made their way to him wanting to know what was in
store for them. Each one gave quite
generously to the soothsayer as he unfolded their mysteries.
Samuel was quite uninterested and
totally engrossed with his plan for the day.
After a few minutes, the soothsayer made his way toward Samuel and told
him that he could tell him everything he wanted to know and was questioning why
he was not interested to know about it.
Samuel turned away without answering the soothsayer. The soothsayer was not willing to leave him
alone and began telling Samuel all about his present and future.
The account was true to some
extent but was filled with lies for the most part. At this stage, Samuel was only reminded about the slave girl with
a spirit of divination who was following Paul and Silas. Samuel, not happy with what the soothsayer
was doing to him, prayed in his heart that God would shut the mouth of the
soothsayer. Immediately the
soothsayer’s mouth was shut and though he tried, he could not utter a
word. Panic struck the people in the
bus as they regarded the soothsayer very highly.
The passengers were blaming
Samuel for what had happened and began to form a mob to attack him. There was only one passenger who spoke on
behalf of Samuel and he was badly outnumbered in the argument. When things were beginning to go out of control,
Samuel intervened and told the mob that he was a follower of Jesus and that if
they all would pray to Him, the soothsayer would be delivered.
The passengers willingly accepted
and repeated the prayer after Samuel.
He also told the soothsayer that only Jesus could heal him and asked him
to believe in Him. Samuel requested for
some water, prayed over it and gave the same to the soothsayer. He drank it, within a few seconds, to the
amazement of the onlookers. God then
released the soothsayer’s tongue and he become normal.
This opened the door for Samuel
to share the gospel with those passengers and the soothsayer. They all listened intently land showed much
interest. The soothsayer opened his heart
to Christ and vowed to follow Him.
Samuel had no inkling of what God
was going to use him in a special way that day. With joy and a deep sense of gratitude to our Lord, Samuel
continued his missionary journey.
From the diary of a missionary at
Ratia, Haryana
Bali, Pura’s wife in Mahida village become possessed with an evil spirit and was bed-ridden. Pura sold all his possessions to meet the medical expenses of his wife and as a result he lost everything. But Bali was not healed at all. The family became very poor. Pura had to work in a farm land and live in a hut. At this juncture, they came to know about Christ through the believers at Rubanwali village. He surrendered his life to Christ. This marked a new beginning in his family. The evil spirit, which tormented his wife, left her. His financial position also improved. Now he has built a house for Rs.2 lakhs.
Courtesy: Friends Focus
– January 2003
Pokdotti is a village in Chandana, which is our mission field in the state of Jharkand, India. Recently, 22 of the believers shad gathered in a house for prayer. The anti-Christian elements, who got wind of it, came there in a group, bolted the house from outside and poured kerosene oil on the house. They were about to set it ablaze, intending to burn all the believers alive. Just then, a man came there, boldly went to the doorstep and opened the door. The believers rushed out and escaped being burn alive. Pray for the miscreants to accept Christ.
(Friends Focus, FMPB – February 2003)
At the foot of a hill is Malipada village in Kaduwa mission field in the Rajasthan State of India. There are seven families of Christian believers. One of them is the family of Francis. He is the leader of that village. His family is very much devoted to God. One night, a herd of wild elephants entered the village. After destroying the crops, they came close to the house of Francis. They started rubbing their body against the walls of the house. As the walls were made of mud, they were about to collapse. Francis and his family were fast asleep, suddenly got up, hearing the strange noise outside the house. They thought that someone was demolishing their house. They opened the door and rushed out. The wall collapsed soon after their exit. However, the wild elephants confronted them. Not knowing what to do, they cried out calling on the name of Jesus. It was not in vain. The elephants, on hearing the name of Jesus, ran helter skelter. Twelve of the villagers, who witnessed this miraculous happening, accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior.
(Friends Focus, FMPB – February 2003)
Evil spirits possessed Nicholas of Bamani village, Kamdara, Jharkand when he was studying in Class Ten. These evil spirits tormented him and made him wander aimlessly. He went from village to village and started inflicting injuries on people. One day, his father came to us land took us to his house to pray for his son. When we went and prayed, the Lord healed the boy. Now he is pursuing his studies.
Evil spirits tormented Devshsri for 18 years. Thousands of rupees were spent on treatment. But nothing helped. One day, her husband brought her for prayer. We earnestly prayed to the Lord to deliver her. The Holy Spirit descended on her and the evil spirits left her.
(Friends Focus, FMPB – February 2003)
A two-day meeting had been arranged for the believers at Baniyadi. The date for this meeting had been fixed two months ago. But, unexpectedly, the harvest of the fields in that area began exactly on the date of the meeting. It is customary for the people of one village to go to the nearby village as a whole and help in the harvest. If anybody fails to join the harvesters, he or she will have to pay a fine of Rs.25. The believers of Baniyadi were hence perplexed, wondering whether to go to the meeting or to the harvest. Finally, they decided to attend the meeting and were ready to pay the fine. But, on the day of the meeting, it began to rain and the harvest was postponed by two days. The people marveled at the Lord’s intervention on behalf of His children.
(Friends Focus, FMPB – February 2003)