Pictures From Last Week In Rajasthan

Pastor Surjit, looking much better when we were there last weekend. He's back out there in the missionfield doin' the work. His hand still needs healing.
Laxmi, O.'s sister. The cast is off her leg and she's walking fine.
Ramesh, feet also healed.
Praise the Lord those who were beaten are doing well.

O. And Team Back At Home At Last

Everyone got home from Rajasthan about an hour ago. It was a long wait for them today.

As they ate food (gobbled it up really) they were recounting the numerous ways God moved in miraculous ways. We just talked about the hundreds (I said no thousands) of people who prayed.

I cannot tell you how many responses I got from people saying that they - and their whole church - are praying. Praise the Lord. The amount of prayers prayed in regards to the situation this past week is uncountable and awe inspiring to me.

More Good News: Men In Jail

About twenty minutes ago I got a phone call from O. who was at the courts. The men who beat the believers on Sunday night were before the judge for sentencing (or non-sentencing.) According to O. they came with a lot of RSS* support and bribe money. O. said, "Pray."

I prayed and called someone to have both our Karuna kids and Bible Students pray right now, and I prayed some more.

About fifteen minutes after the first phone call O. called back - the judged sentenced the men to jail time until at least January 26th. After that, we don't know, but it was a great miracle and answer to prayer. Talk about holding your breath!

Thanks to everyone who has been praying. Don't stop.

Hopefully, we'll get our husbands back home soon now...

* RSS = Hindu Nationalist Organization, totally anti-Christian

The Police Are On Our Side

There has been a great breakthrough in the ongoing case of the beatings in Rajasthan. As of yesterday the police are now on our side. Since the beginning they have ignored, harassed, not helped and basically been unpleasant to us; but after two days of standing at the police station waiting for justice and inundating the police with phone calls from human rights groups, etc. from all over India, they gave in.

On Thursday night the police sent four security to escort some of the believers who were beaten back to their homes. One of the security men was supposed to stay there all night. This only happened through prayer. As God softened the heart of Pharaoh, he soften the heart of the police inspector, at last. Thanks for praying. After the past four days of hindrances on every side, this really was a great miracle.

The story gets better. After the security man was sent, O. and the guys with him returned to his home village in the evening. It's located about 3 Km from Tidi village where the attacks happened. As they pulled off the main road into the village they saw the security man sitting around with another man, drinking. He's supposed to be in Tidi protecting the villagers from more attacks and here he is three kilometers away, drunk.

O. got fired up, called the police inspector, threaten all kinds of stuff and got it all sorted it. But the end of it was that we caught the police corruption first hand and on film.

They are now much more willing to do what needs to be done.

Photos Of The Persecuted

I received these photos this morning from two men who came back from Rajasthan last night. It took me a while to just get myself up to even looking at them. These are people we know and love. Our family in Christ and in blood.

These photos have all been taken over the last 3 days.

Pastor Surjit (This is the father of the president of our ministry.)

His hand was cut while using it to stop the ax that was coming toward his head.
O.'s sister with a broken leg. They didn't get any medical treatment until over 24 hours after the incident happened.

Ramesh, with his injured foot.

The man who held the meeting. It was at his house where the fighting broke out. He and many others have not been able to go back home due to fear of repercussions.

He was hit in the head with an ax.

Pray for them. Pray for O. and the others following up with the police and in the courts. This case may have to go all the way to the capital in Delhi.

* ignore the dates stamped on the photos, they're all wacky.

What Really Happened That Night

My sister-in-law, Martha, talked to her sister, Laxmi, who was there the night of the beatings in Rajasthan and got the full story first hand today.

Here's what happened: about 15 believers: men, women and children, were gathered at the house of another believer for a prayer meeting. They had started to make rice and sang only a couple songs when some people came to stop the meeting. When they came and told them to stop, the pastor stopped everything and everyone was going to leave but the people then started to come at them with ax and heavy pieces of wood.

They beat everyone. The numbers of believers and beaters were about equal but the believers had several small children with them. Even they were beaten. The pastor, Surjit, was beaten the most and when he was on the ground they came at his head with the ax, but he stopped it with his hand. He has a bad cut on the palm of his hand and forearm from it.

O.'s sister, Laxmi, was beat several times on her legs and one leg was broken. Someone also came at her with an ax but at the last second someone pushed it away so that it only hit her leg slightly.

There were three young men among the believers; Ramesh, the Bible College graduate who was missing but later found, fought off as many men as he could and was able to rescue most of the children and get them out of there. He was later beaten badly, he was just one against fifteen. He was able to escape by jumping into some body of water and pushing three of them into it (they were drunk).

The two other young men who are very new believers were also there and were beaten. Laxmi told Martha she was worried that after this their faith would fail, but they have both said that Christ suffered so much more for them that this was nothing. Amen to that.

Once you get the story from the mouths of women you get a much clearer idea of what happened.

The other side continues to hold onto that the believers were drunk and had killed a cow. Lies, but it's what the police and everyone else is choosing to believe. That's the uphill battle that O. is fighting, trying to get the truth out and accepted as the truth.

The beaten believers are still in much pain; the pastor was taken back to the hospital today because the pain had become too severe.

There was an encouragement and unity meeting this morning and about 200 Christians came from the surrounding areas, which is great. O. and his team are back at the police station tonight trying to get an honest report on file. Keep on praying.

Opposed On Every Side

O. just called and said that they continue to get negative responses from everyone - doctors, news media, police, lawyers, politicians. The other side (the ones who beat them) continue to spread lies and these seem to be the stories that everyone is accepting.

O. says tomorrow they will put a case against the people from the side of his sister, hoping that will hold some more weight because she is a woman and also seriously injured. He asked for prayer for that and also for a good lawyer.

He also called all the pastors from the city and surrounding villages to come together in unity tomorrow. He's hoping for a turnout of at least 100 pastors. Please pray for them to come together and stand as one in Christ.

Continue to pray for Onkar, the team, and those who were injured. Thanks for visiting my blog, I've had more visitors today than I think in the last 6 months combined! Pray!

Tuesday Updates On Rajasthan

O. and his team were at hospitals late into the night and early morning hours. The injured had been turned out of the government hospital yesterday and the doctors there refused to admit them. When O. arrived last night, he took all of the injured back to the hospital, forced the hospital to take their x-rays and then carted everyone off to another (private) hospital to be admitted. At present seven people are admitted in the hospital. His sister had a cast put on her leg and the others are being treated for their injuries.

At this point the government hospital personal, the police, and the media have all sided with the Hindu persecutors. (bribes) The report in the newspaper today ready that the Christians ate meat or killed a cow or some such nonsense and that is why there was the incident on Sunday night. Lies.

I did hear that some of the people had been apprehended and put in jail, but I don't have many more details than that.

We're all praying here and waiting for the phone to ring.

O. did tell me he'd be going to the mayor of the city today and to pray for that meeting.

Clipping My Nails

Yesterday at this time I was sitting out front of my house clipping my fingernails for about a half an hour. I just couldn't really bring myself to do much other than that. The laundry could get hung out to dry later, the kids could do their homework later, whatever there was to do, it didn't seem so important. I think I was still in shock.

I'm feeling a little more active now.

Monday Update On The Rajasthan Situation

O. and a team of about 9 others left this afternoon to go and encourage the believers in Rajasthan and help them out. O. just called me and said that they got news that the government hospital were the believers were treated did not admit them overnight but sent them home. Apparently, the doctor was given money by some of the persecutors to "lighten" the case. If believers are admitted in the hospital it would give weight to a court case. O. asked for prayer.

He also asked for prayer for himself that he would not get too angry over the situation and let his emotions control him but that he would allow the Lord to work through him. Please pray for him in this area.

O. and the team have not yet arrived but that's what we know right now from others who are there.

Ramesh. Our Bible College graduate who was missing last night and this morning but who has since been found. PTL!



I should have more details after O. and the others arrive tonight. Please keep praying.

Attack in Rajasthan

This morning O. and I got a phone call that his sister, her husband (the pastor), and several believers were beaten in a surprise attack after a prayer meeting on Sunday night near O.’s home village in Rajasthan. At the end of the meeting everyone came outside of the home where the meeting was being held and they were attacked by a large mob carrying sticks and axes. Men, women and children were beaten and they ran into the night to escape the persecution.

O.’s sister was beaten on her arms and legs, her husband was beaten the most and was unconscious until 3AM. They had no vehicles, no 911, no cellphones. Everyone just ran away to hide until daylight.

By God’s grace no one was killed. Several believers were beaten very terribly. The owner of the house were the meeting was held was injured by a blow to the head with an ax. Another young man, Ramesh, who is a graduate of our Bible College (2009), was there and fought off the attackers with his hands as much as possible and as of this morning was still missing.

I spent most of the morning in tears and prayer and it wasn’t until about 2:30 this afternoon that I got the news that Ramesh had turned up. He was injured badly on his foot and after hiding out all night, returned to his village. Thank the Lord. He was on the way to the hospital.

First of all this morning, before going to the hospital the pastor and others went to the police station to report the incident. Those who are more seriously injured are now admitted in the hospital.

Please pray.

O.'s sister and husband who were attacked last night.

Quiet Day

Nothing much has happened since the situation on Sunday. It's been quiet - so that's good.

O. left late last night for a speaking engagement in Central India and a bunch of our people are with him. He'll be home on Monday.

It's the Hindu Festival Holi today so we stayed inside all day while the kids outside put colored powder on each other and squirted each other with water. Between staying inside all day to avoid getting color ground into me and O. not being here, it was a really quiet day. I did watch Notting Hill tho.

Ongoing Trials Since The Year 2000

Yesterday was O.'s birthday. After church we celebrated P.'s birth, O.'s birthday and G.'s (almost) b-day by having cake and lunch with all our believers.


After lunch all our co-workers came to our house to give a gift to O. All of the sudden I heard a sound like rumbling thunder but was in reality several pairs of flip flops running across our stone floors. I thought some of our co-workers were going to the back of my house to bring in the gift for O. but alas, no, nothing that mundane. What I didn't know was that just a moment before that one of our Children's Home children came running to my house and said, "Someone is beating Driver Uncle."


Our driver was taking the children home after church and a family who has persecuted us since we came to this city stopped our vehicle and started pushing our driver around.

It became a big bruhaha with people getting beat by belts and threatened with sticks and stones (literally). There was even a biting incident. Then by this time O. and all our male co-workers (and most of our children) had reached the scene. There was a lot of shouting and threatening and eventually O. decided to just report the incident to the police.

O. and all the men went to the police station and all the ladies and kids stayed at my house waiting for our delayed birthday party. We prayed instead and waited some more.

A couple hours later some police came to my house and asked what was going on. I didn't really know much but I said that nothing had happened here and pointed them in the right direction. All the ladies were standing outside and the police asked "Who are all these people?" I think they thought I had gathered a force of women to go fight. I said, "We were having a birthday party..."

The situation is still going on. This family has done things against us again and again. They put a case against us yesterday claiming we were here only to convert people to Christianity. We weren't even involved in the situation yesterday. Yet we see their planning and scheming all over it. Their desire is to destroy O. and the ministry. We know this because they said in front of everyone yesterday.

Please pray with us for wisdom in this case and pray especially that we will have favor in the courts and with the police. As Christians and as a minority no one stands with us in times of trial. Anything to do with religion is a major political issue over here and we can get stuck in all kinds of problems and bogged down in court cases. Pray for victory in Jesus name in every area as well as wisdom for how to proceed according to God's will.

Through it all O. kept saying, "It's my birthday today..."
Sometimes you just never get a break.

What We've Been Doing Around Here

As you might remember we had a rally on Sept. 2 to protest the persecution in Orissa. A great thing that has come out of that is a monthly meeting between all the Christian pastors/leaders in our city and surrounding cities and villages. It's been great for unity building.

The first official meeting was last Saturday with 30 men in attendance. Very exciting. I am waiting to see what God is going to do through this team in the coming days.

Please keep praying for God's people in India and especially in the state of Orissa. The situation and persecution remains intense.

"Severe Persecution"

I sent out a general email yesterday requesting more prayer for the persecution going on in India. I must have written the phrase, "severe persecution" in the email because someone wrote me back requesting clarity on what that means.

Here is what I responded:

"Being hacked to death by sword in front of your wife and children. Being raped and dragged naked thru town, being burned alive, churches and homes of Christians burned...All of this and worse is happening in India every day and there is not much being done to stop it."

I think the above constitutes "severe persecution."

Persecution Continues

The persecution against Christian believers in India has continued on and on. I've been thinking lately about how if we were in the US and we heard about the murder of a pastor or a family - just because they were Christian how we would be so shocked and it would take a long time to get over it. Or if we heard or knew about a church being burned to the ground simply out of hatred toward Christians. What would we do?

Yet, when we hear of persecution in other countries, of a pastor being murdered, a Christian child being burned alive, a church being destroyed - why is it not so real to us? Is that Christian brother in another country any less valuable to God than a Christian brother of our own culture?

I hear about churches burned, pastors killed, property destroyed and Christian women raped every day in India. And we weep and we pray and we cry out to God.

Agraj And Jeetu

Front and Center of the following picture is Agraj, one of our Bible students from the state of Orrisa. Hearing him cry out to God today on behalf of his mother, brothers, sisters, pastor, and friends being persecuted in Orrisa broke my heart.
The man in red standing in this picture is Pastor Jeetu. He is from Orrisa and he works with our ministry planting churches there. We got news yesterday that he was being forced to abandon his home because of the communal violence all around him. He was taking his wife and twin baby boys with him into hiding.

Orissa

Orissa is an Indian state prone to violence against Christians.

Our pastor read a letter in church today written by one of our believers who is from that state and who wanted to give a testimony on the violence going on there since December 24th. He was too emotional to speak in church, so he wrote it down.

Hundreds of believers are homeless and churches are destroyed. I talked to this man after church and he had just arrived back in our city yesterday. He had to escape in the night through the jungle alone to get out of his village because all roads had been blocked off. His wife and children are still there.

Tomorrow, January 14th, is a big Hindu holiday in India. At that time the people of his area - those causing all the trouble - will decide what to do - continue to persecute the Christians or stop.

Please pray with us.

Even though we are also in India the news of these types of things happening doesn't always reach us. It is only because a man from our own congregation was there and witnessed people coming with swords and guns outside his own house and saw the burning buildings that we even know as much as we do know.

We get caught up in our own world sometimes and we forget our brothers and sisters who are suffering. Please pray with us.

I'll try to keep you updated as I know things.

God's Two Choices

A beloved 6 year old relative of mine in the US prayed this prayer after hearing about our recent difficult situation.

"God -- You have two choices: Either kill those bad men or make them love Jesus."

I don't think I even need to comment.

Court Hearing Whatever

When I talked to O. about the Court appearance on Tuesday he said he basically had to stand before a woman and then two people were character witnesses for O. and our school principal. Then the court lady said that Our People were to have no contact with The Other People for 6 months. Any kind of altercation between the two parties would result in them being thrown in jail.

We pretty much knew that was coming, and it sounds fine. but The Other People are cunning and ruthless and have no problem lying about us. So, we are now all being very careful not to ever be in any situation that The Other People could use to drum us some stuff about us.

We continue to keep the situation before the Lord. But the satanic attacks (and God's deliverances) just continue on. We had a very expensive piece of equipment stolen (and found) yesterday. I'll write about that in another post because it's a good story.