Gospel for Asia

Anti-Christian attackers are targeting mission church buildings. One Gospel for Asia-supported missionary suffered an attack on his church building, and another missionary saw his church building destroyed this summer.

The first incident occurred on June 25. When pastor Chandan Dutta showed up to lead worship the next day, he noticed that all the windows in the church were destroyed. The door was also damaged where the vandals attempted to break in.

Chandan reported the incident to the local police, but they have yet to identify the culprits.

When Pathik Sharma showed a movie about Jesus to a people staunchly devoted to ancestor worship, Bishakha Gupta came to watch—and so did the demon that possessed her body.

As the movie ended, Bishakha's breathing became erratic. Her parents noticed her distress and decided to take her to a doctor the next day. But Pathik, a Gospel for Asia-supported missionary, asked if he could pray for the young girl instead.

When Pathik stepped toward Bishakha, the girl pushed him away and would not let the missionary touch her. She became violent. The people around her held her hands and feet so Pathik could pray.

When Krishna Maya Pariyar died last week, her fellow believers tried to carry out her wish to be buried on her own land. But this caused major problems for the people in Krishna's village.

They adhere to their traditional religion, which mandates cremation as the only proper ritual. The people in this village were upset that Krishna had turned her back on their traditional gods to worship Jesus, in both her life and in her death.

The people believed that if they could cremate, rather than bury Krishna, she would once again receive favor from her gods. So they confronted the Christians who were planning Krishna's burial.

Dhiraj and his wife, Nutan, should have been living happily ever after. They had three children and Dhiraj ran his own small business, working as a silversmith. Like almost everyone else in the village, the family worshipped all the local deities faithfully.

But strife was taking its toll on their marriage. Dhiraj was addicted to alcohol. He also embarrassed himself by flirting with the young women in their village, much to his wife's embarrassment and dismay. Then Dhiraj would come home drunk and yell at his wife over trivial matters. Their marriage was crumbling, and Nutan had reached her breaking point.

One day she decided she couldn't take any more. After a heated argument, she started to drink acid. Dhiraj was able to stop her—but not before she'd already burned her throat. A fearful Dhiraj raced his wife to the hospital.

 Three Bible college students and a missionary leader were severely beaten in Asia.

Kamik Sandbahor, who serves on the staff of the Gospel for Asia state office, was leading a team of students from a local Bible college as they visited villagers in a rural community. Kamik, Jatrinda, Ajmal and Sanjavin were handing out Christian literature when they were attacked by a gang of about 25 young men wielding iron rods and sticks.

People in one South Asian village accused Dhevan Das of forcefully converting people to Christianity—a serious allegation, which landed him in jail. But he didn't sit in his cell grieving about the situation. Instead, he saw it as an opportunity to share God's love with his fellow inmates.

The Charges against Him
The accusations came after a believer in his church expressed interest in attending a Bible college. Pastor Dhevan was helping her enroll in the college when villagers began accusing him of forcing her to become a Christian.

He was arrested July 28 and formally charged with forced conversion. Initially, the police were going to release him on bail until a group of 30–40 people gathered in front of the police station shouting, "Do not release him! He is destroying our religion." They also filed a complaint against Dhevan.

His heart pounding, Rasul Gupta hurried into hiding to escape from angry family members who wanted to beat him. What did they have against him? He chose to follow Christ.

A few months ago, Gospel for Asia-supported missionary Pallab Singh met Rasul, a member of the Brahmin caste, and the two struck up a conversation. As they talked, Pallab had the opportunity to share about how Jesus had touched his life. He also explained the gospel to his new friend. After thinking about Pallab's words, Rasul ended up deciding to surrender his life to the Lord. At the church where Pallab serves as pastor, Rasul testified that he wanted to follow Jesus, and he joined the congregation.

But his new faith sparked frustration from his family members. Staunchly devoted to their traditional religion, his parents, in-laws and even his wife chastised Rasul for his decision to serve Christ. Like many other Brahmins, they believe any connection with Christianity, which is often considered a low-caste religion, would make them impure.

Widows like Swati Baidya and Mridula Das don't often hear that someone loves them. Swati and Mridula live in South Asia, where being a widow is something like being a pariah: Widows are kicked out of their homes, rejected by society and often find themselves begging for even a little something to eat. In spite of their lot in life, Swati and Mridula have found real hope in their lives.

Mridula's Story
Mridula is only 33, but she felt as though her life was over. This young widow was left alone with three children to feed when her husband died. And her society did not do anything to help. Rather, it blamed her for causing her husband's death.

As if Mridula's status in society wasn't bad enough, her life got worse when she started having serious health problems. She had to spend more and more of her meager earnings on medicine, but she kept working. She tried to work, but after several years of fighting her weakness left her unable to work.

When GFA-supported missionary Kerketta Rai started a prayer fellowship in her village, Mridula started going. She heard the gospel and began to understand the power of prayer. So she asked everyone who attended the prayer meetings to pray for her. As a result, she was completely healed. Slowly, she began to understand the truth about Jesus and she chose to give her life to Him.

Two church buildings in one area of South Asia were recently targeted by anti-Christian extremists. Both churches have GFA-supported missionaries serving as their pastors.

The first, a brand-new church building, was vandalized, and construction was halted on the second.

Ayukta Reddy's new church building was finally complete and the congregation was preparing for the building dedication when vandals broke the windows and the glass in the door. They also painted the name of a local god on the door. The vandalism occurred on Wednesday.

Scorching summer temperatures in Chhattisgarh, India, left the majority of one village's water resources depleted.

Villagers struggled to find a well that wasn't already dry. The government also tried to help by supplying as much water as it was able, but there was never enough to go around.

Makul Pillai worshipped many gods and goddesses, but his spirit still wasn't satisfied. When he fell sick one day with severe breathing problems, he didn't even bother petitioning his gods for help. Instead, his family took him to the hospital.

He was diagnosed with a severe lung infection that would require three days of treatment. After being discharged from the hospital, Makul happened to meet Gospel for Asia-supported missionary Siraj Rangan who was serving in his region. Makul shared the agony of his health problems with the missionary, and Siraj assured Makul that it was Jesus Christ who could take away his infirmity.

Siraj then prayed for him and invited the distraught man to attend a Sunday worship service.

The people of Kanohraj* village wanted to kill Daruka for sharing God's love until a dead cow changed their minds.

The Gospel for Asia-supported missionary often encountered hostility from the villagers when he went out to share Christ, but he remained steadfast in prayer and fasting to see the village reached.

His faithfulness paid off when he met Santosh Singh, who owned a farm with many cows. Daruka shared the gospel with him and gave him a tract called "Heart of Man." Santosh soaked in the message of salvation in Christ, and from then on he invited Daruka to visit his home every Tuesday to pray for him and his family.

As Santosh learned more about Jesus and listened to the Word of God, the Lord opened his heart to receive Him. But when a tragic incident happened to Santosh's livestock, he began to question his newfound faith.

Gospel for Asia-supported missionary Murli Ghulam was released from prison, but he is restricted from traveling outside his own village. Additional details about Murli's ministry and the events leading to his release are also being reported.

Murli was arrested on July 2 as he was leading a prayer meeting in a believer's home and charged with bribing and forcing people to convert to Christianity. The charge was brought by anti-Christian extremists in his village.

Murli lives in an area with strict laws that make it difficult to share the love of Jesus with people from the area's traditional religions. These statutes, which are often used as a basis of arresting Christian pastors, are known as "freedom of religion laws" and outline what steps must be taken to change one's faith. In some places where there are "freedom of religion laws," individuals are legally obligated to submit paperwork to the government before they are allowed to publicly follow Christ.

God has shown His power to numerous people in South Asia who are still refusing to follow Him, despite His miraculous power at work in their lives. Even after seeing God bring healing and deliverance to their family members, many have hardened hearts and continue to reject Jesus.

Blessed, but Not Yet Believing
Gajendra Verma, touched by the love of God, has still not chosen to give his life to the One who healed him.

This man's life was going well, until one day he began having severe pain in his eyes. Within a few days, he was totally blind. After visiting many hospitals and trying various treatments, he was still in the dark. Gajendra worships traditional gods and goddesses of his area and is strong in his religious practices. So he turned to these idols, offering many sacrifices in hopes of being healed, but nothing helped his condition.

One of Gajendra's friends led him to the home of a man known as "one who heals." This man is really a Gospel for Asia-supported missionary who is well known in his area for praying for the sick. After listening to Gajendra's situation, the missionary felt compassion and prayed for his healing. By the grace of God, Gajendra's eyes were healed and his pain left. He could finally see again! Gajendra was overjoyed and seemed interested in choosing to follow Christ.