This page brings you testimonies from the field. 

Testimony of Andrew & Melissa Howard (Castleton Church of the Nazarene, Indianapolis IN)

April 2007

We truly didn't know much about this Body of Christ Ministry (BCM) when we arrived but we had experience with the Jesus Film so we were excited to be delivering new equipment to the area. Once we arrived at the ministry center, we were greeted with warm smiles and such love, it was truly overwhelming. With each passing day that we shared with Pastor Billy, his family and the staff, we were so blessed by the work that is being done by BCM in and around Rameswaram, India. Once we experienced the way in which this ministry is meeting the needs of those that hunger and thirst for love and Jesus, we knew that we had seen the hands and feet of Christ in action. We are so thankful for the time that we spent with all those that are a part of BCM and we look forward to continuing our support of this amazing ministry.

Other accounts on this page include Stan Avery and Paster Travis Hunt who have traveled to India for the purpose of serving at Body of Christ Ministries.

Testimony of Patty Clark (New Life Community Church, Pismo Beach, CA)

April 2007

On  April 16, 2007 seven people from New life Community Church in Pismo Beach, California flew from San Luis Obispo, California and headed for Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, India. We met four other people there from various other places.  With Pastor Billy Paulose our team was complete.

We were met with a warm welcome at The Body of Christ Ministries in Rameswaram, India by the children at the compound.  Everyone at the compound was kind to us the entire time we were there. The food was excellent and we were waited on at all meals!  The accommodations were good.
 
There was a pastors conference going on while we were there and we attended it during the day.  We enjoyed the different speakers and our Pastor Ron Salsbury, also taught several classes. We prayed for one another each day and ended the meeting with the washing of the feet.  This was especially meaningful for us all.
 
Four different nights we showed the Jesus Film.  One school, two remote villages and one a local village. Many people gave their lives to Christ after the showing of the film.  This was the high point of the trip!  During the day we would put on a skit at different towns and then Pastor Ron would preach the gospel.
 
One day the compound did an outreach to the poor.  A  van picked up street people and brought them to the compound.  Once at the compound the people were given a haircut, had their nails clipped, were showered and given food and new clothing.
 
We loved the programs the school children and orphanage children put on for us!  The programs were excellent!  A lot of love went into the various acts!  We fell in love with all the children!  They were very cute, kind and polite!
 
We were impressed with the infant center.  What a wonderful ministry!!!  Saving babies from death and brought here to live. We could not get enough of the babies and children!
 
All our expectation were far exceeded on this trip!  It was wonderful to be apart of the work being done in the name of Christ and working along side Pastor Billy, his father Pastor Moses, and  his brother Pastor Isreal.  We will be returning when the training center is completed!  We were truly BLESSED!  We thank Pastor Billy, his wife and family, from the bottom of our hearts for inviting us to this wonderful place and witnessing all that God is doing in India!  We thank his parents, and sister for their love and kindness as well!


Testimony of Ben Lillie with his son Luke  (Arago, Oregon)

March 2007

During our recent stay in India, Luke and I went to visit Ravi and Komaloom. They introduced us to a 6 yr. old boy, who seemed to be well known in the village. It seems this village had resisted the Gospel since the time Ravi arrived (about 18 years ago). This small boy had a speech impediment, which caused him to stutter. He went to Ravi and asked fo.r prayer to be healed. After Ravi prayed, his speech began to improve until his stuttering completely stopped. This boy came from a Hindu family. Since he was healed his family began to attend church with him. Then, the boy went to a 14 yr. old girl who suffered from convulsions. He told her to go and let the Christian pastor pray for her. Despite her reluctance, she went to the church for prayer, after the boy reminded her that the Christian God healed him. After Ravi had prayed for her she too was healed. Then she shared the miracle with her family and they, also, believed in Jesus. She and the boy then went to a man that had three large, fiery boils on his chest, that were very painful, and told him how God had recently healed both of them, through prayer in Jesus’ name. He, too, went for prayer, and has begun to heal. I saw his chest. One boil was nearly gone and the others are shrinking and no longer painful. Through this one boy, God began to work in this village. Many have put their trust in Jesus as Savior and are attending church.

I visited the Training Center and was amazed at the changes that have taken place in the last eight years. The only building I remember from my last visit to BCM was a small church structure. Eight years ago, I witnessed the digging of the hole for the first column of the Training Center, and now they are working on the roof There is an orphanage, clinic building and infant home. Far more important than these buildings are all the transformed lives they shelter and serve, as the church thrives and grows.

I also met some of the men and women that have been brought off the streets (through the Mercy Outreach ministry), whom they have fed, bathed, and clothed. Some of them have stayed at the compound. Many are mentally challenged. Some are showing clear signs of increasing mental stability, since they were first rescued.

Nurse Desiree was a joy to meet. She has begun classes on personal hygiene and on the benefits of drinking abundant good water. She still has many patients that need health care, and she asked if anyone would be willing to help provide finances for the desperately needed medical supplies, especially vaccinations. She could also use some furniture in the clinic, as it is bare. Desiree is also training the sisters who work in the infant home. This also provides relief for these women, who are giving their lives to raise all these precious rescued babies.

 
From Pastor Travis Hunt (Camas Valley, Oregon)
   Fri 2/10/2006

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I just now have time to write to all of you.

It has been very, very busy and fruitful in the Kingdom of God.  Personally, God has refreshed me in His Spirit and spoken to me about personal struggles, sins and victories.  I thank Jesus who always leads us in triumph through His loving hands.  It has been hard for me to be in India at this time, missing all of you more than I ever have before, but God keeps speaking to me about His Kingdom and that His desire is for us to reach out beyond ourselves and to see the lost enter the Kingdom.  This is why I travel overseas and this is why you sacrifice yourselves in prayer for us.  Thank you so much for the thousands of people who have heard the Gospel on this trip and for the hundreds who have given their lives to Christ and you will meet in heaven.  What you have done for them can never be expressed in this life.

Our trip to the mountains left us pretty ragged.  It was baby wipes for many days, but we were able to visit several very remote tribal villages who rejoiced to hear the good news that God would accept them through Jesus.  After returning from the mountains, we slept on the floor of a church for 3 days and held a crusade in which several hundred people committed their lives unto the Lord!  Thank you Jesus!  Some of which have even remained in contact with Pastor Israel by phone for the last several days.  They didn’t just “come forward” but have actually been born again.  Praise God!  We then preached at three different churches on Sunday followed by a 5 hour car ride to get on an 8 hour train ride so that we could catch a 3 hour car ride so that we could begin the IBS training seminar that night.  As far as any of the pastors know, this is the first seminar for training that has ever been conducted in Andra Pradesh, and they are very very excited to learn how to teach the Word of God.  We haven’t even begun the exciting part of IBS yet and they are “pumped”.  Very encouraging for me.  The organizing pastor has a desire to have a 3-State conference for all of the major leaders so that they could receive this training and begin teaching it to their respective groups.  This would be an answer to prayer.

I can’t express how much I miss my home church and my church family.  I have been in deep prayer for you all and for our elders.

This seminar will end on Thursday evening (morning for you) and Pete and Bonnie will begin their flight home, while Chad, Alan and I will be taking the train (8 hours) up to Bubaneswhar for our seminar in Orissa.  This is a highly “dangerous” area and we will need to be wise and serpents and innocent as doves.  I am so sorry that I didn’t get an opportunity to leave a voice message for the church last Sunday.  We were “MOVING”!  It would be good for the body to read Acts 13:1-3.  This has encouraged me.  Thank you for your protective prayers, our stomachs are for the most part intact.  Our sleep has been sufficient for our needs and our personal lives have been challenged.  I love you all and will be home soon.

To my dear beloved family,

Travis

_________________________________________________
October 2005
Journey to India
by Stan Avery

[This is an account to accompany some of photos in a CD photo file from Body Of Christ Ministries in India. It was provided as a then-current "snapshot" of the work in India, from the view of Stan's journey to India, October 2005, with his 14 year old daughter, Desiree, and her two friends, Jessica, 16, and Rebekah, 15.]

Opposition

We were challenged right away, in transit at the Bombay airport. As the customs officials rummaged through our stuff, peppering us with questions about our strange cargo of endless gifts for children, the senior customs official intervened, telling them to leave us alone. Then he proceeded to try to compel me to speak against the Hindu temples, claiming that he was a follower of Christ, and despised Hinduism. He was friendly, but forceful, through 20 minutes of questions and probing. I kept insisting I was just a stupid plumber, unschooled in philosophy. Finally, he discovered a pipe wrench in one of the suitcases, and reluctantly sent us on our way. As we gathered our stuff, he reversed himself, and began preaching Hindu doctrine to us. It was obvious that he had been trying trick me into confiding in him, of our true Gospel agenda, so he could send us back to the USA. ( It happens regularly to the unaware ).

Of whom the world is not worthy

 We arrived in Rameswaram on Wednesday night, just in time for the 3-day pastor's conference. So many of them traveled long distances by bus, in hardship and uncertainty. Then they had to endure my teaching, for 2 to 3 hours each day. Afterwords, for about 7 hours each evening, I interviewed each pastor individually, through a translator, to get to know them, and learn about their work. We did this late into the nights, and the testimonies were so compelling and amazing, that time seemed to become irrelevant. Sometimes we would be in tears, over the grace and deep sacrifice of these disciples. The things they endure regularly would wilt most of us, yet they have so much joy and steadfastness.

I confess that I became quite angry more times than I could count. I heard humble testimonies (sometimes I had to draw it out of them) of great works and miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit; multiplied and thriving churches being planted in hard ground, through hunger and hardship, beatings and sorrows, dangers and difficulties; with no evidence of complaint or despair. All the while, I was seeing, from our records, that nearly half of the pastors had been unsupported by their sponsors at least once in the past 6 months. I did okay, until the first time a pastor confessed that his children had to endure hunger in this circumstance. Then Billy and I started falling apart.

On the first day of the conference, I asked each pastor to write out a detailed letter to their sponsor, describing their work and ministry. For the BCM pastors who were able to make the journey to the conference, (about half of them), we hope to get those letters to you quickly, along with photos of them taken during the conference. Four staff workers worked night and day, translating them for you, from Tamil and Malayalam into English. For those of you who receive this, who do not sponsor a pastor, I plan to send a series of emails after we return to the USA, with various testimonies from the villages where we are planting churches. I tell you, so much of it is sort of like reading the latest new chapters to the Book of Acts.

Andreas' vision

One remarkable testimony from our sojourn with BCM and the disciples in India actually begins in Germany. There are an ever-increasing number of Christians from around the world, who are coming here to connect with the ministry in Rameswaram. Just in those few days, we met two from England, one who came separately from Scotland, a team of ten who came for evangelism and church-planting training from far to the north, beyond Bangladesh, near Burma, and one young man who showed up from Germany, whom I will tell you about.

I received a brief email last Spring from Andreas Leach of Germany. He had found us on the internet, and requested contact with Moses Paulose or Billy Graham Paulose of Body of Christ Ministries in Rameswaram. I gave him Billy's email and phone info, and that was the last I heard of him. Through a remarkable "coincidence," he chose to come here at the same time that I and the three girls are here. He was quite surprised to find us here.

This is what happened: Andreas was radically saved by Jesus a number of years ago. He had been a university history student, and a devoted follower of occultism. After he became a disciple, and grew in understanding, he was determined to find some way to be involved in frontline evangelism to the unreached. He decided to go to Hong Kong, and spent quite a while studying the Chinese Language. One day, God spoke to him, telling him clearly that China was not where he was to go, but to some other place instead. He and another brother began praying earnestly for guidance for him in this matter. Some days later, Andreas' friend saw an amazing vision, before his eyes in broad daylight. It was a map of South India and Sri Lanka.

A very bright light was shining, in the ocean between the two nations, with flames radiating out into the surrounding nations. He was told that the vision was for Andreas. Andreas was puzzled by this. He thought the flame represented Spiritual light and revival, but thought, "who would be saved in the ocean, the fish"?

 He began to do research and found a tiny island between the two nations ... Rameswaram. Then, he learned that it was a main center of Hindu pilgrimage and worship, and wondered if he could find any Christians there. After more days of research on the internet he finally found a testimony about Moses Paulose, concerning the tsunami relief work, and how the island was spared by God during the tsunami.

It seemed quite clear to him that this is where God wants him to be involved, and to all of us it seemed so also. He told the BCM ministry staff, at a devotional meeting, that he had been changed more in the last two days, than in the previous two years.

In addition to all of this, I learned that, early in 2005, just before Andreas was told of that vision, Salini, Billy Graham's wife, was visiting her parent's home in Kerela. A prophet from the church came to their home, and told her of a prophesy he had received; that God was going to open a door in Germany for BCM, and that they would also receive a connection in the ministry with disciples in the far northeast of India. They had wondered what all that could mean, until now.

Let the children come

Sunday morning found us in church, held in a finished part of the Training Center. Many hundreds were there, sending exuberant praises Heavenward. Their resounding joy and fervency is so infectious. After a while, we divided into small circles, for prayer and intercession. (Serious prayer teams are in progress at the Training Center every hour of every day, I learned.) They asked me to teach, so I took them on a journey through time, showing how, throughout many generations and languages, the Word of God never loses its power to bring us to Life in Jesus.

In the afternoon, we were treated to a special program of Gospel music, dance and drama, presented by the children of the Glorious Children's Home. We all observed, during our week in Rameswaram, that the children were remarkably gracious and well behaved. Stella, the sister who oversees the children's home, does an amazing job with them. Monday morning, we were all invited to a huge wedding, of two disciples, Collins and Esther, who met while working with BCM. It was a great honor to witness their special day.

During the afternoon, the girls and I dropped by the King of Kings English Medium School operated by BCM, and then we spent a long time on the very top of the Training Center, carefully taking in the view in all directions, and soaking in the visual scope of the whole ministry surrounding us. That night, as I was walking alone toward Billy and Salini's home, the girls  from the Children's Home were all outside in the cool of the evening. I sat down with them, and for an hour told them stories and answered their questions, with Stella translating. It was such a precious joy for this soul.

In the midst of such darkness

We arose very early Tuesday morning to give Desiree, Jessica and Rebekah a first-hand look at what draws the Hindu pilgrims here from all over India. As we left the Training Center, we passed long crowds of Hindu Pilgrims of all sorts; rich, poor, children and elderly, hailing from every corner of India. I noticed hundreds who were from the far Northern desert of Rajasthan, recognizable by the very bright colors the women wear.

Rows of the buses which had carried them thousands of kilometers stood empty near the road. The car we were in crept politely through the quiet throngs, as we made our way a few kilometers, to the stone steps of the seashore, where they come, each once in their lifetime, to try to leave all their sins behind in the warm sea. Barbers waited at their stations, to shave the heads of those who had such vows. Ceremonial cows were tethered to stone pillars. The pilgrims would try to get them to eat sacred morsels, and then shake the cow's tail, as they prayed to it for cleansing. Drinking a sip of its urine is prized as a holy honor. Squatting along the edge of the sea were some of the thousand Brahman priests here, who charge the Hindus very high fees to perform little rituals with herbs, powders and smoke, essential for the process of leaving behind the guilt of their sins, according to the ancient fables which bind their souls in hopeless darkness.

After solemnly immersing themselves in the placid waters, each pilgrim walks the hundred meters to the temple. It has stood for 800 years, the second largest in India, towering far above the lush palms and bustling habitations of the island. Inside the temple are a series of ancient wells, whose waters are drawn for ritual bathing. During special days throughout the year, additional rituals of piercings, mutilation and hooks through their flesh are also publicly employed in search for the assurance of cleansing from sin. As we passed a huge pile of ashes, Billy explained that the Hindus had been walking on the live coals there, the previous day.

Near the temple we saw the ornate grave of Muni Yasami, who was the leader of the Rameswaram Hindus. He is the one who, ten years ago, ordered the old BCM Training Center burned, and the disciples there beaten. Afterward, he had put a price on the heads of Moses Paulose and Sister Sarojam, of two years wages for anyone who would cut off their heads. Just one week before the assassination was to take place, he was stabbed to death over some political conflict.

With completion of the Training Center, it will clearly be do-able, to reach these endless pilgrims en masse, in their world and language, while time remains for them.

The Body of Christ

Later the same day we took a detailed tour of the entire ministry operation, with the communication center and offices. I was amazed at how the ministry has grown and developed, as a well-ordered blend of a church, a village and a ministry, maintaining in every aspect a clear and singular focus on the vision of reaching India with the Gospel of Jesus. We stopped in a little cafe, just inside the main gate. It is operated by newlyweds, disciples who are from the Hindu village across the road. Just one month earlier, their Hindu families had decided to boycott their wedding plans, and they shut the young man out of any employment, because these two had decided to follow Jesus. The couple was very distressed. Then, the whole BCM church arose, and put together a big wedding for them, complete with a marching band. As part of the wedding, the entire party, guests and all, held a parade through the streets of their home village, as their disgruntled relatives looked on. Now they are well-supported by their cafe, which stays busy with all the people constantly coming and going at BCM.

As we made our way toward the King of Kings grade school, we passed by a man lying in the shade of a small gazebo. I asked about him, and learned that he and his wife had been persecutors of the Paulose family many years ago, harassing them during their early years on the island. Recently, the man had suddenly fallen under some grave illness, which left him blind, deaf, and unable to speak or move his legs. In desperation, his wife had brought him to the Training Center in a rickshaw just a few days before our arrival there. She had heard of so many who had been healed by Jesus, and she came in despair, hoping for mercy. The disciples had gently explained to her that she needed to pray to Jesus herself, and to believe in Him; that He would surely be merciful. Already, through faithful prayers, the man was now able to see and hear, and walk slowly with a crutch. A week later, we heard that he had climbed the Training Center stairs, unassisted, to go to the church meeting on Sunday, and he was greeted with the loud rejoicing of many, including his wife. Now, she has declared that they will stay forever, to serve Jesus.

Later that day, we were all treated to a formal presentation of Tamil dance and Gospel poetry and singing, by the King of King students. The school is remarkable, both in academics and serious Christian discipleship. Each year one more grade level is added, as the student body advances. We learned that it will be needful to complete the second floor of the school building by May of 2006, which will cost about $25,000, in order for it to continue. I noticed also that they need some kind of playground. Billy and I have concocted a scheme, to build a steel frame on site for a trampoline, with western visitors bringing the springs and membrane for it. It would be the only trampoline within 100 miles.

Training Center

Wednesday morning, the monsoon rains had finally faded to a pleasant cloud cover, perfect for the scheduled completion of one of the last cement pours on the very top of the Training Center. When Theresa and I first visited the disciples in Rameswaram six years ago, we were involved in a simple but fervent groundbreaking ceremony here. I got to help dig a hole in the sand with a big hand auger, in the place where the first pillar foundation for the Training Center was going to be. We very much believed in the purpose and vision way back then, but only in part could we understand the significance of what God was doing here. God has been so faithful over these years, and it has been a joy to persist in the effort to bring this to completion. This morning we had another little ceremony. This time, I was dumping pan after pan of cement into the final form, five stories above the very spot where we had dug so hopefully six years before. It felt really good. Those of you who know me will know that all my life I have been a major skeptic of grand church building schemes, which often seem more like pleasant clubhouses, than tools for radical Gospel outreach. It is so clear to all of us that this work, of building the Training Center, is something that God is doing, and His purposes are becoming ever clearer. Recently someone told us that, if our plans do not need God, they are not big enough. We have encountered a number of critics over these years, whose complaints and criticisms have quite disappeared in this last year. If every Christian who is aware of the nearing completion of the Training Center does not yet understand how this facility will so serve to penetrate the darkness of India's countless villages still bound by demonic hopelessness, they soon will. The Hindu priests see it clearly, and are horrified at the looming demise of their centuries of lucrative idolatry. The man once in charge of temple promotion is now a ministry leader in BCM. Some of the Hindu priests have quietly given up, and are sending their own children to the ministry children's school. I am sure there are still huge battles ahead. But, once we are in full operation here, able to bring thousands after thousands of Hindu pilgrims into Gospel crusades, and able to train, encourage and equip thousands of disciples, a dramatic acceleration will advance the rising tide of Gospel outreach in India. I know there are many disciples enthusiastically anticipating the completion of this formidable ministry resource, and hoping to see the effect on sending the Gospel into India's unreached villages. It is not yet finished, though. After this pour, we will still have three more sections in the vertical structure to form up, rebar and pour, until the permit expires Dec.31. That will require about $150,000. We will need nearly $25,000 very soon, in order to keep the work up to a pace needed to beat the deadline. The Hindu leadership does not know our situation, but they are openly hoping we don't make it in time, as that will stop us. There will be much to do afterwards, with the roof and finish work, but there will be no government time limit on all that.

Sedapati

 6:30 AM Thursday, we departed for Sedapati, in central Tamil Nadu, where Ravi and Komaloom have been laboring for 10 years, and have planted 6 village churches. They still have 71 to go, and are determined to plant thriving churches in all of them before they die. As a visiting "dignitary", I was invited to lecture in their children's secondary school. I taught them about the difference between the influence and the presence of God. That afternoon we went to a remote village, which Ravi visited over 8 years ago. They all gathered for a Gospel presentation, and we showed them a video of the Life of Jesus. It was obvious that a monsoon downpour was bearing down on us, but we were led to tell the villagers that we had prayed to God that it would pass over us, and would not rain until after we had left; and so it did. On our return to the church, we passed by a cluster of tiny thatched dome huts out in a field, wherein six families of migrating shepherds lived. We stopped and politely explained to them the Gospel, before we passed on. We also visited one of the village churches Ravi has planted. In Hindu villages, it is essential to have some sort of simple church building, rather than meeting in someone's home, because the caste system prohibits villagers who would come to learn of the Gospel, from entering the home of a different caste. But, they can all meet in any neutral structure. In this village, they had a rickety thatch and mud shelter, which they pack twice a week with fervent worshippers of Jesus. Just the week before, they had met for church there, and had to stand in 18 inches of monsoon flood. To build an elevated cement or block church costs about $3000, which is beyond the reach of a village fellowship, where a day's wage for a man is less than a dollar.

Crusades and baptisms

On Friday we departed for the northern end of Tamil Nadu. We passed garish Hindu temples devoted to their monkey god, with troops of bold monkeys loitering along the road, in hopes of handouts from the worshipers. Our destination was a refugee camp of Sri Lankans, who had fled the civil war there 15 years before. Pastor Vadivel has planted a thriving church there, and their simple meeting place was to be our quarters for three days. That evening we ventured to a nearby Hindu village, for a well-advertised Gospel crusade in the town center, with huge speakers and a Tamil video of the life of Jesus. Hundreds of people crowded the tiny square and, after the Gospel invitation, about 200 publicly decided to receive Jesus. For over two hours afterwards, we and our translators were inundated with those wanting prayer for myriad needs and afflictions. We felt such a grace and power with love for them, through it all. One young woman who came up to me for prayer, soon appeared obviously possessed, collapsing in distressed and rigid contortions. We were able to cast it out, and she was, in a moment, restored to a countenance of joy and peace. It was amazing to behold. About a year ago, several newborn girls were rescued by BCM pastors, from being killed at birth because of the dowry system. One of them, Ruthie, had been rescued from this area, by pastor Vadivel. Shortly after that, the governor of the district had declared that they would begin to jail any of the villagers who were caught killing their newborn baby girls. The district set up an agency to receive any unwanted newborns. During the one year since then, they have been flooded with 700 baby girls, anonymously abandoned to the government. Saturday, the next morning, we had a baptism service. I spoke of Noah's flood, compared in Peter to baptism. We proceeded to the dam of a nearby reservoir, and I was blessed to baptize six new disciples from nearby Hindu villages: Esther, David, Nathan, Joseph, Baruch, a Hindu leader who had been healed by Jesus of cancer and kidney stones, and, finally, Epaphras, who had believed in Jesus for a while, but had declined baptism until this day, when he was convicted by the bold confessions of those being baptized, and besought me to baptize him also. We gave all of them these names at baptism, as is the custom of the church in India, for those with pagan names.

Evil spirit cast out

In the evening, we headed out for another village Gospel crusade, under skies heavy with monsoon clouds. Baruch had requested that we stop at his home on the way, to pray for his family, so we did. Billy and the other BCM disciples were dismayed to note that Baruch still had old Hindu idols in his home. They explained the importance of removing every vestige of idolatry from his life. He enthusiastically enjoined us to bag up the whole pagan array, and take it with us. The next day, he also brought us a very costly collection of witchcraft books to destroy. We prayed for his family, and for relief from their debts, due to four years without serious rainfall. Also we prayed for his married daughter, who had been barren for seven years. As we prayed, the monsoon deluge descended, to everyone's delight, quickly flooding the roads. We assumed that the Gospel crusade we were headed for would have to be cancelled, so we tarried in their home, encouraging them in the faith. Baruch and his family were concerned that his son in law would react with rage, when he returned to see that they had forsaken the Hindu idols. To everyone's surprise, he reacted quite positively. A few days later, we learned from a pastor that about 200 villagers had waited for us that evening where the crusade was to be, huddled from the rain in the temple of Kali, hoping to hear about this Jesus. We felt so sorry for having missed them. As we were about to leave Baruch's house, to return to the refugee camp, he besought us to stop also in the home of his dear friend, who was the leader of the whole village. He also had come to believe in Jesus, because of Baruch being healed. However, he had been possessed by a powerful evil spirit for 43 years, since his parents dedicated him to an idol, even before he was born. Every time he tried to say anything in praise of Jesus, the spirit would bring hideous contortions and sounds upon him, so that he could not. The Tamil disciples carefully explained the Gospel to him, and instructed him in the ways of God. His wife and daughter were rather uncertain about the whole matter, but they also knew that he needed deliverance from that spirit, so they listened quietly. We were all ushered into another room, where the girls and I were seated on a simple woven bed frame. Billy had told us earlier, that in a case like this, it could take days of prayer and fasting to cast out the foul spirit. As the man came into the room, and sat down with his family on the floor, something very strange happened to me. Until that moment, I had just been tagging along, observing and praying, as I had no experience whatsoever in this sort of warfare. I suddenly felt an amazing, tingling power pass into my body, from bottom to top. Everything and everyone in the room faded into sort of a background, and, as I slowly turned me eyes toward the possessed man on the floor, I set my gaze on his chest, and I was filled with a clear understanding of what the spirit was, and what was going to come to pass that evening. For the next 45 minutes, as the others in the room ministered and prayed, I spoke to the spirit in a relentless and quiet voice, rebuking it and prophesying, with an authority that was totally new to me. The spirit repeatedly brought contortions and various unhuman sounds and gesticulations from the man, but I somehow knew it would leave him that night, and I kept reminding it of that. In a still moment, we then all went into the room dedicated to the Hindu idol pertaining to that spirit. We quietly bagged up all of the idols. Then a few disciples went with his family through the whole house, helping to gather every hint of devotion to idols, even jewelry and written papers. Everyone sat down on the floor of the emptied room. I sat down behind him, and held his arms with my hands. For over an hour, we all prayed and worshipped together, and I kept speaking quiet rebukes to the spirit, proclaiming his sure doom, as it vainly manifested over and over. Then it departed. The man relaxed, his face was filled with peace, he smiled, opened his eyes, and followed Billy in a wonderful prayer of repentance, redemption and praise to Jesus. It was so awesome to behold. His wife and daughter decided also to pray to receive Jesus. We departed late at night, with great rejoicing, driving carefully through flooded roads, back to the church at the refugee village.

Elizabeth, and "Romeo and Juliet"

Sunday morning, we were to be at a church in a distant village. We were delayed by a huge monsoon flood over a river bridge we had to cross, the first flood there in 15 years. It was raging over the banks, and had carried away a lot of animals, and some people. At church I preached about the how important it is to God for us to be merciful. Then we listened to the stunning testimony of Sister Elizabeth. Years earlier, a few months after she had become a follower of Jesus, her husband and some other relatives had poured acid on her face while she slept, horribly disfiguring her. Also, she had inhaled enough of it to ruin her voice. Afterwards, her husband would add to her agony by beating her, and eventually put her away, saying she was now ugly. Also, the family kept her from her two children. Eventually, it took 19 surgeries to make her face functional. But, the restoration of her sight and voice was reckoned as a plain miracle of God. The far greater miracle was the fullness of grace and joy that radiated so beautifully through her marred face. She was devoid of any bitterness or self-pity. It was such an honor for us to meet her that day. It was our joy to distribute several dozen Bibles to new disciples there, and then we returned to the refugee camp, the river having subsided enough to expose the bridge. Michael and Nisha had married just seven months before, and they traveled with us on our return that afternoon. Michael had been a Bible school student in Madras, and Nisha was a new disciple from a Muslim family. They met at church, and, well, fell in love. In Indian culture it is strangely regarded as scandalous to fall in love, and then marry because of it. Proper marriages there are only supposed to be arranged by the families, and then you learn to love the one you marry. Despite his desire, Michael had decided not to marry her, thinking that the scandal of what they call a "love marriage" would ruin his goal of being a pastor someday. Nisha, still a teen, was extremely distressed by this, because her Muslim family had arranged for her to marry an older alcoholic Muslim man from another state. In despair, she bought poison, intending to end her life. Some of their friends from the Bible school caught her on the way, and threw away her poison. Then they took her to Michael, and proclaimed that he HAD to marry her now, or he would be responsible for her demise. So, Romeo married Juliet, after all. They are very poor, but excited about a future in village church planting. I mentioned to Michael that he was far more likely to find a ministry sponsor in the USA, having married Nisha, since Americans have a very different view concerning matters of love and marriage. We arrived just in time for a communion service at the refugee camp church. The village leader who had been delivered from the demon the previous night was there, also, with his family. We all paraded solemnly to the nearby lake, where I baptized him, giving him a name, Silas, for his new life in Jesus. His wife and daughter decided to wait a month to be baptized, as they needed certainty of heart in the matter.

During our sad farewells, we stopped to see the home of Pastor Vidavel and his family. It was a 10' by 14' room, with dirt floor and walls, dripping wet from the rains, which were not even slowed by the tattered roof. We held another Gospel crusade that evening, in a village on the way to the mountains. Despite the rains, over 200 people came, and we were able to pray with many of them, for healing, for supplication and for Salvation. Afterwards we showed the village a Gospel Drama film in Tamil. We learned later that many new converts had come to the Sunday church meeting in the first village we had gone to three days before, because of the Gospel crusade. We camped overnight in a church a few kilometers from the mountains.

Carrying the Gospel into the mountains

In the morning, we busied ourselves with smashing and burning all the bags of Hindu idols and sorcery books we had been collecting in previous days. Good, clean fun, I admit. After we loaded a half ton of rice and stacks of wool blankets onto a truck, we all journeyed to the end of the road at the base of a huge mountain range. There, we met a man from whom the ministry had rented ten little donkeys, for 75 cents each per day, to carry the rice and blankets. A group of men from the tribal villages up in the mountains met us there, also, to help carry stuff, including a small generator to show the Life of Jesus film. Our strange caravan trekked for hours up the steep forest on ancient stone paths.

Those of us unburdened arrived first at the top of the mountain. We climbed onto the roof of an old locked government shelter, and sang songs to the forest people, while we waited for the whole troop to straggle in. Their mountaintop world was so beautiful, punctuated with little paddocks of green grain. Two castes of people live there, those who own the land and those who work for them. They were all very poor, and of a tribal sort. They were completely illiterate, and had never seen white people. They spoke a dialect of Tamil that some of the BCM disciples could work with, speaking slowly and carefully. In that first village, there were about 50 children, which were soon gathered for singing and story-telling. Here, the dowry system is reversed, and a man must trade something of value for a bride. We met one old couple who already had heard of Jesus. The woman had been bitten four years ago by an adder, and her husband had carried her down from the mountain in search of some medical help. They had encountered Pastor Raja, our host, and, through prayer she was healed at once. This is how they first learned of the people on the mountain. In the afternoon, I asked to gather with the elders of the village, with Brother Suresh to translate. I asked them questions about their people, their history, and their world. I told them that we had come to tell them some very important news; that we had decided, since we were coming all this way, to bring some rice and blankets along for them, as well. Then, I told them the whole story of creation and the flood; that we have an ancestor in common, Noah, and that they were from his son, Ham. They confided in me that they had lost their own history, and did not know how long they had been on the mountain, or even who had built the stone pathways. They said they could well remember when their people wore no clothes, but that was all. We spoke of many things. I told them that, in the evening, I was hoping, with their permission, to tell the whole village about the great news of what the creator God has done in the world to bring us back to Him. I apologized for it taking so long to get the news to them, but that was why we were here. I explained that I wanted them, the elders, to understand the background and history of the things I would share with everyone, so they could help explain it all to their families. They were very much in favor of it, and it was obvious that they were very curious about the important news. That evening we carefully distributed a portion of rice, a blanket and soap to each family. Then they all gathered in an open area, and I explained to them all the details of the Gospel, and how they could have all their sins forgiven completely, and be brought back into fellowship with God. I told them that it was understandable that they would have been worshipping things that God and men have made, trying to pay for their own sins, since they had not heard of Jesus. But now the door was opened for them to be saved from sin. It was thrilling to see their enthusiastic reception of the Gospel, and willingness to receive Jesus. Just as we finished, a monsoon shower descended, and the day was ended.

Abundant harvest

In the morning, eight men from a tribal group on a nearby mountain arrived. They had gotten news of our coming, and had walked through the dark to plead with us to come to their mountain. We could not go with them, but Billy and Ravi carefully explained the Gospel to them, and they all prayed to receive Jesus. We sent some rice with them, and the promise that, in the future, disciples would be coming to their village. The ministry's plan is to get sponsorship for a fulltime pastor, to be devoted to making a weekly circuit through these mountains, to continue church planting and discipleship long-term. One of our pastors, Brother Johnson, had come behind us the day before, but got lost, on the wrong trail. He walked for 20 kilometers looking for us, and found a different group of 100 families that no one had even heard of. So, now they will be reached as well. From the mountaintop, I was able to look at other mountains in three directions, as far as the eye could see. There are tribal groups just like the ones we saw, scattered throughout this mountain range. For that matter, there are an estimated 50,000,000 such tribal people all over India, mostly hunter-gatherers, unreached, and disconnected from outside civilization. There is much to do, and many ready to be sent to do it.

Saving Simon Browne

We left that morning to walk several kilometers, down and up again, to yet another village. We arrived about noon, and distributed all the rest of what we were carrying, to the 30 families there. We presented the Gospel to them, and almost everyone in the village prayed together to receive Jesus. During our time there, we were approached by an older couple. They explained that their daughter in law had died in childbirth four days before, and asked if there was any way we could take their newborn grandson with us, to give him a life. They said that there was no hope for his survival there, without his mother, and they so wanted him to live. We all agreed at once to do it. Billy and I went to their home, and had a formal meeting with the whole family, including the father and his two young children. We gave them a little money to help them out, and made a covenant with them, that we would raise and educate the boy, and send him back to them when he is grown, to bring them more of life in Jesus, to bless and help them. As much time had passed, we were faced with a challenge, of getting down the mountain, through all the maze of trails, and back to the valley floor before dark, with a newborn, equipped only with a blanket and a little goat milk. The grandmother insisted on coming all the way with us, to carry the infant, and the grandfather came as well.

Monsoon rains were still sweeping through the mountains as we marched, soaking wet, through the steep forests. At the base of the mountain, we still had to walk out of the canyon a few kilometers. The rains had created a swollen torrent there, about two feet deep, which we had to precariously cross seven times, on our way out. We made it to the van just at dark. I cried to watch the grandmother touch the child one last time, pronounce a gentle blessing on him, and disappear into the soggy darkness. The girls named him Simon Browne. After we were dropped off at the airport in Madras, he spent two days in intensive care in that city, as he had contracted malaria from his mother's blood. Now he is thriving, at the Glorious Children's Home in Rameswaram, while his people in the mountains await his return someday. I am sure they will not forget him, and neither will we.