Dr. Srinivasa Bhattacharya

“Good morning. How many of you are really happy this morning? I am Dr. Srinivasa Bhattachary. If I appropriately introduce myself stating my full name it is too long. I come from the 145th direct generation of Sri Vaishnam Bhattachary priesthood community. Even today, grandfather, Raghu Bhattachary is the chief priest in Srilakshmaneshaswamy Devasthanam at Ponvanugalathoor. I come from a family background of priests and today my whole family are Bhattacharyas for the gods who have eyes but cannot see, who have ears but cannot hear, who have noses but cannot smell, who have hands but cannot touch, who have legs but cannot walk, but I by the grace of Jesus Christ, have come among you as a Bhattacharya for Lord Jesus Christ.

At the age of six I wore the sacred thread (poonool) according to the Hindu tradition. I was given to the Gayathri Diksha, ombhoohu, Ombhuwaha, Om subhaga, ommaha, Omjanaka, Om thapaka, Om sathyam, Om thathuservdarinam, Om barbudevastimagam, Om diviyayonagam,Om prajothaya, Om jothirasakam, Om amarthavaram, Om burbosaram. I was sent to an ashramam for my studies. Right from my childhood I studied the Rigveda, Yegurveda, Samarveda, Adarvarnaveda, Nalayiram Lijya Prabhandtha, Ethihasa, Purana Ramayana, Mahabharatha, Bhagvatgeetha etc etc in the Hindu mythological subjects in Sanskrit as well as in the Grandha Language. Once my early education was over in Hindu philosophy in south India, I was sent to North India, Uttar Pradesh to do my doctorate in the Banaras University. I went there and did my siromony in Sanskrit and PhD in Grandha. While I was studying in the Banaras University the destruction of the Babri Masjid took place at Ayodhya. Since I was a Bhattachary and since I was doing my double PhD in a famous Hindu University, I was chosen by the RSS as their national youth leader. The objective of the RSS, as you all know, is to stop foreign religions coming to India. They are especially dead against Christ and Christianity being proclaimed in the land of India. When I was in this organization as their national Youth leader, my personal commitment was to destroy the mosque then and there. In those days my faith in the Hindu religion and their gods was very strong and so I went all the way to France and I peddled a dynamite bomb and I brought it to India and set it off at the tomb of the mosque, using my personal computer from my cabin. At that time many Islamic fundamentalists came forward to stop us in our activities. In retaliation our Hindu parishad people chopped their hands and legs and chopped off their heads and killed not less than 3000 people and flung their bodies into the Sarayoor River. I recall this, as I was totally submerged into the sinful way of life right from the beginning. That was how strongly I believed in the Hindu philosophy.

After this incident I was doing the research work in my university library. The research topic that I had taken for my thesis was “How will man go to the kingdom of God after his death?” How will a man reach the Brahma patha or Sivan Narayan Patha or how can we go to the kingdom of God. While I was going through many books in the library, a very old sanyasi came to the library and called out to me. He was having a long beard and very long hair. He was wearing only an ordinary dhoti. He called me out, and giving me a small piece of paper he walked out. I did not know who he was or where he came from. After he left I looked at the small piece of paper and on it was written the verse from John chapter 3 verse 16. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, for whosoever believeth should not perish but shall have everlasting life”. The more I read this scripture the more it began to inspire me in the very depth of my heart. My dear brothers and sisters why did this particular scripture inspire me so much? The word of God says in John, chapter 1 that the word of God consists of life. I went to all my gurujis and asked them who is this begotten son. All they could tell me was that the begotten son is Krishna Paramatma and Rama Paramatma etc etc but nobody told me that Jesus is the only begotten son. For one month I was desperately hunting for the answer. After one month, one particular morning I was sitting in my dormitory going through this piece of paper once again. Tears started to gush out my eyes to know who this begotten Son of God is. Then I heard a voice telling me to read the rigveda. Upon opening it what I read in Sanskrit was ” Santhakaram purakasayanam, pathmanabam suresham, vishwakaram…….mekavarnam….lakshikanthan…yogikirtham vandal bishnumbam, survalokayika….” which means, “The God so loved the world , that he gave his only begotten Son of God that whosoever believes in Him will have everlasting life”. When I read the bible scripture in my own Rigveda I decided that even if I die I must obey this only begotten son and that I must surrender my life to Him.

My exams got over and after finishing my thesis I registered the same with the registrar of the university. When the result came, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ I came first in the whole of India in both my doctorates. I was invited to Delhi to be awarded the presidents Gold medal in the Indian parliament amidst all the distinguished parliamentarians. But all this did not give me any joy. Here I was born into a royal family of Nepal, with my family breeding 13 elephants and having 108 divine temples across the world where we are the chief priests, having obtained double doctorates and double gold medals from the president and yet having no peace nor joy in life. The bible says, “If a man gains the whole world and yet loses his soul what is the use?”

There was a great vacuum in my life. I still did not know Jesus as the saviour of the world, nor as the prince of peace, nor as the redeemer of the world and in such a state I found myself making preparations to return to Tamil Nadu. I booked my ticket on the Ganga-Kaveri express. At Varnasi station I boarded the train and subsequently arrived in Madhya Pradesh. All the while I was reading John 3:16. Something told me that I should keep meditating on this verse and I did so till the train pulled into Madhya Pradesh. The railway staff went for a coffee break and at the same time I heard a voice telling me to get down at this station. I was wondering why I should do this for I did not have any relatives there. The more I refused to listen to the voice the more persistent it became. Finally I gave in and got off the train. After a few minutes the train left the station and I was left alone on the platform. Again I heard a small voice telling me to start walking. I started to walk. After walking for nearly 3 kilometers I came to a place called Baratpur. Mapier town in Jabalpur city. The moment I came to this particular spot, where there was a cement arch, I saw the same old sanyasi who had come to my college library, 800 kilometers away, coming towards me pointing his fingers at me. Putting his hand on me he said, “The Lord who you wanted to know in your life is Jesus Christ. The only begotten son whom you are seeking is Christ. He loves you and forgives your sin and he is going to cleanse you from all your sinful natures. He is going to give you a new life”. When he said all that I could not control myself. Here was a very simple man, very old and ordinary, but yet filled with the resurrected power of the Lord, preaching the gospel to me. I humbled myself and yielded to that saint.

From there he took me to a place called Bidagarh. That is where the Narmada River flows into a very high velocity. We crossed the river and went to the other side where we could find no human beings at all. He took me into the forest and he took me inside a cave. With a great burden he knelt in the cave and opening the bible he started to preach the gospel. He told me how God created the heavens and the earth, the rivers and the seas, the plants and the animals and how he created human beings. He told me of the fall of man into sin and how the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world as the Messiah, how much He suffered on the cross at Golgotha and how he finally died. When I heard all this I could not control myself for in Hinduism there are 33 crores ( millions) gods. But none of the gods came to die for me and my sins. But here I found the Jesus came and died for my sins. Even Hinduism says very sincerely in the Samaveda, “Every man is a sinner and unless he is cleansed by the precious blood he cannot go into the kingdom of God”. But we find that no one came to shed their blood in Hinduism but we find Christ having done it. I opened my heart to the Lord and cried, “Lord I am very sorry . Lord I open my heart unto you. Lord it was for my sins that both your hands and your legs were nailed to the cross. It was for my sins that you wore the crown of thorns on your head. It was for my sins that a spear was thrust into your right ribs. Lord I am sorry and please forgive me Lord”.

The Lord was merciful to me . As it says in the bible “He that covers his sin shall not prosper but whosoever shall confess it and forsake it shall have mercy”. Again it also says, “If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive you all your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness”. I did it in the presence of the Lord. I wept bitterly for all my sinful activities right from my childhood to that day. God heard my prayers for in the bible it is written in revelation chapter 3:20, “Behold I stand at your door and knock, and if any man heareth my voice, open the door. I will come to him and will sup with him and he with me”. He stands at your door and knocks. It is because when he chooses a son or a daughter for his kingdom, he has the courtesy to knock. Satan never knocks. For him a small ventilator is enough to creep in through. Lord Jesus alone can bless. That is how I came to know the Lord. After accepting Jesus as my personal saviour, He showed me many areas in my life where there was still sin and on my part I confessed and prayed and got myself cleansed by the blood of Jesus.

I stayed for two months with the old man in the forest. Every morning we used to kneel together in the presence of the Lord for hours and pray and meditate upon the word of God. After 2 months one day he took me to the Narmada River and baptized me in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is very difficult for me to say everything that happened to me that day. As David says in the 23rd Psalm, he prepared a table for me in the presence of my enemies and he anoints my head with oil. My cup runneth over, surely goodness and mercy will follow all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. That was the assurance I got. After I received the Holy Spirit, the old man told me “Now God has brought you to Judea and then he will take you to Samaria and from there to the uttermost parts of the Earth”. He explained to me that Judea meant him, Samaria meant my hometown and community. He told me that I was to go back to my community and preach to them the gospel. I went back to Nepal.

The moment I reached home my parents were standing outside. My father did not allow me to go inside the house. They said to me. “We sent you to get a higher education in the most famous university. You received 2 gold medals from the president of India. After all this you are returning as a poor, downtrodden, inferior untouchable caste. What happened to you?” They left me standing at the door and after asking for some Ganges water from the temple my father proceeded to give me a bath as I was defiled. He poured that water over me. Even then according to them I was still impure for only external purification had taken place and I still needed internal purification. So he sent another priest to the backyard of the house and asked him to bring a glass of cow’s urine. I was told to drink this by my father. In our family our father is very revered and in no way do we show any disrespect to him. Therefore when he commanded me to drink I had to obey. I silently received this and saying “victory in the blood of Jesus”, over and over again, I silently drank it. Only then was I allowed to enter.

My parents were still afraid that I might sneak out and join some Christian church in Nepal, and once or twice without my father’s knowledge I did visit a faith home in Nepal. Thus my father started to give me so much work that I would always find myself to be busy. I was given lot of chores to do, even in the temple mainly cleaning and washing various idols housed there. All this I did obeying my father, always saying “Victory in the name of Jesus”. Wanting to punish me he left me behind in the temple one night.

These temples were constructed 2000 to 3000 years ago and right from the entrance to the Mola Sarpa Graha, we had to walk not less than 3 km. The ceiling is 100 to 120 ft high and at night there are no lights as there were no electricity connections. The temple was also infested with poisonous snakes and scorpions. For many days I was not given any food nor did I have any proper clothing. But amidst all these dangers I knelt down and prayed, “Lord without your will I can never be here. I do not know for what reason you have kept me here but help me to proclaim and lift your name to these people. Lord open the door where I can proclaim the good news for David said in the scripture, “What shall I do unto the Lord who has given me the joy of salvation?” Again in the very next scripture he says,” I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord, I will pay my vows unto the Lord in the presence of all his people”. The next morning about 60 bhattacharyas came to open the temple early in the morning and doing so they came inside. I was on fire and at that moment called out to the bhattacharyas. “Come here. What does your Vedas say about God? What does Hinduism say about God? Who is true God in Hinduism? What are the characteristics of God mentioned in Hinduism? What does Hinduism say about how a man can go into the kingdom of God? Who is the true god that can bring salvation to mankind? For example Om Shri brahmaputhraye namaha- what does this mean? The only begotten son I worship thee. Who is the only begotten Son? It is the Lord Jesus Christ. Om shri Martha Namaha- the Holy Spirit of God I worship thee. Who is the Holy Spirit of God? Again it is the Lord Jesus Christ. Om shri Kannisuthayeha namaha-which means the Lord who is born to a virgin. Om vidyshtayaha Namaha- the Lord who had the circumcision I worship thee. Om shri Panchkayika namaha- the Lord who had the five injuries for the sake of mankind. Om shri vriksh shula arudayaka nama vrisha pondha marthil shulathil siluthayil baliyanavare, umbaye nan namaskarikunen. Who is the Lord who died on the cross of Calvary? All this is our Lord Jesus Christ. Our God is not a dead God. It is true that he came as a messiah to this world. He preached the gospel. He cancelled the devils and the demons. He healed the sick people ad brought salvation to so many people and finally he died on the cross of Calvary, he was buried but he did not become sand. Om Shri mrithyu nayaya namaha meaning the Lord who resurrected from the depths of the Earth on the third day I worship thee”. By the divine grace of God 13 people accepted the Saviour. Out of them 6 took baptism. Today they are strong believers. All this God did for His glory.

Like this I was inside the temple with these people for 6 months and in the meantime the RSS people came to know about me and so did the BJP and the Shiv Sena along with a lot of other Hindu organizations. They came to Nepal and pulled me out of the temple and thrashed me mercilessly. They fractured both my hands. Today the hand you see is not the real one but an artificial one. In one hand I have 16 screws fixed in my elbow and steel plated within. They poured acid all over me and threw me into the streets. They told me that if I preach Christ anymore then they would kill me. My parents asked me to get out, as I had become a danger to their survival. I was shunned by my family, community, friend and villagers. At a total loss as to what to do then and there I knelt and prayed to the Lord and asked him what He wanted me to do. I claimed His promise where He said that in the days of your trouble I will deliver you and you will glorify me. The Lord told me that along with Judea even Samaria was over and so “Step out in My name and I will take care of you”. I asked for confirmation from the bible if God wanted me to go out for full time mission work and the scripture given to me was John chapter 1:5 “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God. All things are made by Him and with Him not anything made or was made. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not.” “But as many received Him to them He gave power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on His name” (John 1:12). Based on this scripture I was convinced that I was truly a child of God.

Slowly I made my way to the faith home in Nepal. There God miraculously provided me first aid and a plane ticket to the Bombay Navarathna hospital for treatment. I took complete treatment for 6 months and now I am all right. After that I went back to Nepal once again. My household did not open the door and they told me to leave. I did not do what to do with my life. There were so many denominations in Christianity like Roman Catholics, Jehovah witnesses, Marthomites etc etc. All I knew was the Father God, the Begotten Son and the Holy Spirit. After this I went into many parts of Nepal and interior villages to proclaim Christ. I was expelled from Nepal for preaching the Gospel. I went to Tibet and from there came to North India. Finally today I am in South India. Today right from Kanya Kumari in the south to Kashmir God has taken me to proclaim the good news. Other than parts of India, God took me to Sinapore, Malaysia, Hongkong, France, Sweden,Germany and Czechoslovakia. I came without anything yet I lack nothing. When I came into the ministry I did not have any money on me yet I cannot say that I have gone hungry even once. God provides me with everything that I want day by day. I am also on the RSS hit list. Ten days ago I was coming back to Tamilnadu from Rajastan and I was circled by the RDD people and I lost all my properties to them. By the grace of God I am well today.

My dear brothers and sisters all this while you have been listening to my testimony fro the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. I request you to get a step closer to the cross of Calvary so that your life would be blessed more. I also humbly request you to uphold me in prayer because the word of God says, “He that has put his hand on the plough and withdraws is unworthy for the kingdom of God” Today you and me, we have put our hands on the plough of our Lord Jesus Christ. Come what may we must till the Christian ground to produce thirty, sixty and hundred folds of fruits for the glory of Lord Jesus Christ. Then only we can boldly say like Paul said “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge shall give me at that day: and not to me only but unto all them also that love His appearing”. Initially Paul was also torturing and persecuting Christians and the early churches.

Then on the road to Jericho near the city of Damascus he was touched by the power of God. Right away he fell flat on the road. When he got up he was blind. God told him to go and get healed by Annaias. Annaias laid his hands upon Paul and prayed and Paul got his sight back. He understood the power of God and accepted the Lord. He committed his life to the Lord. And he came all over Asia and proclaimed the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ. He led thousands of people to the kingdom of God. That was the reason why he could say that he has fought the good fight. It is true in our cases also, dear brothers and sisters. There is a crown of life awaiting each and every one of us. In order to receive it we must run a good race and we should fight a good fight. It is not enough just accepting the Lord as our personal saviour or being baptized, nor is it enough that we receive the f=gifts of the Holy Spirit. What is your personal contribution to the church of God? How much are you contributing to the church of God? The Lord has put you in such a beautiful and affluent place, what are your commitments to the Lord? In how many ways are you robbing God in the church?

(This testimony is being disputed for authenticity, pls contact the following address for further details)

(A free cassette copy of this testimony can be obtained by contacting :-
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Website: http://www.gospelmi.org

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Sukhdev Singh

Sukhdev Singh is a Punjabi Christian attending New Creation Church in Singapore. He has been impacted by the love of Jesus Christ. The Lord has blessed him supernaturally through the abundance of grace given by the Lord Jesus. His greatest desire is to tell people about the loveliness of his Lord Jesus Christ. He is currently pursuing an Aerospace Degree Programme in Nanyang Technological University in Singapore as he has a strong passion for planes. He has wonderful parents that are an image of Christ to him and two beautiful sisters who have been ever-supportive of him all his life.
View all articles by Sukhdev Singh
The Hand Of The Lord Upon My Family

It all started in 2004 when a friend of mine invited me to New Creation Church. At first I was reluctant to go because I hated Christians. The reason being, they used to preach to me. Whenever I talked to them, they used to say that I was not in a relationship with the true and living God. Then I came to know this girl and was interested in her and to my surprise she was attending New Creation Church. I decided to go to church with her so that I could see her more often. As time went by, I fell in love with this girl and I got hooked to going church with her because I wanted see her more often.

Whenever the church service was going on, I used to shut my ears and tell myself how stupid this people can be to worship this man whom they think died for them. For about nine months I have been attending church and then suddenly came a bang. My girlfriend told me she was not interested in me anymore and I was hurt really deeply in my heart and that was the time I started looking for answers. I felt deeply rejected because I used to look at myself and say what is wrong with me.

At that time, I was also in Officer Cadet School and on top of the vigorous training, I was on the verge of breaking down. At that time my family was also going through problems (too may to count). Oh man I desperately needed help. I felt I needed to go back to church to listen to the Word of God. I was so desperate to find something to lift me up. I used to cry in my army bunk and ask myself what have I done to receive all this. Little did I know that the hand of the Lord was upon my life and he was drawing me towards Him.

Within a few weeks I accepted the Lord Jesus quietly without even telling my friend that invited me to church. I was so afraid of this decision but yet I know that I needed Jesus in my life. After a few days, I told him I had became a Christian and he was quite shocked. My life changed tremendously after that. I started going to church with him and I started growing in grace. All glory to Jesus Christ. His plan in our lives are perfect.

The bible declares that “For I know the plans I have for you” declares the Lord, “ Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

As time went by I started lying to my parents that I was going to church. I did not have the courage to tell my parents that I had embraced Christianity because my parents were staunch Sikhs. But the Lord loves me so much that He built my courage within and strengthen me through the Word of God preached at New Creation Church.

About four months after accepting Jesus as my Savior, Master and Lord, I had this strong desire to tell my parents about my new found faith and the good news of our loving Savior Jesus Christ. At first, the persecution at home was intense because my parents were deeply devoted Sikhs. The persecution grew so bad that almost everyday I had a quarrels and arguments with my dad. But Jesus always reminded me of His everlasting love for me and my family. Lord thank you.

Then there came a breakthrough where things started to change. It changed so rapidly like a tsunami of blessings after blessings. My elder sister’s marriage failed within a year. She was in a state of depression after secretly going through verbal and physical abuse from her husband. There was one day she came back home was so broken that I told her to follow me to church and I remembered it was a Thursday and we had a weekday Bible Study. My mum seeing my sister in that state also decided to tag along. On that day, my sister and mum accepted the Lord. They said they have never been so loved in their life. Glory to Jesus. Your name forever be praised!!

Then came another tsunami of blessings when my bedridden grandmother accepted the Lord. After months of her receiving Christ, there came another wave. Wow!! so many waves of blessing. God always wants to so readily bless us. He can’t wait to bless us, His children.

I remember it was a Sunday and my mum managed to get my whole family, including my dad and younger sister to come to New Creation Church. I remembered that Pastor Lian was preaching that day and she was telling us a testimony about how this mother stood on the Word of God even though doctors have given up on her young son. My family were very touched by that testimony. Then just after the service we went to visit my bedridden grandmother as she was staying at my uncle’s place who is an unbeliever.

When we reached his place, there was no one there and we saw my grandmother breathing unusually. I decided to ask my mum to pray for her, but before even she could say a word she broke down and cried. So decided to pray for her and I remember telling her that Jesus loves her so much and the way is open for her to eternal freedom. I could see her face turning red and I knew Jesus was there just embracing her with his super abounding love.

The next day she went into the hospital and all my relatives visited her and the following day she passed away. The doctors said that medically she would have lived longer but she left earlier and my family knew it was Jesus who came to take her into freedom. I still remember that when she passed away, she looked as though she was sleeping and her body had this radiance and peace. When my family saw her body, we all broke down and cried because we knew it was a sign from Jesus telling us my grandmother was with him.

This series of events that had taken place brought my younger sister and my father to the Lord. Praise Jesus for everything. He showed His glory by bringing my whole family to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ within a short span of two months. Only Jesus can do that. I hope that this testimony would encourage many believers out there to trust God for the salvation of their families even though it’s been years or no matter how much a person can be religious but not have a living relationship with God. My family is an example of such a family whom Jesus has touched. We have become so deeply in love with Jesus. I give all glory to Jesus. No one is like you Jesus!

http://www.southasianconnection.com/articles/263/1/From-Rejection-To-Rock-Bottom-God-ReCreated-Restored-and-Filled-Me-With-His-Presence/Page1.html

Thayappan

Brother Thayappan and his family were very staunch Hindu People who have recently been blessed by the Lord. They were very strong devotees of Goddess Adhi Parasakthi and were practicing Hindu rites very sincerely and devotedly. Brother Thayappan lives with his family in Tambaram of Madras in South India. Here is his heart touching testimony as to how he had come to know of the Lord Jesus Christ, saved and blessed.  Not only he, his complete family ie. his wife, daughter and his younger son were also touched by the Lord by miracles and now the complete family attend the church in the full faith & they stand as a living mighty witness to glorify the name of the Heavenly Father,  His son-Lord Jesus christ and the Holy Spirit.  Praise the Lord.

Pastor D. Solomon Raja

It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me who was an unpardonable sinner and a most ardent idol worshipper for 58 years. The Lord touched me and my entire family through the sickness of my son Karthik, who was working as a Software Engineer in USA. Once Jesus disciples asked Jesus about a man blind from the birth, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind, Jesus Christ answered,  “Neither this man nor his parents. This happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life – (John 9:3)”. Similarly the Lord has chosen our family especially for His glory and to display His work. Psalmist says in Psalm 4:3 that the Lord has set apart the godly for Himself. Thus the Lord has set apart us for His glory and bestowed upon us innumerable and unimaginable miracles and wonders.

S. Thayappan

Source: http://www.ipaseattle.org/thayappan.pdf

Accessed on Sep 18, 2009

Vanni Marshall

She was born into a priestly heritage, her father and grandfather were priests of temple. When she was just 6 years old, she was dedicated to Hindu gods in the temple. She was left in a “cave temple” as an act of worship to God. Since then, she felt that the gods controlled her destiny. She grew up learning 2000 different names of gods and goddesses. She also learned many traditions and Hindu rituals. It was required of her as a Brahmin girl.

As she grew up as a teenager, she desperately searched for a real, true god who could lead her life. She was deeply searching for truth and meaning. Once she went to a temple in South India, when she was in the innermost part of the temple, she saw a huge 10 feet statue of a Hindu god with 12 heads and numerous eyes looking at her. This was most holy of holy place in the temple separated by a veil in which only a male priest could enter. She went there looking for something but she felt a more empty from within. She knew that the idol was not looking at her neither it could hold or touch her. In her pursuit to know the true god she started a journey of darkness and emptiness and in that phase she started taking lessons from a lady who practiced witchcraft.

Years later, she was struck with a demonic pain. She went to many doctors and took a lot of medicines but the pain would not leave her body. She took many pain killers, more than her required dosage just to get through the day and knock off the pain. Day by day the pain intensified and it was unbearable for her. One fine day she thought of committing suicide. But while she was sitting at the edge of her bed thinking this is the last day on earth, one last time she wanted to call on God. This time she shouted “Jesus, Jesus” She had heard this name growing up with Christian friends or during Christmas. Suddenly a miracle happened. The room was dark but the presence of the living God filled the room and Jesus touched her. She heard the voice “I am Jesus, I am God”. He touched her body and in an instant she was healed. No doctor or physician could heal her or give her any answers. She began to feel the power go through her body. She was changed forever. This video testimony describes her journey to finding Jesus in her own words.

For the video testimony of Vani, Please visit:

Source: http://www.jeevanmarg.com/testimonies/video-testimony-of-a-hindu-woman/

Accessed on December 6, 2011

Ram Gidoomal

CHRIST, MY BODHISATTVA

Interview by Andy Crouch with Ram Gidoomal | Multinational businessman and politician Ram Gidoomal talks about ‘translating’ the gospel in today’s world.

You come from a Hindu religious background and attended Muslim schools in Africa, yet you became a follower of Jesus during your studies at university.

At the university, I was out of the family context, with the need for something that could make sense of the wider world in which I found myself. I started reading about Jesus. I was intrigued by the strong basis for his historical existence.

In my cultural context, the biggest religious problem is your karma: your karmic debt. What you sow, you reap. You come to this earth with a karmic account, then you die and you’re reincarnated, and that depends on how you’ve done in this life. When I read about Jesus’ death on the Cross, it wasn’t so much the sacrifice for sin that struck me as the sacrifice for karma. The Christians I met spoke of sin in this life, but that was meaningless to me. Karma was what mattered. So I decided, When they talk about sin, I think of karma, and I believe Jesus died for my karma, so I am going to accept him on those terms.

As my mother and others in my family challenged my faith, I found that biblical concepts were only helpful if they were properly translated. My mother would say, "Jesus is a swear word. They use it in the shop every day. Why do you follow this man?" She had followed a guru called Ramakrishna Parmahansa from India; then she switched to a guru named Radha Soami. One of the functions of a guru is to give you a mantra, but when she went to the initiation, some people got the mantra and others didn’t. She felt some of those who were refused were more deserving than her, and that troubled her.

So when she came to stay with us after our first child was born, she opened one of the Bibles that we had strewn all over the place, and she happened upon this verse, "Whoever comes to me, I will not cast out." She said, "Your Bible is very strange! ‘Whoever comes to me’—define whoever!" She had a hard time believing that Jesus would never refuse anybody. But that’s the case, I said, because he’s the sanatan sat guru.

Sanatan is a Sanskrit word meaning "eternal"; sat guru means "true living way." You can put John 14:6 in brackets after that! He is "the way, the truth, and the life." Guru is a living way. There are lots of sat gurus, but try to find a sanatan sat guru. No guru claims to be sanatan. Then she said, "Tell me more about this guru, who will love everybody." So I said, "Not only is he a sanatan sat guru, he paid for karma. He paid our karmic debt."

There must be many perplexing things for someone who comes to faith as an outsider.

I recall my first visit to church here, my first church ever, St. Paul’s Onslow Square. I went to the evening service, so none of my friends or relations would see me going. The first thing I looked for on walking in was the shoebox. I wanted to take my shoes off: This is holy ground, and you’re asking me to come in with my dirty, filthy feet and go into the presence of God? This is not right; this is not holy. I must take my shoes off. But they told me there was no place for shoes. So I went to sit on the floor, in the proper position of respect, and the usher said to sit on the wooden bench. Then the organ blasted out, and I thought, Who has died? Because organ music was just for funerals in my mind. It was an alien experience. There’s a whole lot of unlearning to be done in asking how we can communicate the message of Jesus with simplicity [in
a way] that will take these barriers away.

In the end, I’ve found I’ve been able to use my skills in business to help start some of these translations. We’ve produced a series of books and cds that connect with the South Asian experience. Fortunately, I was able to pay for publication, because in the early days, not many Christian publishers were willing to take on a book that talked about Jesus as the bodhisattva who fulfilled his dharma to pay for my karma to negate samsara and achieve nirvana!

Your family’s story is part of one of the great diasporas of the 20th century.

More than 50 members of my family have come to Christ. We are all Sindhis. There are very few Sindhi believers in the world, and the majority that have come to Christ, maybe 10,000 out of 20 million, came to Christ abroad, in the diaspora.

This diaspora has largely followed economic opportunities. If you look at the early church and its growth, it also followed trade routes. The gospel was spread from port to port. Well, who paid for those boat trips? Business people.

What opportunities do you see for business as mission?

Business gives you access, geographic access as well as access to relational networks. As an Asian businessman, I have access to people and networks around the globe.

Then, of course, successful business that is generating value and adding value is able to resource and fund others who want to engage in business as mission. Romans 12:2 has really struck me. The goal is to do business in a way that is not conforming to the world’s patterns. In global business, there is often corruption. There’s no accountability, no transparency. As a Christian, if you’re willing to be transparent and accountable, then you’re demonstrating a different way of doing things. You’re bringing alive Romans 12, which says, "Don’t be conformed to the pattern [of this world], but be transformed, and then you will know the will of God, which is your spiritual worship." If we do the work of discerning what transformational business looks like, that is worship.

Business is a uniquely global endeavor. Just on Sunday, I was preaching at my local church and a guy in the congregation came up to me and said, "I’m a New Zealander, I’m working in a salmon business in Chile, and I’m here [in London] just for today, on my way to Norway to see the business owners." There’s no other field that so closely matches the global nature of God’s mission.

You’ve also become an advocate for socially responsible investing.

I chair the London Sustainability Exchange, which is all about promoting sustainability in London. On the business side, I chair Henderson Global Investors Sustainable and Responsible Investment Advisory Committee, which manages more than 1 billion pounds, and we look for ways to invest that are socially and ecologically sustainable.

When our family landed in London as refugees in the ’60s, there was a place in our neighborhood of Southall called Minet Park. It was an absolute dump. Cars burned, tires dumped—there was a stream flowing through, but you wouldn’t even have known it. But in recent years, in an area of Southall where the vast majority are Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs, a Christian pastor set up a team, went to schools, mobilized kids, and over a period of several years cleaned up the park. I had the privilege of cutting the ribbon to open it. Suddenly, there were families with their children walking through the park. We even spotted the first orchid. It was transformed.

You ran for mayor of London twice, representing the Christian Peoples Alliance.

In each election, more than half of my funding came from Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and Jews, as well as people of no faith. We made it clear that we are not the exclusive Christian voice. We are a Christian voice.

In the first election, the British magazine New Statesman created a Web site called fantasymayor.com. They put on it the policies of the Conservative Party, the Liberal Democrat Party, the Labour Party, the Green Party, independent candidate Ken Livingstone, and me. They didn’t tell you which policies were whose. They just gave you 15 policy questions about what you wanted in a mayor for London. Education, housing, policing, crime—you ranked what you were most passionate about. Then they told you which candidate’s policies best matched your preferences. The Christian Peoples Alliance came out on top with 24 percent. On the other hand, when asked whom they would vote for, 56 percent of visitors to the site named Ken Livingstone and only 3.5 percent named me. What that told me is that people out there want Christian values, but they don’t know it.

In that election, we beat all the minor parties in the mayoral vote, including the Greens. I was also a candidate for the London Assembly, and the votes I got would have been enough to secure a seat. But in a change I supported, the rules were altered to require that a party receive at least 5 percent of the vote—in order to keep the far right-wing British National Party out. So a change designed to protect against racism, a change I still support, meant that not a single Asian in a city of 1 million Asians was elected to the London Assembly.

After two elections, people say to me, "Oh, Mr. Gidoomal, you never became mayor."

That’s not the only reason I ran. In the very first public meeting held in Toynbee Hall in East London, each candidate was given three minutes to speak. I asked myself, "What would Jesus do in this situation?" Then it became clear to me. In East London in 1990, the life expectancy of a baby was five years less than the life expectancy of a baby born in the more affluent borough of Westminster. In 2000, ten years later, the gap had widened to six years. So I spoke as passionately as I could about the need to address the gap between rich and poor.

The next day a newspaper said, "Ram Gidoomal’s policies for the carless, the homeless, and the jobless are more radical than anything Labour has produced." At ten o’clock that night, as my wife, Sunita, and I were getting ready for bed, I turned on the radio and Frank Dobson, the Labour Party candidate, was being interviewed. They asked him, "Mr. Dobson, what are your top three priorities for London?"

What he said was different from his earlier speech, essentially stating his priorities were "the carless, the homeless, and the jobless."

You had influence even without having power.

How do they define diplomacy? The art of letting other people have your way. [Laughs.] To me, it’s all part of Christ’s mission: being part of the game, part of the action. We should be involved in it all.

Posted on April 27, 2007

Source: http://www.christianvisionproject.com/2007/04/christ_my_bodhisattva-print.html

Accessed on 30th November 2011

C. Umashankar IAS., (Tamilnadu Cadre)

26th August 2010

Dear friends,

I am breaking my silence after a long time. I wish to share an interesting view of things happening around. You are aware of the trials and tribulations that I have been undergoing. But you would be surprised to find me and my family happy and enjoying every moment. We are also watching the unfolding of events with amazement and amusement. There is no drop in our happiness. We have bought a new car during this period (a Luxury car – Mitsubishi Cedia). Of course I informed the Government well in advance. The Government refused to sanction me a car loan even after I moved the Central Administrative Tribunal, Madras Bench. Finally my younger brother contributed the gap and we registered the car on 24thAugust 2010. It is to indicate that life is normal despite the false vigilance cases foisted against me and an illegal suspension order imposed on me for standing upright.

Friends, the purpose of this mail is to tell about my present spiritual life. I draw my full energy and powers from God. (Please do not consider it proselytizing. I want to share the present situation, which is not tense and the future which is tense elsewhere).

After I was shifted from ELCOT when I was physically verifying the scam records in ELNET’s premises, I went into deep depression. As a man who was proved to be courageous by filing cases against Jayalalitha regime in 1995 when I was hardly 4 years in the IAS, the impulse was to expose Karunanidhi regime. But then my family members, who refused to believe what was happening, asked me to wait for a week. They were of the opinion that Mr.Karunanidhi would see reason and reverse the illegal transfer orders. In the meanwhile I was going into further depression.

On 3rd August, 2008 – that is, 5 days after my transfer orders were issued on the 28thJuly 2008, there was a message from the Church (Assembly of God Church, Anna Nagar). The week’s message was “I would restore whatsoever that had been taken away from you”.

A man who had lost everything needed this little olive branch. I was in fact literally weeping. Because the projects that were headed by me were very close to my heart, and they had transformation capabilities. Leaving them in the middle was a disaster which I was not ready to accept easily. As an IAS officer, I am not supposed to be like this. But then, I trusted too much Mr.Karunanidhi. I reaped the results.
Coming back to the church issue, I heard the one hour audio of the church message again and again and found that I was getting consoled by each word. From the next Sunday onwards I started going to the church. The first church experience was amazing. Like a child I was weeping all through the message when Pastor Abraham Thomas was delivering the hour long message. My hand kerchief became wet every Sunday. This was the happening for more than 3 months.

There were two options before me after the illegal transfers from ELCOT viz., quit service and join private sector or quit the world.

As a strong person I discarded the second option.

The final option was to take up private service. Got offers. My sister Latha (Austin, Texas) started professional reconfiguration of my resume so that I could get a high level job in the US.

But the church messages changed it all. I decided to stay on in the IAS.

Never in my life Iwould put my faith in any human being. I have learnt my lesson.

Over the two year period I have been going to Church, I have found a new face of Jesus. He is not only the kindest God but also a strong God when it comes to protecting His beloved ones. The more I heard about Him as the Lord of the Hosts (Leader of the armies), the more confident I grew. That I don’t need to do anything when a wrong is committed against me. Jesus would take the revenge. It is His role.

From August 2009, Jesus has been giving me promises. These are like covenants (agreements) to do or not to do certain things. I will indicate just two of them for your understanding.

1. The life promise to me: (confirmed through 4 prophets), No enemy will stand before me throughout my life time. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee (Joshua 1:5).

2. Miracles and terrible things that are to happen.

Exodus 34:10 And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art, shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.

So, when the Karuninidhi Government suspended me, there was no distress at home. When they filed false vigilance cases, we all smiled. Because, everyone at home knows that even 1000 Karunanidhis cannot do any damage to me or to any member of the family. That is the protection we got. Thanks to Jesus.

Mr.Karunanidhi is trying to eject me from IAS quoting that I am a Christian.

I am telling everyone that it is the very same Jesus who is going to do marvellous things and I would stand on top in the IAS not long from now.

Well, there is another side of Jesus as the LORD OF THE HOSTS.

Whoever attempts to intimidate His beloved children has to necessarily face the LORD OF THE HOSTS. It is not going to be a pleasant meet.

Jesus has already declared that He Loves me so much. He also told me that He would not allow even a strand of hair to fall from my head. I am happy that I discovered such a loving and powerful God.

I can only pity the people who have put me in this unpleasant circumstance. When terrible things happen, they will realize their sin.

My faith is only in God. Now you know why!

You all would have a valid question. Will I do e-governance in the future?

Yes, indeed. The difference is that I would not be disturbed from now onwards in the march to attain transparency in public administration.

Regards,
C.Umashankar IAS., (TamilNadu Cadre)
e-governance Specialist,
Chennai, Tamilnadu, India.

Brothers and Sisters, I don’t think anything more need to be said. It is quite clear from whatever our brother, Mr. Umashankar has said, how our Lord Jesus Christ can work miracles in our lives if only we willingly accept His ever extended helping hand.

Dr. Sajan K George
National President
Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC)

Source: http://www.persecution.in/content/persecution-update-india-october-2010-issue

Accessed on 4th November 2011

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