Posted on 10/25/2011 6:15:15 PM PDT by Graybeard58
INDIA (BP) -- Sarah Weber signed up for the September missions trip to India in May. It would be her first international experience.
Although she and other members of a missions team from The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Ala., prepared spiritually and physically for months, Weber said she never expected to lead someone to Christ.
"I was planning on planting the seeds," she said.
But when a Hindu woman in her 70s wanted Weber to tell her how to become a Christian, she had to shift her thinking.
"I didn't know what to do [at first]," Weber said.
The woman had heard of Jesus since her childhood but did not understand how to trust in Him.
Weber told her, "It doesn't matter where you come from, who you are, what you've done. God loves every person and wants to spend eternity with [every single person]."
The translator continued the conversation with the woman, and she decided she wanted to follow Jesus, even if it meant rejection by her family and persecution by her neighbors. And she wanted Weber to lead her in prayer.
"That's a woman that lived her life as a Hindu that's going to sleep tonight as a Christian," Weber said. "We have a new sister.
"The Lord was working in her heart without us," Weber added. "I know He can do that, but it was great to see."
One day, more Christians could emerge from the various mountain villages in Sikkim state because the team shared the Gospel in and around a relief camp near the India-Nepal border set up after a 6.9-magnitude earthquake Sept. 18.
One Lepcha woman (from the people group in the area) heard the Gospel for the first time as a group of team members drank tea in her home. A man who lost his wife in the earthquake also heard, as did several others living on the mountain, at the base of the mountain and even 30 miles away from the mountain.
Ryan Blackmon, a paramedic on the Alabama volunteer team, said it was eye-opening to see the faces, smiles and eyes of the unreached people groups he had heard about.
Though the Americans returned home in early October, the work continues.
Jacob, a Nepalese believer who lives in northeastern India, is undeterred by rejection, persecution and humiliation.
"I just share Christ no matter what," he said.
Jacob served as a translator for the Alabama group. He moved from Nepal to India when he was 13 and became a Christian a year later when a believer from Mongolia told him about Jesus.
Six years later, Jacob can recall the exact date, time and moment when Christ entered his heart. Eager to share, he accompanied the American volunteers where they ministered. Anyone who met him could see the joy in his eyes.
Jacob hopes to return to Nepal, start a university ministry and eventually plant churches.
Team member Chance Walters quickly befriended Jacob. After they shared the Gospel at the relief camp together for the first time, it was as if they had been brothers their entire lives.
"It's encouraging to see [Jacob] share his faith so boldly when [Christians] rarely share the Gospel with the people they work with or see every day in America," Walters said.
Another translator for the team, Mercy, also is a Nepalese believer. After the earthquake, she shared with her friends and neighbors from Isaiah 54:10: "'For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then, my faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken,' says the Lord, who has mercy on you."
Team member Elena Collins said she often saw Mercy sharing the Gospel with locals before the team even knew what was being discussed.
"[Mercy] just jumped right into it with no hesitation," Collins said.
As team members shared their faith and God's Word with the Nepalese, they saw and felt things they never expected.
"Back home, I kind of see Christianity as American," team member Brad Collins said. "I know it's all peoples on paper, but coming here, hearing nationals pray in their native tongue, put faces to that. [The believers] are truly our brothers and sisters in Christ." --30-- Neisha Fuson writes for The Alabama Baptist, online at thealabamabaptist.org. Some names were changed for security reasons.
Baptist ping worthy?
The biggest problem with proselytizing to Hindus is getting them to not just add Jesus to their thousands of other gods but to replace them all.
http://www.persecution.com/
God does not care about comfort or wealth. He will not bless us if we do not use our prosperity to spread the truth of the Gospel.
An Indian shared this with me.
Clear mention of Jesus the Messiah in Hindu scriptures.
2nd part of Sama veda- Thanthriya Maha Bhrarnanam:
Praja pathir devebhyam atmanarn yagnam kruthwa prayachith.
God Himself will offer Himself as a sacrifice and provide propitiation for human sin.
Thasya prajapathro adhameva marthyam asithrutham anrutham.
God will atone for human sin in His incarnation as man, fully God and fully man.
God becomes as much man as though He was not God and as much God as though He was not man.
Prajapathi charisi garbe thvameya prana prajathya imabyam, prathi jaiyse thubyam, hranti yaha pranaha prathistasi.
God becoming man through the womb of a virgin will give His pure body as a ransom.
Bhavishyapurana, 3rd book 2nd chapter 31st verse.
Isa Masih ithi chamamu narna prathistatharnu.
Jesus the Messiah is the name by which I will be known hereafter.
King Saka asks, ‘ay I know Who You are? ‘that person replies,’ am the Son of God, born to a virgin. My name is Esa Maseeha.’
Section 5: Christianity preaches clearly that we can never earn our own salvation. That salvation is a free gift from God, namely God’s Grace. To be saved we must be Born Again. So is it moksha, nirvana or the New Birth that God provides?:
Purusha Sutra:
Na punyo dana darmascha, na kannascha punyam baveth, na punyo prana dannascha, jagath punyam nahi, nahi.
No one can earn merit before God, by gifts, charity, good-works or even by self immolating body sacrifice, no, no, on earth man can never, ever earn merit before God by himself.
Gayathri Mantra 36th Chp. 3rd prayer of Yajurveda:
Omboor bhuvaswaha thathsavidoor varanyarn bargo devasya deemahi theo yonaha prachothayth.
0 Lord God, the Creator of the universe grant me New Birth.
sure, but overall, praise God, sure puts things in perspective for us North American folks, that guy is very happy to share Jesus wherever he goes and constantly faces persecution, yet carries on. That’s exciting to see.
Was once told by a Christian worker that I shouldn’t waste time telling older people about Jesus, they were already locked into their beliefs. Over the years I have found this to be untrue and I guess this is a great example.
Jesus accepted the conversion of the thief who was crucified beside Him. It is never too late as long as someone is alive. In fact, from a Christian perspective, we live only to be tested and judged; that is the reason for existence.
Baptist ping
My mission field includes the young children (5-14)with the Good News Club and the elderly in hospitals and nursing homes. The last few years the Holy Spirit has helped me to freely and boldly speak about God’s greatest gift to humankind—His Son, Jesus Christ. I’m grateful that the Lord has permitted me to be the one to guide several terminal patients to salvation. What a blessing to be able to serve the One who loves us best.
Praise God
God is in control, He has mercy upon whom He will have mercy. My 96 year old mother accepted Christ seven months ago before she went home to be with the Lord. My 91 year old father also came to faith in Christ 5 months ago. It is never too late to accept Christ as long as people are alive. Sadly my mother’s sister died a week after she did and she had not come to faith in Christ.
This is why I witness the salvation of Jesus every chance I get, any age makes no difference. Old, young in between. The Great Commission is my commission.
I agree with Sarah Palin when she said, "Faith is very, very important in my life. I don't -- I don't believe I wear it on my sleeve, and I would never try to shove it down anybody else's throat and try to convert anybody."
What the churches do in Asian countries is criminal as they use violence to convert others. This is sad but true. They also ally with the Muslims and Communists. Most of the violence is perpetrated by the Church of Socialists aka Papism or Catholicism. If only the Pope followed Sarah Palin's philosophy, we would not be antagonizing a valuable ally against terrorists and there would not be a huge religion in favor of socialism.
I'll continue to go forth and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as commanded. Although it's highly unlikely I'll go to India to do it. I will and do support those who do.
;-)
And I will continue to support Sarah Palin. You also speak just like the Muslims speak when they talk of converting others. May I ask you if you follow every letter in the Bible and support killing those who worship other gods? (See Deuteronomy for details of what I am talking about.)
Your post is strange. There is no mention of any money changing hands in this story. How did the new convert “take our money and cheat us?”
Our church has had missionaries in India. They served by teaching in a seminary. They did not hand out money.
Jesus commanded His disciples to go forth and preach the gospel to everyone. We are supposed to disobey that order because Sarah Palin (apparently) disagrees with it?
They did so by making Buddha another incarnation of Vishnu
However, modern Hindu thought does account for a supreme God, Ishwara, from whom the entire universe is supposed to emanate -- however, this makes the universe part of god and to whom everything will eventually subsist. This was the basis of Gnosticism
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