Hindu extremists attack Christians at funeral

Anti-Christian sentiment continues to rise across India, especially amongst those influenced by ‘Hindutva’ ideology (the belief that all Indians must be Hindus). Spurred along by the misapplication of ‘anti-conversion laws’ (Open Doors has a great analysis of that here), violent mobs have attacked Christians, as well as their churches, homes and businesses.

This has had horrifying consequences for many of our Bibles for Mideast church leaders and members, including most recently in the tribal-dominated Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. Back in December, mobs attacked tribal Christians in Chhattisgarh, leaving thousands displaced from their homes.

“The Christians in Chhattisgarh were accused of following a foreign religion,” according to Open Doors partner Roshan Paul.* “The persecutors alleged that the Christians were attacking the traditional way of life of tribal people.”

Just a few days ago, a group of Christians were attempting to hold a funeral for one of their own—a woman who, with her family, had recently converted from Hinduism. Villagers objected to the burial rites being conducted by the family in the village by protesting and attacking the procession. When the family later retreated to their own backyard for the burial, they were followed and again viciously attacked.

protests during the funeral procession (Image - ETV Bharat)

Please pray for all of our church families—our fellow Christians!—as they struggle to not only grow and flourish, but simply live.

If you feel led to help support the work of Bibles for Mideast in India and the other regions we serve, please click here.
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* name changed for security reasons

High time for another Jesus Revolution?

Evangelism “of the Middle East, south Asia and parts of Africa” (see ABOUT US) remains the main work of this ministry and hence, forms the basis of most of what we share here. Still, we do occasionally post stories from other parts of the world, and on at least one occasion (partly because so many of our visitors and subscribers are American), we shared  an exciting story of an American doing exceptional evangelistic work in her own country (She once ran with drug addicts and prostitutes; now she ministers to them!).
Neither Jesus nor the work of sharing the most excellent news about Him can, could or should be contained! So when the story is big enough—like the recent release of the movie Jesus Revolution—well, we can’t stay silent and neither should you.
The movie, set in California in the tumultuous 1960s, tells a story of universal longing that will spread until that longing is satisfied. Let us all ‘do the work of evangelism’, which may include the simple act of inviting a friend to see a movie with you.
 

NO HIGH LIKE THE MOST HIGH!

No one can credibly doubt that the first ‘Jesus Revolution’ happened around 2,000 years ago with the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, and in the decades following as believers in this man’s ‘way’ became known as Christians.

Close to 2,000 years after that first Jesus upheaval swept the Middle East, movie director Jon Erwin found an old 1971 TIME magazine on eBay with the cover story ‘The Jesus Revolution’.  As he read the 10-page article, he says he marvelled at “how God swept this country [the US} at a time of despair and division.” 

Yet only five years earlier, TIME had come out with their iconic ‘Is God Dead?’ issue, which Erwin was of course aware of. Increasingly curious about the time span between the covers, and after seven intense years of dreaming and study, he and co-director Brent McCorkle finally had their Jesus Revolution movie ready for the big screen.

They base much of their film on the book of the same name, co-authored by Greg Laurie, whose growth and development forms much of the story’s backbone. Laurie (played by Joel Courtney) along with hippie and former druggie Lonnie Frisbee (played by Jonathan Roumie), and pastor Chuck Smith (brought to life by Kelsey Grammer) all help lead the mushrooming Jesus movement in California during the late 1960s.

And what tumultuous times they were. Dissent roared wildly over issues such as racial and economic equalities, traditional modes of authority, women’s rights and the Vietnam War. With the world in seeming upheaval, millions of young people wanted little to do with the strictures and faith of their parents and society around them, and began looking elsewhere for answers.

Sex, drugs and rock-and-roll

‘Turn on, tune in, drop out’ became the counterculture mantra of the age, popularized by Timothy Leary in 1966. A year later—also a year after TIME’s ‘Is God Dead?’ issue—San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood hosted its ‘Summer of Love’. About 100,000 young hippies gathered from across the continent to drop acid, indulge in so-called ‘free love’ and escape the confining strictures of their middle-class upbringings.

Yet many found emptiness in their quests and eventually—burned out, disillusioned by bad trips and with a haunting sense of the emptiness of their pursuit of hedonism—looked deeper and higher.  Untold thousands, like those in the new movie Jesus Revolution, made the miraculous discovery that there is no high like the Most High.

And thus began the Jesus Revolution covered by TIME in 1971, Laurie’s book in 2018, and now, by this movie. The actors along with some archival film footage help portray the story as it really unfolded.

A WANTED poster produced by an alternative newspaper in the 1960s

As co-director Erwin told a university audience early this year: “Let's tell the story about the last great awakening in America in hopes that God does it again."

This being a documentary, you’ll experience no clichéd ‘satisfying click’ movie ending, but you will witness thousands upon thousands of new beginnings.
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Have you seen the movie? Let us know your thoughts by posting a comment below! 

Pastor dies and has amazing experience with Jesus!

Last August, we told you about two Bibles for Mideast pastors brutally attacked and still, at that point, in hospital (Summer PROGRESS AND PRAYER report: help us keep going!). Thankfully Pastor Ram Behadur—sharing and evangelizing in his native Nepal when an enraged group of Hindu militants tied him to a tree and ruthlessly beat him—has fully recovered and is back doing what he loves and has been called to, ministry.

Our Pastor Subhash in North India likewise ended up in hospital, but with more complications enroute and while hospitalized. First viciously attacked by extremists while sharing the gospel with a group of villagers, he was then handed over to the police and charged with ‘forcefully converting people to Christianity’—an extremely serious charge in India.

The officers refused to allow him to be taken to hospital for proper treatment and worse, pummeled him mercilessly. It took Pastor Paul three days (while church members prayed and fasted) to get the police to finally release the pastor, who was then admitted to hospital with injuries both inside and out.

Doctors released him a few days later when he had seemingly recovered, externally at least. But he soon became seriously ill as his damaged kidneys began to fail. He was readmitted to hospital, barely alive. Without a kidney transplant, doctors said, he would certainly die.

But where to find a compatible and willing donor? Prayers continued, and eventually an unlikely candidate volunteered: Lexmana, once a Hindu extremist and enemy to Christians in general and Pastor Subhash and his church in particular. With other militant extremists, Lexmana had often persecuted the pastor and his congregants. But the Christian leader’s persistent loving behavior and attitude melted Lexmana’s hard heart as he saw increasingly clearly the difference Jesus makes in people’s lives. Overcome, he finally stepped into the Kingdom and became a part of the church he once persecuted. So when he learned his new pastor needed a new kidney, and then discovered he could be a compatible donor, he again stepped forward.

After the delicate surgery, Lexmana slowly recovered and was released in several days. Pastor Subhash however, already in a weakened state before the surgery, barely made it through. The saints of his church and beyond—including Pastor Paul and Pastor Peter Haneef—prayed and fasted for five days as he lay in a coma.

“Our Lord heard our prayers and Pastor Subhash miraculously opened his eyes and began to talk,” Pastor Peter recounted. “He said that he had seen Jesus, but he could not yet tell us the details.”

The facts are that medically, at the end of those five days, Pastor Subhash died. But I’ll let him give you a far fuller explanation! While still weak after all he has been through, he glows in the recounting.

“It was a tremendous experience for me in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” he says.  He knew he had been in a coma for five days after the surgery, but of course had no conscious knowledge of it.

Yet, while unconscious in the coma, he says he “had an inner feeling that some change is happening to me … that my Lord is preparing for me something special.”

At the point when he physically died, what he remembers is that the “Archangel Michael came down from the sky and plucked my soul from my body. Without any complaint I gave up my life and went with him.”

He says he could see a bright light going before them as they travelled, and praises to the Lord echoing along after them.

“I saw the sky seem to open up for me, and I entered inside an amazing world I have never seen before. Oh! What an amazing, amazing world it is!”

He could barely find the words, but said the stars shone brilliantly and somehow even they seemed to be greeting him with joy!

He heard refrains of ‘Hallelujah!’ and ‘Praise the Lord!’, saying it was “like the song of ascents everywhere, a great multitude praising, a sound like the roar of many waters.”

[I found myself so struck by his comparison to the Hebrew ‘songs of ascent’: a collection of 15 Psalms (Ps. 120-134) traditionally sung by Hebrew pilgrims as they ascended the uphill road to Jerusalem to attend annual festivals in the Temple—Ed.]

Within the galaxies of billions and billions of stars, he says he saw our Lord Jesus seated on a throne, the stars and galaxies “always rotating around the Lord as He is in the center. He wore a robe dipped in blood. He embraced me with His nail-pierced hands and seated me among the saints. All the saints were rejoicing with me!” 

The Lord then told him how so many were now kneeling before Him, praying for his recovery so he could help turn many of their enemies into His faithful children.

“Be courageous and be my witness,” Jesus said. “I will always be with you and guiding you.”

It was at that instant that Pastor Subhash somehow ‘returned to his body’, opened his eyes and became aware of his situation in the hospital.

“I praise and thank my Lord and Savior for all His goodness! I obey Him and praise Him more and more.”

Hospital bills have unfortunately been exorbitant. Pastor Subhash, his family and his church are all poor. Thankfully some funds have come in but more is needed. If you feel led to help, please click here: BLESSING Bibles for Mideast.

Airline crash in Nepal kills three beloved missionaries

Three missionaries—Rabin Hamal, Raju Takoor, Anil Shahi—were among the 72 killed in the recent horrific plane crash near an airport in central Nepal.  

Missionaires killed in crash: Rabin Hamal, Raju Takoor and Anil Shahi

All former Hindus, the three men had been travelling after attending the funeral of renowned evangelist Mathew Philip, 77, who had died only the previous week after losing a battle with cancer.

Evangelist Mathew Philip

Philip had been a tremendous help in establishing ALG churches in Nepal. He and his fellow missionaries will all be tremendously missed.

The Yeti Airlines crash—the worst air disaster in the Himalayan nation in 30 years—is still under investigation. It further highlights the dangers of air travel in a country often referred to as one of the riskiest places to fly.

Sadly, the pilot of the downed flight had lost her husband—a co-pilot for the same airline—in a similar crash in 2006, according to a Yeti Airlines spokesperson. She had decided to become a pilot herself after her husband’s death, using the insurance payout money to travel to the US for her training.

Thankfully we can know for certain these beloved missionaries are now safe in heaven. Please pray for their grieving families and friends here on earth.

Atheists are right: Christianity sounds absurd

By Darren Wilson*

Think about it. Christians believe in a man who lived more than 2,000 years ago in a series of backwater towns in the Middle East, was killed by some religious zealots, rose from the dead three days later, after which he floated up into the sky and disappeared, thus becoming the invisible man we now believe in and pin all our hopes on. On top of that, we believe in other unseen beings—angels and demons—who are all around, helping or hindering.

Meanwhile, another invisible spirit (the Holy Spirit) is constantly at work behind the scenes around the earth, keeping the whole thing straight and intervening whenever possible.

When put that way, even I think it sounds crazy. I consider myself a fairly intelligent person. I’m a former university professor, an author, and I’ve become something of a spokesperson not just for the existence of God through my films but for the idea that this invisible God is alive and well and doing amazing things in our world today. How then can I, as a rational, intelligent human being, actually believe in spirits and an invisible man?

I ask this question because it seems that lately, a good number of people have been coming out and saying that no, they don’t believe this nonsense anymore. Former Christians seem to be taking a long hard look at what they once believed, and are finding the courage to step forward and voice their opinion: that they think it’s all nuts. I have a feeling they aren’t alone in their struggles with belief, and the reasons for this crisis of faith are surely varied and compelling. But like everyone, at the end of the day I am only truly responsible for myself, and I wanted to step forward and try to explain why I will continue to believe in an invisible God-man, no matter what.

For a good portion of my life, I lived a kind of Christianity that I have a sneaking suspicion most people do as well. It was built around a set of pre-informed beliefs and its orbit was made up almost exclusively with well-meaning principles—all of which were gleaned from the Bible and were designed to both make my life better and make me into a relatively nice person. Jesus was the centerpiece, of course, but He was more of a benevolent, distant brother figure. God was relatively silent on most things—and always loomed large in my ‘Be good or else!’ mentality. The Holy Spirit was like smoke, a guiding force if you will, but one that was totally unknowable.

This was Christianity, for sure, but it was a neutered one. I simply had to believe the right things, be a good person, and not do too much bad stuff. If I did make mistakes, I had to make sure I said I was sorry, otherwise a kind of logjam of sin would start to build up, which was not good.

When your life revolves around trying to ‘be good,’ there comes a point when it all just feels fake and forced. I mean, if Jesus is real, shouldn’t my life be different? Shouldn’t I have this peace He kept talking about inside me? Should I really have to try this hard to change my behavior? And after a while, when principles are all that generally guide you, it just becomes too much and you wind up doing the Christian thing simply because you think you should and because that’s what you’ve always done.

Darren Wilson filming in Jerusalem

But then something happened, and this is where everything changed for me. I experienced God.

I am a rational person and not prone to manic episodes, hallucinations, or strange behavior. I’ve never done drugs a day in my life. I don’t ‘feel’ things spiritually, have never been ‘slain in the spirit,’ and I’ve never even spoken in tongues. But while making these films of mine, I experienced the reality and presence of God. I felt Him inside me and around me. My behavior changed, I felt peace for the first time, and my Christian walk was no longer about following principles, but about following a Person. And yes, that Person was invisible.

How do you explain experiencing God to someone who has never experienced Him themselves? It’s a lot like trying to explain love to someone who has never been in love. They can be surrounded by people in love, can see how strange it makes people behave, can understand the concept of love. They can even see the dangers of falling in love with that person over this person, but unless you’ve actually fallen in love with someone, you’ll never be able to understand the feeling it gives you or the certainty that you are, in fact, in love, and that it is very, very real.

So it is no surprise to me that, for example, a pastor who decides to ‘take a year off from God’ comes out the other side as an atheist. Honestly, it would be impossible for me to take even a week off from God, because I have experienced Him firsthand. I know He’s there, I can’t ignore Him.

No one who actually experiences God will ever deny His existence. For instance, for my film Holy Ghost Reborn, I filmed a ministry in Colorado that provides prayer and teaching almost exclusively to military personnel. Most of the participants go into this three-day intensive as either atheists or nominal believers at best. All of them—a full 100%—come out of these three days believing in Jesus. Why? Because they just experienced Him for themselves. And you can’t deny something that you have actually experienced. My guess is that the vast majority of people who have turned their hearts from God never actually experienced Him in the first place. They may have heard and believed, but the reality of His presence never took root because believing something logically is not the same as experiencing it relationally.

Yes, believing in someone who is invisible seems, on the surface, a little crazy. But just as Billy Graham once pointed out, we believe in the wind not because we can see it, but because we can see the effects of it. We can feel it on our faces, see it whipping through tree branches. I believe in an invisible God not because I can see Him, but because I can see the effect of Him on my life, and on countless lives around the world. I can feel Him inside me, around me, even working through me.

I’m not sure people leaving the faith is an assault on Christianity as much as it is simply showing the danger of building faith on principles instead of relationship. As good and as important as principles are, nothing will ever compare to the vibrant, healthy, biblical relationship that we were all created for with a God who is more real and more alive than many of us realize.
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*Darren Wilson is the Founder and CEO of WP Films, a media company with the mission to ask questions about God that no one else will. He has traveled the world since 2006 creating various feature-length documentaries, including Finger of God, Finger of God 2, Furious Love, Father of Lights, Holy Ghost, Holy Ghost Reborn, and The Greatest Fight.

You can read some of his fascinating blog entries here. In one—God Can’t Catch You if You Don’t Take a Leap of Faith—he relates an amazing God-incident which happened while filming in India for his movie ‘Father of Lights’.

Darren has also written several books, including Filming God and Finding God in the Bible. The company now also has an online channel called WP TV.