Born into a Hindu family in India, Krishnan endured years of hardship as a manual laborer near the bottom rung of Indian society. At 25, he fell from a gigantic tree and was rushed to hospital. There he spent weeks in a coma, hovering between life and death.

As he lay unconscious, doctors coming and going, the Divine Physician himself paid the gravely-injured Hindu man a surprise visit! Identifying himself by showing his nail-pierced hands, Jesus then passed those distinctive hands over Krishnan's damaged body.

Now wide-awake, he practically leapt from his hospital bed, his strength and mobility fully restored. He could no longer see Jesus with his physical eyes, but could still sense His holy Presence. Falling to his knees, he bowed in that powerful Presence, repented of his sins, and told Jesus he would follow Him as his personal Lord and Savior the rest of his days.

Shortly afterward, Krishnan was baptized and received the new name ‘George’. He met and married a young woman from a Christian family, and they went on to have six daughters, a son, and 17 grandchildren. But life here on earth proved anything but rosy for George.

One of his daughters died of cancer. His son Raju became a rickshaw driver, married and had two daughters of his own. One of the daughters married and gave birth to George’s first great-grandchild. When the boy was less than two months old, the child’s mother (George’s granddaughter) fell into a fast-moving river and was swept away to her death. George witnessed the whole tragedy.

Yet he remembered his promise to Jesus and held fast to his faith, continuing to sense the Lord’s comforting Presence wherever he was. In a dream one night, Jesus reassured him with the words: "Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life." 

A faithful worker and evangelist with Bibles for Mideast, George kept it up well into his eighties—attending prayer meetings, sharing his testimony in house churches and underground churches, visiting homes and distributing gospel tracts.

He also found strength by meditating on scriptures. “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will be joyful in God my Savior” (Habakkuk 3: 17-18).

His friends and fellow workers with Bibles for Mideast bade Georgettan (as they liked to call him, ‘ettan’ meaning older brother) a fond and dramatic farewell recently. Sick in bed after a long, healthy life, a large group of friends, family and pastors surrounded and were praying for him.

As they finished praying, George pronounced a loud “Amen!” He then tried to describe what he was seeing. The Lord Jesus Christ, coming in glory with a beautiful crown, was beckoning with his nail-pierced hands. Scores of saints and angels accompanied him, he said.

“I am receiving His call for glory,” he said with finality. “Amen! Amen.” His face shining like the evening sun, he then joined his Lord in glory.