Saved from witchcraft ... and crocodiles ... in the Indian jungle!

A Bibles for Mideast team of four pastors and some of their family members travelled recently to a remote area of India to hold a week of prayer and fasting leading into the New Year. The religion of the local tribespeople in that area can best be described as a mixture of magic, traditional animistic beliefs and practices, and elements of Hinduism: witchcraft, basically.  

Led by Pastor Paul, the team had been gathering with a very poor church in a jungle area of India near West Bengal. The Bibles for Mideast pastor leading the congregation belongs to the tribe.

Tribal couple in rural India making baskets with dry bamboo strips in front of their traditional mud hut

The Holy Spirit moved mightily: a paralyzed man who had been helped to a meeting left unassisted; and by the end of another gathering, a deaf woman could hear!

Yet even while they met, Hindu militants affiliated with the national government attacked and vandalized a nearby church (that report made the news). The attacked church had been holding prayer and fasting meetings as well. We sent out a prayer request as threats manifested and multiplied.

Due to the increasingly dangerous situation, plans to hold a New Year’s Day baptismal service for over 50 new believers had to be put on hold. Police and militants could be seen patrolling the entire area; somehow they had been alerted. So we put out another prayer request. Miraculously, within about four hours of that going out, I got a jubilant message from Pastor Paul.

”Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Thank you ... thank you all for your prayers. Our Lord answered and 54 people have been baptized.”

Not an ideal baptismal site!

Deep within the thickly-forested area near where they were staying lay a pool. Crocodiles made it their home, and other wild animals drank from it. Yet one of the pastor’s wives prophesied that the pool would be safe for a baptismal ceremony. After corporate prayer, they decided to go for it.

Even with cool temperatures this time of year, Pastor Paul reported the people didn’t notice the cold but instead felt warmed by the Holy Spirit. Local tribal people helped the believers by leading the mile-long march to the pool, armed with bows and arrows and other weapons in case of threats from the animals.  They even drummed and sang as they led the march.  Since no one dared visit the pool even in daytime, the area was nowhere on the radar of the police or RSS ((radical Hindu nationalist) volunteers.

“We saw several crocodiles lying on one side of the pool,” Pastor Paul says. “so we selected the opposite side to hold the baptisms.” He noted with amazement how while they all expected the water to feel cold, they found it wondrously warm.

t was now past midnight, so the only slight illumination emanated from stars barely visible through the thick forest.

“We four pastors entered into the water to do the baptisms. And we baptized all candidates in the same pool without wasting time. The local tribal people stood by with their bows and arrows to rescue us from the wild animals.  It was like how Nehemiah built the temple with weapons.” 

Nothing in the forest, not even the crocodiles, seemed to notice. By 4:30 in the morning they wrapped up the service, exultant and thankful for the prayer support of God’s faithful around the world.

One baptismal candidate deserves special mention. A local tribesman we’ll call Mallu* had, five years ago, been attacked by a crocodile at this very pool. The crocodile had latched onto his leg, and Mallu recalls that someone “with nail-scarred hands” appeared and rescued him from its clutches. He lived, but remained unable to walk properly. . When some Bibles for Mideast missionaries visited his region and shared the gospel message, he realised the one who saved him from crocodile had to have been Jesus. His testimony reinforced the decision to choose this pool as the baptismal site, and of course he wanted to be part of it as well. 

“It was our Lord's plan,” Pastor Paul aptly notes, and he had the honor of baptizing Mallu. It turned out to be a healing ceremony for the man as well, for he emerged from the baptismal waters able to walk without any difficulty!

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* Name changed for security reasons