(with reports from Pastor Paul and others)

Pastor Paul and the two leaders ministering with him in North India—after being brutally beaten by Hindu extremists then dragged away, injured and bloodied—thought they would never experience open, fresh air again (story of their attack and capture here).

For five days they’d been shackled with steel chains and locked away in a dark, filthy cattle stall. Along with the stench of cattle dung, the men were constantly harassed by mosquitoes, bees and other vermin. Their captors refused them anything to eat or drink.

The pastors had been visiting and ministering in a poor village in North India with 300 families. Not far away, Australian missionary Graham Stains and his children were burned alive by militant Hindus two decades ago.

The local Hindu Dalit* (‘untouchables’) have no education and work for the rich and high class Hindus of the nearby town. They do what they are told by their employers, and paid a fifth or less of the normal daily wages for day laborers, have barely enough to survive. They also know they have no one to complain to (an earlier story on ministry among the Dalit here).

A Bibles for Mideast pastor living and working in a small town about 20 miles away had been struggling to share the gospel among the Hindus and Muslims in his area. Despite constant threats on his and his family’s lives, he had managed to establish a small underground church.

At his request, Pastor Paul and the two junior pastors (one formerly Hindu, the other once Muslim) had come to lead in a time of fasting and prayer for the region, as well as help in house-to-house personal evangelism. The time of prayer and fasting went well, and many came to Christ.

One day, a fellow from another village came to the area to visit his friend, who just happened to be at the prayer meeting. So off he went to find the fellow. He ended up listening to the gospel message and making a decision to join the Kingdom of Jesus! Not only that, when prayed over for serious asthma that had plagued him since childhood, he was completely healed.

He then began telling the leaders about his own village and the poor, unreached people there. So the pastors decided to join him on his return trip, and began sharing the truth of Jesus with the locals.

“We got a good response from the villagers at first,” Pastor Paul explains. “They were curious and listened. But then the high class and rich people came to know that the villagers are becoming friendly with us and being attracted to the gospel.”

A ‘secret meeting’ was called, and the villagers were warned that these Christians were against their gods [the Hindu religion has about 33 million gods—Ed.] and their faith. Anyone who befriends them will surely be cursed by the gods, they were told. Their families and even generations to come will face total destruction.

So a decision was made to capture the pastors, tie them to a tree, and call the police. In nationalist Hindu India, proselytizing is a serious crime with often dire consequences.

The pastors of course knew nothing of the meeting. So when angry villagers along with many of the upper class rich townspeople swooped in, the men were engaging some children and women in front of a village house, telling stories from the Bible.

The attackers pummeled the men mercilessly, then tied them to a nearby tree. They called the police, only to be told to ‘finish them off secretly.’

Energized by such a response, they untied the pastors, beat them again with steel pipes, and dragged them down the road. When they arrived at one of the villager’s empty cattle sheds, they bound the men up and left them there. According to one of the junior pastors, Pastor Paul had not only tried to protect the younger men from the attackers with his own body, he kept saying that he alone was the ‘guilty’ one. The other two were innocent, he insisted … but the attackers would have none of it.

Strength and expectation faint, the pastors prayed and hoped for the best—whatever that might mean. Soon word was out on their plight and believers across the country and world began praying and fasting for them.

On the fifth morning, two couples and three grown children, all members of the same family, flung the door of the stall open and prostrated themselves before the prisoners.

“Save us! Save us!” they cried. Behind them streamed other villagers, all begging for forgiveness. They freed the men from their chains.

The pastors had no idea what was going on. They soon learned that two of the family’s cows had, with no apparent cause, suddenly fallen down and died. Those cows had been their goddesses (Hindus believe cows to be sacred). It must, they thought, be due to God's anger for what they had done to the Christian missionaries.

Not only that, but the very man leading the villagers in their attack had a tragic road accident that night and died. Fear fell on the whole village.

As soon as the men were freed, they were rushed to hospital. Seriously injured, they needed weeks of treatment and recovery. Various villagers often came to visit and of course heard the gospel of salvation from the Christian patients.

Pastor Paul, more gravely injured and with some health issues due to the years of pushing himself, required longer hospitalization and is actually still resting and recovering at the home of a pastor in North India, not yet strong enough for the long trek back to his home in southern India.

Still, as soon as he was released, the village full of his former attackers begged him to visit them. Welcoming him warmly, they listened intently to his own testimony of salvation and the message of Jesus. Every person in attendance accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior!

“I thank and praise my Lord Jesus for all my pastors, ministers, believers and prayer partners for your continuous prayers for me and pastors Abishek and Nasar**,” Pastor Paul says. “I personally thank you all for your prayers and kind helps too. May our Lord reward you all.”

Follow-up ministry is desperately needed in the area.

“We urgently need Hindi and Urdu Bibles for the new believers,” says Pastor Paul.

Please be in prayer for these precious people, and for Pastor Paul’s complete restoration. If you can help in any way to cover costs, please click here.

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* Dalits—also known as ‘untouchables’—have traditionally been regarded as having such low status they don't even register on the caste system. Despite laws designed to protect them, they continue to face widespread discrimination and often shocking levels of abuse. Access to education, healthcare, justice and in some areas even safe drinking water remains restricted. They generally live in segregated neighborhoods or in satellite hamlets away from main population areas.

** Names changed for security reasons

UPDATE

Pastor Paul is now back at his home in Kerala in southern India. Please be in prayer for him and the area, where coronovirus (COVID-19) security measures have been implemented due to an increasing number of cases.

May our precious Lord guide and protect us all—from the virus and from fear—as we navigate our way through this global challenge.