Is the Christian God Angry About the Persecution of His people?
Dearly Beloved,
The earthquake in India was actually far worse than you have
heard. We have just received reports indicating that the
death toll will climb well past the 100,000 mark. One
official told Dr. PAUL KIRUBABKARAN (One of the heads of
LIVING ROCK MINISTRIES International of India, ) that as
many as 150,000 people may have lost their lives on that
fateful morning of January 26.But a bigger story is
unfolding in the midst of this epic disaster - a spiritual
story that has implications for India's one billion lost
souls.
India is the center of a great spiritual battle, and even
the nation's secular media is catching on to this fact. On
television and radio and in the major newspapers across
India, reporters have actually posed the question, "Is the
Christian God angry about the persecution of His people?
"They are daring to ask such questions because the city of
Bhuj, the unofficial headquarters for anti-Christian
persecution in the western India state of Gujarat, was the
epicenter of the quake. Within the past year, attacks on
Christian workers in and around Bhuj have been severe.
Scores of church buildings have been vandalized and torched.
In an organized effort on one day, over 200 pastors were
beaten and threatened. Several have been martyred for the
faith.
The earthquake all but obliterated Bhuj, a city of 150,000.
No major buildings are left standing. At least one-fifth of
the population was killed. The entire state of Gujarat was
rocked viciously by the quake, opening up chasms as much as
20 feet wide. In places, the earth literally swallowed
people alive. As of this writing, a majority of our pastors
in Gujarat have reported to our ministry headquarters in
Kota (about 300 miles to the east. (The reports are amazing.
Not one Christian from our churches has died, and not one of
our buildings has been destroyed! A Hindu reporter asks
about the earthquake, "Would the Christian God do such a
thing to take His revenge?" Such questions actually started
over a year ago, when India suffered two other natural
disasters - the most powerful cyclone ever, followed by the
most deadly flood on record. Those disasters happened in the
State of Orissa, where Christians had been openly persecuted
on a wide scale. Orissa was also the state where Australian
missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons were burned
alive in their jeep by militant anti-Christians.
Something truly is beginning to happen in India. Gospel seed
planted for generations is starting to bear fruit. A great
spiritual harvest is coming, and we must be prepared to send
laborers into that harvest. India has approximately 600,000
unreached cities and villages - places without a permanent
Gospel witness or a local church. Dr. Paul kirubakaran and
Rev.Paul Jesudoss have a plan to reach every one of those
cities and villages through a unique strategy. They are
raising up thousands of orphans - God's Orphan Army" - to
take the truth of Jesus to all of India. Their goal is very
simple; raise one hundred orphans in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord, and send them out as missionaries.
The plan is working. Hundreds of orphans have already been
raised and sent out, and thousands more are now being loved
and cultivated for Christian service. As of today, Church of
Jesus is caring for over 300 boys and girls in 3 orphanages.
Hundreds more are waiting to be taken in. (One government
official has already asked . Flora Joan receiving the untold
number of orphans from Gujarat who were left motherless and
fatherless by the devastating earthquake.) Next year 45young
preachers will graduate from the Church of Jesus Bible
Institute, Madurai,. A large percentage of them are orphans
who have been raised to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. They
are ready and willing to go wherever He leads. The entire
class of 2001 - all young pastors - have committed their
lives to full-time Christian service.
Every one of them, without exception. A large number are
bound for Gujarat., and most have chosen to go there simple
because it presents the greatest challenge. I will tell you
as frankly as possible: We do not have the funds to support
these preachers of the Gospel. When they graduate on march
we will give each one a new church site or building but we
have no money to help them begin their ministries or to
sustain them in the hard days ahead. We desperately need
loving Christians elsewhere who will stand behind each
graduate with financial and prayerful support.
Yours for a great harvest, signed (for forsaken babies home,
Dr.Flora Joan Jesudoss)
plot#514,K.K.Nagar,Madurai-625020,India
Rpaulflor@md3.vsnl.net.in (Received on Friday March 2,
2001)
