No slowing of persecution against Christians in India

Two more of our missionary pastors have been attacked and imprisoned for proclaiming the truth of Jesus in east-central India. Please pray for Pastor Jose Pappachan and his wife Sheeja.

Sheeja and Jose Pappachan

After Hindu militants had ransacked and defaced the Pappachans’ ALG Church in Raipur in Chhattisgarh last month, the pastor declared a time of prayer and fasting. As a result, more villagers from neighboring Hindu communities attended the church services, and many received Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour. They all received baptism and continued attending the worship services. This further provoked the Hindu militants who again attacked the church, this time seriously injuring the pastor, his wife and seven members of their church. The injured were initially admitted to hospital, but the attackers convinced hospital authorities to immediately discharge them. They then filed a case against the Christians (converting Hindus to Christianity being a crime in many predominantly Hindu regions), which prompted their arrest. Now, the judgement of the court has come that the missionary couple will be imprisoned for five years and must pay fines of 25,000 rupees each.

Although the Constitution of India declares that all are free to practice their own religion, circumstances and attitudes certainly prove otherwise. Policies of the ruling party, under Narendra Modi, adhere to Hindutva, a Hindu nationalist ideology. Anyone NOT Hindu faces unpleasant repercussions on all sides.

Last year 264 Christian churches were attacked in Chhattisgarh State alone. Authorities take no action against the attackers, but instead join in the persecution. Please pray for all churches, especially the ALG (umbrella) Church and Bibles for Mideast churches, ministries, and people.

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UPDATE

Bibles for Mideast has appointed a team of advocates for Pastor Jose and Sheeja Pappachan’s legal proceedings. As reported a few days ago (see above), both were imprisoned in North India, accused of converting people to Christianity.

They applied for bail in the country’s High Court, with Sheeja being granted bail but with strict commands not to leave the jurisdiction. Her husband, Pastor Jose Pappachan, unfortunately did not receive bail.

Please pray for their soon release from this case against them, as well as for the needed resources to meet the expenses of the legal proceedings, advocates’ fees and related expenses.

Even while imprisoned, the couple have kept up witnessing to the Truth of Jesus! We know of at least one female police officer from a Hindu background who has approached Sheeja and asked to learn more about Jesus.

May our Lord give the pastoral couple more strength, courage and power in the Holy Spirit to witness Jesus Christ  even more.  Please continue your prayers!

Awesome notes of healing and salvation to end the year!

Pastor Paul and team have just wrapped up a week of prayer, fasting and evangelism in an area of India devastated by landslides earlier this year (the deadliest in Kerala's history). BBC News covered it here: The scenic  Indian villages devastated by deadly landslides.

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel carrying the body of a victim at the site of a landslide in Wayanad district [Handout/National Disaster Response Force via AFP]

As usual, our Bibles for Mideast ministry leader has an exciting report to share as the week wrapped up.

“By God’s grace, our ministry’s seven days of prayer, fasting and evangelism was a huge success,” Pastor Paul reports. “Hundreds of people attended and experienced the love of our Lord. The Holy Spirit moved throughout the services, with more people attending each day. We also visited houses in the evenings and conducted corner meetings. Many experienced the salvation of Jesus Christ.”

On the fourth day, some of the attendees brought a paralysed Hindu woman, about 26 years old, and placed her in the middle of the prayer meeting. The young woman had been the only of her many immediate family members who had survived the disaster, which she had done, barely, by grabbing onto the branch of a tree for two long, wet, muddy days. More than half of her body had been held fast beneath the heavy mud and water as more mud and mess cascaded down, taking all and everyone with it.  

When rescuers finally found her, badly paralyzed and barely alive, they rushed her to hospital. When released, the young woman, still paralyzed, spent the next four months bedridden at a relative’s home.

This ‘just happened’ to be around the same time Bibles for Mideast had arranged for the seven days of prayer, fasting and evangelism in the devastated area.

So on that fateful fourth day, the young paralyzed woman ended up smack in the middle of the praying people.

“I asked everybody to pray for her,” Pastor Paul recounts. “I saw the Holy Spirit was moving throughout the service.

“When all were praying for her, I held her hand and commanded in the mighty name of Jesus our Lord and Savior that she get up from the floor. Immediately I could see her whole body was shaking violently. And I could actually see blood flowing through her veins.

“Then she stood up from the floor, praising and thanking Jesus! I asked her to walk, then run. She did both, right in the midst of all the prayerful people.

“She then stayed with us and attended the rest of the services and prepared herself for baptism.

“May our Lord’s Name be glorified! She has no house and no land, for it was all wiped out. We pray for her to have a house and a life partner who must be a faithful believer of Jesus Christ.”

The believers held a final worship service Sunday morning, then on Monday the new believers—137 in all—received baptism. Among them were 46 former Muslims and several former Hindus—including of course the formerly paralyzed young woman!

Please pray for all of the new believers: for their spiritual growth, divine guidance, boldness and protection in witnessing to our Lord of lords.

All of us here at Bibles for Mideast pray with Director Pastor Paul that “you have a joyful and faithful season for our Lord’s glory, and a prosperous new year.

“May our Lord be with you, hold you in His nail-pierced hands, and keep you as the apple of His eyes throughout the year and until the end of your life,” he continues. “Amen and hallelujah!”

Another look at Joseph: the non-speaker who speaks volumes

As our guest writer Jeeva Sam points out below, Mary’s husband Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father, gets short shrift in our yearly Christmas songs and stories. Even scripture doesn’t provide much about him. Yet he did play a crucial role, and as Jeeva elaborates so well, we can learn from his restrained manner. Enjoy and be edified.

By Jeeva Edward Sam

Quick, now, name one well-known carol that mentions Joseph. Better still, take your time, search on Google, Yahoo, MSN, Bing and Ask—the result is the same!  Not one, nada, nil.

Contrast this with repeated references to Mary, as in: “Mary’s boy child”, “Gentle Mary laid her child”, “On Mary’s lap is sleeping”, “Round yon virgin, MOTHER and child”, “For Christ is born of Mary”, “Mary was that mother mild”, and so forth. Even cattle, sheep and assorted members of the animal kingdom get more press at Christmas!

Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. (Matt. 1:19)

Point me to one word of dialogue Joseph is permitted to utter in the script of the Nativity as found in Holy Scripture, or in most traditional Christmas pageants for that matter. Need I say more?

Yet, it would seem that this unheralded man is undeniably part of God’s plan for the early part of Jesus’ earthly life. I find it instructive to examine the brief exposure to his character in Matthew 1:19 (Amplified Version): “… Joseph, being a just and upright man and not willing to expose her publicly and to shame and disgrace her, decided to repudiate and dismiss (divorce) her quietly and secretly.”

When Mary is found to be with child without an assist from her betrothed, a “just and upright man” could have ensured that justice was done by having her put to death or at least by issuing a certificate of divorce. Either action would have been kosher, but Joseph adds mercy to justice as he opts for a divorce with dignity.

Years later, when Jesus was asked by some what he would do with a woman who was caught in adultery (as if it is possible to catch only one partner in the act of adultery, hello?) he would stonewall their bid to stone her to death with the words: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” (John 8:7) Like father, like son, perhaps?

I cannot help but contrast Joseph’s choice with the way I am tempted to respond when someone hurts me. Ever hear the expression: ‘Hurt people hurt people?’ Out of my hurt, I want to make sure that justice is done and you’re hurt too—at least as much as you hurt me.

I could use any platform available to me—Facebook, newspaper columns, TV, blog, pulpit—to at least shame, if not disgrace or downright destroy you. Or it could be a family gathering over the holidays where amid the toasts, treats, eats and greets, some dormant hostility, buried bruise or interred insult rears its ugly head again, or a fresh missile calls for a decidedly unchristian strike-back.

I could opt to leave lash-marks on the offender, or leave quietly with bite-marks on my tongue instead.

May I, like Joseph, be glad to let my non-speaking role speak volumes.

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Pastor Jeeva Sam and his wife of 41 years, Sulojana Sam (both originally from India) are marriage mentors and authors of The Unbreakable Marriage, where they share details of the process God showed them to "guarantee breakthrough for married couples facing breakdown, often in as little as twelve weeks." (https://thesams.ca/). Jeeva served as a pastor for over thirty-five years (ordained by the United Church of Canada in 1982). The Sams are parents of three married children, grandparents of an adorable baby boy and live in St. Catharines, Ontario. Jeeva welcomes your feedback at theunbreakablemarriage@gmail.com.

Healing prayers needed for Pastor Paul, his wife and son

I’ll tell you just the gist of this complicated story so we can get you praying.

Pastor Paul, his wife Mercy and their youngest son all ended up in hospital after a brutal attack by radical Muslims several weeks ago.

Fifteen days into their hospital stay, they felt they had recovered enough to be released, so asked permission for an early release since they also knew they didn’t have enough money for the hospital bills. They had already pawned Mercy’s wedding ring and a golden chain. And as Pastor Paul says, they “had had no time to waste from our Lord’s work.”

Four days after their release, Pastor Paul and his son unfortunately had to be readmitted due to continuing problems with the internal injuries sustained in the attack. They hope to be discharged within a day or two.

Please be in prayer for these dear people. If you are able to help them with the hospital bills, they would of course appreciate that as well.

Bibles for Mideast pastor and family finally to be released from hospital

In our last post (Bibles for Mideast pastor and family hospitalized after brutal attack), we told you the horrific story of a Bibles for Mideast pastor and his family who had all ended up in hospital after a brutal attack by Islamic militants.  

Thanks to prayer and the grace of our Lord, all are now doing vastly better. The youngest, two-year-old Hannah, seems to have suffered the worst injuries—her little body grabbed viciously from her mother’s arms and thrown away during the attack. She had to be readmitted to the ICU, but a week later was shifted to her mother’s room.

While some internal injuries have yet to be completely healed, doctors plan to discharge the family of six this coming Saturday. This is in fact the second hospital they have been in, having to be moved since ‘infiltrators’ had interfered with their receiving proper care at the first.

The attackers had also destroyed the family’s home, which members of the pastor’s congregation have been busily rebuilding. Even some neighbouring Muslim families have joined in the reconstruction. They had visited the family in the hospital, and Pastor Surcaf and his wife had shared with them the gospel of Jesus and His everlasting love. So most now fully support the pastor, many having even ‘switched sides’, now placing their faith in the living Lord Jesus. While the Imam and other of the local mosque’s authorities are far from pleased, so far there has been no more trouble.

Pastor Surcaf shared the gospel of Jesus with more than his visitors, of course. Fellow patients, doctors and other staff in the hospital all heard the ‘best news possible’ from him … how he and his family turned from Islam to Jesus, and now experience a joyful relationship with God through Jesus—in spite of being persecuted. His message could not help but resonate loudly with all who heard!

Once again thank you for your prayers.