~VIOLENCE AND MURDER OF CHRISTIANS CONTINUES IN INDIA~
October 2008
We just concluded a busy ministry time in Wyoming and Minnesota, raising support for India and sharing about the atrocities being committed against Christians in India. During the past month and a half many poor Christians have been murdered, including men, women, children, nuns and priests by radical Hindu militants. Many were burned or hacked to death. Their only crime was their faith in Jesus Christ, their refusal to reconvert back to Hinduism and bow down to Hindu idols. Thousands of churches, prayer halls, orphanages and Christian homes have been destroyed and burned by the radicals. Thousand upon thousands of Christians are living in refugee camps in their own country without proper food, water or sanitation. There have been more martyrs in India in the previous month than in any period of time in the history of the nation.
Many of the martyred were Dalits, or the untouchables, hated by the Hindus. They have said that the Christians are the only ones who treat us with respect and we are permitted to freely worship in Churches. These precious souls are truly the down trodden, oppressed and poor. They do not have a voice and Hindus do not give them any rights.
This young girl was set on fire by Hindu militants because she is a Christian. We also have a photo of a young girl who did not survive the attacks.
Hindu Militants spurred on to attack and kill Christians in Orissa.
Psalm 41:1-3 says, “Blessed is he who considers the poor; The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive, and he will be blessed on the earth; You will not deliver him to will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness; You will sustain (heal) him on his sickbed.” These are powerful words and promises for just remembering and considering the poor.
On October 16th Sharmila and I are leaving for India. Your prayers and support are very crucial at this time. Please consider the poor by praying for the violence to stop, by praying for increased media attention and please pray for our city-wide outreach in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, that many thousands will experience Jesus and turn to Him. The campaign dates are October 20-25, 2008. We are expecting a powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit in salvations, miracles, signs and wonders.
RECENT TRAVELS IN WYOMING AND MINNESOTA
We have witnessed a strong flow of outstanding miracles while in worship and ministering in Thermopolis, Wyoming and Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. In Detroit Lakes, Isaac Mosher a 9th grader who was born with Goldhar Syndrome (deformities) was healed by Jesus and was able to hold his head up for the first time in his life. We believe this creative miracle and the others we have seen are just a precursor of what is in store in India during this time of immense violence and bloodshed.
Isaac Mosher a 9th grader who was born with Goldhar Syndrome (deformities) was healed by Jesus and was able to hold his head up for the first time in his life- Detroit Lakes, MN October 5, 2008.
HINDUS & MUSLIMS SEE & HEAR JESUS!
By Sharmila Anderson
Many times I find it extremely difficult to express in words the power, compassion and mercy of Jesus Christ. Our outreach in Moradabad, India was one such time. I will to try my best to describe what happened there as Jesus tangibly revealed Himself to many Hindus and Muslims.
Prior to our departure for this outreach Mark had mentioned that he sensed that this trip would be a turning point for the ministry in India, that something powerful was about to break forth!
We conducted a 5-day city wide, open-air campaign in Moradabad October 23rd- 27th. During this period approximately 11,500 people decided to become Jesus’ followers, by surrendering to His lordship, and many hundreds were healed of all kinds of ailments. Most of the people who testified of being healed said they either audibly heard Jesus’ voice, or saw a vision of Him, or saw angels. One gentleman said he saw thousands of angels all over the campaign grounds.
From the first night we knew that the Holy Spirit was pouring Himself out on hungry Hindus and Muslims, as many testified of being healed. Most did not get the opportunity to testify of their healing as it was getting very late and the meeting had to be closed down. By the final night, over 9,000 people had gathered, hungry to hear the Word of God.
On the first night Mukesh Kumar testified that during prayer for healing he told Jesus “if you are real I want to experience you.” Immediately he felt warmth in his body followed by coolness, and then a strong current went through him, after which he was fell to the ground. He arose knowing that Jesus was the true God and decided to follow Him.
Momine, a young Muslim boy had no blood circulation on one side of his face, as a result of which he could not blink his eye. The Lord touched him and he was able to blink his eye and speak clearly.
Vandana sat alone at the far end of the grounds. She suffered with seizures and asthma. During the mass prayer, Jesus appeared to her and told her that she was healed. Sunil Massih saw Jesus in the midst of the crowd along with thousands of angels. He said that one of the angels touched him.
Vineet Kumar, 12 years old, suffered with severe pain in his lungs. He testified that something touched him and he heard an audible voice say to him, “son you are healed! Go up and testify.” This young boy was extremely charged. He began to boldly praise Jesus in front of the huge crowd.
These are just a few of the healings that occurred. The blind saw, the deaf heard, cripples danced for joy, tumors dissolved, the demonized were set free, and individuals on their death beds were healed. THE POWER OF GOD WAS PRESENT TO HEAL. Many people testified that they literally felt a presence reach into their bodies and pull the sickness out of them.
The news of the campaign spread to surrounding towns and by the final night people had come from great distances to receive healing from Christ. The local television station covered the campaign, which was good publicity for us. Articles about the campaign, Jesus healing people and Marks message appeared in Newspapers too.
We have heard that on the Sunday after the campaign every church added at least 5-6 new families. Healing testimonies continue to flow in. The pastors are determined to disciple all the souls harvested during this campaign. Please pray for them as they begin to follow up on all those who filled out decision cards. We are purchasing New Testaments for all those who came to Christ. People in Moradabad are saying that THE TRUE GOD REALLY VISITED THEIR TOWN AND HAS SHAKEN IT!
During the campaign one young man was so convicted of his sin and the importance of following Jesus that he went to the government to obtain permission to be baptized. (In India one needs the government’s permission to be baptized as a Christian, if converting from another religion).
We also ministered in a special healing service and youth concert for the New Life Churches in Gurgoan, a suburb of New Delhi. Many turned to Christ and many testified of being healed by Him. Even after we left, the miracles continued. Now the churches want to sponsor us to do large multi-church campaigns and conferences in the Delhi area.
My mother (Renuka Frank) has said we have enough invites in India now to keep us busy for the next ten years. As a result we are soon taking on another fulltime campaign coordinator (from India) in 2008 so we can be ministering in India three times a year. This will also help with coordinating other campaigns for those evangelists we are training and/ or working with.
Thank you so much for standing with us financially and prayerfully. For every $1 invested in this outreach we had one soul come to Christ. Thank you for sending us to this needy area. John 21:25 And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.
~WHAT IS
ONE WORTH TO YOU?~
By Sharmila Anderson
March 2007
The above question, “what is
one worth to you” was posed by a cruel Gestapo leader, who killed
Jews at will for sport during the Second World War, to Oskar Schindler.
Schindler (a member of the Nazi party) was trying to save the Jews from
being sent to the gas chamber in Auschwitz. Schindler was by no means a
man of high moral character, known to be a womanizer and extremely fond
of alcohol. Yet God birthed in his heart an undying love for the Jews,
and Schindler literally gave his all to save those he could.
By the end of the Nazi
regime and the fall of Hitler, Schindler, who once was a millionaire,
was broke, as he had used all his money, assets and business to buy
1,100 Jews their freedom from certain death.
When the allied liberators
rolled into Germany, Mr. Schindler had to flee, as he was a member of
the Nazi party. In the movie Schindler’s List, the end is heart rending
as Mr. Schindler now broke, collapses in the arms of a faithful Jewish
worker sobbing, “I could have done more. I did not do enough.” Looking at his car he said, “why didn’t I get rid of it, ten more
(Jews) could have been saved.” Pulling out his gold pen he said, “what use is this to me, I could have sold it and two more would have
been saved.”
We know from the awful
sacrifice 2,000 years ago what one was worth to the Father and Jesus. We
know that He will leave the 99 to search for the one that is lost ( Luke
15:1-7). We know that He stands at the gate eagerly awaiting the return
of the prodigal (Luke 15:11-32). John 20:21 clearly reveals what the
Lord has commissioned us to do and expects us to do. It reads, “So
Jesus said ‘...As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
The Father sent Jesus with the sole purpose of saving the lost.
Mark and I will be
ministering in Himachal Pradesh State, India this May and June.
It is one of the most unreached states in India. Considered the
birthplace of Hindu gods, Himachal Pradesh is dotted with temples to
Shiva, the god of destruction. People worship him because of fear that
if they do not appease him, he will strike them with disaster. Imagine
the fear and torment, when the one you worship and serve is not even on
your side.
Himachal Pradesh State has
a population of 6.1 million people. It is 96% Hindu! For every
1,100 people there is only one Christian (0.09%). Some estimates
state there are only 8,000 Christians in the entire state.
Himachal Pradesh is a
stronghold for militant Hindus. Last year when we ministered in Shimla, the capital of Himachal Pradesh , militant Hindus agitated
trying to shut the meetings down and falsely accusing us. They printed a
negative article about our outreach on the front page of the newspaper
as well. After we left the local pastor, M. P. Singh continued the work
and saw major growth in his church and home cells. He is also our
campaign coordinator for Himachal Pradesh. As he started making
preparations for our upcoming outreach in the summer, he suffered a lot
of persecution. Militants have been threatening him demanding that he
leave Shimla. He has rightly refused to do so, because he knows the
tremendous need for the Gospel to go forth in this area.
The darkness here is
palpable, the sin bringing decay, the despair apparent, the sickness,
disease and demonic torment overwhelming. But the power of God is
ever present to heal, restore and bring life. Despite the seemingly
hard circumstances, God is moving there. We need your help to reach this
state with the freeing Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I believe that Christ has
blessed every believer with enough to help save the lost. It ultimately
comes down to the haunting question “what is one worth to you”. Is one worth going out of your comfort zone and giving extra? Are you
willing to pray and fast for the lost? I know if Christians start doing
this on a regular basis rather than sporadically, we will succeed in
reaching even more of the unreached ethnic groups.
If we are willing, obedient
and selfless in giving the little we have, even if it means lacking
something for a short time, then Jesus can and will multiply that to
feed the multitudes and take care of our needs as well (ref. Mark
6:30-44, 8:1-9). In some of our evangelistic campaigns in India, for
every $1 invested a soul came to Christ; churches were planted and
many were healed.
Schindler,
who had done everything conceivable, going above and beyond the call of
compassion in saving 1,100 Jews, was still consumed with remorse over
not having done enough. Sometimes we can complacently
pat ourselves on our back for tithing, attending church, reading the
word etc., which are vital for us; but lose sight of what is really
important to Jesus…. THE GREAT COMMISSION! I believe that the
Great Commission is going beyond the call of average, complacent
Christianity. It is going the extra mile in prayer and giving so those
multitudes traveling the broad road can be diverted to the narrow road.
The grim statistic that only 0.07% of all money raised in Christian
circles goes to reach unreached areas is a formidable reminder that
we Christians are not doing enough.
Hindsight is considered the
best sight, though often accompanied by remorse. Please do not let
hindsight in fulfilling the Great Commission be your vision. Do not let
the guilt of “I did not do enough” resound in your mind and gnaw
at your conscience. Make the Great Commission a
priority. Crusade for the unreached through your prayers and giving. Now
is the time to sow, now is the time to fall on your knees; not just
once, but everyday. The Great Commission should stir us everyday.
We know that at Calvary we
were reconciled to God by Jesus. However in unreached regions people do
not know this. They have no knowledge of the Great Physician who heals
by a word, touch, and prayer. They cannot fathom the balm of the Holy
Spirit who brings incomprehensible peace, joy, and comfort. There is no
healing for these people, unless we, you and I, take the Gospel (Good
News) to them. Our goal is to reach out a minimum of four times a year
to the unreached overseas. Will you send us? Will you pray for us?
What is one worth to you?
William Booth had a dream in
which he saw two men accusing him for not caring for their souls, and
they were cast into hell. Dreams like this drove him to start the
Salvation Army.
I am grateful to my Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ for going all the way to Calvary, irrespective of
the immense physical, mental and spiritual torture. If He chose to throw
in the towel when it got too rough, I would still be a Hindu living an
abused life, filled with despair and confusion. Today many are depending
on us, the followers of Christ to go all the way! Can you? Will you? For
the sake of Jesus! Let the Great Commission compel
us; Let the love and grace of Jesus Christ consume us; Let the Holy
Spirit ignite us to be a part of world evangelism.
~First Ever Evangelistic Campaign in Malerkotla, India!~
16,500 Decisions
for Christ! Four Churches Planted!
We just returned from
one of our most fruitful evangelis
tic outreaches in 26
years of ministry. We targeted a village of 250,000 people
that was 90% Muslim. Malerkotla had no evangelical
churches and had not had any evangelistic campaigns.
We were granted
permission to conduct the campaign just one day before it was to begin
and only for 4 days, though we had requested permission for 6 days. With
very little advertising we started the campaign, conducted it for 6 days
and saw approximately 16,500 salvations. Each night there were
undeniable miracles as many of the lame walked, deaf heard, blind saw,
the mute spoke and tumors dissolved.
Shammi- Excited after receiving her miracle from Christ, returns next
night after being healed to testify. She had been crippled with polio
since early childhood!
One of many
cripples healed in the Malerkotla, INDIA Campaign- October 4-9, 2004.
As a result of the
tremendous influx of souls in this virtually unreached area, we
challenged pastors in the district to plant churches in this village.
Four pastors took the challenge and will be planting churches in this
village. We have agreed to help each one plant a church. Each church
plant will only cost $675 for six months. Thus all 4 will cost $2,700.
We have provided them with finances for the first month to rent
buildings to conduct services, purchase equipment and provide for the
pastor, even though we ourselves are $3,000 in debt from this outreach.
We realized that we could not wait to raise the finances as the future
of these new Christians was at stake and they needed to be gathered into
churches right away so that they can grow in Christ and not revert back
to Islam, Sikhism or Hinduism. We need individuals or churches who will
sponsor these church plants.
The translation of my
book “You can Tap into Christ’s Healing Power” in Hindi is almost
complete. Printing will begin once we have raised the finances to cover
printing costs.
The harvest is
extremely ripe in India and the fall of the militant Hindu Government
has made evangelizing the nation easy. We are already working on
possible outreaches to North India in the spring, summer, and fall.
Your prayers and
support are so crucial at this time in helping us reach this nation.
Right now we need your help to catch up.
We have raised $6,000
for the construction of Karishma Orphanage. With inflation out of
control in India, construction costs have greatly increased. We need to
raise another $7,000 to complete the project. Construction will begin
shortly.
We thank you for
standing with us and helping us reach the unreached. Your investment in
souls would be very timely right now! You and I have the opportunity
to affect many 1,000’s in Malerkotla alone. Paul said in 1
Thessalonians 3:5 “For this reason, when I could no longer endure it,
I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter had tempted
you, and OUR LABOR MIGHT BE IN VAIN.” The follow up of these souls
in Malerkotla is so crucial now. Our whole labor could be in vain if we
do not move now on the follow up of these precious 16,500 souls. Will
you help us at this crucial time in the life of these new believers?
Only what is done for Christ will last! Consider this investment in the
light of eternity!
