As we approach Easter, let me tell you a story which may shock, amaze, confound or inspire you. Over twenty-five years ago, I met a remarkable man called John Babu. I later spoke at his church and taught at his Bible College, and we became good friends. John was a senior security advisor to Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India. He was a man of great power and prestige in his home state of Andhra Pradesh. But his life otherwise was a mess. He was an alcoholic who beat his wife and children nearly every day. He became ill and received the diagnosis that his liver was failing and he had only a few months to live. John was a Hindu, though not an observant one, and on hearing the prognosis he went to his temple and sat inside it weeping. At that moment, he began to hear a voice speaking to him. The voice said very clearly, “I am the God you are searching for. My name is Jesus Christ. Leave this place and I will show you the way of salvation.” Utterly terrified, he fled the temple and collapsed onto a bench outside. The voice then resumed. It told him the fate awaiting him was unthinkable, and as the voice spoke he saw before him a vision of a lake of fire. But it then assured him that he could be saved from this fate if he entrusted his life to the true and living God and to Jesus, his Son. And so he did. Years later, his eldest son told me of the day he came home from that encounter. He remembered it well because it was the first day his father ever came home without beating his mother or himself. And he never did so again. John discovered that his liver was completely healed. He left the police and devoted himself to planting churches - hundreds of them, in fact. One story he told me stands out. John had sent a young man out to plant a church in a village. A lady of high caste in the village had died. The priests had cast omens for the most propitious moment for her cremation so as to ensure the best possible reincarnation. As her body was laid on the pyre, the priest, seeing a golden opportunity to discredit the efforts of the church planter, told the crowd these Christians claimed to have a god who could raise the dead. He ordered the young man to be brought, and when he arrived, he told him to pray for the woman to be brought back to life, just to see what his “god” could do. The young man in desperation raised his hands over the body laid out on the pyre and called on the name of Jesus. To the consternation of the gathered crowd of hundreds of people, she was resurrected from the dead. Half of them fled in terror and the other half stayed to hear what I can only say must have been a terrific preaching opportunity. What was remarkable was the story the woman later told. She sensed herself in complete darkness, when a figure dressed in brilliant white clothing appeared with his hands raised over her. The man had wounds in both of his wrists. Then she awoke, and she saw a second man, dressed in ordinary clothes and with no wounds in his hands, yet he was standing in the same position with his hands outstretched over her. The woman’s testimony had such power in the area the authorities eventually had her arrested. She told them they could kill her if they wanted. She had already died once and had no fear of dying again.
The Gospel brings hope not because it is sentimental or comforting, but because it is true. On the third day Christ was raised from the dead. Death could not hold him.
Out of all the three hundred million gods of India, John Babu found the one true God. And that saved his life literally and eternally.
The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us who stand in his place, offering life to a dying world.
In God’s kingdom, every day is Easter!
He is risen indeed.
CONSIDER PARTNERING WITH DAVID & ELAINE CAMPBELL IN HELPING TO SUSTAIN THEIR ACTIVE MINISTRY.
AWAKENING MINISTRIES // FOUNDATION of FAITH Project
Foundation of Faith Project is strengthening generations in faith and bringing beautiful changes to the communities around them. Through teaching, mentoring and coaching, many are finding out who they are and who they are destined to be. They are bringing more to their world. David Campbell is the key leader in this initiative and you can support him financially directly through Awakening Ministries.
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