“I was brought up in a Hindu family. My wife and I have a son and a daughter. When I was young I loved the Hindu deities and I devoted my life to their service, becoming a priest in a famous temple. Although I prayed and blessed others every day, I had no peace or joy in my heart. I often prayed to my gods, but it was completely onesided. There was never an answer, which made me increasingly frustrated. Over time, I began to drink alcohol to help me cope and to forget my worries.
My religious duties became a mere ritual to me. During the day I served as a priest, and at night I consumed liquor in ever-increasing amounts. I became so addicted that I started going to bars and drunk openly in front of all. When I was intoxicated, I used to abuse and fight other people, and I became known as ‘the drunken priest.’ I lost all respect from the people and I eventually lost my job in the temple.
Because of my addiction, there was no peace in my family. My wife used to cry and pray to our gods to change me, but they never answered.
One day I got such a severe stomach pain that I could not bear it. My wife prayed to our gods with tears, but again nothing happened. My pain increased. Finally, I was taken to the hospital. The doctors did several tests, but could not find the cause of my suffering.
When some Christian gospel workers visited the hospital, they found me lying on the bed in pain. They spoke to me with love and told me about Jesus, but I laughed, because I knew that gods can’t help. Despite my attitude, they confidently told me that Jesus can heal me if I trust him.
I didn’t know anything about Jesus and I had never prayed to him, but because of the severe pain, I asked them to pray for me. The moment they lifted up their voices to heaven, I felt as if the Almighty God Himself was listening to their prayers. It was comforting and soothing, and I could feel the power of God reducing my pain. After the prayer, while talking about Jesus, I was completely healed.
The Lord Jesus did this miracle in me—the drunken Hindu priest. On that day, the Lord proved to me that He is the God who can speak, heal, and save even a lost soul like me. I decided at that moment to become His servant. I accepted Jesus as my Savior and was baptized. The Lord healed me, saved me and cleansed me, and now my entire family serves Him.
Today, I am an independent evangelist and pastor. I don’t have enough money to buy the Scriptures, so I thank God for supplying Bibles and Gospels through Asia Harvest. I carry hundreds of Mark’s Gospel to 30 villages and distribute them to people one by one. This distribution has helped me to start prayer groups and baptize many new believers. As a result, 98 families are now attending our church. This is all because of God’s love and the power of the Scriptures.
We are now experiencing growing opposition from Hindu activists, who are furious that I tell the people, “Jesus is the only way to be saved!” By the grace and power of God, however, I plan to continue my ministry and do whatever I can to make our new believers strong in the Lord. Please pray for us, and thank you for your generous partnership in the Gospel.
Source: Testimonies – Asia Harvest
