I Once Was Lost
A letter from the Editor
They come from around world, over 100 million, a mass Hindu pilgrimage to bathe in the Ganges River where it meets the Indian Ocean near Kolkata, INDIA. This ritual, Kumbh Mela, is carried out every 12 years to celebrate the victory of gods over demons in a furious battle over a nectar that would give them mortality. As one of the gods fled with a pitcher of nectar, it spilled over four cities in this area. Therefore, bathing in the Ganges, according to the ritual, rids them of the sins they accumulate through current and past lives, and ends the cycle of death and rebirth.
Karunakar, one of our SLM INDIA Directors, and I sat and watched as busloads of people headed past this main thoroughfare to the site of the baptisms. As we watched, we prayed. We asked God that these, who have been misled by the enemy, would find the true hope as they were greeted by our evangelists where they would be dropped off. Our missionaries were there at the site, sharing the Gospel and our material, Who is Jesus Christ?, and to give out Bibles if people would accept them.
Later that night we received word that they gave out 20,000 in that one day, and I also learned that they distributed over 100,000 Bibles and SLM courses through the event. To give away Christian literature at such an event, and to have it taken, is a work of God. In fact, being caught with this material is dangerous in the current political and religious climate in India. It is not friendly to Christians, and I have seen beatings and burnings of materials and people caught with such literature. Yes, both the materials and people are being burned for having this Christian material. I have seen it myself.
But those who come away from one of Hinduism’s most purifying of rituals to discover they leave as empty as they arrived, need hope more than ever, and many have turned to the Scriptures. This is exactly why we continue to print the Word of God and literature that guides people to the Lord Jesus Christ. After the rituals are done, after the pomp and circumstance of the other worshipers dies down, and after the evangelists who made themselves available in person at these events are gone, these Hindus are back where they started, in fact maybe feeling more lost than ever.
But then they remember…that piece of literature, given by “those men and women who offered a story of true hope.” Is it possible that on that day, as they walked the path with tens of thousands of others to be baptized in the Ganges, they knew where they were headed, only to discover they were lost?
We know that many received Christ right there on those streets those days, but likely in the days, weeks, and months to come, many more, perhaps even thousands, will open the pages of our courses and discover the plan of salvation and will respond and contact our missionaries. The Word of God never comes back void and people are hungry for truth. Actually, it impacts every person it comes into contact with.
In fact, to illustrate this very truth, in preparation for the event, we contracted with a local Hindu printer who agreed to a very reasonable price to have these materials printed in the country. Upon completion of the project, the printer called our director to arrange pickup. As the pickup occurred, the printer had one small request, could he have one of the courses. Our director, of course, agreed and the man headed home. Very late in the night or early morning, our director received a call from the printer. He said he had never heard such good news, and that he wanted to meet with our director so that he might respond to the call of salvation which was clearly presented to him through the literature that he himself just printed. He could hardly believe that he was a part of getting this Good News to people who needed to hear it, like himself, and he could hardly wait for the next project. He himself wanted to be involved in spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ, because now that he had hope through salvation, he was certain that many Hindus are searching for this same hope, joy, and freedom.
For many of us, it is hard to remember, if even at all, what it was like to be spiritually lost and in bondage to sin. I know, I have been a Christian as long as I can remember. But to those who lived in darkness, they know the ramifications of being lost…and being found. They recall wandering aimlessly, grasping at every little thing that appears to offer hope, only to be disappointed time and time again. They remember having been hurt over and over by these things that offered false hope and losing all hope that anything in this world will provide what they crave.
They know the joy of finding hope in this dark world and the life changing experience salvation is. They know all to well lostness and now being found!
In this edition of the Reaper you will read stories of how the Gospel has changed the lives of countless individuals touched by the ministry of Source of Light, and touched by many of you who partner with us in this endeavor.
