Using the Tabernacle for Evangelism in India
By Sophia Barnes
The Tabernacle Project was a dream God gave Hemanth Peter as he looked for different ways to minister to those in India. Believers in India are facing all kinds of persecution. Any type of open-air ministry, crusades, or camp meetings are all becoming very dangerous, not only for Christians and pastors, but for anyone who takes part in any type of Christian event.
As Hemanth sought God’s direction for what to do to reach the unreached for Christ in India, God led him to start the Tabernacle Project. Hemanth explained it best by saying, “The message stays the same… the method, however, is a little different.” This project became a way to share the Gospel with the masses, by going about it in a whole new way.
Hemanth and his team have built a walk-through experience of what the Tabernacle would have been like in Old Testament times. This life-size, movable experience shows and explains everything from the courtyard to the Holy of Holies, and every detail in between. When visitors get into the Holy of Holies, the team presents the Gospel. They even made a mini Tabernacle to bring into places where they can’t set up the life-size model.
Tens of thousands of people have been reached through this large Tabernacle in just under three years. Close to 11,000 of those people have accepted Christ and over 2,000 people have given their names for further follow up. Hemanth also shared that every time the Tabernacle is set up, the follow-up numbers increase by hundreds.
Two women—one a Muslim and the other a Hindu—saw the Tabernacle and were very interested in what it was. They thought it was some sort of exhibition or museum from the outside, so they decided to go through it. During the tour, after they went from the courtyard into the Holy Place, Asha (Hemanth’s wife) led the group into the Most Holy Place by pulling the veil back that was separating the two rooms. However, the two women were unable to go in. Hemanth explained that in both women’s personal lives there was some kind of demonic activity that would not allow them to physically enter the Most Holy Place. When they tried to go in, they were described as “physically jerked back” and the two women fell on the ground. The women ended up stopping, praying right where they were, and eventually both took Jesus as their Savior.
With such an amazing platform to share the Gospel, and the amount of fruit harvested from this ministry, comes great trials as well. Hemanth shared that in the states of Motebennur and Hasan, radical groups have threatened them severely and have even threatened to destroy the Tabernacle structure. The head of a particular radical group said he was going to send a big group of men to destroy it. However, when the radical group got to the Tabernacle, only a handful of men actually came. The men who set out to destroy the structure ended up getting interested in it, and a few of them even went through the Tabernacle and accepted the Lord as their Savior.
After that event, the team went to set up the Tabernacle in Motebennur. To maintain law and order, they placed three policemen around the Tabernacle. These policemen ended up becoming curious of what they were protecting and decided to go through the Tabernacle as well. One of the policemen that day got saved after walking through it.
Not for a moment in any of that did Hemanth and his team back down when they were faced with such adversity. Although it was and is frightening, they knew and still know whose hand is in and over all things. Through prayer and trusting the Lord, He continues to turn situations that look as if they are the worst, for their good and His glory.
The last testimony Hemanth shared was of a woman who was brought into the Tabernacle by her son. She had been diagnosed with cancer, and the doctors were very worried that it would spread. As the mother and son went through the Tabernacle, the woman began weeping because of the health situation she was in. When the woman entered the Most Holy Place, she laid almost prostrate on the floor in front of the Ark of the Covenant and prayed to God. About a year later, they had set up the Tabernacle in a neighboring state and a boy came running to them and said that a year ago his mother came to the Tabernacle and prayed for healing. He came to tell them that his mother was now cancer free and that we have a God of healing.
Adversity and persecution are experienced on a daily basis by Christians all over the world, but these missionaries have put their hands to the plow and do not look back. God is blessing their ministry, and the fruit of their labor is overflowing, despite the many obstacles they face on a daily basis by being Christians. God is doing an amazing work in and through the ministry of Hemanth Peter, his team in India, and the Tabernacle Ministry.
