Around 1998, radical Hindu activists stirred up anti-Christian sentiment among the Hindu population of India’s Odisha state. In the beginning of 1999, a long term missionary to India, Graham Staines, settled down to sleep in his station wagon with his two young sons after a day of ministering to Christians and lepers. During the night, radical Hindus surrounded their car, doused it with gasoline, and ignited it. Graham and his sons, Phillip (10) and Timothy (6), tried to escape, but were pushed back into the flames and burned to death. The crime horrified most of India and the organizer of the mob, Dara Singh, was sentenced to life in prison. Surprisingly, Dara Singh became a hero among the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the political party aligned with radical Hinduism. They fought for his release for years. Odisha, the Indian state where this attack took place, has been controlled by the BJP ever since. In 2008, in Odisha state, communist insurgents assassinated a popular Hindu priest. The communists freely admitted to killing the priest, but radical Hindu activists aligned with the BJP, exploded in rage and attacked Christians across the state. The series of attacks against Christians lasted for three months and drove 50,000 Christians into hiding in the jungle. There were 91 official deaths, though the true number of casualties, was likely in the hundreds. In 2014, a BJP politician, Narendra Modi, was elected as India’s prime minister and still serves today. Since gaining the country’s top political post, I am sure you can guess what is happening to Christians in India. The government’s hatred of Christians has been unrestrained. The country’s social environment has become toxic for all religious minorities, but particularly for Christians and Muslims. Modi has been consolidating power since his election and he is India’s most powerful leader in two generations and has used that power to target Christians.
- He has banned 11,000 foreign non-profits from India
- He has ignored hundreds of anti-Christian attacks and hatred that has led to several hundreds of attacks on Christians
- Hindu activists aligned with his political party have banned Christianity in many parts of the country
- Hindu activists aligned with his political party have denied the use of communal fishing boats to Christians in parts of western, coastal India
- Over the last few years there has been a significant upsurge in attacks on churches, pastors, and laypeople throughout India
- Christian and pastors have been arrested for holding church services and bible studies
- Recently, radical Hindus attacked a group of Christians evangelists and burned their bibles
With all this persecution, it is easy to give into hatred as a response to the incredible evil. However, that is not what Jesus taught us! Jesus showed us that our real fight is with satan. Satan makes people fearful and energizes them to attack their fellow humans out of fear. If you take a closer look at the situation in India, you will see that satan is under attack and is fighting back. For thousands of years, a billion people were imprisoned in the false belief system of Hinduism and in the last couple of decades, the Gospel has spread rapidly throughout India! This is upsetting satan as well as the existing social order. When these precious people find out that the God of the universe loves them greatly and died for them personally, and tells them that they are the equal of any man, what do you think happens . . .THEY FLOCK TO JESUS! Jesus draws all men, and when they learn that they can be freed from an earthly and spiritual prison of poverty, hatred, and deprivation, they run to Jesus.
We have 3 ministry partners heading into India within the next couple of months. We are believing for an amazing harvest of precious people to be introduced to Jesus Christ. Thank you for praying for our ministry and our partners!! To support these events, visit our website at: www.2020worldwide.org
