Many new pictures are on the India web site, under photos. http://india.christiantrainingonline.org/photos/
Wednesday, February 1, 2012, I will be back at Main Street Baptist Church for the 7 PM Bible Study. I will show slides and talk about my trip to India. Please come join us for a special time!
(Saturday, Jan 28, Vizak, India) There are shrines everywhere in India. There’s hardly a place you can stand that you don’t see a shrine or some religious symbol or activity in some direction. Yet life is full of sin and darkness. Some say Indians are very spiritual people, in touch with the forces around them. I say they are deeply fearful people, trying to grasp any straw that might somehow appease an angry god who could make their live even more difficult than it is.
There is no love in their relationship with their gods, no faithful service and no worship in response to their awe of their god’s greatness. They experience no grace, no mercy, no personal relationship with their god. They are simply trying to do the only things they know to do in order to cause whatever is making their life so difficult to leave them alone for this day. In fear they try to appease their gods so they will leave them alone!
What a start contrast that is to our love relationship with a God who cares and wants what is best for us, Who promises to be available for us and provide assistance in all we do. We know there is a plan and purpose, a meaning and significance, and a help and assistance for us. We also know this is as bad as it gets, then we have eternity with God in heaven. Seeing these people relate to their gods, which are really demons, greatly helps me appreciate the wonderful blessing we have in our personal relationship with the one true God. Think about it. It’ll help you appreciate what you have as well.
We had our last Pastor’s Conference today and it was wonderful! About 100 men came and most jammed into a room that would normally hold 40 people. They removed all chairs and everyone sat on the floor to cram more in. The electricity went off of course (daily occurrence) and without the fans it got very hot inside. All the pastors are tribal men and so are their churches. Their animistic worship is about as dark as belief system anywhere, so teaching and praying spiritual warfare for them was a special challenge and blessing. It was great to lead them to cleansing and victory!! Every day the men say they never learned these things before, never imagined them – the basics of pastoring and spiritual warfare truths. What a blessing educate, train and lead them to freedom from the demonic which has always plagued them! Then we give them a free book on each subject so they can learn about it in more depth. We get a continuous stream of very positive reports back from the pastors. This group wants me back to do a marriage conference next year. They say 500 pastors with their wives will come for the one day!
Numbers aren’t the measure of what God is doing, but we do keep records. We’ve had 560 pastors and 80 wives attend, 640 total. Our evening and Sunday services have been attended by 1600 people total. I know we have exceeded our budget again for me never expected this many people, but I know God will provide in that way as well. Thanks for your prayers and emails!
Tomorrow we leave at 5 and drive 6 hours for churches at 11 AM and 1 PM in Vijayawada, then we drive 7 hours back to Hyderabad. Tuesday morning we fly home. As always, I have very mixed feelings about that!