A high-caste Hindu is saved and healed, and then his entire family as well!
Ankit was born again in 2014. We met him when he was in a Bible School and got to hear his testimony:
“I was deeply religious from young age. I used to fast as a young boy, and I was very attracted to the Hindu rituals. My family is from a high caste background, so I was also raised as a Hindu. In 2009 I got sick. For five years I lived with constant pain in my stomach. I tried absolutely every available option to get well. I went to hospital, where they tried a lot of different treatments, I went to the temple to get help through Hindu sacrifices, and I even went to the mosques to see if they could help me there – but with no luck. From my apartment, I could see a church, and one day while I was at home, I clearly heard a voice speaking: “You need to go to the church, that’s the only place you can get help”. Faith started to grow inside me that I could get help if I went to church. Two days later I went there to talk with the pastor. The believers there instantly prayed for me, and I started coming often to that church.
After some time, I traveled with that church group to join a three days’ youth conference in Siliguri. It was at that point I realized that I had to accept Jesus as my personal Savior. The preacher prophesied over me that the salvation of Jesus was not only for me, but for my whole family. When I heard this, I decided to accept. Three months later, I made the decision to be baptized, but I wanted to talk to my father first. That turned out to be very difficult, because my father said if I were baptized, I would have to leave my home and my family. He was furious at me, and he said that I was not allowed into his house if I did this. I had no other option than to answer him that “if this is your decision, then my decision is to get baptized, because I cannot forsake Christ.” I left home, and I was allowed to stay with a woman who understood my situation. I was baptized in Daarjeling. I was still ill, but I felt like I was filled with a spiritual strength to fight my sickness. It was not like other sicknesses, it was like an intense pain all day, and all year – almost unbearable.
In 2014 I participated at a seminar about the Holy Spirit in Daarjeling. During that seminar, I was filled by the Holy Spirit; it felt just like a fire was burning inside my chest. At that very moment I could feel that I was being healed. It was the end of five years of constant pain. One day my father contacted me and said that my mother was sick. I went with him home and saw that she had become mentally ill and lost all sense, so she didn’t even recognize me. I am convinced that it was caused by demons. I contacted my pastor and asked him to come with me to pray for my mother. At first my father wouldn’t allow us to pray for her, but eventually she became so ill that he accepted it. We went into her room, and the pastor prayed for her. She was totally out of control, and so she thought I was there to kill her, and she reacted in a totally irrational way.
After the pastor prayed for her, she was immediately calm and healed. Until this day her sickness is completely gone. At this point, my father still refused to believe, so I continued to live with the Christian sister who had let me in after I was kicked out of my home. Some days later, while I was fasting, I heard a voice around six at noon. The voice said: “Your father has fallen”. I just ignored the words. The next morning, I went home early in the morning. It was then that I realized that the voice I had heard was real. My father had fallen and broken two ribs. I went with him to the doctor for treatment, however they just let him stay in an old people’s care home for one month. During that period there was nobody from his village who visited him, so I decided to stay there with him. People from my church also came to visit and pray for him.
Because of this, he understood that there is something completely different about these Christians, and that they believe in something which is totally different. One month later my mother asked my dad if she was allowed to go to church. He said yes, and the following week he also came to church himself. They both received Christ, and three months later they were baptized. My younger brother has also been saved, so now my whole family are believers. My brother was also saved by experiencing a miracle. He got sick in Punjab, where he lived. I received a call from my father about that while I was actually in the church. I told my dad not to worry, and that we would pray for him. During that very service we prayed for my brother, and he immediately got healed from dengue-fever. After this, he received Christ and was baptized.
I started to share the gospel with my neighbors, and 8-9 families have received: five to six members in each family. That means 40-50 people in my village are now followers of Christ”.
