INDIA: For Persecuted Christians, Imprisonment is Opportunity

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The Voice of the Martyrs

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4.9 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 8 July 2023

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was recently welcomed to the White House by US President Joe Biden. In addition to a State Dinner held in his honor, Modi was given opportunity to address a joint session of Congress. Noticeably absent from American leaders’ public remarks surrounding Modi’s visit: the rapid rise of Christian persecution and other religious freedom violations in India since Modi and his Hindu nationalist party came to power in 2014.

Christians in India face harassment, physical assault and arrest from radical Hindus who believe all Indians should be Hindu. Multiple Indian states have passed anti-conversion laws which make it a crime to tell a Hindu about Jesus’ love. This week on VOM Radio, Brother Raj, a ministry leader from India, shares his own experience with Christian persecution, including friends that turned their backs on him after he came to faith and repeated encounters with Indian police.

He’ll also tell how he grew up in a Hindu family but became depressed and attempted suicide before a friend—a Hindu—encouraged him to seek baptism at a Christian church. A pastor at the church gave Raj a Bible, and his journey to finding Jesus began. Listen as Raj shares how his life changed from that moment on and what his parents’ reaction was to his newfound Christian faith, how God called him to ministry and what his gospel work looks like today.

As persecution has grown in India, Raj’s ministry work has changed, too. Listen to learn how he and other Christian leaders train and encourage new believers to be ready to face persecution by trusting in God’s promises in the Bible, understanding pressure tactics they may face and learning how to confront these tactics wisely. Raj will also tell how God used his own time of persecution to eliminate fear of sharing his faith with others. Now, he shares Christ with anyone – even the police.

Pray fellow believers in India will share their faith with wisdom and courage. Pray they would even be able to see opportunities to share Christ’s love even during interrogation or imprisonment.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Today in India believers in Jesus can be interrogated or even jailed for sharing their faith.
0:06.5	But Brother Raj says if he or one of our brothers and sisters in Christ is jailed,
0:12.8	it's just an opportunity to share Christ in a new place.
0:16.6	Even if God allows us to go and live in the jail for a few months, what's wrong with that?
0:21.9	We will go. All these guys are going for wrong reason. Let's go for the right reason.
0:27.2	Take it as a privilege and go and be there, spend more good time with the Lord.
0:34.1	Jesus never promised his followers an easy path. In fact, he told his disciples that the world
0:39.8	would hate them. He sent them out as sheep among wolves. Jesus' words came true in the life of
0:45.7	the apostles, and they're still coming true today in the lives of his followers around the world.
0:50.9	Join host Todd Nettleton. We hear their inspiring stories and learn how we can help.
0:55.8	Right now on The Voice of the Martyrs Radio Network. Welcome again to The Voice of the
1:00.1	Martyrs Radio. My name is Todd Nettleton. We are in the studio this week in Bartlesville,
1:04.5	Oklahoma with a gospel worker from India. Now, we are just going to use one name. If you are a long
1:10.4	time listener in the VO radio, you know that is often how it is. We don't want to compromise the
1:15.6	security of people who are working in hostile and restricted nations. Brother Raj is here this
1:21.3	week. He is a ministry leader from India. We're going to hear about his testimony. We're going to
1:26.4	hear about what is happening for Christians in India right now. Brother Raj, welcome to Voice
1:31.4	of the Martyrs Radio. Thank you. I want to start out with just hearing how you came to faith,
1:36.5	because I know you were born into a Hindu family, and Jesus reached you. How did that happen?
1:42.9	When I was a teenager, I joined a college to do my bachelor's degree. During that time,
1:50.7	I was in a bad friendship circles and stopped going to the college and
1:57.7	start living as I want, and it continued for almost four years. As my parents were not aware,
	...

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