Global Church Planting News: April 2012

I just returned from India where there are supposedly 30,000 gods (no exageration) every class, whether the lowly Dalit or the the holy Brahmin, have they gods and sacred animals. Behind these so called-gods often spirits are worshipped and appeased. Spirits are real. But those spirits have several defficiencies.

They lack the power to changes the lives of those who offer them sacrifices and they seek to use and conquer people rather than help them. They have no love and compassion. They were created as God's messengers to help but they rebelled and seek to destroy the honor and glory of God (since they can't touch Him) by attacking and bringing down his created order and his prize creation human beings. (The following pctures show Kali and Shiva being cast into the Ganges to appease and appeal only to be washed up, powerless and broken, in the end.)

(funeral pires) The oldest son sworn duty to take his father's body here so that his skull can be cracked open and his spirit released from bondage to its new place in the circle of karma.

(below) Ritual bathing and idols washed up on the Ganges shoreline.

The love of God stand in stark contrast. He, on the other hand is able and cares deeply for these people. Many of them sincerely seek the truth. Millions are finding healing, forgiveness and deliverance in Jesus' name.

Shaving the head when a boy is 5 is another ritual act to fulfill ones duty to the gods.

Each one has a role in the India cast system. The Dalit are called to accept their role as those who clean and do physical labor to serve all others. Many of them have found dignity in their places as sons and daughters of God.

The pictures show the hurting of India. Most were taken in a shanty town near the Logos training center in Ahmedabad and along the Ganges in Varnasi.)

This single mom raises her children in the tent behind her.

This is what many of these Dalit call home.

The poor have their own local temple to offer fruit to the goat god. Others who are best placed in society worship the cow or the elephant gods. Below you will see a picture of the goat on the altar and coconuts as offerings.

The children were so happy for the attention.

Who will share the love of Jesus with me?

Beggar with monkey

As I return and read over Psalm 146 and 147 I am touched by our compassionate God who not only cares for his elect and redeemed children but longs for sincere down-trodden, broken-hearted, God-thirty souls -not just the materially poor but also those who recognize their spiritual poverty and call on Him. The verses below speak of who he is (yellow) and how he expresses his compassionate and merciful love to the poor in heart who call him, even to animals who call out!!! (Pictures below of animals in Ahmadebad that God created, sustains and cares for and finally his children who know Him and enjoy Him forever).

Psalm 146
¹ Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, my soul.
² I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
³ Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save.
⁴ When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.
⁵ Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God.
⁶ He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them— he remains faithful forever.
⁷ He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free,
⁸ the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous. ⁹ The LORD watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
¹⁰ The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD.

Psalm 147
¹ Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!
² The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel.
³ He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
⁴ He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.
⁵ Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. ⁶ The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.
⁷ Sing to the LORD with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp.
⁸ He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills.
⁹ He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call.

¹⁰ His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior;
¹¹ the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love...

¹⁹ He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel.
²⁰ He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws. Praise the LORD.

I was told by someone who know that the number of conversion to Jesus is such that they can't publish it, because the Hindu extremists would be up in arms. Many have told me personally that they came to Christ when someone was healed or delivered in answer to prayer in Jesus' name. Prayer is not magic. But humble believing opens the door for the All-Powerful creator to enter the lives of his most desperate creatures and pour out his love and mercy.