Without warning, a village chief in India ordered Asheesh* to stop showing DVDs of “JESUS,” claiming “Jesus is a god for a lower caste.”
Asheesh, a pastor, and his film team were forced to leave. But days later, the chief called them back with a special request.
The desperate village chief explained, “My wife is demon-possessed. She is having nightmares about snakes. She is writhing like a serpent and prophesying against the village. The people are starting to worship her as a god. I’ve taken her to shamans, doctors and a Hindu priest. No one’s helping. Can you? Would you come?”
Asheesh agreed and entered the chief’s home. Inside he found idols of snakes. As the pastor prayed, the evil spirit manifested itself, screaming and writhing like a snake.
Asheesh spoke aloud in the power of the Holy Spirit to the demon, “I command you … in the name of Jesus Christ, leave her … Get out!” The spirit obeyed. Great relief came over his wife. The chief began to cry. His wife was rescued by the power and love of the LORD.
Overjoyed, he gathered the village together and asked the pastor to fully explain the gospel and show the film “JESUS” in their heart language.
Everyone from the village came. As far as the team could see from where they stood,all the villagers raised their hands to trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sin.
No longer did the chief think that Jesus was a god for a lower caste. The following morning, people brought their images of the snake gods to the middle of the village where they burned them.
In the afternoon, the village chief said, “If this group would like somewhere to meet, I will give my home to be the place where people gather in Jesus’s name.”
National workers, pastors, Bible school students, and volunteers form thousands of film teams around the world. They are reaching people in rural and urban areas, declaring the love of God, bringing the good news to communities who have never heard.
The staff leader of this region in India testified to what God did and also reported these amazing facts about the work of their many film teams: “Since 2017 we have shared the gospel with 2.3 million families. About 1.6 million have received Christ, and we’ve baptized 1.4 million. And 22,000 new house churches have been planted. We have a goal to reach 1.4 million more families!” Their primary tool? The film, “JESUS.”
Thanks to you, more teams, tools and language translations are reaching people for Christ in these hardest-to-reach places. Pray for India and for Asheesh as he continues to spread the good news in his country.
*Names changed for security reasons.
