Persecution

We just listened to the testimony of a man (pastor) who had just escaped from an attack of Hindu radicals. Others weren’t as fortunate. His shirt was torn and he has bruises on his body.

Apparently he was sharing the gospel in a Hindu community for the past 6 months. People began coming to him asking to know more about Jesus. Today 180 people were supposed to be baptized.

The Hindu radicals heard about the baptism and disturbed the people while they were worshiping that morning, waiting for us to arrive to be there with them during the service. One reason was because they were upset at what the belief change could do to the unity of their community.

The Hindu men told this pastor, Gotum, as he was talking to them that he would be beaten for each word he spoke if he didn’t shut up. He was pulled out into the street, his bike broken, and was beaten. He escaped then with the list of the people who were there to be baptized, a very important list that if taken by the Hindu men would be very bad for the people there.

Gotum expressed that he believed the church would grow bigger because of what happened. He has prepared the people for this reaction from the Hindu community. They knew they would be persecuted.

Unfortunately this isn’t over. He gave the list to another person in case he was taken by the radicals to ensure they wouldn’t get it because now he may be hunted down.

[A Variety of Responses]

One man from the US talked with the spiritual leader of the pastor who had been persecuted about pastoral care the spiritual leader said, “Don’t worry. We know how to handle this. I’ve been beaten before, and so has that man over there as well. We know what to do. We’ll take care of him.”

Those from the US gathered around the man and were very concerned and compassionate. One of the people in our group from Myanmar didn’t make the persecution such a big deal.

He explained that it’s a part of life. He’s been beaten and had rocks thrown at him multiple times, and it’s normal part of life.

My personal response was kind of like the guy from Myanmar. I had compassion and concern for the pastor, but I knew that he was prepared for it, that he knew it was a part of what he was doing in His own country and he knew that God was with him. So I was interested in listening to him tell the story of what happened and I wanted to encourage him, but I didn't feel like making it into a huge ordeal.