Mighty Hand of God – Part 4
“I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” (Isa 63:1b)
If you read the earlier part, you may remember that all this happened in broad daylight. There was no one to control the mob. I was still inside the house while pastor SB was being beaten up outside. Perhaps after twenty minutes from the time they took pastor SB they came for me. Just as they had dragged him earlier, now they dragged me out of the house. Though my heart raced and my mind went numb with many thoughts, in a physical sense, there was no overwhelming fear, instead, I felt a supernatural peace flooding my heart. I realized that there was no way I could resist them, and I knew it was up to the Lord Jesus to intervene. It was His battle, not mine. As I was being dragged, I surrendered myself into His hands. I clearly remember praying silently in my heart, “Lord, I surrender myself into your hands; this is your battle.”
When was the last time you saw a miracle? As they dragged me out, and before anyone began to hit me, the Lord raised up one from among them to defend me. He was among those who had come into the meeting room initially. He was tall and strong, but he looked slightly younger than the others. He broke ranks, stood right between me and the mob, and literally pulled away the hands that were dragging me. He grabbed me by my wrist and took me back into the meeting room and motioned me to sit on one of the chairs up front and stood right there, between me and the mob, turning them away from me. From the very mob, the Lord raised up one to protect me, in the nick of time. This is the Almighty God whom we serve. His name is Jesus, which means salvation, and you can trust Him to keep you no matter what.
God is to us a God of salvation;
And to God the Lord belong ways of escape from death. (Psa 68:20)
As I sat there, there was a lot of shouting, screaming, and threatening, but I could not understand much of what they were saying except for what was spoken in Hindi and the body language. They locked us in that room, and we sat there with the mob inside and outside, which had grown quite huge by then. Until this day, I do not know, from his point of view, why that young man intervened, but I do know the reason why he did what he did. I know without a shadow of doubt who caused him to intervene and protect me. Praise be to the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, Shield, and Fortress, the mighty hand of God.
After a few minutes, some of the leaders came into the hall, and one of them began to speak to me. When he understood that I did not speak their language, he switched to English. He demanded that I empty my bag. When I took out my Bible and notebook and a couple copies of the New Testament that I had, he demanded that I turn the bag upside down. When I did that, my passport, the visa document, the cash I had, and the receipt from my hotel all tumbled out of my backpack. As I said before, the Lord had completely blocked my mind from remembering that I had these things in my bag. The only things I remembered being in my bag were my Bible and my notebooks, which I didn’t hide.
When they saw my Canadian passport (I was also a US citizen by then, but I traveled with my Canadian passport), that became the focus of their attention. Suddenly the whole attention turned to me, and they began to jostle to get a glimpse of me, the foreigner, and to train their cameras on me and my passport, which was lying on the table in front of me.
When they saw the cash, several began to shout that I had come to distribute money among the people and to convert them with inducements. Several of their cameras continued to stream videos of me and my passport, visa document, and everything else that was on the table, and in seconds all my personal information was open and online. People were freely going through my stuff, satisfying their curiosity, and taking pictures and putting them online as if I were an exhibition piece. Perhaps more like a weird curiosity item at the flea market. There was no question of resisting or not complying with what they were demanding since the mob was back in the room freely walking in and out. Several came near, threatening and abusing me verbally, but did not touch me.
Now that they realized that I spoke Hindi, some of them began to threaten me in Hindi. There were wild and crazy accusations being made. Some made accusations of us converting people by giving them drugs, though I haven’t figured that one out yet as to how that works. I just stood there watching all that was going on all around me, having peace in the midst of all that craziness.
The very first person from law enforcement that reached us was a lady from one of the agencies, not the local police. That was strange, since one would have expected the local police to be there first. She made the preliminary inquiries, and I explained to her that I was a Canadian national and had accompanied pastor SB to the prayer meeting, accepting his invitation. That the money was for my hotel and other expenses, and that I had kept my documents and money with me because there was no locker facility at the hotel, not being one of those fancy ones. From the first day’s bill that was already paid they could easily figure out that the cash I had was only enough to cover my expenses for the remaining days I was supposed to be there.
In between all this, I noticed that they brought pastor SB back into the meeting room and made him sit on one of the chairs. He was hurt and was limping as he came and sat near me. Soon the inspector in charge of the local police station came in civilian clothes (only later did I realize that he was the inspector in charge of the local police station), and with him came a company of policemen in riot gear. The mob frenzy diminished slightly only after the police came.
Each officer that came asked similar questions, and I had to answer each one as they asked, one after the other. One of the junior officers asked me to take one of the chairs, and as I sat there, while that same officer looked through the things on the table standing right next to me, one from the mob came straight up to me and slapped me hard on both my cheeks. I didn’t have to turn the other cheek; he went for both in one fluid motion. The Lord kept his hand from making contact with my eyeglasses, for the impact would have smashed them if they had. Later, I remembered the Scripture, “So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.” (Act 5:41) and was thankful that the Lord counted me worthy to suffer shame for His unmatched name.
to be continued…
It is a joy to share with you what the Lord is doing in and through our lives. Thank you for praying for us.
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Praying for you and these other brothers and sisters.