Source: Christian Aid Mission, November 17, 2017
Pastor Philip Zacharia had been praying for four years about how to bring together his staunchly Hindu neighbors in Bihar state, “graveyard of missionaries,” to hear the gospel. When he learned of the gospel potential of Christmas parties from a Danish friend at an evangelists’ conference convoked by Billy Graham in Amsterdam in August 2000, it seemed to be the answer to his prayers.
Up to that point, his efforts to proclaim Christ had met with scant success. Rather, it had stirred the ire of Hindu extremists, who in October of that year summoned him to a meeting.
“They were accusing me of trying to convert people,” Pastor Zacharia said, “and one of the men said, ‘We’ve tried to kill you many times, but somehow you escaped. We’ve called you today to give you the last warning. If you continue to preach, your children will become orphans, and you will be responsible for that.’”
The strapping men towered above him, and he began to pray. He tried to engage them in conversation, but they only told him to leave and to stop preaching the God of Christianity.
“So I was coming back home and thinking, ‘Lord what to do?’” he said. “I was excited about this idea of Christmas parties, and now these guys are telling me, ‘If you preach anymore, you’ll be killed.’ I didn’t want to share those things with my wife, I didn’t want to share those things with the church. I was keeping it in my heart and praying, ‘Lord what to do?’ and the Lord said, ‘Go forward.’”
Without telling anyone about the death threats, he began preparing for the Christmas program, going house-to-house to extend the invitations. Unknowingly, he knocked on the door of the Hindu extremist who had threatened to kill him.
» Read what happened next. It’s encouraging!
» See also Christianity Continuing to Grow in Nepal Despite Persecution (Open Doors/Christian Today).