by Marilynn Chadwick
A staggering 400 million people in India have never even heard the name of Jesus! Some people worship over 300 million gods. They are often overwhelmed by fear, bondage, and darkness. If I ever wondered whether the spiritual forces of darkness are real, I became thoroughly convinced after I met Pastor Jay, a church planter in a remote village in central India. One small photo of a little family in this village stays in my Ebenezer Box as a reminder of how one ordinary woman was set free from the power of darkness that held an entire village captive.
Pastor Jay told us the story of Nisha, a young wife and mother of three. She and her husband Bhag were farmers. Strange things started happening in their village—people were afraid to go out after dark. They called the place haunted. Some claimed to hear screaming at night. Men and women would fall unconscious while simply walking down the street.
According to Pastor Jay, Nisha and her husband tried to get peace through sorcery and black magic, but all their attempts failed. So, they went to different places to worship demon gods. They offered chicken, goats, and pigs as sacrifices. When the sacrifices failed to bring them peace, they consulted fortune-tellers and palm readers. Their spiritual darkness and suffering increased by the day. Nisha and her husband lived in such fear that they wanted to sell their land and move. In fact, Bhag’s older brother suddenly died one day. That same evening the brother’s wife fell over dead! People were terrified and stayed away from them, believing the family was cursed. Day after day, Nisha and Bhag continued to visit temples and observe rituals to please the gods. They consulted gurus and temple priests and wore all kinds of magic charms. They worshiped other demon gods.
Pastor Jay knew the village was in desperate trouble. He himself was only a recent believer, but he had experienced such joy and relief when he heard the Gospel that he hoped to preach that same Good News and plant a church in the village. Jesus had truly set him free! During Nisha and Bhag’s dark and terrifying days, he tried to tell them about Jesus Christ and the power in his name. But they refused to listen.
One afternoon, Nisha suddenly fell over unconscious. She was unresponsive and could not open her mouth. She had no pulse—it was clear to everyone that she had died. At that point, her husband Bhag lost faith in all his idols and demon gods. Finally, he was desperate enough to cry out to God for help! Bhag decided to give this Jesus one try and called on Pastor Jay to pray. Pastor Jay prayed a simple prayer in the name of Jesus. Nisha was suddenly revived and came back to life within five minutes! Awestruck at the mighty power of God, the villagers marveled that Nisha had been raised from the dead—a miracle!
Nisha’s entire family put their faith in Christ that day. Immediately they removed all idols and worship material from their home. They all received water baptism and publicly professed Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. They opened their door for a house church in their village and as Pastor Jay put it, “Now the whole family is happy in the Lord!”