India

When Pastor Yoshi unlatched the door of his home to see who was pounding on it, he immediately recognized the group of men standing before him. Their saffron-colored headbands along with the sticks and iron bars in their fists clearly identified the 10 men as members of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), a militant nationalist Hindu group known for beating and harassing Christians. Yoshi braced himself for the beating that was sure to come. Their visit that evening in late 2009 wasn’t totally unexpected, but the pastor hadn’t expected them so soon. Every Indian village has an informant who reports anti-Hindu activity to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an extremist military group, and the village VHP informant had visited their home in India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state earlier that day looking for Yoshi. Yoshi’s wife, “Aja,” had told the man her husband wasn’t home because he was out preaching. The Hindu activists were upset because a couple of weeks earlier, Yoshi had showed The JESUS Film to about 400 people in a rural village in Uttar Pradesh. Afterward, Hindu leaders accused Yoshi of being “anti-national” and an American agent, serious accusations from groups whose stated goals are to cleanse India

Just before Hadi was beaten for sharing the gospel in India, he witnessed God working in the hearts of his friends. While at a birthday party on April 19, 2015, he began talking to others about Jesus. About 30 people at the party — including the man celebrating his birthday — were eager to learn more about Christ. But 20 minutes into the discussion, a group of Hindu militants showed up at the party and interrupted Hadi. “Are you a Christian?” one asked. “Yes,” Hadi replied. “You are changing these people’s religion,” the militant said. “We should finish [you].” Hadi clutched his Bible to his chest, but they ripped it out of his hands. “You will not see tomorrow’s sun,” another member of the group told him. The militants began beating him in the chest and kicking him in the groin. Hadi’s friend, Sahib, tried to stop the attack, and they asked him if he was a Christian, too. When he told them he was, they hit Sahib in the head with a club and beat him on the chest with a large piece of wood. Another attacker pulled a knife and slashed Hadi on the cheek, shoulder and back.

Chandrashekar stood in a simple home in a small Indian farming village and prayed with a couple who had come to Christ just four months earlier. Brother Bala and Sister Kuskuma were the only Christians in their village, and they were surrounded by 40 families — all devout Hindus. With no church in their village, their only source of fellowship and spiritual nourishment was Chandrashekar, who lived 15 kilometers [a little over nine miles] away. After sharing a message of abiding in Christ from John 15 and Psalm 1, Chandrashekar prayed for the couple. He prayed that they would boldly share the gospel with fellow villagers, and he prayed that their relatives would also come to know Christ. Since Chandrashekar had to visit a family in another village before returning home, he thanked Brother Bala and Sister Kuskuma, packed his Bible and left their home. Chandrashekar hadn’t traveled far down the road when he was confronted by a mob of 40 men, some armed with sticks. “Did you visit Hindu people’s houses to convert them?” they demanded. “I visited their house to pray,” he replied. That was enough evidence for the mob. They grabbed Chandrashekar’s Bible and tore it up,