India
On the 3rd of August 2013 Aflame Ministries
took a team of six on a life time adventure to India. Some things can just not
be explained in words. Our time in India was filled with challenges around
every corner, but far above anything else, India was filled with encounters
with a God that cares, a God that loves and a God that is with us every step of
the way. He is a Father who takes His children by the hand and walk with them,
even through the valley of the shadow of death. In His hands we are safe. In
His hands we are not lost, but He found us! He is a Father who will never leave
us nor forsake us. He is my ABBA!
About three years ago David Hogan came and visited us here in Pretoria, South Africa. With him was a brother Tom from Switzerland. Tom testified on the work they do in the Himalayas and the stories griped my heart. The people in and around the mountains are of the most unreached people in the world and the church there is being persecuted even as you read this. Almost all Christians (real Christians that actually live the Gospel) in these areas have a story where he/she was in a situation(s) where he/she had to flee for their lives or where their life was in danger because of the Gospel. These people together with the underground church of China have long been in my heart. These people to me are the heroes of our faith. There’s no time for the religious crap of the western world. It’s just you and Jesus and a world that is in desperate need of a Saviour! Fellowship is not just something they do when they feel like it; family in Christ is sometimes the difference between life and death!
After many connecting flights we finally reached our
destination. We landed at Bagdogra Airport in the north east of India where we
were greeted by Brother Richard. The plan was to go and minister in other parts
of India as well but unfortunately due to strikes that took place in those
parts, it was unsafe for us to go there. But our God is faithful and He had
other plans for us! We went to a neighbor village named Siliguri. God blessed
us on this outreach with real amazing accommodation! We had some time off and
went for a walk through the village. Coming from a developed western city,
India is not something that we are used to. Our informal settlements here in
South Africa prepare you in a sense for this type of stuff but India is just so
different! Durban’s humidity feels like dry heat compared to this! There are no
road rules and the car’s horn is seen as some form of local language! The sewer
systems are sometimes visible and garbage is everywhere. Someone told me before
I went that India is an onslaught on all five your senses almost all the time.
I quickly saw what he meant! A few years ago we went to Madagascar where the
transport system was not something that we are used to and for many of the team
members this was a huge challenge. But India is something else! It’s in a total
different league when it comes to traffic!
But with all this being said, one phrase I saw on a tourism advert of India kept coming to mind every now and then: INCREDIBLE INDIA! India truly is an amazing place! Tourism is one thing, but when you are there for the Gospel it is just an amazing place! Brother Richard is also just an amazing guy. He travels more than most people I know and have been all over the world. He understands our western world and he really made it very easy for us to visit his country! Henk has been in India before on more than one occasion, and the relationship with brother Richard and his team is something we value and we plan and pray that we will still work with them for many years to come!
They say that your fears will get you. This I found to be
true in India. Sometimes even three times a day! I eat almost anything and
there is very little food that I don’t enjoy. One of the more challenging foods
for me is chilli or anything that burns. This was my greatest fear before we
left on this trip. The Himalayan people love rice and then some spicy meat with
the rice. Spicy is one way to look at it, burning fire is another way! That
first evening Brother Richard took us for dinner in a local restaurant. What an
amazing experience! They have what they call butter naan, which is some sort of
wrap or pancake, but it is delicious and very often saved my life! Here I
realised what spicy means!
I am writing all this while laughing at myself, but also
for a very specific purpose! When we go to other countries, one does not have
to go far to find that people are not all like us. In fact, they are very
different in their way of thinking and doing things. I believe one of the worst
things we can do is criticize them and try to enforce our own culture on them.
And this is something that many of us have done throughout the years. The
suffering of the food, way of living, sometimes accommodation, toilets and
whatever you see as different or worst than what you are used to, becomes a
blessing that will flood your eyes with tears when you notice the heart in
which the people receive you. Suddenly the sweat of the spicy food becomes
irrelevant, the toilets (or lack thereof) becomes something that brings joy and
unity to a team. So I can continue on many subjects, but the point remains the
same. We were received in love and were made part of a family. They opened
their hearts, homes and ministries to us. This is one of the things that keep
on blessing me the most on these outreaches, the way people show their love and
their hospitality.
We started in Siliguri with a pastor’s conference. It was the Kingdom worker conference – Himalaya. The theme; The Glorious Church! What an amazing time we had! The first night went very well but we learned very quickly that this is hard ground. Something had to give! We saw some movement of the Holy Spirit but the heavens were not opened like we are used to. The next morning we went back and Henk preached again. This was a real special day. The Lord released a lot of joy! We did four sessions. The very first session, that thing in the spirit broke! The heavens were open and the Holy Spirit was moving freely amongst His people. Henk shared on our identity in Christ the first session where after we laid hands on the people. The people were so open for new revelation! Anita built on this even more in the second session where she taught on God’s government. The presence of God was very intense! Even the angel of India came to the room bringing fresh Word from the Lord to the people. The angel had an assignment and calling written on a scroll with him for the church of India. It was almost too good to be true and my mind kept wanting to reason on what is happening. Luckily we have a very special friend in South Africa (Surpresa Sithole) who hammered this concept into us. God is not seated at the table of reasoning; He is seated at the table of faith. That’s where the feast is! We cannot reason with God. Our minds are not created to understand the things of the Spirit. Our minds must become Christ like! That’s why God created us spirit! Our spirit understands these things. The moment I let my mind go and decided to just focus on God, my spirit could connect with God on a deeper level. This was so special and amazing!
After lunch I had an opportunity to preach. The idea was
to release something about the gifts of the Spirit to the people. But this
entire day God did something about the joy we have in Him. Every now and then
we all just started laughing! We had such an amazing time! One guy in
particular, brother Narinder, enjoyed this very much! He was such a huge
blessing for the team! He loved this laughter thing and held nothing back! I
preached on how we can encounter God in a more visible way and to not only hear
and feel Him, but also see Him! What was amazing is that at one stage things
got a bit hectic in the sense that we all just laughed. I didn’t know what to
do! It’s difficult to preach a serious message to a laughing crowd! But,
luckily our God is in control and He knew exactly what to do. All the sudden a
drastic shift came in the atmosphere and I knew God created a moment for me to
continue. This was amazing! People had encounters with God and Jesus told each
one of us something special about ourselves. He told us what He thought of us!
Then we focused on what was happening in the realm of the angels. We asked God
to show us. This blew my mind! He showed us angels that came into the room with
buckets and buckets of oil. They came and poured the oil out all over us. What
else happened I’m not sure, but God was there! We all sat with our eyes closed
and then for almost half an hour we started singing together as one voice. Nobody
leading worship or anything, just a few individuals sitting and pressing in to
God!
Henk had the tough job to come and fix what Anita and I
messed up! Just kidding! He preached on the joy of the Lord in the evening
session. This was great fun! We need to realise that the demons and them that’s
in hell aren’t very happy. Satan never releases joy to his followers! He
controls through fear. Joy is from God! The joy of the Lord is our strength! To
preach on joy is something that looked challenging to me! It didn’t take too
long for the joy of the Lord to appear! I cannot remember the sequence of
events that followed, but I know we laughed and laughed and laughed! At one
stage everybody in the room jumped together shouting JOY JOY JOY all the time
as if cheering their local soccer team! It was beyond warm and we were soaked
in our own sweat, but everybody just continued to jump and shout for Jesus! In
all of this so called chaos, God came and broke the powers of religion,
depression and many other strongholds of darkness. The joy that we have in us
as Christians is a weapon against the enemy. We must use it! There’s a
Scripture that says that it is the joy that Jesus had within Him, that made Him
to endure the cross. I think joy is important to Jesus!
The next day God had something a bit more serious in
mind. He wasn’t in a bad mood or lost His joy, He just blessed us with a
different side of His heart. That’s what I love about Jesus! He can be the
biggest joker but when the time comes, our God has a very serious side to Him.
The morning started off with Henk preaching. In the spirit we sensed the enemy
that tries to steal the blessings and other things from the people. This made
us angry! Sometimes it is a good thing to let that righteous anger out a bit! Righteous
anger is when your anger is based in God’s righteousness, not our own! We need
to hate sin. We need to get angry at the enemy and act accordingly! Sometimes
warfare is a serious business! We refused to give ground to the enemy! We wept
before the Lord, letting Him change our hearts with His heart. Everybody was on
their knees in front of God. This was such a precious, holy morning before our
Father. There’s not too much to say here. The photos speak a thousand words! To
worship God in such an intense way with people that is being persecuted and has
to flee for their lives because of the Gospel, is something I will treasure in
my heart for eternity! Our emotions just cannot handle all the things of the
Spirit. God’s presence sometime is just too overwhelming. I love it!!!
Our visit with Silliguri ended with Tanya releasing an
awesome word for the church of India which blessed all of us tremendously. They
also gave us presents and prayed for us. We had an amazing time with the
pastors and leaders. What an honour to be with the heroes of the Kingdom! Many
of these pastors are ex-Al-Qaeda members and took part in building bombs and so
forth. Knowing this, and having to meet these people, I will certainly change my
prayers. They are people too and Jesus loves them and wants to save them just
as He wants to do with all of us!
The last morning in Silliguri we were to have breakfast
and then be packed to leave for Bagdogra. Before I can tell you what happened I
must first explain something. The Bible says our struggle is not against flesh
and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers
of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly
realms. (Eph 6:12). I have some knowledge of this and I thought I have had some
experience with these forces but India just took it to a whole new level. Now
let’s for example take an object, any object like a glass. A glass is a glass
and we drink from it. Nothing much to it. But the moment you start to worship
the glass, that’s when you empower it with the demonic. Then the glass is not
just a glass anymore! Now in India they (Hindu people) worship literally
everything. This makes things to be quite interesting in India. The demonic is
literally almost everywhere. At night when you sleep you can almost see them
flying around. But then in the Name of Jesus they do obey and leave and then I
could enjoy a very good night’s sleep! There is also a very strong class system
in India. I’m not sure how it works but what I know is that if you are born
rich you mix only with rich people and you will die in the same class. The same
with the poor, but as I said, I’m not familiar with the details. Now if we talk
spiritually this also plays a massive role in India. The demonic strongholds
and principalities also work accordingly. It tries to put you in a certain
class. In the group (and we were all friends who love the Lord and eachother)
we all had our battles to fight. All of us were constantly bombarded with
thoughts of “I’m not good enough” or “I don’t belong” or stuff like that. It
was this “class spirit” or demon thing that constantly tried to brake our unity
and divide the group into different classes. By Gods grace we were victorious
and the devil didn’t get what he wanted! We however heard stories of outreach
groups that went to India and the picked up scrap and they literally shouted on
each other all the way back to their country, even on the plane. The moment
they got back home and stepped back on home soil, they realised what was busy
happening and the shouting and anger immediately was gone. This might sound
strange to you, but this is exactly what we experienced while we were there.
The spiritual realm is very real, in fact I believe even more real that this
natural realm. There are things happening all around us all the time. But
luckily not only bad things! Angels are just as real and also very active and
busy all around us all the time.
Now back to our last morning in Silliguri. That morning
Anita said she is experiencing heavy attacks from the enemy. Now tannie Anita
is an amazing woman and we had a very, very blessed time with her in Mutare,
Zimbabwe. She is a massive bole of fire for the Lord. But that morning we
struggled to get breakthrough. The team was busy and had to pack and prepare
for our next sessions where we will be ministering later that day. Only Tanya
and myself were there and able to pray with Anita. We kneeled before the Lord
and asked Him what was wrong. Tanya got a vision but I was as closed as can be.
It’s as if that one connection with heaven that I have is gone. Its just this
oppressing thing pressing down on us. I heard and saw nothing except this evil
thing. Then I realised that the situation is not going to change itself. We are
at war and it’s time for battle. I got up and started praying out loud. We
prayed together and warfared together. As we prayed this thing lifted and then
Anita started prophesying into the heavens and then we experienced the presence
of God so awesomely. This was such a special experience for me to experience
this kind of warfare especially with these two ladies. Loved it!
We then went back to Bagdogra where we were also blessed
with amazing accommodation. There is a Bible School there overseen by a Samuel
Sengupta and Sunny Biswakarma. The students attend classes’ full time and are
fed and looked after. All this is done in faith with zero budget. Their monthly
expenses are many with all the mouths to feed but every month God comes through
for them. After their training these young students are released to go and
minister at the churches in Nepal or then start their own church. It’s truly
amazing to see their work and be part of it. Sabie ministered the first session
the afternoon. He is such an awesome character! He has this very strong serious
message but such a comical way to present it. The people loved him and he was a
huge blessing for the team. He is also a professional photographer and it’s
because of him that the outreach looked impressive! He captures that perfect
moment and one can but stare at one photo for hours at a time. Every photo
speaking way more than just a thousand words!
But this was also Richard’s birthday! We were invited to
have dinner with him and his family at their house. What a blessing! Just to be
part of their home life, blessed me tremendously! They treated us as if it were
our birthday! After dinner Richard received a cake with candles on it that he
blew out. They love to bring in colour and small special things with the cake
that makes that special difference. One moment during that evening that I will
never forget is when Richards’s wife brought his present. Richard was busy
being congratulated by all of us and the rest of the family and friends that
were there. His wife sort of came in behind him and stood there and waited for
her husband. Her eyes and facial expression shouting with anticipation! She
couldn’t wait for her husband to see her! Then the moment came, and he turned
around. She presented the gift to him. He smiled took it and kissed and hugged
her to say thank you. Like a small boy on Christmas he rushed to the couch to
open this very special present. While he opened his present, his wife’s face
bursted with anticipation! What will her husband say? Will he like it? These
were few of the million expressions that came from her body language. He opened
it. It was a watch that they could put on their showcase. On the watch was a
beautiful photo of Richard and his lovely wife. His eyes suddenly exploded with
stars and the joyous expression he gave answered all of his wife’s silent
questions! They embraced each other with joy! What a moment between this
amazing couple! And what a honour to have been part of such a very special
evening!
The following day was a bit of a setback for me. My feet
were swollen since we got off the airplane. This morning I thought it will
explode. My feet were humongous! Henk suggested that I stay in bed and lie down
with my feet in the air. I also got very high blood pressure just before we
went to India. So I agreed and stayed behind while the others went out for the
day’s ministry. I don’t know why, but always when I’m not there, the group
experience lots of deliverance. Many of these youngsters are not saved for long
and they come from a Hindu or some other background. Deliverance is a very
common thing, especially in these nations. This day was no different! God came
and he set many captives free and touched His children with His amazing love
through the ministry of the team. Back at the hotel I also had an amazing time!
As I lay down with my feet in the air, I pressed into God, not for any reason
but just to be with Him and enjoy Him. To just be intimate with the lover of my
heart! The afternoon I went with an Indian motorbike to join the team. What an
experience! The Indian roads are not for the sensitive, but great fun! Henk,
Nicolette and Sabie ministered the afternoon while I went with Anita and Tanya
and two local ladies that lead the worship in church, Rita and Ellora, to town
to go and buy some presents. These are two anointed and amazing ladies! The
girls had fun! They went through the mall’s clothes and just enjoyed looking
for gifts. After our shopping experience we head back to the Bible School.
There they were busy ministering already to the students and we walked right
into a very holy moment. Nicolette did something there that invited the
presence of God into the room in a very special way. We immediately started
praying for the people with them. The presence of the Lord was so strong and
tangible we decided to have a little fun and we prayed for each other as well.
I love it to have fun in the presence of my Father. He is a Father who loves to
be with His children and have fun with us. It brings joy and honour to Him when
we are happy.
Early the next morning we left for the train station to
leave for another village at the Bhutan border called Jaigon. This is where
Rita and Ellora live. Bhutan is known for its many persecutions. Many
Christians ends up being martyred there. Rita and Ellora felt strong in their
heart that we should go there. This wasn’t part of the plan, but we went in any
way. Gods plan is far better than our own! And what a blessing it ended to be!
The Indian railway system is something that I’ve only see on TV and it wasn’t a
very pretty sight! So I was a bit worried and a bit excited to be going on an
Indian train! Luckily it wasn’t a train where people sit on the roof. It was
way better! Every now and then someone will board and offer you tea or snacks
or whatever they sell. Also the people on the train were quite interesting. I
remember this beautiful young girl with her boyfriend. Judged by their clothing
they were still teenagers. They sat there both with the mobile phones and
earphones listening to music. I don’t know what it was about them but it was
interesting to just sit and observe their behaviour. Maybe it’s because I saw
that teenagers are all the same no matter where you are in the world or the
Lord showed me how He saw them or a combination of many things, I don’t know.
But just to sit and look at people tells a million stories. Love it! Also the
business men that were on their way to a meeting, or the Hindu priest, I don’t
know what he was, but all these people grabbed my attention. But whatever the
reason, my heart was filled with love for these people. How Jesus sees them and
how He loves them is something that will melt the hardest of hearts. His love
is just simply irresistible and I was I was filled with beautiful memories of
total strangers. We drove through Indian rainforest where elephants and tigers
still run wild. The train is quite open, so I had opportunity to stand at the
door and enjoy the amazing Indian wildlife. I saw some elephants! But I also
had opportunity to just be with the Lord and spend some time with Him. I
witnessed the Indian country life and saw the way these people live. Many of
their informal settlements flooded with the rain.
At Jaigon we booked into our hotel. Not as luxurious as the
previous two hotels but also not as bad as other places! The weather was
extremely hot! We took to the roof of the hotel and looked over Jaigon and
Bhutan. It was beautiful! The street life was something else. Cows in the
streets, dunghills all over and then again the Indian traffic. Shocking, yet
amazing sight! We then went to the Bhutan border. It’s this big gate with
dragons and other Indian art all over. The military was there but people of
India and Bhutan can freely cross the border. We stood at the border gate, not
allowed to enter because of our visas, and we prayed for the country and the
church there. It was quite something to pray there. And if you don’t believe in
prayer, this was a good place to proof you wrong! That evening one of our team
members experienced a demonic attack while sleeping, back at home other team
members’ family suffered with babies getting ill and all over in the spirit one
could sense the enemy tried to impart fear to us. When we pray, something in
the spirit happens, NEVER doubt! The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a
righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working] (James
5:16 AMP).
At the church service later that day, we had a meeting
with pastors of Bhutan and in the Jaigon region. The presence of God was there
right from the start. In fact the presence was so strong there that I thought
this is it! This is the day I’ve dreamed about! When Jesus physically shows up
or something that we cannot think or imagine will happen. The worship just
increased everything. Then the preaching came and His presence just increased.
I mean it was literally everywhere! Then at the end of the preaching and the
time for ministering came, I was overwhelmed with joy and expectation! I
expected the impossible to happen any moment! And then, suddenly, and I mean
almost instantly, the atmosphere changed and it was as if the Lord has never
been there. More than half the people got up and walked out. We prayed for a
few people and God still touched them and we had a great time, but we were just
speechless about what just happened!
The evening some of us (our team) had a very good
fellowship session where we just relaxed and had fellowship, just reflecting
back on everything. The next morning was the Sunday service but many pastors
came back for the service. Again Gods presence was the very tangibly, not as
strong as the previous day, but still very strong. And again the worship picked
up and the atmosphere just got more filled with the Holy Spirit. After the
worship the kids went out of the church with Tanya and I also had opportunity
to share a brief message. Tanya had fun with the kids and Henk preached. The
presence of God again increased and at the end of the preaching again I thought
this might be it! This might be the moment we have dreamed about! But the
memory of the previous day was still fresh in our minds. I didn’t know what to
expect! And sure as can be, again, when we started with ministry and praying
for the people, the presence of God almost disappeared again immediately and
totally. And again many got up and started leaving the church. I was shocked! I
couldn’t believe my eyes! But then, just before the atmosphere disappeared
completely, from the back of the church came the children. They came to the
front for prayer and we were just too happy to pray with them! Then as the
children came forward the atmosphere exploded with the Holy Spirit! His
presence was as tangible as ever before! It’s as if we could literally touch
Him! The children were just amazing! God enjoyed them so much! He touched them
and blessed them (and us!). It was such a special moment that it is difficult
to describe. We had mixed emotions, joy with tears, love and just pure
enjoyment and also tears to know these kids circumstances. The lesson God
showed us hear was very deep and very special. The pastors left because they
didn’t want to be ministered to. Because you are a church leader, it’s
humiliating to go to the front and receive prayer. This attitude “killed” the
Holy Spirit instantly. It stopped Him in His tracks immediately. God is love.
Love demands free will. God will never go against our free will. Our free will
has the power to stop even God, yet alone the devil. He will not come to us if
we don’t want Him. Not because He doesn’t have the power, but because it’s an
act outside of love, and our God truly is love! Everything He is and does is
from and in love. But when we come to Him like the little children, and not as
leaders filled with pride, it brings Him great joy! This is when we will see
His fullness and shear awesomeness! This is when Creator and creation truly
will enjoy each others’ presence. This taught me a lesson I will never forget
and by His grace, will always be part of my life, just to be like a little
child, for to them belongs the Kingdom of heaven.
After the service we drove back by car to Bagdogra, also
through the tropical forest. The Indian nature scene is absolutely spectacular
and at one stage we stopped next to a huge river just before crossing Tiger
Bridge. They’ve got these strange looking monkeys there that are beyond
vicious! They have no fear of humans and attack humans for food. This also gave
us a good laugh, when the monkeys charged us! We enjoyed our last night
together with Richard and his team. The next morning we flew back to Dubai via
Dehli. At Dubai the three ladies later took a flight back to South Africa and
we three men got on the plane again to head for our next adventure, Pakistan…
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