Showing posts with label Testimonies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Testimonies. Show all posts

Monday

Hell is real, I went there!! -Jennifer Perez

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God Bless you brothers and sisters, I'd like for you to open your bible and turn to Joel 2:28 
 "And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions."

My name is Jennifer Perez and I'm 15 years old. It's hard for a teenager like me to come to you and recognize my own mistakes. But with the help of the Holy Spirit, He will help me, and give me the strength I need. First of all I want to say that this is for the Honor and Glory of my Lord Jesus Christ. I don't want to say any doctrine or make up any new doctrine, I'm only going to tell you what I saw, what I heard, and what I felt.

I'd like to tell you a little bit about my family. My parents are Christians, and they aways taught me good examples, and the way of the Lord. I became a Christian 3 years ago, when I accepted the Lord with the brother Nicky Cruze. I walked in the ways of the Lord for 2 years. But when I started High School, I started getting rebellious and left the way of the Lord. I was rebellious to my parents and I got into drugs. My friends that taught me to do those things.

I thought I was a Christian, and that I would bring my friends to be Christians. But instead, they brought me back out into the world. I was being rebellious to my parents, and they thought it was just something teenagers go through. But in fact, it was what the drugs made me do. Evil spirits got into me, that was when I was being rebellious to them. They were strict on me, they never let me go out anywhere, not even spend a night over at a friends house. I always had to do everything sneaky or behind their back. I would skip school. I would hardly even go to school, just to keep my habit. I was at the point of getting addicted, but the Lord took me out of all that. Like I said, I was a Christian.

My testimony starts on May 2nd, 1997. I had a friend, and we were only friends, nothing more, and he knew that. I though I had gotten to know him, but in fact, I didn't really know who he was. That night, he called me and asked if I could go out. My parents weren't home. They were at a prayer meeting, like every Friday. I told them I wanted to stay home because I felt sick. I was also mad at them because I had plans to go out that night with a different friend, but my parents didn't let me go. So I asked to stay home, and they let me. When they went to the Prayer meeting, my friend called me. He said, "Why don't you go out, everybody else is going out?" I thought to myself, "I don't want to be disobedient to my parents, but maybe if I sneak out, my parents would never know", so that's what I did.

That night when my parents got home, and they fell asleep. I was all ready to sneak out so I called my friend and told him to wait for me at the corner of my street. I told him not to pass by my house, because it might wake up my parents, and ruin everything. So I put pillows under my blanket and climbed out of my window. I live in a two story house, and all the windows of my house have screws in them. But since my parents trusted me, my window didn't have any screws. So I took advantage of my parents trust. Since I live in a two story house, I jumped off the roof and I landed on the ground. The Lord had everything planned, because I could have broken my leg, and that would have stopped everything the Lord had planned for me.

I walked down the street, and my friend was already there. But when I got in the car, I saw 3 guys and 1 other girl. I though to myself, "I'm not going to do anything, yea, I'll get high, do drugs, drink". But when there are 3 guys and 1 other girl, I feared they could take advantage of me. But I got in the car, and we left. Before, when I was talking to my friend on the phone, he said that we were just going to go cruzing around the town. I said "OK that sounds like fun", that's why I went. I never though he was going to take me to a motel. That's were they took me.

When we got there, they dropped me off at a laundry service room, belonging to the motel. They told us to wait there, they said that they were going to pick up another friend. I said ok, but I guess they left to rent a room. When they came back and picked us up, they took us to that room. They said, "Don't worry, put your trust in us! We aren't going to do anything, we're just going to wait for our other friend to come, and then we'll all leave together". So I put trust in my friends, I though they would never hurt me, but in fact I really didn't know who my friends were.

At first, we were just talking, so I said, "while we're waiting, why don't we get something to drink?" So my friend and I left the room, and walked to this little restaurant in front of the motel. We bought three Sprites and then walked back to the room. They started pouring the Sprite into cups. They didn't bring a bag or anything that looked suspicious, that would make me think they were going to put something in my drink, or do something to me. It all looked innocent.

I went to the restroom to fix my hair and do girl things, and when I came out my cup was already served. I put some gum in my mouth, strawberry, and I drank what I thought was my Sprite. After this, I don't know what happened.

But when I could see, I felt my spirit come out of my body. I was already at the hospital, I saw the doctors and nurses all around me. When I was out of my body, I saw my body on the bed. You know how you look at yourself in the mirror, you see a reflection. But I didn't see a reflection of myself, I saw my body there on the bed. When I turned around, there were 2 men dressed in red, "come our way" and they grabbed me, one at each arm.

They took me to a place, and when I looked to see where I was, it was heaven! The first thing that I saw was a great big wall. It was white and stretched out so far that it didn't have any end. In the middle of the wall was a door, a long door, but it was closed.

In the Old Testament, Moses speaks of the tabernacle and describes its features. And I remembered this, and I saw that the wall looked like it. Right besides the door, there was a large chair, and there was a smaller chair on the right side. And they looked like they were made out of gold. On my right side, there was a large black door, it was so dark around, but I knew it was a door becaue of the knob. It was an ugly door. But on my left side there was a paradise, there were trees, a crystal clear water fall, grass. It was such a peaceful place, but there was nobody there.

I looked and I saw the Father in front of me, I couldn't see His face, because His glory, it was so big, so bright, it shined and lit up all heaven. His glory made everything bright. There was no sun, no moon, no stars, He was the light. I did see His body, and his body was with the Son, they were one inside each other, they were together, you could see the separation of them, but they were one inside the other, they were together.

Right beside them were 2 angels, Gabriel and Michael. The reason I knew their name was because it was written on their foreheads in Gold.

When I was in front of the Father, I felt dirty! I fell to my knees and cried. I was very ashamed of myself. Even if I could see their faces, I didn't want to, because I was ashamed of myself. As I was there in front of the Lord, He showed me a movie of my life, from the beginning until now. He told me that the most important part was the things that I did after I was saved. I told my friends I was a Christian, but in fact I didn't show my fruits. And He told me that I was destined to go to Hell.

The angel Gabriel came and grabbed me by my arm. He took me to that ugly black door that I didn't even want to look at. I tried to stop myself, but I was in spirit, and we went through the door. When I was on the other side of the door, it was dark all around, I couldn't even see myself. Then we started to fall really fast, like a roller coaster. As I was falling it was getting hotter and hotter. I closed my eyes, I didn't want to see where we were.

When we stopped, I opened my eyes, and I was standing on a great road. I didn't know where it lead to. But the first thing that I felt there was thirst. I was really thirsty! I kept telling the angel "I'm thirsty, I'm thirsty" But it was like he didn't even hear me. I started to cry, and when the tears ran down my cheeks, they completely evaporated. There was the smell of sulfur, like burning tires. I tried to cover my nose, but that made it even worse. All my 5 senses were very sensitive. When I tried to cover myself, I could smell the sulfar even more. Also, all those little hairs on my arms, they just disappeared. I felt all the heat, it was very hot.

When I started looking around, I saw people being tormented by demons. There was a lady there suffering, a demon was torturing her. This demon would cut off her head and with his long spear he would stab her everywhere. He didn't care. In her eyes, in here body, in her feet, in here hands, he didn't care. Then he would put her head back on her body and would stab her and stab her. She would cry with screams of agony.

Then I saw another demon, this demon was torturing a young man about the age of 21-23. This man had a chain around his neck, and was standing in front of a pit of fire. This demon would stab him everywhere with a long spear, in his eyes, everywhere. Then the demon would grab him by his hair and with the chains he would throw this man into this pit of fire, then take him back out and would stab him and stab him. This would go on continually, and every time he would go inside that pit, I couldn't hear his screams, but when the demon would take him out, he would scream with agony. I tried to cover my ears because the sound was so horrible, but I could still hear. My hearing was more sensitive.

I looked at another demon, and this demon was ugly, the other 2 were ugly to, but this one was the ugliest. He had characteristics of many different animals, I can't even explain it with words. He would go around and scare people, and the people would be really scared.

And then I saw another demon, but this demon was a beautiful demon, he looked like an angel of God, but he wasn't. The difference between the angels of God and the demons, was that the demon did not have their name written on their forehead with Gold, but the angels of God did.

After that, I looked back at the angel Gabriel, and he was looking up. I though he didn't want to see the others being tortured. I thought to myself, "why is he still here? Aren't I suppose to be there waiting for my turn to be tortured?" I was also thirsty. And I cried out to the angel, "I'm thirsty I'm thirsty!", I think he heard me because he looked down on me, and he said, "the Lord is going to give you one more chance."

Immediately when he said that, all my thirst, all my agony, all my hurting, it just went away. I felt peaceful. And then he grabbed me by my hand and we were about to rise, but suddenly I heard my name being called, "Jennifer, Help me, Help me!" I looked down. I wanted to see who it was, but when I did the flames blocked their face. It sounded like a girl's voice. I could only see her hands stretched out, wanted me to help her. I had such a desire, such a want to help her. When I tried, I couldn't, because my hand went right through hers. I wanted to help her so much, but you see, she didn't have any hope. I couldn't help her.

And then I looked around and I saw my friends, people that I knew, and other people. They looked familiar but I didn't know who they were. I didn't know their lives, but when I saw friends from my school there, it hurt me!. I though to myself, "maybe the bad testimony that I was giving them, of saying that I was a Christian but turning back, made them not want to know about God, and turn away from Him. Maybe it was me that brought them their". That's what I thought. I saw that in Hell there is no time, there is no past, present, future, everything is the same, they are destined to go their. But like I said in the beginning, I don't want to make up any doctrine, but that is what I saw their. The people that I saw there are still alive today.

Then the angel took me back into the presence of God. When I was standing before Him I was on my knees crying and crying. I still didn't want to look upon His face, because I was ashamed of myself. But the Lord, with such sweetness in His voice said, "I love you" Just like He loves you who are listening to me. But He told it directly to me. He said He forgave me for everything that I have done when I offended Him. He forgave me.

God looked at me and He showed me many things. He showed me the world, the earth. Around the earth I saw something soft, like the ozone layer, it was around the world, it looked very soft, and I had such a desire to touch it. When I touched it, I realized it was the Holy spirit, because it baptized me, and I began to speak in other tongues.

During that time, I looked up and many evil spirits came out of me. When I would get high and do drugs, that would mess with my mind and would open doors, and these evil spirits would come into me. They would torture me. The way that I would act was not really me, it was the evil spirits inside of me. In the Word of God it says that when your house is cleaned, evil spirits would try to come back by bringing 7 other evil spirits. My house was cleaned when I got saved. And I saw these evil spirits when I was being babtised, they have 7, and those have other 7, and those had other 7, and I couldn't even count them all! But the Lord cleaned me of all those evil spirits.

He also showed me the future. He showed me the Earth and how things were going to happen, events that were going to happen. The vision I was given was from now until rapture. He didn't show me the rapture, but He showed me the things that were going to happen before that. Each day we are getting closer and closer, and I'm telling you that the rapture is near! You need to examine yourself, your life, and ask yourself, "am I ready to go with the Lord?" The Lord showed me this, but He told me not to tell anybody, but to wait and see that the end is near, I don't want to temp God, that is why I won't tell you what I saw. But I am telling you and warning you that the rapture is near.

I read in Joel 2:28, it is one of the last prophecies, all of them have been fulfilled. This prophecy is the only one that hasn't been fulfilled, and I tell you now that is it being fulfilled. Many young people are rising up and preaching the Word of God. The devil wants to make an army of young people, but the Lord is more powerful. And if you really accept the Lord and want to serve Him, He will give you the strength to overcome the devil, so you can preach the word all around the world, just like He commanded in the Bible.

He told me that I had a mission, and this mission was to tell all the young people about my vision. Even if I don't want to do this, its a commandment that the Lord gave me me, and I will complete it.

When I went back to my body, I woke up and found myself in the Hospital. I looked around and saw needles in my arms, things checking my heart, tubes. Soon my parents walked in and I started crying. They looked very mad, but the Lord told me to tell them everything, and that's what I did. I told them everything.

When the nurse walked in, she told us they were very very worried about me. She said I would leave and then come back, then leave and come back. I'd be unconsciouses then conscious again. This happened three times. They said that one of those times, I didn't want to come back, and they were worried about me. They also said that foam would come out of my mouth, and I would blabber words that they didn't even understand.

Also that night, my mom was having bad dreams. The little dog that I sleep with went into my parents room and scratched my moms arm and tried to wake her up. When she woke up, she walked to my room and saw the pillows fixed there. She thought that I was there so she walked back to her room. Then she saw police lights outside the window. When she looked out the window, she saw policemen walking to our house so she woke up my Father. The police told them to call the police department to find out about me. My parents found out that I was over intoxicated in the Hospital. At that moment, the Lord spoke to my father and told him not to worry, because everything was in HIS hands, so my father didn't worry. I spent three days in the hospital.

A week later we talked to the detectives, and they told us about that night. They said that the other girl I was with, she was not suppose to go out either, and her father got all worried. He went looking for her, driving around, but couldn't find her. So he went to the police department, and the police announced the kind of car that my friend was driving to all the patrol cars. A certain off duty officer, was across the street at a car dealership. He was looking to buy a used car. He glanced over and saw the car of my friend, so he called the police.

When the police went to investigate, my friend's car was parked in another spot, so they didn't know where she was. We were on the 2nd floor in the corner room. The police wanted to start from that room, and walk down to check each room, asking for the owner of the car outside. They weren't looking for the girl, they were just looking for the owner.

When they knocked on our door, they opened the door and saw me on the floor. But then they left. My so called friends thought that the police left for good, but in fact they left to get an ambulance. Soon other police came up there to see what was happening. When they opened the door, at that moment, my friend, the one I was talking to, the one I trusted, he was at the point of raping me. But the Lord used the police to stop all that, and they didn't do anything to me. That is why I thank the Lord, because He had mercy on me.

And also the prayers of my parents, I'm talking to you parents. Don't ever stop praying for your child. If they aren't walking with the Lord, keep on praying for them, never give up. My parents never game up, and look where I am now, preaching the Word of God; telling young people to come serve God, because they need Him.

And I want to give a message to all the young people, I want you to think of yourself, examine yourself. Think, why should I care what anyone says about me. I used to think what other people might say about me, but now I understand that they don't even care about me. They are not going to be there when the Lord is right in front of me. I remember when I was in front of the Lord, my friend weren't there to help me, my family wasn't there to help me, my pastor, the church wasn't there to help me. I was there by myself, and I had to defend myself. In front of Him you can't lie, because He is so holy. And when I was there I didn't feel like I belong there, because I was in sin and in Heaven it is holy.

I told you today that if you haven't accepted the Lord Jesus, to accept Him today. This is the most important decision in your whole life. I'm not telling you all this to scare you into Heaven, but so you can see the mercy, the love that He has for us. He the Father, sent His Son to die for us. So each little drop of blood that was shed would forgive all of our sins. If you want to accept the Lord, it is the most important decision in your life. Come to the Lord, don't care what anybody else says about you.

If you want to server the Lord, then do it with all your heart, don't just say it with your mouth, say it with your heart and mind. Don't worry about the future, worry about today, you never know when you are going to die. I'm only 15 years old and in my mind I never thought that I was going to die at 15, never.

But you need to think about that. My life isn't mine, your life isn't yours, we are borrowing our lives, our lives belong to God. We take advantage of this by not caring, by going into the world, by doing the things of the world. The world has many things to offer, but remember God has even more things to offer. The world has hell and death, but God has eternal life. Eternal life is forever.

Right now if you want to accept the lord, I want you to bow your head and close your eyes, "Lord God, in the name of Jesus I come to you, O my Lord God at this moment I want to accept you as my Saviour, I want you to come to my life. Like the sister said about her testimony that Hell is real, she was there. Lord God, I don't want to go there, I don't even want to think of going there. Lord God I ask you to forgive me for all the sins I have committed. Forgive me for everything that I have done. Every little secret sin, my Lord God, I reveal them to you, so please forgive me for all that. Lord God I believe that You died on the cross and that Your rose from the dead. I believe that You will come into my heard and that You will reign in my heart, and be in my heart. I will read Your word, and I will be more in the Word. I'll go to Church, my Lord God because I know that You are there at Church. You said that when two or three are gather together, You are there. My Lord God I want to be where You are. I pray all this in Jesus name, Amen"

If you prayed this prayer, I want to welcome you into the Kingdom of Heaven. Now you have brothers and sisters all around the world. This is the most important decision that you will ever make so don't take advantage of it. Don't go back into the world. The world leads to death, but God leads to eternal life. At each moment you need to live like it is the last day, and the last time of your life. If this testimony has touched your heart, give it to a friend, so that they might also accept God into their heart. Don't let this time just pass by, because this could be your last time.

By: Jennifer Perez

Thursday

Kaka: The Brazilian Midfielder

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When I was eight, I moved to Sao Paulo, Brazil (from Cuiaba, Brazil) where I began to play soccer (football). I have always loved to play soccer.

I played on the Junior Team for Sao Paulo in 2000. We were in the middle of the Paulista Junior Championships when I received a yellow card. I was suspended for the following game, so I took advantage of the free weekend to visit my grandparents, who lived in Caldas Novas at the time.


My brother, my parents, my grandparents and I went to a water park. As I was coming down one of the slides into the pool, I hit my head on the bottom of the pool and my neck snapped. I fractured the sixth vertebra in my neck. At the time, I had no idea what happened.


I came out of the pool with a strong headache, and my brother who had come down the slide right after me, asked me what happened. I told him I hit my head on the bottom of the pool. He saw that I was bleeding and convinced me to go to the first-aid center. From there, we went to the hospital where they took an x-ray of my neck. According to the x-ray, everything looked fine. I got a few stitches in my head and that was that.
 
I returned to Sao Paulo to train on Monday, as well as on Tuesday, all the while with a broken neck. On Tuesday, I called the coach and the physical trainer and told them that I couldn't bear the pain any longer. They sent me to see a doctor at the hospital where they took another x-ray. It was in this x-ray that the fracture in the sixth vertebra was shown. Everyone, including the doctors, told me I was very lucky that nothing more serious happened. They told me that I could have become paralyzed and lost my ability to walk and to play soccer. I believe it was not luck. I believe God was protecting me during that time from anything more serious.

Many people think that I became a Christian after the accident, but that is not true. My parents are Christians and they raised me with biblical values. The accident happened in October of 2000 while I was playing in the "base" position on the Sao Paulo junior team. Throughout November and December, I had to wear a cervical collar and could not play.


I began to play again in January of 2001, and after about 10 or 15 days, I was called to play for the Sao Paulo professional team. Because of this, I believe God had a purpose in that accident. It is something that happened just before I had the great blessing of starring as a professional in Sao Paulo and initiating my career as a professional soccer player.


As I said before, my parents always taught me the Bible and its values, and also about Jesus Christ and faith. I did not have a specific conversion experience, but little by little, I stopped simply hearing people talk about the Jesus my parents taught me [about], and there came a time when I wanted to live my own experiences with God. One of these experiences with God was when I was baptized at the age of 12. This was a very important step in my walk with Jesus and soon after many things began to happen in my life where I could experience God in a real way.


I need Jesus every day of my life. Jesus tells me in the Bible that without Him I can't do anything. I have the gift and capacity today to play soccer because God gave it to me. The day He wants me to do something else, I will do that something else and this is why I need Jesus in my life every day. I am successful in my financial life and in my professional life, but all this has come from God and is a gift of grace from Him for my life. All that I have, I thank Him for.


The difference Jesus makes in my life is that I know I will always have victory, I will always have joy, and I will always have success. This is independent of the situations I face or will face. This brings me great peace.


I usually tell the people who ask, that the Bible is like the user's manual that comes when you buy a product. It has everything we need in it. It makes me happy to read the Bible every day, to study it and to be in fellowship with God and learn more and more about Jesus.


I will win many matches and I will lose many matches, but I know that in all of them, God has a plan. This is why I try to understand the plan of God for me in each moment so that I can have peace during times of pressure.


Everyone wants to be a winner, but for me, the true meaning of winning is having Jesus in my life. It is a life of prayer, a life of intimacy and a lifelong friendship, knowing that God is our Father. I can say that I am a winner and I am victorious because Jesus lives in my life. No, I will never stop following Him.

Sunday

Nick Vujicic

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Born:December 4, 1982

Hometown:Melbourne,Australia 

Occupation: Preacher, motivational speaker,

Director of Life Without Limbs


His Testimony:

My name is Nick Vujicic and I'm 25 years old. I was born without arms or legs and given no medical reason for this condition. Faced with countless challenges and obstacles, God has given me the strength to surmount what others might call impossible. Along with that, the Lord has placed within me an unquenchable passion to share this same hope and genuine love that I've personally experienced with more than two million people all over the globe.

Traveling extensively to over 19 nations, I've been extremely humbled by the continuous opportunities that the Lord has given me to share my testimony along with the hope that I have in Jesus with people in so many nations and situations. My greatest joy in this life is to introduce Jesus to those I meet and tell them of His great desire to get to know them personally by allowing Him to become their Lord and Savior.

One of my favorite scriptures from the Bible is 
Psalm 139:17-18 that says, "How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand." 

God has used me to let people know in countless schools, churches, prisons, orphanages, hospitals, stadiums and in face-to-face encounters with individuals how very precious they are to God. Secondly, it's my pleasure to assure them that God does have a plan for their lives that is purposeful. For God took my life, one that others might disregard as having any significance and filled me with His purpose and showed me His plans to move hearts and lives toward Him. Understanding this, though faced with struggles, you can overcome too.

Be encouraged today as you read this promise from the Lord found in 
Jeremiah 29:11 of the Bible, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."



Nick Vujicic (born December 4, 1982) is a preacher, a motivational speaker and the director of Life Without Limbs, an organization for the physically disabled. He regularly gives speeches across the world on the subject of disability and hope.


Early life



The first-born child in his devout Serbian Christian family, Nick Vujicic was born in Melbourne, Australia with the rare Tetra-amelia disorder: limbless, missing both arms at shoulder level, and having one small foot with two toes protruding from his left thigh. Initially, his parents were devastated. Vujicic was otherwise healthy.



Do Visit to know more:



Career



Nick graduated from college at the age of 21 with a double major in Accounting and Financial Planning. He began his travels as a motivational speaker, focusing on the topics that today's teenagers face. He also speaks in the corporate sector, although his aim is to become an international inspirational speaker, in both Christian and non-Christian venues. He regularly travels internationally to speak to Christian congregations, schools, and corporate meetings. He has spoken to over two million people so far, in twelve countries on four continents (Africa, Asia, Australia, and North America).
By the age of 25, Nick hoped to become financially independent. He wishes to promote his words through television shows such as the The Oprah Winfrey Show, as well as by writing books. His first book, planned for completion by the end of 2009, is to be called No Arms, No Legs, No Worries!
His motivational DVD, Life's Greater Purpose, is available on the Life Without Limbs website. Most of the DVD was filmed in 2005, featuring a brief documentary about his home life, and how he does regular things without limbs. The second part of the DVD was filmed at his local church in Brisbane, and was one of his first professional motivational speeches. His motivational speeches can be seen on the Premiere Speakers Bureau Website. Vujicic currently lives in California.
His secular DVD "No Arms, No Legs, No Worries" is available online through his corporate motivational speaking company "Attitude Is Altitude."
Nick's first worldwide television interview, featured on 20/20 (ABC) with Bob Cummings was aired on March 28, 2008.

Wednesday

Sadhu Sundar Singh

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Born: September 3, 1889 in Patiala, India
Died: unknown in unknown
Education: Anglican College, Lahore
Title: Sadhu



Biography:


Early years


Sundar Singh was born into an important landowning Sikh family in Patiala State in northern India. Sikhs, rejecting Hindu polytheism and Muslim intolerance in the sixteenth century, had become a vigorous nation with a religion of their own. Sundar Singh's mother took him week by week to sit at the feet of a Sadhu, an ascetic holy man, who lived in the jungle some miles away, but she also sent him to Ewing Christian High School,Ludhiana where he could learn English.
The death of Sundar Singh's mother, when he was fourteen, plunged him into violence and despair. He turned on the missionaries, persecuted their Christian converts, and ridiculed their faith. In final defiance of their religion, he bought a Bible and burned it page by page in his home compound while his friends watched. Three nights later he went to his room determined to commit suicide on a railway line. Sitting on the railway track, Sadhu loudly asked who is the true God. If the true God didn't show Himself that night, he would commit suicide. It is said that finally before the break of dawn and shortly before the arrival of the train, God finally came to Sadhu.

Religious awakening


However, before dawn, he wakened his father to announce that he had seen Jesus Christ in a vision and heard his voice. Henceforth he would follow Christ forever, he declared. Still no more than fifteen, he was utterly committed to Christ and in the twenty-five years left to him would witness extensively for his Lord. The discipleship of the teenager was immediately tested as his father pleaded and demanded that he give up this absurd conversion. When he refused, Sher Singh gave a farewell feast for his son, then denounced him and expelled him from the family. Several hours later, Sundar realised that his food had been poisoned, and his life was saved only by the help of a nearby Christian community .
On his sixteenth birthday he was publicly baptised as a Christian in the parish church in Simla, a town high in the Himalayan foothills. For some time previously he had been staying at the Christian Leprosy Home at Sabathu, not far from Simla, serving
the leprosy patients there. It was to remain one of his most beloved bases and he returned there after his baptism.

Life of servitude


Then, in October 1906, he set out from it in quite a new way. He walked onto the road, a tall, good-looking, vigorous teenager, wearing a yellow robe and turban. Everyone stared at him as he passed. The yellow robe was the "uniform" of a Hindu sadhu, traditionally an ascetic devoted to the gods, who either begged his way along the roads or sat, silent, remote, and often filthy, meditating in the jungle or some lonely place. The young Sundar Singh had also chosen the sadhu's way, but he desired to be a sadhu of a different sort."I am not worthy to follow in the steps of my Lord," he is recorded as saying, "but, like Him, I want no home, no possessions. Like Him I will belong to the road, sharing the suffering of my people, eating with those who will give me shelter, and telling all men of the love of God."
He at once put his vocation to the test by going back to his home village, Rampur, where he was shown an unexpectedly warm welcome.

This was poor preparation for the months that were to follow. Scarcely tough enough to meet physical hardship, the sixteen-year-old sadhu went northward through the Punjab, over the Bannihal Pass into Kashmir, and then back through Muslim Afghanistan and into the brigand-infested North-West Frontier and Baluchistan. His thin, yellow robe gave him little protection against the snows, and his feet became torn from the rough tracks. Not many months had passed before the little Christian communities of the north were referring to him as "the apostle with the bleeding feet." This initiation showed him what he might expect in the future. He was stoned, arrested, visited by a shepherd who talked with strange intimacy about Jesus and then was gone, and left to sleep in a way-side hut with an unexpected cobra for company. Meetings
with the mystical and the sharply material, persecution and welcome, would all characterize his experience in years ahead.

From the villages in the Simla hills, the long line of the snow-clad Himalayas and the rosy peak of Nanga Parbat, rose in the distance. Beyond them lay Tibet, a Buddhist land that missionaries had long failed to penetrate with the gospel. Ever since his baptism Tibet had beckoned Sundar, and in 1908, at the age of nineteen, he crossed its frontiers for the first time. Any stranger entering into this closed territory reputedly risked both terror as well as death. Singh took the risk with his eyes, and his heart, wide open. The state of the people appalled him. Their airless homes, like themselves, were filthy. He himself was stoned as he bathed in cold water because they believed that "holy men never washed." Food was mostly unobtainable and he existed on hard, parched barley. Everywhere there was hostility. And this was only "lower Tibet" just across the border. Sundar went back to Sabathu determined to return the next year.
He had a great desire: to visit Palestine and re-live some of the happenings in Jesus' life. In 1908 he went to Bombay, hoping to board a convenient ship. But, to his intense disappointment, the government refused to give him a permit, and he had to return to the north. It was on this trip that he suddenly recognised a basic dilemma of the Christian mission to India. A brahmin had collapsed in the hot, crowded carriage and, at the next station, the Anglo-Indian stationmaster came rushing with a cup of water from the refreshment room. The brahmin -- a high-caste Hindu -- thrust it away in horror. He needed water, but he could only accept it in his own drinking vessel. When that was brought, he drank and was revived. In the same way, Sundar Singh realised, India would not widely accept the gospel of Jesus offered in Western guise. That, he recognised, was why many listeners had responded to him in his Indian sadhu's robe.

Formal Christian training


There was still sharper disillusionment to come. In December 1909 he began training for the Christian ministry at the Anglican college in Lahore. Some of Singh's biographers depict his experience at college as one of an unhappy misfit. He did not form relationships with fellow students, and only met them at meal times and designated prayer sessions. From the beginning he found himself being tormented by fellow students for being "different" and no doubt too self assured. Certainly he appeared to fellow students as very conspicuous.
Although Singh had been baptized by an Anglican priest, he was ignorant of the ecclesisatical culture and conventions of Anglicanism. His inability to adapt to Anglican life hindered him from fitting in with the routines of academic study. Much in the college course seemed to Singh to be irrelevant to the gospel as India needed to hear it. After eight months in the college Singh decided to leave in July 1910.
It is sometimes asserted by his biographers that the cause of Singh's withdrawal from ministry training was due to remarks made by Bishop Lefroy about the requirements of an ordained Anglican priest. The strictures, as the biographers report it, is that Singh was told he must now discard his sadhu's robe and wear "respectable" European clerical dress; use formal Anglican worship; sing English hymns; and never preach outside his parish without special permission. Never again visit Tibet, he asked? That would be, to him, an unthinkable rejection of God's call. However, his biographers omit to state that the stipulations laid down by the Bishop were normative for all Anglican priests of that day in India.
With deep sadness he left the college, still dressed in his yellow robe, and in 1912 began his annual trek into Tibet as the winter snows began to melt on the Himalayan tracks and passes.

Helping others


Stories from those years are astonishing and sometimes incredible. Indeed there were those, who insisted that they were mystical rather than real happenings. That first year, 1912, he returned with an extraordinary account of finding a three-hundred-year old Christian hermit in a mountain cave-the Maharishi of Kailas, with whom he spent some weeks in deep fellowship.
According to Singh in a town called Rasar he had been thrown in a dry well full of bones and rotting flesh and left to die. However three days later a rope was thrown to him and he was rescued. The difficulty with this account is that Singh is the sole witness to report this event. As Singh has been represented by some biographers as a suffering preacher, it is worth recalling that the three days spent down the well bears resemblances to the gospel narratives concerning the death and three days of burial for the Christ before his resurrection from the dead.
At these and at other times Singh was said to have been rescued by members of the "Sunnyasi Mission" -- secret disciples of Jesus wearing their Hindu markings, whom he claimed to have found all over India.
One of the difficulties with the evidence to support this story of the secret Sunnyasi Mission is that this brotherhood was reputed to have numbered around 24,000 members across India. The origins of this brotherhood were reputed to be linked to one of the Magi at Christ's Nativity and then the second century AD disciples of the apostle Thomas circulating in India. Nothing was heard of this evangelistic fellowship until after William Carey began his missionary work in Serampore. The Maharishi of Kailas experienced ecstatic visions about the secret fellowship that he retold to Sundar Singh, and Singh himself built his spiritual life around visions.

Footsteps of Christ


As Sundar Singh moved through his twenties his ministry widened greatly, and long before he was thirty years old his name and picture were familiar all over the Christian world. He described in terms of a vision a struggle with Satan to retain his humility but he was, in fact, always human, approachable and humble, with a sense of fun and a love of nature. This, with his "illustrations" from ordinary life, gave his addresses great impact. Many people said, "He not only looks like Jesus, he talks like Jesus must have talked." Yet all his talks and his personal speech sprang out of profound early morning meditation, especially on the Gospels. In 1918 he made a long tour of South India and Ceylon, and the following year he was invited to Burma, Malaya, China, and Japan.Some of the stories from these tours were as strange as any of his Tibetan adventures. He claimed power over wild things. He claimed even to have power over disease and illness, though he never allowed his presumed healing gifts to be publicised.

Travels abroad



For a long time Sundar Singh had wanted to visit Britain, and the opportunity came when his father, Sher Singh, came to tell him that he too had become a Christian and wished to give him the money for his fare to Britain. He visited the West twice, travelling to Britain, the United States, and Australia in 1920, and to Europe again in 1922. He was welcomed by Christians of many traditions, and his words searched the hearts of people who now faced the aftermath of World War I and who seemed to evidence a shallow attitude to life. Sundar was appalled by what he saw as the materialism, emptiness, and irreligion he found everywhere, contrasting it with Asia's awareness of God, no matter how limited that might be. Once back in India he continued his ministry, though it was clear that he was getting more physically frail.

Final trip



In 1923 Sundar Singh made the last of his regular summer visits to Tibet and came back exhausted. His preaching days were obviously over and, in the next years, in his own home or those of his friends in the Simla hills he gave himself to meditation,
fellowship, and writing some of the things he had lived to preach.
In 1929, against all his friends' advice, Sundar determined to make one last journey to Tibet. He was last seen on the 18th of April 1929 setting off on this journey. In April he reached Kalka, a small town below Simla, a prematurely aged figure in his yellow robe among pilgrims and holy men who were beginning their own trek to one of Hinduism's holy places some miles away. Where he went after that is unknown to many people. Whether he fell from a precipitous path, died of exhaustion, or reached the mountains, will remain a mystery. It was also said that Sadhu was murdered and his body was thrown in the river, another account says he was caught up into Heaven with the angels.
But more than his memory remains, and he has continued to be one of the most treasured and formative figures in the development and story of Christ's church in India.

Timeline


1889 - Born at Rampur, Punjab
1903 - Conversion
1904 - Cast out from home
1905 - Baptised in Simla; begins life as a sadhu
1907 - Works in leprosy hospital at Sabathu
1908 - First visit to Tibet
1909 - Enters Divinity College, Lahore, to train for the ministry
1911 - Hands back his preacher's license; returns to the sadhu's life
1912 - Tours through north India and the Buddhist states of the Himalayas
1918 to 1922 - Travels worldwide
1923 - Turned back from Tibet
1925 to 1927 - Quietly spends time writing
1927 - Sets out for Tibet but returns due to illness
1929 - Final attempts to reach Tibet
1972 - Sadhu Sundar Singh Evangelical Association formed.