Ujjain, INDIA - As these words are being written, we are currently in the country of India where for the third year in a row, we are facilitating a conference for indigenous Indian Pastors. In addition to the multi-day conference, we are spending time preaching and ministering in village churches and teaching at the college campus run by our contact’s organization. Graduates of this college will ultimately be sent to the unreached people of India to evangelize and plant churches.
The city of Ujjain, located in north-central India, is known as the city of temples. The Shipra river, which runs through the city, has extreme importance to Hinduism. Once every twelve years, over a million people make a pilgrimage to Ujjain, strip down their clothes, and bath in the river. They believe that this action will wash away their sins. Within 2 kilometers of this river, there are over 3,000 temples. There are many mentally ill, deranged, and demonized people in this city.
One of these temples is built to the god Shiva, the god of death. Thousands of people filter through this immense complex, which also runs several stories underground. They bring various sacrifices to this god on a daily basis. Other temples are built to the god of alcohol and even the god of witchcraft. The Pastors we worked with, can verify that human sacrifice and eating of the dead regularly occur at the temple devoted to witchcraft and evil.
Please pray for our Christians brothers and sisters in this city. These are not fictional stories, or events that occurred many years ago. They are real, and they are happening right now. The spiritual atmosphere in the city of Ujjain is dark, heavy, and demonic. Yet in an area full of Hindu fundamentalists and anti-conversion laws, these incredible men and women of God continue to evangelize and plant churches.
