by Dan Jones
I am currently reading Revolution in World Missions by K.P. Yohannan and came across something fairly astounding.
But, before I get to that, let’s fill in the tapestry that is the background.
K.P. Yohannan was born and raised in India, a country of over one billion unsaved people. Even though it has long been taught and generally accepted that the Apostle Thomas (yes, “Doubting Thomas”) established the original Christian church here in the first century, India is currently just 2.3% Christian.
Indeed, being Christian in India is difficult. Ridicule, derision, beatings, and even death are not uncommon at the hands of Hindus or Muslims.
Nonetheless, Yohannan’s family remains Christian. K.P. himself was called into preaching and missionary work through the fervent prayers of his mother. He has been doing so since age 16.
He came to the United States in 1974 and pursued theological studies at Criswell College in Dallas, Texas. In 1978, he and his wife Gisela founded Gospel for Asia whose mission is to support indigenous missionaries in India.
The concept of indigenous missionaries is the main focus of the book, and Yohannan makes a very good point in this regard. For centuries, the Gospel of Jesus Christ was preached in India by Caucasian missionaries, with what appears to have been little effect.
His point that people who were born and raised in India are better able to evangelize in India is well made. After all, they are familiar with the customs, the myriad of languages present, and the nation’s distrust of “colonials” with ulterior motives.
That distrust runs so deep that, late last year, the government of India actually banned foreign money from coming into the country without its specific permission– even though that meant that its people would starve to death or die from disease without the compassion of charities based outside the country. The clear message was that this regulation was clearly aimed at Christians and the government of India would rather its people remain Hindu and starve to death than become Christian.
The book doesn’t address this at all since it was originally printed in 1986. It’s sold over two million copies and the copy I have is from its forty-second printing.
From where I sit, that makes it prophecy.
The astounding part is that Yohannan makes the point that our European idea of missionary work has got it completely backwards. For centuries, we’ve run missions on the idea that we should go in and alleviate pain and suffering and meet physical needs first, then preach the gospel.
As a result, we have all sorts of schools and hospitals that do indeed help individual people, but they are filled with souls who are still going to hell. We have given temporary help to temporal lives and have lost our focus on eternal souls. He points to the preponderance of “rice Christians,” who will gladly self-identify as Christian as long as they have a bowl of rice in their hands. But what of their souls?
Yohannan says he has never found people who had to be fed or healed before they would joyfully receive the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ.
And, Yohannan says that his people, the people he loves, are poor and suffering in misery precisely because they are living under the lies of the enemy. He notes that not only do Hindus believe cows are sacred and therefore will not utilize this enormous source of protein right under their noses, they also worship the rat. Hindus believe in reincarnation, which means they believe their dead relative could be reincarnated as a rat. Since attempts to eradicate rats are thwarted for this reason, the rats are free to spread disease and they eat or spoil an estimated 20% of all the grain raised in India each year. Yohannan says that amounts to 26.8 million metric tons, which is enough to fill a train of 327,000 freight cars stretching 3,097 miles.
And that got me to thinking about the rats we worship in our own society.
We are so easily sucked into that commercial for a new truck or a vacation home. We’re worried about our fine lines and wrinkles and eager to find out how we can lose 13 pounds in just six weeks while still getting to eat chocolate ice cream with sprinkles. Our finger hovers over the channel change button for just a few more seconds while that lingerie ad airs. We dare not say anything about souls going to hell in public because, well, that could offend someone.
And meanwhile, that rats eat and eat and eat. And they sit atop that pile of souls doing what well-fed rats do.
But all is not lost. We do have indigenous missionaries right here among us. God always sets aside a remnant for Himself. Some are still preaching about hell from their pulpits. Some are teaching Sunday School or Bible Study. Some are helping to mail envelopes, or washing dishes in the church kitchen. And some are as close as the dial on your radio.
Today’s Praise
For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” John 6:33 (ESV)