Old and new meet on Koviloor Road in Karaikudi.

Evangelistic meetings were recently held in Karaikudi, which is a city in Tamil Nadu, India. The city is located just 18 miles from the Bay of Bengal.

Pastors and Bible workers began the ground work a few months before the meetings. Robinson Devadass and his team of 14 from the United States joined in these evangelistic meetings, which began on July 24.

An estimated 100 people came to the auditorium to listen to the lectures, which were given by John Willmot. The health message was shared by Dr. Jessica Garcia. Pastor Willington, president of the Sivagangai–Ramanathapuram Section helped in translating.

Every night after the meetings the nurses and the doctor measured blood pressures and blood sugars. The evangelistic group also conducted free medical camps in two villages. Hundreds of villagers attended these camps.

A marriage day was celebrated for all members who attended the meetings. Fourteen couples were honored and given gifts in remembrance of their wedding anniversaries. The oldest and the newest married couples shared in a cake-cutting ceremony.

Of course, when God is at work, Satan is at work too. As people were showing interest in the meetings, one of the local religious parties banned the attendance of people in two villages. But people came into the auditorium anyway.

Pastor R. Karunanidhi, the ministerial secretary, and the team of young pastors and spouses helped make these meetings successful. At the conclusion, 11 attendees gave their hearts to Jesus. Others have promised to accept the Lord very soon.

God has worked powerfully to let this strong, traditionally religious people know that He loves them. Praise God for His wonderful mercies.

K. Baburao

I felt almost like Joshua facing Jericho when my local mission office assigned me to start new work in a very strong Hindu village. How would I reach them?

Since most people love to hear stories, I decided to use that approach first. I hoped that the stories would lead into an interest in health topics and eventually into doctrinal studies.

After visiting nearly every home in the village, I found one family that showed some interest in hearing Bible stories.

The parents became deeply interested in the Adventist Christian beliefs and were baptized, but their two sons were both demon-possessed.

To a Hindu, for one to be demon-possessed is to be blessed. But the family, in the light of the gospel, decided this was not what they wanted. The parents took their boys to a hospital, hoping that the condition could be treated as a physical disorder.

After spending much money, they realized that medicine was not helping. Then they resorted to Hindu priests and temples to remove the spirits, but to no avail. When the demons took control, the boys would strip naked and shout terrible things and be thrown about violently.

When the parents realized that their sons’ condition was a spiritual matter, they asked me to pray for them. As I began to pray, the demons shouted, “We don’t want to leave! We don’t want to leave!”

Every day for two months I prayed. By this time, the parents had progressed in their studies. They understood about prayer and anointing. So I prayed and anointed the boys, calling on God to expel the demons for good.

The demons could not resist that prayer, and they left. They attempted to return for another month, but heavenly guards were in place, and complete victory was won.

The boys are now preparing for baptism, and are also sharing Jesus with other young people in the new church in their village.

Praise the Lord for His power to deliver souls from the control of Satan.

A new Tibetan prayer house (left) is being completed in the mountains. Tibet borders Nepal to the north. Building materials had to be carried in.

Chuck Jenson, director of the Nepal Field, and I enjoyed a wonderful two-week visit to Eastern Nepal in late October. We were so encouraged to find the members working together to fulfill Christ’s mission.

First we went to Illam, on the far eastern edge of Nepal. We made some new contacts there through the Bible School. My wife, Rajani, who leads the Bible School, has been in contact with four students there over the past 18 months. After they completed the course, we sent a Bible and some literature to each of them. A special thanks to the kindergarten children of Captain Gilmer Christian School in Fletcher, North Carolina, for providing the Bibles.

Two GO workers needed in Illam. While at Illam, we had two days of meetings, and 72 people requested baptism. Two new congregations have been planted there. The urgent need for this place is two Gospel Outreach workers to nurture these new believers.

GO worker and church building needed in Kushwa Biratnagar. At Kushwa Biratnagar we conducted meetings for one day. Our local pastor and the Gospel Outreach workers had prepared the people, and 76 accepted Jesus Christ. This is one of the poorest places that I have ever seen. I hope we can add two literacy centers there. We now have two congregations in Kushwa Biratnagar. Two of the believers have been invited to attend the worker-training program at Panchkhal.

The urgent need for this place is one new Gospel Outreach worker and a church building. There are good prospects that all the people of this village may become Seventh-day Adventist Christians.

Church building almost complete in Letang. The Gould Memorial Church building is almost finished. Inside wall painting, electric work, the pastor’s apartment and the children’s Sabbath School rooms have been completed.

We were expecting more baptisms this time, but the home of one of the new members burned down, so we were able to baptize only three. The church there has made a positive impact on the people.

Three new congregations in Udaypur. The Adventist message is wellreceived in Udaypur. We were so impressed to see how the Adventist families have developed spiritually, economically and socially. There was no electricity, but every home has solar panels that have been purchased from the income of working in the community forest.

The people are educated, and the number of Adventists in this district has grown to 2,800. While there, we had 36 baptisms, celebrated communion and dedicated a new church building.

At Udaypur three new congregations have been established. Now three more church buildings are needed. Members have donated land in all three places, and the land has been dedicated to be used for church buildings.

From the bottom of our hearts, we thank all who have prayed and sent support to help make this progress in eastern Nepal so successful.

The focus on evangelism is strengthening the eastern Uttar Pradesh region and helping us attain self-sufficiency.

Eight child literacy centers have been started. Village leaders have agreed to provide land for these centers, and parents are paying to help make the centers self-supporting within four years. Sixteen baptisms have been realized through this program.

I am sending details of 10 new places where we plan to open the way of salvation using the services of 10 newly recruited Gospel Outreach workers. We praise the Lord for His mighty works in this small part of the world. Thank you very much for your continuous prayers and support for evangelism in our area.

I returned to my home and told my family what I had heard. I invited my family to the evangelistic meetings. We decided to develop a strong relationship with Jesus Christ who loves everyone and has given His life for the world. We believe in Him. I was baptized along with my family members and friends. Today, we all are growing in the love of Jesus Christ. Thank the Lord Almighty. This is my testimony.

Time and talent, in spite of their otherwise good qualities, have one restriction. They cannot be stored or transferred easily. Time past is gone forever. Also talent cannot be stored for future use.

This brings us to the last of the three Ts of stewardship responsibility, which is treasure. Treasure, or money, is a possession. When we agree to work for someone, they agree to pay us an amount in exchange for our time and talent. So time and talent become money. This is the only way it can be stored.

But money has no value of itself. You can’t build a house out of money. Instead you must exchange it for building materials. So the only way money has value is when it’s reconverted to time and talent. When I buy lumber for my house, money has been converted back into the time and talent of those who made the lumber.

When you give money to the Lord’s work you are saying, “I want to give of my life for the work of Christ.” The mission then converts the money into time and talent for its needs.

Because of our higher wage scale, we can convert our money into the time and talent of as many as 30 or 40 workers in many mission locations. The wage scale there is two to three dollars a day.

I have determined for 2012 that after I have transferred work into money, I will not then transfer that money into health-destroying indulgences. Instead I would rather send it to missions to be turned back into work for Christ.

“Would that all who have the light of truth would follow the example set by Christ, and not expend their God-given time and ability and means in one or two places, when the light of truth is to go to all the world” (This Day With God, p. 107).

FREE AT LAST: Mariétou (right) stands with Pastor Kwasi Gameti (middle) after being freed from the power of Satan.

In part 1 of this story, a satanic force called the “night man” begins visiting Mariétou.

Her family tries various ways to heal Mariétou from the curse of demonic possession—all to no avail.

The family turns to a Gospel Outreach worker for help. Pastors and elders from the area, along with Glen Wintermeyer, Gospel Outreach regional director for West Africa, head to a chapel where they will meet with Mariétou and pray for her deliverance.

About 30 minutes after we arrived, Mariétou entered the chapel. As the ceremony unfolded, it soon became apparent to me that this wasn’t the first time these men had been called on to cast out demons. In fact, Bale Jacob, a longtime pastor in West Africa, later told me that he has been called to cast out demons many times.

Pastor Kwasi Gameti, director of the Guinea Mission Station, asked onlookers to leave the chapel while the elders gathered in a circle around Mariétou.

We began with a song. After that, Pastor Gameti invited Mariétou to kneel in the center of the circle.

As he began to pray in Jesus’ name, with his hands on her head, Pastor Gameti asked Mariétou to invite Jesus into her heart. She refused. Again he asked, and again she refused. Then he commanded her to ask Jesus to come in, and again she refused.

Pastor Gameti finished his prayer. As we sat in the circle on wooden benches, Pastor Gameti asked Mariétou to remove the charm necklaces she was wearing. With great reluctance she took them off.

It struck me with interest that the pastor considered Mariétou’s nose and ear piercings to be works of the devil. He required that all be removed before continuing with the ceremony. Then he asked Mariétou to kneel, encircled by the  elders and Mariétou’s family.

After another song, several of us prayed as we placed our hands on Mariétou’s head.

I sensed emotions running high. We were coming face to face with satanic forces bent on keeping control of one of God’s children.

Pastor Gameti prayed last, anointing Mariétou’s head with oil.

Gospel Outreach worker Esaii Bledro ministered to Mariétou during and after the ceremony.

As we arose, tears were coursing down Mariétou’s cheeks. She was visibly changed. One who had entered the building rebellious and enslaved was now a happy, relieved-looking lady with a quiet radiance about her.

Never having participated in an experience such as this, I didn’t know what to expect—except, perhaps, a more obvious struggle. We saw none of that.

“During the prayers I sensed the spirit leaving through the back of my neck,” Mariétou told the pastor.

I can imagine that all styles of manifestations are used by the prince of evil, and perhaps using the “quiet” departure leaves a person wondering if anything really happened. However, Jesus’ ministry shows various ways in which demons departed, from the commanding rebuke to leave with no recorded mention of unusual physical manifestations to the violent departures.

I rejoice that Mariétou is free from Satan’s grasp. But the evil one doesn’t give up easily. We must pray for Holy Spirit possession in Mariétou’s life, so that a seven-fold affliction doesn’t occur. The fight isn’t over for her or for us.

Epilogue
As I continued on my journey, I wondered what would happen to Mariétou. Within a few hours, I heard the first news. Gospel Outreach worker Esaii Bledro, who had been with us at the ceremony, called with a report. Mariétou had slept well without any night visitation. In fact, as Esaii spoke on his cell phone, he and his wife were at Mariétou’s home. Mariétou had requested Bible studies and wanted to learn how to sew.

A few weeks later, I received another update. Mariétou was doing fine. She was studying the Bible and planning to be baptized. However, her father had told her to stop going to church. He said he’d sent her to the Christians so they would pray for her healing—not so she’d change religions. But Mariétou refused to stop attending church. She told her father that she’d worship where she’d found healing.

Please pray for Mariétou and her family.

Jose was the eldest of eight children, and at the age of 18 was diagnosed with typhus. It had been his ambition to attend a military academy, but the disease hindered him.

At the age of 20, he was diagnosed with glaucoma and a cataract, and he lost sight in his left eye. That was the beginning of his miserable life.

He developed many vices. He smoked and drank liquor. His life had no direction. It was as if there was no hope. He pitied himself.

His spirits dropped even lower when he lost sight in his right eye at the age of 40. His life seemed to have no meaning at all. Being completely blind he stayed with his parents.

One day he was listening to “Voice of Hope,” a radio program on station DZNL from San Fernando City, La Union. I host the program, which is sponsored by Gospel Outreach.

Jose enjoyed listening to the program. It encouraged him to hear that a better life is coming. One of the presentations he heard was about a new heaven and a new earth.

Every Sunday, for more than two years, Jose would tune in to hear the program.

One day I invited Marcelo Casem, an elder of the Luna Seventh-day Adventist Church, to speak on the radio program.

Jose was excited when he realized that Marcelo was his former classmate. He asked his brother and sister to find Marcelo’s house so he could become reacquainted with him and take Bible studies.

After a series of Bible studies, Jose decided to be baptized. In August, Pastor Erwin Agdeppa baptized Jose, and during the Sabbath afternoon program Jose testified to the church that he was very blessed—even though he was a blind man, he had seen the truth.