PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE: “What took YOU so Long?”
By: Ron Woodrum
In his book I Believe In The Holy Spirit, by Michael Green, he relates a story told by the renowned Indian Methodist Evangelist Dr. Samuel Theodore Kamelesan. Dr. Kamelesan had a friend who was passing out Bibles and Christian literature in the heart of Brahmin country in Southern India, in a town called Kumbbakoman. He invited other Christians to join him. They refused…saying “We have to live here!” So this brave Christian took his witness for Christ into the heart of a dangerous area. He went alone fully expecting to be killed in the line of service. He entered the main courtyard of the main temple in the town. He began to preach Jesus. He had just begun when he was embraced by a Brahmin woman who asked, “Why did you not come sooner?” He related the following fascinating story. This rich, high caste woman, a Brahmin Hindu had been diagnosed with cancer. She was given a very short time to live by her doctors. So she went to Madras, in whose pleasant climate she would live out the few remaining weeks of her life. Then she apparently died. She was taken to the mortuary. Lying in the mortuary-she was not dead, but was only deeply unconscious. In this state she had a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ…who she knew nothing about. In the vision the Lord looked upon her with love. “If you let me live again, Lord I will give my life to you” she promised. While she was lying in that unconscious state in the mortuary, a cleaning lady noticed a faint movement of the “corpse”. She went immediately to the mortician…who contacted the doctor that had signed the death certificate. The doctor examined her and found a faint pulse. He swung into action to resuscitate the patient. A blood transfusion was desperately needed. The cleaning lady, who happened to be a Christian, had the same blood type, and freely volunteered to give of her precious supply. The doctor later told the lady he had rescued, “You owe your life to the cleaning lady who gave her blood for you.”
The Brahmin lady was good to her word. From that day on she worshipped Jesus only, and renounced her Hinduism. This provoked intense opposition from the people of Kumbbakoman. Much of the opposition and mistreatment came from members of her own family. Her own brothers attacked her and knocked out two of her front teeth! Her simple witness led three of the five of her brothers to Christ. When this friend of Dr. Kamelesan began to preach Jesus in the temple courtyard she heard him. She ran out and embraced him. He was shocked to find a believer in such an unusual place. There was no human proclamation used to bring this woman to faith in Jesus…Just the Holy Spirit using a vision of Jesus. Of course the blood of the Christian cleaning lady was no accident either. The Spirit of Life not only revived the woman, but the same Spirit caused a spontaneous remission of the cancer too, and brought her to faith in Christ. All in all it was quite a miracle of healing and salvation. Green, the author of the book responded…the story confirms what we say in our creed. “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Lifegiver”.
How many people are there that we know who are searching for Jesus? Their souls are tired of the life that provides no answers to the deepest yearnings of their heart. Our Lord has chosen to ask us to be his hands, his feet, and his voice as instruments to lead others to faith and salvation. We need to be like that friend of Dr. Kamelesan and step out in faith, come what may, and bear witness for our Lord and Savior, no matter what the risk. We might be surprised by the number who will ask us, “where have you been?” “Why did you wait so long?” Let God’s Holy Spirit empower your life to show Christ. Let Him empower your lips to share Christ. Listen to what the Apostle Paul told the Philippians. He wrote, “Let the Holy Spirit work out your salvation…with fear and trembling. Let Him cause you to shine as lights in a crooked and perverse world, while you are holding forth the Word of Life”. A transformed walk, combined with a timely word, can result in a tremendous witness to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.