India
(MNN) — An innocuous address book helped save a pastor's life in Chhattisgarh State, India.
Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Mission India says Pastor Sudeep Kumar leads one of
their literacy programs in Chhattisgarh
State. An underground communist militia group
recently kidnapped him because they suspected he was a police informant.
He was taken to a remote jungle location where the
kidnappers interrogated him and beat him for days. They refused to believe his
claim that he was a pastor ministering
to the poor.
Things came to a
head when the group threatened to kill him within 24 h ours unless he
could prove he wasn't a police informant. Sudeep says he fell to his knees pleading for
mercy.
It was then that a rebel noticed the corner of his address
book peeking out from a pocket. The
little black book contained the contact information of several Christian
ministries, including Mission India's
office in India, which proved his claims.
The group then made good their word and returned Sudeep to
his village before sunrise. As he stumbled home, he was greeted with by his
family, who had frantically searched for him for over a week.
Sudeep says it was only because of his ministry work that
his life was spared. He is now more determined than ever to preaching the
Gospel. Click here if you want to help
by prayer or supporting the work of pastors in India.
