By Kristine Whitnable

A Passage From India to Salvation

The large temple bell tolled to frighten away the evil spirits. Vishnu, the god of the temple, was to be specially honored and there should be no evil spirits to interfere with the ceremony. Ravi had also prepared for the ceremony. In order to be pure for Vishnu, he had bathed and put on clean clothes. Before he entered the temple, he took off his shoes.

Once inside the temple, Ravi saw the large statue adorned with flowers and other ornaments.

The large temple bell tolled to frighten away the evil spirits. Vishnu, the god of the temple, was to be specially honored and there should be no evil spirits to interfere with the ceremony. Ravi had also prepared for the ceremony. In order to be pure for Vishnu, he had bathed and put on clean clothes. Before he entered the temple, he took off his shoes.

Once inside the temple, Ravi saw the large statue adorned with flowers and other ornaments. (The temple had been built to house the statue in which Vishnu is thought to reside.) Ravi smelled the sandalwood incense rising from the sensors. He heard the sound of bells. The air was filled with a multitude of chants, as people beseeched the god of the temple. As a part of the worship ceremony, Ravi walked around the idol three times in a set pattern. Before he left, Ravi took a portion of the food that has been offered to the idol and ate it.

In addition to the temple worship, Ravi’s family had a small altar in their home dedicated to the Hindu deities they believed would protect their family. Here they offered daily sacrifices of food and drink. Even with this constant reminder of Vishnu and other Hindu gods, Ravi really did not give much thought to spiritual matters, except of course when he prayed for a good grade on an exam. But the God of the Bible was interested in him. When Ravi completed his college degree, his family desired to give him a gift to commemorate the occasion. His mother asked him what he wanted. He asked for a cross on a chain. He himself was amazed that he had made such a request, but his parents honored it.

So began his journey toward Christ. Over the next two years God used a number of people and events to teach Ravi who He was. Ravi took a long time to understand that the God of the Bible loved him; that Jehovah was offering him the gift of salvation. God used a variety of people and different event to show Ravi the way to salvation in Jesus Christ.

The learning process began when Ravi came to study in the United States. He moved from the bustle of Coimbatore, a city in south central India, to the bustle of Blacksburg, Virginia where he enrolled at Virginia Polytech. Here he found himself rooming with another young man from India. It wasn’t so different from home. The same smells wafted up from the steaming curry, the same sounds came from the CD player. There was, however, no family altar to a household god. There were no Hindu gods protecting this apartment, only the God of the Bible, calling Ravi to Himself. Ravi was almost too busy to listen that first year. He was going to classes and studying. He even had to work at an outside job just to be able to stay in school.

In the Old Testament, God used heathen nations to draw Israel closer to Himself. In Ravi’s life, He used Ravi’s non-Christian roommate to do the same thing. In the spring, Ravi was asked by his roommate to go to InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s Spring Conference. Ravi accepted. At the conference Ravi learned one important lesson on his way to salvation. He learned a difference between the Hindu gods and the Judeo-Christian God. God was not the fierce and wrathful god he knew from his past, but the loving and caring God presented in the Gospel. Ravi came back from this experience excited by his new knowledge about God. But the cares of studying engineering overtook his spiritual excitement. He did not spend too much time thinking about spiritual matters.

But God was still pursuing Ravi. The following fall his roommate was again instrumental in Ravi’s learning who God is. His roommate asked Ravi to join InterVarsity’s Indian Christian Fellowship (ICF) at Virginia Polytech. Ravi was still busy, but decided that he needed some social activities. So he went. At the ICF he met five or six other Indian students. They shared and sang and prayed. God was continuing to pull Ravi to Himself. Ravi was encouraged to think about God, to ponder what he knew about Him.

A year passed. Spring came again and with it the InterVarsity Spring Conference. Again Ravi heard the Word of God. God spoke to Him so intensely that he returned to campus in a greatly troubled state. God was loving and yet holy. Ravi wanted to respond to that love, but he felt so undeserving, so morally impure. He could see the pure goodness of God and the pure sinfulness of his life. The contrast was too great. In the midst of this turmoil, the students in the Indian Christian Fellowship (ICF) at Virginia Polytech showed Ravi what the Bible said in Jeremiah 29:11, “‘For I know the plans I have for you’, declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” With this comforting thought, Ravi, though still troubled, read further. In Jeremiah 29: 13 the LORD said, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” Ravi in his troubled state beseeched God to make Himself known. In answer to His promise, God sent Katie Rawson, the area International Student InterVarsity staff member, to Ravi. She explained that salvation is a gift. Ravi was sure that he would need to be pure in order to accept this gift. Katie assured him that this was not the case. The death of Christ on the cross had paid the price for his impurity, allowing him to accept the gift of God’s salvation. With this, the Spirit of God opened Ravi’s eyes, and he accepted the free gift of God’s salvation. The long journey to salvation, to reconciliation with God, was over.

In the year since becoming a Christian, Ravi has committed himself to growing in the Lord. He has tithed his time, spending nearly two and a half hours a day studying the Bible and praying. The Lord has honored this investment, giving Ravi spiritual maturity and courage. He will be returning to India in a couple of weeks. His family still worships Vishnu. The religious culture into which he is going is still not congenial toward Christians. But he is returning to India as a messenger of God’s Good News to those he will meet there.

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