But, truth be told, the streets of India are filled with dead people. With the number of Christians in India at only 5% or so of the 1.5 billion people in the whole country, statistically, almost every single person you see in India is spiritually dead in unbelief.
The Time of Grace for the two motorcyclists had come to an end. While we don't know what their spiritual condition was, we can make an educated guess. But it need not be so. The apostle declares that, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation." -- 2 Cor 5:19.
More than a billion people are walking around India on the broad path that leads to destruction, some of them only moments away from that. We have the Word that can bring them to life and reconcile them to God through faith in Christ Jesus. Some of them can't wait another day, because they don't have another. Truly, for them, "...now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." -- 2 Cor 6:2.
How do you preach the Gospel to a billion and a half people? The same way that you eat an elephant, one bite at a time. The Christians in India are the people who stand between them and Hell. We and our Indian brothers and sisters in the faith have the words of reconciliation. And we are together working at eating that Indian elephant one bite at a time through programs like the Mission Helper Program, Project Kinship, and the various other ministries of the Word in the BELC and the CLCI.
The members of the teams for Mission Helper 2016 have spent the last two weeks taking bites of the elephant, bringing the Gospel to the villages of Southern India. Hopefully, through our preaching and teaching of God's Word, we are leaving behind a few more living souls than there were when we arrived, as we trust our faithful God who says that, "...as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." --Is 55:10f.
As we prepare to leave, our BELC and CLCI hosts and Missionary Evensen remain behind, continuing the work, one dead soul at a time. And our work, and yours, continues as well. Pray that God the Holy Spirit would bring those souls to life through His Word that they share.
Our prayer is that God would also lead you to consider coming over and take a few bites of the Indian elephant yourself. By the Grace of God, perhaps there will come a day when we no longer walk down India's streets and see dead men walking, but rather, souls living in the peace of Christ.
-- Pastor Joel Fleischer
