About 70 miles from Mumbai is the small town called Khopoli in India. Here is an abandoned house rented for Church Use every Sunday. No water or electricity. Never mind as I preached here. After the message while resting I spoke to Sardana (Sardana means “ever joyful”). And he told me this true story. And this story was spoken in the Indian tongue & translated to me in English by Rev. Chandrashekar Eda.
Sardana lived with his father and brothers in one of the many thousands of small villages scattered throughout the dark Indian continent. One day the monsoon storm blown off the roof rafters of his family hut. So they repaired it in quick time.
“That night,” he said,”A spirit came down from the rafter and oppressed his father”. His father was oppressed night after night as he was unable to sleep. And eventually his father died from weakness and exhaustion. After that the oppressing spirit came upon his brother and did the same to him until his brother, too, died.
And then it was Sardana’s turn. Night after night he felt something “sitting” on him. Sardana worked as a stone mason in the day and it was tiring work. So he needed rest at night. And with the relentless oppression night after night it was a dead end. Seeing the death of his father and brother he decided to flee from his village to Khopoli – many miles away.
He thought he was safe. But alas! when he slept at night even in a new place far from his village he was again oppresses night after night. He was in deep despair with no way out! Of course he sought his gods, but to no avail. Then one day he received a gospel tract from Rev Chandrashekar Eda, with the Church address. (Note: Rev. Chandrashekar Eda is known to give out gospel tracts in the slums of Baiganwadi & Dharavi even in the monsoon season when the mud is knee deep!) And Sardana attended the Sunday Service and got saved! Praise God for His deliverance.
He was delivered from demonic oppression finally! Then he returned to his village at midnight and shouted, “Satan, where are you!!?” in great boldness. And in the village was a very sick woman. Sardana took some water and put it on her face and prayed fervently for her; and she was healed.
Such is the deliverance for Brother Sardana that he gave up his full time job as a stone mason and serve God for very little pay. He was full of zeal for the LORD.
After returning to Malaysia some years later, I read that Sardana died as a martyr from the persecution in India.