He discovered the God who hears our prayers
Kamal lay in the hospital bed hugging his stomach. The doctors did not know why he was in such torturous pain.
Christian workers from an ANM partner were walking down the hall, when they heard deep groans coming from one of the rooms. They walked in and found Kamal. The men offered to pray for him and said God could heal him.
In the midst of his agony, Kamal sarcastically laughed out loud and said, “Gods can’t help. They never answer prayer!”
Where it All Began
Kamal grew up in an Asian Hindu family. He loved the millions of Hindu deities and devoted his life to serving them by becoming a priest. He prayed and counseled his followers, performed rituals and ceremonies, and provided religious instruction. He visited hospitals and prayed for the sick and dying. And he followed strict rules regarding purity.
Although he prayed for and blessed others every day, he saw no answers and he had no peace or joy in his own heart. Prayer to his gods was completely one-sided—none ever answered. His calling became a mere job.
To ease his frustration and discontent, he began drinking alcohol.
He remembers, “During the day I did my priestly duties, and at night I consumed liquor in ever-increasing amounts. I started going to bars and drank openly. When I was intoxicated, I used to abuse others and get into fights. I became known as ‘the Drunken Priest.’”
Kamal lost respect and his job. His wife cried out to their gods, but they didn’t answer her either. When his stomach pain became unbearable, he ended up in the hospital.
Now, these men were trying to tell him there was a God named Jesus who could heal him. He had never heard of Jesus and had never prayed to Him. He wasn’t interested, but because they spoke to him with such love, Kamal allowed them to pray.
“The moment they lifted up their voices to heaven, I felt as if the Almighty God Himself was listening. It was comforting and soothing, and I could feel the power of God reducing my pain. After prayer, we continued to talk about Jesus, and the next thing I knew I was completely healed,” Kamal testified.
Where it Led Him
The miracle of that day convinced Kamal that Jesus could speak, heal, cleanse, and save — even a drunken priest. He accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. When his wife, son and daughter saw the change in him upon his return from the hospital, they also gave their hearts to Christ. The family were all baptized, and Kamal became an evangelist and pastor.
But he didn’t have a Bible!
Kamal contacted his new friends who had led him to the Lord. They are part of an ANM partner ministry that has ministered to Asian Christians for over 30 years. One of their many projects is providing pioneer Asian evangelists with the word of God. Last year alone they printed 98,707 Bibles in 32 different languages for Asian missionaries. Through them, Kamal got Bibles and booklets of the Gospel of Mark to share with others..
With gratitude he wrote, “I carried hundreds of Mark’s Gospel to 30 Hindu villages and distributed them to people one by one. This has helped me start prayer groups, baptize new believers, and watch the power of scripture change lives.”
Kamal now leads a church with 98 families.
