Shibu Thomas, founder of Persecution Relief, addressed the Church in Chains Supporters Day in Dublin and challenged delegates to remember to pray for those who are persecuting Christians in India.

“Thank you on behalf of the persecuted saints in India. I bring greetings. God has chosen me to be an ambassador for people who are in chains in India and it’s an honour and privilege to represent them here in Ireland. Persecution Relief’s mission is to provide comprehensive support to the persecuted church in India by linking it with the free church of the world. And the basic reason of doing that is to get your valuable prayers so that the people of God can finish the race that the Lord has called them to.

Pray for the persecutors

“If you have not started praying for the persecutors this is the right time to pray for the persecutors because the Lord has very specifically told me that in the end days, these persecutors are the people who are going to take the baton [of the Gospel message] ahead in India. Would you mind raising up your hands? The people who are praying for the persecutors, would you mind raising up your hand? If it’s 50% right now I need after the meeting it should be 100% – you need to pray for them because God has asked us to unconditionally love them. We can’t go and hate them… because God said pray for them, God said love them unconditionally. So that’s why the motto that the Lord has given me for Persecution Relief is “serving persecuted and loving persecutors”.

“The Lord called me for this ministry ten years back and God gave us the privilege to handle around 5,000 persecution cases in the last ten years and God has given me the privilege to handle every case of my own directly talking to all these people. So I really know the pulse of the people who are persecuted back in India. There is fear which is gripping. I need your prayers that people may end up strong and courageous not withdrawing from the call that the Lord has put on them because it’s obvious when you face trials and tribulations in your life you tend to pause for a while and after that you tend to withdraw.”

“So definitely your prayers can push people to reach the destination that the Lord has called them to. Everybody sitting here has a purpose to fulfil on this earth… and I thank God for all your contribution towards the church back in India. India has never faced a situation like this in the last 78 years of Indian independence. This is the time where maximum number of Christians are in the jails.

“Let the will of the Lord be done”

“I would like to share a couple of stories of what is happening inside the jail. There is a common thought process with a believer that as soon as somebody goes into the jail, the first thing we would like to pray and bring them out of the jail as soon as possible. But I understood from the scriptures that God does everything with a purpose. No father will take the children through trials and tribulation until and unless the father knows that whatever correction he’s doing right now will bring change to that child in the future and the father knows that the same way God does everything beautiful in his time. We have no right to question him that he does everything perfectly. And the common thing is that when people go to jail, we start praying God release them, release them, release them, release them. But I have stopped. I have asked the congregation back in India not to pray on those terms. Let the will of the Lord be done. Not our will but the will of the Lord should be done even if they go to jail.

Shibu told a number of stories about Christians being persecuted in India. He also told a story from a jail in Uttar Pradesh state (the state in India with the largest population and which also has the highest number of persecution incidents of Christians). A Hindu man named Danesh was in prison serving a 14-year sentence for murder though he had pleaded his innocence. He had served seven years and was very depressed and decided to commit suicide. On the night that he planned to take his own life, a pastor named Balam was put in the jail.

“As soon as Balam walked into the jail, the first man he saw was Denesh and Balam walked up to him and said, ‘Why do you look so troubled? What is your problem?’ He opened up and he said, ‘I’m going to end my life today. I have been in jail without of any fault of mine. I have already served seven years and I have another seven years and I can’t take it because I did not do any crime and I am here in the jail.’ Balam consoled him and shared the gospel with him and he got a hope and he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal saviour that evening. A month later Balam was released from the jail and after two months, on Indian Independence day, Danesh was released from all charges by the government. He came straight to Balam’s church and he got baptised and let me tell you 61 people from his family got baptised and became the members of Balam’s church.

“You are the light of the world”

“I tell to the pastors when they go to the jail, you are the light of the world. The city on the hill cannot be hidden. You are the salt of the earth. If the salt loses its saltiness, it is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men. So when you walk into a jail premises which is in darkness and the devil has dominion over there you carry the light of Jesus into that jail and when the light shines the darkness disappears and that is what is happening in the jails in India where all these hardcore criminals have started accepting Jesus one after the other. That’s the joy we have when the people of God go anywhere.

“If you are persecuted for Christ’s sake, there is an another part for where the kingdom of God is benefiting in some or the other way. Let me give that good news to you. You don’t be discouraged when you pray. Be strong and pray continuously that people should not fall back but they should walk forward.

“Even though in India by these laws [anti-conversion laws] the pressure building on the Christians is great so we need to pray for them to stand strong. So don’t pray to stop persecution. It is not biblical to pray to stop persecution. There is nowhere in the scripture written that you have to pray to stop persecution. Jesus tells us that if I was persecuted I being the master you will definitely be persecuted. That is what the Bible tells us and it also tells us blessed are you when people persecute you. Blessed are you for yours is the kingdom of God.

“Thank you very much for praying for India and your prayers have done a great deal of help as far as India is concerned. I am not very keen in partnering with international organisations as I always had a desire that Indian people should be in the front to help those Indian people. But I thank God for David and the board of Church in Chains for standing with the persecuted church in India.

“Continue praying for India. Continue praying for the prime minister. There is great unity among the church because people are fearful because of the persecution that is happening. So everybody needs everybody. So there is a great bonding happening. People are coming together. The denominational barriers are breaking and people are coming together and standing together for the kingdom of God.”

Questions and Answers

In the question and answer session that followed, Shibu dealt with questions  including:

• How do believers keep their hearts from bitterness and fear when they are beaten or everything is taken from them and they feel abandoned by God?
• Has there been any success in challenging the anti-conversion laws in the courts of India?
• Is there protection for Christian property and houses and churches under the law or is it a matter that the all the violence and attacks we hear of come because authorities are turning a blind eye to unjust events happening to Christians?
• When we hear of  thousands of house churches having been closed, how do these Christians meet together? Are they able to meet together at all?

Shibu’s talk and the questions and answers can be viewed on YouTube