Johan Barjo was a witchdoctor who lived in the Bihar village of Bearakasai (India). With the evil power he received from the demons he worshipped, he was able to heal people from many diseases, and thus became quite popular. It was from this business he made by healing sick people, that he supported his family.

Johan sent his son Bernabas to a Christian boarding school in the neighboring state of Orissa. When Bernabas was in eighth class and home for vacation, his father took him to the Hindu shrine to worship. As Bernabus was standing in front of the statue, he remembered what he had heard from the Bible while in school- that it was wrong to worship idols. So he asked his father about the statue, and where it came from.

His father told him that this was their god, and that he had made the idol himself. Then Bernabus told his father about the living God and His son Jesus he had heard about in school. Johan was struck by the truth in his son’s words, and then and there decided to believe in Jesus.

The next day one of his friends asked Johan, "Why you are not going for worship today?" He replied, "I have left worshipping idols, and acknowledge Jesus Christ as the living and only true God. Now I only worship Him." This angered his friend, who quickly spread the word through the village that Johan’s family was now Christian. The villagers became very hostile, and plotted against them. One night they came with petrol and set fire to the Barjo home. The family all escaped, but everything they owned was destroyed. They continued to share the gospel with their neighbors, and little by little others in the village believed in Jesus, including some of those who set fire to their home.

Now Bernabus is 21 and working as an evangelist in north India. He asks for prayer for himself and his family as they continue to share the gospel with their countrymen

 

From: http://www.sowers.org/

 

 

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