A Man, A Miracle, A Village
I hated him because I thought he would change our ways
Lundan lives in a remote village in India surrounded by mountains and forests. A national missionary by the name of Gomango from a nearby coal-mining town had visited the tiny village to tell the community about Jesus. Lundan and the others had never heard the Gospel before and didn’t like this new faith, so different from their own Hindu ways. They chased Gomango away but he promised to return. Lundan waited patiently for the next visit. He wanted nothing to do with Jesus and had decided to kill Gomango the next time he saw him. “I hated him because I thought he would change our ways” Lundan explained. “I thought I could kill him and no one would know.” Lundan suffered from a severe skin disease. The doctors at the best hospital in the state could do nothing. Local witch doctors sacrificed animals and chanted over him, but he remained sick. All of his savings went into finding a cure but there was none. When Gomango returned to the village, Lundan was too sick to go through with his plan to kill him. “My skin had grown as thick and rough as that of a water buffalo, and I was very itchy. I had to go to the doctor to get some pain relief,” he said. Gomango told Lundan to pray to Jesus but he refused. Instead, he set out to see the doctor in another town, but the missionary’s words stuck with him. He said the only prayer he knew, over and over again, “In Jesus’ name I pray, In Jesus’ name I pray.” When he reached the next town, the doctor could only offer a shot to relieve his pain, but Lundan stated with confidence that Jesus would heal him and on the walk back to the village he repeated Jesus’ name. The next morning, he was completely healed! The rash was gone and with it all the pain he had endured over his lifetime. “I put my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as soon as I saw what he had done for me,” Lundan said. His entire household turned to Jesus shortly after. Today, a group of 70 believers meets at the top of the forested mountain. Lundan plays the drum when they sing songs of praise to Jesus. A church will be built on land Lundan donated.
God’s promise in Isaiah 42:16 is this: I will lead the blind by a way they do not know, in paths they do not know I will guide them. I will make darkness into light before them, and rugged places into plains. These are the things I will do and I will not leave them undone.
Lundan lived in darkness, blind to the things of God, but he was never forgotten. The Lord brought the light of the Gospel and not only transformed Lundan, but also a remote village, unseen by the rest of the world, in India.
