A very powerful testimony of a young man. No one tried to convert him, it was his own personal experience that drew him to Christ. It is the power of God that called him and the Holy Spirit converted him, the winds of God were calling him!
Early Days I was born in Assam, a state in North East India, famous for its bright green tea gardens and the heaviest rainfall in India. I am from Tinsukia, a beautiful city in Assam, landscaped with tea gardens and our own house is surrounded by tea gardens, our compound fringed with shrubs and flowers, the scent of jasmine and other wonderfully scented flowers. I grew up in a very religious rigid atmosphere of Hinduism, of a family who are Hindu priests. I have a large family of seven members, my parents, three brothers and one sister. Sadly, one of my elder brother died in 2010 while the other two are doing business. As I was born in a devout Hindu Brahman family, I had all the privileges and rights to learn and practice my Brahmanism. I had a happy and prosperous early life because of my parents, who were wealthy, influential people and I did good works with the goal of achieving my salvation, and I always obeyed my parents in every aspect of my life.
Vigorous Training In the Crafts My family members are very staunch Hindu Brahmins, dedicating their lives to worship and evoke favour from their gods, delving deep into Hindu white magic, black magic, tantrism, which are Hindu ritual practices to channel the divine energy of the godhead to tap into the spirit world with an aim to attain salvation and powers to do magic. I remember our house was always thick with the scent of sweet incense with many, many idols of different gods. We were always worshiping them, lighting up diyas (little oil lights). There was great reverence and worship in the pooja room when pundits would also come home, droning chants and muttering incantations of greater powers to protect and bless our lives and they practiced the arts of magic, both black and white. It was my parents’ hope that I would take over as a pundit and thus, I was led through an intense training season, learning the secrets of white magic, after which perhaps I was going to learn even black magic. These are the pathways which lead to the depths of witchcraft and wizardry with a seemingly good intention to help people heal from illnesses, send serpents to attack enemies, or even cause death to people if such people are considered to be a hindrance. Our training was vigorous and I had learned the secrets of attaining powers within me to hurt others, heal, and even getting supernatural physical strength, which I knew was from a power beyond me because naturally, I never had that strength and I gained high spiritual powers. The pundits even embedded pin-like objects within my flesh to protect me from evil. I felt I was infallible and could never be harmed. During those times, as I was going through that intense training, I had developed an intense hatred and dislike for Christianity and Christians. I thought Christianity was an inferior religion that had infiltrated into India through the West, a powerless, substance-less religion where the Christians were just the “white man’s followers who had become Christians to gain material favours or benefits. I thought Christianity was a “white man’s religion” and very alien to Indian culture and ethics and religiosity.
A Soul Search During this time, though I felt I was attaining higher levels in my Hindu practices, I still started to feel an emptiness in one area. I struggled with understanding the concept of sin and salvation, (cycle of reincarnation) from our religion because I knew the power of sin was very strong and the cycle of reincarnation seemed an endless circle that would never stop and offered no hope.
An Extraordinary Experience One day, November 7, 2006, one of my classmates who was a Christian called me to attend a Gospel Meeting. I had no idea what a Gospel Meeting was, and certainly, I did not have a clue that it was a Christian meeting or I certainly would have never gone! On that particular day, there was a man called Japhat Tawa. He stood up and started preaching, I was intrigued as he kept speaking, his voice was powerful and soothing and as he preached about the salvation and sin, I got very interested as these were the questions that plagued me even as a Hindu.
After that meeting, I went up and started to speak with Brother Japhat Tawa asking him questions and brainstorming him. He listened to me patiently and then gently explained salvation in Christianity. He told me that salvation was an act of grace of God, not because of how good we are, but because of His great love and mercy to us, so we can never boast in ourselves, as we can never be perfect or sinless ever. Our salvation occurs in our moment of belief on Jesus as our Savior, which is a supernatural rhema, a illumination that God through His Spirit opens our mind to. As Brother Japhat Tawa kept speaking to me, I felt warmth arise in my soul, something deep within which I never experienced before. I knew something was very different and I understood that something wonderful, deep, and peaceful was happening deep within me. I felt this was what I was searching for and I got my answer. I was touched with his explanation concerning the sin and salvation and then he told me how to get salvation through The Lord Jesus Christ. On November 11, 2006, I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and God. After that, I felt very strongly that I wanted to take baptism as a further step to confirm the veracity of my salvation and as a step of obedience to Christ. On January 30, 2007, I was baptized. I felt such peace, freedom and joy in my salvation. I had never felt like this before. I knew Jesus was the Way, The Truth, and The Life. No one could take that away from me. Also, the powers I attained in practicing magic I realized were not from God because God strongly rejects any sorcery or magic so I had made major lifestyle changes and no longer practiced these. Thus in God’s perfect time, He called me to practice true righteousness through Jesus Christ, leaving all my old practices.
Great Changes An amazing thing happened to me after my salvation. The pins or objects that had been embedded in my flesh to control and protect my life seemed to dissolve or disappear after I received my salvation in Christ! It was an exciting moment to discover that because usually such objects embedded within us to protect are the very things that turn against us and harm us if we turn to Christ and renounce our faith in them. But Jesus in His amazing grace took it away! The power of those forces over my life was broken forever and could never return. Once I decided to follow Christ, there was no turning back. Once my family got to know I had become a Christian, they were very upset and asked me many times to renounce my faith in Christ, which I could not because I knew His very Presence and His touch and experienced salvation. My family members were furious when I did not give up following Christ. They not only rejected my faith and beliefs, but they hit me brutally. All my privileges and rights as a family member were taken away from me. I was pronounced as an orphan and they even did an orphan ceremony totally disowning me. I was ostracized from my family and community. I left home on November 28, 2006. I looked sadly back at my home for the last time though it was not really the last time as I thought.
Wonderful Little Miracles and God’s Provisions The day I left home, I left with nothing, but the clothes I was wearing, a blue school uniform. I straightaway went to a pastor I knew. The pastor himself was struggling on a very frugal salary, so financially I could not burden him or anyone. Before, whereas I had plenty of money, I suddenly had to come to terms with the hard cold reality of having no money at all. I started to work for the first time and having never worked before, it was not such a pleasant experience! I worked in a school. One day, the principal of the school called me to the office and shouted something to me, and I did not mind what he was saying because I hardly understood English! Later on I found out he was firing me for wearing the same school uniform everyday! Someone later explained my situation to the principal, who again called me and took me out to the market. He told me to pick out any clothes I liked and to my amazement bought them all for me. He, however, strictly warned me not to tell anyone how I got the new clothes! Likewise, others too were helping in various ways. When I went to Bible College, unknown people paid for my fees, I never got to know who these kind “angels” were. Help came from people who secret quarters who never named themselves or boasted of their giving. I experienced the kindness and love of God from Christian strangers who became brothers and sisters in Christ.
In the month of April 2015, I heard my dad was not well, but I still filled with love for my parents and I wanted to see my dad again being very worried about him. I did miss my mother a lot too. On arriving, my family, especially brothers and uncle were not pleased to see me at all. They rounded me up and violently beat me, this time even more brutally than the last time. They broke my legs and I had chest and head injuries. Some friends managed to help me to escape and admit me to a hospital and even ensured that my family did not come near me or they would have killed me, such was their anger to me, but God in His grace and divine protection saved my life.
Each day is a wonder that I am alive, and consider it worthy of my calling to serve The Lord Jesus Christ. To protect my own life, I have to stay away from home. Though the season of rejection was very physically painful and even more emotionally painful for me, since that time, God’s marvelous grace suddenly started pouring down on me. I experienced His love in greater degrees, His faithfulness, and He has been adding many committed Christians in my life. I count them as a precious blessing from God. Though my family members rejected me as I follow Jesus Christ and serve Him, I experience wonderful joy and peace to walk in the Way and follow the Truth, which gives eternal Life. I have never regretted making the decision to follow the True and Only Living God. I consider it the greatest honor and privilege to know and follow the real life giver living Savior Jesus Christ.
The Call of God To Missions On March 23, 2007, I attended to the Mission Prayer meeting at my Church. That day, they were preaching about who should do the ministry and why should a Christian do ministry? I felt a fresh touch from God and was touched by the preaching. I then made a firm commitment to serve Jesus Christ. Since I was new in my faith, my Church Elders advised me to study the Bible. Then, after recognizing my call, I decided to study the Bible in order that I may know Him better as well as serve Him. Therefore, I went to study a course “Associates of Biblical Studies (ABS)” with BA Degree at India Theological Seminary on 2007 and continued to work with my Christian believer uncle and his team in the field of church planting ministry. As I involved in the ministry field, I had a strong desire, which was from the Lord to know more about God’s Word. So, again I went to study B.Th., at Rehoboth Theological Institute (RTI) on July 2, 2009, which is in Kerala. During my stay at RTI, I understood that God has not only called me for evangelism, but also to work with Christian Literatures and train the lay pastors and leaders for the church of Jesus Christ. Therefore, I decided to study further because I felt I needed to know Christian doctrines in order to handle Truth accurately and proclaim it effectively. Therefore, again I joined to study M. Th program at Asian Christian Academy (ACA), at Hosur, near Bangalore. Now I am continuing with fourth/ final year of M.Th. program. I am happy and have great joy, praying much, seeking His direction to be His instrument in the future. My immediate plan after graduation is to establish a training institute for lay pastors and leaders who do not have basic training and knowledge of God’s life-giving Word. I have been praying and planning to establish an institute in North East India along with local church ministries.
My Prayer Request Most importantly, please pray that I will be faithful to the calling until the end of my life on Earth in the hands of my Master. Please pray that God would make a way for His ministry where I can serve God and witness of His faithfulness and love. Urgently, please pray for my family members’ salvation.
Asmujjal Sonowal is a young man of great faith and his testimony is tested with time. He studied M. Th. program at Asian Christian Academy (ACA), at Hosur, near Bangalore, completed his final year, M.Th. program.. Presently, he is in ministry in Assam. He is married to Heema, who also studied in the same Bible college! They are now blessed with a precious baby girl. Please keep them in prayers.
Rita F. Kurian
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