By Elijah Challenge Coordinator Hanok Masih
June 2012
From Wikipedia: Haridwar is an important pilgrimage city and municipality in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, India. The River Ganges, after flowing for 253 kilometres (157 mi) from its source at Gaumukh at the edge of the Gangotri Glacier, enters the Indo-Gangetic Plains of North India for the first time at Haridwar, which gave the city its ancient name, Gangadwára.
Haridwar is regarded as one of the seven holiest places to Hindus. According to the Samudra manthan, Haridwar along with Ujjain, Nasik and Allahabad is one of four sites where drops of Amrit, the elixir of immortality, accidentally spilled over from the pitcher while being carried by the celestial bird Garuda. This is manifested in the Kumbha Mela being celebrated every 3 years in one of the 4 places, and thus every 12 years in Haridwar. Amidst the Kumbha Mela, millions of pilgrims, devotees, and tourists congregate in Haridwar to perform ritualistic bathing on the banks of the river Ganges to wash away their sins to attain Moksha. Brahma Kund, the spot where the Amrit fell, is located at Har ki Pauri (literally, “footsteps of the Lord”) and is considered to be the most sacred ghat of Haridwar.
From Elijah Challenge Coordinator Hanok Masih: “Our June Feeding Event was conducted in Kankar Grah, 14 km from Haridwar City in the state of Uttarakhand. When our organizer went into this village he found not a single soul who knew the name of Jesus. In fact, when you enter this village you will read an inscription “land of the gods”.
Prayerfully we entered the village. We were not allowed to use a microphone. When we started singing people started to pour in and the tent began to fill up with a few standing outside the tent. As Brother Simon started to preach, the children began to cry. Without a microphone preaching was difficult. When he rebuked the spirit of disturbance, it entered the dogs. I had never seen anything like this before. Then he cast the demons out of the dogs and the dogs sat down in silence.
Then the gospel was preached, and 80-plus souls believed in the Lord. The next evening another 200-plus people came to hear the gospel. The people outside the tent started murmuring, “we have our gods also” but the people inside rebuked them, saying if you don’t want to hear you can go but please let us listen. This time Simon was leading the people in a salvation prayer. As they confessed Jesus as their Lord and Savior, evil spirits began to come out. One them shouted, “I have been here for 12 years, please don’t send me out!” Upon hearing this the people outside came in and asked me if they could bring their sick and demonized. I didn’t count how many people came but we ministered to them until 1 AM in the morning.
Forty people were baptized in the Ganges River. Glory to God!
Feeding the villagers afterwards
Simon Haqq sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ earlier in the evening