All posts tagged: Nepal

Nepal: Do they have COVID too?

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Do you believe something? Are you religious in any way? How are you holding on to your faith in this COVID time? Most religions do not fit with COVID restrictions. We have a neighbor who goes to church more than us. I go to church online, and I have been watching services on the Internet for a long time now. We have COVID restrictions, where we live, and they make it hard to attend church services. I miss those services, and the other people in the church. Our neighbor is a lady who goes to a church, somewhere. I don’t know the church, but she is a friend. I was embarrassed sometimes, when I talked to her because she kept going to her church, on Sundays. A few days ago I asked her about her church, and she told me she couldn’t go there anymore. She hadn’t gone to church for three weeks because of a COVID outbreak in the congregation. We are struggling here, but imagine living in a country like Nepal, in Asia. …

Jail time for praying about a virus

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So, how are you coping with the lockdown for the Corona virus or COVID-19? Whatever name we give to the virus, the effect is the same. A virus can make us sick, and possibly kill us, and spread to others. We know that. The other effect, is to destroy society. Have you noticed the list of corporations that are now in bankruptcy? This morning I heard about Hertz, the company that rents cars. We may not think about them unless we work for them, but did you ever imagine a world where so many big corporate names would disappear? The world is changing around us, in this pandemic. Some of the changes are made by us. The pandemic itself is terrible in some places, or just a temporary disruption, depending on how people managed the crisis. History will judge us all. One other problem, is the blame aimed at people who break the rules. I live in a place where the restrictions are not too extreme. If I don’t like the line ups when I …

Nepal Credit: Roberto Saltori/Flickr/Creative Commons

Nepal court sentenced Christians to prison for ‘withcraft’

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A court in Nepal has found four Christians guilty of ‘witchcraft’ and ‘violence’ and sentenced them to five years imprisonment. According to World Watch Monitor, the crime the Christians committed was ministering to Seti Pariyar who had been sent to a prayer meeting in June last year by her father-in-law who thought Seti might be possessed by demons. Seti, who struggled with some type of mental illness, attended the prayer meeting, but left early fleeing into a nearby forest. After the prayer meeting ended, members of the church found Seti screaming in the forest and self harming. After praying for her, the group took the woman to her home. A few weeks later, a local businessman shared the incident with the local media who wrote a story on what took place at the church. When news of this came to light, a local resident filed a complaint with the police on the incident, who arrested five Christians and accused them of trying to convert Seti to Christianity. They also accused them of practicing ‘witchcraft’ and …

Busy street in Kathmandu, Nepal. Photo: Ben Ward/Flickr/Creative Commons

Power of God impacts High Caste Hindu priest

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Kosh Dahal was not only a Hindu priest living in Kathmandu, Nepal, he was also was part of the privileged high caste. There are four official castes or classes in the Hindu religion — Brahmins, Kshatriyas,Vaishyas and Shudras. There is a fifth group, not included, which is the lowest of the low — the Dalits often called the untouchables. As a Brahmins, Dahal lived a life of privilege as a veterinarian living in Kathmandu. So when a Christian evangelist approached Dahal with the Gospel, he was not interested because he perceived Christianity as a lower caste religion. Christianity has made major inroads among Indians particularly the Dalits. In his testimony reported on God Reports, Dahal initially put the Christian off, but the man kept coming back. He was taking a great risk doing so because it is illegal to proselytize in Nepal. Finally, in frustration Dahal threw out a challenge stating he would pray 20 minutes to this Jesus each day, ten minutes in the morning and again in the evening, asking this Christian God …

Buddhist prayer Stupa in Nepal. Photo: Alvin Wong/Flickr

The Holy Spirit shows up at a Buddhist temple in Nepal

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Workers with the Ekballo Project, a ministry dedicated to mobilizing churches and students and sending them to the  un-reached parts of the world, visited a Buddhist Temple in Nepal in July. Tyler Connell along with seven other members were in Jhong, a Tibetan village high in the Himalayan mountains. They were in Nepal to deliver Bibles and share the gospel. Tyler shared this intriguing testimony on how the Holy Spirit invaded a Buddhist temple. When they arrived at the isolated village the group prayed for the Holy Spirit’s guidance and split into two groups. Tyler’s group headed up the mountain to the highest point of Jhong where they could see some ancient ruins. As they made their way up, a Buddhist monk named Jems met the group. The monks at the local temple were aware of the foreign visitors. Since it was a rare occurrence in their village, they sent Jems, who spoke perfect English, to greet the group. Jems invited them to visit their monastery where they were introduced to a man described as …

Three Sadhus in Kathmandu, Nepal. The author notes they were not the strictist observers. Photo Markus Koljonen/Wikipedia

The Apostle of the bleeding feet

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Sundar Singh (1889-1929?) was born into a Sikh family in Rampur, Ktaania, Ludhiana (Punjab state), Northern India. Common in this part of India, Sikhs differ from Hindus in that they believe there is only one God and they don’t accept Hindu’s caste system. The fifth largest religion in the world, Sikhs are often confused with Muslims because the men traditionally wear turbans. Though Sundar’s mother desired her son to be a Sadhu or Sikh holy man and sent her son to a guru to be trained as a Sadhu, she also wanted her son to learn English and sent him to a Christian school. After his mother died, Sundar, then 14, became very angry and began to take out his frustration on Christians. He not only mocked them but once in a fit of anger burnt a Bible page by page in front of his friends. His anger and frustration boiled over and he contemplated suicide by throwing himself in front of a train. After praying that the “true God” would reveal Himself, Jesus appeared …