JESUS APPEARED IN HIS GARDEN IN FRONT OF HIM

Mariamma mentioned a couple from her sister’s church in Karnataka. She said, They were very rich Hindus, totally devoted to their gods. In India there are 300,000,000 gods and goddesses. This couple had thirteen special deities. They travelled long distances to worship and offer sacrifices at temples dedicated to these particular gods. Iyyappa was a special favourite. Over thirty times they’d travelled the long distance to his temple at Sabarimala in Kerala. But Indian roads are difficult and travelling is expensive. One day the husband said, Why are we spending all our time and money traveling these long and winding roads. If we can find out which is the most powerful god then we need only go to that temple.
They agreed to put this question to Ganesh the chubby elephant-headed god, believed to be a god of prophecy. They decided they’d put the names of their gods into a box and allow Ganesh to direct which name they’d pick out. They also agreed the name chosen would be that of the most powerful god and this god only would they serve.  So they took a ceremonial bath and prayed as they wrote the names of their thirteen gods. Just then their little daughter who studied in a Catholic school came home. She joined in.
She said, My teachers told me about a god called Jesus. They said he is a very powerful and a very loving god.
The parents also included this name. So counting Jesus they put fourteen folded names into a box; Rama, Shiva, Krishna, Hanuman, Iyyappa and so on. They then shook the box and reverently placed it beneath their large statue of Ganesh. They asked, Ganesh, please show us which is the most powerful of all these gods. Then the little girl gently put her hand into the box and pulled out a name. The father unfolded the paper. He got a big shock. It was the name of the new god Jesus.
Oh it can’t be, he said.
He refolded the paper, put it back and gave another good shake. Again the child, eyes tightly shut, picked out a name. Her father opened it and again it was the name of Jesus. Once more the whole process was repeated. For the third time the little girl picked the piece of paper with Jesus’s name on it. This was unexpected. They realized something very important had happened but they didn’t know what to do.
One day a friend came to lunch. They told him the story and asked if he knew anything about this new Jesus god. The friend said he didn’t personally know much but he had the address of a man who knew all about the Jesus god. The couple went to visit this man. Turned out he was a Christian. He explained how Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, came into the world to destroy the works of the Devil and to die for the people and how he loves the people.
Shortly afterwards the husband was sitting in his garden. He wanted to pray to Jesus but he didn’t know what to do. He’d no idea what sacrifices to offer. Finally he said, Lord Jesus, please reveal yourself to me. Suddenly, Jesus appeared in the garden walking towards him. Immediately he was filled with the Holy Spirit and began to loudly praise God in a new language he’d never learned. Then just as quickly as he’d appeared Jesus vanished.
The whole household came running when they heard the husband being so loud and noisy. To everyone’s amazement he couldn’t speak in anything else but these strange tongues. This continued the whole day, that night and into the next day. By this time they thought he’d gone mad. They concluded the old gods were punishing him because he’d left them. The wife was in distress. She feared she might have to put him into a mental hospital. But her sorrow quickly turned to joy when her husband reverted to his native language and explained he’d seen Jesus. He told of how beautiful and gentle Jesus was and of how he’d felt such a great love coming from Him. Mariamma said, Now the whole household are all good believers in my sister’s church in Karnataka. The little girl is now a beautiful young woman.

An article by Brendan McCauly

Regards

George