“But God is with us”

“Christians are like bed bugs, who hide under the guise of so-called missionary work and drink the blood of innocent vulnerable people, and bed bugs should be killed ...” According to World magazine, these words were spoken at a February 2011 Hindu nationalist event in India attended by an estimated two million people. Volunteers distributed literature calling on Christians to convert to Hinduism. Attacks against Christians continue in India. In 2010, more than 159 Christians were attacked in 11 Indian states. The heaviest persecution occurred in Karnataka state, which accounted for 59 of the 159 attacks, according to VOM contacts. In June 2011, there were attacks against Christians and churches in at least five Indians states.

2011 attacks in Odisha state (formerly Orissa) added to the suffering of Christians who are still struggling to recover from the 2008 riots, which affected more than 310 villages. Radical Hindus burned 4104 homes, displaced about 50,000 people, injured more than 18,000 and killed about 100 people. The devastating attacks left dozens of widows. Since the attacks, many Christians in Odisha state are still living in makeshift tent communities and are struggling to provide basic essentials for their families.

Voice of the Martyrs Australia has been helping Odisha pastors, widows and their families, many of whom are still living in refugee camps nearly three years after the violence erupted. Gasurama Prodhan, the woman pictured above, is a 26-year-old mother of three living in a refugee camp in Kandhamal district, Odisha. 'My husband was a pastor, and he was serving the Lord. That's why he was killed. I found out about his death because people witnessed it. They dragged him out of the house and killed him. 'I still have fear... but God is with us, so He is leading us day by day. Because of His blessings we are surviving and still worshipping Him. Please pray that peace would be restored in Kandhamal, that people will know Jesus and that we will not be shaken in our faith.'  

Throughout India, thousands of Christians like Gasurama live in fear — fear of arrest, imprisonment, attack and even death. But their fear is overshadowed by their faith in Jesus Christ and a commitment to spread the Gospel in a country that has become increasingly hostile to Christians. Another widow, Asmita Digal (25), is now training at a college run by Christians. 'My children and I ran to the forest when they came,' she said. 'But my husband stayed. They burst into my house, poured gasoline on my motherin- law and set the house ablaze. 'They dragged my husband out of the house to a spot near a river bridge. A Hindu boy told me later that they dug a shallow grave and asked for my husband to renounce Jesus. When he refused, they began breaking his fingers and then his arms and legs. Each time they asked him to renounce Christ, but he said, 'I will not forsake my Lord Jesus Christ.' They put a Bible on top of him and buried him alive.  

'I cannot go back home; I still have no home. But God is alive, and I am surviving only through Him. He gives me strength to overcome all situations, and I just ask for prayer that I can make a safe home for my children. Whenever I am lonely and I remember my husband, I become distraught, but through prayers I am comforted. I just want my story to be a testimony to the love of Christ.'