Share the Gospel, Leave the Results to God

My friend Sunita (not her real name) in India likes to ask me spiritual questions like “What are demons?”, “How powerful are angels and demons?”, “Who is Satan?”, and others. I have been answering her questions in accordance with the Bible for months. During that time, I felt like God led me to talk to her about her salvation. I also felt like God was preparing her heart, too. I was finally able to speak to her about her salvation. I told her how I felt a strong leading to talk with her about Jesus and how He died for her sins. She was very open and receptive.

While witnessing to Sunita, I partly followed the plan of salvation from the textbook. I started by stating how sinful the world around us is and how nobody is perfect by quoting Romans 3:10. I continued by quoting Romans 6:23, that the wages of sin is death, and it is inevitable unless we accept God’s gift of salvation by accepting Jesus Christ. I told her she did not have to walk a hundred times around the church nor perform rituals to accept Christ. I let her understand how easy God made it for us to accept Him—through repentance and faith in Christ; I quoted Acts 20:20–21. I asked her if she would like to pray to accept Christ. She hesitated at first. Hence, I explained how important it was for her to make the decision right then because tomorrow is not in our hands but in God’s. She said she would like to pray. Therefore, she repeated the sinners’ prayer after me. She thanked me, but she later texted me that she still needs time to sort her mind and heart as her parents might disown her.

The next morning, Sunita texted me that she does not have the courage to surrender her life to Jesus and go against her parents in her house as well as in her heart. She said, “I cannot disobey my parents in my heart even if I just pretend to be my old religion on the outside.” Unfortunately, she fell back on her decision. I encouraged her, however, to continue to think how important it is to live life the only right way and how important it is to recognize that there is life even after death and that it is up to her where she ends up—Heaven or Hell.

A boy named Rishi (not his real name) was my classmate in high school. I saw him and his father in a local prayer meeting where my dad was preaching. Later that night, my dad told me that Rishi’s dad is a Christian. So, I assumed that his family was Christian. Rishi posted a picture of his religion’s god on Instagram. I was shocked to see that, so I immediately texted him. He explained that his parents are Christians, but he is not. I asked him the story behind it. He said that his parents were initially another religion, too.

When Rishi was born, he was in critical condition and very close to death. Somebody told Rishi’s parents about Jesus. When they heard about Jesus, they prayed that if Rishi lived, they would surrender their lives to Jesus no matter what their other family members said. God was faithful to them, even when they were not completely Christian. God blessed their faith and made Rishi live. Hence, Rishi’s parents stood by their vow of coming to Christ against their family’s wishes.

I was amazed by hearing that and asked him why he did not want to be a Christian when his parents are. He said he did not want to be a Christian because, since he was a little child, his parents did not let him visit temples while his cousins hung out at the temples. Now, he has wants to marry his second cousin, who is another religion and whose family (Rishi’s extended family) is, too. At first, I was speechless about how ridiculous it was to choose hell over God just for a girl, but I realized he might not know that. So, I talked about how cruel hell is, as

mentioned in Luke 16:19–31. I told him nothing, not even his girlfriend, is worth him going to hell. I also told him how he was the living testimony of his parents’ faith. I told him that God has a purpose for his life. I told him that God saved him so that he could know his Savior better, not for him to reject his Creator.

With all the texting and calling back and forth, his girlfriend took over his Instagram and texted me, saying that I should stop talking to him about spiritual things and that their life and religion “is perfect for them to have a happy life.” She accused me of being in a “trance.” I tried not to be rude and explained to her that I was only talking to him as a friend. Later, I was able to text him. It seemed like he was not ready to surrender his life to Jesus, so I encouraged him to see things clearly without letting his girlfriend influence his decisions.