Fugitive for Christ
| John Berlin (FMPB) with FoL
| Police chase, arrest warrant, running, hiding, underground... SILENCE!
| ...separated from wife and kids, what made a young man face such consequences when in good faith he stepped out for God to a mission field? A window to what goes on in the life of many missionaries in India...a true story!
|  Born in Seynamvilai, a small village near Kanyakumari, in South India, John Berlin grew in an orthodox Christian family. Though religiosity played the trick of holier-than-thou attitude in John’s life, he never experienced true peace in life. After his graduation, he grew more restless in life. Questions about who he was and where he came from and where he was heading to, bothered him. Day after day he sought for answers which only left him frustrated and empty. The vacuum in his heart grew larger as days progressed. Summer 1985, his teacher gave him a Tamil version of Robert De Manley’s book on the second coming of Jesus Christ. This book answered his quest for meaning in life. This eventually led him to make a personal commitment to receive Jesus as his personal Saviour. Further quest followed, ‘What must I have to do with life?’
In the year 1987, John finished his graduation and was preparing to go further with his post graduation. His childhood dream to become an auditor was on the threshold of becoming a reality. But his dreams came down crushing when he failed to secure an admission into Master’s degree in Commerce. It was during this time that an Indian Evangelical Mission (IEM) missionary, Justus Sathya Singh visited his church and challenged the about the missionary work in North India and the desperate need for young missionaries. This set young John’s heart for missions. Further his challenge was strengthened in a Friends’ Missionary Prayer Band (FMPB) prayer group. This is where John’s heart caught the fire for missions to his already ignited spark by the IEM missionary. | Just when John was contemplating northern India missions, his cousin brought him an offer from a reputed audit firm, which could help him realize his dream to become a Chartered Accountant. With the new proposal John ended up at a split road; to go with the audit firm and realize his childhood dream or make a decision for north India and live the rest of his life in obscurity in some remote place on a mission field? Wise counsel has two sides of life in the future. John being the last of six children, was a pampered child and his parents dreaded sending John to an unknown world of North India missions. They insisted that he pursued his career to become what he always wanted and what they always dreamt for their youngest son. Every thought about joining the audit firm though seemed logically good, the burden for the perishing souls in India only grew stronger.
After much prayer John finally decided to go for the missionary work. June of 1987, John joined FMPB as a trainee in Salem. His parents who opposed his going, within a month’s time wrote a letter that they were comforted with divine comfort about his decision and promised to stand with him in his calling. This gave him a sign from God that his decision was in line with His will. In 1998, John joined a six months training to learn Hindi in Allahbad. Life in his new found calling was not easy. He faced acute crises many of them trying and desperately depressing. But in all these things prayer and scriptures comforted him. Time and again God proved faithfull. It was during his training when the funds to the organization were little and sometimes delayed, John with his friends began to face what was called ‘crises for food.’ As an adjustment they would survive on the minimum atta,(flour) and for curry would gather odd edible leaves from the nearby fields. The locals who saw this began to make fun of them saying, ‘These Madrasis (a nick name for south Indians) eat grass.
| | After training, John moved to work among the Malto tribe in Chongdo, in Jarkhand. John and his team shared the Good News but not many accepted the message. The villagers of Changdo were experiencing untimely and irregular death rate while the Malto Christians in the neighborhood had no deaths. Changdo villagers being worshipers of goddess Kali grew more religious and performed many rituals. But the death rate only increased. So the villagers decided to give Christianity a trial and so called the evangelists. When the Good News was preached, they believed God and soon the village saw a reversal in the death rate. This excited the villagers and 132 villagers requested for Baptism as a step to confirm their faith in Jesus Christ. Following their baptism as a custom among the tribals, all the 132 Maltos burnt their idols and had their homes cleaned from every animist practice. When this news reached a few anti-Christian groups they pressurized the Police Commissioner to investigate the matter as forced conversions. When the commissioner inquired, it was proved that they were not forced conversions and he gave a statement in the newspaper Times of India saying that they were not forced conversions. However, with the help of a local Malto, Ganga Pahariah they filed 8 cases against John, and other three evangelists and a local village head. The police arrested two of the evangelists and the village head. When the police came to John’s home he was away on a ministry trip in a distant village. When the news came to John, the local leaders advised John not to surrender which could only worsen the situation and so was dispatched to Calcutta undercover. John was joined by his wife and two daughters in Calcutta in tough conditions and fled to Tamilnadu. | Meanwhile, the three who were in the police custody for 81 days were regularly beaten. John came back to his village in Jarkhand in June 2000, but not before procuring an anticipatory bail. The others were released on bail. All the five are still on bail and anticipatory bails.*
The situation is tense but life goes on for the five and their families. The joy of all this was multiplied when Ganga Pahariah the person who was instrumental in filing a police complaint became a Christian.
John is one life out of thousands of such missionaries who have laid their all for the Lord; their lives, their wives and families. Such is the story of a grain which unless it falls to the ground does not bring much fruit.
Pray for John and his wife, Leela Bhai and his two daughters Nixia Sancy and Nissix Sancy and the ministry of FMPB.
*(John Berlin shared story with Chief Editor Sunny Joseph in the winter of 2006)
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