As Christians in a pagan land, we knew immediately he was demon-possessed. We gathered around him and began taking authority over the forces of hell as they spoke through his mouth.
“We are 74 of us. . . . For the past seven years we have made him walk barefoot all over India. He is ours. . . . ” They spoke on, blaspheming and cursing, challenging us and our authority. But as three of us prayed, the demons could not keep their hold on the young man. They came out when we commanded them to leave in the name of Jesus.
Sundar John was delivered, gave his life to Jesus and was baptized. Later he went to Bible college, and since then the Lord has enabled him to teach and preach to thousands of people about Christ. Several Indian churches have started as a result of his remarkable ministry—all from a man many people would have locked up in an insane asylum. And there are literally millions of people like him in Asia—deceived by demons and enslaved to their horrible passions and lusts.
This kind of miracle kept me going from village to village for those seven years of itinerant preaching. Our lives read like pages from the book of Acts. Most nights we slept between villages in roadside ditches, where we were relatively safe. Sleeping in non-Christian villages would expose us to many dangers. Our team always created a stir, and at times we even faced stoning and beatings.
The mobile Gospel teams I worked with—and often led— were just like family to me. I began to enjoy the gypsy lifestyle we lived and the total abandonment to the cause of Christ that is demanded of an itinerant evangelist. We were persecuted, hated and despised. Yet we kept going, knowing that we were blazing a trail for the Gospel in districts that had never before experienced an encounter with Christ.