02/07/2025
Urgent prayer need - join us in praying for believers in India. We have many friends and partners there. We received this message requesting prayer…
“There is an Odia language film called SANATANI (also known as "Sanatani - Karma Hi Dharma" – means Work is religion, good work will get a person into heaven). It is a social drama that explores themes of religious conversion, focusing on the conflict between Hinduism and Christianity, particularly highlighting the attempts to convert tribal people in Odisha to Christianity and the impact it has on their lives and beliefs; the title "Sanatani" refers to the eternal Hindu Dharma. In this film, they are bringing the issue of tribal people and their struggles and how they have been faced pressure by the Christian missionaries to be converted from their traditional Hindu beliefs to Christianity. They want to wipe out the Christianity from the state of Odisha. The Hindu fanatic groups are declaring that “This is the time for us to repeat the Manipur violence in Odisha.” First, they have a target to kill the pastors, then vandalize Christian church buildings, believers’ houses and kill as many believers as possible. There are a lot of discussions about religious conversion practices and the preservation of indigenous cultures in Odisha are going on in the various social media platforms. Christian leaders have reached out to the High court to request them to ban this film. The reliable sources convey that the Hindu fanatic groups with the help of the present Government – Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which is a threat to Christianity have been planning to create violence in every village of Odisha commencing from the day of release of this film on 7th February. God is in control and we seek your earnest prayers.”
Prayer Points:
1) Great boldness to rise in God's people
2) God to use this opposition to convert even more souls to Christ
3) Hedge of protection and Divine intervention around Pastors, Churches, and Believers - may God provide windows of escape as he did for the Hebrew spies and as he did for Paul
4) Cultural and religious strongholds be brought down as Christ is exalted
5) Wherever lives of believers are taken - may the testimonies be of those who laid their lives down willingly to display the love of Christ to the people of India
