Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path… The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from your precepts. Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart. My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end. Psalm 119:105, 110-12
Kiroth’s Brother (2008)
A Beloved Bible
During the brutal and sustained anti-Christian violence that broke out in Kandhamal, Orissa state, India, at Christmas 2007 (see December 24) and resumed in the latter part of 2008 (see August 25), Hindu extremists drove Christians out of at least 400 villages.
In December 2008 Christians in Bakingia village came under attack. As houses were set ablaze, the Christians fled to the jungle, but Kiroth and his brother decided to turn back to retrieve their beloved Bibles. Kiroth managed to rescue his badly burnt Bible and rejoin the other Christians hiding in the jungle, but his brother was caught by the attackers and hacked to pieces.
The Christians of Bakingia have struggled to rebuild their shattered community after the violence. They received compensation from the government and had started rebuilding the church that was destroyed by the extremists. But the work was brought to a standstill in October 2011 when over 400 radical Hindus descended upon the construction site; their leader claimed that the land belonged to their forefathers. The extremists chose the day of the Hindu festival of Dussehra, which signifies the victory of good over evil, to launch their assault on the church. They hoisted a saffron flag at the spot, an act that was interpreted by the Christians of Bakingia as an ominous threat.
God did not write a book and send it by messenger to be read at a distance by unaided minds. He spoke a Book and lives in His spoken words, constantly speaking His words and causing the power of them to persist across the years.
A W Tozer, The Pursuit of God