Villagers feared the chief priest of a tribal religion in South Asia because they believed he had received great power from a god, but Christians feared him for another reason.
Born to a family of tribal priests, Mayank Markam* led worship and animal sacrifice at religious festivals and was well known beyond his community. Local people followed his directives in fear, but Christians feared him because they did not follow him – incurring his wrath.
“If anyone talked about the Lord Jesus Christ, he was very angry and persecuted them, tying them to trees and beating them severely, and chasing them away from their villages,” the leader of a local ministry said. “He organized tribal meetings and threatened the Christians and workers with severe beatings and excommunication.”
Then four of Markam’s family members, one after another, died from a mysterious disease. When he began suffering the same illness, he sacrified chickens, goats and pigs and called on tribal deities.
“Since there was no improvement, he approached the magicians for help,” the ministry leader said. “They gave him herbal medicines after conducting some magical rituals, but his condition became very serious.”
Fellow priests told him he would die soon.
“He also thought that his life in this world was going to end,” the leader said. “Then in May 2022, he requested his family to take him to Christians for prayer. His family refused, saying that as the tribal gods’ priests, they could not take him to a Christian church for prayers.”
Markam was on the verge of death before relatives consented to take him to Christian workers’ church site, where he remained for three days as they prayed for him. The illness vanished.
“Now he confesses that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only true and living God,” the leader said. “He is a believer in Christ, carrying His wonderful gospel to his people. His entire family also confessed their faith openly and joined the Lord’s fold though baptism and attend the church service regularly.”
Native workers are bringing the gospel to people of various tribes and tongues throughout the region. Please consider a donation today to equip them for the task.
*Name changed for security reasons