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"I Worshiped My Sister as a Goddess" - Pastor Daniel from India

Mark Virkler's picture

Overview from Pastor Vijay Christian: Danny, Associate Pastor of our Friends’ Meet City Church, heads our Bible school, takes care of all the translation work and church evangelisms. He is an anointed Bible teacher and preacher.


Hi, my name is Daniel and I am living in Vishakhapatnam, Andra Pradesh, India. Before my conversion, my name used to be Srinivas and this is my testimony. I am from a Hindu background. My father and mother and 2 sisters are also Hindu. My Grandmother is involved with worshipping the spirits. My father and mother even testified about the moving of invisible beings and making sounds in the house. My father used to sacrifice goats and sheep to idol goodness named Kali. I was given the name after a Hindu god.

In my childhood, I used to feel inferior and insecure with everyone. I did poor in my education and studies. Evil influenced me a lot. I used to be good on the outside but inside was filled with evil, bad words, lust, envy, strife. In my adolescence, I became much more independent and hung out with bad company and did not go to college. Like that my studies, character and health was ruined.

My life was without fear of God and without a goal and tossed around like the wind blows. I many times wanted to run away from home, commit suicide but never attempted due to fear. Sometimes, I felt a strong attraction force to idol gods but never actually believed in that. During my industrial training studies, in the first year I was well known as a bad guy. Some people used to keep away from me. Though I never smoked or tasted alcohol there was much more evil inside of me. I used to see a lot of movies; in fact I was addicted to movies and television, secular songs, bad words, teasing girls.

On May 5th, 2000 we received a phone call from Dehli army headquarters, saying that my sister and brother in law were in a house fire and had died. My parents and I rushed to Dehli, a two day journey from our place. I was very much depressed at that site and unable to bear that fact. I lost my peace and I tried all my best to gain it back, but nothing worked.

I used to worship my own sister as a goddess and used to fast every Thursday as a ritual, that my sister would guard me and prosper me. One day, during a lab exercise, I broke an instrument and fear gripped me. I ran away to my aunt’s house for awhile.

They were Christians, at 5am they used to turn on the television for devotion programs and I was very upset about that. One Sunday morning, I woke up in my sleep and noticed that the television was high and was so angry but gave my attention to what the speaker was saying. At that very moment, he was speaking how he was comforted after his daughter's death and how he had peace with God.

Listening to that, I gave my heart to Jesus on June 2001. As the word says, “we are a new creation in Christ”, in my life everything old has gone away and I became a new creation. Immediately I removed all my idols including my sister's photos which I used to worship. I left all the evil things and started to attend a church. I was baptized on December 31st, 2001 and filled with the Holy Spirit. My classmates were amazed at my drastic change. I testified of my salvation and shared the gospel with all my friends. I used to be a good Christian with prayer, study the Word, go to Sunday church and life used to be routine.

In 2002, I was invited to Friends' Meet Ministries. My early days, everything seemed to be new but gradually I became one with a new family which God has given me. I never knew, what is giving, fellowship, sharing my testimony, rejoicing in the Lord, how to sing, clapping in rhythm with music. All this I was taught by my leader, Reverend Vijay Chris. I learned what is faith and integrity from him. I don’t know what is vision or calling, but after I started learning I started to pray about it. I took up my responsibilities, working hard, distributing tracks, seating up the chairs and stage for meetings.

God blessed my education and I did well in exams and I was ranked in the top ten in the state. Through my education, I wanted to achieve the best available job. I did my apprentice with a Petroleum company. Later I was working for Whirlpool Corporation when I sensed the call of God on my life. I used to be restless whenever I missed the work of God. Used to work 14 hrs a day and was very depressed. One day I resigned my job, came to my leader and expressed how I feel and he employed me in the Friends' Meet Ministry Office.

In 2006, I dedicated my life to full time ministry. In 2007, I did my 1 year theological studies and recognized my calling as a pastor and returned to Friends' Meet. The Lord spoke to me in a vision about my calling, which I shared with my leader and he too confirmed my calling as a pastor.

I started a house church in my leader’s house with two people, without any instruments and with faith we did well. The house owner came with a objection that we were disturbing the housing premises and that we had to move. At that time we shifted out church to the Friends' Meet Office and a small lobby was used for church service.

The Lord multiplied the people and again the objection came from the house owner and we were forced to move. Next we moved to Akkyapalem, near the Muslim community. The Lord filled the church again with many from the Muslim colony. We prayed for the church building and we asked the house owner for permission to construct a church building on the rooftop.

By faith, we built it in 14 days and it cost 3,000 USD which we raised. We use it a multipurpose hall for meetings, seminars and prayer. God has placed us in this area to reach deep into the Muslim area, with many now being secret believers. We work in the surrounding slums, sharing the gospel, building relationships and provide a place for the beggars to come to church on Sundays. We have seen many lives transformed.

My vision is to make disciples, plant churches and to teach how to live a balanced life within the world. Current prayer request is a new building as once again we are being forced to move as the landlord is now deceased and the building is being sold. All our investment will be lost that was put into this current church.

Take Action: Let's Support Friends' Meet!

You can find out even more about Friends' Meet Ministries and how you can support them on our website: To make a one-time contribution, please click here. If you'd like to set up a monthly pledge, please click here. Our initial goal is to provide $700 a month so they can rent a new main headquarters, and then to raise monies for this leadership team. Any additional funds raised will help support their individual ministry projects. Thank you so much for being a part of what God is doing in India in our generation!

 

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