REPENTANCE AND FORGIVENESS MANIFESTED IN LOVE

The village was predominantly Muslim, but the government had developed the cemetery and had decreed it was open to all people from the village.

When an evangelical Christian died, the church folks went about burying him there, but, as they were doing so, a group of Muslim men came and beat the burial party. They claimed the land as theirs (Muslim) and that Christians had no right to bury their dead there. The leader of the group was the man who owned the adjacent land and had probably sold this land to the government for the cemetery.

After lengthy negotiations in the government offices, the man was buried there as originally planned, but the previous owner was not satisfied or happy. He decided to take matters into his own hands. He hitched up his cows to a plow and plowed over the gravesite. While the Christian community was incensed, they did not know what to do about it. But God made a way.

Within a week of plowing the gravesite over, the cows, that the man had used to plow, died suddenly. This caused tremendous shock in the village and caused them to wonder aloud if it was a curse from God.

A rather newly formed discipleship group in the church was as angry as the rest of the church, but in their study on “Loving your neighbors in meaningful ways”, they became convicted that they needed to do something more than just talk about it. They prayed for forgiveness for their tremendous anger and asked the Lord’s direction.

What they did shocked the village and created a new one.

The Disciple students took their own cows to help the man finish his plowing, and then when they found out he was short of seed to plant the plowed field, they gave him some of theirs. The man could not believe what had happened and spread the word to the rest of the community. He and his family accepted Jesus and joined the church.

Now, the fighting has stopped. Christians and Muslims share life. When there is a wedding or other celebration in either community, they invite each other to the event and happily share the joy.

Sharing the Gospel is now acceptable, and a large number of Muslims have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.