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NEWSLETTER November/October 2004 - VOLUME NINE
INDEPENDENT CHURCH IN INDIA PO BOX 238 FREDERICKSBURG, PA 17026
website: www.indchurch.org email:info@indchurch.org Phone (717) 865-7885
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MOVED WITH COMPASSION FOR THE LEPERS
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In India, there are millions of people that have the dreaded disease of leprosy. In the United States, leprosy can be cured, but in third world countries such as India, people are stricken with this horrible, dreaded affliction. Many of them do not even know that there is a cure for leprosy, and if they did, they probably could not possibly afford to obtain the medicine to stop their disease.
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| These unfortunate people are called untouchables by their society, and are regarded by others as low-caste people. Many of these lepers have been tragically abandoned by their families because of their disease. Their flesh literally rots away and their suffering and rejection never ceases. Worst of all, many have never even heard that there is a God in heaven that loves them and died so that they could be forgiven and experience His hope and peace. Many of them are desperate to die because they have no hope of a brighter future, only pain and loneliness. |
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In this Issue:
FINDING LOST SOULS
Printable Version
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Editor and Writer...
Kathy A Smith
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"And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed". Mark 1:40-42
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Independent Church in India wants to make a difference for those lepers that no longer have any hope in their lives, by reaching out to them with the love and compassion of Jesus Christ. Each week, the Gospel team visits the government hospital where twenty-five lepers are currently staying. These unfortunate victims of leprosy are allowed a three month stay in the hospital, where they have a bed, but they have to live together in small, unclean rooms.
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The hospital food, which they receive for a fee, is tasteless and of the lowest quality. To pay for their food and medicine, they must beg each day from hospital visitors or go out of the hospital onto the streets to beg at the bus stand or other public areas.The doctors themselves have become so accustomed to the bondage of the caste system that they will not even touch lepers. Instead, the doctors keep a distance from them and will just ask them what their symptoms are, and then will prescribe treatment, which the lepers have to administer themselves.
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A homeless elderly man with leprosy.
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