Binay’s story | But Jesus came to save!

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

“I was born in a Hindu family in remote village in Nepal and my dad was the traditional healer. He made herbal medicines and performed Hindu mantras for healing, so all the villagers came to our house for help. They all loved him. He was a very good man, and I wanted to follow him. One day, I bought a big notebook so I could write down all his mantras in my book.

But during that time, my mum became very sick, and this went on for many years. We gathered all our family… everybody was crying out for help. My dad was healing all the other people. Why couldn’t he heal my mum?

I thought… perhaps it isn’t true. That’s when I stopped believing in any gods and I stopped learning the mantras. After I passed 10th class, I left my village to study in Pokhara. At that time, my room was very close to a Christian church. I had never met a Christian before that. There were none in my village or the whole region. One weekend, I was going to the market, and I saw a big crowd entering the building. I was very surprised, so I asked my landlady about it. She said that Christians gather for fellowship and to praise God.

I was so surprised there were so many people. I thought that people only became Christians to get money. After a week, or two, one of my neighbours began to visit my room. He was a Christian, a very nice, polite man. I listened politely but I said I wasn’t interested and told him not to visit. Then he said I could come to church if I like. Lots of things were going around in my mind. I thought it would be good to go and see – to find out how they manipulated people.

Every week, I went to church and listened for the manipulation. If I found it, I thought I could tell my classmates, and we could stop the spread of the church. But I didn’t find it. Every week, the people were very friendly. I never heard a bad thing at church. My neighbour kept visiting me and he showed me lots of Bible verses. I remember Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

I felt burdened at that time. I grew up in the village, feeling low-level, worried about my mum… so that verse touched me. Slowly, I became a Christian. I accepted Jesus Christ as

my Saviour. In the Hindu scriptures, there is nothing about salvation. It says the gods come to destroy the sinners. But Jesus says he comes to save the sinners. It gave me so much peace.

In the next Desai festival, I went home and told my parents I was a Christian. They didn’t respond at first. They didn’t know anything about Christianity. But later, they started crying and saying, “You don’t love us? You don’t do sacrifices and funeral rites anymore?” In Hindu Nepal, a son is very important but if he doesn’t do those things he is not seen to be a son anymore, he is worthless.

I told them I had found the truth, and it was my decision. But every time I visited, they were upset with me. My family and neighbours told their children not to meet with me. I started praying for my family and for my village. I prayed that one day, there would be a church in my village.

Slowly, I started to be able to share my faith in Jesus with my family. After two years, one of my brothers became a Christian. Then one of my cousins became a Christian. Then his brother became a Christian in Malaysia. Then my other brother became a Christian in Saudi Arabia. Then two of my sisters-in-law became Christians. One of their daughters was very sick, and we prayed for her, and she was healed! Then another cousin became a Christian after he was healed. He could read and write, unlike the other villagers, so I encouraged him to lead the church. We sent him off for Bible training, and we supported his wife and children. The little fellowship began to grow in my village! My cousin came back and became the church leader. Since then, lots of people have become Christians, even my mum and dad. There are amazing stories! I can’t believe it! There are now more than 70 people in the church! God has been answering all of my prayers…”

Binay’s story is part of the Faith Stories series, compiled by Naomi Reed.

Visit Koorong to purchase Naomi’s Faith Stories book, Every Moment, Everywhere: https://koorong.com/everymoment