Dear Friends in Christ,

We wanted to get this letter off to you to give you a report on our activities in the country of India.  Jesse and I left on Feb. 7, at 6:30 PM from Newark airport, and landed in England at 6:30 AM.  From there we flew to Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, then on to Trivandrum, India.  We landed at 6:30 AM on the 9th of Feb., India time, which was 10 ½ hours ahead where we were.  Our first impression on walking out of the plane was the stifling heat, which was quite a contrast to our 15 degree temperature when we left home.  Our first two hours in India, after getting through customs, was one of culture shock.  The roads were deplorable, and everywhere there was the smell of dust, garbage, smoke, and at times, human waste.  I thought to myself, “Anderton, you’re nuts!”  But then I remembered the One who called us, and determined by His grace that we were not only going to endure, but rise above, and that this was a very small price to pay.

Our host told us to get some rest, which we had begun to do (the first in many hours), when he woke us up and told us to get ready for our first meeting that would be with a group of pastors.  We met pastors, some who had driven over two hundred miles to meet us.  Again, the roads being what they are and the cars being what they are, this was quite an effort.  I met these dear saints and was immediately impressed with their love for their God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.  I had to adapt myself and my style of preaching quickly to using an interpreter, who was our host’s son.  His name is Ostine.  He did an excellent job in the three weeks that he interpreted for me.  And we became so close that he often knew what I was going to do before doing it.  And I knew when he was struggling.  Often we looked at each other and he would say, “Pardon?”  That was his signal to me that he didn’t know how to translate what I had said.  Often we just broke out laughing together.  Even the people picked up on it, and smiled and laughed along with us.

The home where we stayed was directly next door to a Hindu temple.  Upon our arrival, the Hindus were in the midst of a festival celebrating their 33 million gods.  They had loud speakers interspersed throughout the town.   They began to play their hellish music at 4:00 in the morning, and continued until around 9:30 or 10:00 am.  About 5:00 pm the chanting and “music” began again until 11:00 pm.  One time it even began at 1:00 am!  This festival (madness) went on for five days after we arrived.  Jesse and I literally had to pray constantly in order to keep our minds focused on Christ.  They used their chanting and some songs would often go on for over an hour.  We were still trying to recover from our jet lag, and so our rest was stolen away from us.  I saw this as an attack of the enemy, and we had to pray also that God would strengthen us both physically and spiritually.  The third day Jesse became violently ill and with the conditions around us being what they were, I was very concerned for his safety.  His fever rose to almost 104.  In the midst of all this he began to do Ernest P. Worrel imitations, which  made me wonder if he was losing his head or just entertaining me!  Praise the Lord, it was the latter.  I would pray for him then go off to preach in the jungles.  The Lord gave me such wonderful peace during this time and I knew that His hand was on us.  He was well within a couple days.  I also saw in my son a spiritual strength developing.  One time when I was away, the temperature outside was 100 degrees.  Jesse was wrapped up in a heavy blanket to keep warm.  The Hindu music that was playing was the same chant for over three hours.  When I got home Jesse told me how he had to pray out loud, and he had to sing praise songs and Keith Greene songs to sustain his mind on Christ.  He got the victory, Praise the Lord!  While visiting churches, I of course could not join in their praise and worship time because I did not know their words.  However, sometimes they sang a hymn in their language and I would sing along in English.  One Sunday, they began to play the music for “Joy to the World”, and to my surprise, the choir was singing in English!  I don’t believe that anyone in that choir knew what they were singing with the exception of the choir director.  They looked at me as they were singing with smiles on their faces, and the scene brought tears of joy to my eyes, because these people had taken a great deal of their time to honor me in this way.  This was one of the most moving experiences I have ever had, and I’m afraid that my words here do it an injustice because of the great love coming from these people.  Many in that church were touched with the depths of the gospel, but I also began to see another reason why God had sent us to India.  It wasn’t just to preach the gospel for salvation, but it was primarily to preach the message that God has given me to preach over the past twenty years.  The universal need for this message on the deeper work of God’s grace in His people is desperately needed in India just as it’s needed in the United States.  We saw these people falling into the same traps as we do in our country.  They want a bigger and better sound system, when the one they currently have was blowing my brains out!  When people came forward, they turned the music up real loud.  I talked to the leaders about this and informed them that I only wanted to have prayer, and nothing else.  When they heard this, they began to pray into the microphones as loudly as they could.  In time, they saw that the quietness was the best way to get a sound conversion.  Souls are not converted because of emotions being touched, although we may see emotions being touched.  Souls are saved because God opens up blind eyes and grants His life to repentant souls.  I believe that if only the emotions are being touched and not the depth in the spirit of man then you have a bogus salvation experience.  One of the most glorious events that I have ever witnessed, took place in a church that was 200 miles from our home base.  One of the things that I was told by some other pastors visiting India was that I should not rail against the Hindu gods.  As I said, our host’s home was right next door to a Hindu temple.  When I saw men, women, and children crying out to their gods of stone that neither see nor hear nor feel, I couldn’t keep my mouth shut!  I believe that the prince of liars, the one who wants to be like God, was the one who fabricated these false gods and has brought these people into such incredible darkness and bondage.  Again, Jesse and I prayed for God’s wisdom, strength, and guidance, and that the enemy would be put to flight and that the eyes of those in bondage would be opened and that they would see that their gods take, and take, and take, and give nothing but death and misery and depravity.  But my God so loved them that He gave His only begotten Son, that their souls might be redeemed, and that they would be brought back into glorious fellowship with their loving Father in heaven.  I preached in every message against the Hindu gods, and not once was a threat made against us.  Quite the contrary, we saw many eyes opened.  In this one incidence we saw a family of four come up to the front of the church and repent of their Hindu allegiance and their other sins and turn to Jesus for salvation — and Jesus alone.  It was a glorious scene to behold.  But something else wonderful was about to happen.  As I was leaving, my host Ahimas introduced us to this old woman.  I was informed that she had been praying for the salvation of her family for over forty years!  I was then informed that the four people that came forward were her family.  As I write this to you I have tears in my eyes, for there is absolutely no room for a human being to boast.  God help us to see that it is Holy Ghost anointed prayer from saints that are persistent until they see the answer come.

We saw many souls come forward.  Some came for salvation, some for healing, some for prayer that they would have a more victorious Christian life.  In most of the churches that we visited, one of the main things that people prayed for was their health.  We are talking about a people that have absolutely nothing.  Many have respiratory troubles because of the pollution.  In my own heart I cried out many times “O Lord, just one breath of clean fresh air,” and couldn’t get it.  These people live with fumes all about them.  It literally burns your lungs, your eyes, your sinuses.  Jesse and I did not have a day off, but set about preaching within six hours of our landing, and continued until we had two days left.  Then we went to the Arabian Sea to take a swim.  There we finally got a breath of fresh air.  There are many things that we take for granted in this country.  When we drive in our cars, we take for granted the roads that we have.  Their roads would make you thankful for a dirty country lane.  When Jesse and I disembarked at the Newark airport, even in that city the air still smelled clean to us compared to what we just had.  India is a nation of over a billion people.  Poverty levels are mind boggling.  Our second day there, because of being white, people flocked around us and begged.  One mother held her baby in her arms.  I’m quite sure the baby was either dead, or at the point of dying.  Bacteria is rampant, as they don’t seem to have any comprehension of what bacteria can do to the human body.  Even our host Ahimas was scarred on his face and head, as he was just recovering from smallpox, which is supposed to be an eradicated disease from the face of the earth.  You would see men, women, and children hanging on buses, or even sitting on top of them.  Sometimes, if they forget to duck, they’d hit a power line and enter eternity.  At one church in the jungle I asked the pastor if there were any cobras around.  He said there were cobras all over the place there.  I asked him, “What happens if you get bit by one?”  (Swift question, huh?)  His answer was, “You die!”  As Jesse and I walked out of that jungle about ½ to ¾ of a mile that night in the dark, all we could do was pray, “Lord protect us.  Our lives are in your hands.”  We often saw little children playing on rocks or in an open field, and while I never saw it happen, sometimes they meet with a cobra and meet their end.  When I looked at mothers, they still had within their hearts the maternal instincts that God has put there and they cry just as we do when one of their little ones gets hurt.  I must tell you that the children over there are absolutely precious and gorgeous.  They stood around us to shake our hands ten, twelve times.  We saw simple childlike love in their eyes and in their smiles.  I would also like to say that the way that the women dressed was always modest, and their apparel, in spite of their extreme poverty, was still some of the most beautiful colors I have ever seen in clothing.  And they carry themselves with great dignity.  The men work very hard to sustain their families.  We saw whole families living in an 8 x 12 mud hut with nothing but a thatched roof over their heads.  And the outside convenience was the ground you stood on.  This took a little getting used to.  This was a trip truly ordained of God and blessed by Him.  If I wrote everything we saw, it would be a book of over 300 pages.  So this will have to do.  We took almost 300 pictures, and if you would like us to share with your church in more detail, please let us know.  We would love to come.  When Jesse and I were in India, once again the burden for certain parts of the United States came upon my heart with new force.  We are praying for God’s leading, as I am convinced that our time is desperately short.  A nation that has been blessed with so much is going to undergo some of the fiercest judgment that mankind has ever seen unless it truly repents and turns back to the faithfulness of the old paths.  Jer. 6:16 says, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it.  Then you will find rest for your souls.”  The children of Israel did not want to walk in this holy path.  God help us to walk in it!

Jesse and I want to thank you for your prayers and financial support of this effort.  If God calls, we are more than willing to go back again.  We are also very grateful to our home church, our dear friends, who supported this effort whole-heartedly.  We are so richly blessed.  Thank you, Lord Jesus.  And again, thanks to all of you.

Your brother and servant in Jesus,

Jim