Biradol Leaves His Deities and Chooses Jesus
Growing up, Biradol’s family followed the traditions of their culture, including an unwavering devotion to their deities including many celebrations and festivals. Biradol was an active participant at all events, and was deeply admired for his love and zeal for his gods. In fact, his strong beliefs made him hostile toward people of other faiths, especially those who followed Jesus.
Even though Biradol was very religious, he had low morals and was deeply addicted to alcohol. He started drinking at a young age, and his family just accepted his behaviors and unhealthy lifestyle. Biradol was also very superstitious; whenever he had problems, he sought the advice of sorcerers and fortune tellers, trying his best to appease the evil spirits.
Biradol and his wife endured backbreaking manual labor from dawn to dusk to provide food for their six children. Three of the children are now married, while the others still live at home and attend a nearby school.
Biradol’s addiction to alcohol took a toll on their finances, too, which caused many arguments and tension in the family. Day after day, passersby could hear yelling, shouting, and cursing from the house as the fights continued.
When Biradol’s wife became ill and started losing a lot of weight, he was devasted and didn’t know what to do. She was unable to work and started having horrible nightmares. Biradol sought the help of a faith healer and sorceress, but after paying them large sums of money, his wife remained unchanged.
Then, things got worse when Biradol’s daughter also began having the same symptoms! She became very pale and sickly, and in just six months– time, she, too, was bedridden, with severe pain from head to toe.
Watching his loved ones so ill was hard for Biradol so he went to medical doctors for help. They could not determine the cause of the illness, and without a diagnosis, no one knew how to treat them. Biradol’s wife and daughter’s condition kept deteriorating.
At this point, Biradol cursed his fate and wallowed in self-pity. Hopeless and empty, even his beloved alcohol could not heal his heart and troubled soul. This is when his niece, Kaamma – a follower of Jesus – came to visit. Kaamma encouraged the family to meet with a local pastor who would pray for the two women. She found a nearby church and met Church Planter Lokmeet. Kaamma begged Lokmeet to come to Biradol’s home to pray for healing.
At first, Biradol did not want Lokmeet in his house, but when he saw his world falling apart, he swallowed his pride and kept quiet, honoring Church Planter Lokmeet by inviting him into his home.
Pastor Lokmeet shared some Scripture and prayed for God’s healing touch upon Biradol’s wife and daughter. God heard and honored those prayers and healed the women! Biradol was dumbstruck as he couldn’t imagine how prayer could yield such an amazing result so quickly!
Even after witnessing the incredible healings, Biradol remained skeptical about Jesus; however, a few days later, Biradol awoke with a strange feeling in his body. He felt his head turn and was unable to speak. Seeing this, Biradol’s family asked Lokmeet to come and pray. Immediately, Biradol returned to normal.
This frightening experience got Biradol’s attention, and he began questioning his loyalty to his deities. He decided to take a stand and worship Jesus alone. Biradol’s entire family received Jesus as their Savior and have fully surrendered their lives to serving Him.
When others in the community saw that the family was committed to serving Jesus, they were deeply offended and began pressuring them to return to their previous religion – even threatening to excommunicate them. Despite the opposition, Biradol and his family made up their minds to only follow Jesus with no fear or regret. They know Jesus is the true and living God, who will protect them from evil influences. Pray that this family will continue to seek Jesus and grow in their faith.
