KEEPING A DATE WITH DESTINY
In the last ineffective days of the Republic, a form of government under which the Romans were supposedly ruled by a senate of many legislators, the central authority had broken down. In times of emergency, generals like Pompey and Julius Caesar, who won the loyalty of their armies, assumed the real power. After the assignation of Julius Caesar in 44 BC the empire drifted into a decade of civil wars. The decisive battle was fought in 31 BC, when the Roman general Octavian defeated Mark Anthony. Octavian then became Caesar Augustus. Augustus was a brilliant administrator. He succeeded in bringing the Roman Empire a period of unmatched stability and prosperity. A peace imposed by the power of Roman arms, and maintained by the administrative genius of the Emperor.
While Octavian was battling Mark Anthony and Cleopatra, he became acquainted with an apostate Jew. When Octavian became Caesar Augustus, he needed someone to rule Palestine for him. He appointed his old Jewish friend; we know him as Herod the Great. Both of these men had a date with destiny. As powerful as both of these men were, they were only pawns in the providence of God. Caesar Augustus was no novice to politics, he was the adopted son of Julius Caesar himself. God had chosen just the right man, a brilliant administrator, for the job needed: “there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed”. With this decree, a humble couple would be drawn to their city to be taxed. And with this journey, they too would keep their date with destiny.
C.S. Lewis has a very interesting point in comparing the two ways which men serve God’s purpose and destiny. When comparing the Apostle John and the traitor Judas he wrote: “The first (John) served God as a Son the second (Judas) as a tool. For you will certainly carry out God’s purpose, however you act. . , but it makes a difference to you whether you serve him like John or like Judas.”
My story, is somewhat different, perhaps, from others. For almost eight years, I had waited for the will of God to unfold in my ministry. I had waited and watched while numerous others went out from the “Highway” to launch their ministries. Good men. Godly men. I was very happy for them. But for me, nothing seemed to manifest itself or materialize. I simply waited. Trying to be faithful to the house of God, preaching now and then, when the opportunity came, but numerous expectations turned into shattered dreams.
I needed God to speak to me. “Lord, please, show me your will, your direction for my life and ministry.” And then, God spoke . . . four clear and distinct words; “Follow the open doors.” And that was all, nothing more, just “follow the open doors.” Humbly and not sure exactly what God really meant, I answered, “Yes Lord”.
The Highway of Holiness, because of the tape ministry which was pioneered by Bro. Billy Rodeffer, receives letters from all over the world. One night, while helping Bro. Billy with some tapes, one of these letters caught my eye. It was from India and written by a man who wanted someone to come and visit his country and see the work which they were doing for the kingdom of God in India. We had received similar letters from others, but there was something different about this one. No one knew anything about this man; who he was affiliated with, his beliefs, or even if he was legit in his claims or not. I wrote him and asked him to please express exactly what he wanted. Some write requesting money, cars, ect. Some are simply con artist and others are sincere. I wanted to find out which he was. His reply was that he did not wish for anything, only that someone would come and see the work that he and his family was doing in the remote mountains of southern India where the territory was controlled by “Naxilites”; terrorist or rebels. He wanted someone to come and minister and be a spiritual leader with them. He wrote of a land where no foreign missionary had gone before; not even the British had ventured into this area. The Muslims, Hindus, not even the police or army come into this land. But he, Bro. Rao, had gained the Naxilites’ trust. They would allow him and his fellow ministers to come and preach in these villages. He told me about 2 hostages which these rebels held. One was a famous Indian actor and the other, the prime ministers daughter! “Would you kindly come and see the great work which God is doing in my country?” Me? Just a few months before, a mob of Hindus attacked an Austrian missionary while he and his 2 sons drove through a town , stoned their jeep, and burned them to death. Me? I had read in a Christian magazine about the 10 worst countries for Christian to face persecution and India was #3. Me?
Prayer, prayers, prayer! Even though I knew nothing of this man, I felt like going. Desperate? No, not in the sense which the devil was hounding me with. But, hungry, YES! We continued a series of correspondences as we planned my trip. He requested a picture of myself; sure, nothing seemingly significant about that. One night, before my trip, Bro. Don Rich was preaching a revival at our church. During the altar call, I carried a letter from India and laid it on the podium and asked Bro. Rich to pray over it. I told him that I had received an invitation to come to India and I was making plans on going. He laid his hands on the letter, prayed a few moments and then walked away! The devil tried to make me feel pretty silly about that time; “You, talking to Don Rich about going to India and seeing a man no one knows anything about. You’re crazy”. I stuck the letter in my pocket and started to walk away. Then, Bro. Rich walked up to me and looked me in the eyes and said, “Where did you say that letter was from? India?” I nodded my head affirmative. “Look over there at all those preachers on the platform. They’re not the pastor here, Bro. Collins is. You’re not the pastor here, either. You all need to be out there doing something for God. Son, this could be your chance to make your mark on the world for the Kingdom of God. WHEN GOD OPENS A DOOR, STEP RIGHT IN IT!” , Bro. Rich said. That last line really caught my ear, I had never told Bro. Rich what God had once told me; “Follow the open doors”. Could this be a door that God was opening for me? I was a prisoner of hope.
Bro. L.L. Collins has said, on several occasions, that all ministers need a “John the Baptist”, someone to go before them and tell others about them and their ministry. To my knowledge, I had no one. I left for India on Sept. 8, 2000. After flying for about 30 hours I landed in Madras, India and met Bro. Rao for the first time. We soon boarded a train and took an 8 hours trip to Viyajawada. Then, 4 more hours in a car until we finally arrived in Bro. Rao’s city of Tadepalligudem. I was exhausted and still hoping that I was in God’s will. Then, as we approached his city, I saw a small light in the distance. As we got closer, I could see a crowd on the street! But what for, why are all these people gathered? In front of this “gauntlet’ of people the car came to a stop. It was for me! Bro. Rao told me, “Dear Bro. Jimmy, do you remember me requesting a photo of yourself. We pray every Friday at my church for 8 hours. During one of these prayer services, while I was asking God to send help, the Holy Ghost spoke to me and said that he would send a young white missionary from America to help me. Then, on two different occasions, two women in our church were praying and saw a man standing outside our church, looking through the window. He was a young white American. This is why I asked for your photo. If your photo was not the man which these women saw in the window, I would not write you again. But, when we received your photo and showed it to these women, they both acknowledge with amazement that you were the man in the window! The Holy Ghost had gone before me, he had been my “John the Baptist”.
As I got out of the car, I felt so humbled. As I walked through the crowd, they threw flowers along the way. Then, when I reached the front of Bro. Rao’s house, we stopped while the choir sang and instruments played. Photos taken, a few minutes to speak to the crowd, and then into the house for rest. The next morning we would go to the land of the Naxilites.
| As we approached the first village in the mountains, we stopped for a short time for lunch. There I met for the first time two very special men; Raju and Samuel. Bro. Raju was once a Hindu extremist, a terrorist. He had many former friends in prison for life. He was now a born again preacher. Bro. Samuel was a former Naxilite. But, Samuel’s mother was a Christian who never gave up praying for him. He too, was now a preacher of the gospel. These two men were my “secret service”. They had access to the secret meetings of the Naxilites high in the mountains. They would obtain permission each day for us to enter the villages. They would find out from the Naxilites which roads to take because the roads contained land mines. Bro. Raju was the “Joey Hight” of India. Bro. Samuel was the faithful sentry who would “give his eyes for me”. | |
When we reached the first village I was in for a great surprise. We got out of the cars and within a few minutes I could hear drums in the distance. Now, I am 4 hours away from the nearest city, no 911, nothing. The sound got closer and closer, then, out of the trees came men with bows and arrows, men with headdresses, and others carrying and beating tall drums. These were no actors paid by the local resort, this was just like National Geographic, and I was hoping I wasn’t for dinner! Bro. Rao told me, “these are the elders of the village and they have come to honor you”. That was a relief. Then, to the village we went. Under a huge tree, beautiful carpets were spread on the ground for the people to sit and I used the drums as my Bible stand. As I waited for my time to preach, I looked around in total amazement. This was a preachers dream. My mind went back to the time when I was a boy working on the farm; feeding the livestock, working in the garden those long hot summer days. At times, I would read those outdoor magazines which were a boys fantasy. I would read about men going to far away places, Africa, South America, and India, and of the great adventures they would take. Wow, to ever get the chance to do something like that; fantasy. Now, here I was, in India. In an area that, they had said, no foreign missionary had ever set foot! Then, the scripture came to me, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. . . “ Eph. 3:20. Never, I my greatest dreams, did I think this would happen to me. But, there I was. I preached, prayed for the sick, gave the village leader several bottles of medicine which I had brought with me, and passed out candy to the children.
The next village would be different. While I was preaching, I noticed at different times, men would come to where we were, talk to Raju or Samuel, then leave. This happened several times. At the end of the service, while I passed out candy to the children, Bro. Raju got me and whisked me into a hut. I asked Bro. Rao if anything was wrong. He smiled and said that there was some trouble in the distance and it would be good if we left. I noticed the people were very still and afraid, so again I asked Bro. Rao what was wrong. He said, “The men which came during the service were spotters that had been placed on the jungle trails to watch the movement of the Naxilites. They have come and told us that the Naxilites were on their way to this village right now and we must get you out before they come!” They took me to the vehicle and we waited a few minutes and then left, with Samuel and Raju leading the way about 100 yards ahead of us in a jeep. When we would come to a bend in the road or a bridge, they would motion for us to back off, then, when they saw that it was clear, we would follow. One scripture came to me during those somber moments; Rev. 11:7, “ And when they had finished their testimonies. . . “ . Satan could not do anything to me until God was finished with me. Needless to say, it was a great relief when we were in safer territory. After about 30 minutes, we stopped in a “modern” city. Bro. Rao and the others got out of their cars but I was told to stay inside. While they talked to each other, I noticed a pretty rough looking guy walking down the middle of the street. He was walking towards us. He stopped and talked with Bro. Rao a moment or two and then Bro. Rao opened the door, smiled and asked me to rolled my window down; that the guy wanted to greet me; “ I’ll explain later”. As I shook his powerful hand and listened to his rough voice speak in a language which I did not understand, I saw tears in his eyes. Why? Was he the town drunk that wanted prayer? So many others had wanted prayer. I smiled and greeted him the best I could and then he walked away. As we drove away, I asked Bro. Rao the identity of this man. He told me that this meeting had been prearranged; he did not want to tell me for he was concerned it might cause me alarm. “He is one of the Naxilite leaders, he wanted to come and met you personally. He wanted to come and say ‘thank you’ for coming to his people, for praying for their children, parents, giving them medicine, and giving the children candy.” No one had ever came and done this before; all they had known was oppression. The love of God had accomplished what armies could not.
There is much more to say. The crusade in the large city. The pastors seminars where 220 pastors attended and slept under the open sky each night so they could attend the meetings. The response was so great during the crusade that, during the altar service, they had to place a pew in front of me and have 4 men stand on it and allow a few at a time to walk in the gap between it and the altar for prayer. I have been preaching for about 20 years and I would estimate that probably less then 100 people have been saved under my ministry. I was in India for 12 days and during the 12 days they counted about 900 souls that were added to the kingdom of God. One young woman with AIDS was healed and another with cancer. We now have 29 pastors working under our banner, with about 100 villages under their belts.
I covet your prayers. God is faithful. He is gracious and wonderful.
Missionary Jimmy Collins
7759 E. State Rt. 73
Waynesville, Ohio 45068
513-897-3405