Ronak never showed any interest when Gospel for Asia-supported pastor Manajith Chettra would share the Good News of Christ with him. The way he saw it, he already had his deity, and he didn’t need another. Besides, he was too busy selling and drinking wine—a habit that left his family without peace—to make time for worshipping a “foreign” God.
Led by compassion, Manajith continued to reflect Christ’s love to Ronak even though days, weeks and months went by without Ronak ever responding—that is, until the Lord gave Ronak a terrifying dream that opened his eyes to his desperate condition.
A Place Full of Burning Fire
The day after Ronak had the dream, he went in search of Pastor Manajith. He had an important matter to discuss that needed an immediate explanation.
“I had a dream that I can’t understand,” Ronak told Manajith. “It is troubling my mind so much.”
“Which dream are you talking about, and what kind of dream is it?” the pastor asked.
“In my dream, I saw many people running fast toward a place that looked terrible,” Ronak began explaining. His voice shook with a tremor of gloom and anxiety. “The place I saw was full of burning fire. And I was running toward that place along with the crowd. But Pastor Manajith, I didn’t know why I was going toward that place.”
Ronak looked at the pastor with a puzzled expression, but he wasn’t finished sharing his dream.
“Suddenly,” Ronak said, eyes widening, “you came behind me and caught my hands tightly and restrained me from going there. You told me, ‘Don’t go there; that is a dangerous place.’
“What does this dream mean, pastor? Please tell me if there is any meaning to it. I am restless because of it.”
The pastor knew immediately why God had given this dream to Ronak and exclaimed, “This is a wonderful dream!”
He opened his Bible and once again shared the message of Christ’s love to Ronak—a message Ronak had previously refused to listen to. He told him there was a real place called heaven, where the righteous will be with God forever. And there is also a real place called hell where every person who rejects Christ will be sent and tormented forever.
“The place of fire you saw dimly was hell,” Manajith said, interpreting the dream for Ronak. “The man that restrained you from going there wasn’t me, but it was Jesus Christ. He loves you, Ronak, and wants to save you.”
His Heart’s Tug-of-War
Ronak listened to all the pastor had told him, letting the words finally sink in. He felt a tug-of-war going on in his heart. Committing himself to Jesus meant embracing a new way of life that he knew nothing about.
But this God loved him. And now, more than ever, Ronak felt this love and knew he would never experience love like that from any other god.
“I will give my heart to Jesus,” Ronak finally said. “Please pray for me.”
And Manajith did. That was the day Ronak became a new man in Christ.
Today, his entire family serves the living God, and there is much peace in their home. Ronak gave up drinking and smoking and has become a mentor to those suffering with the same addictions he once had.
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