In a small village, another quiet day, my grandfather and I were sitting at home quietly, maneuvering over the day and life as a whole.

A few people walked in and asked for some contribution for their temple festival. My 72-year-old grandfather said, “We can’t give any contribution for your temple festival as we follow Jesus, and you all know that for the last 20 years we have never offered any contribution, then why this time?”

The whole initiative seemed to be well planned and orchestrated by some people in the village by which we could be put into trouble.

They started threatening us while I was at home listening to the whole conversation, and ultimately I said, “Please do what you want to do, but we will not contribute.”

This agitated them, and they said, “We will tie you in the village and show you what we can do.” They all left with threats. After a while, police came and got into our house and did a complete search of the premises as we all were accused of conversion.

After the search, when they didn’t find anything, they took us to the police station- myself, my 72-year-old grandfather, and my cousin.

By the time we reached the police station, a mob came and started raising slogans, and a tense situation was created by some in front of the police station.

My parents are not here; they are serving some men of God outside our state, and a peaceful day turned out that all hell was let loose.

As a Christian and strong follower of Christ, these things are bound to happen. We may think it happened out of the blue, but definitely that’s not the truth, because we have a God who is omnipotent. He knows everything, and He has a purpose behind everything which He allows to happen.

The incident is now known to the entire village- that we didn’t agree to contribute for their temple festival.

When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow down in front of the king’s order, we all know what happened. The king, who got furious and ordered to increase the fire 🔥 seven times, had to ultimately bow down in front of the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

We all were taken to the police station, and even though the antisocial elements put a lot of pressure on the police, they were very clear in their stand that “We have not found any proof of conversion,” and we were released late evening.

The police officer, in a widely circulated video of a news channel, said, “I will resign the job and go, but you all can’t force me to do something which is wrong.”

Church, take a moment and remember the officials who are forced to take action against Christians. They face so much pressure from all sides- pray that God may give them wisdom and understanding, and pray that they stand with the truth at all times.

When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow down in front of the king’s order, we all know what happened. The king, who got furious and ordered to increase the fire 🔥 seven times, had to ultimately bow down in front of the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.- Shibu Thomas