Turning Tragedy to Triumph:
Natural Disasters in India
By Jay Walsh
"The wind devastation was unbelievable:
thousands of trees bent and criss-crossed into a surreal landscape,
their lush foliage stripped completely away. The thatch-roofed houses
had utterly disappeared. The only survivors were those who had climbed
trees and clung to them. Even their bodies were burned and bruised."
 So I wrote in my journal, describing the aftermath of the October
1999 cyclone whose 200 mph winds and 30-foot tidal surge devastated
the coastal areas of Orissa , India . Originating in the Bay of
Bengal , the storm killed an estimated 100,000 people and domestic
livestock, mostly by drowning. Government officials called it the
costliest cyclone in Orissa's history.
A few months earlier, in January 1999, Hindu extremists led by
Dara Singh had vented their anger against Christianity by burning
alive Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons as they
slept in their van near a village in Orissa. News of this disturbing
event made world headlines, causing alarm and embarrassment to the
government of India .
On January 26, 2001, an earthquake measuring 9.7 on the Richter
scale jolted the state of Gujarat , India . In my journal, I described
the epicenter at Bhuj: "The massive rubble of collapsed buildings
looked like a bombed-out war zone." When an Indian Christian leader
and I surveyed the area for a follow-up ministry of compassion,
the people told us that more than 100,000 had died.
The tragedy of these consecutive disasters in India, like the horror
after 9/11, leads us to a deeper contemplation of God's purpose.
Did God use these disasters to awaken people to their deeper spiritual
needs? Can He use tragic events to create opportunities for local
believers and missionaries to witness?
The Bible provides many examples of God's use of natural phenomena
to arrest the attention of believers and non-believers: the universal
flood, the fire and brimstone of Lot 's generation, the three years
of drought summoned by Elijah's prayer, the noonday darkness on
crucifixion day, and the resurrection earthquake. In Nahum 1:3-5,
the prophet illustrates God's command over the events of nature,
"The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and
the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh
it dry, and drieth up all the rivers. The mountains quake at him,
and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence."
The recently published account of the Staines ' deaths, Burnt
Alive, lists 86 attacks in northern India against Christian
activity. However, attacks are not confined to Christians alone.
During 2002, fanatical Hindu militants in Godhra, Gujarat , perpetrated
a "Muslim Holocaust," slaying up to 30,000 Muslims. Their intention
was to establish Hindutva , a theocracy void of non-Hindus,
by eliminating all non-Hindu minorities. It is clear that there
is a great spiritual darkness in Orissa and Gujarat . The recent
natural disasters can be seen as God's response to this darkness:
moving the very earth, rebuking the sea, in order to proclaim His
presence and draw global attention to the great needs of these people.
For decades we have prayed for an opportunity to enter the world's
second most populated nation. India 's cyclone and earthquake have
opened a door for ABWE to begin ministries of compassion to hurting
people, allowing us to partner with dedicated Indian Christians
in evangelism and church planting. In the three years since we began
partnering with national believers in Orissa, 700 churches have
been formed! Indian leaders decide to form a small church once twelve
families have followed the Lord in baptism-prior to that they are
called "prayer groups." ABWE's continued goal is to assist national
believers in sharing the gospel message so that God might turn tragedy
to triumph, terror to trust.
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