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AS A CHILD Bakht Singh sought God but did not find him. No holy place, no holy image, no holy practice, nor holy book brought him peace. He did not consider seeking God among the Christians of India. They seemed to be either low caste workers with contemptible morals or British colonial rulers with equally shocking morals. Although he attended a Christian school, he never heard the gospel: his teachers were embarrassed to promote Christ in face of Hindu nationalism that condemned “Christian” Britain’s centuries of exploitation in India.

Neither did he hear the gospel while studying engineering in England. Instead, he indulged himself and lied to his family who were paying for his expenses. Bakht Singh’s first real exposure to Christ came when, out of curiosity, he attended a religious service aboard a ship sailing to Canada. He fell asleep during the sermon and woke when the congregation knelt to pray. He would have left then but was blocked by his neighbors’ bodies. At first he felt contempt for the Christians, but then humbled himself and knelt out of courtesy. Immediately words formed in his mind: “Oh, Lord Jesus, blessed be your name, blessed be your name.” Afterward he began to read the Bible and on this day, 4 February 1932, nearing thirty-years of age, he was baptized.

Almost at once God began teaching him that he could provide for any need. For instance, Singh once needed to get to Toronto but had no funds. A short-handed police department asked him to help convey a prisoner there. Another time, when he had nothing to eat, he inquired what he could purchase with one small “copper” coin, and learned it was a rare gold piece more than adequate to his need.

In 1933 he returned to India and a life of suffering and of Christian service. His parents disowned him and his wife left him, taking their son. After resisting God’s call to become an evangelist (one of his objections was that he stuttered when he spoke), he finally consented. He learned to depend upon the Lord for every need and every plan. He spent long nights in prayer. He was convinced he must live by faith, tell no one what he needed (not even to ask for a cup of coffee), and make no plans of his own.

As a result, he often saw God’s hand in his life. For example, he prayed for lepers who were rejected as scum. Many were healed and converted to Christianity. Prompted by the Spirit he once gave a beggar his last rupees—which were intended to pay for train fare to keep a commitment in another town. Shortly before the train was to leave, a servant brought him an envelope with the amount he needed for fare, sent by a woman who had no knowledge of his circumstances but had felt impressed to send it. Once God commanded him to preach in a language he did not know. He did, but never could account for how he was able to obey.

Because of his obedience, he won his father to Christ. Through long years of faithful service, God used him to gather hundreds of thousands of Indians to Christ and to plant 10,000 churches worldwide. Hundreds of thousands thronged his funeral on 20 September 2000.

—Dan Graves [this is a complete rewrite of our earlier Bakht Singh story that occupied this page]

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Read more about the Christian faith in India in Christian History #87, India: A Faith of Many Colors

Beyond the Next Mountain is another true story of Asian Indians bringing the Gospel to others in India. Watch it at RedeemTV

Beyond the Next Mountain can be purchased at Vision Video

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Other Events on this Day

• MASEMOLA BAPTIZED IN HER OWN BLOOD FOR REJECTING IDOLS
• Quaker Prophets FORETOLD a Noble Work for Elizabeth Gurney

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