Unknown Nations Podcast

This is the Unknown Nations podcast where we'll be sharing about reaching the nation where Jesus is unknown.

Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Unknown Nations podcast. My name is Greg Kelley, just my privilege to be with you. We want to inspire you with stories. We believe so thoroughly in this concept of God's stories bring about transformation. They inspire us. In fact, the Bible says that we overcome  by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony.

So, here at Unknown Nations, we receive—you just wouldn't believe if I told you—how many amazing stories we receive on a regular basis, too numerous for us to share with you. But we believe that on this podcast, this is a great platform for us to unpack some of them and just bring you, hopefully, something that stimulates something inside of you and gives you the faith. Because let's not forget, the ends of the earth are still massive.

I mean, we're talking about nearly a third of the world's population, and it can be overwhelming. I mean, even for me as the leader of this organization. But testimonies allow us to see things through the eyes of faith, and that's what today is all about. We're going to be going to a really critical place in the world, and we are going to be learning about a story that is a rescue along the Ganges River that led to a revival movement. Now, this is not just anywhere in the world. We are talking about ground zero, the highest concentration of unreached peoples in the world. And this revival movement was sparked.

So let me give you a little bit of background. We are talking about an area in India, and if you look at India on a map, it kind of looks like this northeast quadrant up here. They say it has the highest concentration of unreached people groups of anywhere in the world. So these are places that really need a lot of effort, a lot of resources, and a lot of deployment of the body of Christ to see the gospel come. The Ganges River is a massive body of water.

Think about the distance from New York down to Key West. Okay? So this is a massive river that kind of meanders its way through that part. It drains one-fourth of India's entire territory, and to some of the most highly concentrated areas. We're talking about a couple of states like Uttar Pradesh, and we're talking about Bihar, now just to give you context for that.

So these are states, one of the many states of India: Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Now, think of this: Uttar Pradesh is one state. Think of Michigan, Iowa, and Indiana as a state like we have in America, with 267 million people in it. Okay, this is a massive state that is about 85 percent Hindu and 15 percent Muslim.

This place is dark. It's dark. They need the gospel desperately, and the Ganges River runs through there. Then, as it keeps going to the east, it runs through the neighboring state of Bihar, which isn't as big as Uttar Pradesh. It only has 126 million people. So, between Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, you're nearly talking about 400 million people.

Most of them have never heard the gospel before. And Bihar would have a similar ratio as Uttar Pradesh, being about 85 percent Hindu and 15 percent Muslim. We have a massive concentration of efforts going on there, but the Ganges River is really way more than just about a river, a big river that's flowing through this area that has massive significance to the majority Hindu population. Um, it carries the blessing of the Hindu gods. That's, that's, that's how they view it. They view it, and they, they hold it in such high esteem. People will do pilgrimages to come to the shores of the Ganges River, um, to do worship and to have different demonstrations of sacrifice, uh, to their gods.

They consider it, many of them consider it literally as a goddess of a purity that cleanses them of their sins. Can you imagine that? A body of water that they literally look at as a goddess and that it purifies them of their sins and that it aids those who have already passed away towards their path to heaven?

I mean, it's just unbelievable, the false lies that the people have bought into in this part of the world as they look at the Ganges River. Um, but what's so interesting about that, as holy and highly esteemed as the precious people of India, uh, believe. And let me just say, we love, we love India.

We love Indian people. Some of my closest friends are from that beautiful country, but they need Jesus, the one they need to understand the true one and only living God. So, this in no way is knocking at a different people. It's just calling out the darkness that they believe in. And as they're worshiping this river, the Ganges, um, what's so ironic is that it is considered the most polluted river in the world.

Uh, as these people are rushing into this place, that's going to purify them of their sins, it is just filthy. And part of the reason is because there's these cremation pods all across the Ganges River that you'll see, and you'll see Hindu families who are coming. They cremate their dead and these ashes just get pushed into this river.

They say there's about 300 miles of the Ganges River that is literally considered ecologically a dead zone. Nothing can possibly live there. I've seen these places with my own eyes. I've been there, and let's, let's just reset because this is where our story's coming out of. I am painting a picture for you to view in the midst of this abomination of lack of understanding of Jesus and the message of hope that the Christian faith brings.

All of these terrible things that are going on there, an amazing revival is beginning to start. So I just want to remind us of that. This is not all bad news. This is just painting the reality of what's going on there. And so, as I was there and I saw these cremation services, friend, you can't imagine the hopelessness of these people as they're coming in. They're weeping and they're mourning the loss of their loved one, and they're gathering around and they're parading around. They carry that body and they put them on these little platforms that are sort of scattered along the shores of these rivers and walking around in a ceremony. The Hindu priest is there and he's doing his chants and burning his different incense.

And the utter hopelessness. I could hear, as I was across the river, the wailing of family members, just in sorrow, thinking of the loss of their loved one. And I thought to myself, dear Lord, they have no idea. This could be a celebration. We, in the Christian faith, when we have these ceremonies called funerals, many times it's considered a celebration of life because we know it's just temporary. This body is temporary. I am going to be with them forever and ever again. So you get the idea of what the Ganges River represents.

And so that's where we find our precious main figure. And we're going to call her Maya. Maya went to the shores of the Ganges River. She was desperate.

She was like so many of the other Hindu women, um, desperate because of her husband, and he was, um, just addicted to alcoholism, would beat her, would treat her horribly. She felt hopeless, totally hopeless. And she went to the shores of that Ganges River with her eight-year-old child, her son, and she was planning to end her life.

That's what was going on in this place. And you know, when we think about the Hindu religion, it's, it's very complicated. It's very difficult to understand, but essentially what you have is this major primary deity. They consider it the supreme spirit called Brahman, which everything else sort of sprinkles out of this.

So if you were to talk to many Hindus, they would say, well, there's one God and it's Brahman, but there's many expressions of it and gods and goddesses. I've, I've heard some saying in the millions of various gods, because they're worshiping everything you can imagine. Some of the main Hindu gods, if you will, the supreme gods that come underneath the supreme spirit of Brahman, uh, would be, uh, Krishna and Shiva as examples.

Um, but it's, it's very difficult. And so when our indigenous leaders are working in this area, they are praying. They are praying. Let's not forget, before Jesus said go and make disciples, He came down from the mountaintop and He said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest," and that is exactly what some of our indigenous leaders were doing on this day that Maya was going to the river to take her life.

She encountered one of our teams as they were praying to the Lord for the harvest to send forth laborers and saying, "God, use us. Here we are." And she, they encountered precious Maya, and they encouraged her and they said, "Maya, you have hope. And the hope that you have is named Jesus." And so they introduced Maya to Jesus, and Maya had a supernatural encounter. She received Jesus as her Lord and Savior and was cleansed of the hopelessness and despair. And she began to walk in freedom. But when they, when they led her to Christ and shared with her, they had an audio Bible, and they took this audio Bible in the Hindi language and they hit play, and Maya began listening.

This is what took place that day when she was listening: [Bible verses playing in Hindi]

Now, I don't understand what's going on, but I can tell you that is scripture from the Gospels in the Hindi language. And Maya started listening, and it was cued up to the Gospel of John, chapter eight, and verse 12. And this is what Maya heard that day: "I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't have to walk in darkness because you will have the light that leads to life."

Wow. What a powerful message for all of us, right? Especially those in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. And so Maya received Jesus. Can you imagine being the person that allowed Unknown Nations to provide a treasure, an audio Bible? And this person is here in America, in some place, and they sent us 40 or 50 dollars, and we were able to send this over there so Maya could have an encounter with the living God.

That's what happened. That's your part of the story because maybe you were the one who allowed that treasure to go there and for her to listen because she doesn't read, so she was absorbing the word of God because someone provided and supported us. And then, just an hour later, Maya's husband was getting curious by this point in time.

Where's my wife at? And he encounters her, and he's like, you know, "Hey woman, what happened? You were..." And he sees something different in her; he could tell Maya had had an encounter that he had not seen before. He was unfamiliar with the look on his wife's face. And she shared the gospel with him. And this man, who had his own issues, right?

Alcoholism. He was feeling guilty for not being able to provide in a proper way for his family and was taking it out on his wife. He had his own issues. All of us have our issues, right? The gospel is the solution for everything. And this man heard the gospel for the first time in his life as well, and he received Jesus. So now you have Maya and you have her husband, who are both like celebrating their newfound faith in Jesus. And these guys were launched into ministry.

These, these leaders who had been praying for them said, now what you've received, it's not just for you to contain. It's kind of like the woman at the well. I think about when Jesus encountered her, she didn't understand what the living water meant. And then finally, Jesus said, "Hey, the water you're looking for down in this well is going to run out. The water I'm talking about is a well that will never run dry." And once that revelation hit the woman at the well, she left her stuff. She ran to her home and she told everybody of the man she had met, and that community came to know Christ.

And that's what happens with Maya and her husband. So they go and they share the gospel with their family. And as a result of that, you ready for this? In four different villages, six different prayer cell groups have emerged because of Maya and her husband receiving the good news of Jesus Christ. Friends, that's the only way it's going to happen: for us to reach the overwhelming numbers of people in places like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar is for people like Maya and her husband to make disciples who will make disciples who will make disciples. You are a part of that.

That is our focus at Unknown Nations as we target the ends of the earth. It can't be about me. It can't be about Greg Kelley sitting in this room and doing my thing. I will never impact 400 million people. We have to mobilize the Mayas of the world and share the good news. We have to go and meet them where they're at. It starts with prayer and then, of course, the word of God, and friend, you are a part of it.

We invite you. Join us, because there's a lot more Mayas out there that need to hear the good news of Jesus Christ, and God wants to use you. He's calling you to be a part of this story. Friend, go to our website, go to unknownnations.com. Continue to absorb this podcast, share with your friends and family, give us a favorable rating that would be a blessing to us. Uh, but just stay tuned, because there's more stories, inspirational stories, that we are going to be sharing with you, because we want to see faith, hope, and transformation in the nations where Jesus gave it all.

He paid the ultimate price, and you and I now are stewarding that. So thankful to join you this week on this episode of the Unknown Nations podcast. Catch us next time. My name is Greg Kelley. God bless you.