Back in 2009, we had a prophecy in our church that the Lord would take me to the backwaters of Kerala and Karnataka. Over the years, I've had a couple of preaching engagements in Kerala, and visited Bijapur on the outskirts of Karnataka, but have never really been to the backwaters, so was waiting on this promise.
You can imagine my surprise when a Bro. Arun suddenly calls from Kodagu, Coorg in Karnataka, just across the border from Tamil Nadu, and asks me if I would be willing to preach in his church if he arranged it with his pastor! Now, Bro. Arun and I hadn't even met in person. He happens to be the son of one of the sisters who had attended one of my evangelical meetings in Conoor, in the Nilgiris, around 2021, after which he had been closely following my ministry on social media. Something in one of my messages had touched him, and he made that call in the first week of January this year. He soon co-ordinated with his pastor - Pastor Ravi Levi John who then called and spoke to me with questions regarding my ministry vision, and before we knew it, we had a meeting set for the 1st week of February, 2024.
Coorg was part of the backwaters of Karnataka - a fact we didn't learn of until we drove past a sign saying so. It said: "Welcome to Kodagu - the backwater paradise of Karnataka." The prophecy that had been uttered in 2009, was coming to pass in 2024, nearly 15 years later. It just goes to show you, that the Lord has His own time to bring things to pass.
I and my wife set out for Coorg on the 3rd of February. We had to drive up through the ghats, cross the Satyamangalam Forest, and then proceed to Kodagu. Pastor Ravi lived in Kushalnagar - the more touristy part of Kodagu. And that's where we were bound.
We left that morning around 8:30 am, stopped for breakfast and then drove continually right to Coorg.
We reached our destination sometime around 3:00 pm.
Pastor Ravi had booked our lodgings quite near the church premises in Kushalnagar, so that we wouldn't have that long a drive to the meeting place. He received us warmly and we went up and settled in our room.
After freshening up, Pastor took us to a quaint little Mangalorean place for a seafood lunch. My wife, being Mangalorean, was very pleased with the fare in all the little eateries she saw in Kodagu.
Over lunch, Pastor shared his testimony with us. His uncle had initially been the pastor of the church in Coorg. They were originally from Tamil Nadu, but had settled in Coorg a long time ago.
There were around 500 people in the church his uncle used to pastor back then. However, sadly, he hadn't been living a sanctified life, as a minister should, and so, many in the church objected to him being the pastor, and he stepped down.
Thereafter, Pastor Ravi was asked to fill in as Pastor of the church. However, around half the congregation stumbled at this change in leadership and the exposition of their old pastor's unrenewed life, and slowly left the church over the next few months.
Pastor Ravi related that he had to renew the work in Coorg once again, and build up the congregation step by step. In the course of the next few years, Pastor Ravi married a Telugu sister, and they now have 4 beautiful children together.
There are currently 350 people in his church. He told me he had studied in the Korean Bible University as part of the Indian Pentecostal Association.
After lunch we went back to our room, and Bro. Arun came over to meet us. I shared with them the testimony of my conversion, my call to ministry work, my vision of Prophetic Awareness, and how My India Vision began in 2012, and told them about the work that the Lord had been doing in my ministry since then.
It was 6:00 pm by the time finished our chat, and Pastor suggested we get some rest before we came to call on us for dinner.
We were a bit tired, and had a good rest up until 8:00 pm, even though the power went out a few times, and the hotel had no generator for back-up. The climate wasn't that hot that evening, and we managed a fitful nap.
We contacted Pastor Ravi at around 8:30 pm, telling him that we would be ready to go out, and he came by to pick us up a few minutes later.
Pastor first took us over to see the meeting place. The lights were out, but we used our flashlights to scan the perimeter. We had brought our projector along, so we needed to check if there were sufficient plug points to connect everything, and whether the background wall was white, which it was.
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| The Meeting Place |
Pastor Ravi told us that the meeting hall was a Community hall, called 'Tapovana' rented out to them, and other small churches after them each Sunday for a fee. If they used the dining hall, they paid extra. Tapovana in the Kannada language means - Garden of Meditation.
The campus belonged to a Roman Catholic Church in the area, and was maintained by the seminarians who were put up there.
Pastor Ravi informed us that he had taken the decision to hold his Sunday Church meetings there because of intense harassment by Hindu extremist groups in the area, who had damaged much of the property, and broken up meetings, where they had been previously conducting prayer. This campus was a legally registered Christian ground, and as such could not be intruded on by radicals from the outside.
Pastor then took us to a home mess (cafeteria) belonging to one of his believers. And the sister treated us to a hot Coorgi dinner.
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| Prayer @ a church sister's mess hall (cafeteria) |
After dinner, we visited his home, and met up with his wife - Sis. Usha and children. I took the time to share my testimony with them as well. After a short time of prayer, we retired to our lodge and were expected to be at the Meeting Hall by 10:00 am the next morning for the Sunday service.
We rose early the next day, and I spent some time preparing my sermon. We made out way to Topavana by 10:00 am. It was only a short distance away. The hall lay right next to a scenic river spot. It was a huge cement structure with a roofing sheet on top.
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| Sunday Worship @ Tapovana |
The worship was well underway by the time we got there.
Click here to watch a Worship Video
A few people came forward and shared testimonies before the preaching service began.
Click here to watch a Song Offering Video in Kannada
Pastor Ravi handed me the pulpit at around 10:30 pm, having informed me that I could wind up by 12:00 noon.
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| Pastor Ravi introduces me |
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| Pastor's wife Sis. Usha testifies |
I stressed on the Importance of Living a Sanctified Life according to the Will of God, and aligning our lives with the Word, so that we may be holy and blameless before Him.
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| Delivering the Message |
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My emphasis was on how, if we really trusted Jesus, as the woman who reached out to touch the hem of His garment, and was made whole, we could really receive the healing of our bodies and souls; and how it was our unbelief in the cleansing power of the Word that was a hindrance to our sanctification.
I urged the congregation to get serious with God, to stop living life carelessly and with no thought to the Coming of Christ.
I then went on to explain II Peter 3 - 'the elements shall melt with fervent heat.', and what it meant as a prophecy for the world.
I ended with some slides of a factual presentation regarding the death and crucifixion of our Lord, and the pain and suffering He underwent so that we may be saved. I stressed how Modern Christianity had gone to the dogs, and how only those who chose to offer themselves to Christ as set-apart vessels, would make it into glory at the last trump.
I noticed many in the congregation begin to weep. I could tell that the Holy Spirit had done His perfect work in them.
After the message, many came forward for prayer.
As per the leading of the Holy Spirit, I urged them to lift up their hands and pray with me for healing and deliverance as I walked through the middle of the congregation.
Some did still come to me and Pastor later on for personal petitions.
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| Prayer for healing and deliverance |
Pastor Ravi expressed his joy at how well things had shaped up and appreciated the message. He told me it was exactly what his congregation had needed to hear. I told him that I had yet more to discuss with him, and would do so when he was free. He suggested that we meet that evening at Bro. Arun's home for further discussion.
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| Post - service discussion |
A small lunch had been arranged for the attendees, and we ate college-style out of paper plates, standing in the shade.
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| A standing lunch on Tapovana Campus |
I finally concluded urging him to
meditate on the matters I had shared with him, and told him that it had been my
heart’s burden to open up these truths to him, and that I had no other
intentions.
Bro. Arun too was with us, and he
too listened in rapt attention.
At the end of our discussion, I
asked Pastor to pray and it warmed my heart to hear him say:
“Lord, I submit myself to
this truth that you have delivered to me today.”
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| Pastor Ravi prays |
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| A Word of Prayer for Bro. Arun who was instrumental in bringing me to Coorg. |
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| @ Pastor Ravi's home |
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| Kadbu and Kori Roti |
We were up early the next
morning, and Pastor came by to take us out for breakfast, after which he said
that he needed some time to visit a fellow minister who was ill in hospital,
and that he would come back to us by noon. He asked me to baptize him before we
left, and this was like music to my ears.
It was past noon before pastor
Ravi came by and we proceeded to the Kaveri River nearby. On the way there, I
said that I wasn’t instructing him to pull down whatever he had built and start
afresh right from the foundation, but I was asking him to dig up the foundation
that he had laid for his building completely and start from scratch on the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief
cornerstone. He replied:
“Brother I feel that all the knowledge and learning I have accumulated along the years is just dung, as the Apostle Paul said. After hearing these truths, and deciding to be baptized in Jesus’ Name, I feel like a great weight has left me, and a great peace fills my heart.”
I baptized Pastor Ravi Levi John
in the River Kaveri on the 5th of February, 2024 after a short prayer at the river side.
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| A Riverside Message |
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| Baptism of Pastor Ravi Levi John - 5.2.2024 |
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| Thanking the Lord for His mercies together - (Brothers-in-arms) |
I was glad to have found a fellow
worker like him in this part of Karnataka. I gave him some instructions
regarding the future leading of his church. He told me that he would arrange a
Pastors’ Conference and Bible Studies in Kodagu and other areas so that this
message could be published far and wide within Karnataka.
Do pray for Pastor Ravi, his
associates, family, and congregation.
NOTE:- I recently heard from
Pastor Ravi and he reports joyfully, that since his baptism, he has had great
peace, the Holy Spirit has been moving in his life, the Bible has become a
living book to him with hidden treasures jumping out of the pages, and wonders
of deliverance taking place in his church as he prayed over his congregation.
He also told me that a woman in
his church had a vision – the first she has had since she became a practicing
Christian. In it she saw a great white figure standing in front of Pastor Ravi.
His hand and Pastor Ravi’s hands moved in unison. Whenever the figure moved, he
moved. The sister testified of this in the church, and many of the members of his
congregation came forward appreciating the renewed depth and life of his
messages.
I told him that the vision showed
that he was in line with the Spirit of God, that the Holy Spirit was leading
him.
I will be travelling there in the month of March for more meetings, God willing.
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