Left for Dead

“Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17, NAS.

Lurdenathan is a 38 year old security guard known for his sweet and gentle spirit in the church. His speech is slurred, and he walks with an awkward gait. But considering what happened he is a miracle of God.

Before coming to Christ, Lurdenathan was a violent gangster from a notorious crime family. When he crossed the family, his own brothers hired hit men to kill him. They tied him up, stuffed him into the back of a car, and took him to an abandoned pool from an old mining operation. They beat him until they thought he was dead and then dumped his body into the pool.

Lurdenathan has no memory of how he was rescued. He just remembers waking up in the hospital. It had taken over 100 metal plates to put him back together. He spent the next year in the hospital, unable to move. The doctors said he would never walk again and doubted that he’d ever be able to talk. Most people who knew him had given up hope.

During his stay in the hospital a local Indian pastor had started visiting him and praying with him. Once he was released from the hospital, this pastor would come and collect him every Sunday for church. He would carry him up the stairs to church services, since Lurdenathan could not walk himself. During worship services God touched his broken heart, and he gave himself up to Jesus.

Over the course of the next six years, God touched Lurdenathan’s broken body. The entire church cheered the first Sunday he was able to walk up the stairs on his own. The doctors don’t understand it, but the church knows who is responsible for giving new life to the man left for dead.

Pray that:

Lurdenathan’s testimony of healing and life transformation from Jesus will touch the hearts of many Indians in Malaysia.

God will continue to collect trophies of His grace from among the Indian community in Malaysia.

Pacific Rim is a region of the International Mission Board, SBC.