Nagaland, India
When Heaven Came Down
(Part 1)
Of the 36 tribes and language groups of Nagas in northeast India, all were deeply impacted by the light and power of the Gospel. The miracles and signs and wonders that accompanied the revival are so numerous that it would take a book thousands of pages long just to begin to scratch the surface of God’s wonderful works.
Here we faithfully recount some of the remarkable testimonies of what happened in just one church – the Sendenyu Baptist Church in Tseminyu, Nagaland. Some of these stories are so remarkable that you may struggle to believe they happened, but they were witnessed by many people. Beginning in February 1959, after several years of terrible suffering for all Naga people, the Holy Spirit was poured out in a mighty, unexpected way upon the Sendenyu Christians. Many lives were transformed and regenerated into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
“Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.” (Acts 2:2)
The Sendenyu Baptist Church had existed for many years before the events that shook the congregation in February 1959. The Christians had grown somewhat apathetic in their faith and commitment, and many had lost their spiritual fervor. Gradually, the believers had become more aware of their sins. Spontaneous confession of sin began to break out in their meetings. After pouring out their souls and receiving God’s forgiveness, their sorrow was overtaken by overflowing peace, joy and happiness.
One evening, after three consecutive nights of special meetings, most of the believers began to leave the church for their homes. Some Christians, however, stayed in the church and continued in prayer and worship, sensing that God wanted to do something new in their midst. Suddenly, a flame of fire appeared in the church in full view of many people. It came down and settled over the pulpit at the front of the sanctuary. The people were shocked and awestruck, as the fire was accompanied by a mighty, loud sound like a roar. The fire divided itself into tongues of fire. Some people immediately began to prophesy, while others saw visions. This was the start of the tremendous visitation of the Holy Spirit among the Sendenyu body of believers. They came to despair for their state of rebellion and hopelessness outside of complete submission to the True and Living God. They came to understand that their greatest acts of self-righteousness were no more than filthy rags in the sight of God. Only Jesus Christ and the Word of God could satisfy the deep spiritual longing felt by all.
Over the ensuing days and weeks many people in the church stood up and, under the power of the Holy Spirit, exposed the secret sins of church members. Accurate Bible references were spoken that often spoke directly to the condition of a person’s heart, in a way that only God could know. Sometimes, the prophets speaking these pinpoint Scriptural messages were illiterate people who had never learned to read the Bible for himself or herself. During one worship service, a church member prophesied that God would send a pillar of fire, and that everyone must confess and repent from their sins. He also said that the fire would burn down an unbeliever’s house when it came. The whole church gathered together that evening and earnestly prayed and confessed their sins to the Lord. Suddenly, a strange pillar of fire shone above the church between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. The light was so pure that it was brighter than at noontime on a normal day. No reflection or shadow was cast in any direction, however. It was unlike any other light the people had seen before. After a short time, the pillar of fire from the Lord vanished. The people then noticed that the house of a non-Christian named Tesinlo Khing had caught on fire! The fire raged out of control. In those days, there was hardly any gap between the houses in the village. The roofs were made of straw and the walls were mats. However, in full view of the people, the destructive fire miraculously did not spread to any of the neighboring houses owned by Christians.
“This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.... Let no man leave any of it till morning.... But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank.... So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his own need.” (Exodus 16:15,19-21)
God sovereignly undertook to take care of His people during the famine. The believers in Sendenyu asked the Lord to provide their daily bread, according to His Word. The merciful God answered their prayers by miraculously providing them with a form of manna, an edible wild creeper known locally as kenrhe. The kenrhe has large edible roots that taste like potato. Every family in Sendenyu collected just what they needed for that day. If anyone collected the manna for the next day, they would not be able to eat it because it starts to stink and tastes bitter if left overnight. This manna was eaten by the people every meal for almost one year, until they were able to replant some of their crops. “No weapon formed against you shall prosper... this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me.” (Isaiah 54:17)
One evening in 1959, while an evening worship service of the Sendenyu Baptist Church was in progress, soldiers from the 7th Gorkha Regiment of the Indian army came and surrounded the church. Inspired by the hosts of hell, they decided to massacre the entire congregation. The troops opened fire for several minutes, spraying hundreds of bullets into the straw roof and walls. The building was completely filled with holes, but when the soldiers inspected, they were amazed to find none of the believers were harmed. Not one hair on their heads had been hurt. Confused but determined to finish the job, the soldiers then lobbed three live hand grenades into the church. When the Christians saw the grenades roll into the church, they immediately fell to their knees, covered the grenades with their hands, and cried out to God for His protection. None of the grenades detonated. Finally the Commander ordered the use of fixed machine guns to annihilate the entire congregation. Astonishingly, all of the bullets discharged through the chamber failed to ignite and fire. The Gorkha Regiment, now afraid and aware that God’s hand was against them, hurriedly withdrew back to their base, leaving the Christians alone.
An interesting side-note to this testimony is that during their attempted massacre, the Regiment also fired their rifles randomly around the houses of the village. That night there were four Christian villagers who happened to be staying at home instead of attending the worship service. The four people were Vilhoulie Kent, Yhunlonyu Kent, Alisa Kemp and Tenyuhun Seb. As the soldiers fired indiscriminately throughout the village, bullets hit all four people. The bullets pierced their clothes, leaving holes in their garments, but fell down without penetrating their skin. None of them were harmed or injured in any way!
“Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)
Near the start of the revival in 1959, not all Nagas believed in the Gospel. Many were still animists, worshipping the spirits and demons that the ancestors of the Naga had done for countless centuries. The Naga Christians banded together and determined to fast and pray until the Holy Spirit removed all remaining demonic strongholds which kept people from acknowledging the truth of Jesus Christ. In Sendenyu village, the Christians prayed and fasted for 15 days, crying out to God and binding the works of the devil. Three strange, yet dramatic events then took place on one single day. Numerous people witnessed these.
Outside the village, on a hill the Rengma tribe called “Temi Sukenko Thun” (Mount for Drying Human Flesh), there was a large rocky cave known as Demon’s Cave, where the villagers traditionally believed Satan roasted human flesh. On the 15th day of the Christians’ fast, the cave simply collapsed and disintegrated, so that no one could enter it again.
“They found the stone rolled away.” (Luke 24:2)
On the plain between the Nyeshweru River and the Temejochon River, there was a huge solid rock that the local people believed was a sacred spiritual stronghold. People were afraid to go near the rock. No one dared to even cultivate the land around the rock, for fear of evil consequences. Local legend and experience taught that everyone who went near the rock would return home gravely ill. Many people even died. The rock was so large and heavy that no number of people could possibly have budged it from its location if they had tried. It weighed many tons.
On the same day that the Demon’s Cave collapsed, after the Christians had fasted for 15 days, the local people were astonished to find that the huge rock on the plains had simply disappeared! The people searched high and low for it, but no trace of the rock could be found. It simply vanished! Today, the Nagas grow crops on the land where they were previously too afraid to go near.
“He removed the altars to foreign gods and the high places, smashed the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images.” (2 Chronicles 14:3)
During headhunting days, when few Nagas knew the Lord, the elders of Sendenyu village planted three wild rubber trees, known as “Chin Bin,” at the entrance to the village gate. Over the decades, the three trees grew to enormous heights. The tops of the branches joined together so that the three trees looked like one gigantic tree. The villagers ascribed spiritual power to the trees, so that ancestral worship and other rituals were conducted there. Whenever the village warriors went to war and on headhunting expeditions, the severed heads of their victims were hung from the branches of the tree. In their language, the locals called the tree Rupe bin which means, “Tree for hanging human heads.” On the same day that the Lord destroyed the Demon Cave and the large rock disappeared, all three large trees at the village gate fell to the ground with a great crash. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21)