This amazing story is more like a parable. Nevertheless, the events described in it are confirmed facts to which there are witnesses. Many of the participants in what happened in a Thai village in the early sixties of the last century are still alive today.
Although the word of the sermon about Christ has been heard in Thailand since the middle of the sixteenth century (the first missionaries, Dominican Catholics from Portugal, arrived in the country in 1567 - and two years later they were martyred), today the number of local residents belonging to different Christian denominations , does not reach even one percent of the total population. Among Christians in Thailand there are Catholics of various orders and congregations, Orthodox Christians, the overwhelming majority of whom are parishioners of the churches of the Russian Orthodox Church, and, finally, Protestants of various persuasions. Christian organizations are active in Thailand in the field of health care, education, and printed materials. At the same time, almost all the activity of Christian missionaries in Thailand is limited mainly to the cities and resorts of the country. Meanwhile, the periphery, where Buddhism is fancifully intertwined with animalism (archaic worship of animals), is almost not covered by the word of Christian preaching. Attempts to preach Christ in remote villages of the country Christian missionaries are periodically undertaken. One of the organizations that is most active in this matter is OMF International (Overseas Missionary Fellowship). It is an interfaith Protestant missionary brotherhood founded in 1835 in Great Britain and currently based in Singapore. The organization is engaged in the spread of Christianity in East Asian countries, including Thailand.
In 1963, an OMF employee named Robin Talbot was in northern Thailand, where he preached the Christian faith to the inhabitants of the most remote villages. Not to say successfully: if somewhere they listened to the Protestant missionary, the locals were in no hurry to convert to the new faith. Moreover, the first woman who decided to abandon animal worship and adopt Christianity immediately became a pariah for her fellow villagers. For abandoning the old beliefs, the peasants reviled her, cursed her, with all their hearts wishing the woman to get sick and die. And she really got seriously ill. While Robin Talbot prayed for the recovery of the newly converted Christian, the locals continued to mock her and shower the patient with curses. The woman soon died. Rather, everyone thought so when they saw the body lying without signs of life. Twenty minutes later, the woman who was believed to be dead rose on her bed. She didn't look sick. And what happened next, many fellow villagers would prefer not to see or hear. The woman who had returned 'from behind the line' began to talk about the secrets of the villagers - some of them were known only to a narrow circle of relatives, others - only to those with whom they were associated. After finishing the story about the skeletons in the closet of her fellow villagers, the woman said that at first she really died and found herself in another world, where she had been for some time. Then she met the Lord Jesus Christ there - he commanded her to return to her native village and tell her inhabitants about everything that she experienced and what she became aware of. Which she diligently did. If this story was a fiction, it would certainly have a happy ending: they say all the villagers repented and, as one, accepted Christianity. Regrettably or not, nothing of the kind actually happened. Robin Talbot continued his missionary work in Southeast Asia. Information about the further fate of the newly converted Christian woman, who returned from the afterlife, differs in particular. But, be that as it may, the story of a woman from Thailand became known to the whole world as evidence that in our time the Lord does not deprive his flock of support and, if required, wonderful help. Daria Pobedinskaya
Although the word of the sermon about Christ has been heard in Thailand since the middle of the sixteenth century (the first missionaries, Dominican Catholics from Portugal, arrived in the country in 1567 - and two years later they were martyred), today the number of local residents belonging to different Christian denominations , does not reach even one percent of the total population. Among Christians in Thailand there are Catholics of various orders and congregations, Orthodox Christians, the overwhelming majority of whom are parishioners of the churches of the Russian Orthodox Church, and, finally, Protestants of various persuasions. Christian organizations are active in Thailand in the field of health care, education, and printed materials. At the same time, almost all the activity of Christian missionaries in Thailand is limited mainly to the cities and resorts of the country. Meanwhile, the periphery, where Buddhism is fancifully intertwined with animalism (archaic worship of animals), is almost not covered by the word of Christian preaching. Attempts to preach Christ in remote villages of the country Christian missionaries are periodically undertaken. One of the organizations that is most active in this matter is OMF International (Overseas Missionary Fellowship). It is an interfaith Protestant missionary brotherhood founded in 1835 in Great Britain and currently based in Singapore. The organization is engaged in the spread of Christianity in East Asian countries, including Thailand.
In 1963, an OMF employee named Robin Talbot was in northern Thailand, where he preached the Christian faith to the inhabitants of the most remote villages. Not to say successfully: if somewhere they listened to the Protestant missionary, the locals were in no hurry to convert to the new faith. Moreover, the first woman who decided to abandon animal worship and adopt Christianity immediately became a pariah for her fellow villagers. For abandoning the old beliefs, the peasants reviled her, cursed her, with all their hearts wishing the woman to get sick and die. And she really got seriously ill. While Robin Talbot prayed for the recovery of the newly converted Christian, the locals continued to mock her and shower the patient with curses. The woman soon died. Rather, everyone thought so when they saw the body lying without signs of life. Twenty minutes later, the woman who was believed to be dead rose on her bed. She didn't look sick. And what happened next, many fellow villagers would prefer not to see or hear. The woman who had returned 'from behind the line' began to talk about the secrets of the villagers - some of them were known only to a narrow circle of relatives, others - only to those with whom they were associated. After finishing the story about the skeletons in the closet of her fellow villagers, the woman said that at first she really died and found herself in another world, where she had been for some time. Then she met the Lord Jesus Christ there - he commanded her to return to her native village and tell her inhabitants about everything that she experienced and what she became aware of. Which she diligently did. If this story was a fiction, it would certainly have a happy ending: they say all the villagers repented and, as one, accepted Christianity. Regrettably or not, nothing of the kind actually happened. Robin Talbot continued his missionary work in Southeast Asia. Information about the further fate of the newly converted Christian woman, who returned from the afterlife, differs in particular. But, be that as it may, the story of a woman from Thailand became known to the whole world as evidence that in our time the Lord does not deprive his flock of support and, if required, wonderful help. Daria Pobedinskaya
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