(April 15, 2011) Suicide seemed the answer-the only solution-for an Indonesian man whose good name had been used by a friend to run up debts.
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| Group of Indonesians listen to radio program. |
"I had many people chasing me for money," he said. "It was because of this that I had planned to commit suicide." The money intended for establishing a business had been lost, so the friend borrowed from others.
The real-life drama was recounted to an HCJB Global partner who asked that people pray for the man "because for this moment, he was under pressure from his parents and family."
Family members have attempted to convince the new believer to reconvert to Hinduism, a religion in which he served in the priestly class known as Brahmins. In Hinduism, this is the highest level of the caste system.
His societal status notwithstanding, the man was desperate and suicidal, but a lifeline was thrown to him. As he fiddled to tune in to the broadcasts on his cell phone, that lifeline seemed both a thin thread and a solid rope of rescue sustained by God Himself.
"That night I tried to listen to the radio through my mobile phone," said the man of his time of debt-ridden misery. "I could only capture one radio station. The other radio signals were not clear. I was very interested in this station because its motto, 'Making Life Better.'" The man lives about 30 miles from the radio station.
He listened to a program called Wise Words. "From this program," he recounted, "I captured one sentence: 'In every problem there is a way out.'" He carried this comfort to bed that night.
"I fell asleep, and when I woke up I realized that I had no desire to commit suicide," the man said, adding that after listening for a week, he sent the station a text message. "Soon after that, I was invited to come to the (station's) counseling center."
The station's counselor and his wife spoke with their newfound friend and "then they asked if I would like to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior, and I said, 'Yes!' After they led me to accept Jesus and prayed for the problems I faced, I returned home. When I got home, God had done a miracle. All the debts were paid off! There are people who paid for everything."
HCJB Global Asia Pacific Director Ty calls it a "great example not only of the power of radio, but also the power of local follow-up." His work coordinating efforts to establish Christian radio stations has convinced him that such scenarios occur on a daily basis throughout Indonesia.
Source: HCJB Global
Colorado Springs, CO 80949-9800
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