The Pastors Of Punjab

Pentecostal preachers find a fertile ground among Punjab's most oppressed castes to spread their faith and expand their flock

- Anilesh S. Mahajan & Sunil Menon

RAMJIT SINGH, 64 First Baptist Church, Kot Mit Singh, Amritsar

PASTORNAMA

“Sikhism taught me that there’s a god, the Bible showed me how to find Him”

A Jat Sikh by birth, Ramjit had sunk into alcoholism and depression after superannuation from the Indian Navy. “I had left home for the railway tracks, to throw myself in front of a train, when a man, with a huge glow on his face (possibly Jesus himself), met me and asked me to go home to my daughters. I did, and also decided to quit all vices.” Now, Ramjit is part of the First Baptist Church, and finds no contradiction in his Christian beliefs and Sikh appearance, with turban and flowing beard. They are a part of him, he says. “Sikhism taught me there is a force called God, the Bible showed me how to find Him.”

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