Our ministry this month involved traveling to many different regions of Nepal preaching, doing devotionals, sharing testimonies, and praying for healing. Before we left on this trip, we stayed a few days in Kathmandu doing ministry.
One day after ministry our host wanted to take us to see different parts of the Nepali culture, so we went to visit the oldest Hindu temple in Kathmandu called the Pashupatinath temple. The temple serves as the seat of the national deity, Lord Pashupatinath, and is very sacred to the Hindu faith.
Practicing Hindus and buddhist of Indian and Tibetan descendent are only allowed into the temple courtyard. Practicing Hindus of western descent are not allowed into the temple complex along with other non Hindu visitors. So being that we were a group of six clearly American women, not carrying a red dot on our forehead, we were obviously not allowed in. Even our Nepali hosts said that security can tell who the Christians are, foreign or not.
So instead we paid to go look at the main temple from the adjacent side of the Bagmati river, where there are hundreds of small temples and where they cremate the bodies of deceased Hindus.
The whole area had a darkness about it, but the second we actually entered inside we could feel the weight of oppression. It was like walking into another world, one full of darkness. A group of men brushed past me carrying a dead body to be thrown into the fires lit by the river. The air was filled with the smell of them burning.
All eyes where on us, watching. At first I felt too uneasy to take out my camera, and then I saw a photographer taking a picture of one of the priests, and my host turned to me and said, “You can pay them to take pictures of them.” I said I wasn’t going to do that, but I did feel more comfortable to photograph the area.
My heart broke as I walked around looking at the idols and the people… as I thought about the Hindu women who had come to us in church that day asking for healing prayer, because their idols had failed them. These people where searching for something to fill a void.
We came to a point where we were looking down at a line of temples. We wanted to prayer walk around, but our host said Christians aren’t allowed here, and if anyone heard we would be kicked out, so to talk to the Lord in the silence of our hearts.
All of sudden it started pouring rain! None of us had come prepared or bought umbrellas yet, and there was no way I was going to let my camera get wet, so we ran to the nearest covering, inside one of the temples, strictly forbidden for Christians to enter.
We all got in there and shook off the water on our jackets, realized where we were, and kind of looked at each other like we know we aren’t supposed to be in here. Above us was the temple care taker priests home, but it was empty. Daily rituals of Pashupatinath are carried out by two sets of priests; one being the Bhatt priests and the other Bhandari. Bhatt are the ones who performs the daily ritual and can touch the lingam, where as Bhadaris are the helper and temple care taker priests, but are not qualified to perform rituals or to touch the deity.
We decided right then and there to pray out loud over the temple, to ignite a light in this dark place. Our host was a little nervous, not wanting anyone to hear, but the rain fell harder, and everyone around had taken shelter elsewhere. So each of us one by one prayed out loud, praying for light and for freedom, for the priest who lived in this temple, and for the people who came here to worship.
As the last person finished praying, the rain cleared… enough for us to leave. While walking out, I looked around at all the destruction. In April of last year, an earthquake struck Nepal, resulting in the death of many, and causing irreversible damage to seven monument zones that had been designated World Heritage Sites in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, and Patan. Four of those zones are religious sites: Buddhist monuments at Swayambhunath and Boudhanath, and Hindu temple complexes at Pashupatinath and Changu Narayan.
The main temple in Bhaktapur’s square lost its roof, while the 16th Century Vatsala Durga temple, famous for its sandstone walls and gold-topped pagodas, was demolished by the quake.
I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe in purpose, in intentionality, and in bigger pictures.
I don’t think for one second it was a coincidence that all four religious zones sustained irreversible damage.
I don’t think it is coincidence that since the earthquake the people of Nepal are now searching for healing, searching for more.
And as I gazed at the rubble from fallen temples and statues, I saw a God with a bigger picture. I felt the Lord whisper I am all powerful, I am still here, I am still pursuing their hearts. In order for rebuilding to take place, something that has already been built has to be torn down.
God is here, and I believe He will continue to send people here who will come along side the people of Nepal, who will light fires within them, and who will rebuild this country by building them up in the Lord, and by bringing Kingdom! We have to choose to be a generation that says YES to the calling He puts on our lives!
