5 Smooth Stones

This began a series of revivals which swept the Northeastern United States in what came to be known as Finney’s "Nine Mighty Years" of evangelism. “Charles P. Bush, a native of Rochester converted during the revival, later remarked, ‘The whole community was stirred. Religion was the topic of conversation in the house, in the shop, in the o ffi ce and on the street…Grog shops were closed, the Sabbath was honored, the sanctuaries were thronged with happy worshipers…There was a wonderful falling o ff of crime. The courts had li tt le to do, and the jail was nearly empty for years afterward.’” Philip also was called to in fl uence an entire nation from the top down when he was led by an angel to bring the gospel to the treasurer of Ethiopia, a man in high authority in that country (Acts 8:26-39). Then Paul the apostle was chosen to bear the name of the Lord before the children of Israel, Gentiles, and kings (Acts 9:15). Bringing the gospel to heads of state and those in high places in society is part of the strategy that the Lord set forth for us to follow as a pa tt ern. In India the story is told among the people concerning Thomas the apostle visiting what is today southern India. It is said that Thomas visited a river where Hindu priests were making their morning prayers and o ff erings by standing in the river and throwing water up into the air as a symbol of their prayers going up to their gods. When he asked them what they were doing and was told, he said, “Why are your gods not receiving the o ff ering, as the water is returning down?” Purportedly he said, “My God would not require worthless acts, but if I did o ff er Him an o ff ering He would accept it.” He then went out into the water and prayed a simple prayer and tossed the water into the air and they watched as the water continued up and never did return to earth. This caused quite some excitement among the priests, who under the caste system were the highest rank in their society. Some say the priests, out of the highest caste called Brahmin, believed and were converted. It is said that the entire village of Brahmins got converted because of this miracle. They took Thomas to the king who was unimpressed with the story at fi rst, but had a sick daughter who was healed when Thomas prayed for her. This caused many of the priests and the ruling class, the second highest in their order, to convert to Christianity. To this day the highest percentage of Christians in India is in the south, where Christians are in every area of society. In the state of Kerala, Christians are still enjoying high status as their ancestors are believed to be once Brahmins or Kshatriyas. According to the oral traditions, Christians were considered honorable also because of the high standard of integrity 114