THE STORY OF PETER NAIDU

I was a fire walker, a very religious person, born of strict Hindu parents, on one of the islands of Fiji. In our home we set aside a room solely for prayer and worship. This room was always kept spotlessly clean. At one end was a shrine filled with exotic and fascinating portraits, idols and images of various Hindu deities. Just to name a few of them, there were Krishna, Ganesh, Brahma, Vishnu, Subramaniyam. The whole area was decorated and decked with flowers to inspire awe.

We burned incense and lit a holy lamp before starting the prayers and chanting. On occasions we used skewers to pierce our cheeks, in one side through one cheek, across the mouth, and out through the other, we also pushed skewers through other parts of our bodies.

Once every year in the month of August, we celebrated the fire walking ceremony to appease and worship the goddesses Kali and Mariamman. Even in those days, despite my background, I realized that I was not able to placate and please a truly holy and righteous God. There was no question of my sincerity or honesty in what I did. Still, I felt that my sins were on me. It was a burden I was carrying. I knew that I had done things that were wrong and there was no way in which I could put them right again. Consequently, I knew that some day when I would meet God, I would have to pay the penalty for my deeds, the thought of "my sins" was ever with me.

I found some religious teachers saying that God is a just God and that He will weigh our good deeds against any evil that we may have done, if we are found wanting in the balance, then naturally we will have to pay for the consequences. But if the reverse is the case, then we will receive a reward. This sort of teaching did not appeal to me because, even on the human level, I knew that no amount of good I may have done would ever be enough to pardon my sins.

In April 1969, in my last year at the University in Wellington, New Zealand, I was in the lecture room when the lecturer was commenting on the depleted attendance of students that night because of the magnetism of a preacher named Billy Graham.

After a few days I found myself, along with other students of similar ethnic background, in one of Mr. Graham's meetings. I was quite surprised to see a large crowd, some sixty thousand people gathered at the Athletic Park. I must confess that, prior to this time, I had no knowledge of the teachings of the Christian faith, but to me one thing was certain-there was something unusual happening within me. There was something saying to me "You already know that you are a sinner and that you are not good enough to enter heaven and meet God, then why don't you accept God's way? He has provided you a way himself: you have a Mediator. a Go-between who died for your sins."

At first I resisted this voice. But then I submitted myself and responded to the preacher's invitation.

One thing I want to emphasize and to be clear about is that I was not tricked into believing through the enticing words of the preacher nor even by the thought of pleasing the people present. I was proud of my religious background. Religion was not what I needed, but rather I had a personal need to meet the demands of a holy and a righteous God. I had a desire to get right with God. I took the step "in faith." I did not take up a new religion but a Person. I received Jesus Christ and believed in His finished work on the cross. I believed that he was my substitute. The penalty of my sins was paid by Him- the Son of God. I no longer had my great load of sins to carry.

Since I received the Lord Jesus Christ into my life, on the authority of God's word, (the Bible), my salvation, my position, is "eternally secured in my Savior."

Today I have a loving. kind and tolerant wife and two lovely children. In matters of employment I have held responsible positions in government, industry and commerce. But best of all, my present employment is where God wants me!

My dear friend, you too can come to know the same Savior to whom Peter Naidu trusted his precious soul. You do not have to go any where, you don't have to pay anything, nor to join anything, just bow your head where you are, tell the true, the holy, the righteous God, that you are a sinner, that you cannot save yourself, or make yourself good enough to enter His holy presence, but that you now accept by faith the salvation that He offers, a salvation paid for by the Lord Jesus when He died on the cross. receive the Lord Jesus now by faith as your own Savior, then confess Him as your Lord.

If you would like further spiritual held or counsel, then write to;

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Romans , chapter 6, verse 23.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, and your house, (family). Acts, chapter 16, verse 31.

For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. John, chapter verse 16.

He that hears my word, and believes on Him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death into life. John, chapter 5 verse 24.

If you shall confess with you mouth Jesus as your Lord, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans, chapter 10, verse 9.