Sadhu Sundar Singh - Missionary of the Bleeding Feet
Sundar, born in 1889, was raised in India in the Punjab region of Northern India. His Sikh mother, to whom he was very close, was very devout in her faith, and often took Sundar to sit at the feet of a holy man called a “sadhu”, sort of a monk who lived in the jungle. At the same time, he was sent by his parents to a Presbyterian Christian mission school to learn English, where the New Testament was used as a textbook.
Sundar’s mother died when he was fourteen, throwing the boy into a crisis of faith. He reacted by rebelling against his teachers, debating the truth of the Scripture read in his school and even ripping the pages of the Scripture out of his textbook, spitting on it, and trampling it on the floor.
In December of 1903 Sundar woke up very early, committing to end his anguish or end his life. He knew a train rolled by at 5:00 AM – Sundar resolved to throw himself in front of that train if he didn’t come to the place of peace in his life. He threw himself on the ground and prayed to ‘Parmatma’ (the Almighty) asking ‘O God, if there is a God, reveal yourself to me tonight’.
After hours of anguished prayer, a bright light filled the room and a person he recognized as Jesus stood before him. This convinced him of the truth of the Christian faith, and filled him instantly with the peace he was longing for. He was reminded of the verse from the Bible, “Come unto me all ye that travail and are heavy laden and I will refresh you.”
The following morning he excitedly told his father – who became furious. His father berated him, used pleas, bribes, and threats, and even used guilt over his dead mother to try to convince him to return to his faith. Sundar was steadfast, and was soon officially disowned by his family, and received much persecution from those he was formerly close to. At the age of 16, just prior to his baptism, he was poisoned by one of his brothers – the first of a few times his enemies tried to poison him.
In 1906, at age 17, he set out on his own, away from the missionary family that had taken him in. He decided that the mission work of the Westerners in his area was ineffective because of their insistence on ‘westernizing’ the people in order to bring them to faith. Sundar instead put on the turban and yellow robe of a Hindu ‘Sadhu’ – kind of a monk. This garb made him recognizable among the largely Hindu populace and ended up opening many doors for him to share the Gospel. He committed his life to ministry – owning neither home nor possessions.
He traveled constantly, depending on the Lord literally for his daily bread. His short life took him throughout India and Ceylon, into Afghanistan, China, Nepal, and even to Japan. He was especially fascinated by Tibet, in that it was a particularly difficult mission field. He spent time in Tibet most summers.
One day in Nepal, he was traveling alone in the jungle and was ambushed by four robbers. Since one of them had a sword, Sundar thought his life was to end, so he meekly exposed his neck. Surprised, the robbers stood back and left him, taking only the blanket he used to sleep on. Later that day, one of the thieves came back to him on the trail and began to speak with him. Sundar opened his Bible and told him the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The robber identified himself with the rich man, and asked if that would be his fate as well. Sundar used the opportunity to tell him about the Gospel and God’s forgiveness. He spent that night under the roof of the thief, after seeing him saved.
In another Nepalese town, he was thrown into a dry well by local Buddhists. This was the place that unclaimed or unwanted bodies were disposed of. He spent at least two days among the rotting corpses before being rescued by a fellow Christian.
He was eccentric – and his eccentricity garnered international attention. He dropped out of a Christian seminary he briefly attended, chafing at the ecclesiastical rules which were foreign to the thinking of Indian people. He preached a simple Gospel which was very attractive to his listeners. He claimed to have made contact with a group of ancient Christians noted by missionary William Carey called the Sannyasi Mission – reputedly direct spiritual descendants of the Apostle Thomas’ work in the area over 1800 years before. He claimed to have numerous visions and claimed to have power over disease and illness, though he was careful not to allow for public display of his healing gifts.
Despite his growing international fame, he was careful to retain his lifestyle of modesty and poverty. He described a struggle with Satan with humility – but he was described by those who knew him as always human, approachable, and humble, with a sense of fun and a love of nature.
In 1920 his newly-born-again father, with whom he had reconciled, financed a trip for him to preach in Europe. He traveled to Britain, the United States, and Australia – and traveled to mainland Europe in 1922. He found a world devastated by World War I, but he was at the same time disgusted by the materialism and irreligion he found in the Western World. His travels, coupled with his lifestyle of self-deprivation, weakened him greatly. A trip to Tibet in 1923 which completely exhausted him placed him on bed-rest where he committed himself to mediation and prayer. It was during this time that many of his writings were completed and published.
In 1929, looking much older than his forty years of age, he resolved, against all advice, to make one last trip to Tibet. He was last seen in April of that year on the road, disappearing before making it to Tibet.
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/singh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh
A Lover of the Cross, Zahir, Alfred, 1918.
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