Him your God, then some day you, too, shall live again.” One day, after having listened to more chapel messages, Premila prayed, “ Lord Jesus, I make You my God, and I will have no other god besides You.” When the snake festival time came again, Premila said, “ Mother, I’m not going this year. The cobra is no longer my god.” When the mother insisted that she had to worship the snake, Premila went outside and sat behind a tree. Bowing her head, she prayed, “ Dear Lord Jesus, You are my God now. Do something so I won’t have to worship the snake god; please do.” It was the first time Premila had asked the Lord Jesus to do something for her. Would He hear? Her heart began to pound so hard she could feel it thump. A few hours later her mother said, “ It’s time now for us to go worship the snake,” but Premila never heard her mother’s words, because they were drowned out with the noise of heavy thunder. Then rain poured down from the heavens. With a sigh, the mother put down the basket of things prepared for worship of the cobra, “We can’t go in this rain, and tomorrow will be too late.” Tears of joy came into Premila’s eyes. She looked out the doorway at the pounding rain, raised her face heavenward and said, “ Thank You, Lord Jesus, my God forever and for ever.” WHO SAID? The following quotations are taken from the story of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus as recorded in the four Gospels. Locate them and give the Scripture references and tell who said each quotation: 1. “ They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.” 2. “Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepul chre?” 3. “ Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.” 4. “Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou?” 5. “ But go your way, tell his disci ples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee.” 6. “ Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father.” 7. “ He is not here: for he is risen.” 8. “ The Lord is risen indeed.” 9. “ Sir . . . tell me where thou hast laid him.” 10. “ My Lord and my God.” 11. “Go quickly, and tell his dis ciples that he is risen from the dead.”
JUNIOR KING’S BUSINESS
When A Snake Caused Trouble By Carol Terry Talbot I t w a s A sn a k e that was causing all the trouble in a mud-brick house over in the land of India. There are many strange and wonder ful things in that country. The fierce Bengal tigers are there, and stealthy black panthers that slink through the night. The deadliest snakes in the world slither along the ground, while monkeys chatter in treetops filled with green parrots. Kingfisher birds with beautiful blue feathers and orange beaks dive into streams and lakes to catch unwary, tiny fish. The highest mountain in the world is there, Mt. Everest, with its crown of snow that never melts away. There are wealthy kings riding on elephants and very poor people who live in mud huts. It was in one of these houses made of mud that a girl named Premila lived with her broth er, Ramu, and their parents, and it was to their home that the snake brought trouble. If a cobra snake bites you, the poison from its fangs goes into your blood and through your body quickly, and you may be dead within five minutes. Possibly that is the reason so many people in India think the cobra is a god and worship it. Each year one day is proclaimed “ Cobra- Snake Day,” and the women and girls take milk to these snakes that like to live in hills made by white ants. Each ant takes a few grains of dirt, mixes it with some liquid from its body, and piles grain upon grain until a home is built that looks like a turret on the roof of a castle. On this festival day, Premila and Ramu found an ant hill with a round hole in it, which meant a cobra was living there. They danced and sang to the snake god, and then Premila poured a little milk down the hole and put some in a clay saucer by the round entrance. She hoped the snake would smell the milk and come out to drink it, because this would mean the snake god had heard her prayers. Sure enough, the snake came out to drink the milk, but, when it
Premila worshipping a brass image of the snake god. looked up and saw Ramu, the cobra stuck out its ugly fangs and bit him. Premila ran home c r y in g and screaming for help, but when her parents reached Ramu, it was too late. Premila was very bitter because the snake had bitten Ramu in spite of the milk he had helped her bring, and said to her mother, “ I hate the snake god, and I’m not going to wor ship it any more.” The mother scolded her, “ If you say things like that, some day the snake may bite you.” Tears ran down Premila’s face. She could not, she would not, wor ship a god that had killed her broth er whom she loved so much. She was very lonely without Ramu and no longer enjoyed doing the things they used to do together. As she walked down the dusty, winding pathways through the fields to the Ramabai Mukti Mission where she attended school, Premila could see some of Ramu’s footprints still left in the soft, dry dust, and she placed her own feet in those prints. That morning at the school’s chap el service, Premila watched the school principal hold up a cross, as she told how the Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth and was crucified by those who did not understand that He was God. Then she showed a pic ture of a tomb and of an angel an nouncing “ He is not here, for he is risen, as he said.” After the service, Premila asked the principal, “ If He was good and if He was God, why did they crucify Him? My brother died because he was bitten by the snake, but no one will let me kill the snake god.” The principal put her hand on Premila’s shoulder, “ The Lord Jesus Christ took your penalty of death for sin. He died in your place, that you might live eternally. If you make Carol Terry Talbot is author of the children’s book LET’S GO TO INDIA available at the Biola Book Room.
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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