Me yea ho atɛntenenee

Vimla sat straight up in bed, her heart pounding. Another nightmare! Every few days, the terrible memories entered her dreams—memories of a man who took advantage of her when she was only 12 years old.

Vimla couldn’t forget that day. She felt ashamed and dirty and hadn’t told anyone about the weight of pain that she carried. Vimla entered university, but the nightmares continued to follow her. She hated that man and hoped he would get what he deserved.

Difficult Questions

Vimla’s mind was troubled with questions. Would her rapist receive justice through karma? He was a well-known holy man from her city. He did many good deeds for people, fasted often, and showed great devotion to the gods. Would one evil deed make a difference when weighed against all his good deeds? She didn’t know how the laws of karma worked, but she knew his evil had made a difference to her. Vimla couldn’t forget her pain. 

Finding Justice

One of Vimla’s classmates, Saira, had an internship in an organization that helped women in need. One day, Saira invited her to come downtown to visit the center that helped widows, battered women, and rape victims. Vimla felt nervous and wondered if anyone knew her awful secret. But Saira seemed so kind that Vimla decided to go. As they went, Saira told her about some of the injured women they had seen in the last few days.

“Do you ever see women who have been abused by gurus?” Vimla asked shyly.

“Yes, sometimes,” Saira replied. “It’s very sad. Just because someone claims to be religious doesn’t mean he is connected to God.”

“That’s true . . .”

“My guru, the Mahaguru, said that the religious world will become very corrupt during our days. We must come away from corrupt religion and be connected with the Creator God. He will give us clean hearts and forgive us of our bad deeds. Then we will be among those who see God re-create the planet as a perfect place with no more wicked people.”

“That sounds very interesting. Who is your guru?”

“I follow the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a great teacher, but also, He was God incarnate. Do you know about Him?”

“I think I have seen some pictures of Him in the marketplace, but I don’t know very much about Him. What else did He say?”

The bus pulled up to the sidewalk. “Let’s get inside,” Saira said, “and then I will tell you more.”

Spiritual Hypocrisy

Vimla and Saira boarded the bus and found seats together.

“Jesus talked a lot about the damaging effects of religious hypocrisy,” Saira said. She pulled a small book of the Lord Jesus from her purse and flipped it open. “Look what it says here,” she pointed. Vimla read,

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation (the Bible, Matthew 23:14).

“Who are scribes and Pharisees?” she asked.

“They were kind of like gurus in the Lord Jesus’s time,” Saira explained, “but they were very corrupt.” Vimla nodded and kept reading.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also (the Bible, Matthew 23:25, 26).

Eternal Judgment

“The Creator God tells us to be careful because spiritual hypocrisy is still among us today,” Saira said. “The book of the Lord Jesus says that the world and even religious systems will be very corrupt during our days. But God will judge evildoers when He re-creates the world.”

“How exactly do you think He will judge?” Vimla replied. 

“The book of the Lord Jesus says that God records the good and bad deeds of everyone in a book,” Saira explained. “At the end of the age, the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come in the clouds. Everyone will see Him. He will judge each of us according to what is written in the book.” 

Vimla was intrigued. “But what are we supposed to do about our bad deeds?” she asked.

Saira smiled as they reached their stop and emerged from the bus. “That’s the best part. The Lord Jesus died as a sin offering and then raised to life again. He promised that if we confess our sins and believe in Him, His good deed of sacrificing His life is so powerful that it will erase all our bad deeds from the book.” 

The Best Judgment Message

They had reached the center that served the needs of neglected women. Vimla looked at the poor, skinny widows waiting outside for a daily meal. She saw a middle-class woman enter quickly, trying to hide a black eye behind dark sunglasses. Vimla’s heart squeezed with compassion. She was not the only woman who was hurting!

Saira noticed. “Are you ok?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” Vimla responded. “But I’m starting to think that we need the Lord Jesus to come soon to be our judge. If it’s true that He’s going to make evil people disappear and take good people to a beautiful place to live forever, it’s the best judgment I’ve ever heard about!”

If you would like to learn more about the book of the Lord Jesus, please contact us at the information on the back of this paper.