By Melissa Nordell
In India, where arranged marriages are common, Prakash’s Hindu mother had no idea that her intended husband was Catholic – it was a surprise to her on her wedding day.
Prakash’s father went to a Catholic school as a young man and “lived without any knowledge or understanding of salvation,” Prakash reports. As so many others who lived without Christ, Prakash’s father was arrogant and addicted to alcohol and cigarettes says Prakash. Their marriage was stormy from the beginning.
Prakash Daniel was born to this Hindu mother and Catholic father in India in 1978. Even though Prakash’s father wasn’t following Christ, he chose to give Prakash a biblical name, Daniel.
Due to a number of family problems, Prakash’s family had to escape from their village in the middle of the night to the city of Chennai, formally called Madras. “When we lived in Chennai, we had some very hard times and it seemed like everything was always going wrong. We even lost our house which we built new,” due to a court ruling that two families owned the same home at the same time, so it was intentionally burned down.
“But then, amazingly, during that difficult time in 1980, my father got saved, baptized and filled with the anointing of the Holy Spirit.” A group of missionaries had come to their village to share the love of Jesus Christ. If it had taken the loss in their previous village and the move to Chennai, it was well worth it.
“From then on our lives turned around and things were going more smoothly. The group’s visit to Chennai changed our entire family forever.”
Soon Prakash’s mother accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. Prakash’s father was hungry for more of the Lord and eager that other souls would be saved. He prayed that other families would be put back together like his. In pursuit of his calling, he studied and served as a pastor in several villages in parts of Tamil Nadu, South India.
Prakash was sent to a Methodist school, where he found the Lord. “I was saved at the age of nine when the Methodist school I attended took me to a children’s camp for 3 days. I confessed my sins and asked Jesus to come into my heart at the end of watching the film ‘Pilgrim’s Progress.’”
“At the age of thirteen The Lord God Almighty anointed me with the baptism of the Holy Spirit and from that moment the Lord started using me for His kingdom. I am a living witness for Jesus Christ for the rest of my days.”
Prakash went on to graduate with a Master in Arts in Biblical Studies from the Renowned Seminary in India, then went further to receive his Doctorate in Divinity as a Honors student at the Academy of Global Peace in India as well.
Still later, Prakash began to notice that people said they were healed as he was ministering in crusades, beginning in North India. Many were healed from sicknesses and diseases and reported new jobs and other answers to prayer.
This continued as he began to travel in crusades and conferences with attendance growing to the thousands in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Nepal, UAE (Dubai), Kuwait, Africa, and still many more.
As Prakash looks back, he sees God’s providential hand in all of this, preparing him for a worldwide ministry since his father gave him a biblical name, he was sent to a Methodist school in India, and he learned English from an early age.
Also, the city where he grew up, Chennai, is the city where Thomas, one of the 12 disciples of Jesus, came to India as a missionary in 52 A.D. to evangelize and plant churches and where he was martyred. Historical tradition holds that the Apostle Thomas was struck with a lance to his back as he was praying at the top of what is now called “Thomas Mount”. The Apostle Thomas is buried in the town nearby and left a legacy that reached the world.
Prakash humbly told me that he asked the Lord to give him “one person a day to minister to” which he does no matter what…and now he ministers to thousands.
He has recently ministered in the United States at Glory of Zion International in Corinth, Texas, invited by Dr. Chuck Pierce, as well as conferences and crusades in Florida, North Carolina and New York.
When a missionary reaches only one, that one can reach thousands, even whole nations. From Thomas the disciple to a missionary group, to a pastor in South India, to a Methodist Church children’s camp, to a national ministry, to a worldwide evangelism ministry — they all have a part in saving so many souls.
We praise God for those who dedicate their lives, who leave the comfort of their home countries, moving thousands of miles across the seas in sacrifice of service to the Lord. To God be the glory and may we support and pray for those who do this in service to the Lord.
For a link to his speaking at Glory Of Zion click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFxMswEivX0#t=3183
