Témoignage de Benny Prasad, le musicien mondialement connu

Today's special music is a good friend

of ours, from India, from Bangalore.

But he's not there very much. He is the

world's most traveled musician. And

that's not an opinion! He's... Actually, I

received a world record... he's been to

every single country in the world.

He plays for the poorest of the

poor, the richest of the rich. He's open

for everything. From the World Cup to the

Olympics. He gets through here about once

a year, on this very important and

special day. His name is Benny Prasad. He

will be... just added he agreed to do

this. At 6:30 tonight, if you come to the

meeting early at Thomas Road, he's going

to do a mini-concert, right before the

meeting. Welcome, all the way from India,

one of the world's best known musicians,

Benny Prasad!

[Applause]

Thank You Johnny. Good morning everybody!

Come on, you can do that better! Good

morning everybody! Yes, that was a quick

lesson on good morning. Well, I want to

thank Jesus for giving me this gift of

life. And every time I come here I'm just

so thrilled to see so many young people,

on your way to missions. if you have not

decided, today's your deadline for that,

actually. And, you know, it's so

wonderful to live! I just celebrated my

38th birthday. And, at the age of 16,

the doctors had given me 6 months to

live. I was born with asthma. And, from

the age of 2 till the age of 16, I was on

wrong medication, on high dosage of

cortisone steroids. And, as a result of

that, 60% of my lungs got

damaged and my immune system broke down.

And I developed rheumatoid arthritis. At

the age of 12, by accident, I was hit

by javelin and my spinal cord was

damaged. And everything went wrong in my

life. Well, that's what the human said. And

my father, being an aerospace scientist,

he expected me to become like him. And I

became the scum of the family. I was

thrown out of school in my 10th grade,

saying that "you are not worth studying,

you are useless, you are good for nothing."

These were the words that were spoken

over my life for 16 years, where

medically they told me you will not live

any longer. In education, as well as

society and family, they looked at me and

they said: "Benny, you are a shame and a

curse to the family." And, having no hope,

no talent, no life, nothing left in me, I

contemplated to commit suicide, at the

age of 16. Even if you're really

sitting down and wandering "Benny, can God

use me in missions?", I want to tell you

that there are so many Benny's like me

out there, who needs the Gospel. And you

are one among them who can really go and

share that Gospel. And, at the lowest

point of my life, when I wanted to kill

myself, I heard the voice of Jesus-Christ

saying: "Benny, even though you are called

useless, I still need you. "I said: "Jesus,

why do you need me when the whole world

says I'm useless?" He said He could

transform my life and make me a new

person. I said "Okay, I have nothing to

offer; all that I have is

a broken life and 6 months to live." He

said: "That's enough for me to start a new

work in you!" And that's what He has done.

I gave my life to Jesus-Christ. And

I've already

surpassed the expiry date that

the doctors had put on my life, actually.

And I'm just so thrilled to live

this. And, in 2004, I asked Jesus: "What

is your call for my life?" The Bible says:

"God's ways are higher than man's ways

and His thoughts are higher than our

thoughts." And I want to tell you a

Christian life is the most exciting life

to live. And a life that is surrendered

in Christ is just so adventurous. My life

is more than James Bond movie. Because

it's a reality. James Bond is only a

movie, mine is a reality. And, in 2002,

with 25 dollars a month, being a

??? missionary, I asked Jesus: "What do

you want to do with my life?" because my

dream was to go to one country. He said:

"Benny, I want you to travel to every

country by 2010!" I said: "Jesus, this is

impossible! Till today, there has never

been one example in the history of

mankind. Whether it is Michael Jackson or

Mariah Carey, or whoever it is, they have

never been to every country in the world!

How can I, being a broken person, be able

to achieve this?" He said: "Benny, what

is impossible for you is possible for me!"

And what it takes my dear friend, today,

is to surrender your brokenness and your

life into the hands of Jesus. And He will

shape it after His will. And so I said:

"Jesus, as long as you are my provider, I

will be your traveler." We had a good deal.

I said: "I will live a life of faith and

you provide for me." So today, this is my

one passport; this passport is my travel

record to every country in the world.

On 22 of November

2010, I arrived in my last

country, Pakistan. And I broke 6 world

records. And, one among them, was I became

the fastest man in the history to travel

to every country, in the shortest time.

245 nations, including Antarctica, in

66 months and 22 days. If Jesus

can use my life to make history for his

glory... I'm sorry I don't have time to

wait for your clapping. I'm not trying to

be rude... But if Jesus

do that in my life, today He has a plan

for your life. And He took me to amazing

nations. One among them was North Korea.

Last year, I was invited by the

government of North Korea to come and

perform for the 100th birth anniversary of

their founder, Kim Il-sung. 834

performers were chosen from all over the

world and I was the only Indian chosen,

from my country. And it was a great

opportunity to play but more so an

opportunity to share the Gospel. Yes, if

you share the Gospel, you don't need to

be a prophet to understand that you will

be killed. But I understood in the Word

of God that, if anyone tries to save

their life, will lose it. If anyone loses

their life, for the sake of Christ, will

find it. So, I informed my parents, there's

a big possibility that I might be killed

in North Korea. "So if you don't hear from

me on the 17th of April that's a

mutual understanding that either I am

killed or in prison. And I will see you

in Heaven. Because for me to live is

Christ and to die is gain. "So I went to

North Korea, so excited to live and to

die for Jesus. Two spies followed me every

single day of my life, every single

minute in fact. When you have 2

ungodly spies following you

all the time, what do you do?

You share the Gospel.

Because they're always with you.

They will never leave you.

They might forsake you but

they will never leave you. And, since

they're always with you, what a great

opportunity to talk about Jesus. You

don't need to go to North Korea to talk

about Jesus. Jesus is putting a nation in

your heart. Be obedient to Him. Say "yes" to

Him. And I got into trouble. Sure, next day

my interpreter went and inform

to the official that Benny is doing this

because I used her to translate my

testimony to the spies. Now, I'm in big

trouble. It's sure, I'll be killed. But

the right perspective is what a great

opportunity to stand in front of the

official. And I shared my testimony,

knowing that I might be killed. But the

official asked me a question: "How could

you be so sure you heard the voice of

Jesus at 16? It could have been your own

imagination." I told him: "Sir, my own

imagination told me to kill myself. It is

the voice of Jesus that gave me life and

life in abundance." And he heard my

testimony. And I want to tell you my

friends, be courageous, even to the point

of death to share the love of

Jesus-Christ. Don't ever fear

for your life because Jesus is

in charge. I was not killed in North

Korea because it was not my time to die.

He knows my time, actually. And in the

end, 12 musicians were chosen out of 834

performers. And I was one among the 12, to

be awarded by the government of North

Korea. I played "Shout to the Lord", a

song which I'm going to play. "My Jesus, my

Savior, Lord there is none like You" in a

nation like that, on their national TV. If

God could use a Christian and Indian to

perform on this guitar... a guitar which

God helped me to design in 2004 for the

Olympic games in Greece... If God could

pick a broken worthless child like me,

written off by society, to design the

world's first guitar with drums inside,

there is nothing impossible for Jesus to

do in your life. If He could pick up, give

me a passport like this, 14 books, to go

and share the Good News to the nations,

there is nothing impossible. I am just so

excited. And I'm going to play the song.

"My Jesus, my Savior Lord there is none

like You." And again, with arthritis, when

I play this instrument, even the medical

doctor say this has to be God, and God

alone. And just to conclude with, when I

broke the world record, I had a hat wich

said "Thank you Jesus". And CNN was the

first news channel to interview me. And

they said: "Sir, that is a religious

statement. Please, take off your hat

because we are a secular channel." and

I'll tell you you want to share the

Gospel, share it creatively. Nobody can

stop you. And so I asked Jesus for an

idea because the whole world is going to

interview me for achieving this feat. And

I want to make sure that Jesus is known.

I am not ashamed of the Gospel. He gave

me life when doctors gave me 6 months

to live. He gave me protection. He gave me

this beautiful future. How can I keep

Jesus secret. No! It is sin for me to keep

Jesus just to myself. So He gave me this

beautiful idea of designing this new hat.

And my hat says: "Thank you Jesus, I am an

Indian." This is not a religious statement,

it is a patriotic statement. And hence

nobody can stop me. You know, nobody can

stop me from wearing these things.

And, even news channels, they

would come up to me and say: "What is this

on your head?" I said: "Well, I'm proud to be

an Indian." The cameraman says: "Do a close

up on his hat, also." At the United Nations,

they told me: "You cannot share about

Jesus." I said: "Fine." But I wore my hat

which talked about Jesus all the time. My

friends, if you really want to talk about

Jesus, nobody can stop you.

So don't use excuses.