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Prayer Profile
The Brahmins.
The Brahmins (also spelled Brahmans) are the highest ranking of the four social classes in Hindu India. Their elevation to this ranking goes back to the late Vedic period, and the basis of their esteem is the belief that they are inherently of greater ritual purity than members of the other castes and they alone are capable of performing certain vital religious taks. The study and recitation of the sacred scriptures was traditionally reserved for this spiritual elite, and for centuries all Indian scholarship was in their hands. Today, they still enjoy great prestige and many advantages in society.
The ritual purity of the Brahmins is maintained through the observance of numerous taboos, many of which relate to diet and contact with lower castes. Most Brahmin are strictly vegetarian, and their members must abstain from certain occupations. They are divided into ten main territorial divisions.
Perhaps it is in part because of their privileged status that few Brahmins have followed Jesus. To a Brahmin considering the claims of Christ, the price must seem great. Although their lives seem glorious, Brahmins who read the scripture must see the truth of Romans 3:23, that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." May these priests of India come to know and celebrate the next verse as well, finding themselves "justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ."
Prayer Points
- Ask God to thrust forth labourers, both Indians and foreigners, into his harvest field among the Brahmins.
- Pray that more and more Brahmins would be compelled by a sense of their sin and the contrasting glory of God to put aside their idols and give their lives whole-heartedly to him.
- Pray for enduring and maturing faith for Brahmin believers. Ask God to redeem and even broaden their influence for Jesus.
- Pray that the Spirit of God would do what only he can do to bring a biblical sense of brotherhood and a godly unity of purpose to the disparate believers from low and high castes.
© Copyright 1997
Bethany World Prayer Center
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