A Living Testimony : I Have Decided to Follow Jesus

A week ago I received a post about the author of a very well known song, "I have decided to follow Jesus!" The story, I believe, was genuine and authentic, and was so touching and living that issues in two things in me. 

First, I was so convicted of my lack of burden and prayer for my tribesmen in my village who are still unbelievers and modernly pagan, still in the same part of India where the story originated from. Though I had this burden before the reading of the story below, it enlivened my burden and I started praying and interceding for my own native people.

Second, having received good and heart-touching story, I forwarded to many Christian contacts and some others too. The response was amazing. Many replied to the post of how much they were touched by the Lord. Two significant reactions were:

One brother translated the whole story into Mizo and post it on Facebook and sent it via WhatsApp. I was just left to my guess, to how many he must have sent it out.

Another sister and her husband testified to me, almost in tears, how the Lord touched them through the story and their faith in the Lord was greatly strengthened.

The story goes...

"I Have Decided to Follow Jesus" is a Christian hymn originating from India. The lyrics are based on the last words of a man in Garo, Assam, north-east India.

About 150 years ago, there was a great revival in Wales, England. As a result of this, many missionaries came from England and Germany to North-East India to spread the Gospel. At the time, north-east India was not divided into many states as it is today. The region was known as Assam and comprised hundreds of tribes. 

The tribal communities were quite primitive and aggressive by nature. The tribals were also called head-hunters because of a social custom which required the male members of the community to collect as many heads as possible. A man’s strength and ability to protect his wife was assessed by the number of heads he had collected. Therefore, a youth of marriageable age would try and collect as many heads as possible and hang them on the walls of his house. The more heads a man had, the more eligible he was considered.

Into this hostile and aggressive community, came a group of Welsh missionaries spreading the message of love, peace and hope of Jesus Christ. Naturally, they were not welcomed. One Welsh missionary shared gospel and a man, his wife, and two children believed in Jesus. This man’s faith proved contagious and many villagers began to accept Christ.

Angry, the village chief summoned all the villagers. He then called the family who had first converted to renounce their faith in public or face execution. Moved by the Holy Spirit, the man instantly composed a song which became famous down the years.

He said:"I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back."

Enraged at the refusal of the man, the chief ordered his archers to arrow down the two children. As both boys lay twitching on the floor, the chief asked, “Will you deny your faith? You have lost both your children. You will lose your wife too.”

But the man said these words in reply:"Though no one joins me, still I will follow. No turning back, no turning back."

The chief was beside himself with fury and ordered his wife to be arrowed down. In a moment she joined her two children in death. Now he asked for the last time, “I will give you one more opportunity to deny your faith and live.”

In the face of death the man said the final memorable lines:"The cross before me, the world behind me. No turning back, no turning back."

He was shot dead like the rest of his family. But with their deaths, a miracle took place. The chief who had ordered the killings was moved by the faith of the man. He wondered, “Why should this man, his wife and two children die for a Man who lived in a far-away land on another continent some 2,000 years ago? There must be some remarkable power behind the family's faith, and I too want to taste that faith.”

In a spontaneous confession of faith, he declared, “I too belong to Jesus Christ!”

When the crowd heard this from the mouth of their chief, the whole village accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior. The tune for the song was given by Sadhu Sundar Singh few years later when he stumbled upon some historical literature and read about this incident during one of his travels to the North East.

This is one of the most powerful songs composed by a man who gave his life for Christ, which became the reason for the salvation of the whole tribe. The tune given by a man who forsook everything in his life for the sake of Christ. The combination of both these great lives makes this song filled with vitality to generate more followers of Christ even today.