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Foreword
I heard about Dr. I. O. Deshmukh long before I met him. The fact that he came to Jesus the Messiah from the same religious background as my own, created in me a desire to know him. Then a beautiful testimony In Quest of Truth was handed over to me. It was by Dr. Deshmukh. I could not stop reading it once I started, and when I finished it, all I did was praise God. Having read this heart-touching struggle of a fellow brother, I felt I had to meet him. God answered my prayer in January, 1994, when Dr. Deshmukh came to minister in Hyderabad and there was oneness and gladness of spirit as we shared all that our glorious God was doing in our lives.
Later Dr. Deshmukh requested me to write the Foreword for his book God’s Good News for the Sick. The task was difficult because I did not know how I could ever put into a few words all that I felt as I read a copy of this moving book.
I believe we are living in those very times that the prophet Joel wrote about in Joel 2:28-29: “And afterwards, I (God) will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.”
As we look around today, we see and hear that truly God is pouring out His Holy Spirit on young and old, not only to prophesy, dream dreams and see visions but also to heal the sick and minister to the suffering and needy ones all over the world.
I think it is a lot easier to talk and read of suffering than to actually live with it day after day for years as Dr. Deshmukh has done. I have read several books on suffering and healing. These were miraculous testimonies of people who were healed. Most of them I did not know personally but they have greatly encouraged my faith. God’s Good News for the Sick is an addition to the long, long list of the miracles of healing.
Dr. I. O. Deshmukh, a medical practitioner himself, has labored through many hours of prayers and a constant dependence on God’s Holy Spirit to proclaim the Gospel – God’s Good News indeed! – to this suffering and diseased world that there is One who can heal body, mind and soul. The treatment is free, the results are positive and the effects are everlasting.
The personal healing of Dr. I. O. Deshmukh from a killer disease like malignant lymphoma reassures us of the promise of God in Matthew 19:26, “With God all things are possible,” and also Genesis 18:14, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” Reading this book, one cannot but agree: With or without medicine, then, now and always, God alone is the Great Physician and Divine Healer. He will always be what He told the Israelites: “I am the LORD who heals you.” Through Jesus the Messiah He has decisively demonstrated that He alone heals the mind and body for now and redeems the mind, body and soul for eternity.
The Qur’anic and Biblical quotations are so apt that they add much to the conviction of the reader. The language and the style of writing are simple yet appealing. Simplicity of language makes it easy to go through this book. It contains no teaching that would confuse the reader. Instead, as we read, we begin to notice how small Dr. Deshmukh, the author, is when compared to Jesus the Messiah, the author and finisher of Dr. Deshmukh’s faith.
Personally, I was ministered to as I read page after page. I found my own faith being lifted up and strengthened as I went through that part of the compassionate life of Jesus the Messiah that desires to heal, deliver and forgive. Painstakingly, Dr. Deshmukh has described and discussed the healings, and how they were accomplished by a word or a touch of the Saviour, Jesus.
I praise God Almighty who deserves all the glory for the writing and sharing of this testimony and book God’s Good News for the Sick. Even as I write the Foreword, I pray that its readers would receive their share of God’s blessings. Along with Dr. I. O. Deshmukh, I wish you all, dear readers, a very profitable reading time.
July 2003
Safia Mirza