The Story Behind the Song “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus”
A hymn that I have heard innumerable times like many Christians and have memorized the lyrics very well as a kid and understood its meaning as a teen but actually understood the in-depth meaning of each word when I went through various life-experiences; it’s a shame that I learnt the story behind this meaningful lyrics just recently!! This is an Indian-origin song! (I didn’t know that!) from Meghalaya, then known as Assam. This story is from the book Why God, Why? by Dr. Peramangalam Job. Dr. Job (1945-2012) was an internationally known evangelist. He has been called the “Billy Graham of India.” About 150 years ago, there was a great revival in Wales, England. As a result of this, many missionaries came from England to northeast India to spread the Gospel. The region was known as Assam and comprised hundreds of tribes. The tribal communities were quite primitive and aggressive. The tribesmen were also called head-hunters because of a social custom wh