It has been more than a year since I was detained, interrogated for hours, denied entry, locked up, threatened with prosecution, and unceremoniously sent home by immigration officials in India. This writing is designed to explain what happened and provide my thoughts a year later.
Details
The immigration officer, at his cubicle, looked through my passport and asked: “Where is your visa?” I showed it to him. It was on the page that he had already produced for him. He said, “No, your other visa.” He said, “This is a tourist visa. You need a missionary visa.” I had not yet stated the purpose of my visit. Immediately, I realized that I must be on some list. I replied that I did not need a missionary visa. I explained that I had carefully read the details concerning the various visas available. I was not a missionary according to the description on their website.
He asked why I was there. I told him that I was there to see friends. He asked if these friends were church members. I informed him that they were. He asked if I planned to assemble and worship with these friends. I said that I did. Again, he said, “You need a missionary visa.” Again, I disputed this point.
He asked to see my phone. He went into my pictures. He found some pictures of baptisms which had been recently sent to me from a preacher in India. He asked, “What is this?” I answered that it looked like baptisms to me. Then, I pointed out that the dates on these pictures. I was not in India when these pictures were taken a few weeks earlier.
He wanted to further interrogate me. He closed his cubicle and moved me to a bench outside his supervisor’s office. He questioned me over the next few hours. He would ask a few questions, leave for an extended period of time, and returned with more questions. This cycle occurred many times. (1) He searched my phone’s contact list. He took down the names and numbers of those with names or numbers of obvious Indian origin. He asked me where each of these lived and if they were church members. (2) He took me to a computer and pulled up pictures of church buildings (Catholic, Anglican, Church of South India, etc.) from the places in which my contacts lived. He asked, “Is this where they attend?” He showed me many pictures. He became frustrated and accused me of lying when I told him that none of the church buildings were where my friends attended. I suppose that if it is not on the internet, then it must not exist. (3) He asked me if I was a Catholic or a Protestant. I told him that I was neither Catholic nor Protestant. He claimed that these were the only options. I told him that I was simply a Christian. He asked me to explain to him the difference between Catholic and Protestant. I tried to provide him a simple answer. It was clear to me that he understood very little about these things, or the Bible itself. (4) He asked to what church I belonged. I told him I was a member of the church of Christ. He said that there was no such church. I insisted that it existed. (5) He asked several political questions. He asked for whom I would cast my vote in the next presidential election. I told him that I did not know whom the nominees would be and asked “do you?” He asked for whom I voted in the last election. I told him that I did not see what that had to do with my entry into his country. He asked if I was a Republican or a Democrat. When I refused to answer, he said, “You are from Texas. Your Senators are Cornyn and Cruz. They are both Republicans. Therefore, you must be a Republican.” I told him that that did not logically follow. (6) He asked me why I had visited certain cities in the past. Note: For the last several years, hotels have been required to scan the passports of their foreign guests. I told him that in some places it was due to travel, in other places I was visiting friends or visiting with a church, and in some cases, I was vacationing. (7) He asked me how much money I was carrying on me. I thought here it is; he wants a bribe. However, he never asked for such. I told him that I had about $3,000 (USD). He said, “That is too much.” I told him that it was not. I was allowed to carry up to $5,000 without declaring it. He said that I was correct. However, I did not need to carry that much. (8) He asked me what I was going to do with the money. I told him that the money would be used for food, lodging, travel, possible unexpected needs, and possibly gifts to my friends. He said that if I gave any money to any church member for any reason (e.g., medical assistance, educational assistance, transportation) it could be viewed as illegal activity. (9) He then mentioned a few names. These were church members from America. He asked my relationship with them. I told him that they were Christians known to me. He asked when they would return to India. I told him that I had no idea. (10) He produced a handwritten statement for me to sign. It read something like, “I, William Bryan Hodge, passport number xxxxxx, did knowingly try to illegally enter the country of India on the date of xxxx.” I refused to sign. He asked, “What shall I do with this statement?” I answered, “I don’t care. Eat it if you like.” (It was time to eat.)
He informed me that I had twenty-four hours to find a way out of the country or they would prosecute me. I called my wife who went to work. It was not easy. All flights were booked on all carriers. However, American Airlines, working with British Airways, found a way to get me home.
Next, he instructed a soldier to lock me up. I was taken to a small holding room with bars on the door. I was locked inside with a guard assigned to sit outside the room. Hours went by without food or water. When the shifts changed a new guard was assigned outside the door. He opened the door and entered. He quietly said that he too was a Christian. He apologized for my treatment and said this was becoming common. He asked if I needed anything. I told him that my phone needed charging and that I could use some food and drink. He charged my phone from a plug which was visible from the bars on my door. He brought me some food and water. He purchased this himself from a restaurant in the airport. I think it had been about seventeen hours since I had eaten or drunk anything. He told me that he would stay on duty and take care of me until I departed the country. He did.
I boarded a flight to London the next day. An immigration officer handed my passport to a British Airways pilot and told him to not give it back to me until I landed.
At Heathrow Airport in London, I met a young Nigerian in the wee hours of the morning. He lived in London, where he worked as an accountant, and was traveling to Nigeria to propose to his girlfriend but had missed his flight. It was just the two of us in an empty, very cold part of the airport (the heat seemed to be off). He was reading a book about miracles. He asked me if I was a Christian. I told him that I was. He said that he had many questions about the Bible. He said that he was not able to work miracles as some claimed to be able; did this mean that he wasn’t a Christian? We had a Bible study in the airport. We spent several hours together. When the coffee and pastry shop opened, we were the first customers. We continued our talk until our flights separated us. One never knows when and where opportunities will arise.
Five days after I had departed for India, I was back home. I had not changed clothes, or bathed, in five days. I must have looked and smelled a mess. But my wife and friends welcomed me back with open arms.
Thoughts
1. This was a major event in my life. It so troubled me that I refused to write about it for a year. I had traveled to India dozens of times over the last nearly a quarter century. I made my first trip in January 2002, just a few months after that terrible day of 9-11. I have helped some churches become organize with elders and deacons. Brethren in America sent help to some of these churches after the 2004 tsunami (note: amazingly, one church in India returned the kindness and sent help to the congregation where my parents attend after a hurricane struck the gulf coast). Over the years, I have been a part in thousands of baptisms and have helped plant a few churches. An entire 7th Day Adventist church was converted on one trip. I have been allowed to speak at Baptist churches, Pentecostal churches, and 7th Day Adventist churches, Preachers have been converted. Some of the brethren have become like family to me. In some congregations, I have worked with three generations of family members. I have watched children grow up, marry, and have children. One city honored me at holiday event and thanked me for working in their city. I have spoken to children in a private school. I have taught classes in two schools of preaching in India. One of the schools has had as many as 100 students in class. Alas, I may not ever be able to go back. It still truly saddens me.
2. I have come to realize that this is not the end of my work. I am now teaching the book of Acts to some Indian brethren by Zoom each Monday morning. I am answering questions by email and through WordPress. I have discussed the possibility of meeting a couple of preachers in another country.
3. I am so thankful for the fervent prayers that went up for me. Many prayed for my safe return home.
4. We need to keep the Indian brethren in our prayers. Some leaders of that country want India to be Hindu only. It is not easy being a Christian in India today.
5. It is their work. Ultimately, this work must be carried on by the brethren in India, I have known this all along. I believe that they will continue the good work.
6. Critics abound. Word came to me that one supporting congregation had those in a business meeting who questioned supporting me on another trip (to a different country) because I had been kicked out of a country. The preacher told me that some thought that we should not alienate countries but work with them. This is from a group of men who have never been on an evangelistic trip to a foreign country and who did not know the facts (nor, had they contacted me to clarify the facts). Someone has said that if you want to avoid criticism: say nothing, do nothing, be nothing. It seems to me that this is the philosophy of many. Let us not be content being “armed chair quarterbacks.” Theodore Roosevelt once said ” It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena …” Let us each be in the arena seeking to bring souls to Christ, and edify our brothers and sisters in Christ, and may we do this to the glory of God. Let us go everywhere preaching the word (Acts 8:4).
7. Accurate information. One preacher told me that he had read my report of what happened. I am not sure what he read; however, I have not released a written report on this until now.
Let’s some things straight. (1) What I do is illegal in India even with a missionary visa. “A Missionary visa is granted to a foreigner whose sole objective of visiting India is missionary work not involving proselytization. Visa shall NOT be granted to preachers and evangelists who desire to come to India on propagation campaigns, whether on their own or at the invitation of any organization in India.” Those who may be granted a missionary visa includes, “Bishops, superiors, etc. of foreign missionary organizations who desire to visit or inspect the workings of their institution in India” (Details of visas granted by India, mha.gov.in). Notice, evangelism is not legal for foreigners. Moreover, I do not claim to be a Bishop (overseer) or supervisor of any church in India. Countries that issue missionary or religious visas do so for a couple of reasons. They may do so to expedite entry for missionaries and religious workers. They may do so to limit or restrict missionary activities. The latter clearly is what India is doing. (2) Technically, a missionary visa is not available to me. The Minister of Home Affairs says, “Applications from foreign missionaries coming to work in new foreign missionary centres will be considered only if the society concerned has obtained permission from the Government of India for opening the centre. A list of recognized foreign missionary societies in India is given in Appendix X. No new society will ordinarily be recognized” (mha.gov.in). The List of Recognized Catholic Societies include 65 societies. The List of Recognized Protestant Societies include 48 denominations and societies. These organizations are greater than an individual local church. The church of Christ is not recognized. This is probably why the officer insisted that the church of Christ did not exist. Let us realize that all authority ultimately resides in God. No earthly government has authority to hinder the preaching of the Gospel (Acts 4:18-20; 5:27-29). This is an over-reach of the authority delegated to them. Let us be as bold as lions. Furthermore, let us be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves.
Bryan Hodge 