Amazing faith: 2 women convert to follow Jesus in India, get beaten by Hindu radicals, then thank God for privilege of being persecuted in His name

Two Christian converts in India thanked God for the chance of being persecuted for Him even as Hindu men beat them up.

The sisters, 32-year-old Meena and 25-year-old Sunita (not using their real names for protection), recounted their shared experiences of religious persecution in the predominantly Hindu country to Open Doors, a non-profit organization that works for persecuted Christians worldwide and is now running an advocacy campaign for Christians in India.

The sisters came to know about Christ through a Christian radio show in 2004. This led to their conversion a couple of years later when they started attending churches.

However, their conversion led to a series of trying times.

The first of such happened a year after their conversion, when Hindu hardliners in their locality tried to get their father to force them out of their house. This led their father to stop supporting them for food and clothing.

The next incident occurred a few months ago when a group of Hindus threatened to burn the sisters and forbade them from using the main road and the well. The incident also forced the sisters to stay temporarily in a nearby village for refuge.

When they returned home, the locals thrashed them with bamboo sticks.

Meena recalled crying out during the assault, "Thank you, Lord! Jesus, please forgive them. They don't know what they do!"

"We know about Jesus. He died on a cross and so will you," their assailants said.

"I just prayed that God's will be done, no matter what," Meena told Open Doors. "Sure, the beating was painful, but inside I felt a tremendous joy. I was worthy to suffer for Jesus."

They have since moved in hiding with a Christian family in another village and are provided for by the organization.

The European Parliament Intergroup on Freedom of Religion or Belief and Religious Tolerance (FoRB&RT) released its annual report on June 30 which revealed the drastic state of religious persecution worldwide. The report also noted a 150 percent increase of religious persecution in India since Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist party, the Indian People's Party, took power in 2014.