 righteous in all his ways. So whatever concerns you today, you can be sure that he's gonna do the right thing and he's gonna bless you today. We've got a great show for you. I'm Tom Hollis. I'm here with Amanda and Sydney. This is Hope Today, by the way, and we are bringing Hope to everyone today. Yes, we are. You know, coming up in a few moments on Hope Today, taking back your authority and uncovering the tricky tactics of the enemy with former Hindu turned Christian Gita Chopra. She's gonna unveil how believers on unknowingly practicing unconscious blasphemy, there's other things that she's gonna share, Amanda, about just her journey and her walk that I think is gonna be powerful because there's not too often where we hear someone who's converted into Christianity and there's certain things that we may be doing that we don't even understand that doesn't align with the word of God. So super excited to have her with us today. Amen. We're excited for the content of this program. So you might know someone, maybe they're teetering and they're looking at other religions and just not confident. This will be a great program for them to tune into just to see what commitment looks like and maybe what it looked like in another religion. I think it's so important, Tom, for us to solidify why we believe what we believe so that way we can truly walk it out. Oh, well, it's super important. And the fact that we need to know people's stories and where they've come from and how they've come out. God has got a story for each of us. I love that. Sidney's got a story. A man's got a story. I got a story. Gita, who with us just in a minute has a story as well. Well, you all know that we've been praying for Israel and we've been keeping Israel before the Lord in the situation with the war with Hamas. I want to read a scripture to you. It says this in Psalm 122.6 and you've heard this many times, I'm sure. Pray and seek for Jerusalem's peace for all who love her will prosper. Oh, Jerusalem, may there be peace for those who dwell inside your walls and prosperity in your every palace. Well, there is a call for a national day of prayer for Jerusalem, for Israel. Some Knesset members and rabbis have called for prayer asking Christians to pray as well. And so we just wanted to do that and just join with you in praying for Israel. Amanda, I think I'm going to ask you if would you do that for us? Father, we just thank you right now for your power that is released over Israel, God. We thank you for your anointing, Father God. Lord, I ask right now that you would move in such a way, Father, that it would be supernatural that people would look and say, this is the one true God. Look what he has done, Father, I thank you that we as your church that is around the world that we would be awakened and that we would look to you, Father God, that we would intercede on Israel's behalf. And Father, we bless them. We bless them in Jesus' name. Lord, I thank you for your provision, for your protection, God, and for your wisdom, for every decision that is being made. And we give you all the glory, Father God, in Jesus' mighty name, amen. Amen, and of course you can always call for prayer here as well. Our prayer partners are always standing by. And so please, if you need prayer today, if you need to see God move, please call a prayer partner and have someone to agree together with you. We are always here for you 24-7. And when we come back right after the break, you don't wanna go away because we're gonna have Geeka Chopra. She's gonna share her story and ways that we have unconscious blasphemy when it comes to our own Christian faith. Don't go away. We'll be right back. In this month of Thanksgiving, we're excited to send you the special daily gratitude journal with your best gift. This easy to use journal will encourage you to bookend each day with short personal reflections that bring insight and intentionality to your busy and always changing life. How can six simple questions help you better navigate life's uncertainty? Bestselling author Tish Oxenreiter invites you to lean into the rhythms that each morning and evening offers with a twice daily thought exercise focusing on gratitude, truth, grace, and more. As you reflect on three key questions near the beginning and end of your day, you will be more poised and prepared for whatever God has for you in the hours between. Request your gratitude journal today when you give. Call 888-665-4483 or donate online at ctvn.org slash donate. Thank you for giving to Cornerstone Television. Well, I just have a question to ask you. Have you gotten your hope today newsletter? If not, we want you to give us a call at 888-665-4483 or go to www.ctvn.org. We love to be connected to you. This fancy little newsletter Tom writes in. Usually we have all of our movies, our directory in. It's just a great way for us to communicate our heart here at Cornerstone and to keep you on top of what is going on. So please give us a call and get your newsletter today. Yes, we love always being connected with you. You are part of our Hope Today family and we are so excited for our guest today. Gita Chopra is a former Hindu turned Christian. She's the first person in her generational lineage to accept Jesus. Gita is with us today on a mission to help you take back your identity, inheritance and authority. Gita, we are so glad to have you with us today. Oh, thank you, Sydney. I'm so excited to be here. Well, Gita, we want to get right into your story. So tell us about your conversion story of being a Hindu and then coming to Jesus. Sure, and a lot of people ask me this. So, you know, I've been a Hindu for about 35 years and then, you know, Jesus found me. People always say, well, what happened? Well, Jesus fisted me out of Hinduism and I talk a lot about that in my book. And, you know, I was born again. Here I am. I'm a brand new creation, brand new person. And ever since I became a Christian, you know, I learned a lot about how I was living before and how I'm living now and how many Christians are living now. And I kind of put all of that into my story. So can you tell us like what, like what was that moment for you when you're like, okay, I'm giving my life to Jesus. Can you take us back to that place? You know, I had many moments. So even though I was a Hindu, so many people might not know this, but as a Hindu, you can still go to church. So I went to church as a child, you know, my parents and they still go to church, they go to church with me. But, you know, we're allowed to explore different things. So I almost explored everything new age and nothing ever satisfied me. It was nothing until I realized one day that, you know, how long am I gonna do this? I really, I really wanted something deeper. And I had many moments, but in 2016 on Mother's Day, I finally decided, you know, that's it, I'm giving my life to Christ and I'm never looking back. And that's the beginning of my life. That's really incredible that I think, you know, a lot of us, like it's hard to like fathom because we grew up in a Christian culture, but for you just saying, you know what, I am leaving this behind because, you know, with your family being from India, it's Hinduism is more than just, it's not a religion, but it's a whole culture and a way of life and free to say, I am done and giving my life to Jesus. But I know you are so passionate about helping Christians understand some of the pitfalls that we fall into that, you know, may look similar to what you experienced in Hinduism. So can you talk to us about that? Cause you mentioned about, I know in your book, unconscious blasphemy is a big one. So can we dive right in to that point? Sure. And you know, I've had some great teachers, you know, as a Christian, even my church, my pastors, I have many pastor friends and, you know, I watch a lot of different programs and Andrew Wamek was one of the most influential teachers in my Christian walk. And I think he changed my whole Christian life in a sense, cause for the first three years, I didn't realize the authority I had in Christ. So, you know, I was kind of an unconscious Christian, you know, almost like zombie, like, okay, you know, whatever comes, we'll take it and I'm surrendered. And it's good to be surrendered, don't get me wrong. But then I started to learn of the authority I had in Matthew 10, 8, John 14, 12, you know, Mark 11, 23, Jesus said, speak to the mountains, speak to that illness. You know, and then I started getting confidence and courage, praying for other people. And then I realized like, you know, my whole life can change. Like many Christians are not, we're not using the authority Jesus gave us. So, you know, one of the things I say is that the enemy only has power over us to the point that we agree with him. Because I think as an early Christian, I thought, you know, attacks are inevitable. I'm just going to have to wait till they pass. But actually, if I agree with the enemy, then I'm giving him power. And when I disagree with him, he runs away. And it took me years to understand that. I'm still understanding it. So what ways are that we come into agreement with the enemy? What are some things that you've seen in your own life that we need to understand that this is a way that he traps us? Oh, it's all in our thinking, Sidney. It's, you know, it's all in our thinking. How do we think, you know, what do we say on a daily basis? You know, our thoughts create our words, of course, but it starts in our mind, right? Joyce Meyer always says, the battlefield is the mind. And that is so profound. It's so simple, but true. And, you know, you can just start off with a simple negative thought in the morning or maybe you're waiting for a healing or you're standing on God's word for something and the enemy might say, well, it doesn't look like it's going to happen. It would have happened by now or, you know, that's never going to change. And even if you subconsciously agree with that, you've given him power. You know, you've kind of, what's the word? You've ignored the power crisis given you or you've kind of, you know, mitigated that, made it less powerful. And, you know, you actually have a testimony when it comes to healing. So can you share with us that your journey of that and that got really specifically through the power of scriptures and a woman that was really instrumental in your life? Can you tell us about your healing story? Oh, yes. So minister Cathy. So just at the Lord's church, which is I think down the road here in Monroeville. So that was my first church. And so just before she passed away, you know, she would always pray with me because I was sick at that time and I had a lot of digestive issues and I didn't own my authority. And she always said, you know, you're healed in the name of Jesus, you're healed. And I didn't understand what that meant. I thought, does that mean I just ignore my symptoms and pretend I'm healed, but later I understood. And just before she passed away, she said, you know, can you pray in tongues? Like, can you pray in the spirit? And I said, no. And, you know, so she prayed over me and she brought a bunch of elders around the church to pray over me in a circle. And that was a very interesting day, you know, not to scare people, but I kind of saw demons running away from me and they were generational. So they were all generational demons and there was, I think there was about five or six elders and I was right in the center of that circle and they were just praying over me, shouting in tongues. I didn't know what they were saying. And you know, minister Cathy said, open your mouth. And I was, I don't know what to say. She said, open your mouth, start praying. And I just started praying in tongues right away. And I saw the spirit I saw in that room. I just saw demons fleeing. They were fleeing, they were running away. They were generational demons. That's so powerful, Gita, to just see that, like in that moment, just having the encounter, the presence of God and just seeing the demons flee. How did that change you in that instance? How have you never been the same since, since that encounter? You know, and I'm so glad you bring that up. Say, I need to remember this more and more because it's so easy to forget, but I have never been the same. And, you know, after that I went home and I made myself pray in tongues for like 30 minutes, you know, 45 minutes, 30 minutes in a row. And I think for the first few nights I saw the same thing, I saw them running away. But after like the fourth day, I guess there were no more and I never saw that again. But, you know, and I just want to talk about to the effect of how they ran away, Sidney. I think we all need to understand this. When we pray in the spirit, demons are running away from us, even if we don't see it. And the way they were running was as if a burning building was coming down on them and they were running for their life with such, with hatred obviously towards me and to Christ. But fear, like it was like such a spirit of defeat. Like they were utterly defeated, like unconditional surrender. And they went, dare show me their face. It was like all I always saw was the backs. They had no courage. They're scared of us. And that's what I write in my book. You know, the enemy is more scared of us than we should be scared of him. He's terrified of you. You just said something really powerful about that unconditional surrender that you experienced with the demons flaying. And can you just talk for a moment because there's probably somebody, I feel like someone's watching that can relate to right where you are, that maybe they are come from a Hindu background or a Muslim background or whatever that may be. And there's this fear of I know Jesus. I want to come to Jesus, but I'm so afraid of those things. Can you just speak to that person right now? You can't afford to be afraid. You know, that's what I'll say. Again, being the first person in my generational lineage to accept Christ, you know, if I was afraid, I wouldn't be sitting here today. I wouldn't do any of the things I'm doing today. I was depressed. And I didn't know I was depressed as a Hindu. You know, I was quiet. I was a very different person. I was very introverted and negative and cynical. But God gave me this new life, you know, and I'm so glad you can't afford to not take that chance and step out of the boat. So what's it been like? So you mentioned, Gita, that you came, you were looking for something that satisfied, something that made sense to you. So what has it been like to walk with Christ now? How can you contrast what that's like compared to before? You know, if I could sum it up in one word, I'd say freedom, freedom for sure. Yeah, I'm just free in my thoughts. You know, doors open up. I feel like a different person. For example, I feel pretty now. I never used to think I was. I mean, you know, I'm not boasting in that way. I'm just saying that different things I like about myself or I think I just had self-loathing, self-blame, guilt, all those things are just all gone. Yeah. Well, I'm just thinking back. I remember you praying on the prayer lines here at Cornerstone. But I'm sure that as God has revealed himself and his heart to you, you know, even your prayer life probably looks different. Talk to us a little bit about, you know, something applicable that someone could do in their life that has really helped you. You know, I think fasting is important as a Christian for any believer. I think that discipline thinking, you know, and I learned a lot of this from Andrew Wamek. I'll make myself fast at least, you know, a few times a year and it doesn't have to be from food. You can fast from anything. You know, sometimes I'll wake up at a certain time for 30 days in a row and like pray at, you know, 6 a.m. or something. And then after that's over, you know, I feel like again, like very refreshed and very close to God. It's very important to be close to God. I just have a question. It's like when you're talking about the power of fasting, is that something that in Hindu, do they pray and fast at all? Or is that something just like the difference like here in Christianity? That's a great question, you know, and it's funny. In Hinduism, they do a lot of things, but the way I can distinguish it is they do it out of fear, not love. And I apologize for me offending anyone, but in Christianity, we fast out of love, right? The whole concept is love. There's a lot of fear in Hinduism. There's so many rituals. There's so many things you have to do. Now, thankfully, I didn't grow up in that kind of household. We went to church and, you know, things like that. But if you actually look at the traditional Hindu approach, it's very fear-based. And we are based on love. I'm interested in your family's reaction or your, I mean, I've met your dad, a wonderful guy, you know, and just the, maybe the, what other Hindu community that you knew, what's been the reaction to all this? You know, thankfully, my family is blessed by my salvation because when Jesus does one thing, he does it for many. So it's not just for me, you know, and I knew that from the beginning. I have a much larger purpose, even the books, you know, I'm gonna be reaching a lot of people. So this is not about me. It's about my family, my parents. You know, I'm still single, so my future family. And, you know, like I said, my mom comes to church with me. My dad has been a church. And, you know, you can't deny what Jesus is doing in my life. There's been big miracles that I don't take responsibility for. So it's beautiful. A real testimony to the, just God. I mean, and maybe you're out there and you're discouraged. God desires to minister to you just the way that he has to Gita and her family. But I see you running to him, you know, that unconditional surrender. And I believe that, you know, if that's you right now, then what would you recommend them to do in this moment, right here? You know, call God, you know, God, Jesus heals. Jesus loves you so much. You know, I've had personal encounters with him, which have just made me break down and cry. I've never had that before. You know, I remember sitting in a park once, just four weeks ago. And I was praying for, you know, a personal issue I'm having. And Jesus just came and I felt his grace, his love. I mean, at that moment, I had no questions, no prayers I was complete. And, you know, God wants to meet you where you are. I can't put into words his, Jesus is love for you. He died on the cross. He died for you, right? And there's really nowhere else to go from there. It's finished. Yeah. I was gonna say, I just love like your heart and your sincerity of just saying that, you know, there's only one road leads to Jesus because in like the culture that you grew up, it was saying like multiple, you know, multiple gods and multiple idols. But we know that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. And so what would you say that for that person that is just like out there, they are searching for all those different things. What was the one thing for you where you knew this is the truth, that Jesus is the truth? That's a wonderful question. I think it's from the internal to the external. So the world will try to change you from the external to the internal, but Jesus changes you from the inside out. And I was all, I've always been a searcher. You know, I went from new age. I mean, I know new age very well. I know Hinduism very well, but it's from the inside when I had that voice, you know, when God speaks to me, there's nothing else. There's nowhere to go from there really. Like so when God will speak to you, ask him if there's someone out there who feels hopeless, you know, ask God, what's your word for me today, Lord? You know, who are you? And he will reveal himself to you in a very personal way. My way was very personal too. Isn't it interesting that so much of our culture that grew up in Christianity has tried to search for Eastern things sometimes and gone towards Eastern thought and Eastern religion. In fact, we had, when the answer is right there, you know, the answer of Christ is right there, but it's kind of hidden. What would you say? What do you think about people that maybe grew up in the church, but never had that relationship? And they're kind of like, well, you know, that's, I've had that, I've done that. What would you say to that person that's maybe out there saying, oh, maybe I should look into this Eastern philosophy? Yeah, you know, the grass is always greener. So I spent many years meditating and someone said it very well, a pastor in New York at a church I went to said, meditating is emptying your mind, right? But the prayer and the Holy Spirit fills your mind. So I'd rather be full than empty, you know, and they're looking for something, again, like you said, you know, that maybe they don't have, but let me tell you, you know, the buck stops here. The buck really stops here because it's very filling, you know, and if they, you know, if they really try Jesus in the way that, you know, in that deeper way, they will be satisfied. They probably are just maybe, you know, influenced by the world or maybe they're not in the right church. I don't know, yeah. The Word of God. How does your daily, you know, walk with Him look like as far as, you know, sitting down with the Lord and digging into the Word? Like I know you talked about Andrew Womack, like just as those teachers pouring in, but your pursuit, you know, of the Word, what does that look like? You know, and when I first became a Christian, I thought, okay, now my life's gonna be perfect. That's it, you know, it's great. And it was, you know, things were going well and then the challenges came, you know, and a health problem that just wouldn't go away no matter what I did. And you know, and the Holy Spirit gave me a command and I had to obey Him and which was hard. So, you know, He doesn't always tell you the things that are easy. And that's one of the things, you know, but that builds character. So that, I think that's my daily walk now is learning to walk in obedience, even when it's tough. And right now I'm at a place where, you know, loving God, even when my life is not perfect or, you know, being grateful for what you have while you're waiting for what you want, that's really what a Christian has to do. We have to stand on the Word of God. You know, and if I don't stand on the Word of God, how am I gonna pray for others in my ministry? So we really need to learn how to stand. And, you know, and that's why Paul said stand twice in Ephesians 6. I always say because back then they, you know, they didn't have abundant ink and, you know, it wasn't a typo. He said stand twice for a reason because after you stand then you're gonna have to stand some more because the enemy's gonna try to talk you out of it. Yeah, that's great. So authority is a really important thing that you learned that was different about the other religions you were seeking. And just, you know, talk to us about the importance of us getting that. And what does that means? Not everybody understands. Like, what are you talking about with authority? Well, you've already got it, right? And I think Andrew Wamek, that's the name of one of his books, which is a great book, you've already got it. So how do we get it? It's in us and we have to appropriate it out. And that's still a topic in its infancy in mainstream Christianity. It almost sounds, you know, demonic, or you know, what is she talking about authority? Only God has authority. But if you really study the Word, you know, God gave us that authority. Jesus said, I'm going to be with my father, you know, so please finish my work. He didn't say walk around, you know, kind of like, you know, unconsciously in this world. We're supposed to be the light of the world. We're supposed to speak to that demon. And I always say, you know, when's the last time you cast out a demon? And people say, well, no, we don't do that. But you kind of are. Like on a daily basis I cast out demons. A negative thought is a demon. You know, in the name of Jesus, no, I don't agree with that. That's casting out a demon. You know, a friend of mine had a headache. I laid hands on her. I said, you know, in the name of Jesus, be healed. That's casting out demons. We need to do more of that. And the more we practice that on a small level, the more we'll be able to, you know, cast out that cancer or that hurricane or whatever it is, that war. So we need to build up to that, right? I love that so much. It's like we're talking about that authority. And I know your understanding of having that revelation that, you know, we always say, it's like greater is he that is in me than he is in the world. But if we don't really consciously think about like, no, Holy Spirit is in us. Holy Spirit is in me. And something God over the weekend just revealed to me, I was driving home from the gym and he just said, my resurrection power is in you. So what does that mean? When you're going through a difficult situation, when you're going through a hard time, when you're going through that sickness, when you're going through that battle, certain things that should have taken you out, they don't. Why? Because the resurrection power of Jesus is in you. So you're able to get up. You're able to rise out of it ashes. You're able to be victorious because of Jesus, the hope of glory that is in you. And so maybe today you're listening to our conversation and you're like, you know what, I need to stand but I'm having a hard time to get up. Well, can we just encourage you? Give us a call on our prayer line at 888-665-4483 because we are here to encourage you and to stand together. When two or three are gathered, he is in the midst. And can you imagine all of us knowing that the resurrection power is in me and in Tom and in Gita and in all of us that we can do damage for the kingdom of God. It is time for us that even though we see this gross darkness that is over our world, gross darkness that is in our lives that we know that through Jesus we are victorious. I love that. And I just think the word today is do something. Don't just go to church and expose yourself to things of the world or things of Christian philosophy or things, do something in making a difference in your life. Do something of taking a step towards God. He's drawing you. He's drawing you right now. He's pulling you towards himself and wanting to have that relationship. Gita was interested in things enough to look and she was attending church, but at one point she made a decision to make a commitment to the Lord. And that's what you need today. You need to open that door of your life and say, come in, come into my life, Lord, be my Lord and Savior. And he will rush in there. Gita, when you did that, it was his work, right? It wasn't like, oh, I've got to do all this stuff. All of a sudden it was his work. Oh, it was a very restful place to be. And he kind of changed me, you know, one thing at a time. You know, and like I mentioned in my book, I had a lot of guilt and shame and I definitely wanted to mention that too because I think that blocks a lot of people. So one of the things that stopped me from actually coming to Jesus, I really felt I wasn't good enough for whatever reasons. And I didn't do anything that, you know, that bad really, but I just felt I was a bad person. And, you know, so he takes away, like he took our guilt and our shame on the cross. So if that's stopping anyone, I just want to mention that today too. He took all that away. And no, I didn't lift a finger. I love the word freedom when you set up. You could say it in one word, it's freedom. Just say that to yourself, freedom. Like God desires for you to be free. He does not want you being held captive by anything that the enemy would have to offer. Any chains that are holding you down from fulfilling the calling and giftings of God, he's put them in there. Break free, break free from the guilt, from the shame. Break free from sin, whatever it is that is separating you from God, there is nothing more important. The buck stops here. Words from Gita Chopra at Jesus. He is our everything and he loves you. And as she said, he died for you. He is wooing you. I literally, in my spirit, I see him drawing you. He wants your commitment. He wants your yes. So today I encourage you to surrender unconditionally to the one who is love with you. Absolutely, so take this moment. And again, don't let this moment pass. Gita didn't let that moment pass when the spirit of God was calling her. So don't let this moment pass. Don't let it be something that you say, well, that was a nice little religious thing I did. No, the world's full, right Gita? The world's full of religious things we can do, right? So yeah, rituals, there's all kinds of things. But no, Sidney, it's something where we've got to make just one step towards God and he rushes towards us. One step towards God, one day at a time. And we just encourage you as we're about to go off the air that you would renew your relationship with Jesus, that you would lay your life in front of the altar. His arms are open wide. And so when you receive Jesus, when you walk with Jesus and you surrender all, your life will never be the same and you'll experience that freedom and that hope and that deliverance. And we hope you have a great day. On tomorrow's Hope Today, praying for a future spouse, author Kali Logan shares the significance of prioritizing your relationship with God as you patiently wait for the one he has planned for you. Don't miss tomorrow's Hope Today. Cornerstone Television wishes to thank all our faithful viewers, whose consistent prayers and financial support have made this program possible.