The promoter of Christian Heritage Month and CEO of Toronto's Christian Music Festival says her ministry and advocacy is inspired by generations of miracles.In an interview with Western Standard, Scarborough realtor Molly Banerjei shared remarkable stories of divine intervention, starting the scare of her life. One day early in 1999, Banerjei got a severe headache, then she had a grand mal seizure and passed out."When I came to my senses, I was on my kitchen floor, and there were paramedics around me. And my husband was sitting next to me, saying to me, 'Do you recognize me?'""And I said, 'Of course I recognize you. Why would you ask me a question like that?' And he said, 'Because you didn't recognize me before.'"Banerjei was referred to a neurologist who wanted an MRI of her brain. To bypass a six-month wait, she drove to Lockport, New York, near Buffalo, to get one at a private clinic. "Get your affairs in order. Your wife is not going to survive," Banerjei's husband Jay was told.The Western Standard received copies of the MRI scans and medical report made by Dr. Shanti Bedmutha in Lockport. Scans revealed a "mass like lesion in the left parietal lobe … Evidence of edema is seen around this ring enhanced lesion.".Banerjei, an Indian-born woman who by then had lived in Canada for ten years, sought God’s help."We were already believers, and we were praying. And we heard the Lord say, 'This is not your time, so don't be afraid.'"Banerjei’s husband Jay called a friend of theirs, a pastor’s wife, about the health issue. When she came to visit the couple, she passed on more divine assurance. "I'm not a doctor, I'm not a medical professional, but I'm here to tell you, this [death] is not going to happen, and you will live," the friend said.Despite such promises, Banerjei still sought the "best of the best" medical professionals, including a neurosurgeon at Sunnybrook Hospital in North York."They all said to us, 'We want to help you. This is our job, but there's nothing we can do. There's absolutely nothing we can do.' And then the Lord said to us, 'You will have to wait one year,'" Banerjei remembered. "Our lives turned upside down because I couldn't be left alone, because I could have a seizure any time. So someone or the other always had to be with me in the house."When the year had passed, Banerjei's doctor requested another MRI, one she received at Princess Margaret Hospital. “They called me back and they said, 'We're happy to report you don't have a tumour and your brain is as if nothing ever happened. There is no scar tissue, there is no damage, nothing."In 2009, the Banerjeis were led to return to India at a time when Christian persecution had intensified. They spent a year in Calcutta where Jay was from."For one year, our assignment was to pray, just pray, pray, pray, pray for everyone, first for the neighborhood, then for the city, and then for the country."When the year passed, Jay, who is also a realtor, returned to Canada to generate some income. Molly stayed in India for another year but returned to Canada when she heard in prayer it was time to return to Canada.Jay had been working tirelessly at the office for months and returned to his house near Rouge Park in Scarborough only to sleep. He was so rarely present, raccoons thought the place was abandoned. They worked a hole into the roof and made a home in their attic. After Molly returned, Jay made an appointment for a roofing company to fix the hole.One Sunday night, heavy rains poured through the open hole in the roof and water poured in. Jay asked the scheduled roofers to come earlier and fix the problem right away, but were told to wait until morning. Frantic calls to others got no results.Molly recalls her prayers. "I said, 'Lord, you sent me to India, and this is what has happened. And so now you fix it.' ... I was quite upset with the Lord, and I said, 'Why would you let that happen to our home?'"Five minutes later, there was a knock on the door. “There were two men standing in front, and they said, ‘We were just driving around in your neighborhood, and we noticed that there is a big hole on your roof, and we've come to fix it.’”The story seemed odd, given the house on a cul de sac where no one drives randomly, and the hole was at the back of the house and only visible from the front."They said, 'Just give us $200 and we will be right back' … And in no time they fixed it … We turned around to say, thank you. They were not there. They just disappeared. Yeah, so we know 100% they were angels."Christianity first came to India in the First Century by the ministry of Thomas, one of Jesus' original twelve disciples. However, Molly Banerjei is only a third-generation Christian. Her grandfather Jagan Nath responded to evangelism by Presbyterian missionaries and led his younger brother to Christian faith. Their parents, who were Brahmin Hindus, kicked them out of the home."I don't know exactly how they managed to survive. There is nobody here to tell us that story, but he did well for himself, and he became an inspector of schools," Molly recalled.Nath married and raised Christian children, then moved to the city of Dhaliwal in the Indian state of Punjab. While there, Nath died of typhoid. His son, who later took the name Kailash Samuel, often prayed at the Anglican Church. "He would just go there and pray and pray and pray for hours and hours and hours," Banerjei recalled. "The pastor of the church got concerned about him and went and told my grandma, 'Something is not right with your son. He's a teenager. He should be out playing, doing stuff. Why does he come here to just pray?'"The boy's mother thanked the minister for sharing his concerns but assured him her son was alright. Sometime later, when Samuel's friends joined him in prayer at the church, a miracle took place."As they were praying, fire, literal fire, came from heaven … and they all started to speak in tongues and prophesy and do all those things that the Book of Acts talks about," Banerjei explained."This church was right next to this woolen mill. So people from this woolen mill started to run with buckets of water, thinking the church is on fire. And so they wanted to douse the fire … The whole town saw it, and it was visible. And of course, that just changed everything."In later years, Samuel practiced law in the city of Amritsar and helped Christians advocate for their rights. At one point, he turned down an appointment with the European Union for an international human rights panel so he could continue his work in India..Banerjei views her passion to advance December as Christian Heritage Month as an extension of her father's work rooted in their experiences of God."Of course, I'm passionate about it, right? Because this is real. This is not a story…I have seen him. I've experienced him," Banerjei said.So far, 48 jurisdictions have declared the month, including the province of Saskatchewan, the York District School Board, and cities in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario. Banerjei, the CEO and co-founder of an annual music festival since 2017 affirms everything is possible for those who believe."People put God in a box. That's what has happened in the West. They have put him in a box and said, 'This is what we want you to do,' right?" Banerjei explained. "But we, as a family, we say, 'Lord, you can do whatever you want, whenever you want.' And so, he does amazing things all the time."
The promoter of Christian Heritage Month and CEO of Toronto's Christian Music Festival says her ministry and advocacy is inspired by generations of miracles.In an interview with Western Standard, Scarborough realtor Molly Banerjei shared remarkable stories of divine intervention, starting the scare of her life. One day early in 1999, Banerjei got a severe headache, then she had a grand mal seizure and passed out."When I came to my senses, I was on my kitchen floor, and there were paramedics around me. And my husband was sitting next to me, saying to me, 'Do you recognize me?'""And I said, 'Of course I recognize you. Why would you ask me a question like that?' And he said, 'Because you didn't recognize me before.'"Banerjei was referred to a neurologist who wanted an MRI of her brain. To bypass a six-month wait, she drove to Lockport, New York, near Buffalo, to get one at a private clinic. "Get your affairs in order. Your wife is not going to survive," Banerjei's husband Jay was told.The Western Standard received copies of the MRI scans and medical report made by Dr. Shanti Bedmutha in Lockport. Scans revealed a "mass like lesion in the left parietal lobe … Evidence of edema is seen around this ring enhanced lesion.".Banerjei, an Indian-born woman who by then had lived in Canada for ten years, sought God’s help."We were already believers, and we were praying. And we heard the Lord say, 'This is not your time, so don't be afraid.'"Banerjei’s husband Jay called a friend of theirs, a pastor’s wife, about the health issue. When she came to visit the couple, she passed on more divine assurance. "I'm not a doctor, I'm not a medical professional, but I'm here to tell you, this [death] is not going to happen, and you will live," the friend said.Despite such promises, Banerjei still sought the "best of the best" medical professionals, including a neurosurgeon at Sunnybrook Hospital in North York."They all said to us, 'We want to help you. This is our job, but there's nothing we can do. There's absolutely nothing we can do.' And then the Lord said to us, 'You will have to wait one year,'" Banerjei remembered. "Our lives turned upside down because I couldn't be left alone, because I could have a seizure any time. So someone or the other always had to be with me in the house."When the year had passed, Banerjei's doctor requested another MRI, one she received at Princess Margaret Hospital. “They called me back and they said, 'We're happy to report you don't have a tumour and your brain is as if nothing ever happened. There is no scar tissue, there is no damage, nothing."In 2009, the Banerjeis were led to return to India at a time when Christian persecution had intensified. They spent a year in Calcutta where Jay was from."For one year, our assignment was to pray, just pray, pray, pray, pray for everyone, first for the neighborhood, then for the city, and then for the country."When the year passed, Jay, who is also a realtor, returned to Canada to generate some income. Molly stayed in India for another year but returned to Canada when she heard in prayer it was time to return to Canada.Jay had been working tirelessly at the office for months and returned to his house near Rouge Park in Scarborough only to sleep. He was so rarely present, raccoons thought the place was abandoned. They worked a hole into the roof and made a home in their attic. After Molly returned, Jay made an appointment for a roofing company to fix the hole.One Sunday night, heavy rains poured through the open hole in the roof and water poured in. Jay asked the scheduled roofers to come earlier and fix the problem right away, but were told to wait until morning. Frantic calls to others got no results.Molly recalls her prayers. "I said, 'Lord, you sent me to India, and this is what has happened. And so now you fix it.' ... I was quite upset with the Lord, and I said, 'Why would you let that happen to our home?'"Five minutes later, there was a knock on the door. “There were two men standing in front, and they said, ‘We were just driving around in your neighborhood, and we noticed that there is a big hole on your roof, and we've come to fix it.’”The story seemed odd, given the house on a cul de sac where no one drives randomly, and the hole was at the back of the house and only visible from the front."They said, 'Just give us $200 and we will be right back' … And in no time they fixed it … We turned around to say, thank you. They were not there. They just disappeared. Yeah, so we know 100% they were angels."Christianity first came to India in the First Century by the ministry of Thomas, one of Jesus' original twelve disciples. However, Molly Banerjei is only a third-generation Christian. Her grandfather Jagan Nath responded to evangelism by Presbyterian missionaries and led his younger brother to Christian faith. Their parents, who were Brahmin Hindus, kicked them out of the home."I don't know exactly how they managed to survive. There is nobody here to tell us that story, but he did well for himself, and he became an inspector of schools," Molly recalled.Nath married and raised Christian children, then moved to the city of Dhaliwal in the Indian state of Punjab. While there, Nath died of typhoid. His son, who later took the name Kailash Samuel, often prayed at the Anglican Church. "He would just go there and pray and pray and pray for hours and hours and hours," Banerjei recalled. "The pastor of the church got concerned about him and went and told my grandma, 'Something is not right with your son. He's a teenager. He should be out playing, doing stuff. Why does he come here to just pray?'"The boy's mother thanked the minister for sharing his concerns but assured him her son was alright. Sometime later, when Samuel's friends joined him in prayer at the church, a miracle took place."As they were praying, fire, literal fire, came from heaven … and they all started to speak in tongues and prophesy and do all those things that the Book of Acts talks about," Banerjei explained."This church was right next to this woolen mill. So people from this woolen mill started to run with buckets of water, thinking the church is on fire. And so they wanted to douse the fire … The whole town saw it, and it was visible. And of course, that just changed everything."In later years, Samuel practiced law in the city of Amritsar and helped Christians advocate for their rights. At one point, he turned down an appointment with the European Union for an international human rights panel so he could continue his work in India..Banerjei views her passion to advance December as Christian Heritage Month as an extension of her father's work rooted in their experiences of God."Of course, I'm passionate about it, right? Because this is real. This is not a story…I have seen him. I've experienced him," Banerjei said.So far, 48 jurisdictions have declared the month, including the province of Saskatchewan, the York District School Board, and cities in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario. Banerjei, the CEO and co-founder of an annual music festival since 2017 affirms everything is possible for those who believe."People put God in a box. That's what has happened in the West. They have put him in a box and said, 'This is what we want you to do,' right?" Banerjei explained. "But we, as a family, we say, 'Lord, you can do whatever you want, whenever you want.' And so, he does amazing things all the time."
