24/11/2025
✝️ No Turning Back — The Story Behind a Famous Hymn
In the mid-1800s, a group of Welsh missionaries arrived in the remote hills of Assam, Northeast India, where many tribes had never heard the gospel.
After years of slow progress, one man — remembered as Nokseng, from a Garo/Khasi tribal village — and his family chose to follow Jesus. They became the first Christians in their entire village.
Their decision angered the village chief, who saw this new faith as betrayal of their traditions. He gathered the villagers and demanded the man publicly reject Christ.
The man quietly answered:
“I have decided to follow Jesus.”
Furious, the chief ordered his archers to kill his two children.
Still he stood firm.
The chief demanded again that he deny Christ. The man replied:
“Though none go with me, still I will follow.”
His wife was then shot with arrows.
One final time, the chief asked him to renounce his faith.
The grieving father said his last words:
“The cross before me, the world behind me.
No turning back.”
He was executed on the spot.
But the story didn’t end there.
The chief, shaken by the man’s courage and the faith he had witnessed, began to ask questions about Jesus. According to tradition, he eventually declared:
“I too belong to Christ.”
Many in the village followed his example.
Years later, the martyr’s final words were arranged into the hymn we still sing today:
✨ “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus — No Turning Back.”
