Iscan

   Doing mission work, as I and many other have for years, sometimes brings long lonely hours of feeling that efforts are wasted, and unnoticed or in vain. As far as God is concerned, this is NOT the case, but the experience of isolated discouragement can often grip any Christian. I want to share an experience I had a while back that hopefully will bring encouragement to someone out there.

   Several years back, while living in Dallas, doing some pretty unfulfilling secular work, I went to my mailbox ,receiving  only bills and no word from loved ones whom I deeply missed. A combined sum of scary medical and financial worries were flooding through my thoughts as I slowly walked back to my apartment. I suppose I was looking down and didn’t notice something floating through the air, being carried by a hot Texas summer wind in my direction. At once something touched my forearm and I looked to my surprise to see that it was a silver party balloon hovering at almost eye level. The ribbon attached was exactly at my wrist and I grabbed it. There were words written above the face of a sad looking little duck: the words were perfect  : “THINKING OF YOU “. To many this little incident would be shrugged off and forgotten, considered as a trivial coincidence. But at that moment I felt a cool gust of wind and instantly heard that still small voice of the Lord saying: “This is for you. Take it and believe I’m aware of your situation and that I’m thinking of you”

   Let this sink in. God is very aware of your challenges and very near to you in the very hour you need Him the most.

   If He can orchestrate and direct the flight of some lost party balloon with the words “I’m thinking of you” to land exactly in the hand of someone who was very disheartened at that moment, well…He can direct you and I on our “flight” to arrive at the perfect timing to bring that very same word. The secret is in yielding to the Wind and allowing Him to direct our footsteps even in the tiniest details. If He said that even “A cup of cold water is like Good News from a distant land” is part of His global work of blessing humankind , let’s not underestimate the importance of this.  

   Sure, it’s true that the secular non-christian person can use those sentimental little words “thinking of you” (and it’s a good deed fior anyone to do) but sometimes very little good in the eternal big picture will come of their deed of being nice and thoughtful. But when we as “God’s balloon messengers” convey to someone who is deeply discouraged in their faith, the liberating truth that God in Heaven is very cognizant of our mundane trails of life and that He desires to contuinually watch over us for our good, it is deeply serious and heart-touching…And it’s needed in these times when so many of God’s children are growing so weary and unaware of how near God is to them.  

  Think this over this evening.(btw, I still have that little balloon in my bedroom. Can’t every forget the kind way God spoke that day!) Be a “balloon messenger” and be amazed at where God’s loving Spirit-wind will guide you!

      No doubt, just about everyone of you friends reading this has at one time or another experienced that comfort of knowing that the Good Shepherd, Jesus is standing nearby, to help you when life gets scary. I sure have.   In context of missions and current social decay and political dismay, this seems a very timely issue to address: We are all needed in this hour to reach out and find lost lambs who have no clue that the Creator genuinely and passionately cares about them AND has ability to guide through the worst of valleys of the shadow of death.  If we are in fact, invited to be His hands, as the earthly expression of God, the questions to ask are “Do I have a heart that can “hear the bleating cries of lost sheep”? Are my eyes focused enough on the needs around  rather than the glittzy bling of this world’s entertainment?. Do we see people around us as lost sheep who need to know the voice of the Shepherd, or do we see them only as people groups, colors, classes, pretty or ugly, rich or poor? God knows there’s some really superficial vision among even God’s own witness, the Church.

I was fortunate enough to have an eye opening experience of seeing massive wholesale need of humanity while in India last year. The sights of “lost lambs” were too numerous to count…Can you imagine what I felt, within a few minutes behind a motorcycle seeing one after another poor Indian “les meserables” on the side of the road, literally lying in the mud, flies on their face, children of untouchables as young as 5 carrying huge bundles of sticks or grass on their head,etc ?! ….Or, how can I forget the “lost lambs” I saw once in the days shortly before the Iron Curtain of East Europe fell..my wife and I had visited a dilapidated abandoned hotel in Vienna, Austria that was delegated to house dozens of miserable refugees from communist and other oppressive countries…absolute squallar and filth  they were in, and living side by side in packed out rooms were Romanians, Afghanis, etc. Lost lambs with no one to tell them of a Good Shepherd.

I’m not posting this to lay guilt on you all (well, truth be told, sometime a little bit of healthy guilt is good if it motivates us to action, being balanced with the understanding that God loves us is not dependent upon how many good works we do or don’t do) But, honestly it is a shameful disgrace that so many of us who really DO know the good Shepherd in the person of Christ are either too distracted, or woefully ignorant and or apathetic to the spiritual needs of lambs all around us…millions even here in our country, and, sadly ,  billions in the  un-evangelized world who have never heard once that the Creator loves them in person of His Son and a good Shepherd.  

    Consider this rather unknown scripture from Ezekiel 34:12 that addresses this tough issue:   “As a shepherd is among his sheep scattered among the nations on the dark and cloudy day, so I the Lord will seek out My sheep”  Think of it..in this hour there is incredible spiritual darkness, cloudy nebulous uncertainty and fear, and so many broken people are like scared lost lambs. And God says, He IS among His people even in this darkest hour…but aren’t we His feet and hands and voice?  (Not exclusively, of course, God CAN reach souls without us, and has had to in ancient days and even in our times, using the awesome witness of nature and the innate laws written into human conscience. But He chooses to use you and me.) Problem is, our hands are so full of temporal trivial stuff that there’s no room for Him to place a shepherd’s staff, if you follow.) Of course we’re not all called to be an actual pastoral shepherd…but everyone of us can pass on to others the words of comfort from God, everyone of us can place food in hungry hands, potable water and medicine to the sick and genuine friendship and kindness to the neglected.

…So here it is our awesome challenge: If we are invited to be “His hands”, doesn’t it follow that we need to be busy finding lost lambs?The rod and staff that bring comfort should not be relegated only to the cloistered clergy, as it was in the tragic Dark Ages of 1000 years ago. There’s someone who is needing to hear that the Creator cares passionately for them and can and will guide them. Listen closely now..I think if you listen closely, you’ll “hear” the cry of some lost lamb out there you can help. A lot is at stake in how we react to this challenge God give us.

     One of the most noble and Christian things Martin Luther King said in his years on Earth was that “we should not be judged by the color of our skin rather by the content of our heart”. As no other time, this phrase is timely… and I pray we will seek God grace to see it made evident in our hearts..Why? There are some very bad players on the scene…devilishly inspired people, both white and black, who are waiting eagerly for racial strife and hate to flare up. This sin of racism is locked into fallen human nature.God knows I saw it in India in their cruel caste system, but not in the kindly Christian people I was with over there. But it is a major national issue still in America since before our Civil War. It’s a result of our fallen flesh nature as sinners to distrust and hate “the other race”. It can be white against black and yes, black against white. And ironically, there is a new group of “spiritual rascists” among the crowds who march with hoodies and yet they are white.  They are also the same types as when Roseanne Barr sang the national anthem and spit on the ground..they detest so much America’s Christian heritage that they would rather identify with an evil leader of black radicals, because they agree with the Nation of Islam type of hate toward our Christian founders and heritage.

     When I see reports lately of rallies of people shouting out revenge and painting one race as evil it causes me to cringe…It’s the same spirti if it is a group led by the demonic fiery rhetoric of one like Farrakhan or the New Black Panthers or by a group of white “bubbas” who stew in anger and joke about blowing the other race away if they try anything. This is as critical hour for America, I believe, for Satan’s wish is for the ugliness of racism to boil over. The solution to the divide, this cultural divide, is the aggresive actions of us Christians to be salt and light and seek to show love to others by our actions as never before!!!

    Above all we must pray for our president, who being half white/half black has a perfect opportunity to unite. Thus far, sadly, he has failed in doing that. Keep praying for him.Maybe it’s due to the plethora of radical associates he joined himself with in past years…(sitting in a racist church for so many years where hateful rhetoric was proclaimed in the name of liberation theology surely didn’t help). But we as the Church should not wait on a political leader to usher in healing.It must begin with us individually. After the Rodney King beating riots years ago, while in Dallas, I recall feeling a wave of fear when a a low riding car of radical looking blacks pulled up beside where I was pumping gas…the music being played was so vulgar and violent that I’m sure my expression was one of disgust. Don’t do that.Pray for them instead, for disgust and fear only engender distrust and eventually hate. Let God shine His color blind love through our eyes, no matter how wrong the other person is behaving.   

    Look past the unpleasantness of sinfulness and see all people through Christ’s eyes…as lost sheep whom He loves dearly enough to die on a cross. If the Church doesn’t show the color blind love Christ intended and Dr. King suggested, who will?

   I don’t know what will happen here in our country, but one thing is certain: Even if this nation rejects godly leaders and chooses politically correct but morally incorrect people to guide, and brings on itself God’s severe discipline (a kind of national judgement intended NOT out of hate but sent to try to get us to repent), even if it comes to that, and life gets very hard here in America, the true Church will rise and shine as He intended, and our contrast as those in fellowship with the color blind King of Kings will draw many souls to the Lord’s compassionate heart.

   Let’s pray earnestly for those bad and vindicative “race bait-er” types to be shamed and silenced by the noble and humble people like the former NAACP black preacher CL Bryant, or  Dr. King’s niece  and others who are pleading to not throw gasoline onto the racial flames. Let’s have the compassion of one like Mother Theresa or Saint Thomas who traveled thousands of miles to live among people of another race and to give comfort and tears of love and lay down their lives for them. Then we’ll be seeing humanity through Christ’s eyes.

There are so many things going on lately, effecting all of us that must be considered by those who do NOT want to be conquered by evil. Consider a current debate vented mainly against  the presidential  candidate, Santorum , over social evils being such a big issue in his mind (and rightfully so). Not trying to support any one man over another as our solution, but it brings up this clarion issue: Evil is out to conquer in this year as never before. The stakes for our country are high and the dangers against so many millions over the globe is unprecedented, even considering the grimness of pre-WW 2! Never before has there been so much hate globally against the two most hated groups by satan: Israel and the true believers in Bible centered rightousness, the Church .

And yet, so many of us Christians in America are letting evil overcome us in the “small fox” ways. I’ve seen the ancient Evil, face to face, as some of you have as well, when I was in India, watching some who were trembling with emotion as they prayed in honor of the Cobra- ringed, trident bearing “Lord” Shiva. I saw Evil in its totality while viewing a couple of videos of poor Christians being beheaded or set on fire, the beheading in Afghanistan and the burning in India..(I had to look away, it was so violently evil) Why do I and others, even some “secular” radio hosts, address this unpleasant issue so forcefully lately? Because it is evident that Evil is trying to conquer over good on a global scale. Yet for the most part, we’re too insulated in our surroundings  of entertainment or mundane cares of life to notice. Sometimes, even good intentioned Christians are lately becoming calloused and even resentful toward those who say there are social evils in our day that we must address! To approve of a late term born baby to be killed only because the mother wanted it aborted (as our president did!), is evil. To sanction gay marriage from the state level and condone sodomy is evil..to kill a pastor only because he is Christian is evil..to rage with hate posters against gays and military funerals as the Westboro “baptist” cult sadly does, that too is evil. for the Taliban to put cryptic messages in Korans to plot against non-moslems is evil and yet that happened. We are seeing violence against the US today because our miltary eliminated those terrorism instruction-laced Korans. Seeing a picture of two dear young hindu teenagers praying before a king cobra in honor of a false hindu god and knowing that so relatively few are reaching the 800 million who are blinded by that seductive, innocent looking yet deadly religious idea is serious. To see white kids act out hate crimes on someone only because he’s black is evil, and likewise to see flash mobs of blacks beat up whites is equally evil. Who will publicly speak loud against it all? No doubt, there’s got to be some encouraging word here!

I felt this morning the encouragement (and admonition) from two key verses that I think zero in perfectly on the challenge of being an overcomer over evil rather than being overcome by it. Here they are :”Be not overcome by evil, but, by doing good, you instead will overcome evil” Rom 12:21 .  When those small foxes of evil come against us in to bring anger, jealously, fear,lust or whatever, we can pre-empt that evil by doing good deeds of kindness (not that works will save us by ANY means!). Still that action of obeying the law of God’s love will dispell the evil…The second verse of encouragement and challenge is Rev 12:11…and this one thrills me, and at the same time chills my soul with seriousness: “And they overcame him, the devil, by the word of their testimony and by the blood of the Lamb and they ‘loved not their own life’ even unto death.” This is going on today in countries from north Africa east to Indonesia…and one day it could be here. But all this vast host of Christians overcame incredible evil of this 21st century by holding on to Christ’s hand of goodness even at the point of the sword.

Let’s all determine today to be overcomers, because, as we read the headlines, it’s clear that Evil must be overcome, or else we are zooming warp speed toward another “dark ages” or WW3.But God has many of His servants everywhere whose eyes are filled with tears of love and joy, who have fire of rightous justice in their hearts and who will NOT bow down before evil. And the wonderful adage by Edmund Burke applies “The only that allows Evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.”

   ”Time is short”…we’ve heard that phrase from “chicken little” sources so often and because it was from shrill voices that weren’t wise,I think perhaps we’re in danger of ignoring the deeper admonition from this phrase of wisdom from the Bible: “Teach us to number our days, that we may have a wise heart”. Ps 90:12. As I read through this morning’s news, that scripture came to mind and a deep aching in my heart as well, as I realized how few of us really are living with an understanding that we have (relatively) short time left to work for God on this troubled Earth before it’s too late. Look at an old fashion hour glass and consider that you and I don’t KNOW when the last grain of sand falls through the vase.So with us personally..so with the nations in this very complexly evil world-system.   Even if the time of the fulfillment of all those apocalyptic prophecies is delayed many years  (for the reason of God delaying His judgement so that millions more could be saved) still there is an extremely serious issue of danger to us if we do not number our personal days and gain a wise heart.

That simple verse seemed to me, at first, rather vague and meaningless until I pondered on it…then it hit me like a sledgehammer the gravity of that statement and how few of us are doing it. Even if we were guaranteed excellent health and most of us lived into our 90s…even if the current threats of WW3 or a global crisis on so many levels were to magicly vanish, still our mortal life in this earthly body of carbon based molecules is such a tiny blip of time! If we expected to live 30 more years, just look back 30 years ago.. what you were doing?…And think how relatively recent that was! Our time is a commodity that we must offer daily..hourly, to God’s work. We really don’t have that much more time to be a healing agent of God’s love and grace in this troubled world.

 I put it this way in a little song I wrote a while back:

“The hours of your life are quickly fleeting…the minutes are ticking down unto the End…So you must ask “Lord, Which way?” before you start off running..cause if you’re running from Truth then you’re running away from your Friend…………… Let me tell you that you can’t escape from the facts of reality..you cannot even make your spirit free…Not till you come to the Man who died on a hill!………….. Let me tell you that Jesus IS coming..the Devil is running..he’s filled with hatred and violence and cunning..but Jesus is filled with a love, a love that’s real”

Frank Boston

(cont)

Those four words are COURAGE…CONTRITION…..CONSECRATION…COMMITMENT

I sincerely feel that those four words are key words for all of us this new year, whether my friends in India and Pakistan right in the thick of battle with ancient giants of evil, or just us ordinary folks here in America! Thing is, these words are so interdependent..one can’t have Courage alone, without Contrition of a broken and humbled heart…and without that, Commitment isn’t really possible. But, well, we all can strive for these traits to be in us this new year as we “face the giants” that would try to destroy the future of us, our beloved America and the nations of the world. God is bigger than them!  If old Joshua were with us, he’s look at us and say, “Square back your shoulders, men! They may look like giants to us, and we may look like grasshoppers…but to them when God is with us, WE are the giants and they are the grasshoppers! So, all of you Israelites! Take courage, in contrition…in consecration and commitment..WE WILL CONQUER!”

Go east young man!Go west old man…let’s invade Canaan by God’s loving hand!

This may sound odd to those of you friends who may not be familiar with the old story of Joshua and his soldiers crossing over into Canaan land to conquer a very wicked region filled with giant opponents, but everything about that true story thunders out to me relevance in the days that seem to immediately before us. Think about it:Whether in the arena of mission advance that the Church must take on, or in the current culture war that is threatening to undo America’s very being, both Christian leaders and good hearted socially conservative politicians and even some secular media pundits are warning what we are facing. Unless things change, it looks like we’re on the cusp of facing some very evil and ancient darkness that could not only ruin America, but undo centuries of enlightened culture and cause massive tragedy surpassing WW2. Whew, I am chilled with a soberness when I look at the forces of ancient evil that are rising in many countries and even here in the west, and we all would do well to see it from God’s perspective.

I’ve been watching various documentaries of old history…Again and again one can see a pattern the people being deceived and oppressed due to their “worship of ancient gods” who were long ago…now returning under new names. Their “worship” resulted in heart-wrenching pain for millions and degradation and destruction.One can notice the common threads of history repeating in cultures that rise and then fall. From ancient times of Babylon and Egypt there have been very evils power focuses that demanded “worship” in so many forms, but the results were always the same: social disintegration, loss of personal liberty, famine, violent war, economic chaos,and the ruining of the family.

What happened to make the old stable Rome empire with its senate and its “modern” infrastructure collapse, or to make a stable family oriented German people in a matter of short years be screaming out “heil Hitler” or young polite Buddhist Japanese boys of 1900 a few years later be bayonetting Chinese babies  to death? What is happening to turn America’s streets at night to be zones of murder, shootings in malls for a pair of air jordon shoes, zombie parties, gay pride parades, racist flashmobs, and mainstream entertainment to be so vulgar that people in the 1950s would be aghast with embarrassment? This is a complex question and many social factors directly are causing it…but behind it all is something going on spiritually. In my opinion it is the ressurging “ancient giants” like in the days before the Flood, spiritual forces ( hard to recognize for they hide within culture!) that want us humans to worship them instead of God, by worshiping our selves, our money, sex, nature, or the State.

When I was in India, I saw with my eyes the very same gods’ idols who were worshiped 3000 years ago…One got the feeling as we walked through impovershed slums dotted with little shrines to monkey gods and cobras, etc that it was like what Joshua and him soldiers saw in Cannan land…or perhaps what Noah must have seen all around him when the world was “filled with violence”. So what do we do when we face these giants? Four words come to me mind…and without doing these four things, I just don’t see how we can avoid very serious social decay and danger just around the corner. Those four words are…(wait…this post is too long, so I’ll finish it on the next one)

As this year of 2012 rolls in with uncertainty, and certainly drama in every arena, there is a source of peace we will all need to tap into. I’m overwhelmed by the grace God gives in times of great need, danger or change. Having seen the enormous challenges of millions, even billions in the world who are not only unreached by the Gospel, but severely harrassed by vicious oppression from many directions, I am at the same time aware of a peace and joy God gives in the midst of such things. I was reading early today how Jesus said “The harvest is so great…yet the laborers so few. Pray that the Lord of the harvest will send laborers into His field. Go! Behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves”  Superficially it seems uncaring that He would send us feeble humans out to do a job that angels would be more equipt to do,  until one realizes that He as the Good Shepherd is also going out with us, and will stand between us and every devouring threat we face!!! He is faithful and is the wellspring source of constant joy and peace. We’ll all need that this year, even if we are settled in a little town in “the Bible belt” of America. There is no doubt in my mind that the same kind of enemies to the gospel I saw over in east India are prevalent in the whole world…the agents of fear, confusion, vulgar immorality,violence, materialism, occultism and pantheism socialist/marxist humanism, legalistic “taliban-like” oppression are everywhere, and it will only get worse this year…BUT…and here’s the joyous part, there is clearly a principle of life for the followers of the Lord, that in the darkest hours, in the most sinful environments and hard circumstances, HIS GRACE IS MORE THAN ENOUGH!  Please, friends, rest in that hope and promise.   I want to sincerely wish each of you a very blessed and fulfilling and holy New Year…and may we all keep focused on the Great Shepherd who is guiding us…some into dark paths where millions of lost souls live having never heard of Jesus…some of us to labor among those here in our western lands of America and Europe who are in danger of losing our candlestick of Christianity in one generation. You are needed in this 11th hour. And you are so loved by a Shepherd who looks in to the faces of our enemies with a glory that hell itself cannot withstand…a shepherd who laid down His life for us individually . Let’s get busy this year, and enjoy the Kingdom that is soon to come. I close with a request that you friends pray with me for wonderful fellow mission/pastoral workers in east India, in Pakistan, in Afghanistan with whom I’m had the honor to pray and labor beside. They need us and we need them. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 Frank Boston, His clay vessel

I can’t think of a better time than this Christmas weekend  to write from my heart as a missionary and a grateful recipient of God’s abounding grace..I have a wish, a prayer for you good friends. Maybe one day in Heaven, God will give us a literal star….and I wish I could give you something as beautiful as the gifts He’s promised to shower on His children in the future. In my “amazing grace” adventures of mission this past year, I saw something like the “Star of the East” as the wise men. No, of course, not a literal supernatural light in the skies, but I met dear ones who are brave souls shining like stars in the East to their fellow citizens in very darkened cultures. Their noble life examples were radiant and inspiring to me, for I knew the price some of them were paying, as they tirelessly worked among the untouchables of India, or some  boldly proclaiming Christ to moslems just short miles away from the place bin Laden was found in Pakistan…Some of these “eastern stars” have already seen the vicious crowds of those like the islamic Taliban or the hindu Bajrang Dal come near them to threaten their work, but they faithfully kept shining. If I could encapsule my experience of being around them, and wrap it up with a bow, this is what I wish to give you. They are heroes to me and I salute them by name (though I don’t dare share any last names for their protection). I salute and thank God for a man of God named James doing international work as a father in the Lord, a faithful pastor named Manoj (in whose home I once heard praying with tears for his lost people at 3am;I salute a brave and noble brother named Daniel who has been as an apostolic worker to help so many fledgling churches in the darkest regions of India, two Indian pastors soldiers both named Nand, who labor to start churches among the rejected dalit people, one even adopting several as his own kids…for a great brother named “Aaroon” doing bold ministry in the heart of Pakistan, so close to the danger zone that goes westward toward Afghanistan, and a dear young pastor friend nicknamed “Abraham” who has seen incredible violence happen in his hometown, yet is boldly shining his light. These deserve our prayer support and they, as  St.Paul says are a “joy and crown” , truly human gifts to us as the international family of Christians.   In closing, this year is so special to me in making me aware of the honor and privilege of being among those who are changing world history in a region where 2 billion have never even once heard the Christmas story. This year, I’ve been so mercifully rescued from serious illness and danger and I credit that to some of you friends who faithfully prayed so hard for me …so let me close by saying those beautiful words of Merry Christmas in a bunch of languages…as you read the words, I hope your heart will be as blessed as mine is, as you think of these “stars in the East” who are faithfully shining, leading souls westward to the manger in Bethlehem, our “house of bread” where the hungry soul can find the Bread of Heaven! MERRY CHRISTMAS, FROHE WEIHNACHTEN, JOYEAUX NOEL, BUON NATALE, SRETAN BOZIC,GLADEN JUL,VROLIJK KERSTFEEST,FELIZ NAVIDAD,MUBARAK EID,MELEKALIKIMAKA, SELAMET HARI NATAL, WESOLYCH SWIAT BOZEGO NARODZENA,GEZUAR KRISTLINDJEN,KELLEMES KARACONYI UNNEPEKATMGESEENDE KERSFEES,AND CHUNG MUNG GIANG SINH      Let’s all arise and shine like that star in the East.A lot of “wise men” need us. 2012 should keep us busy and blessed!  Frank

Okay, friends..this is my favorite season, and my heart is brimming over with a feeling of thanksgiving to so many of you who have prayed for my just completed 3rd trip into east India! God did so many awesome things, but one incident just stands out in its amazing grace: Some of you know that while in southern Bihar state of India, I and my fellow mission pastor workers faced a situation that could have gotten very ugly. A dear pastor whose church was threatened with violence two years ago had his church gathered there in his new location in a flooded out rice field, a simple dilapidated cement structure.We were planning 3 day church meeting.  I knew something was going wrong when a crowd of hindus started gathering about 100 yards away, and angry words were being shouted..The pastor came back from talking with them and told us to pray, then my host pastor came in and said, “Frank, we’ve got to get you out of here, for it looks like trouble”. My heart was pounding and I prayed… and you guys prayed!!! Here’s the rest of the story that’s so beautiful to ponder on during this Thanksgiving week: Some of the hindu neighbors were planning on real serious havoc of those dear believers but one of then started speaking to the other hindus. He told them that two years ago when he was in that crowd threatening to burn them out, that afterwards, many horrible things started happening in his life. He was truly afraid to fight this church…literally the fear of God fell on him and he warned the others not to fight them for “the ‘gods’ are with them”  The crowd dispersed and we had  beautiful meetings. How wonderful to see how God fought for us in divine protection.    This is an especially serious time for the American church, in my opinion. We need such a renewed spirit of thanksgiving and a sense of debtorship to those impoverished and oppressed churches of the world..Do we realize that in as many as 80 countries, it is severely dangerous to even publicly be known as a Christian? I debated whether to post a you tube video a friend sent to me, showing  the horrendous suffering of some Indians in the Orissa and Karnataka states ,some who were beaten, machette-ed and burned to death. After viewing it, wiping my tears, I decided not to, and rather focus on the good that God is doing. He is a mighty God of all comfort and grace. I’ll close with a little verbal snapshot of a scene I saw one of the last days I was in India. My brother Daniel was riding me on his motorbike slowly through a huge processional of 1000s of families in Patna, the Bihar capital. They were proceeding to the Ganges river to offer worship at sundown to Surya their sun god. The women had little golden bowls to scoop up “holy water” and the fathers had huge baskets of sugar cane or other food on their heads to be a sacrifice offering to Surya, only one of their millions of gods. Seeing those thousands lining the streets amidst the manure of the sacred cattle roaming around, tears welled up in my eyes..I thought about the huge feast I would soon enjoy with my family in Louisiana.At that time I saw one young father holding in his arms a shriveled-up very sick looking baby…the look in that father’s eyes haunts me with a daily reminder to pray for the milllions..no billions who have not yet had the chance to hear of such a gracious God as we in America know of, a God so many of us take for granted. I sincerely wish each of you a very blessed Thanksgiving, and, well, speaking on behalf of some missionary or Christian worker over there in east India, or Pakistan, Afghanistan or Bangladesh or wherever the dire needs may be, may we be thankful enough to help them as Paul did when he saw the Macedonian man in a vison crying out: “Come over and help us!”  I love you folks and wish you all a super blessed Thanksgiving!

I don’t know where to begin with this update post..I’m using my ISCAN mission blog to launch this note,as I’m still raw from my trip into east India where I saw the ground level condition of the fiery trial so much of the church is facing. Those wonderful east India Christians are bravely and joyously serving Him with no self-pity and complianing as we in the west are prone to do..And yet, as an America loving citizen of this great but troubled country, my heart is just broken at seeing the threats of fiery evil which many misled and angry people are trying to start even here. Some of you saw a recent news clip of a group of the Occupy Wall Street protesters threatening to throw molitov cocktails into Macys, making havoc even into the very Wall St buiding and burn NYC..There is an issue of FIRE vs FIRE that I think we need to seriously look at. (I hesitated whether to mention this, but I will). Since I saw first hand over in east India the anger of demonicly inspired hindus who were threatening to stop one of God’s churches I was speaking in, it made this all real to me. The particular incident which could have gotten violent in the 2nd week of my trip was mercifully stopped and we were okay….but not so with other Christians only a hundred miles to the southeast of where I was. Soon after returning, I saw a video clip of the rage of these enemies of the gospel who in the name of their false God Shiva actually set fire to precious brothers and sisters of ours..I turned my head and couldn’t watch it all. What is a proper reaction from us at seeing the reality of the fiery opposition (such as the Church has faced since Stephen was mercilessly stoned and thousands of dear believers were paraded into the Coloseum in Rome to be burned or devoured by wild beasts)? What should be our response to seeing embittered marxist-inspired youth yelling hate, or racists black islam followers and others who truely wish a fiery backlash against the “rich America capitalists” in our own cities? The answer must be to fight this evil fire with the holy fire of God’s powerful Spirit, His love and holy anger in our prayers..To fight with tears of mercy and intercession for God to arise on the scene in places like Orissa, India or Afghanistan, North Korea or in the midst of very deceived American leftists plotting for violent revenge even here in America. God is desiring to move into these enemies’ midst and convict and turn around hearts as He did with Paul who as Saul was once as evil and hardened to the gospel as a Taliban or Bajrang Dal radical hindutva followers or maoist communist. My prayer is that God will awaken a bunch of us to discern the days we’re in, not to be lulled to sleep by the trivial and banal entertainment culture, and that we will proactively pray for God to send His fire into the political arena and awaken  our leaders to address the real dangers we face, to awaken us Christians from the pulpits to the pews, so that our hearts will break with empathy and solidarity with those thousands of our brothers and sisters in over 80 countries where each day some are facing death by fire or bullet or machete. When I was flying back from India, pondering the awesome needs I saw, wiping my tears, I wondered what can I in my relative insignificance do? I can do at least this much: Tell you dear friends what I’ve seen and pray…Paul brilliantly wrote a capsulized summary of what our responce should be as we face the neo-roman Empire of opposition to the Gospel worldwide: It’s in Rom 1:14-16   Come to this position of faith: “I am a debtor”  ”I am ready” and “I am not ashamed of the Gospel” Please pray with me that I am all of us will see our endebtedness to those who’ve never heard of God’s grace in Christ (2-3 billion!), being ready to go to “Rome”, wherever our crucible may be, and finally to stand boldly and not be ashamed of the wonderful Gospel which is a holy fire striking terror in the heart of the devil.  I don’t know how much longer America’s population will continue to be spared from the cruel violence of Satan’s “fire”, considering that he now has many willing servants of anarchy and revenge, due to our hypocrisy. But God is so merciful and faithful to hear our prayers and send a a wave of holy fire…loving heart-warming fire, terrifying fire of discipline that can scare the “bejeebers’ out of people as well… Let God arise and His enemies be scattered…and please some of you good friends, pray with me for those Indians I was with last month, who are on the edge of darkness, surrounded on the west by vicious moslem terror threat, to the north by cruel moist communists and the south and east by demonic hindu radical devotees of Shiva (the god of destruction” with his cobra around his neck and his trident pitchfork). This is a time of warfare. May we be peacemakers by our fervent prayer and our kind yet forceful words.And you good friends of mine who read this, I sincerely pray that God’s warm fire will comfort you with strong assurance that no matter what happens, He is still ruling and His Kingdom will come and His will be done! God bless you.  Frank 

Oh wow…my head is spinning, my heart is pounding and my eyes full of tears of seeing the need as I’m just now returning from an awesome 3rd journey into Bihar, one of the neediest states of India. I’m truly grateful to each of you in the various countries who were praying for us this past month. I’ll be compiling a documentary soon of the scenes and spiritual drama of what God is doing over there. I’m keenly aware of those times when I really needy God’s spirit of protection and guidance…and surely one of you somewhere out there was praying for me when I needed it the most! Thanks. Arriving in the heart of ongoing festivals such as Devali, Laxshima and Asura the sun god, I got in on a front row seat of some incredible scenes of their cuture’s worship of various dieties…But I am so greatful that even in times when deep into the night one could hear the frenetic chants to these non-gods, it was clear that God was at work in in the midst of the various mission workers I was helping. One of the most dramatic times was in one particular village as we held meeting and some of the village inhabitants were assembling to raise havoc on the little church’s attempt to have worship services. It could have gotten nasty, but surely the many prayers for us intervened and we had great services. Pray very much for a key worker in the churches, Brother Daniel R and his wife that God will guide them to a safe and blessed new dwelling as hindu opposition to them has grown so hostile that they are forces to leave their apartment. This couple is helping so many other churches get established, and doing so much for children’s ministry as well, that I know God is going to guide them to a safer and better housing location; just pray that more people will financially help them, as they are living on pure faith and trust in God’s provision.   While over there I saw many examples of extreme poverty of course, but, I must say that during one of the weeks, as we were driving through a remote region, virtually unknown even to a good map, there were so many thousands in those villages who surely have never seen a Bible or heard once the good news. Let’s pray that the great move of God’s spirit will shower that region with grace and glory…as scriptures predicted “They who sat in darkness have seen a great Light”   And certainly, to the several dear friends whose sacrificial giving made this all possible, a very heat felt thankyou is due. So much more I will share later, but my head is groggy from a three day return journey and severe jet lag… so for now: Jaiya ho, nama hameri Prbu Yeshu! Phir melenge! (Victory in the name of our Lord Jesus…see you later!) Frank Boston

Okay….this is a post that is at least timely to me and many others involved in advancing the mission message of God’s love into hostile region…And I think it’s timely to each of us, for we’re all facing some really angry swarms of opposition. The world is getting filled with lethal stinging swarms of danger, whether here in America or overseas.(Though many of us are unaware due to scantly new coverage, there are very dangerous elements working even this month in New York, Washington and other places, who are actively trying to stir up a hornets nest of social unrest and retribution against capitalistic America, not to mention the steady growth of islamic threats, etc.  I’m certain of this,though we’d love to stay in denial and not see it, there is beginnings of a swarm of violent dangers gradually amassing in America and certainly overseas.)Today I had an experience that was a learning lesson on life that nature frequently can provide if we observe closely. My brother in law asked me to help him to take down a swarm of bees and put them in a hive box for him. “Okay. Sure!”, I said. I knew enough of bees to know that when they swarm they are so drugged up with nectar that they don’t sting. As I was about to hang up, he added, “Now if they are africanized killer bees, run, Frank!” That changed everything and I’ll be honest, I had a paralyzing feeling of fear grip me. I paused and thought of something (and I know now God was leading in this) : I thought, “How many thousands of mission workers in hostile lands are facing an angry swarm of enemies intent of killing them if they discover that they are intending on “planting the flag of the Gospel of Christ’s love on the soil of some islamic or radical Hindu or communist land? ” We’re generally ignorant here in our pampered American culture as to how often God’s servants must face swarms of vicious enemies who have their stingers ready. Almost half of the nations on this planet have severe restriction or downright cruel treatment of the Christians in their midst. It’s always been this way. Christ said “If they hated Me they will hate you” But as I sat there pondering whether or not I should risk going up to thousands of bees and swooping them into a box, I thought: Okay, this is a test of confront my fear and trusting God who said “Perfect love casts out all fear” I put on my hazmat looking white suit (God doesn’t ask us to be foolish, but be prepared) and drove to the bee sight. Well, the little fellows were so drunk on honey they just fell into the box and I had nothing to worry about! They were NOT radicalized killer bees after all.  Now…let’s apply this to our day. You and I  may not yet experience this fear test of our faith yet, but one day we all will. Whether it is by as collapse of the secure America we have known and we find ourselves in a post-christian world that would threaten us will penalty if we boldly stand for Christ, or whether it is a time when as older people we face the swarming fears of loneliness or sickness, we must learn to face it with COURAGE that comes from God alone. That’s why I’m so moved by war stories and so inspired by missionary heroes like Saint Thomas, who bravely walked into the hornet’s nest of an idol saturated India almost 2000 years ago, knowing the “tip of Shiva’s spear” was aimed at him. God stands in between us and our future. He is good and His love instantly dispels all fears. Please remind yourself of that…and please pray for me and my mission worker friends who will be meeting me next week in NE India. The “bees” are swarming…but, oh there’s a land of “milk and honey” to be conquered, right?

Reports are coming in to me of terrible conditions in the region of NE India I’m headed to in a few days…I urgently want your prayers for dear pastoral and mission workers over there whom I know are in harms way. The precarious circumstances of that area are appalling, with the disease, raw sewage, hunger, lack of potable water, general dispair that always seems to follow such catastrophies. In fact, in that same region I recall climbing with my host pastor to the top of a massive grainery called Golghar that was build hundreds of years ago when to ward off famine, after the same Ganges flooded in the mid 18th century killing hundreds of thousands perhaps millions. My heart is aching for us in America to be salt and light to those dear people. Closing thought: Last year I was with one of the pastors working with dirt poor “untouchables” and on a Sunday afternoon, he took me hour by hour to various little house churches meeting in a village only one hundred yards from the Mississippii-like Ganges River. We passed a dirty, crudely decorated little temple, no bigger than a small room, which was called “Death’s Temple”. He explained “That is a temple they made to a ghost of death and they offer little offerings of coconut or apple each day to appease him to keep from coming into their homes with dreaded death. Meanwhile, these people by the millions ardently worship the great supreme diety of all “gods” called Shiva, whose is designated: the Destroyer. This “god” of death, with a trident and a cobra around his neck is not real or alive as they suppose (except, in my opinion he is probably a highly ranked demonic principality, exacting cruel reign in that part of the world for almost 4000 years)..but the real Destroyer is, well, we know, Satan.Yet our wonderful Lord is FAR greater than any dark power. May we pray for God’s grace to move in like a flood into Bihar, India to counterbalance this current flood of misery. As we know from the good Book: “When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard against him” Pray that this happens…and I will be so grateful to God’s grace and your prayers, and my Indian friends are so appreciative as well…We will see God rise in compassionate action against the “destroyer” and reach these precious souls who’ve been held in darkness for thousands of years. Dhanyavaad! Hameri Parmishvar bahut achee hai! (Thanks to our God who is so good!).

This message may at first seems like an odd post, but allow me to explain. Here in Louisiana, one can pass mile after mile of whitened cotton fields, ready to be picked;looks like a heavy dusting of snow. Obviously, there is only a narrow window of time for its harvest. Follow the metaphor here: no harvest is ripe for very long. There are set times to do the hard but rewarding work of putting in the sycle, bringing in the sheaves or whatever, then comes the waves of deathly cold frost… and the time of harvest is over. Could it not be more apparent to us who understand the spiritual cycles of life, that there are billions of souls ripening in the world’s harvest fields waiting to be reached? They are waiting for one to come to them and gently lead them to knowledge of our loving God. The greatest tragedy is that the workers are so few. It was observed in hindsight that before the awfulness of Hirohito’s Japan, around the turn of the 20th century, the leadership of Japan eagerly offered a welcome mat to Christians to come over and help them. But only a pitiful handful went. The horror that followed with the “bonsia” deception of “devine wind” and the carnage of the pacific WW2 didn’t have to happen. If a crop (or humanity) isn’t picked in the time it is ripe, then the elements of the world will harvest it by destructive means: decay, insects, frost..for humans,moral implosion, deception, death. This is so critical to consider when we see the 1 and 1/2 billion moslems in restlessness, and around 800 million hindus likewise restless and open to changing their beliefs. Who is willing to go into their cultures with a kind smile, and yet with bold authority to tell them of Christ? Very very few. Thus the harvest is being lost to the elements of violence, or raunchy westerm immorality or materialism, islamic radicalism, cults and neomarxist globalism. Or they just fall forgotton by all, like a beautiful piece of fruit no one knew was waiting to be noticed.  I’m about to leave for a month in NE India into a region where thousands of villages have never once heard the gospel. I ask your prayers for this daunting challenge for me and the other mission workers who are from India whom I met. They are crying our “Come over to Macedonia and help us!”   Time to fly home? Not yet. Look at nature: soon we will see thousands of birds in flocks and V lines winging their way southward in migration. So it will be for all of God’s true children one day. On signal (trumpet) we will fly home, leaving this Earth, for our labor will be done. But it’s not yet time to fly, for there is so much unfinished work… and consider that it is the hour of sunset in so many ways for billions.  I hope this note was not so long that none read it..I’m praying that some one of you FB friends can understand what I’m trying to say and find a place among the workers in the harvest all around us.  I think that there are two major events on God’s “calendar” : One, a massive outreach of His love to billions who’ve never heard, and two, an ingathering “homecoming” of His children to “migrate upward” into His arms. Let’s all get busy.  In India they say  “Ey Prabhu, dhanyavaad! Jai Messie hai” (Oh Lord, thank you, Christ is victor)!May we lift our eyes and see these multitudes, and the lonely individual living nearby, and show them the kindness and authority of our dear Lord, knowing that without Him, they face a very bad future. That’s all…it’s time to go pick cotton.  FB on FB