The trip to South Asia that I was privileged to be part of last month was pretty incredible. So incredible that I don’t really know where to begin or how to convey all that God deserves credit, honor, and praise for.

If you want to read about the vision of the trip and what we were planning on doing, take a look at my last update, Did Someone Say “South Asia”.

We visited several of our Bible Colleges and I was so blessed by the fellowship we shared with all of the nationals and the opportunities the Lord provided to get to know them in spite of our very obvious cultural differences and language barriers. If you have ever been to a country with a different language and spent time with believers who don’t speak English, you know the kind of supernatural fellowship and love I am referring to. The way the Holy Spirit unites us in spite of the absolute lack of similarities apart from a love for Christ simply defies reason. It was a joy to get to know them and hear, through translators, some of their stories and the persecution they have faced and how Christ has carried them through.

One of the main purposes of the trip was to host conferences to teach and unite the national workers from all over the country and they were a huge success! God protected us from any outside persecution, He united and encouraged His people, and He was magnified through our praises and fellowship.

In the last place we visited, we went to a temple where my heart simply broke. The people who are bound in this false religion believe that if you are cremated within 24 hours of your death at this certain temple and then your ashes are pushed into the river next to it, then you will be reincarnated as something better in your next life.

We paid our tourist entrance fee at the gate and began to walk along the vendor-lined path to the temple. As we walked, our group split up as some walked ahead and others stopped to look at the souvenirs. I ended up walking alone as I came around the last corner and saw the path open up along a trash-filled, muddy looking river with buildings on the other side which I immediately recognized as the temple.

What hit me like a sudden blast of cold air was not the temple but a young woman sitting on the edge of the path weeping uncontrollably with a scarf over her head. In that moment it became real to me. She probably brought a loved one there to be cremated, a loved one who passed away less than a full day ago. I thought to myself, her sobs match the reality of this hopeless religious system. They have real reason to mourn for their deceased loved ones because their dead are NOT in heaven and their greatest hope is that they lived a good enough life to come back as something better to try again. A hope which we know to be in vain. I continued walking with a more sober attitude and saw two bodies burning on the little platforms along the river to my left while on my right were priests decorated in their festival garb for photos with tourists. The stark contrast was somewhat shocking to me.

I couldn’t accept the lack of sobriety even among those who held that place to be sacred. There was no sacredness in their behavior, only worldly pursuits as they turned their “house of prayer” into a den of thieves.

As we walked back to our bus I began to weep quietly as I thought of the reality that all the people around me were headed for that same fate- they are captives to a religion in which their greatest hope is in vain. Those people who were burning were not burning for just the amount of time it took to turn their bodies into ash, they died and went to hell and are still burning because they put their faith in demons rather than the One who commands demons to be silent. These people are dying an eternal death because they haven’t heard the name of our Savior, Jesus. They don’t know the truth of the Gospel and are dying in their sins.

As I was processing through everything I had seen and done on this trip while on the plane home, the Lord gave me the words to this poem that I would like to share with you all.

Great Commission Poem

Dirty, diseased, dark.
Alive but with demonic spark.
A people broken beyond repair,
A people given over to despair

With faces gnarled by the passage of time 
In places where the Gospel is actually crime.
Backs bent beneath the impossible load
Of bearing their sin on hell’s wide road.

Day and night driven to their knees 
As idols and demons they try to appease
But still they bear their guilt and shame
Because they have not heard His name.

The name of Jesus, mighty and true
The name that rescued me and you.
The ones He died to save are lost
And He asks you and me to count the cost;

To lay down our comforts that one may come.
Is following Him too lofty a sum?
Commanded to go to the ends of the earth
To tell the good news of the Savior’s birth.

To share that He lived a guiltless life
That He might call us His bride, His wife.
His blood shed that our debt be paid,
My guilt for His innocence is the offer He made.

This Gospel we preach, it can set men free.
Jesus is risen! He holds the key!
But the unreached are captive, they know not His glory.
They’re waiting to hear the truth of His story.

So do you believe in life eternal?
Does it live in your heart or is it just external?
Because if you believe, you’re called to His service.
You’re called to be active that all might hear this.

This isn’t just an emotional plea;
It’s a call to stand with urgency.
While we sit in our churches, the lost are burning.
What are we doing with what we’re learning?

The nations are waiting. We haven’t much time.
To stay and do nothing would be the true crime.

by Hope Noack

We have the truth. We have been commanded to go to the ends of the earth and share that truth and I would challenge you to pray about how you can be more involved in sharing the Gospel with the lost and broken. Maybe that means the lost in your own community, maybe that means the 3 billion lost in unreached parts of the world. To be honest, it probably means both.

There are countless ways you can get involved, here are just a few ways you can help without quitting your job, selling your house, and uprooting your family to move to the middle of the 10/40 window:

• You can PRAY
• You can FINANCIALLY SUPPORT A MISSIONARY
• You can HOST A MISSIONARY WHO IS HOME ON FURLOUGH
• You can WRITE AN EMAIL OF ENCOURAGEMENT
• You can GO ON A SHORT TERM TRIP
• You can GET INVOLVED IN A EVANGELISTIC MINISTRY IN YOUR CHURCH
• You can EDUCATE YOURSELF ON WHAT GOES ON IN THE UNREACHED WORLD
• You can EDUCATE YOUR PASTOR, CHURCH FAMILY, AND FRIENDS
• You can SHARE THE GOSPEL WITH YOUR UNSAVED FRIENDS, NEIGHBORS, AND FAMILY MEMBERS

The list goes on. The question is how are you going to step into the battle for the souls of the lost, broken, and hopeless. The responsibility is ours. The power is the Lord’s. The battle is already won.