Category Archives: Gospel For Asia

October 24, 2014 · 9:49 am

Friday’s Prayers for Prisoners (10/24/2014)

Each Friday I pray and fast for nations where Christians suffer the worst persecution around the world. This week I am praying and fasting for:

Pakistan. 186.4 million people with 5.3 million Christians (2.8%).

Pakistan’s Christians are caught in the crossfire between Islamic militant organizations that routinely target Christians, and an Islamizing culture that leaves Christians isolated from the rest of the population. The notorious blasphemy laws continue to have devastating consequences for minorities, including Christians. Women and girls from minority groups are particularly vulnerable, and sexual assaults against underage Christian girls by Muslim men continue to be reported. In September 2013, a twin bomb attack on Anglican All Saints Church in Peshawar left 89 people dead. (Open Doors, World Watch List)

This Sunni majority country is one of the most corrupt countries in the world… Though the constitution guarantees religious freedom, Christians increasingly suffer under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. One law stipulates that any person who defiles the name of the prophet Muhammad or the Quran may be punished by life in prison or death. Churches in Pakistan are frequently vandalized, and Christians are beaten, raped, abducted and murdered with impunity. Christians also face discrimination in employment and education, keeping them entrenched in the lower classes. (Voice of the Martyrs)

Today, I prayed:

Lord, I ask You to set apart the believers in Pakistan as You did Your people in Goshen. Make a clear distinction between the Pakistani believers and the unbelievers so all will know that You are the Lord in the midst of the earth. (Based on Exodus 8:22-23)

Join with me on Fridays to fast and pray for prisoners, according to Hebrews 13:3.

Click on to see MyGFA site.

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October 18, 2014 · 8:20 am

Why Do I Support Gospel For Asia?

I had a vision on December 24, 1993, in which I saw thousands and thousands of dark-skinned starving children. They screamed at the top of their lungs from hunger. The mothers held their children while the fathers stood next to them. All of the parents stared at me with pleading eyes, which begged, “Would you help us? Please!”

The screams echoed in my ears and pierced my heart. I fell on the carpet and wept so much I thought the anguish would swallow me up. Whatever my life’s plans were before that moment no longer mattered because I knew that I had to help the hungry, poor, and helpless children of the world.

A second vision in early 1994 reenforced my calling. In it, I saw myself arriving in heaven, but not for a glorious homecoming. A line of dark-skinned children, as far as I could see, waited to talk with me. Each, in turn, said, “I did not make it into my divine calling on earth because you failed to fulfill your calling of helping us. I starved to death as a young child.”

Let me tell you: I do not ever want to arrive in heaven and have that happen to me. The anguish I felt looking onto those children’s eyes erased the joy of being in Paradise. If that was a sample of the pain a person could feel in heaven, I’d hate to ever visit Hell.

Now, let’s fast forward to 2011 when we received a free copy in the mail of No Longer A Slumdog by K. P. Yohannan. The title caught my attention because of the movie by a similar name. I sat down and began reading it.

There were stories about Muttu, Asha, Lata, Vichy, Tusli, and other names of poor children I could not pronounce. I read about a mother who sold her baby for ten pounds of rice. I learned about India’s caste system and how the lowest rung, the Dalits, are considered subhuman and worthy of being treated like dogs. The Dalits comprise twenty percent of India’s population or approximately the same population as the USA.

Every word acted like a rock thrown against my plastic Western Christianity, creating cracks in it. Yet, it was this specific sentence on Page 31, which penetrated my heart:

“In India alone, there are 11 million children like Asha who have been abandoned, and 90% of them are girls.”

All I could think about were the 9.9 million abandoned little girls. If I closed my eyes, I saw little children, but their faces resembled my daughter, Susan, when she was four years old. I could not ignore my heart this time.

My wife and I now sponsor nine children in Gospel For Asia’s Bridge of Hope program. I am a volunteer advocate for Bridge of Hope, a Gospel For Asia blogger, a member of their prayer team, and have just opened a MyGFA entitled, “No Longer A Slumdog X 100.” My goal is to raise $42,000 to sponsor 100 kids.

S0, why do I support Gospel For Asia?

When I arrive in heaven, I want to meet parents and kids who will say to me, “Thanks for helping us.”

Click on to see MyGFA site.

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October 4, 2014 · 12:40 pm

My Sales Career: If Only… (Part 1)

(click on above)

I spent many years selling pharmaceuticals, construction equipment, health and beauty aids, stocks and bonds, cars, real estate, advertising, and whatever. There were great days in my sales career and a few horrendous ones. My sales philosophy agreed with Sophie Tucker who said, “I have been rich and I have been poor − and believe me, rich is better.”

But throughout my whole sales career, one nagging thought bothered me over and over again: “If only I totally believed in my product. If only…”

No doubt, there are wonderful companies selling great products here in America. I do not mean to belittle any of them because my nagging problem was mine and mine alone. It had nothing to do with the business world.

You see, I wanted to sell a hybrid Cadillac-Mercedes-Rolls Royce-DeBeers-Tiffany product with Toyota/Honda backed service for $99 or three easy payments of $33 or even twelve payments of $8.25.

Now you understand my dilemma of unreal expectations in a real world.

Then, I met a man named Jesus who smashed to smithereens all of my business and sales concepts. He taught me to depend on His abilities and not mine. His products and services are much, much better than my expectations ever were in the past.

Okay, you can check on my sales goal of $42,000 to cover the cost of 100 Bridge of Hope unsponsored children here. My business/sales plan is to fast and pray and then follow the Lord’s leading. As far as a backup plan, I have none.

Just so you know: the anonymous $100 came from Carol and me.

Thus, the program begins today for me.

I will post updates from time to time.

(Continued in Part 2)

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September 12, 2014 · 8:06 am

Friday’s Prayers for Prisoners (9/12/2014)

Each Friday I am praying and fasting for the nations where Christians suffer the worst persecution around the world, as of 2014. This week I pray and fast for:

Somalia. 10.3 million with a few hundred Christians in the whole nation.

Pressure is increasing on the tiny Christian community in this Muslim-majority country. Islamic leaders and government officials publicly reinforce that there is no room for Christians, and there is a strong drive to purge Christianity from Somalia. The militant Islamist group, al-Shabaab, targets Christians and local communities. Ten believers are reported to have been killed by members of al-Shabaab in 2013. There is a high level of fear and mistrust among believers, who have to hide their faith for fear of betrayal. (Open Doors, World Watch List)

Today I prayed:

Lord, I remember the few hundred Christians in Somalia as though suffering with them and although some will suffer tribulation and testing, I pray that all are faithful until death that they may receive the crown of life. (Based on Hebrews 13:3 and Revelation 2:10)

Join with me on Fridays to fast and pray for prisoners, according to Hebre ws 13:3.

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September 4, 2014 · 10:18 am

Chapter 44: No Longer A Slumdog

In 1995, Janelle told me about K. P. Yohannan and his ministry, Gospel for Asia. She loaned me a book, Revolution in World Missions by Yohannan, which I quickly forgot about until New Year’s Day, 1996. Since I had nowhere to go on that holiday and no TV to watch football bowl games, I hunkered down and read the book.

Yohannan wrote in one part how overwhelmed he felt by the size of India and his meager resources. He cried out to the Lord and eventually the Lord spoke the following to his heart:

“I am not in any trouble that I need someone to beg for Me. I made no promises I will not keep to you. It is not the largeness of the work that matters, but only doing what I command. All I ask of you is that you be a servant. For all who join with you in the work, it will be a privilege − a light burden for them.” (Revolution in World Missions by K. P. Yohannan)

The Lord’s response so blessed me that I wrote the words in my Bible. Although Carol and I began sponsoring a GFA missionary in 2006, I paid little attention to the ministry, except for a few glances at the words written in my Bible.

Fast forward until 2011 when we received a free copy in the mail of No Longer A Slumdog by K. P. Yohannan. The title caught my attention because of the movie by a similar name. I sat down and began reading it. I wept often and asked forgiveness again and again of the Lord as the book uncovered my selfishness.

There were stories about Muttu, Asha, Lata, Vichy, Tusli, and other names of poor children I couldn’t pronounce. I read about a mother who sold her baby for ten pounds of rice. I learned about India’s caste system and how the lowest rung, the Dalits, comprise twenty percent of India’s population or nearly 300 million people. The Dalits are considered subhuman, worthy of being treated like dogs.

Every word acted like a rock thrown against my plastic Western Christianity, creating cracks in it. Yet, it was this specific sentence on Page 31, which penetrated my heart:

“In India alone, there are 11 million children like Asha who have been abandoned, and 90% of them are girls.” (Revolution in Missions by K. P. Yohannan)

My wife and I now sponsor six children in Gospel For Asia’s Bridge of Hope program. I am a volunteer advocate for Bridge of Hope, a Gospel For Asia blogger, and a member of their prayer team.

In the foreword to No Longer A Slumdog, Francis Chan wrote:

“I am very thankful for the book you are about to read. It has stirred my heart once again. Living in the West with all of its influences, it is easy to forget about others…”

I recommend this book to everyone, and who knows? It may change your life, too.

(The above is Chapter 44 from my memoir: The Hunt for Larry Who)

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August 2, 2014 · 11:38 am

If We’re All Created in God’s Image, Why Must Gays Change? (Part 5)

Jesus walked through the temple during the Feast of Dedication (or Hanukkah). A group of Jewish leaders surrounded Him and asked questions, trying to get Him to make errors to use against Him and His ministry. Jesus stated that He was the Son of God, which irritated the Jews so much they picked up stones to throw at Him. Then, Jesus spoke words that seemed to go far past God’s statement of making men into His own image and likeness.

Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? (John 10:34)

Were the Jewish leaders actually gods? Then, by extension, are we all gods?

In this time period, scripture was not divided into chapters and verses. Chapter numbers were first introduced in 1227 and verse numbers for the Old Testament came about in 1448 and for the New Testament in 1555.

Thus, when Jesus made His statement in John 10:34, He was using the accepted practice of His day by quoting a partial scripture to draw the Jewish leaders’ attention to the Psalm He was using for His discussion. His audience had all memorized the Psalms and understood that He was really saying:

I said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.'” Arise, O God, judge the earth; for You shall inherit all the nations. (Psalm 82:6-7)

The Hebrew word elohiym is translated into our English word gods in Psalm 82:6, but other meanings for the word elohiym also include: rulers, judges, angels, and godly ones.

If you study Psalm 82, you will learn that the whole Psalm refers to the leaders of Israel and God’s unhappiness with them.

Okay, the good news is that we are not gods. There is only one God who is the Maker of heaven and earth.

So, was John Paulk correct when he said, “We [gays] are not broken, damaged, inferior or throwaways. We are created in the image of God—just like everyone else?”

(Continued in Part 6)

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July 25, 2014 · 4:26 pm

Friday’s Prayers for Prisoners (7/25/2014)

There are eleven million children abandoned by their parents and living on the streets of India. Ten million of these children are little girls between the ages of four and eleven years old. What will become of these children?

Some end up as beggars. Some are kidnapped by the sex trade and end up as prostitutes. Some are forced into slave-like positions as laborers. Most are abused.

Life is unfair, right?

Today, I prayed:

Lord, break our American hearts with the things that break Your heart. Give us no rest until You reveal what we can do to relieve Your heartache.

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you?

Join with me on Fridays to fast and pray for prisoners, according to Hebre ws 13:3.

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July 18, 2014 · 4:01 pm

Friday’s Prayers for Prisoners (7/18/2014)

I was raised in a farming community in rural Northern Illinois where farmers helped their neighbors. If a farmer became ill, his neighbors helped take care of his livestock, planted or harvested his crops, fixed equipment, or whatever had to be done until the farmer was back on his feet again.

If the husband died, the neighbors helped the widow transition through her grief to her new life. Whatever needed to be done, the farmers helped her out. All of this was a part of being a good neighbor.

This has been a part of my cultural mindset since my childhood.

Let’s look at India:

For over 40 million widows in India, life is a desperate struggle for survival. They’re blamed for their husbands’ deaths, they’re forsaken by their families, shunned by their friends, and despised by their communities.

One in four homes in India is home to a widow.

92 percent of India’s women age 70 and older are widows.

Street begging or prostitution often becomes a way of life.

Many are left caring for their children with little help from relatives.

In order to provide for themselves and their children, many resort to gathering food from the trash. Some gain income only from selling their bodies on the streets. For those who cannot bear the shame, suicide is their only escape. (Gospel For Asia)

The cultural mindset of India is so unlike mine, but do the differences allow me to ignore them?

Today I prayed:

Lord, help us American believers return to a pure and genuine religion in Your sight that cares and helps orphans and widows in India and other nations in the 10/40 Window. (Based on James 1:27)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you?

Join with me on Fridays to fast and pray for prisoners, according to Hebre ws 13:3.

(If you are interested in helping the widows in Asia, check out Gospel For Asia.

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July 11, 2014 · 9:45 am

Friday’s Prayers for Prisoners (7/11/2014)

I grew up on a farm in Northern Illinois and like most farm boys, I had chores to do each day. These chores included feeding cattle, gathering eggs, shoveling corn, working in the fields, making hay, and doing whatever Dad needed me to do that day. I didn’t consider the chores work because this was our way of life.

We weren’t rich, but my parents fed and clothed me well, treated me with love, and allowed me to enjoy my childhood with all of its many activities, such as sports, 4-H, movies, and so forth. Dad always excused me from chores if one of my activities interfered with his work schedules.

Now, look at the above photo. These are Dalit children who are forced to work in almost slave-like conditions to help their families survive or pay off debts. It is estimated that 150 million of these children suffer similar fates in India, which has the world’s largest child labor force. Abuse is common, with long hours in miserable conditions and no hope of escape. This is the fate of a Dalit child.

There was a time when I ignored the pain of children in far off lands, such as India. Why can’t they take care of themselves, like I did? I thought. My arrogance must have been a putrid stench in God’s nostrils.

But now, I can no longer disregard the truth that it was God’s grace which allowed me to be born in the “breadbasket of the world” and not in a Mumbai slum.

Today, I prayed:

Lord, I pray that our American ears are opened to the Dalit mothers in India who weep for their children and who refuse to be comforted because their infant’s childhoods are no more. (Based on Matthew 2:18)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you?

Join with me on Fridays to fast and pray for prisoners, according to Hebre ws 13:3.

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June 27, 2014 · 3:23 pm

Friday’s Prayers for Prisoners (6/27/2014)

The above picture of a street scene in India does not show one person in chains or behind bars. All seem to be moving about freely and carrying on with their lives. But if our spiritual eyes were opened, we would see almost all of them shackled and chained to the power of darkness without any hope of ever being released from the sentences of death upon them.

What can we do to help them?

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Romans 10:14-15)

Two thirds of world’s population lives in the 10/40 Window, which is the rectangular area of North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia lying between 10 degrees north and 40 degrees north latitude. This region includes the nations of China, India, Iraq, Sudan, and nearly sixty other nations. The majority of the world’s followers of Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism live in these nations.

These nations are the least evangelized of all nations in the world.

Fasting and prayer is always needed for these nations, but so are preachers. Consider supporting a native missionary, like one through Gospel For Asia.

Today, I prayed:

Lord, I pray that we Americans would pray earnestly to the Lord of the Harvest to send our laborers into Your harvest in the 10/40 Window. (Based on Luke 10:2)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you?

Join with me on Fridays to fast and pray for prisoners, according to Hebrews 13:3.

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