Greetings, Remnant Body of Jesus Christ and others that might lend an ear. In his day, Nahum the Elkoshite, prophesied Nineveh’s impending doom, not a call to repentance, as in the bygone days of Jonah, but an unrelieved warning of judgment. And, God made good on his Word, making an utter end: for ancient Nineveh would lay buried in the sands for centuries before its remains were uncovered by archaeologists in the middle 1800’s. Still, ‘tis a scene of ruin across the river from the modern-day Iraqi city of Mosul. ‘Tis the way of Almighty God, to punish apostasy with catastrophic overthrow. Of this, the Flood and the destruction of ancient Nineveh bear witness. I fear, my friends, that such overthrow is deserved here in the United States of America and soon coming. An ouster of Democrats from Congress in November (something an abundance of voter fraud renders far from a foregone conclusion) will not, I believe, stem the tide. Politics cannot fix America. It is when the wicked walk on every side that the vilest of men are exalted (Psalm 12:8). Truly, the wicked walk on every side in our society; there is no fear of God; the perilous times Paul spoke about are here (II Timothy 3:1-5; 4:1-5); and the church is living in Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22). “Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth . . .” (Amos 9:8).

After nine straight days of open-air preaching at local festivals and college campuses here in the heart of America’s Bible Belt, I mourn for our nation and its churches. Things are far worse than I had imagined. The Bible Belt holds up the pants of hypocrisy in America; fellow “Christians” seem the greatest enemy of those that would share their faith openly; student ministries on college campuses mock biblical truth; police bully, intimidate, and videotape Christian witnesses; middle class college students tout communism, desecrate the American flag, and openly fancy anti-semitism and shariah law; so-called “Christians” boast in their sin, “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 4). I have preached repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ all over the world in public forums, and never have I or my teams been subjected to such disdain and contempt as we saw last week here in the Bible Belt. I’ve preached from the stone steps of Hindu temples, in dark alleyways of Muslim cities, and in the shadows of Buddhist monasteries. In such “risky” places, the people seemed open and hungry for some nugget of truth that might free them from the bondage of manmade religion; they at least afforded us the opportunity to be heard. Not in the Bible Belt! Friends, I am ashamed to be an American, ashamed of what she has become. Nevertheless, I love her too much to forsake her; I will keep preaching. ‘Tis more needful than ever for genuine believers here in the United States to “earnestly content for the faith” (Jude 3) and openly preach the Word of God. In fact, this is far more important than casting a vote on November 2nd. GOD SAVE THE UNITED STATES!

God’s judgment on Nineveh was deserved and just, as will be His judgment on this once great nation. The days are dark, the shadows are foreboding, “the LORD revengeth” (Nahum 1:2) . . . yet have we hope: “The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble: and he knoweth them that trust in him” (Nahum 1:7). Moreover, as Jesus said, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Glory to God, glory to the Living God!

Thanks so much for all the prayers regarding our preaching tour here in the Carolinas. With your faithful prayers, you hold the ropes as we go forth. In the midst of uproar and moments of chaos, it was obvious that we had the prayer cover of the saints. Despite the ominous undertones of my above diatribe, rest assured that there is much cause for rejoicing, as is always the case when the Word of God goes out (Isaiah 55:11). For starters, our ministry enjoyed wonderful fellowship with solid brothers and sisters from all over America who loved my neck of the woods enough to come preach the Gospel here. As I wrote in my last update and last week confirmed:

Despite all the terrible things happening in our country these days, the Lord is raising up solid believers around this nation that are taking the Gospel to the open air, not whackos (we’ve always had these on America’s street corners), but doctrinally-sound and biblically solid prophets who are willing to suffer for Christ and warn those that hate them about impending doom, all the while pleading that man would flee to Christ to escape God’s wrath and bask in His free gift of eternal salvation upon repentance and faith.

At one point, we had a team of 18 saints simultaneously proclaiming the Gospel all over Hickory’s Oktoberfest, solid believers from a variety of backgrounds and with amazing testimonies: former criminals, athiests, false converts, drug abusers, adulterers . . . all touched by the grace of God through Jesus Christ and radically changed. The Lord is good, and He has a remnant.

For nine straight days, we preached, and preached, and preached: two local festivals, four college campuses, a gay pride event, and outside a couple of bars. Tons of Gospel tracts went out; many heard the Word of God; there was an abundance of fruitful conversations; and some Christians were encouraged unto greater boldness. And, all of this was in spite of everything I described above.

As for the disturbing elements, let me elaborate:

On the college campuses, in particular, it seemed that “Christian” student groups were our greatest enemies. At UNCG, one campus pastor walked through the crowd, handing out notices urging people not to listen to us. At Oktoberfest in Hickory, a “Christian” counseling ministry tried to get the police to shut us down and blew sirens to try and drown out the preaching of the cross. Also, if I heard it once, I heard it a thousand times from so-called “brothers and sisters” in Christ:

I agree with what you are saying, but your method is wrong, and you are only turning people away . . . You need to show more love; Jesus only preached love . . . It’s ok to sin; all you have to do is ask for forgiveness . . . I’m a Christian, but we sin every day; it’s no big deal . . . These people are not listening to you . . . You are judging . . . You shouldn’t preach about hell and sin, it turns people off . . . I love Jesus, but the Bible was written by men . . .You are tearing down everything our campus ministry has worked so hard to build here through our relationships, blah, blah, blah . . .

Away with it all! I am weary of the broken record. God ordained preaching to save those that believe (I Corinthians 1:21). He that is in Christ is a new creature (II Corinthians 5:17). Judge righteous judgment (John 7:24). The Bible is the Word of God (II Timothy 3:15-16). There is no forgiveness of sin without sacrifice (Hebrews 9:22). God’s Word never returns void (Isaiah 55:11). Let him that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity (II Timothy 2:19). The world will always hate the Gospel (John 15:20; I John 3:13). And, it’s the doctrine of Balaam (Revelation 2:15) that many of these campus ministries follow (not all, thank God), using the world to achieve their desired end in ministry. To these Jesus writes, as He did to the church at Pergamos: “Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth” (Revelation 2:16).

Sadly, on many occasions, it started with “I’m a Christian, and I agree with what you are saying, but your method is wrong.” Very soon, said person would denigrate into F-bombs, cursings, and eventually outright blasphemy. As Jesus said, “for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh” (Matthew 12:34). One girl claimed to be a Christian, questioned the method, and then eventually sexually assaulted one of the preachers while spewing out God’s name in vain and dropping dozens of F-bombs. The police were going to arrest her, but my friend, desiring to demonstrate grace, asked that they they let her go. I hope she learned something of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. The Lord knoweth.

Preaching repentance and faith in the open-air is not effective??? If you can honestly say that, “Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God” (Matthew 22:29). Every day, we saw huge crowds. As one man preached, others of us were in the crowd engaging in conversation. Tracts went out. A young Jewish man at Western Carolina comes to mind. He was humble and open to the Gospel; we talked for almost an hour. At UNCG, I preached hard for 30 minutes and actually heard applause when I closed my Bible; a conversation with an agnostic and his girlfriend ensued. They asked good questions; I answered with God’s Word; they took tracts and promised to read them. At Appalachian State, a young man thanked us for coming and begged us to return. A student from Winthrop emailed to express gratitude for our coming and even wrote me a poem about people rejecting God. One in our group received this email:

I didn’t get a chance to talk to you today, but I listened to you and the others throughout most of the afternoon. It was beautiful to see people spreading His word so boldly. I just wanted to thank you all for coming and ask that you some again soon! I love listening and it is refreshing to find other true believers. So, thank you much.

A at UNCG girl slipped a note of encouragement as we preached, and another, in front of the whole crowd, approached to say thanks. If but for these few encounters, the chaos and uproar was worthwhile. And, such confirms the effectiveness of a God-ordained approach. Therefore, to all the “Christian” mockers and emergent apostates: “Let God be true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4).

In terms of the authorities, the Lord gave us favor. The police in Hickory bullied us at Oktoberfest and even videotaped the preaching for hours. On Friday night, we were told signs are ok, but no amplification. Saturday night, we were told amplification is ok, but no signs. Go, figure! Thank God for solid Christian legal counsel. Our adviser helped us score a major victory here in Hickory. The city ordinance has a blanket prohibition on any form of amplification, and the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled this a violation of free speech, particularly in noisy environments. Our legal adviser, a solid man of God, discussed this with Hickory’s City Attorney, and the police were ordered to allow the amplification. This is a great victory that will allow the Gospel to be heard at Hickory Alive and Oktoberfest from here on out. As for the signs, we were threatened with citation, but we stood our ground. They tried to use provisions for organized picketing in the City Ordinance against us, but we remained steadfast. They continued to videotape and harass us. At one point, there were ten officers watching the Christians while public drunkenness (a crime in Hickory) was all around, fights were breaking out, and people were getting into their cars to drive home intoxicated. One inebriated man threatened violence against a fifteen-year-old who was with us. We petitioned the police for help, and five minutes later, an officer was patting the man on the back and laughing it up with him. The Hickory PD has long had a reputation for thuggishness and bully tactics. Oktoberfest again confirmed it, particularly when it comes to the preaching of the Gospel. If all of America’s police forces were like the Hickory PD, this country would be in even bigger trouble. Thank God they’re not. In Taylorsville, NC, we preached at the Apple Fest. Festival coordinators tried to shut us down and even the mayor came and stood in front of the preacher to prevent him from being heard. The ranking police officer was a friendly woman who stood her ground, even with the town mayor: “These people are not picketing, they are preaching, and I know what the Constitution says. They have a right to preach, and we will not make them leave.” This woman and those under her authority were a breath of fresh air. One “Christian” man threatened to beat my friend to a pulp, boasting “I’m ten times the Christian you are.” The police made him leave and then offered to walk us to our vehicles at the end of the day in case someone like that would try to attack us. When I vote here in North Carolina in two weeks (if I even bother), my choices for the U.S. Senate seat are a joke (both democan and republicrat, if you catch my drift). I may just write-in that police officer from Taylorsville. The police that came out at Winthrop University were also great. At one point, they begged us to leave, fearing that our safety was in danger. We maintained that we had to preach the Gospel, and they promised to offer what protection they could. Two students were arrested that day.

Winthrop, a pretty small campus, flew into an uproar as we began to preach. At one point, there were at least five hundred kids out there. The crowds pressed in, and the preacher could barely move. Anyone could have stabbed one of us with a knife, and the perpetrator might have easily faded into the crowd. One day, this will happen, but I’ll “cease not to preach and teach Jesus Christ” (Acts 5:42). The Charlotte Observer actually posted an article about the preaching at Winthrop. It was titled: “Traveling Preachers Spark Uproar at Winthrop.” Uproar was a good word, it’s what Paul encountered at Thessalonica (Acts 17:5), and I believe the Lord allowed us to taste a mere sampling of what He faced on a regular basis.

Wow, I keep remembering all kinds of stuff. At Western Carolina, campus security was ordered to erect a barrier around us. This only provoked the crowd and actually, I believe, put us in greater danger, giving the appearance that we had set up the barrier ourselves. Our legal adviser contacted the Chancellor of the University and said, “Mr Chancellor, tear down that wall.” He did. The preaching continued. A Christian who had earlier tried to shout down the preaching of the cross came over with a spirit of repentance and apologized. Glory to God.

At all four campuses that we visited, people openly boasted in their homosexuality, fornication, pornography, drug use, drunkenness, and hatred for the things of God. One student stood up and started preaching from Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto. The people cheered. Another brought out an American flag with rainbow colored stripes; the crowds applauded. A so-called “Christian” shouted down the preacher, saying: “How can you call these people sinners when you don’t even know them?” The preacher then asked the crowd: “How many of you love homosexuality, sex outside of marriage, pot smoking, pornography, etc?” The masses erupted with acclamation like in an ancient Roman colosseum. The mocker was silenced; the point was made. At Appalachian State, the crowd chanted “LSD, LSD, LSD, LSD,” while at Western Carolina they shouted in unison: “All love [i.e. homosexual perversion] is good in God’s eyes.”

At Winthrop, a sign read “Hell must be fabulous,” while a UNCG student held up a placard with these words: “F@#K these people and their ignorance.” All of this and much more only confirmed the bold statement that I made in my last blog entry:

I really believe that the college campus in America is one of the most spiritually dark places in all of the world, as dark, if not more so than the dank Himalayan Buddhist monasteries or the blood-soaked temples to Khali in India that I have visited while attempting to proclaim the Gospel of Christ. So many are perishing, knowing little more than how to regurgitate the vomit ungodly professors have puked down their throats while blaspheming God. GOD SAVE THE UNITED STATES, especially in view of true words once spoken by Abraham Lincoln: “The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.”

So many accused us of hatred, hate speech, etc. But, only love and compassion could have motivated us to be subjected to such clamor. True love bids a warning doom to those children that play in the freeway, and no matter how many times we told the people how much we loved them (i.e. loved them enough to tell them the truth), they accused us of hate. Real hate, however, is to know eternal salvation and yet refuse to warn the wicked of God’s judgment and the escape only found in Christ. “You cannot talk about sin, judgment, and hell. You cannot preach, you have to build relationships. You only turn people away by preaching the Bible . . .” So says modern-day churchianity, a wicked religion of the lowest degree. “I’ll smile and be nice; I’ll build relationships with the lost,” says churchianity, “but as for how to get saved, how to find forgiveness, how to escape God’s judgment, I’ll let the world figure that out on their own.” BUT GOD SAYS: “Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment” (Malachi 2:17)?”

I’ve said enough. The preaching tour was exciting, to say the least. The fellowship with other bold witnesses was a great encouragement. New Testament Christian Fellowship, a local house church, did an amazing job of hosting all of us, feeding us, and partnering in the work. And, the Lord heard your prayers! It’s always an answer to prayer, a victory, when the Word goes out. For, “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).

Pray for us in the coming weeks. Several factors will delay our return to Nepal until after the first of the year. Pray that the Lord will bring this to pass. Keep praying for Bishnu; he continues to preach on the streets of Kathmandu and in the villages of Nepal.

My heart is burdened terribly for the young people of America’s college campuses. The open door to preach in these public forums, I fear, will soon slam shut. The semester will be over in a little more than a month. Woe is me if I do not keep preaching the Gospel. Next Friday, I will be heading out to Wyoming with a couple of brothers. There, we will hook up with Shawn Holes (www.luketentwo.com) until the end of the fall semester. Beginning at the University of Wyoming, we will work our way south through Colorado and New Mexico, west to Arizona, and then back north through Nevada, California, and Oregon, targeting college campuses all along the path. We will preach every weekday on some campus until the students go into final exams. Then, I will head back home. My family will be joining me for a couple of weeks in Nevada and California. Pray for Jamie as she is trying to balance this with Bethany’s homeschooling. May many hear the Gospel, may the campuses be upbraided unto righteousness, and may souls be saved from sin and eternal hell. Pray for us: for boldness, favor with the authorities, protection from violence, traveling mercies, and financial provision for the journey. Stay tuned for updates from the road.

“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling , and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen” (Jude 24-25).

For the Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ,

Jesse Boyd