Off to Laos

24 December, 2000

Dear Ted & Phyllis,

What a day! The day before Christmas 2000. It doesn’t seem real that we actually got here and it hardly seems real where I am. Every year for the past ten years my Christmas prayer has been, “Lord, I really don’t want to see another Christmas. Please make this one the last.” And every year the Lord has been gracious in disapointing me. I don’t know what to say this year, but I certainly can identify with the Apostle Paul when he said he was stuck in the middle and didn’t know which to choose; to depart to be with Christ – which is far better –or to remain in the flesh – which was more needful (Phil. 1:22). I suppose Paul got it both. He stayed long enough to give us 13 or 14 books of the New Testament and start a huge number of the first century churches. And he finally got on to be with the Lord. In my case I don’t see much use of my staying around  here, but if there is a small brick I can place in the great temple the Lord is building then it is a great privilege to represent Christ here on this earth. In retrospect I can’t say this past year has been a very productive one. Hopefully I have grown a little bit in Christ, but as far a production goes, there isn’t much to point to that has been acomplished this past year. I have had three interesting trips to SEA (Southeast Asia) and the year closes out finding me back in my second home.

I was hoping to be in Laos today but I wound up in virtual “house arrest” at the C&MA Guest House in Bangkok for two weeks. People kept saying “How long are you staying here?”, and I always replied, “I don’t know. I am waiting for the phone to ring.” There were some people in Bangkok who reportedly have spoken to the American POWs still in Laos and could tell me exactly where they are. I was powerless to move on until I had this information. But if I was going to be kept in one place, that Guest House was the best place I could be. The Christian atmosphere was as good as it gets and the food was excellent. But that place was just like a watering hole for angels. Day after day I would sit in my room waiting to hear from the contact man, but time and again I would meet the most incredible contacts at the dinning table. It seems like if a person stayed there long enough they could meet every major Christian worker in the Orient. On two different occasions I met two men who turned out to be Laotian Hmong who were born and raised in Laos and had unbelieveable contacts and ministry inside the country. These men gave me invaluable information about how to get around where I want to go and they have contacts there that we never dreamed of to help in getting Bibles to the Hmong people inside Laos and Vietnam. I was almost numb with excitement when I realized who I was talking to in fellowshipping with these strategic brethern. Just to meet one or two of these men would be the privilege of a lifetime but it seemed like that C&MA Guest House was the watering hole where God’s angel assembled.

After two weeks I finally got face to face with a very strategic man who could give me vital information about the American POWs. Meeting him was another epic moment in my life. We had three hours of such intense fellowship that I feared our time would be gone and we would never get to discuss the reason for the meeting. The only way I can describe that time is, that it was like talking to the main character of the most exciting missionary biography you have ever read. Only these stories were far more interesting and they have never been published. All I can say is that you all will be surprised when we get to heaven and hear these amazing accounts of the adventures of God’s Special Forces. There was one epic event that has been circulated that one time somebody was able to get 1,000,000 Bibles in China in one shipment. I have heard rumors of this, but the brother I was talking to said he was on the ship that night hen they delivered the 1,000,000 Bibles. General Giap was the legendary North Vietnamese general that defeated the French in Dien Bien Phu and one of the main genious that won the Vietnam war against the Americans. This brother told me that he pesonally was able to get new eye balls for a corneia transplant for Giap and spoke with this lengendary communist general. He said Giap told him, “We always loved the Americans until they started to fight us.”

After a furious two hours of fellowship, with great discipline, I was able to get out a map of Laos and asked, “Now where are the POWs?” When he pointed to the spot I was genuinely surprised. It is only 20 or 30ks from the bus route and I was over that road last July. That means it should be fairly easy to get to there. I was planning on  trekking 120K through the jungles but this area is considerably more accessable. When I told him my plans he rolled his eyes back and said, “The Lord will really have to be with you or that is suicidal.” I could only reply, “Yes I know. But I have two options – doing nothing, or doing what I can. The Lord has made me uniquely expendable and I would feel irresponsible before God if I don’t at least do what I can.”

After finishing my business in Bangkok I finally got on a night bus and came on up to my second home in Chiang Mai. I went to a travel agent that we use for visas and made application for a Laos visa yesterday. That will be ready by Tuesday the 26^th and so either that night or the next I will catch a bus over to the Laos boarder. My friend, Mark, has invited me to go with him on an exciting motor bike trip covering the nothern section of Vietnam from the 14^th of January. In order to get a visa for that trip I will have to go to the Vietnam embassy in Vientiane (the capitol of Laos) and make application for that visa. I will leave my passport there and head down the Mekong River to Savanakhet. There I will take a bus east to the Vietnam boarder town of Lao Bao. Shortly before there, there is a road heading south paralleling the Vietnam boarder. That is the target area. I hadn’t planned on taking anyone with me but I have a friend in Vientiane that I am thinking of inviting to go with me. It would be an invaluable asset to have an interpreter in that area. But when I go into the main target area I feel that is too dangerous and I would not like to jeopardize another person in that area. But with what the Lord has placed in my hands thus far this mission looks more like a reality. Everybody asks me what I hope to accomplish if I am able to get in that area to meet the American POWs. All I can reply is, “I have no idea. All I know is that I feel I must go.” Naturally speaking this mission ranges from stupid to suicidal. But the dumbest story I know in the Bible is about five foolish women who went to a tomb one morning that was sealed with a one ton rock and the Roman seal, and guarded by two soldiers. What the had in mind was more than rediculous! They vauguely had in mind a little of the obsticle and wondered “Who will roll away the stone?”. But as they went the met the one they were going to annoint. My mission is stupid, but it may be that I might meet someone that the Lord has sent before me. I don’t have a plan; I only have a target. But the men I have met since leaving Japan have gone well beyond anything that I dreamed of meeting three weeks ago.

Next Sunday I should be in Laos and if you don’t hear from me by the end of January it may be an indication that the Lord has heard my Christmas wish to celebrate next year in the presence of the One Who came to visit us 2,000 years ago. Regardless of what turns there may be in the road and the uncertain time frame, isn’t great to know that pretty soon we will all be in the presence of the One Whose birthday we celebrate tomorrow? And that won’t be a temporary visit. Everything in this world has its parameters, but where we are going there are no limitations.

Gomen nasai. This letter hasn’t been a very spiritual discource and I know that I haven’t said much that is up lifiting. I was thrilled with what the Lord gave me to share last week about John 14, but He hasn’t given me any such revelation this week. It is good to keep our eyes on our goal but as we tread along here we are constantly remeinded that we still have clay feet walking in a very tangible dusty world. But Jesus did that too. What a wonderful Elder Brother we have (Heb. 2:11,12)! And again I consider it a great honor to be considered your brother in our great family of God.

Until we meet again:

                                                                                    My love remains with you all,

Preparing for Laos

24 December, 2000

Dear Ted & Phyllis,

What a day! The day before Christmas 2000. It doesn’t seem real that we actually got here and it hardly seems real where I am. Every year for the past ten years my Christmas prayer has been, “Lord, I really don’t want to see another Christmas. Please make this one the last.” And every year the Lord has been gracious in disapointing me. I don’t know what to say this year, but I certainly can identify with the Apostle Paul when he said he was stuck in the middle and didn’t know which to choose; to depart to be with Christ – which is far better –or to remain in the flesh – which was more needful (Phil. 1:22). I suppose Paul got it both. He stayed long enough to give us 13 or 14 books of the New Testament and start a huge number of the first century churches. And he finally got on to be with the Lord. In my case I don’t see much use of my staying around  here, but if there is a small brick I can place in the great temple the Lord is building then it is a great privilege to represent Christ here on this earth. In retrospect I can’t say this past year has been a very productive one. Hopefully I have grown a little bit in Christ, but as far a production goes, there isn’t much to point to that has been acomplished this past year. I have had three interesting trips to SEA (Southeast Asia) and the year closes out finding me back in my second home.

I was hoping to be in Laos today but I wound up in virtual “house arrest” at the C&MA Guest House in Bangkok for two weeks. People kept saying “How long are you staying here?”, and I always replied, “I don’t know. I am waiting for the phone to ring.” There were some people in Bangkok who reportedly have spoken to the American POWs still in Laos and could tell me exactly where they are. I was powerless to move on until I had this information. But if I was going to be kept in one place, that Guest House was the best place I could be. The Christian atmosphere was as good as it gets and the food was excellent. But that place was just like a watering hole for angels. Day after day I would sit in my room waiting to hear from the contact man, but time and again I would meet the most incredible contacts at the dinning table. It seems like if a person stayed there long enough they could meet every major Christian worker in the Orient. On two different occasions I met two men who turned out to be Laotian Hmong who were born and raised in Laos and had unbelieveable contacts and ministry inside the country. These men gave me invaluable information about how to get around where I want to go and they have contacts there that we never dreamed of to help in getting Bibles to the Hmong people inside Laos and Vietnam. I was almost numb with excitement when I realized who I was talking to in fellowshipping with these strategic brethern. Just to meet one or two of these men would be the privilege of a lifetime but it seemed like that C&MA Guest House was the watering hole where God’s angel assembled.

After two weeks I finally got face to face with a very strategic man who could give me vital information about the American POWs. Meeting him was another epic moment in my life. We had three hours of such intense fellowship that I feared our time would be gone and we would never get to discuss the reason for the meeting. The only way I can describe that time is, that it was like talking to the main character of the most exciting missionary biography you have ever read. Only these stories were far more interesting and they have never been published. All I can say is that you all will be surprised when we get to heaven and hear these amazing accounts of the adventures of God’s Special Forces. There was one epic event that has been circulated that one time somebody was able to get 1,000,000 Bibles in China in one shipment. I have heard rumors of this, but the brother I was talking to said he was on the ship that night when they delivered the 1,000,000 Bibles. General Giap was the legendary North Vietnamese general that defeated the French in Dien Bien Phu and one of the main genius that won the Vietnam war against the Americans. This brother told me that he personally was able to get new eye balls for a cornea transplant for Giap and spoke with this legendary communist general. He said Giap told him, “We always loved the Americans until they started to fight us.”

 After a furious two hours of fellowship, with great discipline, I was able to get out a map of Laos and asked, “Now where are the POWs?” When he pointed to the spot I was genuinely surprised. It is only 20 or 30ks from the bus route and I was over that road last July. That means it should be fairly easy to get to there. I was planning on  trekking 120K through the jungles but this area is considerably more accessible. When I told him my plans he rolled his eyes back and said, “The Lord will really have to be with you or that is suicidal.” I could only reply, “Yes I know. But I have two options – doing nothing, or doing what I can. The Lord has made me uniquely expendable and I would feel irresponsible before God if I don’t at least do what I can.”

 After finishing my business in Bangkok I finally got on a night bus and came on up to my second home in Chiang Mai. I went to a travel agent that we use for visas and made application for a Laos visa yesterday. That will be ready by Tuesday the 26^th and so either that night or the next I will catch a bus over to the Laos boarder. My friend, Mark, has invited me to go with him on an exciting motor bike trip covering the nothern section of Vietnam from the 14^th of January. In order to get a visa for that trip I will have to go to the Vietnam embassy in Vientiane (the capitol of Laos) and make application for that visa. I will leave my passport there and head down the Mekong River to Savanakhet. There I will take a bus east to the Vietnam boarder town of Lao Bao. Shortly before there, there is a road heading south paralleling the Vietnam boarder. That is the target area. I hadn’t planned on taking anyone with me but I have a friend in Vientiane that I am thinking of inviting to go with me. It would be an invaluable asset to have an interpreter in that area. But when I go into the main target area I feel that is too dangerous and I would not like to jeopardize another person in that area. But with what the Lord has placed in my hands thus far this mission looks more like a reality. Everybody asks me what I hope to accomplish if I am able to get in that area to meet the American POWs. All I can reply is, “I have no idea. All I know is that I feel I must go.” Naturally speaking this mission ranges from stupid to suicidal. But the dumbest story I know in the Bible is about five foolish women who went to a tomb one morning that was sealed with a one ton rock and the Roman seal, and guarded by two soldiers. What the had in mind was more than ridiculous! They vaguely had in mind a little of the obstacle and wondered “Who will roll away the stone?”. But as they went the met the one they were going to anoint. My mission is stupid, but it may be that I might meet someone that the Lord has sent before me. I don’t have a plan; I only have a target. But the men I have met since leaving Japan have gone well beyond anything that I dreamed of meeting three weeks ago.

Next Sunday I should be in Laos and if you don’t hear from me by the end of January it may be an indication that the Lord has heard my Christmas wish to celebrate next year in the presence of the One Who came to visit us 2,000 years ago. Regardless of what turns there may be in the road and the uncertain time frame, isn’t great to know that pretty soon we will all be in the presence of the One Whose birthday we celebrate tomorrow? And that won’t be a temporary visit. Everything in this world has its parameters, but where we are going there are no limitations.

Gomen nasai. This letter hasn’t been a very spiritual discourse and I know that I haven’t said much that is up lifting. I was thrilled with what the Lord gave me to share last week about John 14, but He hasn’t given me any such revelation this week. It is good to keep our eyes on our goal but as we tread along here we are constantly reminded that we still have clay feet walking in a very tangible dusty world. But Jesus did that too. What a wonderful Elder Brother we have (Heb. 2:11,12)! And again I consider it a great honor to be considered your brother in our great family of God.

Until we meet again:

                                                                                     My love remains with you all, bill

Heaven's Home

17 Dec, 2000

 

Dear Ted & Phyllis,

This morning as I was having devotions I was thinking of you. (That is not unusual; I think of you every day.) I had just gotten back from a long trip to the southern tip of Thailand and had ridden a bus all night long. Getting back to the Guest House around 6AM I had breakfast and checked in a room. Opening the familiar passage in John 14, the Word again came alive; “Let not your heart be trouble: ye believe in God, believe also in Me.” This has got to be one of the focal points of the Christian walk. The Lord greatly desires His people to live free from fear, and the devil is always doing his best to instill in us fear. I’m sure the Lord is meeting with you daily and you are discovering in new ways that indeed “underneath us are the Everlasting Arms” (Deut. 33:27). But even so, when we get in water substantially over our heads, it is not uncommon to get a little apprehensive sometimes. And that wonderful tender Word of our Lord reminds us that there is no basis for our fears.

“In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” This is something too wonderful to be true. If Jesus Himself hadn’t said it I would argue with any theologian that tried to suggest such an incredible idea. But then it is a common practice for any young man when he first gets married to spend a great deal of effort preparing a lovely home for his bride to be. In this context I can see where Jesus has gone ahead of us to get things ready and is working on a new residence for us. I sure hope I get a chance to see your place. It wouldn’t surprise me if there is a nice garden and perhaps as winding walk up to the house. But the thing that I think is the most amazing will be the sign out front – “The Brannen Residence”. Old 3304 South 222^nd St. was certainly nice, but that is not to be compared with the one that Jesus is working on right now.

Certainly one of the main features of life in heaven will be the cooperate life of believers. It is true we are one body and together we will worship our Lord; but I believe there will also be a great deal of private life also. In studying the Temple in Ezekiel 40 I am impressed at the number of “little chambers” there are. There are all kinds of chambers in that Temple and that would tend to indicate that the Lord still respects the privacy of believers. They say in nudist colonies there are no Men and Women toilets; they are all together. But obviously that is not the way it is in heaven. The fact that Jesus did not say “one big room”, but “many mansions” would seem to be a strong argument for private property in heaven. We know that crowns are individual (private property), thrones are individual (private property), and I believe our dwellings are private property. It is amazing how much God respects the individuality of each person. He doesn’t violate our privacy, and I am sure there will be something like 3304 with a little sign out front “The Brannen Residence”. I am sure it will have a fabulous kitchen and I would be surprised if there wasn’t a pretty nice art studio in there too. You know it would be just like the Lord to tailor make our homes for us to fit the way He has made us in the first start. If I ever get a chance to visit your area I would really enjoy stopping in some afternoon for a cup of coffee.

 

It is strange, but when I think about these realities I come up with a blank for myself. I seriously doubt that there is a house in heaven with a sign “The Cooks”. We had two fabulous places here in Japan where we were the envy of the rich. But I don’t see how it is possible to have a place like that in heaven because there will be no Cook family in heaven. The Lord offered that to Rosemary and she refused it. God will not force salvation on anyone; He will not force His will on anyone, and anyone who refuses to accept what the Lord intended for them must settle with what they have chosen. As the marriage was never of God, “the Cook family” has been erased from the Book. That leaves me in a tent someplace. Besides, I had 20 years of heaven here, and now I must be satisfied with a lower status. Gomen for that soulish diversion.

We know that there will be no marriage relationship in heaven. In that sense things will be different. Jesus told us that we won’t be married but be like the angels (Mt. 22:30). I know for people like yourselves who have had such a wonderful marriage this has the potential of being sad; but I really don’t think things will be any worse there than here. If anything I am sure that marriage relationship will be on a higher plane. A good friend of mine who loves to fish says he is sure there are trout in the stream that flows from the Throne of God. He says if there are trout here there has to be trout there. It wouldn’t be heaven without them. Maybe he’s right. But I believe the family unit will certainly be intact. That is a major theme in the Word of God; the Lord always recognizes the family unit. In the Pentateuch the people were always assembled under the flag of their individual families (Num. 2), and even when the spirit of repentance is given to Israel we see each family mourning as a family unit (Zech. 12:10-14). If this is true, then there has got to be a Brannen family in heaven – and there has got to be the “Brannen Residence”.

Can you imagine the excitement in the heart of Christ? Having built many houses, one of the big moments for me is to watch the face of the new home owners light up when they see what we have done. The NLL cabin in Karuizawa was a dump. Two years ago, they finally got town water in the place and Roald asked me if I could put in a shower unit. I spent two months up there working with Bill Rees and when we were done we had totally restructured the building. No amount of money could have compensated the joy I had when the Lidals first came up to see what we had done. Inga just screamed! For ten minutes her mouth was open! I doubt that she has ever lived in such a nice place. The old ofuro was a place you didn’t want to wash your dog and now they had a fabulous bathroom with the finest shower unit I have ever seen. Seven years ago I built a house for a Japanese pastor, and that poor family had lived in pitiful housing for twenty years. Their daughter was 20 and had never had a foot of privacy in her life. They always slept two and three in a bed so tight you could hardly roll over. I made her a beautiful private bedroom with a lovely built in dresser and outstanding lighting. When I got that done, to look at her face was all the reward that I needed. I enjoyed watching her as much as she enjoyed her new room. It would be totally out of character with Christ if the same principle was not true now. If He has gone ahead to prepare a place for us, there must be tremendous anticipation in His heart as He gets each room ready.

Sometimes we find it hard to wait, but I really think the waiting is harder on Him than it is on us. When I first studied the Song of Solomon I was bewildered by the contrast of the various speeches. There were a few verses where the Bride expresses her love for her Lord. But there were chapters of His love for her. This was totally 180 degrees out of line with my theology. I took a blank sheet of paper and wrote the number of every verse in the book on it. Then I used a color code to show who was speaking. The contrast came out 5 to 1. I asked the Lord why this disproportion and He showed me a truth I had never grasped. Not that we love God – BUT THAT HE LOVES US! (1Jn. 4:10). His love for me is 5 times more intense than my feeble love for Him. After Rosemary and I were engaged, that was the longest year of my life before we could get married. When we went down to Ikoma it was my greatest joy to make the finest kitchen I have ever made for Rosemary. Love is that way. Love longs to give. Love delights in seeing the joy in others. I’ll bet Jesus is looking at the calendar and counting the hours when He will have the joy of seeing your face when the Brannen’s move into the place He has prepared for them.

There is no way we can imagine what He has in mind. He has told us that it has never entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love Him (1Cor. 2:9). My most extravagant imagination doesn’t begin to approach what He has in mind. I am dead serious about all that I have written thus far, but your spirit must go beyond my words. It is impossible that the Brannen residence would be anything less than breath-taking. But the most wonderful feature will be the neighborhood. I don’t know how He is going to do it but I do know for a fact that Jesus will live there. The only thing that the Lord told us about the place He is preparing is that it is near Him – “That WHERE I AM, THERE YE MAY BE ALSO.”(Jn. 14:3). I believe Ezek. 40-48 is one of the most mysterious passages in the Bible and yet I am totally convinced it is the New Jerusalem – Heb. 12:22 & Rev. 21, 22. Wherever it is, and whatever it is like – that is where our citizenship is right now and our eternal home. But the last verse in Ezekiel says the name of the City is Jehovah Shammah – THE LORD IS THERE. That’s it folks! That’s the bottom line. The Brannen Residence is going to be in the kinjo where Jesus lives. Isn't that great? I get so excited I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve whose heart is pounding waiting for morning. Do you see why I consider it such a privilege to know people like you? I really hope I can get a chance to stop by to see you all. Time shouldn’t be much of a problem. Gomen, Phyllis, but along with that cup of coffee could you fix me a roast beef sandwich?

                                                                                    I love you all dearly,

                                                                                    In our wonderful Lord Jesus,

Brannen Heavenly Residence

17 Dec, 2000

Dear Ted & Phyllis,

This morning as I was having devotions I was thinking of you. (That is not unusual; I think of you every day.) I had just gotten back from a long trip to the southern tip of Thailand and had ridden a bus all night long. Getting back to the Guest House around 6AM I had breakfast and checked in a room. Opening the familiar passage in John 14, the Word again came alive; “Let not your heart be trouble: ye believe in God, believe also in Me.” This has got to be one of the focal points of the Christian walk. The Lord greatly desires His people to live free from fear, and the devil is always doing his best to instill in us fear. I’m sure the Lord is meeting with you daily and you are discovering in new ways that indeed “underneath us are the Everlasting Arms” (Deut. 33:27). But even so, when we get in water substantially over our heads, it is not uncommon to get a little apprehensive sometimes. And that wonderful tender Word of our Lord reminds us that there is no basis for our fears.

“In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” This is something too wonderful to be true. If Jesus Himself hadn’t said it I would argue with any theologian that tried to suggest such an incredible idea. But then it is a common practice for any young man when he first gets married to spend a great deal of effort preparing a lovely home for his bride to be. In this context I can see where Jesus has gone ahead of us to get things ready and is working on a new residence for us. I sure hope I get a chance to see your place. It wouldn’t surprise me if there is a nice garden and perhaps as winding walk up to the house. But the thing that I think is the most amazing will be the sign out front – “The Brannen Residence”. Old 3304 South 222^nd St. was certainly nice, but that is not to be compared with the one that Jesus is working on right now.

Certainly one of the main features of life in heaven will be the cooperate life of believers. It is true we are one body and together we will worship our Lord; but I believe there will also be a great deal of private life also. In studying the Temple in Ezekiel 40 I am impressed at the number of “little chambers” there are. There are all kinds of chambers in that Temple and that would tend to indicate that the Lord still respects the privacy of believers. They say in nudist colonies there are no Men and Women toilets; they are all together. But obviously that is not the way it is in heaven. The fact that Jesus did not say “one big room”, but “many mansions” would seem to be a strong argument for private property in heaven. We know that crowns are individual (private property), thrones are individual (private property), and I believe our dwellings are private property. It is amazing how much God respects the individuality of each person. He doesn’t violate our privacy, and I am sure there will be something like 3304 with a little sign out front “The Brannen Residence”. I am sure it will have a fabulous kitchen and I would be surprised if there wasn’t a pretty nice art studio in there too. You know it would be just like the Lord to tailor make our homes for us to fit the way He has made us in the first start. If I ever get a chance to visit your area I would really enjoy stopping in some afternoon for a cup of coffee.

It is strange, but when I think about these realities I come up with a blank for myself. I seriously doubt that there is a house in heaven with a sign “The Cooks”. We had two fabulous places here in Japan where we were the envy of the rich. But I don’t see how it is possible to have a place like that in heaven because there will be no Cook family in heaven. The Lord offered that to Rosemary and she refused it. God will not force salvation on anyone; He will not force His will on anyone, and anyone who refuses to accept what the Lord intended for them must settle with what they have chosen. As the marriage was never of God, “the Cook family” has been erased from the Book. That leaves me in a tent someplace. Besides, I had 20 years of heaven here, and now I must be satisfied with a lower status. Gomen for that soulish diversion.

We know that there will be no marriage relationship in heaven. In that sense things will be different. Jesus told us that we won’t be married but be like the angels (Mt. 22:30). I know for people like yourselves who have had such a wonderful marriage this has the potential of being sad; but I really don’t think things will be any worse there than here. If anything I am sure that marriage relationship will be on a higher plane. A good friend of mine who loves to fish says he is sure there are trout in the stream that flows from the Throne of God. He says if there are trout here there has to be trout there. It wouldn’t be heaven without them. Maybe he’s right. But I believe the family unit will certainly be intact. That is a major theme in the Word of God; the Lord always recognizes the family unit. In the Pentateuch the people were always assembled under the flag of their individual families (Num. 2), and even when the spirit of repentance is given to Israel we see each family mourning as a family unit (Zech. 12:10-14). If this is true, then there has got to be a Brannen family in heaven – and there has got to be the “Brannen Residence”.

Can you imagine the excitement in the heart of Christ? Having built many houses, one of the big moments for me is to watch the face of the new home owners light up when they see what we have done. The NLL cabin in Karuizawa was a dump. Two years ago, they finally got town water in the place and Roald asked me if I could put in a shower unit. I spent two months up there working with Bill Rees and when we were done we had totally restructured the building. No amount of money could have compensated the joy I had when the Lidals first came up to see what we had done. Inga just screamed! For ten minutes her mouth was open! I doubt that she has ever lived in such a nice place. The old ofuro was a place you didn’t want to wash your dog and now they had a fabulous bathroom with the finest shower unit I have ever seen. Seven years ago I built a house for a Japanese pastor, and that poor family had lived in pitiful housing for twenty years. Their daughter was 20 and had never had a foot of privacy in her life. They always slept two and three in a bed so tight you could hardly roll over. I made her a beautiful private bedroom with a lovely built in dresser and outstanding lighting. When I got that done, to look at her face was all the reward that I needed. I enjoyed watching her as much as she enjoyed her new room. It would be totally out of character with Christ if the same principle was not true now. If He has gone ahead to prepare a place for us, there must be tremendous anticipation in His heart as He gets each room ready.

Sometimes we find it hard to wait, but I really think the waiting is harder on Him than it is on us. When I first studied the Song of Solomon I was bewildered by the contrast of the various speeches. There were a few verses where the Bride expresses her love for her Lord. But there were chapters of His love for her. This was totally 180 degrees out of line with my theology. I took a blank sheet of paper and wrote the number of every verse in the book on it. Then I used a color code to show who was speaking. The contrast came out 5 to 1. I asked the Lord why this disproportion and He showed me a truth I had never grasped. Not that we love God – BUT THAT HE LOVES US! (1Jn. 4:10). His love for me is 5 times more intense than my feeble love for Him. After Rosemary and I were engaged, that was the longest year of my life before we could get married. When we went down to Ikoma it was my greatest joy to make the finest kitchen I have ever made for Rosemary. Love is that way. Love longs to give. Love delights in seeing the joy in others. I’ll bet Jesus is looking at the calendar and counting the hours when He will have the joy of seeing your face when the Brannen’s move into the place He has prepared for them.

There is no way we can imagine what He has in mind. He has told us that it has never entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love Him (1Cor. 2:9). My most extravagant imagination doesn’t begin to approach what He has in mind. I am dead serious about all that I have written thus far, but your spirit must go beyond my words. It is impossible that the Brannen residence would be anything less than breath-taking. But the most wonderful feature will be the neighborhood. I don’t know how He is going to do it but I do know for a fact that Jesus will live there. The only thing that the Lord told us about the place He is preparing is that it is near Him – “That WHERE I AM, THERE YE MAY BE ALSO.”(Jn. 14:3). I believe Ezek. 40-48 is one of the most mysterious passages in the Bible and yet I am totally convinced it is the New Jerusalem – Heb. 12:22 & Rev. 21, 22. Wherever it is, and whatever it is like – that is where our citizenship is right now and our eternal home. But the last verse in Ezekiel says the name of the City is Jehovah Shammah – THE LORD IS THERE. That’s it folks! That’s the bottom line. The Brannen Residence is going to be in the kinjo where Jesus lives. Isn't that great? I get so excited I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve whose heart is pounding waiting for morning. Do you see why I consider it such a privilege to know people like you? I really hope I can get a chance to stop by to see you all. Time shouldn’t be much of a problem. Gomen, Phyllis, but along with that cup of coffee could you fix me a roast beef sandwich?

                                                                                    I love you all dearly,

                                                                                    In our wonderful Lord Jesus, bill

Mountain Tops and Valleys

10 Dec, 2000

Dear Ted & Phyllis,

It’s Sunday again, and although we are separated by another two time zones I still have the joy of sitting down with my laptop and enjoy some more fellowship with you. Today I am in Bangkok. In my letter last week I said I was going out and trust the Lord to provide the contacts necessary for this mission I feel the Lord has sent me on. Thursday I believe I met one of these “angels”. There are some men here in Bangkok who reportedly know exactly where the Americans are that I am interested in seeing in Laos. Until I meet them I am virtually helpless to move. While waiting to meet them I am staying at the C&MA Guest House in Bangkok. Thursday night I was sitting down in the lounge and struck up a conversation with an Asian man sitting there. He seemed very unimpressive simply saying he was an American working with minorities in Thailand. But as the conversation progressed I was amazed at the breadth of overlapping interest and various place we had both been. Finally I asked, “What are you?”, and he replied he was Hmong from Laos. As I queried him more I was astonished at the people he knew and places he had been. Virtually every legend I had heard or book I had read on Laos he either knew or had worked with them. He had been in the village where I took the Japanese team to take Bibles to the Hmongs in northwest Vietnam last year and knew the pastor we delivered them to. He has traveled extensively the breadth of Laos and is probably more experienced in what I have in mind than any other person in the world. I told him of my interest in the American POWs and he confirmed that he too had heard many such stories about the existence of these men. I asked him if an elephant would be an feasible mode of transportation he said it might be possible to hire an elephant but didn’t recommend it as the paths are too narrow for an elephant to get through. When I suggested a horse he said that was hands down the best shot. He told me that he has ridden a horse over many hundreds of kilos within Laos and Vietnam and recommend this approach. He said as a Hmong born and raised in Laos he knew that language, Laotian, some Vietnamese, as well as Thai and English. And as a Hmong he was able to travel around the country from village to village, but almost always traveled at night to avoid soldiers. Apparently there is a network of places where he has stayed in various villages sleeping in day and traveling at night. After talking with him my little venture seems considerably more like a reality and he suggested some ways that may be effective in getting past check points. He also said he lives in Chiang Mai, which is my second home here and I know generally where his house is. We promised to get together later as I get up there and it looks like he will be an invaluable asset in pursuing this mission. When I met him I was nearly speechlessly awed in encountering what seems to be God’s key appointment.

While I was talking with the Hmong brother in the lounge of the Guest House a call came for me from the key man that will introduce me to the fellows that know where the Americans are. This was a very strategic call as he travels a great deal and is difficult to locate. He had just gotten back an hour before then. He said the men I am to meet won’t be available for several more days which gives me some extra time in this part of Thailand.

In the mean time I am enjoying the life of a tourist in Thailand. Two years ago I got on a plane for Bangkok on my way to Vietnam with virtually no contacts except the name and phone number of the fellow we ship Bibles to in Thailand. I called him the first morning I was here but that meeting turned out to be a dud. He did suggest an International Church to attend on Sunday. I got the name and address of that church and went back to my hotel and asked the girl at the desk if she knew that address. She replied, “Yes, right across the street.” From there I got plugged into the system that ultimately introduced me to the underground church in Vietnam but I never got back for a Sunday service. But this morning I went over there and enjoyed their Christmas program. It seems strange to celebrate a Christmas program in the tropics with the temperature over 90 degrees outside.

As we were going over to the church we were talking in the taxi about the expectation of the appearance of the Messiah. The wife of the Guest House manager said, “The Jews were waiting for their Messiah to come and I remarked, “Yes, but He came in a way that no one would have ever believed. It was totally different than what they expected.” Then I thought the only ones who had their theology straight were the priests who could tell Herod exactly where Christ was to be born – but they didn’t go. The ones who knew the least about theology – the shepherds – were the first ones on the scene. How true this is today. I still subscribe to sound theology, but I vividly recall a remark Rollie Reasoner made in a message in Karuizawa, “We have our theories, but I believe God will have His surprises.” Has this not been our experience so far? Jesus said, “In an hour when you think not…”; and I believe we could add, “In a way that we think not”. The tedium of life wears us down. Day after day rolls on uninterrupted and we feel we are captives in the current of life being swept along to our predetermined end. But then the Lord startles us with some unexpected turn of events that radically alters our lives. It is good to remember that these little steps we take each day in the execution of daily living are the necessary strides that carry us to these major mile stone events, and they are all ordered of God.

 

Even Moses found it necessary to remind the people of his day, “The Lord thy god hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee: thou hast lacked nothing.”(Deut. 2:7). Is it not true that we can add our hearty Amen to that? It was amazing that they got up every morning and could see that Cloud abiding over the tabernacle and yet as soon as Moses was out of sight they said, “The man that brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him. Make us gods…” (Ex. 32:1). And every day they could see that Cloud; every day they gathered that manna; and every day they drank that Water – and after two years they said, “Because the Lord hated us He brought us out here to destroy us” (Deut. 1:27). When I was a young Christian I wouldn’t have believed it, but 43 years later I am beginning to realize that I am not much better. We have far more than the Jews of Moses day. We have the historical finished work of Christ on the Cross; we have the very Spirit of Christ living in our hearts; we enjoy the witness of the Spirit (Rom. 8:16; Gal. 4:6; 1Jn. 5:9); we have the written Word of God; we have the testimonies of tens of thousands who have walked with the Lord over the centuries; and we have decades of personal experience proving the faithfulness of God: and yet I have still sat down with those dumb Jews and said the same blasphemous things accusing God of having it in for me. How often do I need to remind myself that Jesus is still here. Those tangible proofs of the presence of God were so common place to the Jews that they lost their significance; and all the benefits of our salvation get old too.

Of course the hardest part of our journey is the valleys. The mountain tops are exhilarating but the valleys area probably the most important. It is here that He has assured us “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me…” (Ps. 23:4). Thank God, for a Christian there is no such thing as “death”. Jesus said, “He that believeth in Me shall never die.” (Jn. 11:26). Jesus also added, “Do you believe this?” Praise God, we can say from our hearts, “Yes, I believe that is true.” For a Christian all this is is a shadow but not the real thing. Is it not a fact that Jesus has given us eternal life? Do we not have the assurance that this Life is real and present? How in the world can someone die that has eternal life? These are realities that we must remind ourselves daily and renew our confidence every morning when we open our eyes for another days trek.

But one other advantage is what we find in Song of Solomon “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved?” (S. of S. 8:5). It is not until we get to chapter 8 that we see that. For all the desire and zeal of the earlier chapters – and even in 3:6 where see a similar scene of a procession coming out of the wilderness – we still don’t see anything about leaning until we come to chapter 8. In the early years, in spite of all of our good theology and good personal preaching, there wasn’t much leaning. It isn’t until our feet are too sore to walk much further, and our strength is too far spent, that we begin to “walk leaning”. Isn’t that great! Thank God for any problem that drives us to Christ!     

 Gomen for my sermonizing. I don’t mean to be boring and I know you could write me this letter far more effectively than I can write you. I write as one that is trailing far behind and talk about the things that you live. But these are things I must remind myself and try to keep up following your footprints.

I’ll probably be able to write one or two more letters and then I hope to be in Laos where I will have a chance to walk a little bit in a shadow. If Christ will be with me it doesn’t get much safer than that. My love and prayers are with you daily:

                                                                                                                 In Christ,

Fix Your Eyes on the Cloud

10 Dec, 2000

Dear Ted & Phyllis,

It’s Sunday again, and although we are separated by another two time zones I still have the joy of sitting down with my laptop and enjoy some more fellowship with you. Today I am in Bangkok. In my letter last week I said I was going out and trust the Lord to provide the contacts necessary for this mission I feel the Lord has sent me on. Thursday I believe I met one of these “angels”. There are some men here in Bangkok who reportedly know exactly where the Americans are that I am interested in seeing in Laos. Until I meet them I am virtually helpless to move. While waiting to meet them I am staying at the C&MA Guest House in Bangkok. Thursday night I was sitting down in the lounge and struck up a conversation with an Asian man sitting there. He seemed very unimpressive simply saying he was an American working with minorities in Thailand. But as the conversation progressed I was amazed at the breadth of overlapping interest and various place we had both been. Finally I asked, “What are you?”, and he replied he was Hmong from Laos. As I queried him more I was astonished at the people he knew and places he had been. Virtually every legend I had heard or book I had read on Laos he either knew or had worked with them. He had been in the village where I took the Japanese team to take Bibles to the Hmongs in northwest Vietnam last year and knew the pastor we delivered them to. He has traveled extensively the breadth of Laos and is probably more experienced in what I have in mind than any other person in the world. I told him of my interest in the American POWs and he confirmed that he too had heard many such stories about the existence of these men. I asked him if an elephant would be an feasible mode of transportation he said it might be possible to hire an elephant but didn’t recommend it as the paths are too narrow for an elephant to get through. When I suggested a horse he said that was hands down the best shot. He told me that he has ridden a horse over many hundreds of kilometers within Laos and Vietnam and recommend this approach. He said as a Hmong born and raised in Laos he knew that language, Laotian, some Vietnamese, as well as Thai and English. And as a Hmong he was able to travel around the country from village to village, but almost always traveled at night to avoid soldiers. Apparently there is a network of places where he has stayed in various villages sleeping in day and traveling at night. After talking with him my little venture seems considerably more like a reality and he suggested some ways that may be effective in getting past check points. He also said he lives in Chiang Mai, which is my second home here and I know generally where his house is. We promised to get together later as I get up there and it looks like he will be an invaluable asset in pursuing this mission. When I met him I was nearly speechlessly awed in encountering what seems to be God’s key appointment.

While I was talking with the Hmong brother in the lounge of the Guest House a call came for me from the key man that will introduce me to the fellows that know where the Americans are. This was a very strategic call as he travels a great deal and is difficult to locate. He had just gotten back an hour before then. He said the men I am to meet won’t be available for several more days which gives me some extra time in this part of Thailand.

In the mean time I am enjoying the life of a tourist in Thailand. Two years ago I got on a plane for Bangkok on my way to Vietnam with virtually no contacts except the name and phone number of the fellow we ship Bibles to in Thailand. I called him the first morning I was here but that meeting turned out to be a dud. He did suggest an International Church to attend on Sunday. I got the name and address of that church and went back to my hotel and asked the girl at the desk if she knew that address. She replied, “Yes, right across the street.” From there I got plugged into the system that ultimately introduced me to the underground church in Vietnam but I never got back for a Sunday service. But this morning I went over there and enjoyed their Christmas program. It seems strange to celebrate a Christmas program in the tropics with the temperature over 90 degrees outside.

As we were going over to the church we were talking in the taxi about the expectation of the appearance of the Messiah. The wife of the Guest House manager said, “The Jews were waiting for their Messiah to come and I remarked, “Yes, but He came in a way that no one would have ever believed. It was totally different than what they expected.” Then I thought the only ones who had their theology straight were the priests who could tell Herod exactly where Christ was to be born – but they didn’t go. The ones who knew the least about theology – the shepherds – were the first ones on the scene. How true this is today. I still subscribe to sound theology, but I vividly recall a remark Rollie Reasoner made in a message in Karuizawa, “We have our theories, but I believe God will have His surprises.” Has this not been our experience so far? Jesus said, “In an hour when you think not…”; and I believe we could add, “In a way that we think not”. The tedium of life wears us down. Day after day rolls on uninterrupted and we feel we are captives in the current of life being swept along to our predetermined end. But then the Lord startles us with some unexpected turn of events that radically alters our lives. It is good to remember that these little steps we take each day in the execution of daily living are the necessary strides that carry us to these major mile stone events, and they are all ordered of God.

Even Moses found it necessary to remind the people of his day, “The Lord thy god hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee: thou hast lacked nothing.”(Deut. 2:7). Is it not true that we can add our hearty Amen to that? It was amazing that they got up every morning and could see that Cloud abiding over the tabernacle and yet as soon as Moses was out of sight they said, “The man that brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him. Make us gods…” (Ex. 32:1). And every day they could see that Cloud; every day they gathered that manna; and every day they drank that Water – and after two years they said, “Because the Lord hated us He brought us out here to destroy us” (Deut. 1:27). When I was a young Christian I wouldn’t have believed it, but 43 years later I am beginning to realize that I am not much better. We have far more than the Jews of Moses day. We have the historical finished work of Christ on the Cross; we have the very Spirit of Christ living in our hearts; we enjoy the witness of the Spirit (Rom. 8:16; Gal. 4:6; 1Jn. 5:9); we have the written Word of God; we have the testimonies of tens of thousands who have walked with the Lord over the centuries; and we have decades of personal experience proving the faithfulness of God: and yet I have still sat down with those dumb Jews and said the same blasphemous things accusing God of having it in for me. How often do I need to remind myself that Jesus is still here. Those tangible proofs of the presence of God were so common place to the Jews that they lost their significance; and all the benefits of our salvation get old too.

Of course the hardest part of our journey is the valleys. The mountain tops are exhilarating but the valleys area probably the most important. It is here that He has assured us “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me…” (Ps. 23:4). Thank God, for a Christian there is no such thing as “death”. Jesus said, “He that believeth in Me shall never die.” (Jn. 11:26). Jesus also added, “Do you believe this?” Praise God, we can say from our hearts, “Yes, I believe that is true.” For a Christian all this is is a shadow but not the real thing. Is it not a fact that Jesus has given us eternal life? Do we not have the assurance that this Life is real and present? How in the world can someone die that has eternal life? These are realities that we must remind ourselves daily and renew our confidence every morning when we open our eyes for another days trek.

But one other advantage is what we find in Song of Solomon “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved?” (S. of S. 8:5). It is not until we get to chapter 8 that we see that. For all the desire and zeal of the earlier chapters – and even in 3:6 where see a similar scene of a procession coming out of the wilderness – we still don’t see anything about leaning until we come to chapter 8. In the early years, in spite of all of our good theology and good personal preaching, there wasn’t much leaning. It isn’t until our feet are too sore to walk much further, and our strength is too far spent, that we begin to “walk leaning”. Isn’t that great! Thank God for any problem that drives us to Christ!     

Gomen for my sermonizing. I don’t mean to be boring and I know you could write me this letter far more effectively than I can write you. I write as one that is trailing far behind and talk about the things that you live. But these are things I must remind myself and try to keep up following your footprints.

I’ll probably be able to write one or two more letters and then I hope to be in Laos where I will have a chance to walk a little bit in a shadow. If Christ will be with me it doesn’t get much safer than that. My love and prayers are with you daily:

 

                                                                                                                 In Christ, bill

Preaching in Nora

3 Dec, 2000

 

Dear Ted & Phyllis,

It is hard to believe that we into December year 2000 and soon it will be 2001. Forty years ago I was 100% convinced that we would have new bodies and Christ would be in charge of Washington and Tokyo (along with everything else on earth) by now. It was hard to see this dispensation running much past 1984, but manichi (1 chance in 10,000), if it did, we knew one thing for certain, “Christ will certainly be here before the year 2000”. But, oh, the millions that have been brought into the Kingdom since then. China has been opened to the Gospel and there has been a harvest of souls that Hudson Taylor in his wildest imagination could not have envisioned. But if we thought the return of Christ was near in 1960, how much closer have we come, and our salvation is that much nearer than when we first believed.

Today I am in Nara. In three days I will be back in Southeast Asia for another interesting venture. I’m sure I have told you about my involvement in trying to help the Americans soldiers who have been abandoned in Laos and Vietnam since the Vietnam War 28 years ago. On my last trip I approached the head of the secrete police for prefecture where these men were seen a year and a half ago. He didn’t respond to my offer of a “very handsome reward” if he could help us get them out, but did make a significant statement by saying, “Those men are in Vietnam.” I replied, “Yes, I know they are on that boarder but we would appreciate any help you could give us.” At that, he terminated our conversation by saying, “I don’t know anything about it.” With that door closed the next options is to try to go in and personally contact these men and their hosts. Naturally speaking this is a totally ridiculous venture, but the most stupid story I know in the Word of God was about five women who went to a grave to anoint a body that was sealed with a huge stone, the Roman seal, and two guards. But as they went they met the Person they were going to anoint. All I know is that I hope to go and expect to meet someone the Lord has sent before to help me. Some people have asked if I had guidance to go and all I can say is that there are two options – to do nothing, or to do what I can. Which do think a Christian should do? 

This morning I was speaking in a church we built here in Tenri 14 years ago. The pastor asked me to share a testimony and – unfortunately – it wound up being the morning service. The testimony I shared was one that I heard from Roald two years ago, but to lay a foundation I started out by observing the description of the four living being worshiping God before the Throne in Rev. 4. Their activity is identical to what Isaiah saw and shared with us in chapter 6 of his book. These beings cry ceaselessly day and night, “Holy, holy, holy”.

 

Years ago I thought the most spiritual thing I could do was to pray like these seraphims so I mimicked their prayer. It didn’t work. After I said “Holy, holy, holy” about thirty or forty times it got real old. For years I never could understand this scene until one summer we were over to Kashiwazaki for a Bible camp. While we were over there a typhoon came up the Sea of Japan and the next day the effect of the waves came ashore. We had been swimming at that beach every day, but this day was something like I had never seen. Those waves must have been thirty feet high and looked like Mt. Fuji coming ashore. I stood there awed as one of these towering waves came crashing in and all I could say was “Sugoi!” (awesome, fantastic). Then another huge wave came crashing in and I said, “Sugoi!!” Then for the next twenty minutes my entire vocabulary was reduced to one word – SUGOI. I tried to say something else but nothing else fit the occasion. I mean to tell you IT WAS SUGOI. The awesomeness of the occasion dictated that something must be said. I simply could not watch that in silence but words escaped me to describe this overwhelming scene. The only word I could come up with to express the impact on my soul was sugoi. It was there that I first realized what was going on inside these living creatures who stand in the presence of God and worship Him with veiled faces. The dominant impression of what they are looking at is the holiness of God. Being overwhelmed with that, they can only gasp “Holy, holy, holy”. But after they have said it several thousand times they are still frustrated by their inability to fully expressed what they are looking at. The reason my prayer was so stupid is that I wasn’t seeing what these seraphims were looking at. It was like two men standing looking at the Grand Canyon. One fellow can see and the other guy is blind. The first man is overwhelmed and says, “Wow, look at that!”, but the other fellow standing right beside him is totally unmoved – he doesn’t see a thing. That is why this prayer is so meaningless to us – we simply don’t see what the angels see.

 

But I fear our concept or definition of holiness is flawed. I used to think God was holy because He didn’t drink beer, smoke or look at porno. A friend of mine said, “I have a dog that doesn’t do any of that but I wouldn’t call him holy.” I asked another friend what he thought holiness meant and he said the absence of defilement or dirt. But if we are going to define defilement we have got to establish a standard of what is clean and what is dirty. There we have a problem today where we have accepted relativism and nothing is really right or wrong. When we throw out biblical morality we have thrown away the ruler and we have nothing to measure things by. All forms of sexual perversion are fine now it is wrong to call it dirty. Without the law of God we have no way to determine what is right and what is wrong. If we accept that holiness has something to do with biblical morality, then, what we have is the angels judging God by His own standard. It is their assessment of what they think of God in the light of His own law. It is the report card on God.

 

If we only had the Old Testament we might think that obeying God was an ikenai religion (you shouldn’t do it), but the New Testament teaches us that LOVE is the fulfillment of the law (Rom. 13:8-10). So we see that true holiness is NOT WHAT WE DON’T DO BUT WHAT WE DO DO. And the nearest synonym or verb description of love basically means to give. Love is not receiving but giving. So we see the dominant characteristic of God that so overwhelms the seraphims is the things that God does. As they watch this Living One Who has created all things for His glory and for the honor of His Son these seraphims are inexpressibly impressed with His character revealed by His acts; and they can only cry, “Holy, holy, holy!”

It is most significant that both verses 6 and 8 of Rev. 4 tells us that these living creatures are “filled with eyes". This is most significant. It means that they see the big picture. Unfortunately we only have two eyes and both of them are pointed in the same direction. That means we have a very limited field of vision. But the seraphims have eyes all over and they see things we don’t. I think it is safe to say that they are in a better position to judge God than we are.

To share with you the testimony that I told at the church in Tenri this morning I will enclose in a different envelope a general letter I have sent to my sister and her family to be read at Christmas. Lord willing, I hope to be in the jungles of Laos on Christmas day so I won’t be able to send them any Christmas greetings. Therefore I have written this amazing testimony that Roald learned when he was in China two years ago. It is about a Christian man who gave his only son to a man who hated him and was responsible for having him thrown in prison for 24 years. When he came out it appeared his life had been a disaster and from our human perspective it didn’t look like a real kind thing the Lord did for him. But on Christmas eve five years ago the Lord pulled back the curtain on His workmanship to let us see what He had done. This testimony has affected me more deeply than anything I have ever heard. The first night I heard it I was so dissolved that I was komaru after the service and thought, “Now how in the world am I supposed to get out of this building?” I should have known better than to try to tell this story from the pulpit and had a hard struggle getting through the message. I went through a glass of water trying to maintain enough composure to be able to speak.

 

This may be my last letter to you. I am not so naïve as to be flippant and suggest you are not going through a difficult trial. There is nothing I can say to you that you don’t know far better than I do, but sometimes when we are horizontal our field of vision is restricted even more than usual. I know that you know we can’t see the big picture at the moment. We don’t have the eyes that the seraphims have and we are not in a position to accurately assess all that God is doing. But I believe He is doing one of the greatest works of your life for you right now and some day we will look back and with deep gratitude say, “Lord, thank you for the year 2000. It was the best we ever had.” Should it not be this way? I believe it is true that everyday with Jesus is better than the day before.

I don’t know when I will see you next but I know it will be a good one when I do. In saying “in closing”, I am only referring to this letter, but I want to thank you all again for the great honor and privilege you have extended to me and all the joy we have enjoyed together in our fellowship in Christ.

                                                                                           My love is with you always,  

Holy, Holy, Holy

3 Dec, 2000

Dear Ted & Phyllis,

It is hard to believe that we into December year 2000 and soon it will be 2001. Forty years ago I was 100% convinced that we would have new bodies and Christ would be in charge of Washington and Tokyo (along with everything else on earth) by now. It was hard to see this dispensation running much past 1984, but manichi (1 chance in 10,000), if it did, we knew one thing for certain, “Christ will certainly be here before the year 2000”. But, oh, the millions that have been brought into the Kingdom since then. China has been opened to the Gospel and there has been a harvest of souls that Hudson Taylor in his wildest imagination could not have envisioned. But if we thought the return of Christ was near in 1960, how much closer have we come, and our salvation is that much nearer than when we first believed.

Today I am in Nara. In three days I will be back in Southeast Asia for another interesting venture. I’m sure I have told you about my involvement in trying to help the Americans soldiers who have been abandoned in Laos and Vietnam since the Vietnam War 28 years ago. On my last trip I approached the head of the secrete police for prefecture where these men were seen a year and a half ago. He didn’t respond to my offer of a “very handsome reward” if he could help us get them out, but did make a significant statement by saying, “Those men are in Vietnam.” I replied, “Yes, I know they are on that border but we would appreciate any help you could give us.” At that, he terminated our conversation by saying, “I don’t know anything about it.” With that door closed the next options is to try to go in and personally contact these men and their hosts. Naturally speaking this is a totally ridiculous venture, but the most stupid story I know in the Word of God was about five women who went to a grave to anoint a body that was sealed with a huge stone, the Roman seal, and two guards. But as they went they met the Person they were going to anoint. All I know is that I hope to go and expect to meet someone the Lord has sent before to help me. Some people have asked if I had guidance to go and all I can say is that there are two options – to do nothing, or to do what I can. Which do think a Christian should do? 

This morning I was speaking in a church we built here in Tenri 14 years ago. The pastor asked me to share a testimony and – unfortunately – it wound up being the morning service. The testimony I shared was one that I heard from Roald two years ago, but to lay a foundation I started out by observing the description of the four living being worshiping God before the Throne in Rev. 4. Their activity is identical to what Isaiah saw and shared with us in chapter 6 of his book. These beings cry ceaselessly day and night, “Holy, holy, holy”.

Years ago I thought the most spiritual thing I could do was to pray like these seraphims so I mimicked their prayer. It didn’t work. After I said “Holy, holy, holy” about thirty or forty times it got real old. For years I never could understand this scene until one summer we were over to Kashiwazaki for a Bible camp. While we were over there a typhoon came up the Sea of Japan and the next day the effect of the waves came ashore. We had been swimming at that beach every day, but this day was something like I had never seen. Those waves must have been thirty feet high and looked like Mt. Fuji coming ashore. I stood there awed as one of these towering waves came crashing in and all I could say was “Sugoi!” (awesome, fantastic). Then another huge wave came crashing in and I said, “Sugoi!!” Then for the next twenty minutes my entire vocabulary was reduced to one word – SUGOI. I tried to say something else but nothing else fit the occasion. I mean to tell you IT WAS SUGOI. The awesomeness of the occasion dictated that something must be said. I simply could not watch that in silence but words escaped me to describe this overwhelming scene. The only word I could come up with to express the impact on my soul was sugoi. It was there that I first realized what was going on inside these living creatures who stand in the presence of God and worship Him with veiled faces. The dominant impression of what they are looking at is the holiness of God. Being overwhelmed with that, they can only gasp “Holy, holy, holy”. But after they have said it several thousand times they are still frustrated by their inability to fully expressed what they are looking at. The reason my prayer was so stupid is that I wasn’t seeing what these seraphims were looking at. It was like two men standing looking at the Grand Canyon. One fellow can see and the other guy is blind. The first man is overwhelmed and says, “Wow, look at that!”, but the other fellow standing right beside him is totally unmoved – he doesn’t see a thing. That is why this prayer is so meaningless to us – we simply don’t see what the angels see.

But I fear our concept or definition of holiness is flawed. I used to think God was holy because He didn’t drink beer, smoke or look at porno. A friend of mine said, “I have a dog that doesn’t do any of that but I wouldn’t call him holy.” I asked another friend what he thought holiness meant and he said the absence of defilement or dirt. But if we are going to define defilement we have got to establish a standard of what is clean and what is dirty. There we have a problem today where we have accepted relativism and nothing is really right or wrong. When we throw out biblical morality we have thrown away the ruler and we have nothing to measure things by. All forms of sexual perversion are fine now it is wrong to call it dirty. Without the law of God we have no way to determine what is right and what is wrong. If we accept that holiness has something to do with biblical morality, then, what we have is the angels judging God by His own standard. It is their assessment of what they think of God in the light of His own law. It is the report card on God.

If we only had the Old Testament we might think that obeying God was an ikenai religion (you shouldn’t do it), but the New Testament teaches us that LOVE is the fulfillment of the law (Rom. 13:8-10). So we see that true holiness is NOT WHAT WE DON’T DO BUT WHAT WE DO DO. And the nearest synonym or verb description of love basically means to give. Love is not receiving but giving. So we see the dominant characteristic of God that so overwhelms the seraphims is the things that God does. As they watch this Living One Who has created all things for His glory and for the honor of His Son these seraphims are inexpressibly impressed with His character revealed by His acts; and they can only cry, “Holy, holy, holy!”

 It is most significant that both verses 6 and 8 of Rev. 4 tells us that these living creatures are “filled with eyes". This is most significant. It means that they see the big picture. Unfortunately we only have two eyes and both of them are pointed in the same direction. That means we have a very limited field of vision. But the seraphims have eyes all over and they see things we don’t. I think it is safe to say that they are in a better position to judge God than we are.

To share with you the testimony that I told at the church in Tenri this morning I will enclose in a different envelope a general letter I have sent to my sister and her family to be read at Christmas. Lord willing, I hope to be in the jungles of Laos on Christmas day so I won’t be able to send them any Christmas greetings. Therefore I have written this amazing testimony that Roald learned when he was in China two years ago. It is about a Christian man who gave his only son to a man who hated him and was responsible for having him thrown in prison for 24 years. When he came out it appeared his life had been a disaster and from our human perspective it didn’t look like a real kind thing the Lord did for him. But on Christmas eve five years ago the Lord pulled back the curtain on His workmanship to let us see what He had done. This testimony has affected me more deeply than anything I have ever heard. The first night I heard it I was so dissolved that I was komaru after the service and thought, “Now how in the world am I supposed to get out of this building?” I should have known better than to try to tell this story from the pulpit and had a hard struggle getting through the message. I went through a glass of water trying to maintain enough composure to be able to speak.

This may be my last letter to you. I am not so naïve as to be flippant and suggest you are not going through a difficult trial. There is nothing I can say to you that you don’t know far better than I do, but sometimes when we are horizontal our field of vision is restricted even more than usual. I know that you know we can’t see the big picture at the moment. We don’t have the eyes that the seraphims have and we are not in a position to accurately assess all that God is doing. But I believe He is doing one of the greatest works of your life for you right now and some day we will look back and with deep gratitude say, “Lord, thank you for the year 2000. It was the best we ever had.” Should it not be this way? I believe it is true that everyday with Jesus is better than the day before.

 I don’t know when I will see you next but I know it will be a good one when I do. In saying “in closing”, I am only referring to this letter, but I want to thank you all again for the great honor and privilege you have extended to me and all the joy we have enjoyed together in our fellowship in Christ.

                                                                                            My love is with you always,   bill

Shelton Allen and Ashes

 26 Nov, 2000

Dear Ted & Phyllis,

How I enjoy our little time of Sunday fellowship. This has been a unique experience and I am afraid that I have been the principle recipient of the blessing. I don’t know how much longer we can enjoy this fellowship as the time is drawing near for my departure for Southeast Asia. I will be in Thailand for a few days and should be able to write you from there, but when I go to Laos I won’t be taking my laptop computer. Perhaps I could try handwriting but my English is so poor I would almost be ashamed to send such letters to anyone.

Last Friday I was up to Karuizawa visiting a retired Japanese pastor that I have known closely for five years. They had the SEND church here in Hatoyama for ten years but when they retired they wanted to go to the states to thank the churches for sending the missionaries that brought them to Christ. This they did and they were sharing with me some of their experiences in the states. They said one missionary they stopped to see lived in Prescott, Arizona, but it was an especially sad time. This brother had been a brilliant linguist and an outstanding missionary but now was suffering from some serious illness and was more vegetable than virile man. They said he could hardly speak any language but could only point to a few pictures of friends he still remembered. My Japanese is quite limited and after they had been talking about this sad visit, I asked, “Did you know Shelton Allen?” And they replied, “That is the man we are talking about.” Then they showed me his picture.

Did you know Shelton Allen? He was one of the early FEGC missionaries and was a legend in his time. When he first arrived in Japan he had such a passion to reach the Japanese, he studied so hard that he nearly went seishin (mental). He told a friend that one day he was standing on the platform at Tokyo eki and held out his hand to look at it. Shelton said he wasn’t sure whose hand it was – his or someone else’s. But oh, could that man preach in Japanese! He and Rollie Reasoner did a great deal of tent evangelism together. Whenever I heard the name Shelton Allen it always seemed like they were referring to someone bigger than life. I looked at the photo of this poor man now and scarcely recognized him. I thought how strange that the Lord would let him deteriorate like that.

Fifty years ago there was a very outstanding Christian officer in the US military, General Harrison. He was the UN negotiator with the North Koreans and the Chinese Communist at the Panmomjun cease-fire treaty. He was the president of the Officers Christian Union when I was in service and a highly respected conference speaker. Fifteen years ago a young friend of mine asked me if I ever heard of General Harrison. I said, “Of course, he is famous.” Then my friend told me that he had met General Harrison in a nursing home in Charlotte, N.C.  and went over to have Bible study with him every day. The general told him how much he appreciated the fellowship of this young brother as very few people stopped to see him anymore. Douglas MacArthur immortalized the words of that West Point ballad in his famous speech before the US congress in 1951, “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.” What a strange phenomenon! How strange that the servants of the Lord are not exempt, but He has exempted us from very few of the natural forces that govern nature. And in that He only exempted Himself from one – His Body did not see corruption.

Somehow we would all like to be like Enoch or Elijah and be taken up without going through the process of getting old. The Bride in Song of Solomon in talking about her Lord said, “His locks are bushy and black as a raven.” (S of S 5:11). That is true of Christ today. He was taken up in the peak of His physical development. There is no sign of decay in Christ. There was never a time when He was more powerful than He is right now. Physically I like to think that I am as strong as I was when I was 30, but my hair is thin and white and I don’t have the endurance that I had 35 years ago. Age slows us down until we come to a halt. We wished it were not so but that is the way the Lord has programmed the machine.

 This morning I was reading a book about having a passion for God. How I lament the coldness of this stony heart! I was pleading with the Lord to do for me what He did for the stones in Elijah’s alter – “the fire…consumed the burnt sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the dust, and licked up the water in the trench.” (1 Kn. 18:38). If God could make the fire to consume those stones, then I asked Him to ignite this stony heart and let it give off a little light and heat. That is the only hope I see for this poor man. But as I look at you I see a different scene. When the red heifer was offered as a burnt sacrifice they were told to take up the ashes and put them in a clean place (Num. 19:9).   

 There is such a thing as spiritual conversion – that is, taking a material object and converting into something spiritual. The easiest illustration is money. It is possible to take US dollars – with Washington or Lincoln’s picture on it – and converting that into riches in heaven. Jesus told us to lay up riches in heaven and obviously it is possible to have a bank account in the First City Bank of the New Jerusalem. We take something material and convert it to spiritual riches. In the Bible the way sacrifices were converted was by fire. As those sacrifices burned and turned to smoke the Lord smelled that sweet savor and the animal was converted to an acceptable sweet smelling sacrifice (Lev.1:9).

The same rule holds fast in the New Testament where we are encouraged to offer ourselves as living sacrifices unto God (Rom. 12:1). I see a young couple 60 years ago who made that decision to offer themselves as a living sacrifice to the Lord and for 60 years that sacrifice burned as a sweet smelling savor to the Lord and to thousands whose lives were touched by that dedication. Now 60 years later most of that offering has been accepted in heaven and the only thing that we have left as a reminder here on earth is the ashes. To the world those ashes don’t mean much, but to God and His people those ashes as priceless. The transaction has been made. The offering was made to God and He accepted it. What a miracle! You have offered something to God and He accepted it! But what was it that you offered? It was your very lives. If it can be said that anything is a treasure to God surely that is one. Heaven has been enriched and earth has been the benefactor of the sacrifice you offered Him. With everything thing accomplished all that is left on the alter is the ashes, but those ashes are a treasure that cannot be duplicated on this earth.

When I look at Shelton Allen I don’t see a spent shell of a man. When I think of General Harrison I don’t think of a sad sight of a brilliant Christian officer who has been forgotten in a nursing home. And when I pray for Ted Brannen I don’t see an active, gifted, missionary, lying in bed. I see these men as heroes whose lives have reached the mark. The dedication was genuine, the transaction has been made, the Father has been pleased, and the ashes testify to the reality of what has happened. Do we have anything to regret? The finished work of Christ on the Cross is more valuable than the potential of a Baby lying in a manger. Which is better, a young man going forward to give his life in the Lord’s service as a missionary, or the man who has spent his life with an outstanding record behind him? There is potential in the live red heifer but there is the proof of the transaction in the ashes on the alter. That is why the Lord commanded the Jews to gather up those ashes and put them in a clean place.

Would we run the clock back? No! Thank God! When I think of you I feel like I am looking at a holy scene. How challenged I am! Oh, that the Lord would hear my plea and have mercy on me! If His fire doesn’t ignite and consume that large stone that is about 6 inches under my chin what is the purpose for which I was born?  I don’t mean to be trite or repetitious, but when I say I am awed I mean it. I was awed 40 years ago at Yokota and I am still awed today. Omedeto gozaimasu. Yoku yarimashita!

 Do you remember that night we were in Arbys with Myron and Irene and I said to a young Christian boy, “You are looking at over 160 years of missionary service here.”? That is a commodity that is seldom matched. As a young man I would have thought that was something too sacred to touch. Ironically we become so accustomed to each other we lose the significance of who we are dealing with, but I still have a high regard for those early missionaries. They light the fire that is burning here today. Very few books mention their names, but in the archives of heaven they are listed on a special roster. Time has past; nature has done its work. The brilliance of youth is gone and all that is left is the ashes. But those ashes are precious. When the trumpet is sounded and the roll is called in heaven, these are the people who will be on the stage up front.

Thank you again for the honor you have afforded me to be your friend;

                                                                                     In our wonderful Lord Jesus, bill

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