Prayer

28 November 2010

 Dear Phyllis,

A few weeks ago I wrote you a letter saying the disciples only asked Jesus to do two things for them – to teach them to pray, and increase their faith. In that letter I discussed a little bit about the Lord’s response to increasing faith. But the subject of prayer is perhaps even more basic.

There are few subjects more mystical than prayer. That I can talk to God? That God would hear me? That I can alter events in my own life, the lives of others, and events in this earth by the things I say to God? That is so staggering it is almost unbelievable.  Again I don’t want to get into what Jesus has taught us as to how to pray, but the story He told immediately after His instruction on prayer is an enormously important one (Lk. 11:5-8).

In His instruction in Mathew 6:9-13, of the seven points of the Lord’s Prayer He only pulled one point out for further emphasis. He said if we didn’t forgive others, God would not hear and forgive us (Mt. 6:15). This is terribly solemn.

Thirteen years ago Roald Lidal asked me if I would be interested in going to China to work on Bible logistics. I was thrilled! That was the greatest opportunity of my life.  I was within days of getting on the plane when the man I was to work with in Hong Kong red-lined me. On the basis of a pure misunderstanding he branded me as a womanizer, and said, “China is no place for a man like Cook”. That was the hardest blow I had ever taken from a man in my life. For six months I felt just like I had gone through the new-birth in reverse. Something inside me died.  A year later Brent was coming to Japan for the dedication of a new printing press at NLL. When Brent came to Hatoyama I left for Karuizawa.

For three days I stayed in the NLL cabin in Karuizawa. But the Lord met with me in a most painful way. I read the story of what Jesus told immediately after His instruction on prayer in Luke 11:5-8. A friend showed up at a fellow’s house one night, at a most inconvenient time, and the poor guy had to go to the bread store at midnight to get three loves of bread. That was a dead ringer for exactly where I was. Brent was a man on his journey and he showed up at my door step at a terrible time. I knew I had a responsibility to him, but I had nothing in my house to give him. The Lord told me very clearly that I owed him three loaves of bread.

With the terrible bitterness I had in my heart – that was killing me like cancer – I didn’t need special revelation by the Holy Spirit to tell me that I needed to forgive him. If what Jesus said in Math. 6:15 was true, I was in bad shape. Regardless to what others do to us, a bitter, unforgiving, spirit is something that we simply cannot harbor in our hearts. Brent was wrong, but I knew I had to forgive him. That was the first loaf of bread I owed him. Forgiveness is something we owe to every person we meet on this planet that may offend us.

I had gone through this seven years previously with Rosemary. When she chose to give her body to another man, and then left me under the most excruciating circumstances, I was a wee bit of an unhappy camper. For sometime I wrestled with the issue of whether or not I needed to forgive her. Does God forgive unrepentant sin? I still don’t know the answer to that question, but I don’t think He does. Rosemary was clearly unrepentant of adultery. If God didn’t forgive her, should I? What happens when someone seriously sins against you, and never apologizes? Do we need to forgive them? After months of agony, I came to the conclusion that the answer was yes – not for their sake but for our.  I knew I had to forgive Rosemary or it would kill me. Jesus didn’t qualify the nature of the offence in Math. 6:15. He simply said if we don’t forgive others, God will not forgive us our sins against Him.

At the worst time of my life, Dave Hanson flippantly said to me, “Why don’t you forgive your wife?” My response was a replica of Hiroshima. I roared, “I HAVE FORGIVEN HER! I HAVE FORGIVEN HER UNTIL I AM EXHAUSTED!!! DO YOU WANT TO SEE THE LETTERS I HAVE WRITTEN?” Dave quietly replied, “I am not interested in seeing the things you have written or said with your mouth. I can tell by your spirit that you haven’t forgiven her.” Three points. That was a shot right between the eyes. For the first time I knew he was right.

I knew the story Jesus told Peter concerning forgiveness in Mt. 18:23-35. A man owed his master a fortune, but his master freely forgave him. Then he went outside and met another guy who owed him 15 cents. He grabbed the poor turkey by the throat and throttled him. He refused to be merciful and forgive him. As a result, the unmerciful servant got called back on the carpet, and turned over to the tormentor.

I saw in that parable that there are two types of salvation. The first is to be forgiven personal sins. But the second type of salvation is to be saved from an unforgiving spirit. I knew I was as dependent on the Lord to save me from an unforgiving spirit as I was for forgiving me of my sins in the first start. I told the Lord that it was totally an act of grace on His part when He saved me from my sin many years ago, and I was as helpless to save myself from an unforgiving spirit as I was to get saved initially. If Jesus didn’t save me, there was no way I could be saved. I told the Lord if He had a sign up sheet in heaven for candidates for salvation, to please put my name near the top. I honestly don’t know how, when, or where, but I do know that somewhere along the line Jesus did – and has – saved me from an unforgiving spirit. Now I was back at square one with Brent just as I had been with Rosemary. I knew I owed Brent forgiveness.

The second loaf of bread was equally obvious. It doesn’t take a deep theologian to know that the second great commandment is to love our neighbor (Mk. 12:31). I knew I had to love Brent. No way! Oh, that seemed repulsive to think of actually loving him. I had about as fat a chance of loving him as I did to forgive him.

A friend of mine was going to a liberal church before he was saved. He heard a message on how we should love our neighbor. Tom was working in an accounting office and hated the guy at the desk next to his. After that message on loving his neighbor, Tom purposed in his heart that he would do that. And he did. The next morning he went to work and loved the guy – for 15 minutes. After that the rage in his heart was so intense he had to go to the water cooler to cool off. So much for loving the unlovely.

But I also knew that the Holy Spirit is able to shed abroad the love of Christ in our hearts (Rom. 5:5). I had experienced this several times previously where the Lord gave me genuine love for people that at first I really didn’t like. The whole point of the parable of the man at night was that someone showed up with needs that he simply could not meet. He had to go to the bread shop to get three loves of bread. I knew the second loaf of bread that I owed Brent was to love him, and that was something I flat did not have in my house.

The third loaf of bread is something that we seldom think about, but I feel is quite important. That is to trust them, or believe God for them. Paul said to the Thessalonicans, “I have confidence in the Lord touching you…that ye will do…” (2 Thes. 3:4). This is a tough one, but this is the greatest thing we can do for others – believe in them. Not that we trust them; but we trust the Lord to work in them.

In 1959 Dave Wilkerson was in New York having a dendo (evangelistic) meeting for the street gangs. They were the most dangerous animals in the city. Astonishingly, he decided to take up an offering, and asked the leaders of the two warring gangs to be the ushers to take up the offering. It doesn’t get any stupider than that. They everlastingly took up a big offering – at knife point. After they gathered the loot they went back stage, and one gang leader said to the other, “Ok, let’s get out of here.” Shockingly, the Mau Mau gang leader replied, “This the first time in my life that anyone ever trusted me. I am not going to let him down.” And Nicky Cruz was saved that night. It wasn’t the Gospel message that Dave Wilkerson preached, but the fact that he trusted him was what saved Nicky Cruz.

A friend of mine had a 14 year old son that was as bad as he could get. He was into drugs, sleeping with a 14 year old girl, and every vise he could get into. I was amazed at Dick’s tolerant attitude. I thought he was dead wrong. I would have killed the kid. Amazingly, Tim and his wife (his girl friend) turned out to be the best Christians of all the children. When Tim got saved he said, “Dad, the thing that helped me the most was when you expressed confidence in me when you had no reason, whatsoever, to do so.”

When I first got into my hell hole with Rosemary, I nearly lost my mind. My behavior was so bad my friends would have been justified to have me committed to a mental hospital. I was working on a big construction job in Karuizawa. The job foreman called the office and said, “Cook san is sick. Send up another carpenter.” My friend, Robbie, was furious. He replied, “There is nothing wrong with Bill at all. We don’t need another carpenter.” That was the greatest help I had at that time. Robbie’s confidence in me strengthened me more than anything else.

This is a strange story that Jesus told right after his instruction on prayer. There certainly are people who show up in our lives at terribly inconvenient times, with serious needs that we simply do not have the stuff in our house to meet. Thank God there is a Bread Man who is the Bread of Life to whom we can go to get three loaves of bread.

                                                                                              bill

PS: God has given me real love for Brent. I thank God for him.

Josh and Yoe

21 November 2010

Dear Phyllis,

This past week has been interesting. Monday morning a friend called and dropped a bomb. He had a nuclear problem in his house and asked my advice.

Josh has a 21 year old son that is about half saved. The boy has made a profession of faith but shows little evidence of a serious commitment to follow Christ. Unfortunately, he has a weak drive- engine to do anything in life. He is seriously under-motivated and has never held down a responsible job. But recently he came up with one factor that has highly motivated him. He has a sweet little girl friend.

 Josh was pleased to see this development as she seemed like a very good influence on Yoe. They started taking Sui to church with them and about two months ago Sui went forward to accept Christ as her savior. More than that, since then, she has shown solid evidence that she is a girl with a real desire to seriously follow Christ. It looked like Sui was going to be a big plus to their family. Josh was pleased to have her spending a lot of time there, but drew the line that she was not to go in the boy’s bedroom.

About a week ago Josh got up one morning and notice two pairs of shoes outside the door of his son’s room. The door was locked but he was able to get in the room. Two naked youngsters were lying in bed.

Needless to say there was a problem. Josh sent out of his mind and threw both youngsters out of the house. Yoe was thrilled. When he got out of the house, he and his girl friend moved in with another Christian family who took them in. Now he was on a honeymoon where he could sleep with his girl friend every night, openly, with no restriction.

I advised Josh that I really didn’t think it was wise to reward fornication with such a blessing as to be able to do it freely. I suggested that serious discipline was imperative. His wife is very tender and soft on her son, and doesn’t want to see him hurt. Josh took the matter to the pastor, and made it a church problem. Indeed it is a church problem. By definition, this is a church problem when any church has members openly living in sin. Yoe was also a member of the worship team playing his guitar for Sunday morning worship.

The first recommendation was an immediate marriage. I was opposed to that for several reasons. One was Sui is only 15. But a more serious reason was that I felt it imperative that severe discipline must be implemented. If Yoe is ever going to be saved, he must learn one of the first lessons of life – that is; there are serious consequences for sin. Sin is not the doorway to blessing. Unless serious discipline – with real pain – is implemented, it is dishonoring to the Lord and disastrous for the offender.

Josh asked, “What can I do that would bring real pain?” I suggested, “The most painful thing that could happen to him would be to deprive him from seeing his girl friend?” Josh asked, “How can I do that?”

“Have her live with you. Put the boy out on his own”

That seemed like a huge plus-plus solution. The girl comes from a terrible broken home and has, virtually, no responsible parents. She was living with an aunt. She would love to live with the Josh family. She gets along very well with his wife, and Noe would be an excellent Christian mother for Sui. Josh is an American, but the family is Thai. If Sui lived with them, that would give her an excellent foundation as a Christian, and she could learn English free by just living in that home. She shows signs of being a very obedient young lady who would bloom in that environment.

Yoe needs to be on his own to prove himself as a responsible young man holding down a job, and submitting himself to church discipline. Josh suggested to the pastor that the young couple should be disciplined openly in the church. Yoe should be put off the worship team. They should be required to publicly confess their sin before the church and repent. Their sin is not only against God but also against the church. Then there should be a three month moratorium imposed where the young couple were forbidden to have any contact with each other. After that time, they could have limited social contact. But if they failed, and secretly met before the probation period was over, the probation would be extended.

At first, the pastor balked against openly confessing sin and thought three months was too severe. He would accept two months prohibition. But then the devil took over.

Yoe kicked the slat and threatened if he could not see his girl friend every night he would run with bad buddies and get into drugs. His mother caved. She would rather see her boy sleeping with his girl friend every night than out on the street. If marriage would fix that, then immediate marriage was the only solution. Apparently the pastor caved also. Josh and I had many lengthy talks last week. He is a real man of God, but resignedly said, “You are right, but this is Thailand. The Thais don’t know what church discipline is, and this is the way they do it in this country.” My response was, “Yes, I know. And this is the reason why the church is a mess, Christ is dishonored, and extremely few people are being saved here.”

 I like the pastor very much. He is a very sincere man, and I believe he has a real desire to do the right thing and honor the Lord. But the culture seems to be the overwhelming factor. The Lord has brought him face to face with a black and white issue. How he handles this will determine, to a great degree, what will be the future of his church and ministry. If he passes the test, there will be great blessing. If he fails the test, he will go the way of thousands of other spineless pastors who run a religious club where the devil is in charge.

Effectively, what has happened is that the devil has taken over. Rather than the pastor steering the ship, the devil has taken the wheel and presented two options. In order to save the boy, he must be exempt from discipline, and sin must be rewarded. If discipline is implemented, the boy will follow the devil and go out on the street. This seems to be the way the scenario is going. The pastor must accept one of the devils options.

But to accept either of the devils options would be disastrous. Leaving apart the damage this will be to the entire church – where the door is swung open for unrestrained sin – the option for no discipline, and an immediate marriage, would be unbelievably disastrous for both the boy and the girl. He has declared that he will not accept church discipline. To back off, would be to encourage him to live a life of defiance to Christ. He can call the shots and the pastor will back down. Marriage with, free sex every night, might keep him off the street for six months, but when that gets old there is nothing in his character to hold him on course for life. By being exempt from discipline he is being deprived from the most important lesson he needs in life.

Beyond the terrible consequence this will bring on the church and the boy, I feel it is a tragedy for the little girl. At the most critical period of her life, she has a tremendous opportunity to live with a Christian family. She could continue her education, experience the love of Christ in a family, and learn English – which would give her huge advantage in life. Instead of that, she will find herself married at 15 to a young man who refuses discipline, and is highly irresponsible. What are the odds for a happy marriage? Fat chance!

If the pastor would take a stand, and challenge the devil’s threat of the boy going out on the street, he really wouldn’t be loosing a thing. The boy out on the street doing drugs may be closer to salvation than playing guitar on the worship team in a church where the love of Christ is presented with the wonderful license to live a life of unrestrained sin. Excusing sin certainly won’t bring salvation. During one of their times of discussion, the pastor confessed to Noe that he already has four couples in the church who are living in fornication. He thought it might be a move in the right direction if at least one couple actually got married.

As I read the Bible, Jesus never preached a message on the love of God as presented in churches today. The first message Jesus ever preached was REPENT! (Mk. 1:15). He told the wonderful story of the Prodigal Son. But the boy only got restored to the father after “he came to himself” and went home (Lk. 15:11-25). Even John 3:16 is followed by the melancholic warning that men prefer darkness to light, and the certainty of condemnation of those who do not respond appropriately to the Gospel (Jn. 3:18-21).

 If the Bible is correct in what it says – “Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers…shall inherit the Kingdom of God.” (1 Cor. 6:9,10); what – pray tell – does that say about thousands of folks who do these things in the church today? I feel salvation with sin is a very questionable salvation indeed. I really wouldn’t care for that kind of salvation.

 Church discipline is an enormous problem today. It is exactly the same scenario that anyone has in a home where children are deprived of discipline. We have proven with a generation of a wild, animalistic, nation what happens when this basic element of life is deleted. And, tragically, thousands of impotent churches are in the same state of disarray.

May God help us to all tighten down in our own individual lives,  bill

                        

                                                                                               bill

Heart and Soul

14 November 2010

Dear Phyllis,

In my daily devotions last week I read a tremendous exposition of Heb. 10:5-7 – “A Body Thou hast prepared for Me… I am come to do Thy will, O God”. I wonder if there is any spiritual truth more neglected, and yet more needful, for the church today than these two thoughts.

We know that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mk. 12:30). For years I wondered why the heart and soul should be presented as if they were two different organs. In the Scripture the heart and soul are often synonymous. They both our inner being that lives in our outward physical body. Of course it is imperative that our inner being be right. If our inner being isn’t right there is no way that the conduct of our outer being will be proper. The conduct of our outer being is simply the expression of what is inside.

 We know from the first three references to the heart in the Bible that the function of the heart is intellect, emotions, and will (Gen. 6:5, 6 & 8:21). But the soul is the organ by which we are related to the earth with our five physical senses – touch, taste, smell, sound, and feel. It with both our heart and our soul that we are to express our love for God. Tragically, it is also with our heart and soul that we gratify ourselves, and this is where sin dwells. The battle between sin and righteousness is fought here.

In Paradise it was in the body that sin entered the world and it is here that sin still reigns. It was to conquer sin that God gave to His Son a Body. And it was by His Body that Jesus overcame sin and put it away. If we are truly Christian it is necessary that sin not reign in our body also. This was the whole reason why Jesus came – to save us from sin (Mt. 1:21). My goodness, this is His very Name – Jesus! If Jesus doesn’t save us from sin; what, pray tell, kind of salvation is that?!

The fact that we have a body is tremendously significant. This is the basic thing that distinguishes us from angels. Angels have all the functions of a heart. They have emotions, intellect, and wills. The one thing that they do not have is a body. They are spirits that exist without a physical body. When God created man He went one step higher. Because of this the body is uniquely significant. It is with our body that we honor God or dishonor Him.

The most significant thing that God ever did was when He created a Body for Jesus. This was truly an astounding event. The Creator dwelt in a human body just like we have, with all the limitations that are upon us. His Body was subject to development and growth just like ours. He was limited in space like us. He could only be in one place at a time. He was limited in physical strength. The Cross was too heavy. He couldn’t get it in the air. He was subject top fatigue and hunger. And His Body was capable of being wounded, marred, and bleed just like ours. Praise God, it was through His Body that Jesus triumphed. It was because of what He did with His Body that He was able to open for us paradise. Had He not been victorious in His Body and shed His Blood for us there would be no salvation today. It was by His Body that Jesus undid the damage incurred by Adam. It was by the use of His Body that Jesus performed the will of God. The thing that made the Body of Jesus so unique was that this was the first time – and only time – that the will of God was perfectly done with a human body.

John warns us not to love the world (1 Jn. 2:15, 16). The reason for this is because the devil owns and runs the world. It is his domain. The devil only has three things on his shelf for sale and this is all the world can offer us – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. This has been accurately expressed as pleasure, possession, and position. This is exactly what the devil used to entice Eve out of the will of God in the Garden. She saw that the forbidden fruit was good food, pleasant to the eye, and something to make one wise (Gen. 3:6).

It was in these three areas that the devil tempted Jesus. The first was pleasure (bread), the second was possession (the whole earth), and the third was to prove His position (supported by angles) –  (Lk.4:3, 5-7, 9). The great triumph of Christ was in two aspects; He refused what the devil had to offer to gratify His Body, and secondly He gave His Body as a sacrifice to God.

The whole purpose of Christ’s coming was to restore to the Father what He lost in the Garden. That was to bring man back to God. It was in a Garden (Paradise) that humanity was lost and it was in a Garden (Gethsemane) that humanity was restored. The deciding moment came when Jesus determinedly said, “Not My will, but Thine be done”, It was by choosing to do the will of God with His Body that Jesus won.

We must use our bodies to accomplish the will of God. We cannot accomplish the will of God by wishful thinking. The only way we can do the will of God is physically. Jesus accomplished the will of God by physically offering His Body. Paul exhorted us to do the same in Rom. 12:1 – “present your bodies a living sacrifice unto God”. The only reason I have a body is to present it to God to be used as a vessel for the Spirit of Christ to live in. And if Jesus actually lives in our bodies, does that not make it doubly important how we take care of His temple?

Why is it we think we can honor God and totally exempt our body? Paul’s great desire was that God would be glorified in his body (Phil. 1:20). He was concerned that he might be a cast away if he didn’t bring his body under subjection (1 Cor. 9:27).

Somehow we have come to an entire generation who think there is no connection with their body and obeying God. We let our bodies go rampantly, totally, out of control. For untold hundreds of thousands of Christians, their bodies are an irrefutable billboard that they are dominated by their flesh. We get alarmed if someone is addicted to drugs, alcohol or pornography. And we think that food addiction is a virtue or a matter of humor. I am totally mystified by obese Christian leaders who claim to be Spirit filled. Can someone be mastered by alcohol and be Spirit filled? Is it not true that to be filled with the Spirit of Christ He must be the Lord of our body? Self-discipline is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:23) and self-discipline is clearly measured at the waist.

We are shocked, and naturally alarmed, when we hear of well known pastors, evangelists, and Christian leaders who get caught in serious secrete sin. There is no question but what a man can be a highly gifted speaker, or a deep Bible teacher, and yet harbor unmentionable sin in his private life. When this comes to light, there is a huge scandal. Any addiction is sin. All the bells and alarms go off when a man is caught in sex sin, porno, alcohol or drugs. And yet food addiction, which is probably more dangerous, gets a free pass. The difference is that food addiction is so public there is no way it can be concealed, and so many people are in bondage to it, that no one has the courage to speak against it.

The difference between the bedroom and the dinning room is privacy. Should not Jesus be Lord of both? Hopefully, most Christians at least try to maintain a minimal standard of moral purity in their private life. Tragically, for many they fail. But obesity has been so widely accepted as being socially acceptable that it is politically incorrect to even suggest that there should be some restraint at the dinner table. My goodness, obesity is even a civil liberty issue in the states today, and CNN intentionally hires some of the fattest, sloppiest, women I have ever seen to be TV anchors. Years ago you had to be attractive to be an airline hostess, but even airlines hire ugly slobs today. Free sex has gained social acceptance and obesity stands next to it. Hopefully, most churches take some kind of a stand in suggesting free sex is wrong, but the roof would collapse if preachers would take an equally strong stand against gluttony.

God gave Jesus a Body by which He did the will of God. The same is irrefutably true for us also. We are to express our obedience and love for God by our souls which is the use of our five senses. Smell, sound, sight, touch, and taste are all supposed to be properly employed. Why in the world is it that we are so deeply concerned by the misuse of one faculty and totally ignore some other? If the misuse of our eyes is wrong, shouldn’t it be equally serious to misuse our taste buds? If one is deep sin what should we say about the other?

Jesus shed His Blood to deliver me from sin in this body. May God so possess this body that the devil has no access and the will of God is perfectly done each day. bill

Lord grant it!  Please!

                                     bill

Mino MIssion

7 November 2010

Dear Phyllis,

 Last week I shared with you a couple of the testimonies of Mino Mission. I said, “That is a book that should be written but never will be. There is no way anyone could document all that went on there. That place was absolutely unique in Japan.

When Joe Carroll first came to Japan in 1954, his ship docked first at Yokkaichi. They had never met before, but Miss Whewell had heard about Joe. He was not planning on getting off the ship but Betty went to the dock to meet him, and dragged him off to Tomida Hama to preach. Joe was up on the platform thundering away the Gospel, and gave an invitation for salvation. No one moved. Betty got down off the platform where she was interpreting, and started going around the crowd. She would grab someone by the ear and demand, “You get up there! You have been here long enough. It is high time you got saved tonight.” Joe was dumbfounded. He thought, “Who does that woman think she is – the Holy Spirit?” Astoundingly, the ones that she would hail forward would dutifully stand up, go forward, and get saved. And stayed saved! Betty Whewell may not have been the Holy Spirit but she came close to thinking she was the fourth member of the Trinity.

When I was there in the 1960s Mino Mission was one of the finest missions in Japan. There was an intense sense of the presence of God in the place. The believers were some of the best Christians in the country and their testimonies were like flames of fire. The meetings were tremendous. To be a believer at Mino Mission you had to make a complete break with Japanese culture. Like the Mennonites, they were a strong sub-culture. You had to virtually renounce your Japanese citizenship. But for those who did, they knew that their citizenship was in heaven; “for they desired a better country, that is an heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared for them a city” (Heb. 11:16). There wasn’t one Japanese name for children among the believers. Every child in the mission had Bible names. Pastor Ishiguro’s sons were Isaac, John, and David. His daughter was Ruth. Everything at Mino Mission was intensely black and white. There was no gray whatsoever in the place. They knew if they were solidly on Jesus’ side, He would be solidly on their side. But if they were half-and-half, they knew it was pointless to expect Jesus to take much of a stand with them. And, man howdy, Jesus stood up for them!

Brother Sato was the ships mate on a famous ocean freighter. He was second to the captain. This was a tremendous position for any Japanese in 1954. But like all Japanese ships there was an idol in the control cabin. He took a strong stand against that idol and told the captain, “Either take that idol out or take me out”. The idol stayed. His parents were furious! That was about as stupid as it gets; to sacrifice such a lucrative job for such a small issue as working in the same room with an idol. But the next time that ship went to sea, the Lord sank that ship to the bottom of the Marianna trench (the deepest place on earth). There was one survivor – brother Sato standing on the dock. Every man on board perished. Brother Sato’s parents had deep respect for his God after that.

In September 1959 Ise-wan typhoon came straight up Nagoya bay and devastated the city. Tomida Hama was right on the beach and took the full brunt of that historic typhoon. A month later I was down in that area flying low level in my F-86 fighter. At 1,500 feet I saw a ship sitting in a rice field so far from the bay that I couldn’t see the coast. The testimonies of what happened then were legion. In Nagoya there were over 5,000 people killed, but for a 1 km radius around Mino Mission not one person perished.

There was a hard-head 90 year old idolatrous obaa chan (grandmother) who lived across the street from the church.  When the ocean came up and 12 feet of water covered that entire area that obaa chan floated on a tatami mat all night. She called on the name of the God of Mino Mission and miraculous was saved. The next morning when the water went down she was a firm believer in Jesus and burned all her idols. Obaa chan was at every meeting for the next ten years.

 Two small children who attended the mission Sunday School class were stuck in the middle of a rice paddy 20 km from the mission. It was pitch black, the wind was howling, and the water was rising all around them. The little 8 year old girl and her 5 year old brother knelt and asked Jesus to help them. Suddenly a man in a white garment appeared and led them through a maze of rice paddy paths to a village on higher ground. Then he disappeared. When the children told their story to the villagers, everyone said, “Weren’t you afraid?” They replied, “No. he made us feel good.”

When I was with the mission in 1964 we passed out a quarter of a million tracts. One night Fuji san was standing in front of the church passing out tracts to people passing by. A 19 year old girl was riding her bicycle pass him on her way to commit suicide. Fuji san stepped in front of her to stop her, and gave her a tract. Rather than committing suicide, Nakanishi san went into the church and was saved that night. That had happened two years before I was there, but every time Nakanishi san would give her testimony, it would bring tears to your eyes. I hadn’t been to the mission for 25 years, but two years ago, when I was in Japan, I stopped by for a brief visit. When I got to the mission a radiant, white hair, Bible-woman, obaa chan screamed, “Cook san!”, when she saw me. I looked at her and asked, “Are you Nakanishi san?” It was. She is still burning with fire with love for Jesus.

One of the Bible-women had tongue cancer. The doctor said the only thing that would save her life would be surgery to remove her tongue. Betty Whewell put her foot down. She said, “God gave you that tongue to praise Him, and we are not going to allow any Buddhist doctor cut it out”. Poor Hirono san certainly didn’t want the surgery, but if that was the only thing to save her life, she was in favor of it. When Miss Whewell refused to allow her to have the surgery, she resignedly said, “Shigata ga nai. Shinoo.” (Nothing can be done. I’ll die). Miraculously, they were able to get her in the Tokyo Cancer Center, which was the best hospital in the country. There was one other option, but a tough one. They could stick 12 large radio active darning needles in her jaw, converging on the cancer at the base of her tongue. It was very painful with a low prognosis of success. For one week Hirono san had the needles struck in her jaw but said it wasn’t that bad. She was up everyday cheerfully praying, reading her Bible. A week later they pulled the needles out of her jaw and she was clean of cancer. She lived for another 30 years faithfully serving the Lord.

 One time a fine brother came to me and asked if I would help him speak to a family about marrying their daughter. I knew this was nuclear and turned it over to Pastor Ishiguro and Miss Whewell. Everyone was delighted. Two weeks later Betty talked to Harada san and told him the Itois were pleased to have him as a son-in-law. Tragically he replied, “Yes, I know. I have spoken to her father.” Boom! A mushroom cloud went up. Betty Whewell’s flesh had been offended by his going directly to the father without going through her. It was a gigantic problem in the church and we all had to pray that the Itois and Harada san would repent of their deep sin. I thought she was the one who should repent. It was so bad that both parties had to quit the church. Three weeks later I was by the mission one day and Betty came floating out of the house like a school girl. She said, “Praise the Lord! A miracle has happened! Mrs. Itoi has repented of her deep sin”. Then Mrs. Itoi came weeping out of the house to apologize to me for her sin against Miss Whewell. I couldn’t believe it! It was genuine repentance. The Holy Spirit stood with Betty Whewell's flesh and broke the Itois. The couple got married.

The Lord honored Betty Whewell’s total commitment to Christ like few people I have ever known. But her tyrannical dominating spirit was deadly. Over the years 50 believers left the church to go to another church in Yokkaichi. In 1988 I was invited to speak there for a Sunday morning service. It was the first time in many years that I had been to the mission. It was terrible. The atmosphere was radically different. The believers sat there like manikins with waxy forced smiles and plastic joy. It was like preaching to the dead in a morgue. After that I said, “Never again.”  Five years later I met a boy in the Ikoma Pentecostal Bible School who turned out to be a believer from Tomida Hama. He said, “Were you the man who preached on Micah 7:18?” I was stunned he could remember the message. I told him what a bad time that was that Sunday. He replied, “No, that was one of the best services of the year.”

Over the years I have watched the transition of many churches. Nothing is static. I saw Mino Mission when it was one of the finest churches in Japan and when it was one of the worst. A militant stand for Jesus brought blessing and tyrannical legalism brought death. Two years ago I was in the area and really didn’t want to go there, but I thought I should stop by. I was delighted to see that Pastor Ishiguro’s son, Isaac, is now the pastor. At one time he had to break the death grip and go on following the Lord against the fierce opposition of Miss Whewell and his father. His father later apologized to him and said, “You were right.” Dear Isaac is 50 years old today and is a real man of God. The Lord is again visiting Mino Mission.

Praise God!   bill

Praise God!

                                    bill