Strangest thing...we have gained a daughter.

17 April 2012

Dear Phyllis,

Gomen nasai (I'm sorry). It is now Tuesday morning and we just got home last night at midnight. For the past five days we have been at the Siam Baptist Association annual conference. What a marvelous time! This is the third conference I have been to this year and the fourth for Pammy. It was hands down the best conference I have been to in many years. I'm sure it was a tremendous experience for Pammy. Her background is basically Pentecostal; although she did have a brief period working with the Church of Christ Thailand. They are highly traditional and pretty dead. Of the two, she far prefers the Pentecostal. Fellowing with these Baptist was a new experience for her.

Over the years I have fellowshipped and worked with a broad spectrum of the Body of Christ. I first got saved on a Friday night standing along side a military barracks and never really got immersed in a denominational church structure. The first two years, I went to Southern Baptist churches, Nazarene, Bible, and independent churches. As soon as I got to Japan, we started our own church – The Church of the Open Door. And I was baptized in a Japanese church. Since then I have worked with three or four different Japanese denominations, Pentecostal, Charismatic, Christian and Missionary Alliance, Plymouth Brethren, and Kichijoji For the past six years I have fellowship almost entirely with the Mennonites, which I enjoyed very much. Unfortunately, since my marriage that is no longer possible as they have zero tolerance for remarriage after a divorce. Of the many groups I have worked with, some are radically different, and some mutually exclusive of each other – but I have seen Christ in all. What we had at this Siam Baptist conference was almost a micro cosmos of all. Pammy invited a Pentecost friend of hers to go with us. I wondered how she would make out, but she was fantastic. Pastor Kichikun was tremendous impressed. When we came home he told me, “I have never met a Christian like her.”

The Siam Baptist are the group that Kichikun is associated with . They sponsor him to do pioneer evangelism, church planting ministry, in Chiang Mai. His sponsoring church is in Bangkok. Kichikun told me that the attendance this year was considerably smaller than usual with somewhere over 100 believers coming from about ten different churches. But the fellowship was outstanding.

There were eight speakers to preach at ten or twelve different meetings. There were three other gaijins (foreigners) beside myself, two of which were speakers. Ron was a 35 year missionary with an independent background and presently teaching in a Bible school in Chiang Mai. Peter was a 50 year missionary who is now 81. He has taught extensively in Bible schools in Thailand for many years, but is now retired, and only comes back a few weeks a year. The other brother was Southern Baptist with a doctorate in anthropology doing research in SEA (Southeast Asia). It was a great honor to be invited to be one of the speakers as there were a number of excellent Thai pastors who were very good preachers.

The camp location was in southern Thailand about 1,100 km from Chiang Mai on the Bay of Thailand side of the country. The facilities were quite nice, belonging to the Church of Christ, about 100 meters from a nice beach. The program was relaxed, and yet quite spiritual, with a strong emphasis on the meetings. They had two sessions in the morning, the afternoons were free for swimming or anything else you wanted to do, and a very good meeting in the evening. Really it would be hard to improve on it. The singing was terrific, and all the messages were very good.

But one of the strangest things about this conference is that we may have gained a daughter from it. There was a brother there who was rather unimpressive. He was one of the poorest men I have ever met. He was poorly dressed, drove a car that was such a klunker that you would have to push it out of a junk yard; but had14 children – mostly adopted. He had brought six with him to the camp, and left his wife home with the other eight, including a very young baby. Of the six he had with him, there was one little three year old girl and twin boys who were five.

The sleeping arrangements were more or less separate. Pammy had to sleep with the women, and I slept with five other men. But Pammy wound up sleeping with this darling three year old girl, that she immediately adopted as her daughter. She bathed Ng in the morning, dressed her, and took her to breakfast. The two were inseparable for the entire camp'. Her father was grateful to have some lady take care of his young daughter, as it would be difficult for him. When Pammy first brought her darling little girl over to meet me I said, “We are going to take this one home with us”. At first it was just a matter of Pammy helping an overloaded man with a small daughter, but soon it got serious. Pammy asked me to speak to him about giving this precious one to us. I was much impressed to discover James (his Christian name) was such a wonderful brother. Of the things of this world, he had next to nothing, but his heart was a good as anyone you would ever meet. Although he lived in a shack, and scarcely had two sticks to rub together, he would not say no to anyone who had a child they didn't want. Ng's mother had abandoned the family shortly after she was born and the father couldn't take care of her. He gave her to James to raise. I asked James,“Would you be willing to share some of your wealth with us?” He responded that he would have to speak to his wife first. Shortly after we got home, Pammy called James to see which way things were going. James said that his wife was willing to let us have her. If he can get this untangled with her genetic father, it looks like there is a very strong possibility that we gained a daughter from this camp.

It was beautiful to see Pammy with her all day. She instinctively went to Pammy, and called her Mommy. She was a little slower with me, but Pammy kept saying this is your daddy. During the meeting she would usually fall asleep in my arms, as I held her for an hour. Several people asked her, “Do you want to go to Chiang Mai with this mommy? And her reply was always,”Yes”.

Ng's bond with us was so tight, I was wondering how we were ever going to part. But even that was ordered of the Lord. The last morning was as good as ever. As everyone one was getting their things together to go home. James was cleaning his junker car out for his six children. Pammy let Ng be with her twin five year old brothers in the same setting that they came in. We just got in Kichikun's car and drove away with no flurry of tears; but with a big hole in our hearts.

But if all goes well, as things look now, in a couple of weeks we will be getting on a bus again and go to southern Thailand to pick up our new daughter.

Ng is an unpronounceable name for gaijins (foreigners), so we will have to give her a new name. At first I wanted to give her a Bible name that started with a N. I came up with Naomi. But Ann is close to the Thai pronunciation for Ng, so we probably will stick with that. Ann is also a good Thai name.

What an unbelievable experience! After being on my own for 21 years, now I was at a camp with my family and my three year old daughter. Naturally speaking, what we are doing is unthinkable – but so is everything else. When I was released from NLL eight years ago, I came back to Chiang Mai with zero support, and hoped I to get off this planet before I starved to death. I honestly don't know how I made it for the first two years. But then my friend, Neil Verney, started sending me $100 a month. After that a church I had built in Japan started sending me $100 a month. This has now doubled, but I certainly didn't have money enough to get married. Now I have a beautiful home with my wife and a three year old daughter.

This is the story of a 26 year old man – not someone 76. Nine months ago I had no plans of ever being married. I wound up marrying a girl that I really didn't want, after only knowing her 18 days. That was insanity, but I felt strongly that the Lord had ordered it. I suppose it is illegal for a 76 year old man to adopt a small child in the states. Naturally speaking I should be looking for a nursing home to spend the sun-set years of my life. At this point it looks more like the sun is rising rather than setting on my life. It is difficult to imagine staying on this planet for another 25 years, but that is what the picture looks like now. For years, I tried not to collect anything beyond what I could carry on my back. Now we are setting up home big time. I still have not made a bed for ourselves, but soon I will have to make a bed for our daughter. I planed never to own another car, but now we are going to have to look for four wheels.

For years it looked like the Lord had placed me in the rubbish pile of heaven as far as a ministry was concerned. I have no idea what will happen in the future, other than I am preaching more now than I have in 30 years. I greatly enjoy my shop, but making shavings is not my main goal in life. If I can glorify God the most in my wood shop, then that is what I want, but His Word burns in my heart daily. At the moment our main goal in life is to reach the folks in this muban (housing area) for Christ. I feel strongly that every Christian should have as a main goal to win their neighbors for the Lord. That is why the Lord has placed them there.

The thing that was so different about this Baptist camp seemed to be the reality and presence of Christ. The quality and caliber of these believers was outstanding. The Kichijoji Christians in Japan are the finest Christians I have ever seen in the world. The Mennonites are a close second. But these Thai Baptist are right up there in the top tier of genuine followers of Jesus. The singing was tremendous. All the pastors I met there were at the top of the line. And the Christians they brought with them were of the same cut of fabric. There seemed to be a total absence of denominational distinction. The only thing that mattered was that they loved the Lord. Pammy has been to four conferences this year. (She attended her Thai Pentecostal conference which I missed.) I asked her which one was the best. She said, hands down, this one was it.

I was scheduled to be the last speaker, but they changed the schedule to give me the first message Sunday morning. I was warned, “Please keep it brief and don't ramble on all day”. Forty five minutes was a very short shot for all I wanted to say. I had only covered a portion when I noticed that there was only ten minutes left. The president of their association was interpreting, and said to me, “Don't look at the clock. Look at the calendar”. That was one of the most gracious things anyone has ever said to me. There was another speaker after me, so I cut out a lot of material, and only went ten or fifteen minutes overtime. Fortunately, no one complained.

Oh my goodness! What is the Lord doing? A week ago life looked fairly stable. Now it looks like we just got off the boat with a full term of serving Jesus on this planet in front of us. Jesus is coming soon. One of the great blessings is that we will all go together. Then we can worship Him united with every age and ethnic group. Oh that will be even more wonderful. Praise God!

bill

Fast Horse, Riding Hard

22 April 2012

Dear Phyllis,

I wish you were here. We are seeing things like I have never seen, or heard of, in my life. This is like the movies, only better. There is no way I can put in writing the way things are happening here, but the short story is that Jesus is on His fastest horse riding hard.

I have written to you about Paul and Marisa before. I have known Paul for about three years. He lived next door to Scott and Kae. Scott would invite him to our Bible study, but I thopught it was a waste of time. He was the last guy on this planet that would ever get saved. I never met such a no-hoper. Around Christmas, a year and a half ago, it was just like Jesus came back in a parachute and landed on their house. Paul never repented, believed, or accepted Christ. He just happened to be on the bus that Jesus hijacked.

At first he was as unteachable as any man I ever met. Talking to him was like pouring water on a rock. Now he won't stay home. He is over here every morning at 6:00 or 7:00 while I am having devotions and stays for two hours. The testimonies of what is happening is unreal.

At first the Lord gave them two children. Shortly after they got saved, Marisa's niece called her saying she wanted to come live with them. Then Marisa's daughter, by a previous marriage, that she hadn't seen in ten years, called wanting to live there. Within a month they had two 13 year old daughters. It was as if, as soon as the girls got off the bus, they were instant Christians. Both of them are fantastic, but Benjuan is somdething like I have never seen. She is only 13, but she looks and acts like she is 23. She is up every morning at 5:00, does most of the house work, nearly all the cooking, and spends most of her spare moments reading her Bible. She has started a Bible study for classmates at her school and is winning them to Christ.

Marisa is a highly legalistic, choleric woman. But that is good, as she runs a very disciplined, tight ship. They religiously have family devotions for an hour every night, and there is zero tolerance for anything in the house that is not according to the Bible or honoring to Christ. They were at a meeting one night where several girls were making a joke and being light about their back-slidden devotional life. Marisa rebuked them, and Benjuan thought it was disgusting that anyone would profess to be Christian, and not be totally dedicated to Christ.

The first major miracle happened last Christmas. They were working with a man who had a boys home but they were poor as church mice. Paul wanted to buy a pair of soccer shoes for each of the 15 boys and have a Christmas party. Garreth invited everyone in northern Thailand to come to the party. It got totally out of hand. Paul feared that as many as 100 might show up. They bought food to feed a potential crowd of 100. Marisa fried chicken for 100 and Paul ate 2 pieces before they got to the boys home. People came by the truck loads. Paul stood there in a amazement and watched 207 people get and eat a large piece of chicken when he knew there was only 98 pieces in the pot. They has six small cakes and he saw all 207 people eat a large piece of cake – and some came back for seconds.

They had a camp for the boys that was a huge success. It was so good that everyone wanted to do it again. That was two weeks ago. Paul and Marisa have no experience in Christian work, so all this is new to them; but what happened was a genuine visitation of the Holy Spirit. Paul came to see me the next day out of his mind. He said, “That was the greatest thing that has ever happened in the history of the world.” There were 40 people that showed up. The Lord had provided a gifted man to run the program. The preaching was good, but the last night the Lord visited the place, and the meeting went on all night. Paul went to bed at 3:00AM, but it was still going strong when he got up the next morning. The testimonies of what happened are too numerous to relate, but there were come amazing conversions.

There were two really bad teenage boys. One was the son of a fine Christian woman who had been a severe heartache to his mother. Both of these bays were dramatically saved and want to be missionaries. Paul gave a challenge at the end of the camp asking how many wanted to give their lives to serve the Lord. He put out a paper for anyone that wanted to work for God to sign. All 40 signed up. That caused a big problem. The next week a large number of these young folks showed up at Paul's door saying, “We signed up to work for God. What do we do?”Of necessity, Paul had to come up with something for them to do. He had never been to a street meeting himself, but just for some activity he took a group of these fired-up Christian kids to markets and public places to pass out tracts and have open air meetings. One of the bad boys that had been saved had ruined his stomach by drinking. He was in pain half doubled over. The boy gave a tract to an old man who refused it. The kid said, “Take it!” The man replied, “I can't read.” So the boy stood there and read the entire tract to the old man. When he finished he said, “Praise the Lord! I am healed! The pain in my stomach is gone.”

A couple days ago some lady from a Karen village north of Chiang Mai called Marisa saying her husband had left her and asked for prayer. Marisa went a considerable distance to this village to pray for this need. She got all the women in the village to pray for this desperate situation. All the women were boo-wooing, crying, praying when the phone rang. The call was from the man. He had repented, and was coming back. Paul got all this on video, including the phone call that came while the ladies were praying.

Several months ago Benjuan came home from school telling a terrible story about a classmate of hers. The father was a no-good drunkard and her mother was dying of last stage cancer. She had an 8 year old brother in a home where they had no food. Paul and Marisa went to see the mother and led her to Christ. She wanted to get baptized, but was too sick to go to church. Paul asked me if I would baptize her. We went over there that night and I baptized this sick woman with as much water as I could pour on someone with last stage cancer. We prayed for healing, but it was difficult to imagine that much good could come out of this hopeless situation. Much has happened since then. Boa has been healed and the doctor says there is no trace of cancer now. The 13 year old daughter, Duan, has been saved, and is doing very nicely with the Lord. She and Benjuan are virtually like sisters. But Sombat, the husband, was unspeakably BAD. The devil himself could hardly make a more wretched being. He treated his wife like dirt, He provided no money for food for the family, but drank up all his salary. He forbade Duan to go to Chriatian meetinggs, and took his 8 year old son to bars dead drunk on a motor bike. Paul wanted to kill him. He said, “This man is in need of more prayer than you realize.” For some strange reason even Boa went bonkers and turned against Paul and Marisa. Marisa said, “We must pray for Sombat.”

Neither one of them knew anything about fasting, but they had seen it in the Bible. Marisa said, “We will have to fast.” Paul replied, “Yes, but we must pray also. Other wise it is just a diet.”

“Does that mean we must pray all day?”

“I don't know, but let's start to pray.”

The phone rang. It was Sombat and Boa. Of course. They both had repented. Paul said, “Man, this is making me nervous.”

It was about three months after they were saved that Ng and Benjuan came to live with them. Then another 11 year old girl showed up in need of a home. Their house was filled with three girls. Four more girls, who were living in a remote Karen village, needed a place to live. That made 7 girls in a home where 3 was a crowd. Marisa also had a teenage son that was living with her sister. A year ago he came to stay with them for a brief period, but was just plain NG (no good), and Paul put him out. Ten months later Mo called. He had been saved, changed his name to Mathew, and wanted to come back to live with them again. I asked Paul, “Where are you going to put him?”

“I don't know.”

But he is there now making them a family with eight children. And with more to come.

If that isn't enough, a large number of young people who had been touched by the Lord at the camp meeting descended on them wanting to serve the Lord. Poor Marisa is cooking for 18 people eating like horses. Paul was reasonably well off living on his retirement salary. But he isn't financially able to carry this staggering burden. Paul told me, “I told Jesus, 'You must have misunderstood me. I just said I want to help the poor – not be poor.'” He is so strapped, the other day he reached in his pocket and pulled out 5 cents saying, “This is all the money I have.” But the Lord is miraculously sending money from other sources.

Paul has an extensive outreach via Face book . For many years he had been a prison guard, private investigator, and worked with law enforcement agencies. He has gotten reestablished with many of his former associates and friends. Every day he comes over with tales of more amazing connections. People he has never heard of are sending him money. He has zero organizational structure, but simple to have a name for some of his projects, he concocted the names of a couple of missions. The other day an accountant, he had never heard of, wrote him saying that she would handle his finances in the states. His former prison guard friends decided to have a raffle sale to help him with his camp project. One player said, “If I win, I will give all the money to Paul's ministry.” She won. Paul said most of those prison guards are real rough hombres. There is little difference between the guards and the guarded except that one sleeps inside the prison and the other sleeps at home. But a surprising number of these harden men apparently have been saved. Paul said one of his associates was especially bad. He was a Hells Angel type with violent tattoos and long hair. His wife wrote Paul saying, “The other day I saw my husband sitting in front of his computer crying.” She was very surprised to see such a hard man crying and asked him why. He answered, “I just read this letter from Paul.” She read it and cried too. The impact of his testimony seems to be as great in the states as it is here in Thailand.

This morning Paul and Marisa came to Kichikun's church and brought Boa with them. This is the lady with stage four cancer that I baptized five months ago. At that time she had about a month left in this world and was supposed to be a jar of ashes and burnt bones today. As far as I know this was the first time she had been in church since being saved, and, perhaps, the first time in her life. She gave a moving ten minute testimony of God's amazing mercy on her life.

Man howdy, I mean to tell you, things are really getting good around here. The Lord's work is not through the expected channels of established missions and missionaries, but through the most unlikely means. That way the Lord gets all the glory.

A grateful observer,

bill

Go Forth....

8 April 2012

Dear Phyllis,

Some really big things happened this past week and I scarcely know what to write. The biggest news is that Jesus has come back to life and is doing an amazing work right here in Thailand today. Today is Resurrection Sunday. It is unthinkable to preach on any other subject than the resurrection. Friday night Pastor Kichikun had a special Good Friday evening service. During the fellowship, I mentioned a verse that has long been a favorite of mine. Kichikun liked it so much, he asked me to preach that message this morning. I wasn't scheduled to preach, and I said that message would be totally out of place on Resurrection morning. He prevailed, so I reluctantly agreed to bring that word.

The message is Song of Sol. 3:11 – “Go forth...and behold King Solomon with the crown wherewith His mother crowned Him in the day of His espousal, and in the day of gladness of His heart.” Jesus was called the son of David, and Solomon is clearly a type of Christ. There is no question but what Jesus is the central character in the Song of Solomon, and that marvelous book is the story of the relationship of Jesus with His Bride, the church – Christians. When that book says “behold Solomon” it means “look at Jesus”.

I have never heard anyone preach on it, but there very clearly is a gender in the Bible. The male gender refers to God and the things of heaven. The female gender refers to the things of earth. When the scripture here says “Behold Solomon...with the crown wherewith His mother crowned Him”, it means Jesus' crowning here on this earth.

Adonijah is a type of the devil. We read in 1 Kn. 1:5 “Adonijah...exalted himself and said. 'I will be king'.” This is almost exactly the same thing Lucifer said – “I will ascend... I will exalt my throne...” (Isa. 14:13). Adonijah emulated the spirit of the devil when he tried to pull a coup to overthrow the government. He got Joab and Abiathar to work with him and anoint him as king. In this, he wisely got the backing of the military with Joab, and the backing of religion with Abiathar the priest. With this, he had the best shot at pulling off a successful coup.

Four years ago Prime Minster Taksin was out of Thailand. One morning Bangkok woke up to find tanks sitting in front of all the major government buildings. They sent Taksin an e-mail saying that he need not bother to come home again. Thailand had one of its several military coups. Adonijah pulled that stunt, and they were having a celebration party.

The prophet Nathan got wind of it, and spoke to Solomon's mother, Bathsheba. He told her, “If Adonijah gets by with this, we are all dead meat”. She and Nathan spoke to David who was old in bed. David gave instruction for Nathan to take another priest, Zodak, and Benaiah, one of David's mighty men, and to anoint Solomon quietly in Gihon. The counter measure worked and the whole city of Jerusalem was celebrating. When the news of the celebration got to Adonijah's party, suddenly all the guest remembered that they had an important engagement elsewhere.

Sometime later, after Solomon had cleaned out all the opposition, and was firmly established as king over Israel, they decided to have another coronation ceremony to properly crown him king. So they made Solomon king the second time (1Ch. 29:22).

This is a marvelous picture of Christ who will be crowned King twice. The first time was in a quiet ceremony, at a contested time, by His mother (His crowning here on earth). The second time will be by His Father when all opposition is underfoot.

But what a coronation ceremony He had here! I have spoken to you several times about the Inverted Kingdom. I have seen that the laws of the Kingdom of God are opposite to the natural laws of this world. Down is up, give is get, die is live, surrender is win, etc. There is nothing that demonstrates this principle more than the life of Christ. From His birth on, everything in His life was dead backwards from what you would expect. He was the King of the universe. Here was the Creator God manifest in the flesh. There isn't a palace or hospital on this planet high enough to be worth of having Him born there. Where was He born? In a barn!

One third of the four gospels are devoted to the last week of the life of Christ. That last week was easily the most important period of His life. It began with the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. If you had asked any well taught Bible scholar in Christ's day, “What is the sign of the coming of Israel's king?”; they should be able to reply, Zech. 9:9 – “Rejoice ...behold thy King cometh into thee; He is just having salvation: lowly, and riding upon a colt, the foal of an ass”. All four gospels cover the Triumphal Entry and Matthew and John say that this was the fulfillment of that prophecy. What we have here is the coronation of the King of Israel, which was an event that lasted one week. It began with His triumphal entry and culminated in His enthronement as king.

In time of royal coronations there is a national celebration that goes on for days. I remember when Queen Elizabeth was crowned queen of England in 1953, and when Akahito was crowned Emperor of Japan 23 years ago. These were huge events. Last year we saw the marriage of Prince William in England. The pageantry of that was a TV spectacular. For a royal coronation, kings, prime minsters, and presidents come from around the world. In former days, just the trip would take weeks, and so the coronation festival would last for several days. Christ's coronation was a one week event. But what a beginning!

For most coronations they have gold plated horse drawn carriages. The most minimal gesture is a red carpet. But when Israel's King made His entry He had to borrow a donkeys colt. His saddle was a dirty jacket, and the red carpet was jackets and palm leaves. For such pageants, they always have trumpets and royal singers announcing his arrival. Who were the heralds for Israel's king? Children! That was the most bazaar thing you could imagine.

Neither time nor space will permit me to go into details of all the events that happened during that coronation week, but may I simply suggest two state dinners that were held. One was at the house of a leper where Jesus was anointed by a woman (Mk. 1:1-8). All the dignitaries at that dinner (the disciples) thought the anointing was disgusting, and said “What a waste!”. The other state dinner was the last supper where the King wrapped Himself with a towel, and washed the guest feet because no one else would do it (Jn. 13:1-5).

The coronation ceremony itself was the event of history. He was arrested and mistreated all night in a mock trial. Early the next morning He was delivered to Pilate to be sentenced for execution. Pilate knew He was innocent, and tried to release Him; but the Jewish priest said, “If you let this Man go you are no friend of Caesars. He calls Himself King.” (Jn. 19:12). That did it.

Pilate turned Him over to a band of sadistic soldiers. These were the high dignitaries to crown the King. They took Him in a common hall, striped Him of His garment, and placed a royal scarlet robe on Him. This was the royal robe of the King. Then they crowned Him. His royal crown was thorns! This has a connection to Gen. 3:18. There were no thorns in the Garden of Eden. Thorns were the result of Adams sin. It is highly significant that Jesus was crowned with the fruit of the curse on Adam.

Then they placed a reed in His hand for His royal scepter. All kings have scepters. It is the symbol of their kingly power. There are many pictures of the king of Thailand in various settings. But in his kingly setting he never stands there with his hands in his pockets. He always has his hand on his sword or scepter. The reed is a mocking symbol of the weakness of his kingship. There is a vast difference between a hickory or oak stick and a reed. A good wooden stick had some ring to it, but a reed is worthless. That was the scepter placed in the hands of Israel's King when he was crowned. Then they spit on Him, and mocked Him.

The final act was to place Him on His Throne. What a Throne! His Throne was a Cross. Over that Throne was a sign, “This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews”. This was the crowning by His mother; Jesus' coronation on this earth.

But Song of Sol. 3:11 says it was the day of His espousal. It was. This is the day Jesus bought His wife. In this, Adam is a type of Christ. To get a wife for Adam, God put him to sleep, and then took a bone out of his side. In like manner, Jesus died. When the soldier thrust the spear into the side of Jesus, Blood and water gushed out (Jn. 19:34). It was by His Blood that we have been purchased, and water, in the Bible, is a type of spirit (Jn. 7:38,39). It was because Jesus paid the debt by His Blood, now He could send His Spirit. This was the birth of the Church. The church is a phenomenon that was never previously on this planet. In the OT the nation of Israel were the people God. There were others also saved, that we will see in heaven But the Body of Christ is different. It is unique. It is that gathering of all believers world wide, that have been purchased by His Blood, and in which the very Spirit of Christ lives in their heart. This is literally the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22,23).

The last thing that S of S 3:11 says of Christ is that “this was the day of gladness of His heart”. That is a very difficult thing to say about the crucification. But the answer to that is found in Heb. 12:2 where we read; “Looking unto Jesus...who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross...”. Jesus certainly didn't enjoy being crowned with thorns, the scourging, the spitting, and being nailed to the Cross; but He knew why He was there, and what He was accomplishing. He knew that the work He was doing was to gain His Bride.

This was the day He was crowned by His mother. But like Solomon, who was a type of Christ, He also knew that there was another day coming when He would be crowned the second time. The first time was hidden from the view of humanity when the kingdom was contested. But someday all opposition will be put away. Jesus alone will be properly seated on the highest Throne in Heaven. In one sense He already is there. In Revelation 4 and 5, John tells us that the first thing he saw in heaven was a Throne and One who sat on that Throne. The Lamb had yet to open the Seven Seals. But the day will come when the last seal will be opened and all opposition will be put to silence. We know that the day will come when every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is the Lord to the glory of God (Ph. 2:11). Jesus will be King.

That was a strange message to bring on the anniversary of our Lord's resurrection. Thank God that Jesus came and accomplished the destruction of the devil by His Cross. The devil's coup failed. Who would ever believe that this was God's way for the triumph of Christ. But in His kingdom everything is inverted.

Praise God – He is risen!!! Amen.

bill

Return of The Years the Locus Have Eaten

25 March 2012

Dear Phyllis,

My sister had a plaque hanging on the wall in her house – I will restore to you the years that the locust have eaten. I have never really cared for that verse. It gives a lot of hope for the future, but I am not sure that the Lord always does it. In my sisters case, it is hard to judge just what happened.

She married an extremely outstanding young man, Tom Knapp, and had the brightest prospects for a good life. Tom was the third generation of a highly successful family in the little town of Waverly, NY. They owned the largest department store in the area, and were one of the most respected families. But Tom was too big a fish for a very small pond. When his dad died, Tom was left as the owner and manager of the family store while still a young man. Shockingly he sold the store and got on a plane to go to Los Angeles to look for a new job. He went from walking the streets, reading the want adds column in the news paper, looking for a job, to being the vise president of the Bank of America in less than four years. But Tom had serious spiritual problems that he never could resolve. He committed suicide leaving my sister with three small children and a grim future. By pursuing her careerer as a music teacher, she was able to keep her comfortable home and did very well in raising her children. If a persons success in life is measured in their children, she couldn't have done better. All three have turned out exceptional. But she never enjoyed a happy married life.

When my family collapsed in 1990, I said, “I am at the end of lifes road.” The locust in Egypt did not do as thorough a job in making Egypt bare as what happened to me. It was just exactly like a house fire – only worse. I lost everything. I knew a brother, Bill Pape, who had been a missionary in China before the Mao takeover. When the Communist took the country, he knew he might have a tentative future, and boiled down his indispensable possessions to seven boxes. He told the Lord He could have the rest, but please let him keep those precious seven boxes. Bill said those seven boxes came between him and the Lord until he surrendered even those to Christ. Bill said that made it easier when he ultimately did leave China with only the shirt on his back.

My experience was similar except I didn't have seven boxes. I had a library of invaluable books, a life collections of pictures., a house full of comfortable furniture, my auto harp, a car and a truck, and thousands of dollars of carpentry tools. When we left Japan to go to Link Care to be healed by two years of psychotherapy, we walked away from everything. Everything I owned in this world went in one small suitcase. And then, three weeks later, my family was dismantled by Link Care. I lost my wife, my home, my family, all my supporting churches, all my worldly possessions, most of my friends, and my ministry. I walked out of Link Care a homeless man with $10 in my pocket. For the next five years I drifted around Japan building churches, and homes for missionaries and pastors for free. For eight months I set a historic precedent by being the only honey-wagon man (a vacuum truck driver, pumping out toilets) with a commercial pilots license in Japan.

I felt the Lord had down-graded me to a sub-human status and no longer considered myself a ningen (human). For the first two years I desperately tried to get back to normal life as a ningen. Life was worse than death. For years I felt like a POW. It was like I was locked up in a foreign country and desperately wanted to get back to my home and family. But that was impossible. How I longed for the days when I had a beautiful home, a lovely family, and an endless line of visitors coming to our house, where we could share Christ with them.

My eight years with New Life League were good. Roald Lidal gave me a lovely room where I had my own bed, a comfortable computer chair/desk, and a regular salary. It was a good life, but the day came when that came to an end. Again, I walked away from everything except for what few things I could carry in my backpack.

My dear friend Mark was good to me in allowing me to live in his Bible warehouse for free. There was a refrigerator, and a bed in the house. I made myself a marvelous chase lounge for devotions. But beyond that I never wanted to collect any more things than what I could carry on my back.

Over the years my desperation over relearning how to live as a single man eased up. Twenty one years passed. I longed for the days when had a home ministry, but that was impossible; and my limitation with the Thai language restricted me to a very small area of ministry.

Then, totally unsolicited, and unexpected, a lovely lady appeared on the horizon who was very aggressive in her determination to be my wife. I said for years that if I ever married again the next girl would have to propose to me. She did. I said “whoa”. I flat didn't like her. To consider someone like that was ridiculous! But I was startled how the Lord kept changing my mind. Time and again I was determined to say, “Please split” only to be startled by discussing, “IF we get married...” I later thought, “What in the world did I say?” I began to feel like the Lord had sent her to me, and it was my call to accept someone He had sent or refuse her. You know the rest of the story. It has been seven months now.

Unexpectedly Mark pulled out of this area closing down his Bible warehouse. That left us with the choice to step forward to accept the house and pay the rent from now on, or move out. That decision wasn't too difficult. For the first time I had a totally empty house on my hands. Over the years I had thought, if the Lord ever did send me a partner, I would like to reconstruct and make a totally new kitchen. It still isn't finished, but enough of it is done that women scream with envy and delight when they see what Pammy has. This has got to be the finest kitchen in Chiang Mai. I doubt there is another kitchen remotely like it in northern Thailand. I still have the wall cabinets to go, but the base cabinets are more than a dream. I never tire of sitting on one of the swivel stool I made to go with the breakfast nook island and gaze at this gorgeous knotty pine Throne Room Pammy has for her ministry. We are just beginning to have people in to eat with us. The Lord has rolled the clock back, and I am enjoying the ministry we had 30 years ago at the Joy Corral in Ikoma.

The locust devoured everything, leaving the country bone bare. Nearly a quarter of a century passed, but suddenly the desert is blooming like the Garden of Eden.

Pammy is a wonderful partner. I never cease to marvel at the one Jesus sent to me. We are quite dissimilar except for our common bond in Christ. But we are getting alone very well. I really love this girl. There were some horrific problems for the first few months, but we are understanding each other better, and the Lord is molding both of us to be better partners. This is a first time experience for me. From day one, Rosemary never accepted our marriage as the will of God for her life. As a consequence, in 20 years, she never once said to me from her heart “I love you”. At best she was stuck with a man she desperately didn't want. Pammy is a very affectionate loving wife. Her love and respect for me is genuine. She was a very strong willed, independent, lady pastor. It has been a terrible change for her to suddenly be a submissive conservative missionary wife. The role is radically different. But she is adopting to it better than I thought was possible.

For several months friends would ask me, “Can Pammy cook?” My answer was, “I don't know.” I honestly don't know what we ate. I flat cannot handle Thai cooking. That stuff is so hot (spicy) that it glows in the dark. That stuff is so hot it would defrost a meat freezer. Most of it burns my lips, and if it gets in my mouth, the taste buds are gone for hours. If I eat Thai food, my mouth is burning so badly, that it makes ice water steam. Pammy must have an asbestos mouth as she eats things with relish that a fire marshal would ban. But she is keeping the bad stuff away from me. And she is coming up with some dishes that I genuinely enjoy eating. Fortunately – or unfortunately – she is starting to develop a taste for some of my favorite foods. I say , “unfortunately” because it is getting more difficult to keep those things in the refrigerator. My favorite fruit juice, granola, cheese, potato chips, etc disappear at an alarming rate.

Her primary gift is evangelism. I have written to you about this before. I never cease to marvel at the way she witnesses. She came home the other night and said, "I just led another lady to the Lord at the market." While shopping, she engaged a stranger, and before they finished she asked the woman, “Would you like to ask Jesus to be your savior.?” When the lady responded yes, Pammy said, “Well, let's pray right now.” I don't know how many of these people are really saved, but it sure doesn't hurt to push salvation. As a partner serving the Lord, I couldn't be more pleased. The other day we were talking with a university professor friend of ours. As I looked at her radiant face telling this dear man about Jesus, I thought, “What a wonderful co-worker!”

It is wonderful to have someone live with me serving Jesus who loves me. It is wonderful to have a homey home again. It is wonderful to be back in the society of ningens again. But the Lord has given me one other special bonus. For 21 years one of the things I missed the most was my dog. We always had marvelous dogs living in our home. The first week we were married we were out visiting a home that had puppies. Pastor Kichikun picked up a pup and put it in his car. I asked, “What are you going to do with that dog?” He replied, “I am taking it home. It will be my dog.” But when he dropped us off at our place, the pup got unloaded. I asked again, “What about your dog?” This time he replied, “She is yours. Pammy wants her.” Chotto matte (just a minute)! I wasn't prepared for that, but the dog stayed. Oh my goodness, what a blessing! Black Canyon (what a stupid name!) is the most wonderful dog I have ever had. She is a little black I-don't-know-what. But the Lord doesn't make dogs any better than Black Canyon. She is highly intelligent, a lovely disposition, and very obedient. I thought Pammy and I would have a real struggle over how to raise a dog, but generally we are agreed. Black Canyon is in the house most of the time. Her favorite time of the day is early morning when I get up to let her out to go potty. Then she loves to sit on my chair with me for two hours while I have my morning devotions with the Lord.

As I sit here day by day basking in all the Lord has done in reconstructing my life, all I can say is that indeed He has restored the years that the locust have eaten. At 76 I have a more blessed life than I did when I was 36.

Two weeks ago I wrote you about the terrible storm that tore up my shop, nearly destroyed my Bible and soaked my computer. The computer is fine,, I am using my Bible every day, and the shop is amazingly in good shape. The locust are gone and the blessing of God has filled the land.

How can I ever adequately thank God?

bill

Grow White Lilies in Black soil

1 April 2012

Dear Phyllis,

The biggest thing I have going right now is my relationship with my friend Paul. He is a phenomenon like I have never seen in my life. I first met him about three years ago when he was a neighbor to my friend Scott when we had Bible studies at Scott's house. Scott would invite him to come to the Bible studies, but I had deep reservations. I thought it was a waste of time, and I really didn't want him to show up. I tried to be friendly, but he was the kind of unsaved guy that I really didn't care for. Sharing Christ with him was like pouring water on a rock. There simply was nothing going in. He was as brain-dead, unteachable, guy as you will ever meet.

Then the miracle happened around Christmas a year and a half ago. Paul and Marisa were buying Scott's house. Marisa was talking to Scott's wife, Kae. Kae told her, “I know this will be your house, but we would appreciate it if you did not put a spirit house on this property. We have dedicated this land to Jesus, and Buddhist spirit houses are infested with demons.” A miracle happened such as I have never seen. Marisa was a very dedicated Buddhist, faithfully doing everything she was supposed to in worshiping idols. When Kae talked to her, something snapped inside. She came home and got all over Paul. “You would have let me go to hell. You went with me to the temple and let me do all those things worshiping the devil. Kae told me that Buddhism is of the devil; Jesus is the true God, and the only way to heaven.” Paul was stunned. Suddenly Marisa started going to church and reading the print off the Bible. A couple months later Paul came to me and asked, “What is all this stuff about baptism?”

“Why is that?”

“My wife wants to get baptized.”

“Why does she want to get baptized?”

“She wants to join the club.”

Paul was glassy eyed and nervous. He never repented, prayed the sinners prayer, or even asked Jesus to come into his heart. He just happened to be on a bus that got hijacked by Jesus. The only thing meritorious that I saw him do that might have got points in heaven was to make a New Years resolution to read the Bible through in one year. He started at Gen. 1:1 and waded through the genealogies in Chronicles. At first I was dubious and advised him to quit the OT and read more in the NT. Paul replied, “No. A vow is a vow and I promised the Lord that I would read the whole Bible.” He finished it in four months.

At first he was highly unteachable, but after while he started coming over to talk to me like a little bird with his mouth open. Then major miracles began to happen. One was the Christmas party that they put on for a boys home. He personally saw 207 people get a large piece of chicken where he knew there was only 98 pieces in the pot. Marisa hadn't heard from her daughter in ten years. She was living with her dad who was an abbot in a Buddhist temple. Suddenly, Benjuan called and said she wanted to come and live with them. Her niece called and asked if she could come to live with them, Suddenly, they had two 13 year old daughters living with them, and both girls became instant, zealous, Christians. The only thing that anyone in the house did was read the Bible, pray, and talk about Jesus. Paul didn't have a chance.

He comes over almost every morning at 6:30 and takes a couple hours of my time. Ordinarily I would not devote that time to anyone, but I consider him someone that the Lord has sent to me to disciple. Paul is a prodigious reader and voluminously goes through stacks of Christian books. He comes from a horrible background, but he is a diamond in the rough with a lot of rough edges. In his introduction to Christianity, the Lord has put him on the fast track, and he is being swamped with a lot of Christian experience early in the game.

The first major lesson he is experiencing is disillusionment. He started out with stars in his eyes thinking that everyone in the Christian camp was wonderful. But then he started coming to me complaining, “Some of these missionaries in Chiang Mai have worse character than the prisoners in prison where I was the guard. I agree with him that some of the missionaries are sleazy characters that I don't like either, but I warned Paul about getting too negative an attitude.

Last weekend they were at a Karen village in the mountains north of here. He came back floating. He said it was the greatest time of his life. The place where they were had 27 churches. He said, “I don't know what the men do because every man I met was a preacher. Everyone in the village was up at 5:00 AM every morning praying and worshiping Jesus. But the dominant factor was the joy. The lady in the home where they stayed had had eight children. But because of the extreme poverty and lack of medical help three of her children had died. Paul said he could not imagine a person who had suffered so much and yet was the most joyous women he had ever met in his life. “They were dirt poor. They had nothing. But they wanted nothing. Jesus was everything.” Paul came back really pumped up. He had touched something that very few Christians have ever seen. This was the real deal.

In reading the Song of Sol. last week, I was impressed again how Jesus raves at the beauty of His Bride. How could He say such things? Then the Lord showed me something I had never seen before.

I have spent a great deal of time in Revelation in the past two years. I have gone over and over the Seven Churches in chapter 2 and 3. The more I studied them, the madder I got. Smyrna was hands down the best, but that was the one church that no one would care to join. They were poverty struck with horrible persecution. The Lord said they would have tribulation ten days and encouraged them to be faithful into death. Who wants that? Philadelphia gets a mild pass but was weak. The rest had serious flaws. Ephesus was good, but legalistic. They had lost their first love. It was a loveless outfit. Pergamos was polluted by those who taught fornication and idolatry. Thyatira was worse with the great female prophetess Jezebel who took sexual putridity and idolatry to a new level. And Saudis was just plain dead religion. Of the seven churches, the worse was, hands down, Laodicia. That was the affluent church that boasted they had arrived. The Lord gave them the lowest failing grade and said they made Him sick to His stomach. He said He would spew them out of His mouth (Rev. 3:16). And yet He said that He was the One who held the Seven Stars in His right hand and walked in the midst of the Seven Golden Candlesticks (the Seven Churches) (Rev. 2:1). I read that and got mad. I said, “Lord, You have no business walking in the midst of those churches. You shouldn't be around that gang in Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardus, and Laodicia.” No Christian has any business hanging around a church like those are. They should get out. I thought it was bad that Jesus would associate with such wicked, compromising, churches as those. He should just rebuke them for their sin, and get out.

The Bible has many levels of interpretation. There is the primary, secondary, tertiary, etc. The primary interpretation of the message to the Seven Churches is that these were probably seven actual churches with the Lord's message to each one. The secondary interpretation is that the Seven Churches represent seven different dispensation of church history. The church of Ephesus was the 1^st century church. Smyrna was the early church under terrible persecution. The others were the dark ages. Philadelphia would have been the 18^th ad 19^th century church. And Laodicia describes the present day church in America to a tee. The affluent church in America with their multi-million dollar buildings, state-of-the-art sound system, professional choir, TV ministry, and polished pastor; and yet Jesus is standing outside knocking on the door, calling to any man who might hear His voice. The tertiary interpretation is where the Lord speaks to us personally about some sin in our life – loss of first love, compromise with sin, deadness, etc. All three of these views seem to be legitimate.

But the Lord showed me a fourth view. The Seven Churches could represent seven different types of religious environment, or church condition. You can find all seven churches in any country where there is an established church. The Lord is very honest in telling us that this is what Christianity looks like. But I was much confused how you could reconcile the Seven Churches in Revelation with the spotless, beautiful, Bride of Christ in Song of Sol. and the Bride in Rev. 21. Then the Lord showed me something I had never seen before. In that marvelous chapter describing the final Bride in Revelation 21, I read the word; “he that overcometh...” My mind went back to the Lord's message to the Seven Churches; in each case we read; “to him that overcometh...” (Rec. 2:7,11,17,26; 3:5,12, and 21). In each case that conditional promise is given to those who overcome.

I have been in, or seen, churches that are in the exact condition described in Revelation 2 and 3. I have been in hard core Baptist churches who were hard working fundamentalist and as loving as a police dog. I have been in deep poverty churches in Korea in the 1950s, and persecuted churches in Vietnam and Laos in more recent years. I have been in churches who have sold out to compromise with idolatry and immorality in Japan. I have seen just plain dead churches and weak churches. And I have seen the affluent carnival that is supposed to be Christianity in America today. And I have found that the Lord has always left Himself a remnant of genuine believers in every religious environment.

Rosemary's home church used to be outstanding, but the devil had gotten in so badly, when I was there in 1996, I wondered if there were any Christians left. Then one day I was invited to attend a 6:00 AM mens prayer meeting. I was shocked. The were 8 or 9 guys there that were terrific. Each one had problems in their home church, but they were as sold out to Christ as you could get. Harold Carmen's church and James Bell's church in Tennessee are as good as they come. There are a few very good churches in America. There are a few good churches in Japan and Thailand. And there are a scattering of genuine believers in every environment. And these people are beautiful. No, those churches in Revelation 2 and 3 are not the Bride of Christ. But the Bride was (is) in those churches. In all seven cases there was a call “to him that overcometh”. And Rev. 21:7 says that it is those who overcome who are the real Bride.

This is what Jesus told us that the church would look like. It would be like a field of wheat where the devil got in and sowed tares (Mt. 13:24-30). The Lord has told us that we would always find a mixture.

The Lord showed me years ago that you can only grow white lilies in black soil. You can only develop Christian character in a sinful world. And the Lord has allowed the devil to pollute His church to allow the real believers to stand out in the face of tainted Christianity. This is what Paul is up against. He has found that not all that glitters is gold. There is a lot of nonsense mixed in with the real. He has been disillusioned by much of what he has found in the Christian community in Chiang Mai, but he sure enjoyed his weekend with the Karens who are the real thing. And fortunately there are some genuine children of God in some of the most challenging religious environments.

Let's keep our own robes clean and walk with Jesus this week;

bi