Thanksgiving 2012

25 November 2012

 

Dear Phyllis,

 

The biggest event last week was Thanksgiving. The world celebrates Christmas with a passion because it is highly lucrative with Christmas sales, but Thanksgiving passes by unnoticed. I nearly forgot there was a Thanksgiving Day until my good friend Steve Robinson invited us to a special Thanksgiving supper. Turkey is unusual and very expensive in Thailand, but Steve's wife, Mai, did a marvelous job with chicken. There were about a dozen of his cell group people there having a good time of fellowship. At 9:00 o'clock, when it was time to go home, Steve thanked everyone for coming; then paused to say, “Perhaps we should thank the Lord before going home. Does anyone have anything special to thank the Lord for?” Pammy was nudging me to say something. But I remained silent. It wasn't that I didn't have anything to thank God for, but it was time to go home, and if I made a feeble attempt to thank God, that would have gone on longer than when Eutychus fell asleep and fell out of the window with Paul's preaching to midnight (Acts 20:9).

 

How can I thank God? Eternity will be inadequate. I can't begin to mention even a few of the highlights in two or three pages. I wonder if there is anyone on this planet that God has given a more privileges life to than me. I don't know anyone who has enjoyed a more varied and privileged journey than Bill Cook. Statically it is a fact that, being born in America in an upper middle class family, I started out life in the upper 3% of all the children in the world. From the time I was 1 to 21 there was virtually nothing that I wanted that I didn't have. At nine, when I wanted to be a cowboy my mother bought me a horse. For the next several years I spent nearly as much time on a horse as I did in bed. I can't remember a time that I wasn't making something with my hands, and had a fully equipped professional wood shop when I was 12. I had more tools than my shop teacher.

 

Hands down the biggest event of my life was when Jesus called me to Himself and revealed Himself to me when I was 21. There is no reason why I got saved. I had no interest , desire, or need of salvation. I was almost at the peak of life doing well in one of the most prestigious military groups in America, the Aviation Cadet Corps. The government was paying me to learn to fly and I had the brightest future in front of me. For no significant reason, I said Yes to Jesus one night and found myself born-again of His Spirit. Oh my goodness, you talk about a change; I was transformed. From that moment on, I have never changed course, and have had a single passion for living – to know and serve Christ.

 

For the next five years I had the rare privilege of flying some of the finest aircraft in the world. I was the envy of tens of millions of young men who would give anything for ten minutes of what I was doing everyday. The story of my five years in the Air Force would make a best selling biography of an exciting life. I enjoyed every minute of it. But that was nothing compared to knowing the Lord.

 

In my early years as a Christian I was bewildered at senior Christians and missionaries who spoke endlessly about how grateful they were to be saved. Yes, of course, it is good to be saved, but after being saved for a few years, shouldn't you get on to another subject? A salvation testimony is something for new believers. But 55 years later, the biggest news in my life is that I am saved. Salvation is like finding a rusty chest in a field. It doesn't look that impressive at first, but once you start digging into it, and finding the treasure that is there, it increasingly blows your mind. Salvation didn't really mean that much to me for several years, but today I am staggered by it. If someone would ask me, “What is the greatest thing that happened to you last week?”;my answer would be, “Being saved.” Thursday night, if I had given that testimony, everyone would have wondered, “What is wrong with him?”. The problem is that we don't know the thousandth part of what is in salvation.

 

I had no interest in Japan until the Lord led me to accept an unknown assignment in the Orient that turned out to be Yokota Air Base at Tokhyo. From the moment I got off the plane, I felt like I had been born there, and wanted to spend my life there. My plans were to be a career military officer, but I greatly admired missionaries. I got involved in mission work from the first month I was in Japan, but to be a missionary was a level and a privilege that was beyond my dreams. I felt like I had joined the most prestigious army in the world when I resigned my Air Force commission to stay on in Japan to serve the Lord full time.

 

From there on my life could be divided into five distinctly different lives. The next 18 years was basically my time in Karuizawa. In 1962 I went to Karuizawa for language study. I loved Karuizawa. It is undoubtedly the most unique town in Japan. For years when I would tell people that I lived in Karuizawa, they would look at me in awe as I was about one in a thousand that could live in Karuizawa. While there, I had the great privilege of being a co-worker and disciple of Joe Carroll. I thought Joe was the greatest Christian in the world and to be closely associated with him was like being a traveling companion of the Apostle Paul. Then for 13 years I had the great privilege of being the director of the Karuizawa language school.

 

The next phase was my 8 years in Ikoma. In 1982 we had the great privilege of being invited to work with the Japan Mission. Neil Verwey is the most Christ-like man I have ever met. To know a man like Neil would be an enormous privilege but to consider him one of my closest friends is something on a higher level. The things I could write about Neil are voluminous.

 

In 1990 my world totally collapsed. Things I thought were impossible for Christians became a hellish, nightmare, reality. You know that story. I have told you about it many times. My happy family disintegrated and has never come together again. I lost every thing, and for the next five years was a homeless man. It defied imagining how anything good could come out of that disaster. But in retrospect, I now thank God for the very special thing He did for me in divorcing me from a conventional life, and clearing the slate for what was to follow. There is no question but what that termination of my life opened the gate for the Lord to give me a different life that is inexpressibly above my highest dreams.

 

In '95 my life settled down a little when I joined New Life League. Again this was a great privilege. With its legendary presses printing millions of Bibles for the underground church in China and several other countries, I considered NLL the most influential Christian organization, having the greatest impact for the Kingdom of God on earth. In the '90s there was a historic revival in China, and NLL was a major player by being one of the main sources of the Word of God that fed that flame. When I would go down to the printing section, I was always impressed, “This is where the nukes are made”. There were five printing presses operating, and the main one could print a full Bible ONE EVERY 2.2 SECONDS.That press was frequently going non-stop printing Chinese Bibles. It was through my association with NLL that the Lord laid upon my heart the burden to go to SEA to carry Bibles to the underground church in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Burma, and China.

 

In 1968 I read Brother Andrew's, God's Smuggler. That blew my mind. I couldn't imagine that I would ever have the opportunity to engage in such an activity. I thought just to see him would be the privilege of a lifetime. I did have a chance to hear and speak with him one night in Tokyo. But for the past 14 years the Lord has allowed me to be actively involved in doing what I read about in 1968. These past 14 years have easily been the greatest years on my life.

 

At 76, I am just starting out life again, like I was 26, with a young wife and a 4 year old daughter. There is no way I can explain that or guess where the Lord is taking me from here. Does any one have anything to be thankful for? What can I say? I believe it is safe to say that there is not another person on this planet that has had such a varied, privileged life. I am so grateful I just stand in awe and silence.

 

On a totally different subject, I have mentioned that the Lord has given us an unusual relationship with the kindergarten where Annie goes to school. I go there four mornings a week to speak to the children. But the main thing is the attitude of the director and his wife. I don't know if I have ever met anyone more aggressive in seeking the Lord. Pammy has been teaching them the Bible two hours every morning for several weeks, and they come to our house for Bible study every Friday night.

 

The scripture we were planning to cover last Friday was John 1:4-14. I told Pammy, “When we get to verse 12, I want you to take over (As many as received Him...). She is better at personal work than I am. That night she spoke to them for 15 minutes about accepting Christ. When it came down to accepting Christ, Singha surprised me with a problem I had never faced. He said, “If I accept Jesus and become a Christian, that is the end of our school.” Like every school in Thailand, they have a large idol in the school yard and a certain amount of Buddhist mediation every morning. He knew that if he became a Christian that would have to go. I asked, “Who is going to close you down?” The Thai government. To get their permit from the Thai Department of Education they had to sign a contract that they would operated that school according to Buddhist tradition. If they broke with Buddhism they would lose their registration as an authorized kindergarten. We had a very interesting discussion for the next 30 minutes, and I thought the Holy Spirit gave some light.

 

I told him, “I have no idea what to say, and if you did what I told you, you would make a big mistake. But God is bigger than the Thai government. I believe He has an answer. If you follow Jesus, I am sure He can tell you how to get past this problem.” I asked, “Do you want to follow Jesus?”Absolutely! So I had him pray, “Lord Jesus, I want to follow you –and I will follow you – but I have a huge problem that I don't know what to do. Please lead me and show me Your solution.” I have no idea how the Lord is going to solve this one, but it is now His problem. The ball is in His court. If I tell them, “Take a stand for Christ.” – and they do it – they will have a big mess on their hands. If the Lord tells them to take a stand for Jesus – and they do it – that makes Him responsible, and He will see them through it.

 

We have been praying that the Lord will make that school to be a Christian kindergarten. And that may be what will happen. Before they left they were talking about closing the school all together, and then starting all over again as an independent Christian school. They certainly have Christian schools in this county and I see no reason why that couldn't be done. Needless to say we are very much in prayer for them.

 

Yes, we had a really blessed Thanksgiving. I don't know anyone who has more to be thankful than me. I trust you did too.

bill

How's Your Apples?

18 November 2012

Dear Phyllis,

I don't profess to be a spiritual man. At best, I am a vanilla Christian – as opposed to being some exotic spiritual person. But the other day I did have some unusual devotions where the Lord spoke clearly to me. What He said was simple, but it has challenged me to do a lot of basic thinking. In reading Song of Solomon chapter 7 the bottom part of verse 8 suddenly stood out -“The smell of thy nose is like apples”. The NIV translates that“Your breath smells like apples”, and I won't quibble over that. The obvious truth is that our breath smells like what we eat. If you eat garlic, you will smell like garlic. If you eat kimche, you will smell like kimche. If you eat apples you will smell like apples.

When the Lord spoke to me about apples, my mind immediately went back to S. of S. 2:2, 5 where the Christian, in speaking about Jesus, says, “As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved among the sons. I sat down under His shadow with great delight and His fruit was sweet to my taste. … Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples...”Obviously, there is a direct connection between S. of S. 2:3 and 7:8. It didn't take a great deal of exegesis for the Holy Spirit to explain to me what He was trying to emphasize. That is: “If we feed on Jesus we will smell like Jesus”.

From there my mind went to John 6:53 where Jesus said, “Except ye eat the flesh pf the Son of man and drink His Blood ye have no life in you.” That is a tough verse, and I have spent a lot of time mulling it over in my mind. There are only three possible interpretations. One is cannibalism, and it doesn't take long to dismiss that. The second is the Catholic approach of transubstantiation – that the bread actually becomes the organic flesh (meat) of Christ, and the wine becomes His Blood. (They haven't told us if His Blood is O+ or what type it is yet.) This is the driving engine for the mass system, where a believer has to take communion everyday in order to have the life of Christ physically in their system. Unfortunately, if you had an accident on your way to church, or vomited up the wafer shortly after taking mass, you would lose your salvation. Obviously this is not what Jesus had in mind by that statement.

The only other explanation is that it is spiritual. I don't believe it is a departure from biblical truth to spiritualize much of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. Human nature gravitates to the external. Most religions are external. Buddhism must have its material idols. Catholicism must have it's crucifixes, statues and physical bread and wine. Judaism, in the time of Christ, was basically physical with its washing of hands and pots. We read where the Pharisees got bent out of shape that Jesus disciples eat without washing their hands. Jesus denounced them for substituting their traditions at the expense of the commandments of God. When the disciples didn't come up to speed, He said, “Are you without understanding also? What enters a persons mouth won't defile them. It only goes into their stomach. The problem is the heart. It is the things that come out of the heart that defile them.” (Mk. 7:1-23). The whole teaching of Christ has to do with our hearts.

When He talks about eating His flesh He obviously has a spiritual meaning. If this is such an important spiritual truth, the question naturally arises, how do you eat Christ's flesh? He explains this a little bit five verses later when He said, “As I live by the Father, so that he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me.” (Jn. 6:57). When He said, “As I live by the Father, so that he that eateth Me, even he shall live by me”; that is: to eat Christ, is to live by Christ the same way that Jesus lived by the Father. As I have thought a great deal about this over the years, I keep coming back to the question, How do you do it? My answer to that is, “I don't know”. But then I ask myself, “Have you ever done it?” To that question my answer is “Yes”.Obviously I have done it. I have lived a Christian life for 55 years. Somehow I have lived by Christ. I know that Christ has lived, and does live, in me. This is a great mystery, and the greatest miracle I have ever seen. This was something that amazed me so much 55 years ago when Jesus came to live in my heart, and I was born-again. Suddenly there was a radical transformation in me. The things that used to be so important just faded away, and things I used to think were the dumbest things possible became my greatest joy – Bible study, Christian fellowship, witnessing, etc. It had to be Christ. There was no other explanation.

Being born-again is a one time experience, but the daily Christian life is something that happens every day. It is one thing to accept Jesus into your heart, but it is a totally different matter to feed on Him every day. I am sure this is why Jesus called Himself the Bread of Life. Eating bread is not a one time experience. You can no more live without eating bread (food) than you can live without breathing air. People who don't eat get sick. Just as three square meals a day is important for a healthy life, it is equally important that we feed on the Bread of Life (Jesus) every day.

I won't attempt to write some detailed exposition how you feed on Jesus, but one thing seems obvious; this entails a consistent, lengthy, devotional life. We talk about how we should spend a lot of time in prayer, but you can't do that with a hurried life-style. You can't do that by sitting up late every night watching TV, and then running off to work the next morning. I suspect this may be one of the greatest tragedies of our modern technological life. We don't have to feed the horse, clean the barn, and saddle the horse to go into town. All we do is get in a car and we are there. But are we any better off? Life is easy today, but it is questionable that there is less stress. If anything, the stress of daily living today is much higher. One of the things that has gone with the rigors of daily living of the pre-high-tech days is waiting upon God.

We were talking about this problem at our early morning Wednesday prayer meeting last week. One brother complained that his life is much more difficult than living was 200 years ago. He had to be in two or three different countries occasionally, and committee meetings were a way of life. He complained that the stress was terrible. One could envy the man who didn't have a cell phone tracking him down 24-7. What a blessing it would be to quietly ride a horse for an hour going from one place to another . There would be no road-rage. Your prayer life would be deepened riding a horse. (Although some people have told me that their prayer life has been greatly deepened by riding in a car with me. Some people have said that the most fervent times of prayer of their life was when I was sitting behind the wheel.) To me it seems incontestable that the quality of Christian writers 200 years ago was radically different than today's writers. Matthew Henry wrote with a quill pen, but today's writers, with their computers, cannot be compared with the depth of what Matthew Henry had to share.

It was this problem of today's high speed life that spoke so much to me when the Holy Spirit said to me the other day, “Your breath smells like apples” I thought,“Really? What does my breath smell like?” To what degree have I been feeding on Christ? Oh that is a big problem! I spend an hour a night looking at Fox News on my computer. When people are around me, what is the first thing that comes out of my mouth? Am I so filled with Christ that the election and Benghazi hardly matter? Is it a major topic of discussion how the Dallas Cowboys or the Green Bay Packers are doing this year? There is no two ways about it. I will smell like the thing that I feed on the most.

But when the Lord spoke to me about apples, my mind went back to the original verse in S. of S. 2:3 – “As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved among the sons. I sat down under His shadow with great delight and His fruit was sweet to my taste.” Oh my goodness, what a blessing! What volumes could, and should be, written about that! The Song of Solomon is the full spectrum of the Christian life. The verb tenses in chapter 1 are forward looking, and the verb tenses in chapter 8 are past tense. Chapter 2 is a time of new discovery. That is why the believer says here “I sat down under His shadow with great delight and His fruit was sweet to my taste.”

Oh the joy it is to first experience what it is to sit down under Christ shadow! In the parable of the sower in Matt. 13, we read about the seed that fell in the stony place, that “when the sun was up they were scorched” (Mt. 13:5). In the interpretation of that parable Jesus described the sun as heat because of the Word (Mt. 13:21). And the problem with the third type– the thorny place – “was the care of the world and deceitfulness of riches”. Here are problems that all Christians face. In S. of S. 1:6 we see the Christian complaining that she was black because of the sun. These are problems a new Christian faces. But then it is a wonderful day when they can sit down under Christ shadow and the heat of the sun falls on Him protecting her. It is a hallelujah day when a Christian comes to the place that they realize it is a privilege, and a cause of great joy, to suffer a little heat for Jesus sake (Mt. 5:10-12). And what a joyous experience when Jesus frees us from being possessed by things and the cares of the world. To sit in His shadow is to let Him worry about those things. How marvelous to be simply taken up with the security that we belong to Him. It was not a first time experience for me the other day, but I was enormously blessed in sitting down again under His shadow. I mean to tell you it was real. Oh it was relaxing. There are so many things that become distractions and weigh us down. It was so relaxing to sit down under His shadow again.

And His fruit was sweet to my taste. Man howdy, it was oishii (good)! His fruit is, of course, the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22). The love, the joy, the peace; oh to experience, enjoy, and feed on that is tremendous! Small wonder the believer in S. of S. 2:3 says, “As the apple tree is to the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved among the sons.” Where else are you going to find fruit like the fruit that Jesus gives? You can go any place else, and it is like chewing on pine cones.

For the past, almost one year, my number one book has been the Letters of Samuel Rutherford. I know of no other book in English that is like it. The problem is that it is written in code language. If you don't know the code of the Spirit there is no way you could figure out what he is talking about. But to me it is highly meaningful. Like no one else who ever picked up a pen; his life, his experience, his letters are saturated with the Song of Solomon. He frequently talks about how the Lord has brought him into His banqueting house and the sweetness of the apples. This was where he lived. He lifted up Jesus to heights that I have never read, seen, or heard from any other source. How my heart burns as I read about his walk and relationship with the Lord!

I grieve at my own dumbness and inability. It was a huge blessing when the Lord spoke to me about our breath smelling like apples last week. But it made me want to chew some mints to improve the smell of my own breath. It was a terrific challenge about feeding more on Christ that I might smell more like Him. What He said to me was very practical and real. But I have no idea how to share this with others. If the Lord would simply take His Word and make it meaningful to you, I would be grateful beyond expression.

Oh, He is wonderful!

bill

Where are we, US, headed?

11 November 2012

Dear Phyllis,

Unquestionably the biggest event of this past week was the US election. I do not have TV, radio, or newspapers, but I do watch Fox News regularly on my computer. Like everyone else, I have been following the developing events in the states with great interest. I feel intensely that the only way you can explain what happened last week, with the reelection of a breath-taking president, was that it was an act of God.

One commentator remarked, “Historians will look back at this period with bewilderment and wonder how a man who was totally unknown, and had never accomplished a thing, got to be elected as president of the USA. He had extremely little political background, He was the junior senator who had never submitted any legislation, and his voting record was basically 'present'. And yet, suddenly, he was the president.”

We can join future historians in their bewilderment for his first term, but that wasn't the case this time. Obama was not an unknown element. He had clearly established himself as the most extreme, radical, leftist, and the most anti-American who has ever approached that office; and yet he was voted in for a second term. I can only view this as a miracle. I see no other explanation than this was the hand of God against America in terrifying judgment. I don't believe we can prophecy the end of America any further. It has already happened. America is now history.

There will always be a beautiful land mass situated between the Atlantic and the Pacific. There will always be someone living there. To that degree America will never cease to exist until the earth is cleansed by fire. But the Judeo-Christo country that was founded 400 years ago and emerged as a strong Christian nation 200 years ago has ceased to exist. Three years ago Obama triumphantly, and correctly, declared, “America is no longer a Christian nation.” In the past 50 years I have watched with astonishment at the death of America. I have seen the unbelievable transformation of the culture from a Bible based national awareness of right and wrong, to the place where the most vile forms of sexual prevision is now been accepted, and taught in the public school system, as health and normal. In 1960, while the national percentage of born-again believers was small, yet religious freedom, and biblical Christianity, was assumed, and stood without question. Today it is illegal to pray or speak about the Bible in American schools, and it is even illegal for protestant chaplains in the military service to pray in Jesus name. We are not in danger of losing our religious freedom – we have already lost it. The next level is coming soon where there will be open persecution.

One commentator suggested, “We have lost our legitimacy as a nation”.' He was correct in the sense that we are no longer the “United States of America” Unquestionably, America is a deeply divided country. There is an extremely strong division slam down the middle that is irreconcilably polarized. Tragically, with the government entitlement policy, and the most morally depraved elements (the entertainment industry and media) of society holding the microphone, a narrow majority of the population has now voted in an administration that is guaranteed to bring about the destruction of America as a dominant nation. The end is now at hand.

In the OT the Lord had four judgments that He brought to Israel – the sword, famine, pestilences, and beasts (Ezek. 5:16, 17; 6::11, 12, 14:21). When Jesus opens the Seven Seals in heaven, the first thing we see are the four horses – the White horse, the Red horse, Black horse, and the Pale horse. Very clearly the White horse is bloodless conquest (political). The Red horse is war. The Black horse is economic collapse, and the Pale horse is death and hell (everything coming unglued). In explaining these four horses, the Lord said He would give power to these four horses to kill one forth of the earth and described them as the sword, hunger, death (disease), and beasts (Rev. 6:8), This is exactly what we see in Ezekiel.

I used to wonder what the Lord meant when He said He would send evil beasts (Ez. 5:17). And then I saw New York and Los Angeles being filled with evil beast so that it was no longer safe to walk the streets at night. America is well known as a dangerous place with evil beats. Further more the anti-Christ is called the beast (Rev. 13:3, 4; 19:20). I see the White horse in Rev. 6:2 as the anti-Christ coming to power by political means. He is the beast. The next thing that came after that is the Red horse which is probably nuclear war. It is said that a great sword was given to him (Rev.6:4). The Black horse is famine by economic collapse where wheat, barley, oil and wine are mentioned. And the Pale horse is death by ravaging diseases (AIDS).

These may or may not come in that order. I suspect the configuration maybe different, but, obviously, this is what is coming, I don't believe Obama is the anti-Christ – although he could be a candidate – but it appears obvious that the stage has been set for the final Man of Sin (2 Th. 2:3). A very bad man has been elected to be the leader of America for the next brief moment, I don't see a way in the world that the States can avoid catastrophic economic disaster. A blind man with one glass eye can see that all the economic problems the states has suffered for the past four years is only the laying the foundation for a total collapse in the near future. There is no law of economics that can sustain the staggering debt that the US government has created. Pay day will come. Small businesses have been watching which way things will go politically before venturing capital. With the strangulation of Obama Care, and unsustainable taxation, this guarantees astronomic unemployment. Greece is reeling with violent mobs demonstrating, demanding more hand-outs from a government that simply does not have any more money to give. This could well be a preview of American streets.

With the Iranian nuclear situation, Israel finds herself with her back to the wall with God alone standing between her and total annihilation. Obama has promised to gut the US military. In addition to his plans to down-grade American military strength, Obama has demonstrated his mentality as the Commander-in-chief with his handling of the Libyan crisis. Incontestably, his primary concern is his personal political posture rather than security of others. This is an invitation for Islamic extremist for more serious action. We may well find ourselves in a war soon. Some day the Red horse will come.

Modern man has placed all his hopes on medicine for the eradication of disease. The media does not like to advertise the extent of ravages of AIDS, but the unpublished figures are in the tens of millions. It would seem this was God's warning shot against sexual promiscuity. While medicine has made some progress against HIV, yet the Lord is able to concoct far more dangerous epidemics. The Bubonic plague wiped put 1/3 of Europe at one point, and that could happen again. Man is not going to prevent the Pale horse from coming with pills.

We had hoped for salvation by electing a man who might lead the States away from a course of disaster. But this is not what happened. I see little other explanation for this astounding election than this is God's inescapable judgment against America, and the unfaithful church. The church has embraced the world, and the world will destroy her. It may be argued that it is because of the churches compromise with sin that the country has become degenerate. This makes judgment inescapable.

For those who see God as only the benevolent giver of good things, all we have to do is to consider that it was God who wrote the Scroll in Revelation 5, and it is Jesus who opens the Seven Seals. These things are regulated from the Throne in heaven. From earths perspective the catastrophic disasters coming to this planet are terrifying. But from heavens view point they are things of great joy. Armageddon is a bad word here. It describes the ultimate cataclysmic war, but in heaven we see the stands cheering. Armageddon is the final conflict where the devil has total control of this earth, and mobilizes all his resources to fight against the Lamb. Chapters 15 and 19 are two of the most blessed chapters in the Bible. Chapter 15 is the scene in heaven just before the out- pouring of the final last plagues on the earth. We see everyone singing and worshiping the Lamb, and the Temple is filled with the glory of God. These final plagues are the glory of God. And chapter 19 is the scene in heaven just prior to, and the final outcome of, Armageddon. Praise God for the final last plagues and Armageddon! It is here that Jesus gets on His horse and wipes out opposition. Oh thank God for Armageddon! What a day!

The Bible is very clear about the events in the last days. It will be just like a tsunami. Before a tsunami there is a major recession of the ocean. I knew a man who was standing on the beach in Sendai the day that historic tsunami hit. He was taking pictures of the ocean when he noticed it started receding rapidly. He knew what that meant, and got in his car to get out of there before the wave hit. The Bible is clear that there will be a terrific recession of righteousness and a resounding triumph of evil over Christians in the last days. Both Daniel and Revelation warn that evil will triumph briefly. Daniel 7:25 says that the anti-Christ will “wear out the saints” ; and John warns in Rev. 13:7 that “he will make war against the saints and overcome them”. That's okay. We can take a hard hit for a brief period We know it is only for a very short time. The total period of the Great Tribulation is only seven years and the bad time is only 42 months (3 ½ years) (Rev. 13:5). It grieves me, and enrages me, to see evil men arrogantly boasting with the microphone. My stomach is not strong enough to watch CNN. Like all Christians, I was hoping that perhaps the Lord might give us a brief break to see the guys in the black hats take a licking, and let the guys in the white hats take center stage for four years. But it was not to be. This can only mean that the end is nearer than we thought.

I see Revelation 6 as an overview of the last days. The first Six Seals are the four Horses, followed by the 5^th Seal – intense persecution (Rev. 5:9-11). Then the end comes. I see the 6^th Seal in Rev. 6:12-17 and the final Vial in Rev. 16:17-21 as the same identical event. The 7^th Seal is a lot of information filling in the blanks telling us what happens leading up to the time when the heavens will be rolled up like a scroll, and the islands and mountains will flee away. I am not suggesting that Obama is the anti-Christ, but we certainly are seeing a lot of stage setting of the White horse with political conquest. It looks almost certain that we will be diving into terrible economic times that could be a token of the Black horse. And it is not hard to imagine some very serious war breaking out soon – the Red horse.

Most of the Seven Trumpets and Seven Vials are natural disasters. Sandy wasn't one, but that might have been a preview. I believe the unfolding of the events in Revelation will be different than what we think. But what happened last week may be an ominous sign that the water is receding. If this is true then we know that God's final tsunami is on its way. All of this is very good news. We may have to hold our hats for the acceleration of the Lord's program. Undoubtedly we will have to brace ourselves for a hard time for a few months. But we know that the end of this will be Armageddon with Jesus riding hard on His horse.

Oh praise God! He is coming soon!

bill

Fire That Reaches Millions

The Land whither ye go is a land of hills and valleys” (Deut. 11:11)

4 November 2012

Dear Phyllis,

Anyone who thinks that the Land of Canaan is flat doesn't know much about spiritual truth. I have found it to be a land of hills and valleys indeed. Some of those valleys are pretty deep, but the hills are equally lofty. For the previous two weeks we had been walking through a very deep valley, but this past week we have enjoyed the view from a much higher vista.

We have been married now for 15 months. The other day a friend asked me, “If you had it to do all over again, would you do the same thing?” My answer was, “I didn't have much choice. It wasn't my idea.” Marrying Pammy certainly wasn't some romantic foray. It wasn't hearts and flowers that brought us together. For her part, she was a 45 year old single girl that wanted to get married. For my part, I was an innocent male with a single goal of serving the Lord. But amazingly, Pammy's description of what she was asking the Lord to give her, was a detailed description of me. This ranged all the way from cowboy boots to being a pilot. I was bewildered from the beginning that everything in me said “no”, and yet I was confronted with a strong conviction that she was someone that Jesus had brought to me and it was my call to accept or reject. Fifteen months later I am amazed at what the Lord has done. My life is as radically different today as if I had been transported to a different planet. On the negative side, Pammy has a strong choleric streak – which is not the most winsome characteristic for a wife. She is very strong willed, strong headed, and undisciplined. From a child on she has always demanded, and got, her own way. To suddenly change that is an extremely challenging task. On the positive side, she is a somewhat high-class woman. Her father was a military medical doctor. Her grandfather was a feudal land owner with many serfs working his property. And she even claims some distant royal blood from the king of Thailand, But her strongest positive attribute is her highly aggressive evangelistic passion.

Last week she came home late one night, and I was furious; until I found out where she had been, and what she had been doing. There is a lady that I see every morning out walking her dogs, that has been much on my heart to see her brought to Christ. How Pammy got tied in with Kim I still don't know, but I was stunned when I learned that she had spent most of the day with her. In their travels that day, Kim had taken Pammy to Sarapi, which is a town about 20 km from our home. Somehow Kim was good friends with a very wealth family there. Their house looked like the Hurst castle. The man there was 44 years old and desperately sick. He has been in bed almost dead for two years. I don't know how she got into it, but somehow Pammy was was introduced to the man in bed and launched into a in-depth testimony about Christ. The man couldn't talk, but, going through his wife, Pammy asked him is he wanted to accept Jesus and be saved. He communicated that he did, and so she led him in a long prayer asking Jesus to come into his heart. There were at least four other people in the room watching this detailed scene of soul winning. I asked Pammy what Kim thought about all of this. She said, “Kim is watching”. Man howdy, you can't get a more positive witness than that! And the shocking thing was that the man called Kim the next day saying that his heart was filled with joy. It sounds like he really got saved.

Not only did Pammy share Christ with the man and lead him to the Lord, but she also went to a church near that house to talked with the pastor. The pastor has called the man since then and he promised as soon as he recovers he plans to go to that church. That is covering all the bases as thoroughly as is humanly possible.

I was stunned when I heard of this astounding event in Sarapi last Tuesday, but was further delighted to see Kim come to our house twice since then. I told Pammy how pleased I was that she had established such a deep bond with this lady that I have been praying for for eight years. And Pammy added, “Yes, I am good friends with Kim, but I have also have become friends with many of her friends who live in this muban (housing area). Wheeee! That is terrific news!

She is also good friends with another lady that didn't make me so happy. Ann lives two doors from us. When the church moved into the other half of our duplex, Ann showed up at the door announcing that she was a Christian. She has been a very consistent member of the church since then. Quite naturally, she and Pammy have become close. But the more I got to know her and her family the less impressed I was. Ann is a pastor's daughter and was raised a Christian. But her family is a total mess. Her husband is just plain NG (no good)! He is a drunkard and has other women. He has beat her. She has two teenage sons, both of whom are equally bad, and a six year old obese daughter. Annie and the daughter, Rubie, are close friends, but I don't like Annie going over to that house. The more I got to know Ann, I didn't know whose side I was on – her side or her husbands? As an unsaved man, I can see why he behaves the way he does. I was trying to put the breaks on Pammy's relationship with Ann until she told me the other side of the story. She told me that Ann was terrible. I knew that, but didn't know how bad. She had a horrible mouth, bad attitude, and zero relationship with Christ. Pammy said her whole purpose was to get Ann tied in with the Lord. Praise the Lord, apparently Pammy's efforts are paying off. There has been marked improvement. Ann's mouth and attitude have cleaned up considerably, and she seems to be moving in the direction of closing the gap between her the Lord. If she turns out to be a serous Christian, and her family gets saved, that will be a huge trophy for Pammy. It bothers me that there are so many people that you see in church every Sunday who have no relationship with the Lord. Sunday preaching is like water off a ducks back. But Pammy has been able to go beyond Sunday religion to reach this lady on realistic issues and is seeing a remarkable change. That is what it is all about.

The other day Pammy told me a story that I had previously heard but didn't really register. About five years ago she was at a swimming pool with a friend. Her friend had brought her five year old son and seven year old niece swimming. The little boy was a good swimmer, but the girl didn't know how to swim. She should have been in the wadding pool, but when no one was looking the girl went to the far end of the deep pool and jumped in. No one saw it or knew how long it had been; but a few minutes some boys saw the girl laying still on the bottom. They dove in and brought her to the surface. But it was too late. The people in charge of the swimming pool didn't want a big scene that someone had just drowned there, and had the girl's body carried to a remote corner that would not attract attention. The poor aunt went out of her mind. There was no pulse or any sign of life. A man began to desperately give her mouth to mouth resuscitation. Pammy told him to quit and let her pray, but he stayed with it. The girl had been dead for at least half an hour or more. The body was clammy cold. Pammy had been desperately crying to the Lord to restore the girl back to life. Then she went over to lift the dead girls arms in the air. When she did this, the girl took a deep breath and came back to life. Now the aunt was out of her mind with joy,

Friday night there was a big Christian deal in town here in Chiang Mai – Bless Chiang Mai. I had heard about it for a few weeks but was not planning to go. Friday night is supposed to be Bible study night and the directors of Annie's school had promised to come. Pammy suggested that we take Singha and Lec to the meeting in town, but I was opposed. Predictably, Singha and Lec were late and I thought that settled the issue. But as we were having coffee Pammy mentioned the meeting. I was surprised when our friends said, “That is a good idea. Let's go.”

I was not prepared for what happened. This meeting of Bless Chiang Mai was billed as a three hour prayer meeting to basically pray for Chiang Mai. I said, “Ya. Sure.” I could not imagine a mass rally actually being a prayer meeting. It was! It was something like I have never seen in Thailand and I can't recall a similar event in Japan.

Seven hundred years ago Chiang Mai was the capital of the Lanna Kingdom and the king built his castle and a massive moat here. Historically the moat with much of the brick walls still exist in the center of town. The Taphe gate is the largest central gathering place in town, and this meeting was packed with 3,000 Christians gathered there to pray for Chiang Mai and Thailand. It was nearly 8:00 PM when we showed up and I was stunned to see a high ranking Thai military officer standing on the platform up front pouring out his heart for this city. For the next hour and a half I sat there in tears watching Christian leader after leader stand on the platform to pray for this city and country. The time was interspersed with appropriate singing and a few remarks but basically it was a time of prayer. Apart from “thank you” and “praise the Lord” I scarcely know a word of Thai. I have little idea what was the nature of their prayers but by Pammy's frequent “amens” I gathered it was pretty good.

Linguistically I couldn't give you an analysis of the meeting but spiritual the impact was tremendous. As I watched person after person stand there and plead with God, all I could think of was John's promise of Jesus that He would baptize us with the Holy Ghost and fire (Mt. 3:11). That is the best description I can give of them – they had been baptized with fire. Their hearts were burning, and that caused a corresponding fire in my heart. This was no evangelistic rally, but the presence of the Holy Spirit was so strong that I thought it would be possible for Singha and Lec to get saved there. I have no idea what was going on in their heads but I was surprised to hear them audibly join in with what was going on on the stage. Obviously they enjoyed it very much.

At 9:30 they encouraged everyone to go over and lay hands on the brick walls of the old city and pray. Tears poured down my cheeks as I joined the thousands there laying my hands on that wall to pray. My mind went back to the time when Daniel McGilvary first arrived in Chiang Mai in 1867 to bring the Gospel to northern Thailand. It took him nearly two months to make the trip from Bangkok and the reception of the Gospel was hostile. Some of his first convert were Lao conscripts who had been brought from Laos for forced labor. At one point McGilvary himself was arrested and some of his early converts were martyred. E-mail was very slow in those days and they didn't have direct flights to Los Angeles. Those people were real heroes. They were the giants.

During the course of the evening they wanted to have special prayer for missionaries and asked all missionaries in the crowd to stand. Pammy kept pushing me, “Stand up.” But when I compare my luxurious life with the real ones I am too embarrassed to get in that line. But my heart was bursting within me as I witnessed the fruit of the sacrifice of those who have gone before.

Oh hallelujah!!! The fire has been lit! The Gospel has come to Thailand. The Lord has His church in this land and He has a number of marvelous servants baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire. Oh may that fire reach millions!

Last week was pretty good. Pammy may not be pulling down high grades for being a quiet, passive, follower; but, considering the way the Lord has made her, maybe He has given me a good thing. Thank You Jesus. And thank You for letting me live here.

bill