27 January 2013
Dear Phyllis,
Today is one of those days. I have nothing to say. Very little has happened this past week. It sort of came out a draw. Actually a draw isn't that bad. It is a whole lot better than getting trounced. I have told friends here that we are on a day by day salvation program at the moment, and that doesn't do much for stability, and looking to a bright future. Life is a little like being at the beach watching the tide move in and out. At high tide it looks like a tropical Paradise with blue water and sailing vessels. And then the tide goes out and all you see is mud flats with snails. Two months ago I felt like the sun was just coming up on my life, and nothing could get better. Now I am hanging on by my finger tips.
Watchman Nee said there was a difference between salvation and eternal life. Eternal life has to do with being born-again and our citizenship in heaven. Salvation has to do with our experience here on earth. I think he's right. When I first got saved I didn't know what the word salvation meant. Saved from what? I soon learned that Christians use it to mean that we won't have to go to hell. We are saved from hell. But we can use the word salvation to cover a broad spectrum of subjects. We can be saved from financial disaster, sickness, family problems, mission problems, marriage problems, and a whole host of challenges of life. And, of course, the main subject should be saved from sin. That is the whole reason why the angel said to Joseph, “call His Name Jesus, because He shall save His people from their sins” (Mt. 1:21).
One of the highlights last week was to receive two most encouraging letters thanking me for what I had written. Cy Winskel strongly encouraged me to compose a book saying “It would be a valuable document contributing to the understanding on how the Lord works in the mission field”. And Scott Lemasters wrote thanking me for what he thought was something profound. In both cases I appreciate hearing from these brothers, but, in all honesty, I have no idea know what they are talking about. Several friends have encouraged me to write a book. Actually I have written two books. One is Man Howdy, my half century autobiography; and The Inverted Kingdom, about how spiritual truth is reverse from the natural laws of this world. But I believe I can say with assurance that nothing I write will ever receive broad circulation. And it is highly doubtful that anything I write will be put in a binder between two covers. As close to circulation of anything I ever composed will get, is a blogspot that Gary has established. He has complied over 140 PB letters and posted them on a blogspot. You can access them on, billcookpbletters.blogspot.com.
Actually I have written over 800 PB letters dating back to 1997 when I first started writing Ted and Phyllis Brannen every Sunday afternoon. The Brannens were some of my old missionary friends that I first met in 1958 in Japan. They retired in the 1980s and I hadn't seen them in many years until I was in the states in 1997. When I returned to Japan, simply because I had nothing to do each Sunday afternoon, I started writing Ted and Phyllis each week.. I have kept this up ever since then. If anyone has any old copies, Gary would be very interested in hearing from them. popegary@hotmail.com
Perhaps one of the major things that happened last week was yesterday. The kindergarten where Annie went was responsible for a major Kindergarten sports day with over 1,500 children participating. The directors had asked us to attend to pass out awards. Pammy was unable to go, which put me in a bad way. When I got there I told Sangha, “You have got to get someone who speaks English for me.” To my amazement, when I sat down beside the person he introduced me to, she began to talk about our muban (housing area). I was startled and asked, “Do you live in our muban?” She rep;lied, “Don't you recall talking to us at the pizza restaurant?” Oh my goodness! Yes I did recall that conversation very clearly, but I honestly didn't recognized her. Man howdy, we had a good time! Boon is an RN that has a nurses aid school right across the street from our muban. Her husband is a professor at Mae Jo University. Both of them were highly desirous of being acquainted with me. Boon pleaded with me to come to her school to talk to her girls, and said I could tell about Christian morals. And her husband asked me to come to his university to speak to over 100 of his students. He had been in Israel, and had a Christian room mate when he was in college. Both of them were anxious to be close friends with me, and pleaded that I come to their house. This is the biggest break I have had in months. That wouldn't have happened if Pammy had gone with me.
I believe I told you about a couple of JW (Jehovah Witness) workers who came to our house nearly a year ago. Oh boy, was that fun! Mike called me to warn that they were in the area. When these two girls showed up at our door, I knew immediately what I was up against. I invited them in, and we sat in the kitchen having a ball for two hours. The Holy Spirit totally controlled the meeting. These two girls sat there with their mouths open listening as I shared things they had never heard before. It was wonderful. Macaleb was so impressed she brought her dad back six months later. I knew it would be a different ball gamed with him. He was a professional JW worker (evangelist). But we had a very good time. I was amazed again how the Holy Spirit directed that conversation. Last Friday a car pulled up and two men got out. They asked, “Do you remember Macaleb Martin?” Oh yes, now I know who you are. Again we had a spectacular time. I honestly would enjoy having these folks come back often. I love to share Christ with them. In all three session, no one has had a chance to share what they have to say to me, and I honestly don't know their ball game. But in the conversations I have been amazed how far we can go on the same page. They talk about a firm commitment to the Word of God, and amazingly, use the KJV. Every verse they have suggested to me I fully agreed with. They would say something from the Bible, and I would reply, “Yes, that is exactly true.” One thing that has blown them away is they probably have never met a person who knows the Bible as well as I do. JW s consider themselves experts in the Bible talking to people who know nothing about it. To talk to someone who can trounce them in the Scripture, and take them to places they have never seen before is a new experience for them.
I have a deep ominous feeling about the immediate future. We often talk about how we feel the end is near. But now I feel it is here – now! I don't see a way in the world that America can avoid the judgment of God that is coming. I see no other explanation than Obama is God's man for the destruction of America. It was miracle that he was elected twice. Historians will marvel how it happened. In four years he has transformed the government more than all the previous presidents put together. Most commentators feel he was cautious his first term, but now he is in control for the 2nd term, his true agenda will come out. He has set the country on a course that is guaranteed economic disaster. There are no laws of economics that will sustain his program. He is on a course to desecrate the US military. And his foreign policy has got to embolden Islamic aggression. I see nothing but the blackest clouds on the horizon. Evil forces are becoming very bold and aggressive. Sexual perversions is now held in honor. And godly people will soon – if not already – be marked as bad. The devil clearly has the microphone. The well spun propaganda dished out daily by the American main stream media couldn't be more in step with Obama than if this was Russia and they were Pravda. The scales have tipped the other way in what was once a moral culture to where fundamental moral values are now in the minority. Military chaplains are now forbidden to pray in Jesus Name, and Christian symbols are taken out of military chapels. And we are supposed to survive this??!
Many have said that this looks eerily like Germany in 1930. The vast majority of Germans were thrilled with their Messiah who had pulled them out of depression and gloom after losing the 1st WW. Hitler was immensely popular. No one could envision the carnage that was awaiting them a decade away. People say this couldn't happen in America, but my reply is, “How is it possible for America to escape the judgment of God?”
Recently, I have come to a new view of Rev. 6. The first four Seals are four horses : the White horse, the Red horse, the Black horse, and the Pale horse. In the OT God had four judgments that He frequently used to punish nations: beasts, sword, famine, and pestilence (Ez. 1:15-21). In Revelation the White horse is clearly bloodless conquest, The Red horse is unmistakably war. The Black horse is economic collapse, and the Pale horse is disease. It seems clear to me that the bloodless conquest of the White horse is political conquest. Theologians are at odds with each other as to the identity of the rider on the Whits horse. The two most common views are the Christ and the anti-Christ. The anti-Christ in Rev. 13, 17, 19, and 20 is known as the beast. The other three horses are the same as the four judgments listed in Ez. 15. This being true, it would stand to reason that the rider on the White horse is the anti-Christ.
I am convinced that the events listed in Revelation – the Seven Trumpets in Rev. 8, 9; and the Seven Vials in Rev. 16, are not linear. I believe they come in a configuration with which we are not familiar. They almost appear to be an overlay. The 1st is vegetation – sores; the 2nd the ocean – ocean; the 3rd is the rivers – rivers, the 4th is the atmosphere – atmosphere; the 5th is the pit – and the kingdom, the 6th is the Euphrates – Euphrates. The event described in Rev 6:12-17 has got to be the same thing that we see in Rev. 16:17-21. There is no way these two passages could be different times. This clearly is the grand finale. If I am right that Revelation is not linear, but a different configuration, this means that the four horses could come differently than we expect.
I am not suggesting that Obama is the anti-Christ. That would be a serious stretch. But I believe we are seeing a tremendous amount of stage setting preparing the way for the anti-Christ. And it is highly possible that we could get a foretaste of the four horses in America very soon. Obama is certainly a beast destroying the country. It would be extremely odd if we don't have serious trouble with terrorist extreme Islamism. It is not impossible for mushroom clouds to appear over America. The economic collapse looks almost like a sure thing. And it is highly probable that viruses like AIDS will increase.
A wonderful Mennonite brother, Mark Yoder, stopped by to see me the other day. He had the brightest view I see on the horizon. Mark and I both agree that the church in America is in bad shape. And it is increasingly clear that things are going to get very difficult for Christians in America very soon. Early in his first term as president, Obama triumphantly declared that America is no longer a Christian nation. There is no doubt that tremendous pressure is going to come on the church soon. That is good news. That will sift the wheat from the straw. That will greatly purify the church. Hopefully, in the face of this, the Lord will raise up some might men of God with real back bones.
I might be slam wrong. This tranquility might continue for another hundred years. But I don't think so. Regardless of what happens, the one thing we do know is: TODAY IS THE DAY OF SALVATION . Best we be about our Father's business of winning for Jesus the souls for whom He died.
Gambarimasho (let's give it our best shot, all we got),
bill
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
Just Christ
20 January 2013
Dear Phyllis,
These past four weeks have been horrendous. We have taken a hammering as bad as it gets. Fortunately it appears that things are easing up slightly, and we may gain some altitude for a change. Losing Annie was major. That has cost me 20 years. Two months ago I felt like a young father at the early stage of life. Life looked wonderful. I am no longer family man. It takes children to make a family. Without children, all you have is a couple living together. We had a really good thing going teaching at Annie's kindergarten. The children there loved us very much, and we loved them. With the pain of losing Annie, we quit the school. This was a bad shock for the school. Friday I went over there to talk to the directors for the first time in three weeks. I said, “Come to church Sunday and perhaps we can talk about coming back again. It would be good if this works out. Of course we cannot rule out the possibility that Annie may come back to us, but I would be reluctant to put much money on the chances of that.
I had a good talk with Pastor Kichikun Thursday. He said at the conclusion of our time together, “The message I get out of this time is HOPE”. I have no idea what he was talking about. I certainly don't feel like the embodiment of hope. I would say, my hope is very low; but my faith is based on nothing less than Jesus Blood and righteousness. Certainly, I am not counting on my faith. If we had to go by my faith, the train wreck would have been all over many years ago. But if we go by Jesus faithfulness, there might be stability there.
When Rosemary went south 24 years ago I said, “That's it for me”. I felt I was no longer qualified to be a missionary or preacher. Consequently, for the next five years I remained in total silence. It wasn't until I was with the Japanese team doing dendo (evangelism) in Siberia that Kawasaki sensei asked me to take the responsibility for preaching. I felt the Lord would hold me responsible if I didn't share with the Russians, who had had 70 years of darkness, what I knew of Jesus. That brought me out of seclusion, and I have been preaching ever since. But with this latest upheaval, I felt this represented a serious charge against my qualifications to be a servant of God. Thursday, in our discussion Pastor Kichikun said he was going to be away this coming Sunday, and asked if I would step in for him. That was a very difficult call. I don't know what is right, but reluctantly I said I would.
I have felt for a long time that there is a serious defect in most preaching today. That includes my own message. Jesus said, “If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto Me” (Jn. 12:32). By this, Jesus was referring to His Cross, but I believe this also applies to preaching. No doubt, there is a place for preaching the law. Without preaching a standard, there is no way we can get anyone lost enough to get saved. It is only when a person sees what bad shape they are in that they will cry out for salvation. But telling a person what they should or shouldn't do will in nowise improve their conduct. Telling a drunkard he shouldn't drink won't make him dry. I am very good at preaching about sin. All I have to do is look at my own heart, and I have all the commentary I need for resource material. I can preach about principles for the Christian life. I like to preach about prophecy. But that isn't preaching Jesus. Oh, for the ability to lift up Jesus, and make Him look good! Oh, if we could only lift Him up as the jewel among jewels, and show to others His luster, perhaps that might draw some to Him.
I started to do that several months ago. The greatest passage I know that describes the beauty of Jesus is in Song of Sol. 5:10-16. In that passage there are 12 points. I had hoped to take one a month, and spend a year telling the folks in Kichikun's church how lovely our Lord is. I spent two sermons on 2/3 of the first verse. There are three points in verse 10. The first point is, “He is white (clean)”. In this Jesus is utterly unique in all humanity. He is the only one who is truly clean. If the Bible told is nothing more about Jesus, that alone would make Him uniquely qualified to be the savior. This alone would make Him attractive.
The second point is, “He is rudddy”. This is a word not commonly used in scripture or our daily speech, but is used twice in describing David (1Sam. 16:12, 17:42). Basically what this is pointing out is the humanity of Christ. A person who is healthly is a ruddy person. He has a ruddy complexion. When the Bible says that Jesus is ruddy, what it means is that He is totally human. Angels certainly are clean, but you can't say they are ruddy or human. Had Jesus never come to this earth, He certainly would have remained white, clean, or pure – spotless. But when He emerged as an infant in Mary's arms, He identified Himself with us in all our humanity. That makes Him different. The second message was on His humanity. I feel this is a weakness in evangelical circles. We react against liberalism, that rejects His deity and claims Him only as a man, so badly that we short change ourselves on this vital other aspect of the humanity of Christ.
The third point of verse 10 is, “He is the fairest among ten thousand”. If we only accepted that wording as it is in our KJV that would be a very good message, but, my understanding is that, in the Hebrew, that could be better translated “He is the flag bearer”. He carries the flag.
In years past, when two armies came together in war, they would put the flag carrier in the front of the army; and the name-of-the-game was to advance the flag. As the two armies would jostle back and forth, the flag moved according to the moving of the front line. With the advance of modern warfare, this business of moving the flag has disappeared. But in 1945 there was one incident that has immortalized this concept.
During the 2nd WW, the battle of Iwo Jima was one of the worst of the war in the Pacific. The Japanese had 20,000 soldiers deeply entrenched on this small island. There was terrific aerial and sea bombardment that did very little good. The Japanese were as tenaciously dug in as at any ground in the war. The main feature of the island was a small volcanic hill, Suribachi. Five brave Marines braved heavy enemy fire to climb that 550 foot hill to erect the American flag. A navy photographer recorded that moment in history with his legendary photo. When that scene hit the news print in America, a shot of patriotism and thrill rushed across the country. That was the first time an American flag had flown over Japanese soil.
Jesus is our flag carrier. He came and took the high ground. He has raised the Fathers flag over what was formally the devils domain and we can now safely follow in His victory.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////
That sure is a good message, but it didn't get preached. I started this letter yesterday, and this is a far as I got. It was with great anticipation that I wanted to share this message with Kichikun's church today, but it went up in smoke at 10:00 last night. I went to bed with a very heavy heart, and I knew it was impossible for me to give that message today. I was hoping I could get someone else to speak in my place, but at 5:00 AM the Lord began to give me a different word.
When I got to church this morning I was greeted by a very small crowd. At 10:30, when the service is supposed to start, the congregation consisted of two old ladies plus, Pastor Yora and his wife. Yora is the main man with Destiny Rescue, and is working with Kichikun as an associate pastor. I don't know. Maybe by the time the late-comers got there we might have had 12 or more. I was glad to see the director of Annie's school, Sangha, in church this morning. It was largely for his sake, that I spoke on What is a Christian? and How Do You Become One? The subject was very heavy on my heart, and I didn't have any trouble talking for over an hour. Even then I only covered a portion of the things that should have been said.
The relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament is a subject that is very much on my heart. I began by stating that Christian is: 1. A child of God. 2 A citizen of heaven. 3. Joined to Jesus. And 4. A holy people. I told how God choose Israel 4,000 years ago to be His people, and took them to Mt. Sinai to seal a marriage covenant with them. God ratified that covenant at Sinai, predicated on the basis of IF. The covenant was wonderful. There was nothing wrong with it. God said it was conditional on the keeping of a few house rules. I talked about the necessity of having house rules. Even in keeping a dog you must have rules that the dog must be house broke and trained. You can't have a dog making piles and puddles all over the house. Destiny Rescue has house rules. We had house rules in Karuizawa and Ikoma. If someone stayed with us, I would not permit smoking, drinking, immodesty, or rock music. If they didn't like it, they could leave. God's house rules are very reasonable. There are only ten – four vertical and six horizontal. I said, “Is God unreasonable in requiring that His people could have no other god beside Him”. I asked, “If I came home, and saw another man sitting in my place at the dinner table, would I be wrong in running him off? If I went to bed, and pulled the sheets back, only to see another man sleeping in my place, would I be unreasonable in kicking him out?” Is God out of line in insisting that we have only Him. Joshua challenged the people in his day to pick one (Josh. 24:15). If you want the Lord, then serve Him. But please don't mix them.
There is no way I can tell you all I said in a one hour message on two pages. But one point that I felt was important was the business of making a vow. There are three levels of committal speech – your word, a promise, and a vow. Of course any Christian should keep his word. If we say something, best we keep it. This is a huge problem here in Thailand, but I don't believe it is restricted to Thailand. I am particularly sensitive about keeping your word about time. If you say you will be somewhere at 6:00, it is a serious breach in honest if you aren't. But few people think much about this in Thailand. To a large degree we go by “Thai time” (anytime I get there). But a promise is a more binding commitment. I person might say he will do something, but to nail that down, we sometimes say, “Is that a promise?” That makes it considerably more binding. But the highest level is a vow. In court they use “under oath”. To lie under oath is a very serious crime. Men serve long prison sentences for perjury.
There is nothing more important in a persons life than keeping a vow. If confidence breaks down at that level, there is no more way a person can say anything significant. They are just a write off. The problem with the OT was that there was no provision to enable people to keep that vow. Israel was serious when they said, “All that the Lord commands we will do.” Tragically, history proved how faithless they were.
But in the NT the Lord makes that provision by Jesus living in our hearts. He is the law that is written in our hearts (Heb. 8:10).
Anyway, I said something like that.
We need your prayers,
bill
Dear Phyllis,
These past four weeks have been horrendous. We have taken a hammering as bad as it gets. Fortunately it appears that things are easing up slightly, and we may gain some altitude for a change. Losing Annie was major. That has cost me 20 years. Two months ago I felt like a young father at the early stage of life. Life looked wonderful. I am no longer family man. It takes children to make a family. Without children, all you have is a couple living together. We had a really good thing going teaching at Annie's kindergarten. The children there loved us very much, and we loved them. With the pain of losing Annie, we quit the school. This was a bad shock for the school. Friday I went over there to talk to the directors for the first time in three weeks. I said, “Come to church Sunday and perhaps we can talk about coming back again. It would be good if this works out. Of course we cannot rule out the possibility that Annie may come back to us, but I would be reluctant to put much money on the chances of that.
I had a good talk with Pastor Kichikun Thursday. He said at the conclusion of our time together, “The message I get out of this time is HOPE”. I have no idea what he was talking about. I certainly don't feel like the embodiment of hope. I would say, my hope is very low; but my faith is based on nothing less than Jesus Blood and righteousness. Certainly, I am not counting on my faith. If we had to go by my faith, the train wreck would have been all over many years ago. But if we go by Jesus faithfulness, there might be stability there.
When Rosemary went south 24 years ago I said, “That's it for me”. I felt I was no longer qualified to be a missionary or preacher. Consequently, for the next five years I remained in total silence. It wasn't until I was with the Japanese team doing dendo (evangelism) in Siberia that Kawasaki sensei asked me to take the responsibility for preaching. I felt the Lord would hold me responsible if I didn't share with the Russians, who had had 70 years of darkness, what I knew of Jesus. That brought me out of seclusion, and I have been preaching ever since. But with this latest upheaval, I felt this represented a serious charge against my qualifications to be a servant of God. Thursday, in our discussion Pastor Kichikun said he was going to be away this coming Sunday, and asked if I would step in for him. That was a very difficult call. I don't know what is right, but reluctantly I said I would.
I have felt for a long time that there is a serious defect in most preaching today. That includes my own message. Jesus said, “If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto Me” (Jn. 12:32). By this, Jesus was referring to His Cross, but I believe this also applies to preaching. No doubt, there is a place for preaching the law. Without preaching a standard, there is no way we can get anyone lost enough to get saved. It is only when a person sees what bad shape they are in that they will cry out for salvation. But telling a person what they should or shouldn't do will in nowise improve their conduct. Telling a drunkard he shouldn't drink won't make him dry. I am very good at preaching about sin. All I have to do is look at my own heart, and I have all the commentary I need for resource material. I can preach about principles for the Christian life. I like to preach about prophecy. But that isn't preaching Jesus. Oh, for the ability to lift up Jesus, and make Him look good! Oh, if we could only lift Him up as the jewel among jewels, and show to others His luster, perhaps that might draw some to Him.
I started to do that several months ago. The greatest passage I know that describes the beauty of Jesus is in Song of Sol. 5:10-16. In that passage there are 12 points. I had hoped to take one a month, and spend a year telling the folks in Kichikun's church how lovely our Lord is. I spent two sermons on 2/3 of the first verse. There are three points in verse 10. The first point is, “He is white (clean)”. In this Jesus is utterly unique in all humanity. He is the only one who is truly clean. If the Bible told is nothing more about Jesus, that alone would make Him uniquely qualified to be the savior. This alone would make Him attractive.
The second point is, “He is rudddy”. This is a word not commonly used in scripture or our daily speech, but is used twice in describing David (1Sam. 16:12, 17:42). Basically what this is pointing out is the humanity of Christ. A person who is healthly is a ruddy person. He has a ruddy complexion. When the Bible says that Jesus is ruddy, what it means is that He is totally human. Angels certainly are clean, but you can't say they are ruddy or human. Had Jesus never come to this earth, He certainly would have remained white, clean, or pure – spotless. But when He emerged as an infant in Mary's arms, He identified Himself with us in all our humanity. That makes Him different. The second message was on His humanity. I feel this is a weakness in evangelical circles. We react against liberalism, that rejects His deity and claims Him only as a man, so badly that we short change ourselves on this vital other aspect of the humanity of Christ.
The third point of verse 10 is, “He is the fairest among ten thousand”. If we only accepted that wording as it is in our KJV that would be a very good message, but, my understanding is that, in the Hebrew, that could be better translated “He is the flag bearer”. He carries the flag.
In years past, when two armies came together in war, they would put the flag carrier in the front of the army; and the name-of-the-game was to advance the flag. As the two armies would jostle back and forth, the flag moved according to the moving of the front line. With the advance of modern warfare, this business of moving the flag has disappeared. But in 1945 there was one incident that has immortalized this concept.
During the 2nd WW, the battle of Iwo Jima was one of the worst of the war in the Pacific. The Japanese had 20,000 soldiers deeply entrenched on this small island. There was terrific aerial and sea bombardment that did very little good. The Japanese were as tenaciously dug in as at any ground in the war. The main feature of the island was a small volcanic hill, Suribachi. Five brave Marines braved heavy enemy fire to climb that 550 foot hill to erect the American flag. A navy photographer recorded that moment in history with his legendary photo. When that scene hit the news print in America, a shot of patriotism and thrill rushed across the country. That was the first time an American flag had flown over Japanese soil.
Jesus is our flag carrier. He came and took the high ground. He has raised the Fathers flag over what was formally the devils domain and we can now safely follow in His victory.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////
That sure is a good message, but it didn't get preached. I started this letter yesterday, and this is a far as I got. It was with great anticipation that I wanted to share this message with Kichikun's church today, but it went up in smoke at 10:00 last night. I went to bed with a very heavy heart, and I knew it was impossible for me to give that message today. I was hoping I could get someone else to speak in my place, but at 5:00 AM the Lord began to give me a different word.
When I got to church this morning I was greeted by a very small crowd. At 10:30, when the service is supposed to start, the congregation consisted of two old ladies plus, Pastor Yora and his wife. Yora is the main man with Destiny Rescue, and is working with Kichikun as an associate pastor. I don't know. Maybe by the time the late-comers got there we might have had 12 or more. I was glad to see the director of Annie's school, Sangha, in church this morning. It was largely for his sake, that I spoke on What is a Christian? and How Do You Become One? The subject was very heavy on my heart, and I didn't have any trouble talking for over an hour. Even then I only covered a portion of the things that should have been said.
The relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament is a subject that is very much on my heart. I began by stating that Christian is: 1. A child of God. 2 A citizen of heaven. 3. Joined to Jesus. And 4. A holy people. I told how God choose Israel 4,000 years ago to be His people, and took them to Mt. Sinai to seal a marriage covenant with them. God ratified that covenant at Sinai, predicated on the basis of IF. The covenant was wonderful. There was nothing wrong with it. God said it was conditional on the keeping of a few house rules. I talked about the necessity of having house rules. Even in keeping a dog you must have rules that the dog must be house broke and trained. You can't have a dog making piles and puddles all over the house. Destiny Rescue has house rules. We had house rules in Karuizawa and Ikoma. If someone stayed with us, I would not permit smoking, drinking, immodesty, or rock music. If they didn't like it, they could leave. God's house rules are very reasonable. There are only ten – four vertical and six horizontal. I said, “Is God unreasonable in requiring that His people could have no other god beside Him”. I asked, “If I came home, and saw another man sitting in my place at the dinner table, would I be wrong in running him off? If I went to bed, and pulled the sheets back, only to see another man sleeping in my place, would I be unreasonable in kicking him out?” Is God out of line in insisting that we have only Him. Joshua challenged the people in his day to pick one (Josh. 24:15). If you want the Lord, then serve Him. But please don't mix them.
There is no way I can tell you all I said in a one hour message on two pages. But one point that I felt was important was the business of making a vow. There are three levels of committal speech – your word, a promise, and a vow. Of course any Christian should keep his word. If we say something, best we keep it. This is a huge problem here in Thailand, but I don't believe it is restricted to Thailand. I am particularly sensitive about keeping your word about time. If you say you will be somewhere at 6:00, it is a serious breach in honest if you aren't. But few people think much about this in Thailand. To a large degree we go by “Thai time” (anytime I get there). But a promise is a more binding commitment. I person might say he will do something, but to nail that down, we sometimes say, “Is that a promise?” That makes it considerably more binding. But the highest level is a vow. In court they use “under oath”. To lie under oath is a very serious crime. Men serve long prison sentences for perjury.
There is nothing more important in a persons life than keeping a vow. If confidence breaks down at that level, there is no more way a person can say anything significant. They are just a write off. The problem with the OT was that there was no provision to enable people to keep that vow. Israel was serious when they said, “All that the Lord commands we will do.” Tragically, history proved how faithless they were.
But in the NT the Lord makes that provision by Jesus living in our hearts. He is the law that is written in our hearts (Heb. 8:10).
Anyway, I said something like that.
We need your prayers,
bill
Monday, January 14, 2013
A Giant: Dennis Turner(Editors Note: Edited by Request)
13 January 2013
Dear Phyllis,
I have found that the spiritual life is much different than advertised. This is a huge problem. We have such expectations and are told that this is the way it is supposed to be, but we find that our life turns out radically different.
It is a sign of senility to repeat stories. I know I have told you about Dennis Turner several times before but his story bears repeating.
I have never known a man who suffered like Dennis Turner. As a young man he was working in a packing house in London and saw scraps of newspaper with Japanese writing on it. This captured his imagination so much that he began a life study of Japanese. This saved his life.
In 1942 he was with the British army with Percival in Singapore. Three days before the fall of the city he was given an assignment to take a box out to sea and dump it. He had no idea what was in the box, but it turned out to be radar, which the Japanese didn't have. Because of his voyage at sea, he wound up on Borneo, and was instructed to surrender to the Japanese army. He said they looked for days before they could find anyone who would take them captive. It was almost like getting home when they finally found someone in a green uniform. Then he spent the next four years as a POW in a Japanese prison camp. He is the only man I ever met who had a good word to say about the treatment he received as a POW. Needless to say, life was an unending series of atrocities. But he said that most of his guards were farmers from Nagano-ken. They were family men who were not the typical kamikaze fanatical soldier. But their suffering was none-the-less unimaginably horrible. At one point he was with several thousand prisoners who were being transported from one location to another in three ships. During the voyage, the Australians had them penned up in a harbor, bombing them. One of the ships was sunk, and the Japanese transfered the survivors to the remaining two ships which were horribly over crowed. Thousands of men were jammed below deck so crowded that they couldn't even sit down. As men were dying, all they could do was throw their bodies into the sea. Men went out of their minds as they saw their buddies' bodies floating with fish eating them beside the ship. Because he was the only one who spoke Japanese, he was the interpreter, and was permitted to sleep on the deck. That saved his life. At one point, a man came down with cholera. Dennis got ill. There was a Dutch doctor among the prisoners who gave him some medicine. He declined it saying there were many men far sicker than he was. The doctor replied, “If we lose you, we are all dead men.”
Dennis credits his salvation to one brave little Japanese soldier. He was Korean, but was one of the guards. He studied English in order to share Christ with the prisoners. One day he asked, “Tana san, do you have a Bible?” Dennis laughed and held up his Japanese dictionary saying, “This is my Bible.” But he saw that boy take beating after beating for talking to the prisoners. He saw that boy had something that his Anglican religion didn't provide. It was some years later that Dennis finally discovered Jesus, but he credits the testimony of that boy with the force that brought him to Christ.
Dennis was a business man in Hong Kong after the war and married a single missionary there. Because of his love for Japanese, he wound up coming to Japan as a missionary. His first term was somewhat traditional working in Numata and Shibukawa of Guma-ken planing churches. The Lord gave him some excellent fruit. Among many others, Iida san became one of the top evangelist in that area. Twenty years later Iida san was still going on strong reaching many in central Japan.
In 1970, through the introduction of one of his former prison guards, he was invited to come to Nagano-ken, and bought land in Ina. He had high hopes of repeating his pattern of planting churches in that area. It was at that time I first met Dennis. I was tremendously impressed with this obvious man of God, and considered it a great privilege to be his close friend for the next 30 years.
Nothing turned out the way it was supposed to in Ina. He had a somewhat large building put up for a children's home. The building was terrible, and his own family was coming apart at the seams. He had been living in denial for many years, but his wife's (...........) boiled over shortly after they moved to Ina. I was 34 at the time and had never heard such terrifying stories. They had five children, and, predictably, the children were not doing well. His second youngest daughter was 14, but a very mature girl and could pass for 20 in any Japanese bar. You can imagine the heartache she was to her father running around with unsaved boys. In answer to prayer, it was two years later, when she was in England, that the Lord finally got a good grip on her. All three girls turned out to be fine Christians, married well, and have wonderful Christian families.
In desperation, Dennis took his family back to England to try to save his wife. A psychiatrist advised him that his best shot was to return to Japan, and watch the situation with a microscope from there. The next several years were terrible. For some time his youngest daughter, Christine, stayed with her dad in Ina, which helped immensely, but he spent several years is desperate loneliness is a freezing house alone. He was despised by many in his former mission for the failure of his marriage. He tried several times in vain to get meetings going to start a church. It was the usual pattern of gathering a few believers together to worship the Lord. From time to time there was encouragement, but, ultimately, something would come up, and that was it.
One day I was with him in the home of one of his former prison guards. Matsuda san said, “Tana san, the camp commander is out of prison.” Dennis exclaimed, “I must see him!” The prison camp commander had been tried for war crimes, and sentenced to 18 years in prison. Some days later, Dennis and I drove two days to Waijima on the west coast of Japan. That was a page in history. The camp commander was a broken old man now living with his wife in a traditional Japanese house that looked like a post card from 1930. What an afternoon! We sat there for three hours joyfully sharing with this pleasant old man the love of God, forgiveness of sin, and eternal life through Jesus Christ. Just witnessing that scene must have been one of the reasons why the seraphims in heaven were crying “Holy! Holy! Holy!”
The stories I could tell about Dennis witnessing are legion. It was something that just naturally flowed out of him. One day I said, “I would give anything to be able to witness like you.” He later told me, when he heard that, he thought in his heart, “Man, you are mad! You have no idea what that costs.” I know now that he paid a very dear price, but the fruit of that is eternal.
One of the major feats of his life was an event that history has never recorded. In the mid 1970s Joni Erickson Tada's book, Joni, was a huge best seller. Dennis was thrilled when he read it, and, when it came out in Nihongo (Japanese), he bought 20 copies to pass out like tracts. He got some bewildering feedback. One day he was trying to show a failed suicide patient in the hospital how Joni wanted to die, but he couldn't find that chapter in the book. Dennis wrote a letter to Joni suggesting that there was a problem with the translation, and got a form letter back thanking him for participating in the blessing in Japan. Several months later another friend of ours, met the co-author, Steve Estes, in the states. Steve asked, “What is wrong with it?” Dennis came over from Ina to Karuizawa, and we spent three days with a bilingual teacher with the language school going over that book one word at a time. Zondervan book publishers had sold the copyright to a large publisher, Non-book, in Japan. The secular Japanese publisher had turned it into a sex novel. I mean to tell you it was ripe! And the illiterate missionaries were pushing the sales in Japan, big time. A few months later I was in the states and drove to Grand Rapids to personally talk to the number two man in Zondervan about it. He had the copy we had marked up in his desk and showed me the correspondence that he had had from Non-book. The short story is that Non-book backed off, the book was re-translated and re-published in Japan. Joni later wrote another person, “I can never thank Bill Cook enough for what he did for me.” But I told her, “You owe everything to Dennis Turner. He did it all. I was only a by-stander.”
He had very few friends. Because his life was so desolate and void of natural comfort he became a man uniquely immersed in the Word of God. This gave him unique insight into small details that few men have ever noticed. One day he remarked, “It is interesting that in John 21:11 Peter caught 153 large fish. This is the same number of workers building Solomons temple in 2 Chron. 2:17 – 153, 600, minus the 600, which is the number of man. This means that the early converts would be the builders of God's new temple and the energy would be of God – not man.” His face shone with the glory of God like few men, and he was as cheerful a man as any I have ever met.
Dennis prayed and waited for his wife for 24 years. It was with some mixed emotion that he told me that she had repented and he was returning to England to be with her. Some time later I received one of the bewildering letters of my life. She wrote me how she repented and was now pleading with younger women not to destroy their families like she had. I could scarcely believe the signature I saw at the bottom.
When Dennis finally finished his course, and made it safely to the home towards which he had been plodding for many years, his daughter sent me a video of the funeral. I wept as I saw that glorious scene of his family united, standing around the casket. There lay the earthly remains of a man who had followed Jesus. What he left was a marvelous heritage. The testimony of his family was a story that few can match.
But what was the fruit of his life? How can you rate it? By mans standards, I suppose you could say that his ministry for the last 30 years was a failure. He had his dreams of what he wanted to accomplish in Ina. His early years in Guma-ken had been reasonably successful. He had seen some outstanding conversions and left a thriving gathering of Christians who were self-propagating. That is the way it is supposed to work. He had hoped to repeat that in central Nagano-ken. Nothing like that ever happened. Today there is no gathering in Ina that can be attributed to his ministry. He had led a considerable number of souls to Christ by his ministry in a hospital and other places. All of these were one-on-one conversions. Where they are today the Lord alone knows.
We have our concepts of spirituality, and who is a successful missionary. I have known some very successful men. But Dennis Turner was different. When we line up men with their credentials and visible success, I know very few, if any, that come to the stature of this man of God. Before God and man; before angels in heaven and the demons that infest this world, here stood a giant.
Lord, thank you for the privilege of knowing Dennis Turner,
bill
Thursday, January 10, 2013
In Praise of Harold
11 January
Dear Harold,
You ol' horse thief. How I love you! How I wish I could hug your ol' red neck! You are one of the bewilderments of my life. You occupy an absolutely unique place in my heart. Of all the folks I knew in Karuizawa, there was only one Harold Carman. There were many who were unique, but you are at the top of the list of the finest missionaries we ever had. When you left I was sure you would be back. No soap. I thought you all were as solid a Christian family as there was any place. When I heard the disaster that fell upon you, I couldn't believe it. You might have bombed out as a missionary and returned to real estate, but one thing was certain, the Carman family were as successful business men as any in the south. That was one thing that was safely out of the red zone. It took almost an act of God to close you down. Your life has been almost as checkered as mine, but I knew you were a special servant of God that the Lord had raised up to be a witness in Tennessee. You were uniquely equipped above many. Your gifts, your background, your convictions put you in a position to establish a showcase church that would be a testimony and a light in a dark corner. I have no idea what happened. My life has been an unending disaster. There is not one church in the world that has owned me. But when I was with you, I felt like, at last, I have found a home. If I had such a thing as a home church, it would be the Amazing Grace. That was the last I ever heard from you. I haven't heard one cotton pic ken thing from you in three years.
In spite of the enigma you are, you still hold your rank in my heart, and I am sure your spiritual stature is as untarnished as ever. I'm sure if we ever got together again, that our hearts would beat together as much as they ever did. There is no question in my mind but what you are still one of God's great men. And you are probably one of my closest friends, even if I don't even get a Christmas card. Jesus has many strange friends and so do I.
Thank you for sending the card.
Your distant brother,
In the bonds of our wonderful Lord Jesus,
bill
Sunday, January 6, 2013
My Tombo Catcher
6 January 2013
Dear Phyllis,
This is my first dispatch for 20 13. It is with reluctance that I sit down with my computer and attempt to share with you some of what our gracious Father has been doing for us this past week. He has taken us into His inner chamber and allowed us to participate with some things that are hard to understand by those standing outside.
We read, of the living creatures that are associated with the glory of God; that they are full of eyes. Both Ezekiel and John report seeing exactly the same thing (Ez. 2:18; Rev. 4:6, 8). Very clearly, what this means is, that they see the whole picture. Unfortunately, we only have two eyes, and are limited to about 60 degrees of sight. These living creatures are full of eyes, and they can see the entire picture 360 degrees. Because they can see the whole picture, the conclusion they come to of what they see is sometimes much different from ours, with our limited vision. As they look at the full picture, they compulsively cry out “Holy,! Holy ! Holy!” (Isa. 6:3; Rev. 4:8). I am sure someday we will say the same thing, but today our view is much different, and what we say is different.
Holy is a strange word for us, and is not particularly meaningful. I am sure we have a very limited concept of what it means. But I believe it is basically the seraphim's assessment of the character of God. As they observe the action of what God does, they are simply blown away. Judging God by His own standard, they ceaseless cry out “Holy!” If I might profane that somewhat, and rephrase it into something that we might think today, perhaps we might say, “Amazing! Fantastic! Wonderful! Sugoi!”.
Like the moon, the Cross of Christ, and the ways of God, have two sides. There is the white side and the black side. In the light we can see the white side, but without the light we see only the black side. These recent days have been very dark.
As you know haiku, is 17 syllable Japanese poetry. One haiku goes; “The tombo catcher is gone. Where is he today? I wonder.” Tombo are Japanese dragon flies. Japanese boys like to catch these dragon flies and put them in jars. The picture here is a little boy who has died. His mother sorrowfully recalls her little tombo catcher, and wonders where he is today. I did that yesterday.
Annie used to love to come to my shop and play in the sawdust and shavings. She would take her little play dishes and make pizza for her daddy out of the saw dust. Then she would get a little stick and come over saying, “Here, Daddy, is some pizza I made for you.” Then I would take her little dish and stick, and put a little saw dust up to my mouth exclaiming, “Oishi! Oh, this pizza is very good. Thank you.” Oh, how many dishes she would make for her daddy out of shavings and saw dust! She never tired of feeding me, and I never tired of taking it, and thanking her for her good food. It was with real pain that I swept up the saw dust and put away her little dishes yesterday. Shortly after the Lord gave her to us, I put up a swing for her in my shop. Oh, how she loved that swing! It was a pretty good one. Many of the children in the neighborhood loved to come and swing on it. Tears flows down my cheeks yesterday as I took it down. As I did I thought of the Japanese mother wondering about her little tombo catcher and I wondered about my Annie.
There has been a very strange turn of events. Annie's parents were two very young kids engaging in sex. Her mother was only 14 when she was born, and her father was a 16 year old boy. The mother took off soon after giving birth, and the boy was left with an infant. He kept her in a room by herself for a year or two, and then gave her to James and his wife, who have the children's home in southern Thailand. She was three when James brought her with him to the Baptist camp last May. I told you how Pammy slept with her the first night. The next morning Pammy gave her a shower, dressed her, and brought her to breakfast. When I saw that sight I said, “We are going to keep this one.” James said that would require the agreement of his wife; and a month later we went down south to get her. This also required the approval of her biological father. We met him, and everything appeared clear sailing. Pammy has stayed in close touch with the father, and had Annie talk with her biological father on Father's Day.
Tragically her biological mother has subsequently married a man of some means, and has requested her daughter back. The father said, “Gomen nasai (No way).” But the mother hired a lawyer, and the issue wound up in a Thai court. The judge ruled that the child must be returned to the home where she last was left before he would give the ruling who would get the child. She has now become a bone in a dog fight.
A week ago Pastor Kichikun advised me that James was coming up here to get Annie in a few days. We had transferred her to another family here in town, and I was quietly grateful that I would be spared the trauma of having her go from our home. There are some extenuating details of which I am not at liberty to share with you, but the family where Annie was staying was reluctant to give her up. Another brother here – who really was not involved at all – became even more dogmatic; and threatened the most violent action if James got her. Given the limited perspective that these brethren had, I can understand their thinking, and be somewhat sympathetic with their extreme position. But because they only had a partial view of the situation, and their stand was based entirely upon speculation, I strongly felt they were totally out of line.
Wednesday night, Kichikun called us saying James would be here the next day, and requested that Annie come back to us. We would have to physically hand her over to James, who originally gave her to us. I told the brother, where she was at that time, what Kichikun had said. He replied, “NO WAY!” That night we went with Kichikun to go get Annie. The two brothers were standing in the middle of the road. A serious argument broke out between Kichikun and the two men who refused to relinquish Annie. Tragically, it went to worse-case scenario. I was vehemently opposed to police action, but Kichikun was adamant, and, reluctantly, we went with him to the San Sai police station. He filed a serious police report against these two Christian brethren. At 11:00 that night, with the aid of a burly policeman, Kichikun and Pammy walked out of the house with Annie in her arms. I was in the car. I can't imagine a more gut-wrenching scenario.
I didn't know what to think, but Annie was delighted to be back home. At midnight she was still laughing and running around the house getting in the refrigerator and playing with her things back in her home. We all slept together that night. I got up early the next morning to spend my usual time with the Lord. At 8:00 the mother and daughter were still sleeping in bed. I got back in bed with them. Perhaps you may recall how I wrote you a letter saying that “today is the happiest day of my life”. We had a rerun that morning. Oh, it was fun! We really had a great time that last day. Annie came out to make some more pizza for daddy, and I pushed her in her swing. It couldn't have been better.
I was hoping James and his wife would come to our house, so I could show them what a wonderful home Annie had enjoyed for seven months. Surprisingly, Kichikun called us, and said the transfer was to be made at a super market about 8 km from here. The three of us got on our motor bike. Annie was riding up front in front of her daddy, and Pammy behind. Some time after we got to Tesco, James showed up. He is a wonderful brother. It was the first time I had seen him since we had gone down to get Annie at their home in southern Thailand. He was holding a small baby in his arms. I embraced him, holding him in my arms for a long time, repeatedly whispering in his ear, “I love you. I love you. I love you. I am sorry for the trouble I have caused you.” Then I turned and walked away. Half an hour later Pammy came by on the bike and picked me up.
We have all heard messages about brokenness. As a young believer I heard messages on this subject and saw the necessity of it. If someone wants to preach on brokenness, the traditional text is the anointing of Jesus by Mary in Matt, 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9, and John 12:1-8. I love these passages. This major incident in the life of Christ is also the main event that we turn to in speaking on spiritual fragrance. The two go together. If we want the fragrance of Christ to pour forth from our lives there must be brokenness. The costly spikenard anointing oil that Mary used, was functionally useless until it was poured out on Jesus head. Sitting in the bottle, no one could smell it. It wasn't until the vessel was broken that the fragrance got out. As a young Christian, I intensely wanted my life to count for Christ. Unfortunately, no one can break themselves. Only God can do that work in our hearts. That was a major prayer for several years. Fifty years later life does look much different.
We are told in Ecc. 7:2, 3 that “it is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, and sorrow is better than laughter”. It also says that the heart is made better by sorrow. No doubt that is true. I believe that sorrow is preferable to success. There certainly is nothing wrong with success. There are highly successful people who are still wonderful Christians. But success has the tendency to lead towards arrogance. This is not inevitable, but it is very difficult to be successful without being lifted up. It would be difficult to say that success leads to brokenness, but certainly sorrow will produce that desired effect.
I have yet to read the book “Brokenness and How I Achieved It.” That would be like the classic, “Humility and How I Achieved It”. But leaving humor aside, brokenness is a valuable spiritual commodity.
In Psalm 51:17 we read that “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. And a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” This is a very costly sacrifice to offer the Lord, and can only be done with real pain. But then do we want to offer the Lord sacrifice that cost us nothing? I am not even sure that my present sorrow constitutes a sacrifice to the Lord. Perhaps it is only the tragic result of my own stupidity and misguided actions.
But somehow we must still believe that Rom. 8:28 is true, and someday God will bring good from this present agony. And even if we don't see the silver lining, just the good thing that the Lord is doing for me through these challenging exercises is something for which to praise Him.
Have a holy, and a Christ-honoring, spiritually productive, New Year,
bill
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