Central Loyalty

29 September 2013

Dear Phyllis,

Many years ago Joe Carroll was speaking to some secular civil organization on the thesis, “The Power of a Central Loyalty”. He very accurately traced through history, that all major world powers owed their strength to the allegiance of a central loyalty. The Greeks to Alexander the great,' the Romans to Caesar, the Mongolians to Kublai Klan, the Germans to Hitler, the Japanese to the Emperor, etc. Then he raised the question, “What is the central loyalty today?”. He posed several suggestions which obviously didn't fit. He noted that in years past, in England, there could be the cry, “Your country and king need you.”, and men would rush forward to enlist in the army. But to cry that today the response would be, “Hang you Jack – so does my wife and family.” There is no sense of patriotism or loyalty to the king. After establishing a very serious atmosphere of inquiry, he remarked, “May I suggest, it is the American dollar?” And sat down. He said a shock went across the room. The consequence of that was frightening.

The reason the bottom line of Joe's message was so alarming was that it was a proof that a seismic shift had happened in western society. There was a day when the central loyalty was external – for patriotism, king and country. But if materialism was now the central loyalty of society, it meant that the essence of society had turned inward to personal interest. Take that to its extreme end, and you have anarchy. There is no loyalty outside of each individual person. Everything is for me.

The most important question in anyone's life is, which way is the flow of my life moving? Is the flow of my life inward – what is there in it for me? what can I get out of it? This is the very spirit of the devil. When the Son of the Morning said in his heart “I will”, Lucifer became the devil (Isa. 14:12-15). And ever since he hijacked humanity, all the decedents of Adam have had that in their nature. Isiah was correct when he said, “We ALL like sheep have turned astray, we have turned EVERYONE to his own way”. By nature we want it our (my) way. Salvation is a 180. There must be a change of direction. There must be a turning from “my way” to “His way”. If we aren't headed His way how can we say that we are following Jesus?

Then Jesus, in speaking of the Holy Spirit, said, that anyone who drank of His water, “out of their innermost being would flow rivers of living water” (Jn. 7:37-39). The significant characteristic of anyone who has much of the Holy Spirit is that the flow is outward. This is the central issue. Which way is the flow moving – inward or outward?

At least, with patriotism, the loyalty is external. People are willing to give their lives for others and their country. Patriotism can be misguided as it was in Germany and Japan, but it is a unifying factor that makes a coherent society. One of the blessings of the 2^nd WW was that the entire nation of America was all pulling together in one direction. There was a spirit of sacrifice, dedication, and a concern for others. America was a much better country then than it is today.

I wonder what is the central loyalty in America today? More than that I wonder what is the central loyalty of the church today? Tragically I fear that the loyalty of many churches is their denomination. There are many people who are very loyal to their particular group. Needless to say this causes great division the Body of Christ.

It shouldn't require too deep a search for spiritual truth to come up with what the proper answer should be. If a person is a follower of Christ it would stand to reason that his main loyalty should be to Jesus. If we accept that being a Christian is the spiritual equivalent of being married to Jesus – we are the Bride of Christ – then our loyalty should primarily be to our Husband.

Robertson and Muriel McQuilkin were the most dedicated couple I ever knew. One day I said to Robertson, “Sometimes I get the impression that you are more concerned about the noble name of McQuilkin than you are the glory of God.” I was floored by his answer. He said, “Yes I can understand that. You would get that from my wife. Thank you for telling me this and I will speak to her about it.” As I thought about it, I realized he was correct. Muriel McQuilkin was the most loyal woman I ever met. She jealously guarded the family name of McQuilkin. This put a lot of pressure on the kids not to dishonor the family name. And if anyone said something against Robertson McQuilkin they had a huge problem on their hands with a tiger wife. How I wish that was true of Christians. I wish we were loyal to Jesus like Muriel McQuilkin was to her husband. As God's children I wish we were more careful not to do things that dishonor our Father's Name. And I wish some Christians weren't so pally with the enemies of Christ. Jehu said to Johoshaphat, “Should thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord?” Because of Jehoshaphat's affinity with Ahab, he brought the wrath of God upon himself. James warns us, “Friendship with the world is enmity with God. Whosoever will be a friend of the word is an enemy of God.” (Jm. 4:4). Where is our loyalty? How can we say we are loyal to Jesus and be so thick with His enemies?

When I was first saved I had an intense dislike for dead religion and formalism. As a consequence I intensely disliked saying the Lord's Prayer in church. But one of the pivotal moments of my life came in reading Luke 11. The scene there was a place where Jesus was praying, and when he finished, one of His disciples asked, “Lord teach us to pray.” (Lk. 11”1). That request struck a tremendous chord in my heart. But I was genuinely surprised when I discovered how Jesus responded. Reading between the lines we might assume He said, “Look, I have already told you before, but in case you missed it, when you pray say … .” The scene here is an incident that happened a year and a half after the Sermon on the Mount. But Jesus' instruction here was the same as He taught in Mt. 6:9-13. When I saw that, I thought, “Naru hodo (oh I see) there must be something in this”; and that precipitated a three month's intense study of the Lord's Prayer that changed the direction of my life. I saw the primary purpose of prayer should be for the glory of God and to see that His will is accomplished. I saw in scripture that this was the driving engine and passion of the life of Jesus. It shouldn't be necessary to enumerate the number of times in the life of Christ that that truth came out. But there probably is no better example than Jesus' famous Priestly Prayer in John 17. The first words that came from the lips of Christ were, “Father the hour has come. Glorify Thy Son that Thy Son may glorify Thee.” (Jn. 17:1). The glory of God is a major theme in that prayer. And it should be basic to our prayers. There never has been a person more loyal to the Father than Jesus. The Name of the Father and His glory was a passion for which Jesus laid down His life. Should we do less?

It is safe to say that one of the basic characteristics of heaven is that everyone is on the same page. Oh the harmony! Oh the choirs of heaven, they are all on the same note. You don't have one group of angels singing in one key and another group singing in a different key. They are all singing in the same key. They all have the same theme. They are all going together in the same direction. They all have the same objective. They are all intensely loyal.

What would it be if we had that here on earth? What would be the power if all the Christians on earth were united in a central loyalty to Christ? Division would be greatly reduced. Self-seeking would be out of place. Such a united witness would send the devil flying. The power of that would be irresistible. Is such a thing possible? I doubt it. I see little in church history to suggest that such allegiance to Christ and such a united front has marked her performance. The Moravian may have come close. I don't know enough detail about their inner structure to make an accurate assessment but it would appear that their loyalty to Christ was dominant. When I first came to Thailand 15 years ago I was impressed with the harmony that seemed to exist among the brethren that I was working with. I was surprised to find missionaries from widely varying backgrounds and theological convictions working together for the common cause of Bible logistics. I sensed among these men a genuine allegiance to Christ.

If a person is committed to be loyal to Jesus there is one factor that must be present. They must be determined to obey Jesus and do His will. It would be a contradiction of terms to claim to be loyal and not be obedient. This is the bottom line of the Lord's instruction as to how to pray. First of all there must be that deep passion for the honor and the glory of God. This can only be accomplish where His Kingdom is firmly established. If Jesus is not seated on the throne of our hearts ruling our thoughts words and deeds then it is impossible to glorify God as we should. And practically speaking, on a day by day basis there must be a life committed to walking in the will of God.

I know there is more to the Lord's Prayer than the first three points but I spend very little time there. I know it is scriptural to ask the Lord for daily bread, but it is the rare moment when that is possible. There usually is several days supply in the refrigerator. How is it possible to ask the Lord for something where you already have an abundance? Asking for forgiveness of sin and forgiving others is not a small matter. That is something that is a daily problem. And deliverance from evil – that is something that seldom crosses my mind. I recall a few occasions while traveling that I found myself in the most dangerous situations for compromise with moral sin. There were times when I didn't have to do a thing to get into sin. All I had to do was nothing and sin was at my door. At those times it wasn't a matter of reciting a liturgical prayer, but a desperate cry, “Lord lead me not into temptation but deliverer me from evil.” If the Lord did not hear that prayer, it would have been a moral disaster for me, and a tremendous disgrace to the Name of the Father. The glory of God and the will of God were the anchors that held me in place.

Gomen nasai for this rambling dissertation. While reading Andrew Murray on prayer last week the Lord spoke to me again about my goal in prayer. Is it for God's glory or for my profit? There are times when we earnestly want to get out of difficulties but it may be more honoring to the Lord to be with us and use us in those challenging situations. I search my heart daily what is the reason that I am asking God for various things. And I have to ask myself frequently to whom I am loyal? Am I serving the Lord or trying to advance myself.

By and large, it was a reasonably good week. Along with teaching English in the kindergarten every morning, I am also teaching three teenage Lahu boys carpentry. They have extremely little English but they do seem to have the gift of working with their hands, and a good portion of common sense. I enjoy working with them. It is encouraging to be able to show them how to do things, and then see them following instructions doing good work.

Jesus is coming soon. The world situation seems to be getting darker by the hour. Syria, Iran, Israel, the American economy, moral depravity, Islamic terrorism, etc. My goodness how much worse can it get? If there ever was a time to keep our eyes upon Jesus this is it.

Gambarimasho (let's give it our best shot),

                                                                        bill

Give Us More Jim Mortons

22 September 2013

Dear Phyllis,

The other day I had one of the surprising letters of my life. Jim Norton's son, Bryce, had seen a letter that I had written about Neil Verwey in his crossing the River, and wrote me that his dad was in the same condition. Both Neil and Jim have subsequently made it safely across the River, and have settled down in their permanent residence that Jesus had prepared for them. When Bryce wrote me, my mind went back to one of the unfortunate moments of my life.

We had a pole barrier at the entrance to the Union Church parking lot in Karuizawa that went up and down, like they have at some railroad crossings. It was about 12 feet long with a heavy counter weight on the short end. Kids liked to play on it by hanging on, and then another kid pushed on the short end, like a teeter-totter. That would pull the kid on the long end up in the air about six feet. The problem was when one would let go, the thing would go crashing down that was hard on the pole barrier. We had warned the kids to stay off it, but temptation was too strong to resist, and a lot of them still persisted. One night I caught a kid hanging in the air, and decided to teach him the lesson of his life. The Strom boys were the worst kids in town, and were the principle offenders. I always thought it would be a good idea to kill one of those boys, and relished the opportunity to get him. He never saw me coming. I caught him with a might blow that sent him flying. I manage to get in one more lick as he was falling, and then proceed to finish him off on the ground. But when the startled boy hit the ground, and turned to look at me, I saw he wasn't the Strom boy that I thought, but it was Jim Norton's son; who was one of the finest lads in town. I felt terrible for beating such an innocent victim. When Bryce wrote me, I wrote back asking if he was the boy I beat so severely that night. He was. He said he never forgot that hard beating, but graciously forgave me. Bryce is now over 50 and it was a rare privilege to write to him about his dad.

Jim Norton was one of the legends of Japan. If there ever was a man who was a more faithful witness for Christ, I don't know who it was. On New Years morning 1963 we had a gang of missionaries living in Karuizawa who decided to go over to Nagano to the Zenkoji temple to pass out tracts. Every year at New Years tens of millions of Japanese visit temples to pray for the new year. This always is a good opportunity to get a huge crowd in one place to pass out tracts. The name of the game is to get to the temple around midnight when the biggest crowd is there. But we got there at 8:00 in the morning, when the crowd had radically thinned down. As there was little to do at that hour of the morning, the consensus was to go over to the TEAM missionaries house in Nagano to get some coffee – and perhaps breakfast. Jim Norton wasn't that kind of a man. When everyone else went to get some coffee, Jim collared me and said, “Let's go door to door and pass out tracts.”

I thought that was a heroic effort, but that was only the beginning. After we had gone door to door for an hour or so, Jim said, “Let's go to the hospital.” That was a new one for me. We went to two or three hospitals and went from room to room passing out tracts and witnessing to the patients. By that time the day had worn on sufficiently that people were coming back to the temple. The gang from Karuizawa had finished their coffee and cake, and had gone to the temple to pass out tracts as initially planed. Jim and I went over to the temple to see what was going on, and joined the Karuizawa folks passing out tracts for a while. But Jim thought that was too inefficient to have so many missionaries passing out tracts to so few people. He laid hold of me again and suggested, “Let's go have a street meeting.” We found a fairly active street, and Jim started out by preaching the Gospel to them. “Then he said. “Bill, you preach and I will interpret for you.” Street preaching was not new to me, but that was the first time in that kind of a setting. Then we went back to the temple to see if there was something we could do to help out there. I have forgotten the details of all that happened that day, but we must have had two or three – maybe four – street meetings, passed out tracts at the temple, visited several hospitals, and gone door to door ALL DAY. Jim never let up until we got in the car to go back to Karuizawa that evening. I had never had a day like it in my life, or since. I felt like I should at least get an honorable mention in Hebrews 11 as one of the great missionaries of all time for putting in such a heroic day. I had never heard of such an intense evangelistic day. I thought Jim would put it down in his book as one of the outstanding days of his life. But I was floored when he passively remarked that that was his usual schedule, and what he did every day. I didn't think it was possible to be so literally full-time preaching the Gospel, and reaching out to souls for Christ.

For about five years, from 1960 to 1965, the Nortons lived in Karuizawa. Jim had a vision to reach every school in Nagano-ken (prefecture) with the Gospel. At first I didn't realize what a Herculean feat that was, but later my wonder turned to deep admiration for Jim in accomplishing such a remarkable undertaking. Nagano is the second largest prefectures in Japan – second only to Hokkaido. Every morning I would see him loaded with as many Bible as he could physically carry headed for the eki (train station). Then late evening I would see him returning home exhausted but empty. I don't know how he did it. He would travel hours by train, bus, or any transportation he had, to go the most remote areas of Nagano to reach every school with Bibles. He would go to the principals office, and ask for permission to place a Moody Child Story Bible in the school library. In those days there was no such thing as refusal. Any kind of dendo (evangelism) was received with open arms. There may have been cases, but I never heard of a school that refused Jim's Bibles.

I doubt that there ever was a person who sat next to Jim Norton on a train, bus, airplane, boat, bicycle, skate board, or room for more than three minutes that didn't hear a personal testimony about the Gospel of Christ. A friend of mine was riding with Jim in a car one day when they came to a toll stop. Jim looked in the mirror to see if there was any traffic following him. There wasn't. Then he said to the man at the toll booth, “Do you want to go to heaven?” The man was startled, and nervously replied, “Yes, of course.”

Then Jim instructed, “Take your hat off.”

“My hat?”

“Yes take your hat off. We are going to pray.”

Then Jim led him in a prayer for salvation. Sam was stunned, but thought, “Naru hodo (oh I see), Well, that is one way of doing it.”

There is a great controversy over Lordship salvation. There is something to say for both sides of the fence. Jim was more or less of the decision-ism school. (Making a decision for Christ.) In 1993 I was in Oregon City, Oregon, building a church for Mountain View Baptist Church. Mike Muchler was the pastor. He was at the far edge of decision-ism. That was the most evangelistic place I have ever been in my life. The only thing they did was dendo. The only reason anyone ever took a breath was to tell someone about Jesus. They certainly were not ashamed of the Gospel. They would announce every Sunday how many had been saved the previous week. They must have averaged at least 20 a week. In the six months that I was there, there must have been at least 500 people “saved”. The problem was that we never saw them in church on Sunday. In the time I was there I can only recall one couple that came to church as a result of the enormous soul-winning effort that was made every day. Mike told me, “I thank God for the 5,000 people that have been saved since I have been here.” That was wonderful, but I only saw between 65 to 70 people in the service each Sunday. If someone is really saved I want to see them in church each week.

One night at a prayer meeting in Karuizawa, Jim was sharing about a couple of people he had led to Christ the night before. I was deeply impressed. After the meeting I asked him, “How is it you met these people?” He said, “Very simple.” He went over by Tygerts pond around sunset, and saw these people sitting there by themselves. As was his style, he struck up a conversation, and found them very open to the Gospel. What he did was not difficult. Just go out and look for them. The trouble is that very few people do this. It is the rare missionary that witnesses like that.

In 1977 Jim was in Karuizawa for the summer conference, and shared how he had a vision for 100 baptism in the next year. It is one thing to pray with people on trains and buses, but to see them so established in church that they are baptized; that is a totally different matter. I was greatly intrigued by Jim's venture of faith. A year later I asked him how he was doing. He said he was just about on target. In July he had baptized 40 so far, and had another 20 getting ready for baptism. I was tremendously impressed. The national average for missionaries in Japan is to see about one soul a year saved. Of course some see more and some less but the average is after five years of missionary effort there are about five believers going on with the Lord. For someone to baptize 40 in six months is 80 times more than the average.

But then disaster struck. In October Jim got sick, and had to suddenly return to the states for medical reasons. Within three weeks his church in Osaka nearly went to zero. TEAM had to pull Stan Barthold out of his mission station in Ikeda to go over to Osaka to try to salvage Jim's church. Stan later said, it took him two years before he was able to get the spiritual atmosphere in that area back to ground zero where he was beginning to see people come to Christ again. Japan has an unusual phenomenon of people developing a relationship with one person that does not transfer to someone else. Apparently much of Jim's converts were stronger bonds with Jim than with Jesus.

I admire the decision-ists for their aggressive witness for Christ, but disagree with their definition of salvation. I believe it takes more than saying a simple Sinners Prayer – “God, be merciful to me a sinner”. That might have worked for the fellow in the Temple that Jesus told about (Lk. 18:9-14), but I suspect it was more because he couldn't lift his eyes towards heaven, and stood a far off smiting his breast that he got justified; rather than the word he uttered with his mouth. I believe it is highly possible to utter those words, and get no where nearer heaven than if he said, “Mary had a little lamb”. Uttering words does not constitute salvation. A man must be born-again. These people we see on TV going forward for salvation at large crusade rallies, with a broad grin on their face, looking more like they were going to a carnival than penitent sinners seeking salvation; I seriously question the depth of conviction of sin in their hearts. It is pointless to mimic someone else either in words or action. The work of the Holy Spirit varies radically from person to person, but unless a person has a real encounter with Christ it is highly doubtful that that we can say with any real assurance that they are saved.

What the actual numbers are that Jim Norton led to Christ will never be known this side of heaven, but there are few men who ever was more faithful is sharing the Gospel at every opportunity.

Lord, thank You for Jim Norton, and please give us more.

                                                                                              bill

Honesty

15 September 2013

Dear Phyllis,

I wonder if there is anything more vital to good spiritual health than basic honest. Honest seems to be a very illusive element. If Jeremiah 17:9 is correct (and it is safe to assume that it is), then “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?” In contrast to this Jesus described the good ground in the parable of The Sower as those “with an honest and good heart, having heard the Word keep it and bring forth fruit...” (Lk. 8:15). Watchman Nee raises the question, “How can a deceitful and wicked heart be honest and good?” The answer is fairly simple – by admitting it is deceitful and wicked. When a person goes that far, at least they are being honest about it.

One of the pivotal moments of my life came in June 1990, when I had just been invited to leave Link Care, where I had been sent to get healed by two years of intense psychotherapy. Dave Hanson came by to pick me up to take me home with him. I hadn't seen Dave in several years, and as soon as I got in the car I unloaded – big time – telling him all the disaster that had fallen upon me with my wife. After spewing out venom for 15 minutes Dave flippantly remarked, “Why don't you forgive your wife?” That was the wrong thing to say. To say I exploded would be a gross understatement. I roared, “I have forgiven her!!! I have forgiven her sitting! I have forgiven her standing! I have forgiven her on my knees! I have forgiven her in writing!I have forgiven her until I am exhausted!!! Do you want to see the things I have written?” Dave quietly replied, “I am not interested in the things you have said with your mouth, or what you have written. I can tell by your spirit that you have never forgiven her.” Three points. Swoosh. That one never touched the net. In a moment I knew he was right. That brought me face to face with a serious question; how do you forgive someone when it is impossible?

Several years previously we had been going to a counselor in Tokyo for six months. (This was before the great disaster.) After hours of counseling Kakitane sensei said, “Rosemary, will you apologize to Bill?” Dutifully Rosemary turned to me and said, “I am sorry.”ow Then he turned to me. “Bill, will you forgive her?” “No.” In a measure tone Kakitane said, “Rosemary, will you please leave the room?” Then in a less measure tone he said, “Look, I have spent six month trying to get this girl to say I am sorry, and now won't forgive her.” I replied, “I know more about this stuff than you do. I know what the Bible says. I know that I can't be forgiven if I don't forgive (Mt. 5:15). But there has to be some reality to it. I am not going to say something simply because you put words in my mouth.” Fortunately a night or two later the Lord did work in my heart enough so that I was able to say from my heart, “I forgiver you.”

But now I was face with a huge problem of dealing with adultery and a hard, unrepentant, defiant, spirit in my wife. That was a tough one to forgive. I wasn't even sure that I should forgive her. The question stood, has God forgiven her? Does God forgive unrepentant sin? I am not sure of the answer to that question to this day. If God does not forgive, should I? My exchange with Dave somewhat settled that question when I knew absolutely my heart was not right towards God. I had deep, unresolved, bitterness against my wife, and I knew that was wrong. I had been trying very hard to forgive her, and now I was more bitter than I was a year previous.

The next day I had a very serious meeting with the Lord. I knew the Scripture. I knew it was Matthew 18. I knew the story about the king who called his servants in to account. One poor turkey couldn't come close to paying up and faced a long jail term. He pleaded for mercy, and the king freely forgave him. Then he went outside and met a fellow servant who owed him a dime. Like the first guy, he pleaded for mercy, but the hard-hearted rascal wouldn't give him a millimeter of grace. For this unforgiving spirit he got called back into account, and sent to the slammer. Jesus said, “So likewise will my heavenly Father do also unto you if ye from your heart forgive not every one his brother” (Mt. 18:23-35). As I read this story over I saw that there were two types of salvation. The first type was salvation from personal sin. The the second type of salvation was to be saved from an unforgiving spirit. Then I pleaded, “Lord Jesus, the first time you forgave me, it was 100% an act of grace. There was nothing I could do to talk You into forgiving me of my sin. That was Your choice whether or not to forgive me. I couldn't help myself. In like manner, I am stuck again with a problem that I can't handle. If You don't save me again from an unforgiving spirit there is no way I can be saved. I have no idea how to save myself.” Then I added, “If You have a sign-up sheet in heaven for candidates for salvation, would You please put my name somewhere near the top?” I have no idea how, when, or where, but it do know that somewhere along the line Jesus saved me. Today I am saved. My heart is totally clear of any rancor or bitterness towards Rosemary. The Lord has gone beyond, and done things for me that exceeded what I even wanted done. He has given me a genuine love for her.

I don't recall the problem but I remember another incident five years ago when my heart was out of line with the Lord. That Sunday I was speaking at the GTO Mennonite center and preached on the text, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Ps. 51:10). To illustrate this I spoke about Mephibosheth. I feel that fellow is one of the greatest men in the OT. Mephibosheth was Johnathon's son that was lame in his feet. To show kindness to his father, David virtually adopted him, and had him eat three meals a day at his personal table (2 Sam. 9: 13). But when David fled from Absalom, Mephibosheth's servants double crossed him, left him stranded, and lied to David about Mephibosheth. When the crisis was over, and David got back home, he confronted Mephibosheth. Without checking the story, David shot from the hip, believed the lie, and took Mephibosheth's head off. He said, “You no good, no-account, miserable bird! I don't want to see your face. I am giving half of everything you own to your servant Ziba” (2 Sam. 19:29) (Bill Cook translation). Then, in one of the most amazing remarks in the Bible, Mephibosheth responded, “ Yea, Lord, let him have it all. You are back again safely in you own house. That is all I am concerned for.” (verse 30) (Bill Cook translation). I can't imagine anyone taking a harder blow of misunderstanding, getting misjudged so badly, and yet have such a wonderful attitude. You talk about someone who has a clean heart and a right spirit – now there is one for you. Then I concluded my message with the question, “How do you get a spirit like that?” Answer – “I don't know.” I told the folks that I had been struggling with a problem all week and my heart was not right with God. Then I added, “But again I asked the Lord if he had a sign-up sheet in heaven for poor people in need to a clean heart and a right spirit to please put my name on it.” And I sat down.

A week later I was speaking at the IGO chapel, and shared the same message. I concluded that message by saying, “A week ago I preached this message and put my name in as an applicant in heaven. This week I can preach this message as a recipient of salvation. The Lord has created in me a clean heart and renewed a right spirit in me.” Praise the Lord.

I say all of this to tell you a wonderful story. Last week we had probably the best Wednesday morning prayer meeting we have ever had. It was wonderful. The Lord answered Paul's prayer one week late. I told the fellows about my squall with George last Saturday, and how I got so furious. Of course I was right, and I had forgiven George. But I was never going to let him forget what a dumb thing he did. From now on I was going to say, “Obviously, I have met someone who knows a great deal more about carpentry than I do. I will defer to your opinion, and do whatever, anyway you want it. No, I will never share my opinion.” The spiritual definition of justification is “just-as-if-I-had-never-sinned”. That is alright for Jesus to say that, but that was not my position. I did not want to run the clock back to Friday, the way things were before the big blow up on Saturday. The damage that had been done was never to be cleaned up. The fellows at the prayer meeting didn't think I had a very good attitude. I said, “I am not so dense that I don't know that my heart is not right in this matter, but I don't want Jesus to fix it. I like being mad.”

But then I told an amazing testimony Watchman Nee shared in Twelve Baskets Full. One time he was witnessing to a girl about salvation. She was very honest in stating she was not interested. She loved sin. She loved everything about the sinful life she was enjoying, and had no desire to quit. One thing she did not want was; she did not want to be saved from sin. After the girl rambled on for some time about the pleasure of sin, Watchman Nee suggested, “Let's pray”. The girl was startled and asked, “Who pray?”

“You.”

“Me? What should I say?”

“Just tell Jesus everything you have told me. He is a friend of sinners.” Watchman Nee said, “Pray she did. A very unorthodox prayer indeed.” She told Jesus how she loved sin and didn't want to be saved. But then she blurted out, “But please, Lord Jesus, give me that which I don't want.” The bottom line was that she was saved.

We had a minor rerun of that Wednesday morning. I told the fellows I didn't want Jesus to work in my heart to take away the resentful feelings I was holding against George. Of course, I had forgiven him, but I did not want the clock to be turned back to Friday, just as if nothing had happened on Saturday. I honestly don't know what happened, but I do know I came away from the prayer meeting that morning with my heart much different. The Lord did that which I really didn't want done, and He has completely cleaned my heart up. In my heart the clock has gone back to Friday.

It has been a pretty good week. There have been three Lisu boys coming everyday working on a bed for George. I have enjoyed them. They are really good boys, and seem to have natural gifts for this work. They have a long ways to go before they know everything about cabinet making and wood work. There are a lot of bad things that must happen before they really understand tools – what to do and what not to do. I have explained all that to them, but there are some lessons in life that can only be learned empirically.

Tonikaku, things are generally better than they were last week. But the main point is that we are one week closer to that historic moment when the last trump shall sound and Jesus will be here to receive the honor of which He is so immanently worthy.

It wasn't very spiritual to say I didn't want the Lord to work in my heart, but Jesus has been extremely good to a poor sinner who was only marginally honest.

Arigato,

                    bill

         

The Week in Review

8 September 2013

Dear Phyllis,

I have nothing to say. Well that is not totally true, but I don't know what to say this week. It is not that there is nothing new, but there is no central theme, and I don't feel in a very spiritual frame of mind. Some of what has happened has been good and some bad. Perhaps the biggest item was a meeting that I did not attend. The limbless man, Nick Vujicic, from Australia was in town for a meeting. That was probably unprecedented. There was a major promotion for that meeting with posters all over town. Unbelievably it cost 300 B ($10) for a ticket to get in. Chiang Mai is a major convention city and they recently built a new International Convention Center. I mean to tell you, it is something else. Like it doesn't get much better. They held the meeting there, and that was the first time a non-government function was held there. The seating capacity was 12,000 and they had to bring in more chairs as the place was packet with people standing clear to the wall. Nick is supposed to be a motivational speaker; having been born with no arms or legs. All he is is a limbless torso with a tiny flapper on the bottom with two toes. But he obviously has a very keen mind and is an amazing phenomenon of a stump who has done unbelievably well in life with his handicap. I have never seen him, but he apparently is very well known having appeared on many TV programs, documentaries, You Tube, and spoken in virtually every country in the world. Because of his handicap, it is impossible to speak against him, and this has given him an audience where no one else could lift their voice.

I didn't go, but several of my friends did. They came away raving. It is doubtful that the promoters had in mind what came out, but you couldn't have orchestrated a more riveting evangelistic meeting. Billy Graham couldn't have preached liked that. The secular media hails him as a motivational speaker, and he certainty is, but he really only has one string on his banjo – JESUS. He told how in his early life when he was born with such a horrible handicap he wanted to commit suicide. Why not? Who wants to go through life locked in a body like that? But then Jesus moved in. The Lord has given him a ministry like very few have ever experienced on this earth. It is estimated that he has spoken to 1/3 of the population of the entire world. His hearers number in the billions. The fellows who were there said Jesus could not be lifted higher than He was that night. They said he held the packed crowd of over 12,000 absolutely spell-bound. Steve said he counted less than ten who got up and walked out, and most of them were Christ-hating westerners. But the Thais sat there glued to their seats. I doubt that there has ever been a meeting like that in Chiang Mai history.

Paul told me that Nick said Thailand was one of the most responsive countries he has been in. Paul believes we are in a revival. I don't know. Maybe the Lord is doing something major here. That meeting certainly was one. Paul is seeing things daily like you only see once in two or three decades. There is no question but what revival is real in his house. He has half a dozen teenage girls and four or five boys living in that house and I have never heard of anything like it. They have prayer meeting every morning at 5:00 AM. Paul says there is nothing but singing, praise the Lord, and laughter all day long. Looking at TV would be like putting a pig in a bird cage. That is unthinkable. The Bible is the only book ever opened and everyone has an insatiable craving for that. Two of the children are reaching over 240 students in a Bible study each week. They asked the teachers for permission to have those meetings, and Paul didn't even know it. One of his boys was the worst kid in school and now is the best. His teacher called Marisa and asked, “What in the world did you do to change that boy?”

Two of his girls come from a small minority village in the mountains north of here. There are about only 300 people living in that village and they had a church of 80. But the devil got in and split the church. Things had gone down hill badly in that village. Paul took the gang up there last weekend for a try to help them. The Lord heard prayer and the building for 80 people was packed out with 130. The pastor wept as he said nothing like that had ever happened before. There had been a drought in that village after the split took place, but since the restoration, the rain has come again and the crops look good. Time will tell, but the work of the Spirit seems to be real.

I don't mean to toot Paul's horn. He would be very grieved if I did. The thing that is so amazing about what is happening there is that Paul is the most unlikely man on this planet for the Lord to use. He has only been saved a very short time and came from as bad a background as is possible. To say he has nothing is not an exaggeration. His mouth was so bad three years ago it would have embarrassed a sailor. He still struggles with four letter vocabulary but is doing much better. Paul is intelligent, but it is well concealed behind a very course exterior. It would not be honoring to the Lord to detail his former life style, but suffice to say it is as big a contrast as if an Islamic terrorist becoming a nursery helper in a Christian school. That is the only explanation I have for the inexplicable hand of the Lord on this unusual man. Maybe he is right that there is a revival going on in Thailand.

In the plus column I am enjoying one of the biggest breaks I have personally seen in Thailand with the director of the kindergarten where I teach. Singha has come more on line than anyone I have seen in years. The only explanation I have for this is that he must be a chosen vessel of the Lord's. Right from the beginning he showed unusual interest in the things of the Lord. Several months ago, he came to a Saturday night Bible study and showed an intense desire to be saved. That night he backed off as he considered the cost of what would happen to his school if he became a Christian. The law requires that they teach Buddhism, and to draw a line might close his school. As he wrestled with this issue I asked him, “Do you want to follow Jesus?” Very firmly he answered, “Yes, I do.” Then I advised him, “The only thing I can tell you is, if you follow Jesus, somehow He will show you what to do with that problem with the school.” At that point he seemed to fade slightly, but recently came forward again. Two weeks ago I was preaching in the church about the king having a wedding for his Son (Mt. 22:1-14). I said there were five responses to that invitation. After the service he told me he was somewhere between 4 and 5. I said, “Hang the 4! Get into 5!” Pastor Kichikun was talking with us and got in the conversation. They got their English grammar mixed up and so I asked Singha straight out, “Have you accepted Jesus as your personal savior?” He answered affirmatively “Yes”. I told you this a couple of weeks ago.

Since then several most encouraging things have happened. Last Monday he told me he had a terrible sore shoulder. It was causing him a great deal of pain, and he had a pact on it. I said, “Let me pray for you.” And I laid hands on him asking the lord to heal him. The next day he brought up the subject again, and reminded me how I had prayed for him. Then he beat on his shoulder joyously saying, “It is healed! The pain is all gone!” I would have been happy to hear that, but then he showed me his arms that were covered with goose bumps. He said, “It is a miracle!” That is one of the few times I have seen someone so excited their arms were covered with goose bumps. He told me that he is reading three chapters of scripture every night and praying. That is good news. Then two days later he said he had read John 14, 15, and 16 the night before. I asked, “Did you enjoy it?” “Very much.” Then he added, “John 16 talks about the Holy Spirit”, holding out his arms again to show me the goose bumps. I am about to call him “Goose bumps Singha”. He went on to say that he is reading the Bible together with his son every night. That is extremely good news.

Two major negatives happened last week. For many years we have had an excellent Wednesday early morning prayer meeting. For the past several months everybody was busy and the meeting got canceled. But last week we got it going again. Paul had been praying for two days that the Lord would give us an unusual time of unity and blessing. One very dear brother shared a letter that he received from some folks in the states. I said something unnecessary that was contradictory to what he had just said. Karl exploded and emotionally exclaimed how badly my remark had hurt him. At that I uncorked and roared, “What I said is true! I stand by every word!” That helped a lot. The prayer meeting was a disaster. Karl was less than a happy camper when he left, and I wonder if we will ever see him again. I felt so embarrassed that I swore I would never go to that prayer after that.

Then Saturday I had an exceptional disastrous day. Several months ago a close friend had asked me if I would work with him in teaching minority boys cabinet making to give them a good trade in life. A Thai doctor where he lives had built an exceptionally large shed for this purpose, and we were just getting a first class shop set up. George had purchased some top-of-the-line tools and we made several benches. But then the devil joined us. I couldn't believe it. George and I have been very close friends for two years. We have never had a problem together, but the story about the shed got changed. First this very large area was all ours. Then some people making glass windows got inserted. George said, “No problem. When we get ready to use this place they will be gone.” But last week a new word got injected in the conversation – rent. It turned out they were paying rent to use part of this shed. I said, “That changes the picture radically.” But George assured me that we could still have all the space we needed. The place was filled with junk, and I had a vision of setting up a very spacious shop. To get started we had cleared out a small space about the size of a kitchen to make our benches. When we got ready to expand I suggested that we clear out half the shed and get set up. George replied, “We can't. If we do that I will have to pay 10,000 baht rent. This spot is good enough.” Things started to go side ways – big time. George is a lovely brother, but has never done this work. He is a fine Christian, but is the type of person that has his own concepts, and has difficulty accepting anything that is at variance with what he has in mind. The table saw was setting 8 feet from the wall and he asked, “What is wrong with that?” I replied, “I must have a minimum of 25 feet of run in order to cut a 12 foot board.” I got angry and he got angry. We had a beautiful slide saw set up 6 feet from the wall. I said, “Cut that 4 meter board in two.” In a pretty warm temper he grabbed the board and slammed it down on the bench demanding, “Where do you want it cut?” I drew a line in the middle at 2 meters. That was impossible as the saw was two feet too close to the wall. The temperature in the room began to raise considerably. He was getting increasingly angry and I was doing my best to hold my temper, but the devil took center stage. George asked me to cut a sheet of plywood; I said I needed a straight edge. We got into an infuriating discussion about a stick of angle iron for a straight edge. I was doing my best to keep my cool but suddenly something snapped inside me. At that point I erupted, that would have made St. Helens look like a 4^th of July firecracker. In a rage I took off. My guts were boiling so hot that, if I had drunk a glass of ice tea, steam would have belched from my mouth. That is not the Spirit of Christ. I don't know where we go from here, but it is amazing that the devil can cause such a fierce conflict over nothing.

I told you I had nothing to say. Not much happened last week. The Lord did a couple of good things and I close-out the week thoroughly ashamed at myself for my un-Christlike behavior. I don't know how I will recover from that.

Tonikaku, praise the Lord,

bill

PS: After I finished this letter, George just showed up with his hat in hand and a pack of potato chips for me. I was going to put my head down and go apologize to him but he got to me first. PTL

The Son's Wedding

1 Sept 2013

Dear Phyllis,

Last week I preached what was probably the finest message of my life. By that I don't mean the delivery. I mean the message. Homiletically, I may have preached better messages, but the content of the message was as wonderful as any topic I ever discussed.

For a couple of weeks I have known that Singha, the head of the kindergarten where I teach, was coming to hear me. Having a word from God for him, has been more on my heart more than anything I have experienced in a long time. I tried to do a little work on it Saturday night, but the Lord gave me the message at 6:00 Sunday morning.

I started off by saying, Jesus told us unless we become like little children we cannot enter the Kingfdom of heaven. The obvious reason for that is that little children will believe anything they hear. I have saying that I like to use on small children – “I liked to eat little children”. When I was living with the Hirotas, their little daughter had a 4 year old friend over one day. I pulled that on the little girl, and she took off for home like a shot. Mari chan laughed and ran after saying, “It is alright. Uncle Bill won't eat you.” Children will believe anything you tell them, but the greatest minds in the world are edging towards insanity with impossible, irrational, theories on where the earth came from. I once asked a friend, who was a Buddhist priest, what Buddhism taught concerning the origin of the earth. He honestly replied, “The only answer to that question is found in the Christian Bible”.

I said, “Very simply the Bible says, “In the beginning God crated the heavens and the earth.” But the first time we see the first person pronoun used concerning God in the Bible is not “ME” or “My”, but “Us” and “Our”. The reason for that is that the first person pronoun for God is always plural. It is that way in the English Bible, the Japanese Bible, the Thai Bible, and the Hebrew Bible. God is plural. The reason for that is that God had a Son. The Father gave Him an equality with Him in deity, and all things were created by the Son and for the Son (Col. 1:16). God loves His Son very much. He loves His Son so much He has given Him the highest position in heaven. Anyone who speaks against God's Son has a serious problem in heaven. And anyone who says a negative word against the Son of God in front of me has a serious problem with Bill Cook. I have zero tolerance with people who teach and speak poorly about my Lord Jesus.

At this point I had Kichikun's wife, Ying, who was my interpreter, read John 5:16-30. But first I told Ying, “I want to pray for you.” “Now?” “Yes, right now. I want you to read this like something you have never read before.” Then I laid my hands on Ying and poured out my heart to God, that the Holy Spirit would enable her to read that passage, not as words, but as spirit and as life. Never have I desired so intensely that the Word of God would stand my itself, and have unusual power to penetrate the hearts of the hearers.

The scene in John 5 is where Jesus healed a paralyzed man on the sabbath. The Jews were so angry they wanted to kill Jesus. I told the folks that morning, “There is nothing as dangerous as religion. You challenge their religion and they will kill you.” Is there something wrong with healing a man on the sabbath? Only when it touches their religion. And them Jesus begins one of the greatest passages describing His relationship with His Father. Oh my goodness, I cannot write in a letter what transpired there that morning as Ying read those astounding passages, and I commented on them one at a time as she read along. The Son only does what He sees His Father do. The Father loves the Son and shows Him all things. The Father raises the dead and the Son quickens whom He will. The Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son. All men should honor the Son as they honor the Father. He that hears My Word and believes on Him that sent Me has everlasting life... not condemned, but is passed from death to life.

At this point I emphasized the amazing truth that if a person would simply do two things they could have eternal life. First they must hear the Word. And I said, “Many of you are not listening. You have something else on your mind, and you aren't listening to a thing I am saying. But for those of you who are listening, if you will simply believe what I say, you can have eternal life.” It seemed that the Holy Spirit got the point across and there was pretty serious interest from there on.

Verse 25 says, “The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of God and they who hear shall live.” I said that the problem is that we are all born dead. God said to Adam, in the day that he touched the fruit of that tree he would die. And he did. Adam did not die physically, but something inside him died. His spirit died. And every offspring of Adam to this day is born with a dead spirit. That is why it is imperative that a person must be born-again. And that is what happens at the new birth; the spirit comes alive. A new life springs up inside that person. They that hear live.

But verses 28 and 29 talk about a general resurrection. The day is coming when every cotton-picken grave on this planet will be opened. Rev. 20:13 says that “the sea will give up the dead which were in it”. That is a pretty amazing statement. There have been millions who have been buried at sea. What happened? The fish probably ate most of them, and the sea water dissolved those bones until those molecules were scattered to the seven seas. But God will put all those molecules back together again, and everyone will have to stand before God in their physical body. Hitler thought he would dodge the bullet by committing suicide, and having his butler burn the body, so no one could ever find his bones. But he is going to get that body back again for judgment, and then be cast into the lake of fire.

All of this was preparation for the message. The message was from Mt. 22:1-14. Here we have a parable that, I believe, tells the Gospel story more clearly than any other passage in the Bible. Jesus said, “The Kingdom of heaven is like a king who made a marriage for His Son.” And he sent out the wedding invitations. I asked, “Can you imagine what it would be like if the king of Thailand was going to have a wedding for his son in Bangkok and personally sent an invitation to you to attend? What would you do?” What this passage is talking about is far more real and serious than if someone showed up at your door with a personal invitation from the king of Thailand. This is an invitation from the God of heaven to attend the Wedding of His Son.

Amazingly we see that there were five responses to that invitation. The first was to make a joke of it. Several years ago I was working with a crew of carpenters in Japan commuting about 40 minutes to and from the job site. One night, on the way home, one fellow asked me a serious question about salvation. For the next 40 minutes I had a rare opportunity to share Christ with those men. The next morning the job foreman thanked me for my talk the night before. Then he bust out laughing, “Oh, that was the funniest thing I ever heard.” The Gospel of Jesus Christ isn't a joke.

The second response was a little more polite but they were just too busy to take time off from the farm or the business to attend the wedding of the kings Son. That is a pretty sorry excuse.

The third response was open hostility. I told the folks, “If you get saved, you will have problems like you never thought was possible. Some of your best friends will turn on you.” I told about the time we were having a street meeting in front of Kay's bar in Fusa. We had a really a ugly crowd of GIs on our hand that night. Bob Black had just been saved a few weeks, and was standing on the wall in front of the bar. He shouted at the top of his lungs John 3:16 – For God so loved the world... that He gave His only Son ... ..” Then he stood there staring at the angry crowd and shouted, “What's wrong with that?!!” Good question. What is wrong with the Christian message. God is love. But you sure will have a fight.

He next two responses were positive. The fourth fellow said, “Oh yes. That is very nice. I would be delighted to attend.” He becomes a Christian, attends church every Sunday. He puts his coins in the plate and advertises that he is a Christian. But there is just one catch; to get in the Wedding you must have on the wedding garment. The garment is Christ. You must be born-again. You must be clothed in Christ. At the Wedding Feast an angel comes by and asks, “Where is your garment?” The poor man is speechless. He likes the Gospel message. Christianity is a good religion. He was quite religious, but He doesn't have Christ. He is bodily ejected. I fear there are an enormous number of Christians in this category. They just flat are not saved.

The fifth response is the one that blows me away. It is those whose name is written at a place at the Wedding Supper of The Lamb. The fact that my name is written there is a truth that reduces me to silence and tears. It is too wonderful to believe. Oh what will it be like? Oh the honor that God wants us to attend the Wedding Supper of His Son. Of course this truth is much deeper than that, but that is as far as I can go at this point.

After the service we were having a meal together, and Singha said to me, “I am some where between 4 and 5.” I said, “Hang four! Get on to five!” Kichikun tried to say something to me, but got his grammar mixed up. Finally I said to Sinha, “Have you accepted Jesus as your personal savior?” He responded, “Yes I have.” Oh my goodness, I thought that was the Wedding Feast and I was already there. I turned to Kichikun and said, “Now disciple this man!” I said, “This has been a very good week. I lost a wife but gained a brother.” Since then Singha bears all the marks of a man who has come to Christ. He says he is reading the Bible three chapters every night and praying. This is one of the greatest gifts the Lord has given me in Thailand.

His son, Male, is a very outstanding lad. I like him very much. He couldn't go with his dad to church last week, but I was preaching at Pastor Peter's church this morning, and asked him to go with me. He did. Basically, for him, I preached the same message today. I don't know. The Lord knows. The text was the same, but there wasn't the intense anointing of the Holy Spirit on the Word today that there was last week. I later wondered if maybe I missed the mind of the Lord by not praying more about the message. I wanted Male to hear that message so badly that I never considered preaching on anything else. The fact that God has invited me to attend the Wedding of His Son is a subject that just completely blows me away. It is so real I can hardly talk about it.

One reason I like this message so much is that Jesus is the central focus – not man. It is His Wedding. It is for Him. We are the guests. So much of the Gospel today is presented that God is the plaintive begging men to accept His mercy so they can go to heaven and enjoy all the benefits of salvation. Man is the center and Jesus is an additive to make man happier. I am not sure it works that way.

This is my second Sunday by myself. It is quiet and lonely here. I had three dogs but got rid of two. Now it is just Black Canyon and myself. Pammy is in Lampan living and working with her sister. She calls occasionally and has a marvelous attitude, but it would be impossible for her to come back without a major miracle and working of the Holy Spirit in her heart.

But Jesus is with me. What grace!!!

                                                                      bill