Marshal Law

25 May 2014

Dear Phyllis,

The biggest news in Thailand today is marshal law. There have been a lot of bumpy political demonstrations in Bangkok and the military stepped in to stop the fighting by taking control of the government. That is not uncommon. There was a military coup eight years ago when they threw out prime minister Taksin. But then the military stepped down shortly after that by having new elections. The military really conducts itself quite well as being the caretaker of the government, but they have a real bucket of worms on their hands this time.

The county is divided into two waring camps designated by the color of shirts they wear. The two sides are the Red shirts and the Yellow shirts. The problem is that the Red shirts always win the election. The majority of the country is Red shirt, but there is a very noisy opposition party that wants the Red shirts out. The Yellow shirts are loyal to the king and the army is more or less on their side. Taksin was the leader of the Red shirts and the military overthrew him. Soon after the military had new elections the Red shirts won again, and were back in power. The Yellow shirts have been quite violent in their protests, and the army closed down the Red shirt government again.

The stupid US State Dept. has condemned this coup, and threatened to cut off all aid to Thailand until the military steps aside and free elections are allowed. The Thai military usually conduct themselves quite well and they are probably the most level headed force in Thailand. The problem is if they hold elections again, the Red shirts will win, and you have a revolving door of demonstration, coups, and elections. Seemingly there is no solution this time. Democracy in Thailand looks extremely difficult at this point. The military probably did the right thing is stepping in to prevent a really bloody civil war. With marshal law everything is quiet, but you can't run a country on marshal law.

My planner broke down last week. I had to get it fixed, and they had to order a new part from Bangkok. The repair shop said I could have my planner back by Saturday, but then marshal law came into effect, and they couldn't ship things from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. They hope they can get the part and have my planner fixed by Wednesday. That is really rough when commercial transportation is halted. Even 7-11s close at 10:00 PM. I can't imagine what farmers whole-sale markets are doing that run in the middle of the night. Night life must be at a halt. No bar is open after 10:00 PM. There must be a lot of really unhappy campers among the tourists. Friends have written us concerned about our situation here. Really, life is perfectly normal in Chiang Mai. Apart from the news and transportation we would never guess that there is a problem in Thailand. I haven't seen a soldier or any indication that there is anything unusual.

If the military can't pull a rabbit out of the hat this time, and things continue tight, it could get really noisy in Thailand. The vast majority of the country will not stand for closing down life by marshal law. If there was a major protest of country vs army I don't know who would win. Another problem is that the army is made up of a lot of soldiers who would be Red shirt. These men are not going to fight against the party that they believe in.

Another major problem lurking on the horizon is the king. I have never heard of a country that is so outwardly devoted to the king. There are huge pictures of the king in every village. Nearly all Thais have pictures of the king hanging in their houses. There is no law, but it is frowned on if you don't have a picture of the king in your house. The picture of the king is on all money and postal stamps. When I first came to Thailand, I bought a stamp in the post office and licked it. My friend warned, “Please don't ever do that again. We don't lick pictures of the king.” There is a dish of water for wetting stamps. The king is genuinely popular. I have heard very little criticism of him. (Of course it would be dangerous to speak against him.) But even so most people sincerely admire him. Basically he seems like a good man who has the best interest of the country in mind.

But the king is well up in his 80s now, and is nearly a vegetable. He is hovering near death. His death is inevitable. That will probably happen soon. The problem is that his son is a bum. He is a poor depraved man and very unpopular. If he is honored like his father, it will be at gun point. Many people say that the end of this dynasty is at hand. If that happens it will be a wild game to see what follows.

Up until now Thailand has been a very stable country, and one of the best places on earth to live. It may be that the cart will go upside down here soon.

My good friend Will Schubert was a 30 year missionary to China and lived under Mao for three years. Will said he prayed through for China twice and the Lord gave him the promise, “I will overturn overturn overturn until He comes whose right it is, and I will give it to Him” (Ez. 21:27). That certainly is true concerning China. The Lord has overturned it several times. Mao would turn over in his grave if he saw capitalistic China today. And the Christianity that he thought to exterminate is rapidly becoming a major voice in China. But that principal is also applicable to virtually all countries. That is what we are seeing in Thailand today. One government gets settled and runs for a few years and then gets overturned.

This shouldn't surprise us. Every sign in the Book is staring at us that we are in the end times, and Jesus is setting the stage for the last act. And we know clearly what that act is. There has always been turmoil in the world. Since the days of Able and Cain there has been fighting. It is in the DNA of humanity for people to strive to be in charge. There is nothing new about this, but with the advent of the electronic age and the information revolution this has given steroids to humanity to exacerbate that problem. It is not surprising that we are seeing the pot boiling so fiercely. The problem is not just Thailand, but world wide. Fortunately we see that the scrip for all this is written in heaven and settled in eternity past. I read in Daniel 11:29 last week “at the appointed time”. That is when various event will take place. We know that the Lord has given to the devil his time to be in charge. But it is very short. It will start right on time and end precisely when his time runs out. This morning I read Daniel 7 and wondered if that isn't the most wonderful chapter in the Bible. Five hundred years before John, the Lord showed Daniel exactly the same thing He showed John. And it is our awesome privilege to live in that time.

In Daniel 7 we see the genesis of everything is when the four winds blow upon the sea and four beast come up. This is exactly the same thing that John saw in Rev. 13. In Rev. 17:15 we see that “the waters you saw are the people , the multitudes, the nations and the tongues”. Or in other words, the sea is very clearly humanity. In Dan. 2:42,44; 7:24, and Rev. 17:12 all three passages tell us that the “ten” (toes, horns) are ten kings. It is interesting that the four beast mentioned in Daniel and Revelation are identical – the lion, bear, and leopard. But then both passages describes the man called the beast emerging. This is the principal name given to the anti-Christ. Both passages tell us that he is going to wage war against the saints and prevail (Dan. 7:21, 25: Rev. 13:7). But the passages in Dan. 7:27, and Rev. 19 show us very clearly that the final act will be with Jesus on top and the saints ruling with Him.

The devil has got to make his appearance, and be in charge of the whole earth. There must be intense universal persecution. Before any tsunami there is always a great recession of the ocean. If the ocean suddenly begins to seriously recede, and the beach goes out several hundred meters, look out, for there is a major tsunami on its way. That is what is going to happen just before Armageddon. But it will only last for three and a half years.

Where the rapture fits in here is a heated debate. I suppose I am more or less of an a-rapturist. I have always been a strong pre-tribulationist, but now I am not so sure. The great hope of the pre-trib folks is that they will dodge the bullet and be exempt from tribulation. I am not so sure. One thing I am not, is a post-trib advocate, in that I see the imminent return of Christ at any time, and my hope is not the advent of the anti-Christ. The post-trib believers say Jesus can't come back until the devil makes his appearance (2 Thes, 2:3). There is too much in scripture supporting the imminent return of Christ to subscribe to that position. I will leave the rapture up to Christ, but I do believe it is going to get very noisy around here very soon.

I can't see a way in the world that America will be exempt from the judgment of God. I wonder if there has ever been a nation that has sinned against greater light and moved further from its Christian moorings, since the days of Manasa in Israel. We have moved from the cultural position where, it was highly unpolitical to say anything against the Bible, to the place where the Bible is virtually banned, and you can almost wind up in jail for speaking against sexual perversion. The only reason I know why fire hasn't come down from heaven to burn up America, is because there are still ten righteous people living there (Gen.18:25-32). But I will be surprised if those “ten righteous” don't get severely tried to clean the church (1Pet. 4:17). The 1^st century church certainly didn't get exempt from persecution, and I do not see where this generation is more likely to get a pass.

On two other totally different subjects; Paul was just here telling what is going on at his house. He said yesterday they were having worship time at 3:00 in the afternoon. I thought that was unusual, but his kids were having a big time worshiping the Lord Saturday afternoon. Then at 5:00 they went to church and had three more hours worshiping Jesus. At 9:00 he and Marisa came home worn out. Marisa is fighting cancer and naturally wanted to get some rest. Paul was exhausted, and said good night. But not the kids. They wanted to worship the Lord. He said an hour later the six of them were sitting in the living room reading the Bible around one verse at a time and then praying. He said they all were in tears crying,” Oh, thank You Jesus, Thank You Jesus” He said it was like they had just seen a resurrection, but they were thanking the Lord for the most minor things, and their hearts were bursting with joy. I have never heard anything like that in any place. They are just like teenagers in love with a boy friend and won't go home. But they love Jesus and won't quit.

The other thing is, that I would like to say a good word for my wife. A year ago I shared how things had gone below the line of acceptability, and I had to tell her to leave. Since she has come back she is a vastly different person. I told you how she wanted to have a Gospel Coffee shop in front of our house, and as a result our neighbors came to church that morning. The next day she said, “I must go to Supapons and lead Mr. Supapon to the Lord. An hour later she came home reporting that he had accepted Christ. I am impressed. She is just unorthodox enough to be used of the Lord where others won't do it. Pammy is a soul winner like I have seldom seen. She is always pressing me to get the Gospel out more and win more souls for Jesus.

These are the days. Jesus is on His way. Let's make sure our lamps are well trimmed and shining at 1,000 candle power. There is much more to say, but I must close for now, with much love in Christ.

                                                                             bill

Kansai Christian School Inconvenience

18 May 2014

Dear Phyllis,

The other night Paul was over sharing with me the ordeal that Mark is going through over his son being unjustly, falsely, accused of a misdeed in the Grace Christian school and then being disciplined by the assistant director without any investigation of what happened, and no one will talk to Mark about it. He is having spasms over this horrible trauma that threatens his further ministry here in SEA. When Paul told me that story I was reminded of the inconvenience I went through in 1991 with the Kansai Christian School.

In 1989 when Rosemary acknowledged her involvement with her lover, Junji, and her determination to terminate our marriage, my mind was unable to construct the horrific debacle that was about to fall upon me. Reality proved to vastly exceed my worst fears of a worse-case scenario.. In '90 we were sent to Link Care to be healed by two years of psychotherapy, which proved to be the manhole cover of hell. After being at Link Care for three weeks, the psychologist felt that my presence was detrimental to Rosemary's recovery, and told me to leave; dismantling our family. That was the end of the Bill Cook family. Jay was the worst victim. He was 14, and I never wanted him to suffer. But he went bonkers, and Rosemary had to send him back to Japan to be with me.

When I knew that he was coming back I spoke with Kenelly Proctor, who was the principal of the Kansai Chriatian School, asking if I could re-enroll Jay as a student there. We had originally moved to Ikoma to work with the school. We had been deeply involved with the school for ten years, but my status as a missionary was now different. Kenelly said she was sure there would be no problem, but it would take school board approval. A couple weeks later I saw Kenelly one night, and asked about the board meeting. She said she would send me a letter. I couldn't believe it. My request was denied. Jay would not be permitted to attend that school,.

Rob Vickey (not his real name) had been one of my closest friends for many years, but had turned against me over the Rosemary deal. He would not let me in his house for a cup of coffee, and refused to talk to me. In my frustration I asked Neil Verwey if he would act as a third person so the three of us could talk. Some time later Neil told me that Rob had replied, “I will not face Bill Cook to speak to him under any circumstance; whether privately or in the presence of others”. Rob was the chairman of the school board and I suspected he was my problem with the school. He was going on furlough that summer and I was sure, when he was gone, the Lord would turn things around with the board so Jay could go to school.

When he got back to Japan one of the first things he asked was whether or not he would be able to go to school. I told him there was a problem, but I was sure the Lord would undertake, and things would be okay that fall. At the end of the summer, Jay bought some school clothes and things he needed for school. He went over to the school to talk to Miss Proctor, who had previously been his teacher, and was excited about being back with his friends. Unbelievably three days before school started I got another letter from Kenelly saying that my second request for Jay's admittance had been denied, and, “Please do not allow him to come to the play ground to play with the other children”. Shock!!! I couldn't believe it! I never heard of such a wicked thing in my life. And no one would talk to me. I couldn't get an explanation. You talk about an unhappy camper...like you never met a mad man in your life.

Along with being a homeless man, I now had a 14 year old son to join me in my trauma. My friend Rody had asked me to build a house for him, and had a shack where we could live. It is hard to imagine a worse situation. Our home was this unheated, tiny, shack that was a store room for futons (mats) and blankets. There was one light bulb, no plumbing, no heat, no anything. It was just a rats nest where Jay and I could sleep. I told Jay, “Even if the school will not allow you to attend, that does not mean the end of your education. From now on you will have to be home-schooled, and I will be your teacher.” But that didn't work out. I was working 12-14 hours a day building Rody's house and had no time to teach Jay school. He lived with me and tried to read a couple of books but we eventually gave up on everything.

That fall I was asked to build a church up in Chiba. It was a relief to be away from Ikoma, and living in Chiba was more comfortable. There were four other American carpenters who had come to help me bump up this church, and a fine apartment had been provided for us. I asked the Japanese pastor if it would be possible for Jay to go to a Japanese school with his son, who was the same age. But he said he thought that was impossible, as Jay had never been to a Japanese school, he was not literate in Nihongo (Japanese), and I was not a permanent resident in that town. The folks there at that church were kind to us, and someone gave Jay a bicycle to ride.

One day I was up on the second deck of the church we were building and could see a long way off in the distance. I saw Jay aimlessly riding his bicycle around town because he was the only kid in that town who wasn't in school. It was like a knife went through my heart. I collapsed over a pile of lumber lying on the floor crying, “Lord, the pain is interminable! When will this pain quit hurting?” I had been in agony for two years over Rosemary and now it was worse, in that my son couldn't be a normal kid and go to school.

We finished that church in December, and we went up to Karuizawa to spend Christmas with the Bill Reese family. Oh it was great to be in a family atmosphere again. The Reeses had six children of their own that they were home-schooling there. I asked Roberta if Jay could stay with them so that he could have a family, and get a bit of an education. Roberta said she would accept him short-term, but he couldn't stay there indefinitely.

In January I went back to Ikoma to finish Rody's house, and went to the school to talk to Kenelly again. It had been ten months since my first time speaking with Kenelly about the school and I still had no explanation on why my request had been denied. Kenelly was great. I had no complain against her. She told me, “Inasmuch as you are making a third request, (actually I wasn't. All I wanted was an explanation) there is going to be a school board meeting this coming Friday, and I am sure they would be willing to have you attend.” I was ecstatic!!! For ten months I had been craving just to talk to someone to tell me why my son couldn't go to school. And now I had a chance to talk to the entire board. I asked Kenelly if she thought it would help to have Neil Verwey go with me. She replied Neil would be the finest man in Japan to have there. I called Neil and he was delighted to go with me to face the school board.

From 5:00 o'clock Monday evening until 8:00 o'clock Thursday night I spent every waking moment going over my talk to the boards. I was going to go around that room one turkey at a time and verbally ring their cotton-picken necks. When I got done with that board, that would make a KFC slaughter house look like a pet shop. Oh I couldn't wait!

I was working on a kitchen cabinet I was making for Rody, when, suddenly, the Holy Spirit spoke to me in almost an audible voice saying, “Bless those who persecute you and pray for those who despitefully use you.” When the Lord said that it was so strong and unusual, I burst out laughing. I said, “Lord that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in my life.” But it was like an arrow stuck in my heart and I couldn't get it out. Two hours later I was going to bed and trying to pray. But the Voice just kept saying, “Bless those who persecute you and pray for those who despitefully use you.” Finally I said, “Alright, I will bless them. I will walk in that room, raise both arms and say 'God bless you'. And then I will proceed to KILL THEM.” But the Lord replied, “No if you bless them, they will be blessed. I want you to be a blessing.” It was just like a nuke went of in my mind. I couldn't imagine myself being a blessing. Finally I said, “Lord, I don't want to be a blessing. You can do anything, but please don't ask me to do the impossible.” And fell asleep.

We were to meet with the school board from 12:30 to 1:00 o'clock. I was at the school at 12:15 and Neil showed up at 12:25. He said, “Now we must get together on how we are going to speak to the board”. I replied to Neil, “I don't know what you are going to say, but I am going to be a blessing to the board.” Niel looked at me like I had been sniffing too much glue, and I couldn't believe what came out of my own mouth.

At 12:30 we went into the board meeting room and had pleasant greetings. Paul Clark was chairman said, “Bill, you have 30 minutes to say anything you want. We must stop at 1:00 but the floor is yours.” I had craved that moment for ten months and now I was totally speechless. Apart from unutterable groans nothing would come out of my mouth. I sat there with my head down panting. Most of the board members were close friends but there were two fellows that I didn't know that well.

At last I lifted my head and went back 35 years. I started out by saying, “I was saved as a young man when I was 21 in the Air Force Aviation Cadet Program...”; and for the next 27 minutes gave a brief testimony of my life. When I came to the event three months before then in Chiba, when I saw Jay riding his bicycle around town and collapsed over that stack of lumber, I broke down and could go no further. Neil picked it up and was specular. He said, “This young man has suffered so much. Please be merciful and let him go to school.” At 1:00 o'clock Neil and I stood up and silently left the room. I was sobbing and couldn't look up. Two minutes later Paul Clark came out and hugged me. We wept on each other shoulder. Neil and I silently walk out of the school and were walking across the parking lot when Neil put his hand on my shoulder saying, “Bill, God heard your prayer. You were a real blessing to us today. We were all blessed.”

The next day Kenelly called me and said, “Get that boy down here. He is in school.”

I later found out that the problem was that everyone felt it was wrong for me to be in Japan. If they allowed Jay to go to school they would be aiding and abetting me in being out of the will of God by staying in Japan. I had told them that I had no roots in the states. You could take a world map and throw a dart at it, and I would have as much roots as I had going to the states. Japan was my home and the only place I had to live.

That was the most dramatic moment of my life of the Holy Spirit directly intervening to prevent me from doing something radical in the flesh. That was His way of opening the door to allow Jay to go to school. Psalm 59:10 says, “The God of my mercy will prevent me.” Thank God that is true. Usually He doesn't have to be so radical as He was with me with the school board, but it is certainly God's mercy that prevents us from a lot of bad things. I have no idea what Jesus is going to do for Mark and his son, but He does His ways of solving difficult problems.

Oh Jesus is wonderful,

                                          bill

   

Death Part 2

`1`1 May 2014

Dear Phyllis,

Gomen nasai. I am sorry I was late with my letter to you last week. The problem was Internet. We hadn't paid our Internet provider for a month and when I went to send it out we were disconnected. Pammy paid the bill Monday night so I was able to send it out Tuesday morning. Unfortunately we are back in the same problem today. After Pammy paid the bill last Monday, on Wednesday they cut us off again saying the service wasn't paid. That is their mistake – not ours. But that doesn't turn it on today. I don't know when I will be able to send this letter out but will write it today.

Today want to continue my discussion about death. As I mentioned in my letter last week, I have offended several people by my attitude and, in this, I may have a blind spot, but I view death radically different than the rank and file of most Christians. Several years ago my friend, Bill Reese, called me saying our dear brother Dick Dennis had cancer and it didn't look good. When I heard that news I wrote Dick the following letter.

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Dear Dick,

Yesterday Bill called me telling me about your sickness. It isn't surprising that you might get an early leave out of here. You ran so well when you were here in Japan that you were always two or three laps in front of the rest of us. It is not surprising that you might breast the wire at the finish line while the rest of us are still on the back side of the course with two or three laps yet to go. You will have been on the winners stand, off to the shower, and seated at the table with Jesus, while the rest of us are still puffing away trying to finish our course.

Your achievement is not only the way you ran, but the work you accomplished. You had your basket slam full to over flowing at 3:00 in the afternoon and the rest of us will be out here when the stars come out trying to get the bottom of our little pails covered to have something to present to Jesus. You had your basket so full that the Lord had to give you a second one to have both Japanese and American fruit for your harvest. It is a terrible thing to have to stand before the Lord empty handed, and it is a cause for gratefulness to have a full harvest to lay down. Omedeto gozaimasu (Congratulation)

When you first arrived in Karuizawa in 1965 little did you suspect the marvelous things that the Lord had in store for you for the next 30 years. There was that terrible agony of your trial with Tygert the first year and the misunderstanding with pastor Diden. But the Lord delivered you marvelously from all your trouble. I'm sorry for the way you used to have me over for supper every Thursday night to enjoy your favorite meal of pig tongue; and I said to you, “You know that this gravy is don't you – pig spite”. You said that ruined it, and you could never enjoy pig tongue again.

There was the time when your car broke down and I tried to pull you with my truck. I tied the rope to the tie rod and snapped it. After we got the car started, that was pretty slow going with you driving your car and me walking beside it kicking the tire trying to keep it going straight. When you lived on the hill, poor Millie never knew how many would be there at the breakfast table. Young kids came in at all hours and slept on the floor. You told me that you made so many trips to the eki to pick up kids who would call that you could just hit the start switch and the car could drive itself to and from the eki. The students in your house were like the frogs in Egypt. They were into everything. You and Millie went well beyond what any reasonable person would put up with, but, man howdy, the fruit that came out of that. You and the local church had a terrific combination. You were the contact man, and would prepare the fruit. Takimoto would come in the summer for dendo and harvest, and Pastor Takahashi provided the church for them to go to. That was one of the most fruitful combinations I knew in Japan.

And Mitsuko. My goodness that would be worth a life time just to have one convert like her. When she first came to Karuizawa, she got on a train from Nagano and got off at Karuizawa because she knew a lot of gaijins (foreigners) lived there, and she wanted to live with someone to learn English. She stopped at Takei's bike shop to ask where the gaijins lived; and they sent her to the language school. When I first met her she asked if she could live with us. I would have taken her, but we were just married and had Ritu living with us at the time. I called you, and you took her in. What a trip! You frequently told me about all the frustrating you were having with that fickled 20 year old girl living with you. You said she would get saved every month and then lose her salvation as soon as she had her next period. Man howdy she was up and down. But oh, what a jewel she became. She is a pastor's wife now in Kobe and doing spectacular. That is your fruit, brother.

I doubt that you were real happy when the doctor told you that you had cancer, but I think that is good news. At the end of the 2nd WW there were well over a million American GIs overseas. The name-of-the-game was get the boys home. The US was doing everything possible to get the men home again as soon as possible. They were double and triple booking troop transports to get as many men on ships as possible. Men would sleep in shifts so others could sleep in their beds, but no one complained. It was well worth any inconvenience just to get home. When a man saw his name listed on the return sheet posted in the orderly room bulletin board you could hear him shout all over base. One thing was certain, there would be a party tonight. There was a little sadness as they would be leaving their buddies that they had been with for months, but to get home... .

Oh Dick I am envious. I would trade anything I have to swap your place in line. You have been trudging towards that City for so many years and now it is in sight. What will it be like? Imagination fails us to envision the things God has prepared for them that love Him. How intensely we have longed to see Jesus. And you will get to see Him before I do. The Bible tells us very little about what He has prepared for us other than we know one of the first events will be the Marriage Supper. I hope you don't get too far into it before I can get seated. If I am late, please save a little for me. I don't know what the seating arrangements will be at the Table, but if I had my choice I would like to get seated next to you. But that probably won't be possible. I suspect you will be up near the head table and my place will be well towards the back with the servants. But regardless of what the seating arrangement is, we do know that the main thing is the wedding garment. No one is permitted there without the wedding garment on. We know what that garment is – Jesus. We must be clothed in Christ. Brother you always looked handsome in your garment here. It fitted you so well.

Dear Dick, I don't know if I will get a chance to shake your hand again on this planet. If I do, I will thank God for that extended mercy. But if you leave before I get there, please accept my deepest appreciation of you. What a blessing and an encouragement you have been to me! You set the bar for us to try to follow. I am deeply indebted to you. Honto ni arigato gozaimasu.

Your grateful brother in Christ,

bill

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As it turned out, Dick's cancer went into remission and he lasted another two or thee years. I did get a chance to see him one more time. He had a goal of walking the Appalachian Trail in his area with his children. The day I stopped to see him, he just got back. He told me that was the happiest day of his life. He finished the trail as he wished, and I was waiting at his house when he got home.

After he was gone Millie wrote me that in the later stages of his cancer, he would occasionally get out the letter that I had sent him and reread it. I had a desire to preach Dick's funeral but I was in Japan when he finally crossed the River. But Millie later wrote me that they read my letter to Dick at his his service so I did have the privilege of having my voice heard at Dick's funeral even if it was only by a letter I had sent him years before.

Am I wrong about my attitude towards death? Jesus said that those who believed in Him would never die (Jn. 6:51, 8:51, 11:26). Eternal life begins at the new-birth. Eternal life does not begin after a person gets to heaven. If the life of Christ that is in them is eternal how is it possible for a Christian to die? Admittedly there is such a thing as translation. There is such a thing as putting off an old worn-out suit to put on that is vastly much better. Admittedly we do leave this world to enter into one where angels worship the Lamb of God in a way that we don't see here on this planet, and we don't come back. Admittedly we do say goodbye to loved ones here briefly and, we will have to wait until they can join us in heaven. But is that such a tragedy? If I am wrong, would someone please help me.

On a totally different subject. Praise the, Lord Pammy is one horns-down, hard-charging soul winner. The other night she came home saying, “I just led an 86 year old lady at the market to Christ this evening.” The other day Pammy stopped the motor bike Walls ice cream lady in front of our house to buy some ice cream. Pammy stood there talking to the lady for 40 minutes. After she left Pammy said, “Well, I just led her to Christ.” She had previously given her a tract. The lady said that everything happened exactly as it said in that tract and her heart was open to accept Christ. For all of her other supposed weak points, her main strong point is that she is 1 in a 1,000 soul winner.

She has a vision that she wants to start a Gospel Coffee shop in front of our house. To me that is ridiculous, but yesterday she got everything fixed up to be very attractive. This morning she called me outside to see how beautiful she had it arranged. Indeed it was very attractive, but totally impractical, as we have terrible thunder storms every afternoon that will destroy her beach umbrellas and tables. She wanted to serve me tea at her table. While I was sitting there, our neighbors that I have been praying for for ten years came by. She had them sit down and got some more tea. The dear man is half gone with Alzheimer and the wife has her hands full taking care of him. They had never been in a church one time in their life, but decided to come to the church service. I was preaching this morning. Last night my heart was not right with God. This morning it was no better and the message I had was extremely bad. With those new unbelievers there, the Lord forbid me to share what I had in mind. For their sakes I preached the most basic message on salvation you could think of. God used them to save me from making a bad mistake. Thank God, God uses foolish things and perhaps that might give me a chance.

I find the road to heaven a very steep uphill grade at this point, but – praise God – I am getting nearer the top. Thank you for your prayers.

See you next week,

                                 bill

Blind Spots

4 May 2014

Dear Phyllis,

The other night Paul was over for a very important talk. Paul is a first-class confronter, which is a good spiritual gift. We need people who can speak to us about our problems in a way that is helpful; and Paul is good at that.

Blind spots are a huge spiritual problem. I believe it is safe to say that we all have blind spots that are obvious to everyone around us, but we can't see the egg on our face ourselves. If we want to get the egg off our face, it will take others to tell us about it. Unfortunately, this is seldom successful.

When confronted by others about serious blind spots, there are generally two reactions. If a person is phlegmatic, it is possible to hit them with a fence post and they just don't know what you are talking about. If they are choleric, it is common that they will become defensive and attack you. I knew a brother in Japan who had terrific blind spots that were causing terrible pain to a number of people. He had seriously misjudged a lovely person and unjustly disciplined him. People who knew the facts better, went to this brother to explain what happened. The result was a fierce attack on anyone who criticized him. One night they had a break at a prayer meeting where everyone in the room was in tears pleading with the Lord. They were pouring out their heart to the Lord. Later I said to the missionary. “I heard you had a break at the prayer meeting the other night. To my surprise, a grim look came over his face and he replied, “That was the devil.” The problem was they were praying about their frustration with him.

The other night Paul said, “Do you realize how badly you hurt Mike at the prayer meeting this morning.” No, I honest;y had no idea there was a problem. Paul went on, “Did you notice after your discussion with him, he never looked at your face one time for the rest of the morning; and while you were praying he got up and left?” I noticed he was gone when I finished praying, but I wasn't aware he didn't look at me. Paul said the other fellows were all talking about it after I left and they all felt I was seriously wrong. Intellectually, I don't see a thing I said that was not correct, and anyone who questions me is wrong. That is a pretty good indication that I have a blind spot. But how you correct that is still a mystery to me.

Joe Carroll used to say, “The devil will always get you one your strong point. He won't challenge you on your weak point but make you go eccentric on your strong point.” In Japanese sumo wrestling there are two tactics. The name-of-the-game is to push the other fellow out of the ring. But the opposite tactic is, when he charges, just step out of the way, and help him fall flat on his face in the ring. That is why the person that I need the most is the one who disagrees with me. I need the balance.

In my heart, I couldn't see where I was wrong at the prayer meeting. But there is such a thing as to be intellectually right, but spiritually wrong. If Mike was hurt, the only thing I see that I did wrong was to be insensitive. I have had others deeply hurt me where they thought they were right and I can identify with being hurt by insensitivity.

Mike's wife died of cancer two years ago. He took it awfully hard. I don't know if he ever got over her death. I hadn't seen Mike in nearly a year, but heard that he had a terminal illness. Sherry is buried here in Chiang Mai, and I heard that Mike wanted to go to be with the Lord while in Thailand so he could be buried with her. At the prayer meeting Mike was sharing with us about his lung disease. I responded like it was a good thing. Oddly enough, no one agreed with me. Then I said, “In Japan, with the Kichijoji believers, if someone goes to the hospital and comes home with the report that they have cancer, the common response is, Congratulation”. The men thought that was very inappropriate. They said is not congratulation when you hear you are sick and going to die, but I think it is. Am I wrong?

What is so horrible about going to heaven? Is it a bad thing that we must leave this world of pain and sorrow to go to paradise? For the unsaved, they have every reason why they should dread death. If I was hanging over the pit of hell, I would fight for my life to stay here one more second. For someone who has no assurance of salvation it would be a frightening experience to go sailing out into eternity not knowing where you are going to land. I agree death is not a welcome event. But for a Christian what is wrong with finishing your course, and going to see Jesus and your loved one who have preceded you?

A year ago, Noi, the wife of my dear friend John, called saying he was dying. We went immediately. When I went in his bed room, it was obvious I was at a death scene. John was lying there emaciated with cancer; he was conscious but past talking. When I saw him I said, “Well, John, this is the day. Congratulation, you are number one in line. This is the moment you have been walking towards all you life.” He didn't like that greeting. He was past talking, but his eyes flashed with anxiety and fear. In Paul's words, “He was fighting for his life, and didn't appreciated someone coming in there saying, 'Congratulation, you are going to be dead soon'.” Paul said, “If that had been me, I would have got out of bed and slugged you”. As it turned out, John didn't die that day but the next day he seemed to be more resigned to what was happening, and later passed peacefully from this body to wearing one far better.

In Mike's case the doctor told him that he has a grim future as this lung disease is not a real good way to go. I can see that that would be no picnic. Dying a hard death is certainly nothing congratulatory. But you would think he would be grateful for anything that would unite him with his wife.

I had the privilege of preaching my mothers funeral. It was like being at the Olympics. Oh my goodness, what a finish! The last several years of her life she ran like a champion. She was going full bore to the wire. What a legacy! All we could do was celebrate. Paul said, in the Scripture funerals are no celebration. That is true. Joseph wept over his father (Gen. 50:1). Devout men made great lamination over Stephens funeral (Act 8:2). For we who are left, there certainly is great sorrow. I greatly miss John. I miss Neil Verney. I miss a vast number of my friends. But if someone gets a promotion to work in an office higher than me, is that a bad thing?

Undoubtedly, I am too far over on one side of this picture. Mike was deeply offended and the other brothers all thought I was badly out of line. There is such a thing as identifying with the feelings of others. Jesus told us to weep with those who weep. He certainly did that at Lazarus' grave. When Jesus got back to Bethany, and was greeted by that horrible death scene, He didn't show up with balloons and whistles saying, “Whoopee! Hey gang, what is all this commotion about?Lazarus will be back here alive in ten minutes.” He did rebuke the crowd in Jairus' house when He got there to bring his daughter back from the dead. When the little girl died, they had hired the professional mourners to come and make mourning for the girl, and Jesus rebuked them by saying, “Quit it!” (Bill Cook translation) (Mk. 5:39). But His attitude was different at Lazarus' grave. What a horrible scene. Martha and Mary were devastated. They had such hopes that Jesus would get there and heal their brother. But He didn't show up, and their brother had died. Their grief was tremendous. Jesus would have been totally out of place had He said, “Cheer up. Your brother is going to be alive soon.” He was highly sensitive to their emotions, and so deeply identified Himself with them that He too burst into tears (Jn. 11:35).

Maybe this is the chief point. Maybe it isn't a matter about who is right and who is wrong. Maybe the Lord would rather we be concerned about the heart of others than winning an argument. But sometime there is no cure for blind spots because we earnestly believe we are right.

One time I had a serious go-around with Neil Verwey. To this day, there is no way I can see how Neil got to the ridiculous position that he held. When we first came to blows over this issue, I was stunned that a rational man could think such a ridiculous thing. The more we argued the madder I got. Finally I said, “You are the most hard-hearted, legalistic, bird I have ever met in my life. I would rather deal with the devil than with you.” Neil replied, “The money isn't the issue. I will be glad to pay the difference, but in my heart I believe you should pay it.” That was the problem. In his heart he earnestly believed he was right and I was wrong” The argument went on for a month. At the end of the month I took the money and went to the JM (Japan Mission) headquarters to pay what Neil felt I owed. He refused and pleaded, “Bill, please let me pay it.” But in his heart he had never changed his position that I was responsible. Man howdy, did we go around. Finally Neil pleaded, “Let's pray.” “NO!!! We are not going to pray until we get this settled!” That was impossible. There was no way of ever resolving this dispute where Neil honestly felt his position was the correct one. At last Neil got out of his chair and crawled across the floor on his hands and knees lying flat on the floor with his head on my feet weeping. I came out of that chair like it had been an ejection seat and hit the floor with Neil. We started to pray. We payed back and forth. I never prayed such a holy prayer in my life. I couldn't think of a thing more to say. Neil wailed, “Lord, my heart is breaking. I long to hear Bill say, 'I forgive you'.” What are you going to do after that? I can't remember, but I will never forget how the rug was soaked with tears where we had been praying. We got up off the floor, hugged, and – for the life of me – I couldn't recall what the problem was why I was there. Neil walked over to table, picked up the money, and said, “Please take this home.” My heart sank and I groaned, “Neil, please let's not start that all over again.” Then Neil did something heroic. He quietly took the money, and that was the end. Of course Neil has given me that money back multiple ten times over, but I am sure to his dying day he still felt he was right.

Blind spots are a very serious problem. Some may be easy. If we have bad breath, perhaps we should just accept the correction of others and change our tooth paste. If it is a misunderstanding, perhaps a little honest exchange may clear things up. But there are disputes where we sincerely feel our position is correct, and it would be a denial of truth to change. At such times maybe we should be more sensitive to the emotions of the other person and try to see the problem from their perspective. If their emotions are illegitimate, I don't know what to do.

Of course I am right about death. What is wrong with going to heaven? What is wrong with saying, “Praise the Lord, brother, you are going to see your wife soon.”? But Mike was deeply offended by my remarks Wednesday. Of course I will be glad to apologize to him. But my problem of being insensitive to the emotions of others is a serious one. I really need the Lord to help me here. Lord, help me to love and accept others as You do. Thank God for Paul being so honest with me.

Have a good week serving Jesus,

                                                               bill