Not Backing Off

29 March 2015

Dear Phyllis,

Oh my goodness the Lord is good! Last week I wrote, “Today I am totally void of the joy of the Lord”. I honestly didn't know why. I had had a terrible squall with Pammy the day before but, in that, I was right and she was wrong. I felt perfectly justified in my position. But then Monday morning things got considerably worse. She had gotten over my explosion on Saturday. But Monday morning I wanted her to understand that there were two plans – Plan A and Plan B. Plan A was to obey the Bible. And plan B was to independently do her own thing and serve Jesus any way she wanted. I said, “With Plan B you don't need a Bible because you write your own rules as you go along.” Of course I was right but what that did to Pammy was lethal. She went up stairs and locked herself in her own room. When I saw the devastating effect my tirade had on her I backed off and apologized. No soap. Nothing I did could bring her out of her seclusion.

Tuesday morning the Lord sent by a dear brother who I asked to pay for me. I had come to the place where I was willing to consider that I may be partially responsible for the rupture. After Pascal prayed for me, the Lord began to open my eyes. I saw what I should have known from the beginning. The problem was over-reaction. Pammy was wrong in what she did on Saturday, but that was relatively minor compared to the serious sin I did with my over-reaction.

I searched my mind for an illustration of this in the NT. But then the Lord showed me the classic in the OT. After killing Able, Cain protested that anyone who saw him would kill him. The Lord said that He would put a mark on Cain and if anyone killed him they would get it seven fold. But then after that, Lamech killed a man and said if someone got it seven times for Cain it would be seventy times for Lamech (Gen. 4:23,24). This is the Biblical illustration for a push turning to a shove. Someone taps us on the shoulder, and we respond with a full arm swing. Someone steals a chicken but we shoot the thief dead.

When the Lord showed me the serious damage I had done, that produced some very deep repentance. I did everything I could to apologize to Pammy to break the ice but nothing helped. But then the Lord heard prayer. Two Christian men came who wanted to work with Pammy in the church. Of necessity she had to talk to them. I joined in the conversation, and pretty soon the pronoun turned to “We” again. We went shopping and I was tremendously relieved that the Lord had put the cart back on the rails. We are closer now than ever. I told Pammy, “Let's forget about Plan A and Plan B. Let's try Plan C (Christ)”. Plan C is for Pammy to do her best to be a scriptural wife and for me to be forgiving for failure and be more loving.

The first year I was the director of the language school, Bob Warric and I were making a language lab. I made the booths and Bob was doing the denki (electronics). Suddenly there was a terrible squall. I asked Bob what went wrong. He said there are two components in an audio system, filters and amplifiers. He said somehow a part that was supposed to be a filter was amplifying. That is a very important spiritual lesson. There are problems in the body of Christ that need filters and amplifiers. Forgiveness needs to filter out sins and love needs to amplify encouragement. In the situation we had Saturday revenge amplified the problem ten times. Small wonder Pammy shut herself in the room for two days.

Today was my first day as pastor of the church in our house. Several months ago Pammy led a sister, Nok, and her daughter, Pin, to the Lord. Both were doing very well. But two months ago the devil attacked Pin by using the grandmother to keep Pin from coming to church. When Nok showed up at church this morning without her daughter again I was mad. I explained to Nok that this was a black and white attack that needed to be confronted. I told Nok that she must take an adamant stand and refuse to allow anyone to keep Pin from coming to church. Nok must be a warrior. This will not be easy as she is bucking her mother and grandfather. I told her if we win the battle for Pin we will gain the soul of her mother and grandfather. But if we loose Pin we might loose Nok also.

In the book of Numbers the only ones that were counted were the ones who were “able to go forth to war” (Num. 1:20,22,24,26...). In the church the only ones that count are the ones who are able to go forth to war – the rest are just hangers-on. We cannot be defensive. We must be aggressively offensive. When Jesus said that the gates of hell would not prevail against His church, for 30 years I had that backwards. I thought that the church was behind the wall and the attacks of the devil would not prevail aganst the gates of the church. Then the Lord showed me that I had it wrong. It is the devil who is on the defensive and the church is attacking his gates. When David took on Goliath, he didn't wait for the giant to come to him, he ran towards the giant (1Sam. 17:48).

At the beginning of the 2^nd WW, when MacArthur arrived in Australia, he found the country paralyzed with a defensive mentality. The Australians had conceded the northern half to the continent and hoped to challenge the Japanese at Alice Springs. MacArthur said the only way to fight the Japanese was by attacking them. No one had even considered that. He sent in the Australian “diggers” to stop the Japanese advance in the Owen Stanley ranges. It was a bloody fight but the Aussies won and that was the turning point of the war. From that moment on the Japanese never gained another foot.

I told Pammy and Nok that from now on we are going on the offensive and start having Bible studies in that house, and this is the last day when Pin will not be in church. No doubt the mother and grandfather will oppose that but I told Pammy if they won't back off, Nok and Pin can come and live with us. This is not the Thai way of handling problems but compromise or capitulation is not an option.

Jesus won in my heart and He must win here too;

                                                                                    bill

More Good and Bad News

22 March 2015

Dear Phyllis,

Today I have a very heavy heart. I am absolutely void of the joy of the Lord. But not all is bad. There is some good news and some bad news. Let's have the good news first.

As I have said on several occasions, Paul Almstead is one of the most unusual men I have ever met. He was one of the worst men. He was so bad I said, “Any man like this can forget about getting saved. That just won't happen.” Then – just like Jesus – he got saved – BIG TIME. As bad as he was in one direction, he is off the scale in the positive direction. Let me modify that. Paul isn't that outstanding, but the things that Jesus has done, and is doing, for him is breath-taking.

His family was so bad you would almost have to make a new category for them. His mother must have been demonized. Paul was never sober, and, predictably, his children grew up wild. He hadn't see his mother in 20 years, and didn't know if she was dead or alive. Then about four months ago a lady he had never heard of saw something about him on Facebook and wrote him asking if he knew a Phyllis Almstead. He wrote back saying “That is my mother's name”. The lady contacted Paul again saying “she is my neighbor”. That is how Paul learned where his mother was living. Then a few weeks later, his daughter wrote him saying she and her husband were being transferred to Port Richie, Florida. She had no idea that was where her grandmother was. Someone bought Paul a ticket to go to the states to see his family. Last Tuesday I was going to write his daughter, Erica, encouraging her to open her heart to Jesus, but checked my e-mail first. There was a picture of Paul baptizing his daughter. Oh my goodness, it just doesn't get any better than that. I nearly washed out my computer with tears.

The kindergarten where I teach English every morning has an outstanding drum band. Last week they were selected to be one of 16 schools from all over Thailand to perform in Bangkok. I was blown away Tuesday when Singha told me that they won first place and were the top school in Thailand. They were on national television Wednesday night. What an honor! There are thousands of kindergartens all over Thailand and Nitrahong was selected number one. Singha was very happy and gives God the glory.

Now for the bad news. Yesterday was the graduation for the kindergarten and I was asked to perform again. Unbelievably, three years ago, they asked me to sing a western song and yodel . Before I sang I told everyone (about 400) “If you have to go to the bathroom or make a phone call this would be a good time to do it”. Last year I led the children singing, and this year I was going to teach everyone in the auditorium an English song. Pammy had interpreted for me for the last two years. Singha was going to do it this time but I felt it was important that Pammy be with me. She said she would.

But an hour before we had to leave she changed her mind. I pleaded with her to no avail. She was playing her guitar serving the Lord and writing a new song. I told her, “There are two plans – Plan A and Plan B. Plan A is to obey the Bible, and Plan B is to do your own thing.” But she was too busy serving Jesus to go with me. I told her, “Jesus won't force us to obey Him and neither will I”. I went by myself, but naka naka I flat couldn't find that building at Maejo University. I thought I knew where it was and spent 40 minutes looking at every building on campus and talking to 40 university students, non of which spoke a word of English. In desperation I went home and got Pammy to take me to show me where the graduation ceremony was. May I just say I was not a real happy camper when I went home to get Pammy. Like I was white hot with rage. I was one hour late getting there and everyone was asking, “Where is your wife?”. She was in her room when I got home and we didn't talk until this morning. Needless to say I had to apologize for my horrific furry yesterday. It is highly doubtful that that rage was of the Lord.

It has been four months since Pammy has been having her own worship service here in our house on Sunday. I have finally come around to where I said I would work with her, and she has asked me to be in charge. Today everyone was supposed to go to Mae Tang, which is about 20 km from here, for a combined service with two different minority groups. Pammy said they had asked me to speak.

The first thing this morning I apologized for my heated anger yesterday. Then she said, “Hurry up and get ready to go.” I replied, “I was hoping we could work together, but yesterday you made the decision that you didn't want that”. I told her again there are two plans, A and B. Plan A is to obey the Bible and Plan B is to serve Jesus. I said Plan B is a clean sheet of paper. You can write your own rules. The nice thing about Plan B is that you don't need a Bible. Obeying the Bible is Plan A. Pammy pleaded, “But that was yesterday.” I replied, “Yes today is a new day but what we did yesterday effects toady. If I committed adultery yesterday I would be an adulterer today.” True you can be forgiven. If I killed someone yesterday I could be a forgiven murderer today. The Lord can forgive my sin but that doesn't undo the consequences of my actions. AW Tozer said, “We sow wild oats Monday through Saturday and then we go to church on Sunday and pray for a crop failure.” I am not sure how serious the crop failure will be. God is not mocked. Whatsoever we sow, there is a strong possibility that we might reap. Pammy has come a long ways, but she is very strong that she would rather serve Jesus than obey her husband. I told her that she has made her choice and I release her from any obligation to me whatsoever. She can serve Jesus unhindered now as I will make no request of her to work with me or help me. She is on her own with a clean sheet of paper. She can write her own rules.

Pakistan look increasingly dangerous and yet very appealing. Last week there was a bad terrorist attack on a church in Lahore which is about 100km away from Faisalabad where Pastor Hanook lives. I don't want to endanger him and that is a serious consideration, but personally I really would like to take on the Taliban. That would be a real trophy to win a couple of them to the Lord.

Ya'll pray for us now, heya?

                                                     bill

Song of Solomon

15 March 2015

Dear Phyllis,

To say this has been an uneventful week would be an understatement. Like I mean to say, nothing has happened. The worst of the winter is behind us and the mild season has come with the day time temperatures running over 100F everyday. With nothing to do I sit on my balcony in my chair writing on my computer. Compulsively, I feel led to write on Song of Solomon but this is stupid as I have no one to send these articles to. They are just sitting dead on my computer. In the absence of anything else to write, I will take the liberty of sending you a couple that I wrote this past week. These two articles are thoughts on S of S 1:9.

The Song of Solomon is clearly the narrative of Christ's relationship with His Bride. Or the Christian life. Basically there are two speakers – Jesus and the believer. Chapter 1 verses 8 to 11 are the first words of Christ in this narrative. His first words were an answer to a prayer as to how to find Him. His second expression in verse 9 is setting forth the purpose why He has saved us.

S of S 1:9

The word “like” is one of the most important and well used words in the Bible. By that I do not mean like is the sense of enjoy, but like in the sense of being similar to. We are incapable of properly comprehending spiritual truth, so the Lord must revert to comparison that we can take hold of. Jesus frequently said, “The Kingdom of heaven is like” … a pearl of great price, ten virgins, a man going to a far country to receive a kingdom, etc. This is the basis of all His parables. To tell us about heaven, He had to drop back and say, “The kingdom of God is LIKE...” This is essentially what the Lord is saying in verse 9. While He does not use the word “like”, He did say, “I have compared you to...”.

And the object that He compared us to was the horses of Pharaoh's chariot. Nothing could be more instructive. What were the horses of Pharaoh's chariot?They were the vehicle that Pharaoh rode around in. What is your body? It is the vehicle that you ride around in. It was said of Jesus, “A Body hast Thou prepared Me.” (Heb. 10:5). It was absolutely necessary for Jesus to have a body. Without that body He never could have accomplished what He did. Jesus was with the Father in the beginning. Jesus always was. But to accomplish redemption and salvation it was necessary for Him to have a body.

Having done that, He could just as easily saved us and take us straight to heaven. But He has more work to do on this planet. For that He needs a body. That's us folks. He needs a body to live in by His Spirit. That is why He says here in the beginning of the Song of Sol. “I have compared you to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariot”.

What a privilege! I have often thought the most blessed donkey that was ever born was that little colt that carried Jesus into Jerusalem for His Triumphal Entry (Mt.21:2,3). What a privilege to carry Jesus into Jerusalem. But the next after that little donkey is the vehicle that Jesus rides around in today. He could have accomplished the preaching of the Gospel by Angels (Rev. 14:6). But just as He chose a human body to be His vehicle when He lived here for 33 years, He has again chosen human bodies to be His vehicle to live in for the proclamation of the Gospel. We are so familiar with the truth that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit that it really doesn't make much of an impact on us. But if that reality ever really struck us, we should be reduced to silence, awe, and gratitude to hear Him say. “I have compared you, O My love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots”.

S of S 1:9b

Verse 9 has more instruction and teaching in it than I have time or space to discuss here. But just to mention a couple of the main points, it should humble us to the core to realize that Jesus has chosen us to be His vehicle in which He rides in at this time of history. When the Lord says, “I have compared thee to a company of horses of Pharaoh's chariot” He is referring to the fact that Pharaoh's horses were the finest horses in the world. Solomon had to get his horses out of Egypt (1Kn. 10:28), which gives you some indication of what the Lord thinks of you. You are in the most privileged stable there is.

But one more obvious teaching point here is the plurality. He said “a company”. We have discussed this before in talking about the “we” in the S of S. In His instruction on prayer, Jesus didn't tell us to pray, “My Father”, but “Our Father”. In sending out His servants, the Lord never sends them out one by one, but by twos. This is a basic spiritual principle. When we learn to walk with the Lord, one of the first lessons is that we are not Lone Rangers but members of a collective body. We are a company. We must learn to work together with others. If these lessons are not learned you are headed for the ditch. You can sit there alone, but if we are to be servants of Jesus we must learn that we are part of a company of horses.

The next obvious truth is discipline. There was one salient characteristic of the horses of Pharaoh's chariot; that was that they were well trained. He didn't have a bunch of wild ponies hooked to that chariot. The horses that wore Pharaoh's harness were well trained. This is one of the most painful parts about being a Christian. Chastisement is the mark of a true son (Heb. 12:5-8). The Bible tells us God chastises those whom He loves and scourges every son whom He receiveth. (Heb. 12:6). That is an awfully strong message. A young colt might think, “Yokatta (Japanese great deal) I've got it made now”, when he is brought into Pharaoh's stall. Man howdy, this is the best food there is. But then the training starts. There is no joy in the sting of the whip, but it will drive foolishness out (Pro. 22:15). Some people say they would like to live their life over. Not me. It was bad enough the first time. I don't want to repeat that. Every young horse and every new believer has one attitude – my way. But it doesn't take long to get the signal that the name-of-the-game is not what I want, but the will of God be done. Learning that lesson is a terrible experience. But a vital one. And until that wild spirit is broken and a submissive spirit prevails, it will be back to the barn for more discipline. But the bottom line is, the purpose God had in mind when He saved you was to make you His vehicle in whom He could live and move. Praise God!

Tonikaku (anyway) this is a small sample of what I have been doing everyday.

See you next week, Lord willing,

                                                                  bill

Four Seals of Revelation

8 March 2015

Dear Phyllis,

I don't know what to say. This has been a slow week. It is like life is at a stand still, and yet the world is on fire. I don't have TV and never see any English publications. But I do have a computer and look at Fox News everyday. The international situation is breath taking. Last week Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to the US congress. I believe that will go down as one of the most historic speeches ever delivered to that body. Barack Obama promised to transform America, and he has done it. I believe he has already changed America more than any man who ever sat in that office. We have 20 months left and there is considerable fear that we may not survive another 20 months. All commentators say what we are witnessing is a rerun or the 1930s in Europe. One of history's most infamous political acts was by Neville Chamberlain in appeasing Hitler in 1938. He was hailed as the savior of England, but history proved that he was nearly the England's mortician. What England experienced in the next seven years was catastrophic. Very few people today realize how close England was to annihilation. Very few are students of history, and every indication is that we are exactly on course for history to repeat itself. But there is one significant difference – the issues are far more dangerous now. We were dealing with conventional bombs then, but today we are confronted with nuclear.

There are four sevens in the Book of Revelation. There are the first Seven Seals. Then the Seven Trumpets, the Seven Angels in chapter 14, and theSeven Bowels of the wrath of God. I am sure these events are not linear. They have got to be cyclic.

The Seven Seals are: 1^th the white horse (the beast); 2^nd the red horse (war); 3^rd the black horse (economic collapse); 4^th the pale horse (pestilence); 5^thThe souls under the altar (persecution), 6^th the end. The 7^th Seal seems to be an explanation on how this all happens.

The Seven Trumpets and the Seven Bowels are nearly identical. The Seven Trumpets are; 1^st the vegetation is burned; 2^nd the ocean; 3^rd the rivers; 4^ththe atmosphere; 5^th the pit; 6^th the Euphrates. The 7^th Trumpet is a repeat of the what just happened except upgraded. The Seven Bowels are: 1^st soarson those who had the mark of the beast; 2^nd the ocean – except in the Trumpets 1/3 of the ocean was destroyed, here it is every living thing; 3^rd therivers – except in the Trumpets 1/3 became bitter, here it is they all became blood; 4^th the atmosphere – except in the Trumpets it was 1/3 was darkened; here it is men are scorched by the sun; 5^th the kingdom – except in the trumpets it was demons from the pit for five months, here it is thick darkness; 6^th the Euphrates – except in the Trumpets 1/3 of the men were killed, here the blood runs up to a horses bridal. And the 7^th Bowel is exactly the same as the 6^th Seal that we saw in chapter 6:12-17. That is Armageddon.

We see by this that these events are basically cyclic except each time around they get worse. A blind man with one glass eye can see what is happening. Some commentators say the 3rd World War has already begun except it is extreme Islam rather Hitler. Few people realize the horrific destruction of England from 1940 to 1945. Frankfort and Berlin in Germany looked like Hiroshima. And Tokyo looked like Hiroshima, only worse. The thing that frightens me the most is that America has yet to answer to God for being the primary source of filth to the world and sexual perversion. When America is dealt with by God for that I fear it will be far worse than what happened to England. It is not a matter of IF, but WHEN the ax falls.

The good news is that daily I am overwhelmed by the amazing thing the Lord has done in giving me Pammy. The other day it just struck what a miracle that the house is filled with excellent Christian music all day long. Her taste in music is superb. We have three boys staying with us. The other day she posted a sign “7 PM Bible study and prayer” and she added, no excuses. Pammy doesn't have the personal discipline to enforce this, but I do. I'm glad it came from her, so now I can implement it. We have had some good times. Pammy is usually up a couple of times during the night praying. She has another sign, “House of 24 hour prayer”. She told me the other day, “I feel I will die if I can't witness”. And she certainly does. And Pammy is really working hard at how to handle herself when we have squalls, how to reestablish peace. She is doing extremely well in that area.

For myself, I daily grieve that the Lord has placed me in the most remote area on the shelf. There is so much of the Word of God exploding inside me that I feel like an old wine skin ready to burst with new wine. I beg God for a microphone. But the Lord has consigned me to silence. Paul is ministering to a large constituency ranging from Africa to Pakistan. He calls me lazy for not getting the message out. I come back, “How?” He said, “Get on Facebook”. Okay. He got me set up on Facebook but I didn't know how to use it. I started writing one page daily devotionals and pasted them on his Uncle Paul's Bible Study. Then Paul and I had a falling out and he cut me off. Pascal set it up so I could post my devotional on my own page. Okay. But everyday there were hundreds that wanted to be my friend. Then Paul said the Thai government would get on me for having so many under age Vietnamese girls on my friend list. I don't know one in a hundred of all that want to be my friend. I tried to be selective to accept only Christians but then every evangelist was posting his sermons on my page. Hang it! It ain't worth it! I deleted Facebook.

I don't know what to do. I have been writing these daily devotionals for three months now. Apart from teaching children in the kindergarten 30 minutes every morning, writing is the only activity I have. Every day I ask the Lord to say through me the things that He wants to get out. When I am finished I am amazed at what has been set down. I feel terrifically exercised that some of this is material should get out. But here it looks like the Lord and I are having a disagreement. I refuse to get in line with every evangelist that feels his message is the most important one to be heard. But I am sitting here with a computer full of messages that makes me feel like the old wine skin about to burst. I say the Lord closed me down on Facebook. Paul does fantastic, but I flat don't know how to use that dumb thing. The only list I have is you. I would be delighted to send you some of this material but I am reluctant to join the gang flooding Internet with their own thoughts. Tonikaku (anyway) here I am waiting on Jesus.

Your brother,

                                 bill

Brother Izawa

1 March 2015

Dear Phyllis,

The biggest news in town continues to be my wife. My goodness she is leading people to Christ on almost a daily basis. In the past two weeks she has led two crippled boys and a blind lady to the Lord. I wrote about Om two or three weeks ago. He came to live with us but after a few days went up to Fang – about 100 km north – and has decided to stay up there.

In almost every letter I report what a marked change I have seen in Pammy. A few months ago there was a kookie couple that I did not care for but Pammy was quite enamored with them. They settled themselves in to take a major part in the leadership of her church. I prayed about that relationship and was surprised when the thing came unglued and she asked them to leave. Praise the Lord!

Pammy has a long history as an ordained pastor of the UPC (United Pentecostal Church) and liked her denomination very much. I told you how I was there for their annual conference three weeks ago and lasted one day. I flat didn't like it but Pammy seemed to enjoy it. There is a brother here who is very sensitive about doctrinal error. He is so sensitive that four years ago he cut me off for being a false prophet. He sent me a couple of articles about UPC proving that they were a false cult. There were a few things about UPC that I don't care for but I am a long ways away from calling them a false cult. And the charges against them were so hair splitting it was hard for me to write them off. But Steve called me the other day to talk about a different issue. Then he asked, “Is your wife there?” “Yes” “Could I speak with her?” I called her and was a little concerned when she got off the phone soon and said he wanted to come over here to talk with her. At that point I was concerned about having someone come to our house to attack my wife. But I was going out for a couple of hours.

Two hours later when I got home I asked if Steve had come. “Yes” “How did you make out?” “Oh, it was wonderful. The Holy Spirit really did a wonderful thing in the way that we were able to talk.” I was stunned. The next day she said, “I really thank the Lord for Steve coming yesterday. The Lord has shown me that I shouldn't get too involved with the UPC.” The thing that Lord spoke to Pammy about was not the doctrinal issue but the man made organizational issue. She wants to be more independent and work with a broader spectrum of Christians. Praise God!

One of the crippled boys that Pammy prayed with for salvation last week is a pretty bad case. He is about 22. When he was three he fell and damaged his brain. I don't know why that affected his legs but he can't walk and it looks like his right arm is more or less paralyzed. More than that he has a speech impediment. When I saw him I thought if this boy goes on with God he could be a Thai version of Izawa sensei.

Izawa sensei was the most unusual evangelist I ever met in my life. Brother Izawa was born around 1905. When he was born he was such a deformed freak that the delivering doctor told the mother, “Let me destroy him.” The unsaved mother said, “No, let him live. God has a purpose for him.” That was how brother Izawa began life. He was just a mass of twisted protien. Usually children like that live only a short time and die but Izawa lived on. When he was 15 he still couldn't walk. He went to a famous Buddhist priest and asked him, “Sensei, why am I born like this?” The priest told him, “It was because you were a very bad person in your former life. Now you come back like this and have to suffer.” Izawa thought, if that is the way the system works, lets spin the wheel again and get on to the next life. Maybe the next time I can come back as a house cat or a bull frog or something different.

He went out and was sitting on the railroad tracks waiting for a train to come along to help him get out of this life to the next when he heard singing in the distance. He crawled off the tracks and got to the place where the music was coming from. Some Christians were having a street meeting. Izawa heard the Gospel of Jesus and was born again of the Spirit of God. He had never gone to school but taught himself to read and write, and ultimately was able to go to Bible school. Four years later he had completed the curriculum but no one wanted a freak for a pastor. He said, “Alright, if man won't ordain me God will”; and he went out to stand on a street corner to preach for two years.

After two years a very outstanding sister in the Bible school went to the principal and said, “Sensei, God has told me that I am supposed to marry Brother Izawa”. The principal replied, “Sister, don't do it. Don't waste your life. Brother Izawa can't live long. You are a very gifted girl with a bright future. Don't throw your life away.” So she married him.

He was such a freak that the police thought he was funny and left him alone during the war. For the ten years of intense persecution he was one of the very few churches in Japan that the police ignored and he was free to preach right through to the end.

Severely deformed people are not supposed to have children but they had eight. Two are PHD university professors, three are pastors, and two are pastors wives. All of them are brilliant.

He had a large church in Chiba and traveled as an evangelist. He had written several well known books in Japan and was a well known man of God. I met him in 1978 when he came to Karuizawa for special dendo (evangelism) meetings. He was still hard to listen to. His speech was stuttering and somewhat guttural. But the message he preached was powerful. Of course his wife was with him who gave the testimony of his life. Oh my goodness I was floored. Lord, give us more Izawas.

What a Savior!

bill