Lead Like Jesus-Luke Kuepfer

27 September 2015

Dear Phyllis,

Last week Luke Kuepfer was here. Luke is easily the greatest guy I have met in SEA. I would safely place him among the top ten men that I have met in my life. I have known Luke for 17 years and he has been an enormous blessing and a challenge to me. Luke was the pioneer that started what is probably the finest Christian work going on in Chiang Mai today. He has had a couple of messages but his current message is Lead Like Jesus that he is carrying world wide and influencing thousands. But I told Luke years ago, “You have the wrong message. It is not a How message but a Who message.” It is the same three letters but spelled differently. With How the W comes at the end The How is instruction How to get to the Lord. In Who the W is at the beginning. Jesus is everything. When He is first the correct procedure will be the result – not the cause.

In my 20 years in Karuizawa I sat through the missionary conferences every summer. Each year the JEMA (Japan Evangelical Missionary Association) committee would get the finest conferences speaker in the world to come to Japan and tell us how to do it. For 20 years I saw hundreds of discouraged missionaries gather with their note books and recorders to listen to top speakers on how to do mission work. Each year they would leave at the end of the week all fired up with new enthusiasm and new understanding on how to do it. Next year the same missionaries would gather again discouraged to listen to a different message on how to do it. I have watched missions in Japan for 57 years and have yet to see a significant revival.

Allen Fadel was one of the best missionaries I knew. He started three of the best TEAM churches in Japan. After 20 highly successful years he moved to a new area of Tokyo to do it again. After three years Allen told me, “I can't understand it. I have done exactly the same thing that I did in Aomori, Hitachi, and Akabane and I can't draw flies. Nothing has happened.” Allen left the field. TEAM sent another missionary to that area and it took him several years before the church was finally established.

When I first went to Karuizawa as a young missionary I ran into a level of temptation like I had never experienced before. I spoke to Joe Carroll about it. He gave me a marvelous solution. He said, “You don't have to put up with that. Just tell the devil to get out.” The next night when I laid my head on the pillow the TV set came on in my mind showing me terrible filth. I did what Joe suggested and spoke to the unclean spirit telling him to get out. Bam. The TV set went off and the devil fled. Oh my goodness this is wonderful! The next night the same thing happened. When I laid down, the instant my head hit the pillow the TV set came on in my mind. I told the devil to get out and the TV set went off. But five minutes later the set came on again. After a few weeks it was a matter of me holding my finger on the OFF switch and the devil holding his finger on the ON switch. Over the years I have tried many techniques to stay clean and stay on my feet following Jesus. My experience has been that nothing works long term. It is a terrible embarrassment to the devil that after 58 years Jesus has still kept me from major failure. But the only thing I have learned is that it is not How to stay clean, but Who keeps me close to Himself. I have found that no message has been successful long term. The only explanation I have for why I am still on my feet is that Jesus is the only savior and He has saved me. Jesus is the Who.

Over the years I have listened to hundreds of excellent speakers. Some have been tremendously enlightening. And there have been a few that as I sat there there was an overwhelming sense of the presence of the Lord. Rather than the pencils moving on the note book tears were flowing down cheeks. Several years ago I was speaking for week at the morning chapel for students at Joe Carroll's Evangelical Institute. One noon I was having lunch with one of the students and said, “I was disappointed to see you all taking notes this morning.” Suzy was surprised. She replied, “That was a wonderful message. We thought you would be happy to see us all writing it down.” I explained to her, “If I speak to you, you will take notes. If God speaks to you you will cry.” The next morning the same thing happened. The students were impressed with the message and the pencils and note books came out. And then part way through the message the Lord began to move. I noticed that slowly the pencils went down and tears began to flow. I was satisfied.

I have warned Luke he has the wrong message but recently I have thought he might be right. In the 1970s Bill Gothard was the biggest news in the Church in America. His message on Basic Youth Conflicts was having a far greater impact on the Church in America than Billy Graham. Graham was influencing hundreds., but Bill Gothard was influencing thousands. The statistics of people “who got saved” at a Billy Graham crusade was 1%. But the ones who stayed permanently changed at Bill Gothard's conferences were tens of thousands. I went to a BYC conference in 1972 and was deeply impressed. Everything he said seemed to be solidly scriptural. I have seriously considered his message over the years. You can't fault a thing he said and yet I have seen several who have followed his formulas and made mistakes. I did what he said one time and made a mistake. Forty years later I was shocked to learn that Bill Gothard resigned from his organization in disgrace when a large number of women came forward accusing him of inappropriate conduct with women. Bill Gothard's message was excellent but it wasn't able to save even Bill Gothard.

Luke's message is excellent. Like Bill Gothard I am sure it will help thousands, but it will not bring revival. Revival is when Jesus comes. It is when there is an overwhelming sense of the presence of the Lord. Messages are good and they are instructive. But the personal abiding Holy Spirit in the heart is the only thing I know that is lasting. I have violated all my guide lines. I have done things while traveling alone that were suicide. And yet through it all Jesus has proven Himself to be 100% faithful. I have no explanation on how I can stand at this place in the road and say, I am still on my feet, other than Jesus has chosen to keep His hand on one of His weakest most foolish servants and kept him while walking through a mine field.

Oh thank You, Jesus,

                                              bill

Saved

13 September 2015

Dear Phyllis,

I've told this story before, but it bears repeating. One of the stunning experiences of my life was in 1980. We were home from Japan for a furlough. I was sitting next to a lady at a church supper that I scarcely knew other than to say “Hi” to a couple of times the last time we had been there. She and her husband frequently sat in front of us in church and I distinctly remembered her from then. They were a fancy couple and I used to say to my wife, “That couple aren't saved”. I spoke to her that evening and said, “Linda, you probably don't know me but my name is Bill Cook and this is my wife Rosemary. We used to see you in church seven yeses ago”. She replied, “Bill Cook, I know more about you than your mother. I would like to tell you my testimony”.

I was right, they weren't saved. She said shortly after we left Greenville to return to Japan they quit going to church all together. But then one day a friend called and invited her to go with her to a different church. Linda said suddenly she had an intense desire to go to church and the next week was the longest week of her life. Every morning she would wake up and wonder how many more years she would have to wait until it was Sunday. Sunday finally came and she was ready for church well before time, but it seemed her friend had forgotten her. At last her friend finally showed up but she was the slowest driver in the state and every traffic light in town was red. After an eternity they got to church but the service was an endless series of songs and announcements. At long last the pastor finally stood up to speak but before he told his first joke Linda had hit the limit. She jumped up, ran forward, and fell in front of the church crying, “Jesus save me.” The startled pastor and 3,000 people had never seen anything like it, but – “Jesus save me!” - He did.. Man howdy did she get saved!

Her poor husband was really komatta (big problem). He had a crazy woman on his hands. There was no peace in their home and there was no peace in heaven. Linda was crying day and night, “Lord Jesus, save my husband”. Jake was a carpenter. One day, a few months later, Jake was up on a roof. At 4:00 in the afternoon he suddenly stood up, unbuckled his nail apron and said to his crew, “I'll see you guys tomorrow”. He got down from the roof, got in his truck, and drove off. The next morning he was on his way to work when he was killed in a fatal auto accident. He was dead on arrival at the hospital.

There was a pastor who had just prayed with a member of his church who was going in for surgery that morning. He was going out the door to go home for breakfast when he heard an announcement saying, if there was any clergy in the hospital would they please report to the administration. He turned around and reported to the administration desk asking what the problem was. They explained that they had just had a man brought in DOA and they wanted to have some clergy to speak with his wife when she showed up. He asked, “May I see the body?”. It wasn't pretty but he looked at him in the morgue and placed the sheet back over the face. Fifteen minutes later Linda came roaring up on the scene. As she was rushing in to the hospital the pastor stepped forward and said, “Mrs. Rogers, my name is Pastor Blackburn. I have something to tell you. Your husband is in heaven with our Lord Jesus.” Linda glared at him and replied, “Preacher, you are a liar. My husband is an unsaved man and is in hell”. He replied, “Mrs. Rogers, yesterday afternoon, your husband went to a public pay phone in Greenville and called the first church he could find in alphabetical order in the phone book. At 5:00 o'clock yesterday afternoon I led your husband to Christ.”

I had never heard a story like it. Rosemary was going through so many napkins crying she was ready to blow her nose on the table clothe. But then Linda dropped the bomb. She said, “After the Lord took Jake, you and your family have replaced my husband in my heart”. Somehow she had gotten a family picture of us and got on a mailing list. Linda said, “I have read every word you have ever written. I have talked to everyone who knows you. I have talked to anyone who has been in Japan and met you. When I wake up in the morning the first thing in my heart is to pray for the Cooks in Japan. When I stand at the sink and do the dishes I look at your picture posted over the sink. I pray for you all day long. And when I go to bed the last words on my lips are to pray for the cooks. You and your family have replaced Jake in my heart.” Gong! What can you say? I joined Rosemary in her shower of tears. I turned to Rosemary and said, “If there is anything we do while we are in this town, it is to spend maximum time with this lady.” And that was the last time I ever saw Linda. We never got together again.

I tell this story as I was greatly challenged as I read the story of the sinful woman who broke up the party in Simon's house by washing Jesus' feet with her tears and anointing Him with the alibastor ointment (Lk. 7:36-50). How did she know Jesus? If Simon was right, it seems apparent they had never met (Verse 39). She had never been to Him for counseling. He was not her priest at confession who had given her absolution for sin. Why was she so overwhelmed and loved Him so much? The only thing I can think of is that she was secretly watching Him and knew His every movement. She saw His character and what He had done for others. She was so overwhelmed by His person that she broke up the party by going uninvited into Simon's house and washing Jesus' feet with her tears.

Why do I share this story today? I have been sharing with you testimonies of several I have known who knew God. It has been my rare privilege to know a number of amazing Christians who walked closely to the Lord. They had His ear and their record is astonishing things the Lord has done for them. At this point in life I must be honest and admit I am a stranger in my Father's house. I stand so far in the end of the line of those who claim to be servants of God that I am embarrassed that I ever had brashness enough to get in that line. I would be the most ungrateful turkey on this planet if I didn't acknowledge that the Lord has given me one of the most privileged lives I know. But to be honest I have been more like the woman standing in the crowd looking at what Jesus does for others. Most of the things on my prayer list are on an indefinite hold. That is all right. Jesus is wonderful. His character is unchanged. I will never have the opportunity to wash Jesus' feet with soap and water. But perhaps I could wash the feet of some of His servants. Lord I would be honored to do so,

                                                                                             bill

Christ's Message

6 September 2015

Dear Phyllis,

Well we have one week until the end of the world. Of course I don't believe that. But You Tube is filled with dooms day prophets predicting that it is all over this month. But mixed in the crowd the two voices I hear that seem the most credible are John Hagee and Jonathan Cahn. Hagee is famous for his book on the Four Blood Moons and Cahn has gained national spot light for his book on the Harbinger and Shemitah. Both Hagee and Cahn are basing their predictions on the pattern of highly significant historical events that have happened on past days of these signs. Their warning are an extrapolation, that up to now major world events have happened when these signs have coincided with Jewish festivals; and we can expect significant things to happen this time.

Rabbi Jonathan Cahn was catapulted to national prominence with his book, The Harbinger and two speeches he made. One was at the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakast in Washington, which was so powerful the bad guys stormed out in protest. I believe if there is one man who is God's prophet to America today it is Jonathan Cahn. He is unusual as he sees America in the Bible and sees Isiah 9:10 as a prophetic word saying 9-11 was God's warning to America. His thesis is amazing. Everything he points to has happened exactly as he has warned. Isa. 9:10 says, “The bricks are fallen down but we will build with hewn stone; the sycomores are cut down but we will change them to cedars.” Amazingly Tom Daschel, who is no Christian, quoted this verse in a speech before the US congress. When they laid the foundation for the new New York Trade Building they took a hewn stone from a quarry in New York to be the conner stone. When the first Trade Building came down there were two steel beams that hit a sycamore tree forming a cross. A photographer took a picture of that cross but those beams killed the sycamore. Amazingly they replaced the sycamore with a cedar tree that is exactly the same species as the Bible predicts. They had a formal planting of the replacement cedar and called it the Tree of Hope. Totally inexplicably the Tree of Hope withered. They did everything they could to save it but eventually it died and they had to take it up. There was much speculation on John Hagee's Four Blood Moons, the third of which happened last April. Someone commented, “Well he missed that one. April came and went and nothing happened.” Then someone else suggested, The Tree of Hope died on the third Blood Moon. Pretty spooky. Cahn is predicting a stock market crash on the last day of the Shemitah, and that appears impossible as the 13^th falls on a Sunday. But there is no question but what the Dow has been very nervous this past week. We will see. I am not laying money on the table but I cannot see how America can continue much further before the severe judgment of God falls.

Friday night Pammy and I were invited to attend a prayer meeting for a coming event called Chiang Mai Arise. Pammy has a close friend who is the mother of Thai's Tom Cruz. Kasori's son is one of the most famous movie stars in Thailand and he has built a fancy house for his mother here in town. Needless to say money is no problem. Kasori is a very outstanding Christian and uses her wealth to promote Christian evangelism. She has her own church. Four years ago Pammy and my picture was on the posters promoting a major meeting Kasori was promoting. The speaker was the pastor of a mega church in Singapore. The first 20 minutes I heard his message I said this is an old movie that I have seen before. His message was This is the Third Day. It was exactly the same message as the Latter Rain 40 years ago. I correctly called him a false prophet. Nothing he said was going to happen has come true. Kasori is inviting him back again this year and they were having a pre-meeting prayer meeting. But the Prayer meeting was basically a promotional meeting trying to promote this event to as many church leaders in Chiang Mai as possible. I told Pammy, “I can't pray for something that I know is not of God”. Pammy protested, “But they have invited us and we are suppose to go.” I was proud of Pammy that she stayed home with me Instead of going to the Chiang Mai promotional meting I stayed home and looked at Andrew Strong's Kundalini Warning on You Tube for the third time. (Look at it. This is very important.) There are a number of things associated with the Charismatic movement that have bothered me for some time. Andrew Strong's documentary on the Kundalini spirit is the finest thing I have seen to date. He demonstrates that most of the charismatic phenomenon that is so highly praised and promoted as the Holy Spirit is exactly the same as the Kundalini spirit in Hinduism, and much of the Charismatic movement is unvarnished New Age.

After looking at Andrew Strong I went to some You Tube videos on the Emergent Church. This is a relatively new problem to me that I know very little about. But I was alarmed at supposed evangelical pastors veering so far from basic scripture. How it is possible for men, who are supposedly men of God, to drift so far from the basics of the Gospel is a total bewilderment to me. Of the two, much different movements, the Toronto Blessing is blatantly paganism, but the Emergent Church is much more subtle as it appears closer to what we would like to see in modern Christianity. Throw that in with seeker-friendly churches and the prosperity message you have a real bucket of worms.

After all that I went over to a message by Leonard Ravenhill. Oh my goodness that was good. That is the real message of Jesus. We are very fortunate being here in Thailand away from the epicenter of the storm in America, but the waves of the confusion do wash on the shores of the Orient. But praise God in spite of all the distractions of the devil the real Gospel is moving forward and Jesus is still calling to those who will hear His Voice and follow Him. Jesus warned us that the tares and the wheat would always grow together (Mt.13:24-43). I suppose this has always been since the 1^st century but I wonder if the scene has ever been as intensely confused as it is today. We know the tide of evil has to rise. There will be globalization. Among the many signs that will happen this month there is a reported UN resolution to make a Palestinian state on Sept. 23^rd. The US has always opposed this but Obama undoubtedly will take a stand against Israel. If this happened it will literally be Israel against the world. Hold your hat Hanna, we are in for a very fast ride, but the end of the road will be the Kingdom of God and Jesus receiving the honor and worship that the Father has determined are His. Praise God.

                                                                                                          bill