Close to the End

30 October 2016

Dear Phyllis,

For just a word of explanation, last week was a dark moment for me. I had asked the Lord to give me a microphone where by I could proclaim the wonder of Jesus to a broader audience. It seemed the immediate result of that request was that He took away the only small megaphone I had of writing to you each week. I had two computer go south on me, and it looked like the Lord had unplugged me from Internet. I was able to write last weeks letter on Pammy's computer but I never did find a spell check and it was Tuesday before I figured out how to send out the letter.

Monday I gave my computer to Sangha and asked if his friend could fix it. To my amazement, Wednesday morning he brought it back and said it was operational. At least email is back on line.

In listening to Bill O'Reilly, I wonder if Dennis Miller isn't a prophet. O'Reilly asked him what he thought of the coming election. Miller responded, “I think it doesn't make any difference who wins. It is all over. Trump might be able to roll a few things back for a while and stave off the ultimate collapse but it is all over and it really doesn't matter who wins ”. Some how I strongly believe he is right. When a house is on fire you might be able to spray water on the wall to enable it to hold up the roof a little longer, but sooner or later the roof is going to cave in.

If any one questions whether or not the USA will go down, all they have to do is look at the 4,500 year human history. For 4,500 years various societies have risen in prominence and power, but in an unbroken secession all have come an end. On the quarter deck of the USS Missouri on Sept. 2, 1945, at the singing of the surrender ending the 2^nd WW, General MacArthur said, “Men, since the beginning of time have sought peace; but military alliances, balance of power, league of nations have all failed leaving only path by the way of the crucible of war. Now we have had our last chance. If we do not now devise some greater more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door. The problem is basically theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence and improvement of human character that will synchronize with our almost matchless advance in science... of the past two thousand years. It must be of the spirit if the flesh is to be saved.” He was absolutely correct. But the only answer to an improvement of human character is by the new birth of the Spirit of God. Without that, improvement in human nature is impossible. Tragically in the past 71 years since that epic speech, human nature has only degenerated at an unprecedented rate. MacArthur was right. Armageddon is here. Only the participants are different than the world envisions. Armageddon will not a battle between nations, but Jesus against the anti-Christ and his forces (Rev. 16:13-16; 19:11-21). What we are seeing today is the preparation for the appearance of the anti-Christ and laying the foundation for his kingdom.

Daniel chapter 2 is the clearest picture we have given to us in the Word of God of the secession of kingdoms. History has confirmed the coming and going of the first four kingdoms, but there is an unexpressed break between the legs of iron and the feet of part iron and part clay. The reason for this is because Israel is God time clock. Time is measured by Israel. We see this especially clearly in Dan. 9:24-27. The time of the gentiles, or church age, is parenthetical, and is therefore silent. But the significant thing is what the Word tells us in Dan. 2:44; “In the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a Kingdom that shall never be destroyed”.The kings mention in verse 44 are obviously the ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar image which appear again as horns in Dan, 7:7.20 and Rev. 13:1,7,12, 16. We are very close to seeing the formation of these ten nations, When we see these ten kings that should be a cause of great joy. That means that this is the last act. We have seen a succession of many kingdoms come and go but when we get to the last act we know that Jesus is going to appear to smash that mess and set up His own Kingdom that will never pass away. The last few grains of sand are rapidly sifting through our hour glass and very soon we will see God's clock ticking again. My goodness, this is so blatant that a blind man with one glass eye can see it.

Within the past year a 15 year old Jewish boy, Nathan, had an unusual out-of-body experience. He went to heaven and saw the events that are soon to take place in Israel. There is quite a bit about him on Googles. I'm not sure that everything will happen exactly the way that he describes it, but I do believe that the basics of it are accurate. He is a secular boy with no biblical background whatsoever, but he virtually quotes several passages of scripture, particularly Zech. 14:1-4. He said he saw a very powerful world leader arising, that fits exactly with the biblical anti-Christ. Then he said there will be a terrible world war with millions killed. After that the nations of the world will be gathered together against Israel. The Israeli IDF (Israel Defense Force) fights courageously but after three days they are over run, Jerusalem is taken, and the women raped. But then at that moment, the Messiah appears on the Mount of Olives which splits in two as He lands. The Messiah saves Israel. That is the most accurate description of what the Word of God tells us that I have ever heard from an untaught secular person. I am not pointing at Nathan's prophecy as being infallible, but I do believe he is pretty close. The two points where I feel he is off is that he says, ironically, that Obama is the anti-Christ (he doesn't use that term); and all of this is supposed to happen within a few months. There are several who have speculated that Obama is the anti-Christ, but I don't think he is that smart. And secondly I believe we have a few more years before the stage will be totally set. The Islamic upheaval in the Middle East is getting close to having all the pieces in place. But I believe we have to see more achievement by the Back to Jerusalem movement in evangelizing the 10-40 window and SEA. There is virtually zero publicity in the press about the Back to Jerusalem movement other than I hear through sources that major things are happening. Perhaps the most surprising is a significant movement of God going on in Iran today, that is almost unprecedented. It is unprecedented in that the church in Iran today is the fastest growing church in the world. Never in history have there been so many Muslims saved in such a short period of time. I believe the Islamic problem in the Middle East will go world wide and will profoundly effect Europe and America.

There is no question but what America is in a terrific decline and Miller might be right that it doesn't matter who wins in a week. It is all over. For himself Miller suggest that his best course of action is to secure his own nest and do the best he can to enjoy life for himself and his family as the world collapse around him.

For the Christian I believe there is a brighter possibility. I strongly believe that the church in America today is the Laodicean church in Revelation 3. In one sense the Laodicean church is the most deplorable of the lot, yet there is a very bright ray in the Lord's message. It seems that He writes off the church as being irrecoverable, but then He addresses “any man”. The Lord's message to Laodicea is to the individual – any man. And to him, Jesus extends the most wonderful option. He says, “If any man will hear My voice and open the door, I will come in and sup with him and he with Me.” (Rev. 3:20). That is what it is all about – a personal relationship with Jesus. I believe this is where we are today. You can forget about a massive revival, but I do see a unique invitation for a special relationship with Jesus on a highly personal level. Oh, the wonder that Jesus would fellowship with us at our table. And the inconceivable blessing of inviting us to fellowship with Him at His table. It can't get much better than that.

Let's keep the welcome mat out and close in with Jesus,

                                                                                  bill

More on the Mino Mission

16 October 2016

Dear Phyllis,

It has been some time since I wrote a testimony. I know I have written about Mino Mission before but some of those stories bear repetition.

Mino Mission was started by Sadie Lee Widener in around 1920. Miss Widener had come to Japan shortly after the turn of the 20^th century to teach at the girls school in Sendai. She was a hard core fundamentalist (so am I) and when liberalism started coming into her denomination she left that mission to go to the Mino area of Gifu-ken (prefecture) to start her own mission. Around 1924 a young lady, Betty Whewell, came out to work with the Mino Mission. They were both Alpha type, pure, undiluted, choleric women. And when nationalism with the central message of Shinto idolatry began to dominate Japan in the 1930s these two women were the fiercest opponents to take a hard stand for Jesus.

As pressure began to mount against churches in Japan the police in Ogaki issued an order forbidding singing hymns on Sunday. Sadie Lee said, “This is where we draw a line.” The next Sunday their Japanese Christians were kneeling worshiping the Lord. Sadie Lee looked up and saw the police (Japanese gestapo) standing in the middle of the room taking down names. She confronted the police and demanded, “Look at them! They are worshiping the only true God, Jesus, and we are not going to stop.” Then she went on, “I have been in Japan for 20 years, and the only time I was ordered to refrain from singing was when your emperor was dead in his casket in Tokyo. Last week you gave the same order that was issued when the emperor died.” The police turned ashen gray and bolted from the room.

One day they were having a street meeting in Ogaki when an ugly mob formed. As preaching was impossible the believer retreated back to the mission compound, but the crowd followed them. When they got back inside the safety of the compound Betty said, “We have a large crowd here, let's preach.” They had hardly got started when the mob crashed through the gate and stormed inside. One young buck saw the box they had for preaching and jumped up on it ranting his message against the mission. Betty saw that man standing on Jesus' box in the mission compound and something snapped inside her, “This is not right.” She gave the box a mighty kick and the poor fellow went flying with his feet above his head. He came down flat on his back like he had been dropped from an airplane and was knocked out cold. Then the police came. Everyone was taken to the police station for intense interrogation. The police keep demanding of Betty, “What was he saying?” “Shiran” (crude “I don't know”) At last the police were satisfied that Betty was poor in the language and honestly didn't know what he was saying. The next day the pastor came to Betty and said, “Sensei, that was very dangerous yesterday when that man said, 'Ten no heika sama, Banzai!' (three cheers for the emperor) and you knocked him down”. That was the only time in pre-war Japan when someone said “Banzai for the emperor” and got decked.

Around 1937 when many churches were closed, Betty went with a group of Christians up to a village in the mountains to have a street meeting. A police man saw the believers setting up their banners for the street meeting and stormed forward demanding, “Who are you and what are you doing?” Betty faced him and replied, “I am Betty Whewell from the Mino Mission, and we are here to tell people about Jesus.” The policeman gasped, “Ah so desu ka. (Oh is that so) and fled. Mino Mission was famous and no one dared to face them.

Betty took Sadie Lee Widener back to the states in 1939 and Miss Widener went to be with the Lord midway through that voyage. Betty got stuck in the states and never got back to Japan until 1949 when the war was over. (Had Betty been in Japan maybe the war might have been over two or three years sooner.)

Betty had a good friend, Mrs. Johnson, who had been a missionary in Manila before the war and had a military couple who came regularly to her Bible study, Douglas and Jean MacArthur. Mrs. Johnson wrote Betty and asked if she would like an introduction to the MacArthurs in Tokyo. Of course she was delighted when got for an invitation from Mrs. MacArthur to have tea one day. At the conclusion Jean MacArthur said, “I have to go down town. Would you like a ride to the train station?” As they were going out the main gate, Jean MacArthur chuckled and said, “There has been some mistake. Someone passed the word that the general was coming out. This honor guard that we got, of everyone saluting us, is an honor given only to the general.” Betty grimly replied, “That was no mistake. God made them salute me.”

In 1955 when Joe Carroll came to Japan, Betty invited him to preach at their church in Tomida Hama. Joe preached a blood and thunder message but got no response to an invitation for salvation. When Betty saw no one moving she got down off the platform, went back in the crowd and grabbed one man by the ear saying, “You have been here long enough. Get up there and get saved.” She hailed two or three more sending them forward for salvation. They got saved. Joe stood there in stunned awe and thought “Who does that woman think she is? The Holy Ghost?”

Yes, she was the Holy Ghost. When I was with the Mino Mission in the early 1960s I was bewildered. I never saw a place where there was more activity and presence of the Holy Spirit, and I never was in a place that was more dominated by the flesh of a woman. Because of their fierce stand against idolatry and their uncompromising position for the Word of God, God blessed them in a way that I saw in no other church. They had the largest church in Mie-ken and the finest believers in the country. The Mino Mission believers had virtually renounced their Japanese citizenship and became citizens of another country – heaven (Phil. 3:20). Being with those believers was an experience that you could have in no other place in Japan. But Betty's domineering spirit was stifling.

In 1987 Betty heard I was working in Nagoya and invited me to preach in Tomida Hama one Sunday. I really didn't want to go but shigata ga nai (nothing you can do about it). It was one of the worst services of my life. Everyone in that church was like automons who responded when their button got pushed. Preaching in there was like preaching to mannequins in a morgue. Several years later, I was talking to a boy in the Pentecostal Bible school in Ikoma, and was stunned to discover that he was a Mino Mission believer. I asked, “Were you there in 1987?” He gasped and said, “Were you the man who preached on Micah 7:18?” He could almost quote my entire message verbatim and said, “Man, that was one of the best meetings of the year.”

By 1990 nearly 80% of the old timers, original believers, had left the Mino Mission. They were still some of the finest Christians in Japan but Betty had squelched the Holy Spirit so badly they could no longer survive. Some say Betty Whewell will stand on one of the highest platforms in heaven for being one of the most courageous missionaries in Japan. I think she probably will be in the middle of the line. She should be in the front of the line as she towered over nearly every male missionary for her fierce stand against idolatry, her intensive payer life, and her genuine love for Jesus and His Word. And yet I wouldn't be surprised to see her at the end of the line for her domineering flesh over others - down to when you could or couldn't smile. That literally happened to me. One night a sister was giving a tremendous testimony and I was beaming. Betty came to me and demanded, “Stop smiling!” I retorted, “But I'm being blessed.” Betty came back, “You don't have to smile like that.”

Betty lasted well up into her 90s. She never returned to the states after the war. She nearly destroyed the mission she so courageously directed for 50 years. Her number one pastor was Ishiguro sensei who was a clone of Betty. But today Ishiguro sensei's son, Isaac, is the pastor and fresh green sap is flowing back into that vine. Mono Mission today is very healthy.

Praise God.

                        bill

Fire on the Altar

9 October 2016

Dear Phyllis,

Several years ago I preached a series on The Seven Spirits of God. One of the Seven Spirits of God is Fire. It is highly significant that when God first spoke to Moses He did so in the burning bush (Ex. 3:1-3) . This was the precursor of his encounter with God a Sinai when the whole mountain was on fire (Ex. 19:18). The presence of the Lord for 40 years in the wilderness was the pillar of fire that stood over the Tabernacle every night. And perhaps the most significant of all was when the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost He sat as flames of fire on each believer. The universal and consistent character of our God is that He is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29). And the consistent characteristic of anyone who has anything of the Spirit of God living in him is thathe is on fire for God. Jesus spoke of John the Baptist that he was a burning and a shining light (Jn. 5:35). And so should we be.

Recently we were at a very good church here in Chiang Mai. The pastor said our great need is more praise. While this is true I thought he is wrong. Our great need is not more praise but more burning hearts. If our hearts are burning there will be praise, but, tragically, it is possible to have praise with cold hearts. This is hard work. If there is not a direct correlation with our hearts and our lips this is not spiritual but simply a religious performance. Jesus told the woman at the well that God was a Spirit and the true worshipers of God must worship Him in spirit and truth (Jn. 4:23). If it is not true it certainly is not worship.

The other night I was watching a very good message by Ravi Zacharias on You Tube. Pammy came to get me and said “we must go to Hang Dong to a meeting tonight”. I really didn't want to and replied, “You go. I want to stay here and listen to Ravi Zacharias.”. But she insisted the meeting was being sponsored by her close friends Kasari and Peter, and the special speaker was a brother from India. I thought, “If he is from India, Ravi Zacharias is from India, and maybe he might be interesting”. But I wasn't prepared for what happened. That was the first time I was in the World Church, and was surprised. It must be the largest church in Chiang Mai. It must have a seating capacity of close to 1,000 and there might have been 700 there that night. Peter was up front leading the service and is daughter was leading the singing. I have to give his daughter high points. She is one of the sharpest young ladies I have ever met. She is 22, but she was clearly at home leading singing on that platform. But the praise service was leaving me cold. Tragically, there is a false concept in many Pentecostal circles that the fullness of the Holy Spirit is measured in decibels. They have a 5,000 watt speaker and scream into the microphone. I used to go to a charismatic service here in Chiang Mai, where I had to be careful where I sat as the decibel level in the room was at the audio damaging level. It is common that many rock music fans have permanently damaged their hearing by listening to rock music at a physically damaging level. I have been in a few meetings in Peter's church where I had to sit there with my fingers in my ears to keep the pain level down. That was what was happening Friday night. Needless to say my heart was not burning with praise but there was a certain amount of a different kind of heat I was trying to control. After 30 minutes Pammy said the most startling thing that has ever come out of her mouth. She said, “This is not of God. Let's go home”. In stunned amazement said, “That is the most spiritual thing you have said since we have been married”. When I married her she was a cracked Pentecostal. I said “I am going to make a conservative out of this girl”. Now she was more conservative than I am.

Bless his heart, I like Peter (a Thai pastor) very much. You certainly can't fault him for lack of enthusiasm. He is always standing on the platform shouting “Hallelujah”, but somehow I feel this is “strange fire”. One of the significant events of Sinai was shortly after the Tabernacle was erected, and the fire of God came down on the sacrifice; Aaron's two sons, Nadab and Abihu, put “strange fire” in their censers and the Lord killed them on the spot (Lev. 10:1,2). This was the OT equivalent of Ananias and Sapphra lying to the Holy Ghost shortly after Pentecost in Acts 5. By that dramatic act at Sinai the Lord demonstrated forever that there is a difference between the genuine fire of God on the altar and “strange fire” of human production.

One of the most basic requirements of true worship of God is fire on the altar. A phrase that is written repetitively in Leviticus is “a sweet savour unto the Lord” (Lev. 3:5 and many other places). For true worship to be possible there must be three things present. First there must be an altar, secondly there must be thesacrifice, and thirdly there must be fire. A sacrifice lying on the altar without fire is simply a carcass (Gen. 15:11). A carcass is dead meat. And there is not a pleasant fragrance about stinking dead meat. If we want our lives to be a sweet savour unto the Lord there must be those three items of an altar, a sacrifice, and fire. A sacrifice is something that costs. David said, “I will not offer to the Lord that which costs me nothing” (2 Sam. 24:24). If we are really serious about serving the Lord, best it be a sacrifice that costs something. If we are not willing to pay the price for Jesus, how can we say that our lives are a sweet savour unto the Lord?But there is one more element that is vital. Only the Holy Spirit can convert a sacrifice into that which is genuinely spiritual. It is fire than changes the solid mass of meat to the next state of gaseous smoke. If there is no fire, all we have is our dead meat.

I feel that a tremendous amount of our service to Jesus is simple human energy, operating in the flesh. Who doesn't want revival? This is a word that has been on missionaries lips in Japan for 60 years and we have yet to see it. I say we haven't seen it, but technically I have seen a moving of the Spirit. The greatest revival I have seen in Japan happened in Kichijoji. But it was totally unsung and had limited impact. It was totally different than the ear splitting, deafening, meetings I have been to in Chiang Mai. It was in sister Koyama's apartment in Kobe where ten people were sitting on the floor in a leaderless, dull service. But for one year I was never in a service that you couldn't kook around the room and see tears streaming down Christian cheeks. You talk about burning hearts; our hearts would burn from Sunday until Tuesday and then we couldn't wait for Sunday again. The main characteristic I know of a burning heart is tears on our cheeks – not screaming hallelujah. And, man howdy, what did that produce? I saw that little gathering blossom from 10 to 100 in a year.

Bless their hearts, Kasari and Peter have been trying to produce revival for five years. At least once a year they have special meetings with a big promotion. Every poster that they put up reads “Revival in Chiang Mai”, and Peter's church is still hovering around 15. We have seen a tremendous amount of effort but we haven't seen the first drop of the revival rain of God. I hear a lot of talk about revival but 95% of what I have seen is simply human effort trying to serve God in the flesh.

Not to be too negative; there is a word that must be said for shouting. A young fellow I was taking to Laos one time said to me, “I cannot shout loud enough for which my Lord Jesus is worthy.” That is a very good word. The walls of Jericho came down with a shout (Jos. 6:20). It was when the men of Judah gave a shout that God smote their enemies (2Ch. 13:15). Six times in Psalms we are enjoined to shout for joy (Ps. 5:11; 32:11; 35:27; 65:13; 132:9,16). It is interesting that Ps. 47:5 says, “God is gone up with a shout and with the trumpet” and 1Th. 4:16 says “The Lord Himself shall descend...with a shout...and with the trump of God”. While the Book of Revelation doesn't use the word shout, yet it certainly does describe a very “great voice” saying “Alleluia” when Jesus gets on His horse to ride out for Armageddon (Rev. 19:1-6). I am not opposed to shouting. My goodness, when my heart is bursting with joy, how can I keep from shouting? Shouting has its place in the economy of God but no amount of hoarseness is going to bring down the Holy Spirit.

I like Kasuri and Peter but I strongly suspect that all their earnestness and well meaning effort is not likely to produce a genuine moving of the Holy Spirit. What will? I don't know. But I believe a great deal of Spirit led prayer, with humility, repentance, and tears might help move the needle. In most places that I have heard of, where there has been an overwhelming sense of the presence of God, a great hush fell over the audience. The Scottish evangelist, Jimmy Stewart, in reporting on the moving of the Holy Spirit he experienced in eastern Europe in 1947; he said the presence of the Lord was so awesome that people did not want to disturb the atmosphere with noise, and would leave their cars at church and walk home. I long to see the Lord in the land of the living, but no amount of fleshly effort is likely to being the fire of God down upon the altar to consume the sacrifice.

Holy Father, You said You would pour water on him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground. You said You would pour Your Spirit on our seed (Isa. 44:3). Lord, look on me and poor Thailand, and do it for Jesus sake. Amen;

                                  bill