Bad Things and Good People

23 September 2018

Dear Phyllis,

Last week Singha surprised my by asking the basic question “Why do bad things happen to good people?”. He asked, “If Job was such a good man, why didn't God protect him from the devil?”. I answered, “That isn't the question. The main point is why did God give permission to the devil to attack Job?”. Job had a fence around him. We see the same thing with Peter. Before the devil had access to Peter he first had to ask permission (Lk. 22:31). This may be true for all Christians.

Joe Carroll had a friend who was the William Hurst of the British Empire.. He owned most of the news papers In England. In 1952 he had an international scoop in being the first one to publish the news that the Russian had exploded an atomic bomb. Sometime later Tass admitted that the story was true. Every one wanted to know his source in Russia. Decorse (if I have that name right) told Joe he met a lady who told him she had access to every utterance that had been made in the earth. He took Joe out to meet her and said, “Tell Mr. Carroll something about himself”. She said, “That will take some time but come back next week”. A week later they went back and Decorse asked, “What did you find out?”. The witch replied, “We were told we don't have access to Mr. Carroll's file”. The devil had no access to Joe without permission.

With both Job and Peter the Lord shows us what a wonderful thing He did for both of them through their sifting. Job's friends came to the natural conclusion that Job had secret sin and if he confessed and repented God would bless him. That is because God does not let bad thing happen to good people. If disaster strikes that is proof that you have sin. They were dead wrong.

The issue was not that God did not protect Job from the devil, but He used the devil to do the most wonderful thing that ever happened to Job. Job might have been the most righteous man out of heaven. Twice God called him perfect (Job 1:8; 2:3). That is a pretty good testimony. Job was righteous, but he knew he was righteous. Elihu summed it all up with one simple statement, “Job was righteous in his own eyes” (Job 32:1). The most important thing in Job's life was maintaining his righteousness. In his last address Job said,”My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit... till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me. My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.” (Job 27:4-6). In his final address, in there chapters, (29, 30, 31) Job used the personal pronoun (I, me, my, mine) 218 times. There is a man taken up with himself. It was a pretty rough course Job went through for 41 chapters, but when we get to the bottom line we see a totally new Job. The last recorded words we have that came out of Job's mouth were, “I have herd of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eyes have seen Thee. Where of I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5,6).

What a wonderful thing God did for Job in allowing the devil to strip him of everything he had. What a morally impoverished man he would have been if he had gone to heaven filled with himself and proud of his righteousness. And in reality, Job never lost a thing. Job later got to spend eternity with the ten children that were killed and God gave him an additional ten more. That is 20 children, plus, God gave him more cows and sheep than he ever had before.. In God's Inverted Kingdom His basic means of addition is by subtraction. It looked like disaster wiped out his life, but in the end Job wound up being twice the man had he not gone through chapter 1 to 41.

Peter's case is similar. Like Job, we see that the devil couldn't get to Peter without God giving him permission to do so. Jesus warned him, “Peter, Satan has desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat” (Lk. 22:31). We all know the story. Jesus warned the disciples, “All ye shall be offended because of Me this night”. Peter replied, “Although all shall be offended yet will not I.” Jesus warned again, “Before the cock crows twice you will deny Me three times”. Peter responded with more vehemence, and he meant it, “If I should die with Thee, I will not deny Thee in any wise” (Mk. 14:27-31). And Peter proved his word. When the soldiers showed up to arrest Jesus, Peter was the first one to grab a sword and dive into them swinging. He knew it was suicide but he had every intention of going down fighting for Jesus. No one else did that. Jesus knew his heart, but Peter didn't know what kind of a man he was. He didn't know his own heart.

It was a shattered Peter who took a mild rebuke from Jesus for doing what he thought was courageous and the right thing to do. And it was a few short hours later that Peter swore to a maid girl that he didn't know who Jesus was. Jesus must have been standing fairly close by because the Word says their eyes met and Peter was finished. It was a miracle that Peter didn't join Judas in committing suicide.

Two of the most gracious words in the Bible are “AND PETER” (Mk. 16:7). The angel told the women “Go tell the disciples” and then he added “and Peter”.That was the Lord's special message to a man who couldn't forgive himself.

But the bottom line of that event didn't come until a few weeks later, one morning, on the shore of Lake Galilee. Peter had recovered his humiliation and the Lord had appeared to the disciples at least two or three times. Nothing seemed to be going on and Peter said, “I'm going fishing”. We know that story too. They fished all night and caught zero. Then in the morning Jesus appeared on the shore and told them to cast their nets on the right side of the ship. When the net was full of fish John said to Peter, “It is the Lord”. Man howdy, they had a good breakfast that morning.

After breakfast Jesus and Peter had a significant dialogue. The impact of the conversation doesn't come out in our English translation, but those who know what the original Greek says can see what a significant transformation had come over Peter. In John 21:15-17 we see Jesus asking Peter three times if he loved Him. In English, in all cases, this is just translated “love' but in the original there are two different Greek words written. One is agape and the other is phileo. Agape is the strongest word for love meaning God's unconditional love. Phileo is a lower term used among friends. It might be better translated “like”. The first time Jesus asked Peter if he loved (agape) Him Peter answered “I like (phileo) You. In the second round Jesus asked again if Peter loved (agape). And Peter answered again with like (phileo). The third time Jesus used phileo and Peter answered the same. This is a totally different Peter than the man we saw that night boasting how he would die for Jesus. Peter didn't know his own heart but through that excruciating experience of being sifted like wheat, by the devil, we see a greatly matured, and humbled Peter. That night was awful, but what an amazing work was done in Peters heart, for his good, through that sifting.

Singha asked why does God allow bad things happen to good people. I told him it is not that God doesn't protect us from disasters. But God actually has a fence around us and the devil can only get at us through His permission; and God allows that for our good. Yes it is true that God does make ALL THINGS TO WORK TOGETHER FOR HIS GLORY AND OUR GOOD (Rom. 8:28).

Oh hallelujah! Thank You Jesus.

All is well here. How could it be other wise? We are kept in His Hand.

Arigato gozaimasu, bill

Catching Fish

16 September, 2018

Dear Phyllis, 

Many years ago I was with Ron Blough and a gang of Gis to the great lake of Chuzenjiko. We had been traveling all night and arrived at a fish pond early in the morning. It seemed like a great idea to catch some fish and fry them for breakfast. The pond was teaming with large trout and they were so easy to catch that some fellows were having a contest to see who could have a hook in the water the longest without catching a fish. I mean the fish were almost fighting each other to get on our hooks. The poles that were available at this fish pond were simple bamboo sticks about 6 to 8 feet long with a simple string attached to the end. It was almost seconds before someone would have a large trout on the end of the string pulling them to the edge of the water. I reached down to take hold of the string to pull the trout up on the bank.. Bang, and the fish was gone. This happened several times and every time I tried to pull a fish out of the water the fish would cast the hook and escape. The owner of the fish pond saw my predicament and came to explain to me what was wrong. She told me, “Keep your hand off that string”. If I didn't touch the string the fish would fight the hook but the flimsy bamboo pole would simply bend. As long as the fish was battling the pole it couldn't cast the hook, but when I took hold of the string that gave the fish something firm to fight against and the hook would pull out. I believe the Lord taught me an important lesson in life through that experience.

In dealing with souls if a person is under conviction of the Holy Spirit the person is fighting God. But if I inject myself in the conflict the person will be fighting against me and can easily harden their heart.

Sixty years later I still don't know the answer. I am just slightly above an immature in personal work. The tendency is to think that I know more than the person I am dealing with and if he listens to me I can bring him into the Kingdom. At a time when many turned their back on Jesus and went away Jesus asked the twelve disciples, “Will you leave also?”. Peter answered, “Lord to whom shall we go? Thou hast the Words of eternal life” (Jn. 6:60-66). Well said. Jesus said, “The Words that I speak they are spirit and they are life” (Jn. 6:63). At a different time Jesus said, “The hour is coming and now is that the dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live” (Jn. 5:25). This is the only way that anyone can be saved. Salvation and the new-birth is when the Voice of the Son of God is heard in a human heart. I can quote all the assurance verses in the Bible and tell someone to memorize them, but until the Holy Spirit speaks directly to that person the best they have is a “hope-so” or “I-think-so” salvation. Spiritual assurance is the Voice of Jesus being heard in their heart. When that Voice is heard there is life.

When meeting a Christian for the first time I frequently ask, “When were you saved?'. The answers are as varied as there are numbers of snow flakes. (Of the unknown number of quadrillions of snow flakes no two are the same,) In many cases – particularly with the second generation Christians– people really don't know. At such time the next question is, “Do you know that you are saved now?” This is the third point of the New Covenant – “All shall know me” (Heb. 8:11). If a person doesn't know, the chances are that he probably isn't saved.

Jane Smith was one of the missionaries with the Mino Mission. Jane came from a strong mission family. She had been in agony for years over her salvation and went to Columbia Bible College. Jane told me, “I remember clearly the moment when Dr. McQuilkin reached down from the pulpit and demanded, “Young person, are you satisfied with Jesus?”. Jane said, “I reflected in my own heart, 'Am I satisfied?' and decided, 'Yes I am'. At that moment peace flooded over my soul”. Is that the Voice of the Holy Spirit? It sure sounds like it to me.

//////This is the second letter of a two letter PB letter today./////

As the shadows of senility are casting darkness across my aging mind I fear my letters are becoming like re-runs of old I Love Lucy shows. One of the signs of aging is when you continually repeat the same story. As the limited numbers of fresh stories is diminishing I resort to repeating old letters. I know I have told you this one several times, but Friday morning as I was meeting with my gracious Lord Jesus He brought back a scene that happened 50 years ago. I remember that moment like it happened last night. It has been etched in my mind like it was cut in stone. JB Friends was preaching in the Karuizawa Union Church tabernacle. He told the story that happened around the turn of the past century.

A young JEB missionary was on is way to preach one morning when he walked past a house where he saw a man reading, what looked like, a Bible. Bibles were so unusual in those days that he stopped to see if that was what it really was. What he discovered was the treasure of a lifetime. Indeed it was a Bible. Through some unknown means a man dying of TB had fallen heir to a copy of the Word of God. He had never met a Christian or been to church in his life. But simply by reading the Scripture he had learned of the Gospel of Jesus and taught by the Holy Spirit the deep truths of Pauline epistles. After a brief but blessed time of fellowship the missionary was about to leave when the lonely man said, “I have written a poem. If you would care to read it I would like to give you a copy.” If I recall the story correctly I believe JB Friends said it was Padget Wilkes who translated this poem to English. Oh I can hear it now as JB Friends quoted that poem from the pulpit.

“With Him, with Him upon the Tree, ah this, yes this is rest at last.

Here is the souls felicity, here is the crown of victory, here is all sorrow past.

With Him with Upon the tree, here all my pain and grief have died.

I look in vain for misery, for joy is all that I can see with Jesus crucified.

Strong pain hath held me in its sway for six long weary weary years;

And yer my heart is always gay, my lips are singing every day I have to time to tears.

No tears, and yet the more His grace doth my joyful heart oreflow.

the more 'tis torn by fierce distress, the while I see a wooing grace rush to its form of woe.

I have never heard anything like it. This captures the Christian life as few have expressed it. Oh our identity with Christ. That Jesus would take us into Himself in His experience on the Cross. How little do we realize the truth of that. How inexpressible miraculous and mysterious that the Holy Spirit is able to communicate some of that truth to make it reality in our lives. And yet we have this unspeakable treasure in a body of corruption and sin. “No tears and yet the more His grace doth this my joyful heart oreflow, the more 'tis torn by fierce distress the while I see a wooing grace rush to it form of woe.”

There you have it folks. Oh Jesus is wonderful! What He has done for us; and yet we have this life in a sinful body of death.

I'll close it here. Sayonara, bill

Mistakes

AUGUST 2, 2018

Dear Phyllis,

The story is told about a business man who was traveling across the US in a train sleeper car. He asked the porter to wake him up at 3:00 AM and told him, “I have a very important meeting tomorrow and I am a very heavy sleeper. I don't care what I say, please make sure that I get off this train at 3:00”. The next morning when he woke up it was daylight outside, and he realized he had missed his stop. He was furious, and tore into that porter with a vengeance. The porter said, “Boss, if you think you are mad you should seen the man I put off the train at 3:00”.

I can identify with that poor komatta (big problem) porter. There are times in life when we try to do our best only to realize what we thought was sugar that we put in our coffee was actually salt. I am back in Thailand but not reveling in the great success my trip was to Japan. If I was to rate myself for what I was able to do for Sam on fixing up his recently acquired house, I would have to put down a D. Due to a visa problem I have in Thailand, I had to restrict myself to only one month. Sam also has a retired carpenter who is a fine brother in his church helping him. When I first got there They had just torn out all the floor and several walls and were replacing the floor from ground up. Sam wanted me to make the kitchen, but with no floor I couldn't even measure how high to make the ceiling. The first week I got very little work accomplished. The house was an old Japanese house with interior walls made out of bamboo and mud. There was nothing flat to give me a surface to put in backing to hang dry wall on. In an American house, all the studs are in place, and you have a flat plane to work from, but in that house I had to cut strips various thickness and use all kinds of different size wood for shims to make flat walls. What would have been a two hour job on a western house took me two days to get to the same place. But the Lord did help and I was able to get at least a passing grade on the little work I did accomplish.

There was some critical work that I was concerned to get done before I left, and I only had one last day to do it in. Like most things in life, in carpentry, you have good days and bad days. There are times when everything turns out perfect. You make cuts at random and it fits perfect. And then there are days when nothing goes right. It is like the carpenter who complained, “I have cut this crazy board off three times, and it is still too short.”. There are times when you are as careful as possible to make a frame exactly right, only to realize that you have made it backwards. You have to tear it apart and make it all over again. Then you discover that you were right the first time and have to remake it back the way it was. Have you ever had a day like that? Probably not. But that was literally the way things went the last day I was on the job. All I could do was wipe the tears from my eyes and hope someone could cleanup the mess I left. That is not a real good note to leave on. I am so ashamed of myself I would like to give back the money Sam paid for my plane ticket.

I was in Japan for one month and no one ever asked me to speak in a church one time. While there I went to the church John Cathcart had started 30 years ago. Sam's eldest son, Caleb, is the pastor there now, and is doing extremely well. The church is the healthiest I have ever seen it. I would have loved to peach but I did notice each Sunday the Lord would give me an excellent time speaking with one person. I thought if I can have input in one persons life that is better than speaking to a room full of people where nobody gets anything from it.

The brightest spot of my stay in Japan was Masayo Nakahara. Twenty five years ago I used to have a home meeting in her home. Masayo was a sweet little 14–15 year old girl then who had a real love for Jesus. Then college took its toll and she got jolly well backslid. But Jesus has done a wonderful job in restoring Masayo back to Himself, and Masayo is as on fire for the Lord as you can get. My time spent with Masayo and her husband would have justified the trip. The morning I left Japan Masayo got up at 5:00 AM to come to the airport to see me off. The deep love Masayo has for the Lord and for me is a showpiece of the reality of the life of Christ in a human heart.

The flight home on Wednesday was good and Pammy was waiting for me at the Chiang Mai airport. Things have gone extremely well for her in my absence. She has gotten in real tight with a Korean missionary, Dr. Kim, and was very busy showing three groups of Christians from Korea around Chiang Mai. The Lord has placed her right at the top of that church, and she is functioning the best I have seen since we have been married. These past few days since being home have been the best ever. We are on the same page like never before. We have had some excellent talks and I am very impressed with her spiritual discernment. I can truly thank the Lord for giving me such an outstanding partner. She is the brightest jewel in the box.

It was great to get back to the kindergarten to see Sangha and the children. Just to have a room full of children scream, “Uncle Bill!”, and come running to see you is one of the greatest rewards of life. Sangha is still the best gift Jesus has given me for fruit in Thailand. Some missionaries have spent a lifetime in service for the Lord and only to see one or two souls brought to Christ. Although the bottom of my basket looks awfully bare with so little fruit in it, yet I do thank the Lord for the privilege of seeing a jewel like Sangha enjoying the reality of Christ.

I was reading the book of Lamentations for devotions a few days ago. This has never been a very close book to me and at times I have wondered at the pronouns in it. Jeremiah is one of the most unusual prophets in the Bible as his ministry was at the lowest time in Israel history. For 30 years Jeremiah warned of coming judgment and was the object of a great deal of persecution from his country men. When the end finally came, and all he had warned had come to pass, he could have easily said, “You had it coming, you dirty rascals. I warned you.” Jeremiah said, “The Lord has done that which He had devised; He has fulfilled His Word” (Lam. 2:17). Fifty percent of the Covenant is negative. The Lord promised blessing if Israel kept their part of the deal and promised disaster if they didn't. It is good to see God keep His promise even if it is judgment. The greatest hallelujah word in the Bible is Armageddon. Armageddon is the ultimate disaster word in human lexicon, but it is the greatest hallelujah day in heaven. Revelation 14 & 15 are when heaven gets on their feet shouting and praising God. That is when Jesus gets on His horse to come back to clean out the anti-Christ and set up His Kingdom. Armageddon is a hallelujah day for heaven, and the fall of Jerusalem could have been some satisfaction for Jeremiah to see God's Word of judgment fulfilled. But in chapter 4 he uses the first person pronoun about how the wrath of God was poured out on him personally. For many years the use of the first person pronoun has confused me. The Lord showed me, the explanation for this was because of Jeremiah's identification with his people. Then the Lord showed me something that was overwhelming. When I read about the horrible suffering when the wrath of God was poured out, the Holy Spirit showed me this was the Words of Jesus. The first person pronoun about the wrath of God being pureed out on ME is actually the Words of Christ. The Me of Lamentation is Jesus. At this I burst into tears. This is a mystery. The Lord has thrown a cover over what happened to Jesus when He stood in the gap to bear the sin of the world and the wrath of God was poured out on His Son. No one has ever seen the 1000^th part of what happened on the Cross, and I doubt that anyone ever will. I told the Father, “Please Lord, I don't want to see it. I can't take it.” Just to hear a small portion of it is all I can bear. What can we say? I don't know. ….

See you next week. Arigato gozaimasu, bill