Dave Martin

30 June 2019

Dear Phyllis,

The other day I had a letter from Lynn encouraging me to trust the Lord for healing. She cited a famous missionary to Japan whose name she forgot. I knew immediately she was talking about Dave Martin. I knew him well. He was a dear friend. Dave was a legend.

Dave Martin was a lawyer when he was saved in his early 20s. After meeting Jesus he wanted to be a missionary, and applied to TEAM. But, medically, that was impossible. The only reason he was accepted was because of a clerical mistake when someone in TEAM headquarters in Wheaton got his medical records mixed up with another person. When the TEAM doctor realized the error, he threw up his hands, and said, “If he wants to go to Japan to die, let him go”, but all doctors agreed he could never live past 30. All X-rays and physicals showed his heart was as big as a soccer ball. He was a walking dead man and he never got better.

Dave Martin was off the scale ridiculous. He would do things that no normal person would dream of, and he was easily one of the finest missionaries in the country. There are so many Dave Martin stories that it is hard to try to just pick few to talk about. Dave was Presbyterian but most of TEAM policy was pretty baptistic to baptize by immersion. One time he was baptizing a believer Presbyterian style, by sprinkling, and set him in a chair up front. He had a 10 gallon bucket of water sitting beside him. Then he baptized the man in Jesus Name by dumping the entire 10 gallons of water on him, dousing everything including a flood of water on the floor. Dave had an army of women with towels who rushed forward to mop up the floor. John Schone said, “That is the kind of sprinkling I like”.

One summer the doctor warned, he must have three months of total - almost bed - rest. I lived in the finest house in Japan on a hill in Karuizawa, That was the perfect place for Dave to rest for the summer. TEAM contacted me, and I said, “Of course he was welcomed to stay with me”, but I hadn't put in the tunnel, yet, to get up the hill to my house, and the only way in was up a long flight of steps. Obviously my house was out, and the second option was for him to stay at the Christian guest house, Bethel House, with Pastor Takahashi. Pastor Takahashi thought it was mottai nai (what a waste) to have Dave Martin staying in his house without using his talents as an evangelist. So the first week of Dave's total rest was spent having an intense week of special dendo (evangelism) in Karuizawa. After that John Schone thought it was a rare chance to have Dave Marin in Karuizawa, so the second week of his rest was spent being the speaker at Matsubarako Bible Camp. Peter Kobabe heard that Dave Martin was free in Karuizawa and invited him to come down to Nagoya for another week of dendo. After three weeks of intense dendo, Dave decided he had enough rest, so he spent the rest of the summer going all over Japan preaching the Gospel.

I could tell Dave Martin stories endlessly, but one secret was when he was having special meetings with Peter Kobabe. One morning there was a phone call at 6:00 AM. Peter groggily got to the phone and it was Dave's wife, Jackie. Peter told her that they had been up very late the night before dealing with many seekers. Dave desperately needed the rest and he was reluctant to disturb him. Jackie laughed and said, “He has been up for hours”. Peter cautiously knocked on the door, and was startled to see Dave fully dressed sitting in a chair having his devotions. Dave once told another friend of mine that from the day of his conversion that he had never missed one morning without meeting with Jesus in early morning devotions. That was what kept Dave Martin alive. I built a church for him one time. He was equally religious about resting in the afternoon, but one thing was certain – Jesus was #1 every morning.

One of the most off the scale stories I ever heard was a time when he had a funeral for a good man in his church that was killed in an accident. For the funeral message, Dave preached on the unusual text in 1 Cor. 15:29 – “(for this cause) are they baptized for the dead”. Dave explained that in the 1^st century there was intense persecution, and as one Christian was killed another person would step forward to take his place. Then Dave went on, “We have lost a key member of our church. We need someone to come forward to take his place”. Then he did the most unthinkable no-no ever! He said, “Otoo san (father) will you come forward and be baptized to replace your dead son?” The old man was utterly stunned and infuriated. “NO!” “Fine. That is your answer.” Then he said, “Onii san (elder brother), will you come forward and be baptized for the dead to replace your bother in the church?” Stunningly the brother rose to his feet, came forward, and became a faithful member in the church. Dave Martin is the only man in the world who could pull that stunt..

After 30 years of outstanding missionary service in Japan, Dave hit retirement age. TEAM put him out to grass, sending him home for retirement. He hadn't been home too many years before his wife preceded him to heaven. Dave was devastated and retirement was killing him. He said, “Hang it! I'm going back to Japan independent.” He was desperately lonely, but who would marry him? He thought of a girl that he had known 25 years before then in a Bible school. He had no idea what had happened to her or where she was, but he contacted the school and learned she was a lady pastor in Shikoku. He sent her a letter saying he had three questions. 1. Could he visit her? 2. He had something he wanted her to pray about. And 3. Would she marry him? He got a cordial reply saying, “Please come”. The day she came to the eki (train station) to meet him, he asked the first question, “Did you get my letter?” (What a stupid question!) Secondly, “Did you pray about it?” “Yes” They were still at the eki and he decided to go the whole nine yards. “Will you marry me?” “Yes.”

But they had to talk to her parents. They were thunder struck. Her father was adamant – NO! As they were in her home, and the hanashi (talk) went to zero, the girl and her mother went out in the kitchen to fix some green tea. Dave was sitting with the father in the living room; he got out of his chair, crawled across the floor on his hands and knees; with his head on the fathers feet, he pleaded, “Otoo san (father), please.” You talk about a man being komaru (big problem). Here he is with a gaijin (foreigner) man who is his senior, with his head on his feet. The father called, “Wife, get the camera. We have to take a picture of this couple.”

Dave and his wife covenanted together that they would never travel alone. Wherever they went, it would be together. After that I lost track of Dave Martin but I heard they settled on the west coast of Japan and successfully established another church, ministering together for another ten or twelve years. Several years ago I heard that Dave Martin finally joined Jackie in heaven after a long highly fruitful life as a living dead man.

I am no Dave Martin, but Lynn's letter is well taken, Cancer doesn't mean a thing. Jesus can blow it out like a candle. Several people have prayed for my healing. I honestly don't care. It doesn't mean a thing to me. The only request that I have is that I want Jesus to make this call – which way will bring the most glory to Him. If He wants me to stay here longer, I say “Amen” to healing. But if He can be more glorified by my joining Dave and a host of others, worshiping the Lamb in a land where there is no sin, sorrow, or sickness, then that is what I vote for.

Friday a wonderful man of God came to see me and prayed for my healing. I was totally dissolved. I wailed, “Jesus, Jesus, IT'S NOT FAIR! IT'S NOT FAIR! IT'S NOT FAIR! You have done so much for me and I have done nothing, and can do nothing, for You.” What can I say? I don't know. There just are no words.

                        bill

Upper Room

23 June 2019

Dear Phyllis,

If I had the opportunity to attend any assembly that ever happened on this planet since the day Adam first opened his eyes in the Garden, what would that be? I believe it would be the prayer meeting in the Upper Room (Act 1:13) after Jesus returned to heaven. What would it have been like to fellowship with those people? Who was there? The Bible gives us the names so we can identify 24, but using imagination and speculation I would like to suggest a few more.

Of the known participants, first of all we know that there were the 12. Actually that is incorrect but the scripture uses that term to designate their position rather than the actual number, because we know there were only 11. Secondly we know that Jesus family was there. Mary had at least seven children – five boys and at least two girls (Mk. 6:3), “The family” would have been Mary, the four boys and at least two sisters. Acts 1:14 simply says “with the women”, but I believe it is safe to say that these were “the women” who visited the grave resurrection morning and we know one of them was Mary Magdalene. Right there we have 24 identified.

The Bible tells us very little about what Jesus did after He rose from the dead. We only know He spoke to Mary Magdalene, the two Emmaus disciples, and the Apostles on multiple occasions. But Paul tells us that He also appeared to more than 500 at one time (1 Cor. 15:6). If He appeared to over 500 it is safe to say that He spoke with the 24 that are identified here. And I would like to suggest that He probably had appeared, if not personally spoken to, some of the 120 that were gathered in the Upper Room for that ten day prayer meeting. Who else was in that 120?

Firstly, I would like to suggested that there was a timid man who had been a member of the Sanhedrin (the Jewish congress). John mentions him three times and called him “Nicodemus who came by night”. But we know that he cashed in his political, and religious position to be one of the two who took Jesus off the Cross and buried Him. If John mentions him three times by name it is unthinkable that he wasn't one of the 120. And I am sure his partner, Joseph, was also there. But there is another brother that I want to put in the crowd. A little over eight weeks before then he had been a blind beggar in Jericho and had been healed. I say he was probably there because, apart from the Apostles, he is the only man in the gospels identified with his father's name as the son of Timaus.. For this reason I strongly believe he was a well known evangelist after Pentecost. And when the Bible says “he followed Jesus”, I believe that means he was in Jerusalem for the Triumphal entry, crusifiction and resurrection. And I believe he must have been one of the 120 in the Upper Room. I can't be too adamant but I would also like to suggest Jairus was there because he was the only man involved in a major miracle who is identified by name. When Jesus raised his daughter (Mk. 5:22-43), I believe he was one of the inner gang. Then there were the brother and two sisters from Bethany – Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. Jesus had stayed with them until the last night when He was captured and killed. This brings the number up to 31. And I believe it is reasonably safe to suggest that Jesus probably had spoken to most these people.

I would like to consider what it would have been like to be one of those people when Jesus spoke to them after the resurrection. We know about Mary Magdalene, the Emmaus disciples and the Apostles. But I consider it impossible that think that Jesus didn't speak with His mother and brothers. We know that His brothers weren't saved until after the resurrection (Jn. 7:5) and later His brother James became the head of the church in Jerusalem and Jude, later wrote a book. What would it have felt like when Jesus spoke to His mother after the resurrection? Oh my goodness, who could describe it? And what did Lazarus, Martha, and Mary think if He had visited Bethany again after the resurrection? I'm speculating about these extra-biblical examples, but I strongly believe these are part of those books that should be written that John mentioned (Jn. 21:25). If He didn't personally speak with these close friends it is safe to believe they were at least part of the 500 that He appeared to and part of the 120 in the Room.

Let's keep in mind the time line. It was only 50 days (seven weeks) from the resurrection to Pentecost. For the Apostles it was only ten days since the last time they spoke with Jesus. For the rest it was only a month or less since the last time they had seen Him. Man howdy, I would have been fun to be in that room and fellowship with those people who were gathered there for that ten day prayer meeting. What would it have been like to talk with Lazarus, Nicodemus, and Bartimaes?

To get a better view we have here we must go back to John 14 and what Jesus had told them 53 days before in another upper room. He said, “I'm going away, but I am coming back to be with you.” (Jn. 14:18,19). In John 14:3 Jesus is talking about His second coming, but in verse 18 and 19 He is speaking about Pentecost. In verse 19 He says, “You will see Me but the world won't”. Very clearly He is speaking about the Holy Spirit. It has been correctly said that Pentecost was to the Holy Spirit what Bethlehem was to Jesus. What was Bethlehem and Jesus? Bethlehem was when God came to live in a physical body on this earth for 33 years. Pentecost was when God came again to live in another physical Body. The only difference is the Bodys. The first Body was indebted to Adam for the Body but it didn't have a drop of Adam's Blood in it. The Blood came from the Holy Spirit. The other Body is millions of human bodies that all have Adam's blood; but it is still the same Jesus that lives in both.

We all know that in talking with somebody that the real person is not the outer body that we are looking at but the person who is living inside that outer body. In several references the Bible identifies the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ. What would it been like to be there when the Spirit of Christ descended and Martha and Mary said, “It is Jesus! He has come!” Not to sit at a table to eat with them but to live inside them. Oh, you talk about a good meeting – it can't get much better than this. What we have now - with the very Spirit of Christ living inside us - is infinitely better than the Jesus who sat at a table and had supper with Martha, Mary,,and Lazarus.

I said it is the same Jesus living in two different Bodies. But one had Adam's blood in it and the other didn't. One had an Adamic nature and the other didn't. One was perfect, and the other is flawed. I believe we have the perfect example of this in chapter one of Acts.

The meeting in the Upper Room hadn't been going on long before Peter noticed that there was one empty chair. He stood up and said we have to get a replacement to fill that chair. They wanted to make sure that the Lord made the decision so they decided to flipped a coin to see who it should be. First they had a committee meeting to select two candidates. Then they flipped a coin, and tails won, so Matthias took Judas' place. Peter's message before then was remarkable. He spoke from the Psalms what was obviously a prophecy by the Holy Spirit that there would be someone to take Judas' place, It is hard to imagine that an uneducated fisherman could speak so eloquently without being Spirit led. I doubt that Peter was that smart. But there has been a debate for two millenniums whether or not Mattias was actually Judas' replacement. I would like to put in my two cents.

In Revelation 21:14 we see that the foundation of the Wall to the New Jerusalem are the names of the 12 Apostles. It is difficult for me to believe that the name of the premier apostle of the first century, the man who wrote 14 of the 27 books of the New Testament, and founded most of the pioneer churches, that his name would be absent and we would find Mattias written there. History tells us some of what happened to several of the other 12 but nothing is mentioned of Mattias. I would like to suggest that Peter was in the flesh in his endeavor to fill an empty chair. Margret Dominic once said to me, “It is a strange phenomenon to sit in a service listening to a message that is clearly of the Holy Spirit and then the speaker lapse in and out of the flesh.” I believe she was dead right. In our dispensation we see a strange mixture of the Holy Spirit ministering from the mouth of men who occasionally get in the flesh. Very clearly what we have, is Jesus living on our hearts, but sometimes we get in the way.

Oh for the day when Jesus comes back to receive us unto Himself to be with Him where He is (Jn. 14:3). Jesus made that request in John 17:24 when He prayed, “Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory.”. Oh,my goodness! I believe that the Father will give His Son that request. Oh, what a future! And there we will have it minus the flesh. That will be a great improvement. Praise the Lord.

                                                         bill

Harold

16 June 2019

Dear Phyllis,

Early yesterday morning the Lord reminded me of Harold Carman. I know I have written to you before about Harold, but he is such an amazing phenomenon that this subject deserves one more letter.

Over the years I have known hundreds of missionaries. I would place Harold in the top 3% of the best missionaries I have personally known. In the 13 years that I was with the Karuizawa language school Harold stands out as being probably the best man we ever had.

In September 1977 I had a call from a Japanese pastor in southern Japan asking if I would take a Baptist missionary. I said, “Of course”. The day the train arrived with the pastor and his new missionary I was in for the shock of my life. When I saw Harold get off that train and walk along the platform I though, “What in the wold is this?”. I had never seen anything like it. He didn't look like a man but someone in an inflated suit on the sidewalk as an advertisement for some product. He was huge. He weighed 320 lbs. His face was as round as a pizza plate and he had a silly hat perched on top of that round face But later I discovered that I was in for another shock. His heart for Jesus was as big as his enormous rear end. What a man!

He had been with us a very short time when John Schone said to him, “Brother, you would have a better testimony for Jesus if you lost some of that blubber.” That produced the greatest weight loss program I have ever seen. In an amazingly short time he lost 100 lbs.. One day he showed me his old pants and said, “I can now get my whole body in one leg of the pants I wore six months ago”. I never saw such discipline.

But that went clear across the board. In school I required all students to spend a minimum of six hours a day in language study – two in school and four at home. Harold had been with us a short time when he asked if he could up his time in school. No one studied three hours in school, but that was what he requested. And not long after that he still wasn't satisfied and requested four hours. But that was only half the story. The time he spent in private study at home was like a mad man. We lived about 300 meters apart. At that time I was building a camper for my truck. One night I was banging away at 11:00 o'clock at night. After an exhausting day of study Harold was in bed; he heard me banging on my camper and said, “If Bill can be up this late working I should be studying”. He got out of bed and spent one more hour in the books.

Harold was a phenomenon with all the students. He was the most popular man in town, Everybody loved him and he was a first-class preacher. I considered it a great privilege to have such an outstanding man as a personal friend. One day Harold said to me, “Bill, I am slam different than you all.” “How are you different?” “Doctrinaly I am slam different.” “Harold, you have some of the best doctrine I have ever heard. How are you different?” “I won't tell you.” “Harold, have you ever heard of Baptist Bride?” He was stunned and said, “That's it.”

Harold had been born and raised in the mountains of Tennessee and had never been out of the state. He was raised in a small Baptist sect that felt they were the only Bride of Christ and all other Christians were friends of the Bride. They were the only ones with the Holy Spirit. He had never met a Christ-filled Christian outside of his denomination. In Karuizawa there were many Christians who deeply loved Jesus and some of them weren't even Baptists. It shattered everything he had always been taught.

Harold hadn't been in Karuizawa long before he got a job teaching English in the local junior high school. The English teacher there was, Nagai sensei. (A fairly common Japanese name.) Harold had a deep burden for Nagai''s salvation. He was constantly on Harold's lips and it was a regular request at every prayer meeting. “Please pray for Nagai sensei.” It was the joy of Harold's life that spring, when Nagai sensei responded to an invitation for salvation in the Megumi Church. But it was a grief that he couldn't share this victory with the brethren at home, because Megumi was not a Baptist church.

He had only been with us a little over nine months when he called me early one morning asking me to take him to the hospital in Tokyo' He had woke up in the middle of the night knowing he was dying and woke his sons up to say goodbye to dad. He was utterly amazed when the sun came up and he was still on this planet; and asked me to take him to the hospital. I loaded my camper on my truck and took him to Tokyo. Absolutely nothing wrong. Go on home. Five days later he called asking me to take him to the eki (train station). He was going home. His dad met him with an ambulance at the airport in Nashville and took him straight to the University hospital. Two weeks of exhaustive tests proved absolutely nothing wrong with him.

When I took him to the eki in Karuizawa the last thing I said to him was,. “Harold, when you get home please don't get in a spiritual hassle with the brethren at home until you are on your feet. And, secondly, if you ever get down to Greenville, SC, there is a man there, Joe Carroll, who is the best man of God in America.” Harold wasn't out of the hospital before he was excommunicated as a heretic by the Baptist brethren. He felt like Martin Luther. He was put out of his home church and lonely for fellowship. He got to fellowshipping with Pastor James Bell in Gallatant One day he was talking to Brother Bell who told him, “Next week we are having an Australian evangelist, Joe Carroll, here for some meetings.” Harold pleaded, “Please introduce me to Brother Carroll?” That lunch was a pivotal moment in his life. Harold explained his mysterious sickness, and Brother Carroll put his finger exactly on the source of the problem, and the cure. It was the devil. Joe told him, “Take a hard stand for healing. It will be the worst day of your life, but in 24 hours you will be healed”. Harold did what Joe told him, and, yappari, (just as I thought) it was he worst day of his life. He spent the day dying an agonizing death, and in 24 hours it was completely gone.

After that Harold went to Greenville where he was big news at the Evangelical Institute. From there he returned back home to Tennessee where he has been the pastor of a very good church ever since.

In the year 2000, Roald Lidal had a large group of Japanese pastors tour the NLM printing plant in Hatoyama. I was there at the time and asked if I could give a testimony of my experience delivering Bibles to persecuted Christians in the mountains of Vietnam. Afterwards there was a brief luncheon for the pastors and I was invited to eat with them. But I was in a very melancholy mood and refused. We had a physical struggle in the kitchen, and one Japanese brother came over to join the fray dragging me in. to sit beside him. As we talked he told me that his name was Nagai. I was surprised to learn that he was originally from Karuizawa. I asked, “How did you get saved?” He said, “Did you ever know a missionary by the name of Harold Carman?” Nagai sensei was a Wycliffe missionary.

Oh Harold, I love you! I love you! I love you! You have always been an example for me. I'll never be able to shine your shoes, but thank you for showing me what it is to follow Christ.

Dear Phyllis, I don't know if Harold will ever see this letter but I just wanted to share with you what a real man of God looks like; and I will always be grateful for the privilege of his fellowship.

In our marvelous Lord Jesus,

                                          bill

PS: I have only shared with you a portion of what I wanted to say, but maybe I can continue this story next week.

Flying

Dear Phyllis,

Looking back on my life. The military was only a very short blip, but it set the tone for the rest of my life. When I took my physical for induction in the Aviation Cadet Corps, the flight surgeon said to me, “I believe you are the type of man the Air Force is looking for”. Indeed it was a good marriage. I enjoyed the military very much and had a good reputation. After my five years of flying I got out of the military, but the military never got out of me. When I first was married I thought marriage was like the military; I was the Commander, my wife was the First Sergeant, and children were the enlisted men. Rosemary had never been in the military. Ironically, she had a different concept and didn't agree with my view.

My life in that career was definitely an unusual act of God. For the first 17 years of my life I had a very strong anti-military attitude and said, “I never want to be soldier”. But during the summer between my high school graduation and entering college in Michigan I got a general letter from the Air Force ROTC program offering young men an opportunity of spending one hour a week attending a ROTC class, and upon graduation, being commissioned as an officer in the Air Force and the opportunity to go into pilot training. Being a jet pilot suddenly appealed to me very much and I applied for ROTC. That was great. But during my junior and senior year at Michigan I had six weeks of summer camp where I went to an Air Force base to play soldier big time. I went to that camp with a chip on my shoulder thinking I was God's gift to the military and got it cleaned off in a big way. That camp was the turning point of my life. I realized I had serious problems that a piece of paper would not help. I had grown up totally undisciplined and knew the best correction was severe military training. That summer I had learned of an unusual program of Aviation Cadets that offered young men the opportunity to go directly from civilian life into pilot training. It was very selective, difficult to get into, and considerably more difficult to complete; but it looked great. I applied for Cadets and was inducted on my birthday 30 December 1956.

I did very well in pilot training but with little credit to myself. The biggest event was when I was saved the first summer in 1957. Needless to say, that was the termination of one life and the inauguration of a totally different life. From there on Jesus took over and everything that has happened since then has all been His doing. Jesus did very well in pilot training. I had several flights where it was like He was sitting in the front seat and I was the passenger. One night when I was in jet school we had night landings. There were about 30 aircraft going around in a circle making touch and go landings. In flying there is such a thing as being behind the aircraft. Either you are in control of the aircraft or the bird is out in front and you are responding to it. On one approach I messed up real bad. The bird was nearly out of control. It was horrific. My airspeed so so low I was a hair from death. I was panic struck trying to catch up; coming in with full power, desperately trying to keep from falling out of the sky. Miraculously I was able to just make it up to the landing line in front of mobile control, and had the power for a go-around. As I was on lift off mobile control called saying, “Aircraft on the go, identity yourself”. I replied, “This is Cougar 38”. Mobile came back, “Cougar, that was beautiful”. When we came in hanging up our parachutes the other guys said, “Cook, what in the world did you do? We were all out there killing ourselves trying to make good landings and you were the only one all night to get praised like that.” I'm sure it was unusual. No one else flew final two knots above stall speed carrying full power, sinking, to touch down exactly on the landing line.

It is universally accepted that fighter pilots are a special breed of men. By DNA I have always enjoyed that type of life. It was my ambition to be the worst of the worst until I got saved. After that it has always been my ambition to raise the flag of Jesus as high as possible. There was a terrific shock that went through the Fight'n 40^th Fighter Squadron when I first checked in at Yokota, Japan. A friend later told me how a fellow pilot went to him in horror saying, “Cook has a Bible!”, He replied, “What's wrong with that? A lot of us have Bibles.” “Yes, but Cook reads his Bible.” It was almost a contradiction of terms to have a Christ-honoring Christian fighter pilot. The typical image is to be a hard drinking wild individual. Actually a lot of fellow pilots were decent family men but I took a hard stand to avoid drinking social activities. This was a running battle for three years. At one point the Operation officer took me aside and forcefully said, “Cook, if you don't straighten up the Air Force doesn't need men like you.” The Lord marvelously blessed my flying and I had the reputation of being one of the best pilots in the squadron Flying was one of the few things in life in which I have done well. But the pressure was always on over my stand for Christ.

The Lord had spoken to me about leaving military service and go into full time mission work. I was on indefinite status, which meant I had no date of discharge, but after five years I could apply for release; that may or may not be granted. I had just been checked out in the latest F-102 and was near the peak of my flying. One night I was on night alert when my flight commander told me when I got off the next morning to go to the base hospital as I had an appointment to see the doctor. “What's wrong? I feel fine.” “I can't tell you but make sure you are there by 9:00 AM. The Lord told me what it was and I wasn't too surprised when the flight surgeon told me he had had a bad report about me and was subjecting me to a mental exam. He said, “Go back to your squadron and you are now checked out on leave. We want to keep this off your military record.” That was flat illegal, but what he really meant was they wanted to keep it off their record. The mental exam was ridiculous and by any standard was a complete farce. But after two brief times with two shrinks (one was a nut case) the head flight surgeon called me in saying they weren't finished yet but he was taking action to have me grounded and gave me a certificate that I was latent schizophrenic. That event is a very long story by itself, but I simply mention this to say that this was the way the Lord got me out of flying.

Ironically, after I was grounded I was forced to take a job as an Adjutant officer where I was the ranking officer over 1000 men, and all I did was run the office and talk to men about personal problems. I didn't like flying a desk but that was the best job I ever had in the Air Force. I was grateful when the Major over me came to me as I was leaving saying, “Bill, when you first came here I had very low expectation. I have known a lot of fighter pilots and they are all the same. But you have done an excellent job and the Air Force is loosing a very good man with your departure. I wish you were staying”

I only had one problem when I was in the office as Adjutant Officer. One night the Major told me, “There will be a party at the Cornell's home Saturday night and you are expected to be there.” I replied, “I'm sorry, sir, but I don't go to parties.” He looked at me sternly and said, “This is not an invitation. This is an order.” I looked at him and quietly replied. “Sir, I'm sorry but I already have a certificate that I am crazy.” He shrugged his shoulders and knew that I had high card. It is a wonderful thing when we burn the bridge between the world and ourselves. It has no more attraction to us.

Last Monday I went to a doctor and had a biopsy on my eye. I really like the doctor and asked him what he thought about my eye. “What are the chances of a malignancy?” I was surprised when he said, he would have to wait for the lab report but said the chance was 50-50. I felt very strongly that the biopsy was the will of God. This looks like a real win-win situation. There is a 50% chance that I might get a long awaited exit visa from this world to go to be with Jesus and many of my friends, and there is a 50% chance that he might be able to fix my eye to restore vision in both eyes. This looks pretty good to me.

Thank you for your prayers, bill

Deleted. Ctrl + Z to Undo.

Dear Phyllis,

Looking back on my life. The military was only a very short blip, but it set the tone for the rest of my life. When I took my physical for induction in the Aviation Cadet Corps, the flight surgeon said to me, “I believe you are the type of man the Air Force is looking for”. Indeed it was a good marriage. I enjoyed the military very much and had a good reputation. After my five years of flying I got out of the military, but the military never got out of me. When I first was married I thought marriage was like the military; I was the Commander, my wife was the First Sergeant, and children were the enlisted men. Rosemary had never been in the military. Ironically, she had a different concept and didn't agree with my view.

My life in that career was definitely an unusual act of God. For the first 17 years of my life I had a very strong anti-military attitude and said, “I never want to be soldier”. But during the summer between my high school graduation and entering college in Michigan I got a general letter from the Air Force ROTC program offering young men an opportunity of spending one hour a week attending a ROTC class, and upon graduation, being commissioned as an officer in the Air Force and the opportunity to go into pilot training. Being a jet pilot suddenly appealed to me very much and I applied for ROTC. That was great. But during my junior and senior year at Michigan I had six weeks of summer camp where I went to an Air Force base to play soldier big time. I went to that camp with a chip on my shoulder thinking I was God's gift to the military and got it cleaned off in a big way. That camp was the turning point of my life. I realized I had serious problems that a piece of paper would not help. I had grown up totally undisciplined and knew the best correction was severe military training. That summer I had learned of an unusual program of Aviation Cadets that offered young men the opportunity to go directly from civilian life into pilot training. It was very selective, difficult to get into, and considerably more difficult to complete; but it looked great. I applied for Cadets and was inducted on my birthday 30 December 1956.

I did very well in pilot training but with little credit to myself. The biggest event was when I was saved the first summer in 1957. Needless to say, that was the termination of one life and the inauguration of a totally different life. From there on Jesus took over and everything that has happened since then has all been His doing. Jesus did very well in pilot training. I had several flights where it was like He was sitting in the front seat and I was the passenger. One night when I was in jet school we had night landings. There were about 30 aircraft going around in a circle making touch and go landings. In flying there is such a thing as being behind the aircraft. Either you are in control of the aircraft or the bird is out in front and you are responding to it. On one approach I messed up real bad. The bird was nearly out of control. It was horrific. My airspeed so so low I was a hair from death. I was panic struck trying to catch up; coming in with full power, desperately trying to keep from falling out of the sky. Miraculously I was able to just make it up to the landing line in front of mobile control, and had the power for a go-around. As I was on lift off mobile control called saying, “Aircraft on the go, identity yourself”. I replied, “This is Cougar 38”. Mobile came back, “Cougar, that was beautiful”. When we came in hanging up our parachutes the other guys said, “Cook, what in the world did you do? We were all out there killing ourselves trying to make good landings and you were the only one all night to get praised like that.” I'm sure it was unusual. No one else flew final two knots above stall speed carrying full power, sinking, to touch down exactly on the landing line.

It is universally accepted that fighter pilots are a special breed of men. By DNA I have always enjoyed that type of life. It was my ambition to be the worst of the worst until I got saved. After that it has always been my ambition to raise the flag of Jesus as high as possible. There was a terrific shock that went through the Fight'n 40^th Fighter Squadron when I first checked in at Yokota, Japan. A friend later told me how a fellow pilot went to him in horror saying, “Cook has a Bible!”, He replied, “What's wrong with that? A lot of us have Bibles.” “Yes, but Cook reads his Bible.” It was almost a contradiction of terms to have a Christ-honoring Christian fighter pilot. The typical image is to be a hard drinking wild individual. Actually a lot of fellow pilots were decent family men but I took a hard stand to avoid drinking social activities. This was a running battle for three years. At one point the Operation officer took me aside and forcefully said, “Cook, if you don't straighten up the Air Force doesn't need men like you.” The Lord marvelously blessed my flying and I had the reputation of being one of the best pilots in the squadron Flying was one of the few things in life in which I have done well. But the pressure was always on over my stand for Christ.

The Lord had spoken to me about leaving military service and go into full time mission work. I was on indefinite status, which meant I had no date of discharge, but after five years I could apply for release; that may or may not be granted. I had just been checked out in the latest F-102 and was near the peak of my flying. One night I was on night alert when my flight commander told me when I got off the next morning to go to the base hospital as I had an appointment to see the doctor. “What's wrong? I feel fine.” “I can't tell you but make sure you are there by 9:00 AM. The Lord told me what it was and I wasn't too surprised when the flight surgeon told me he had had a bad report about me and was subjecting me to a mental exam. He said, “Go back to your squadron and you are now checked out on leave. We want to keep this off your military record.” That was flat illegal, but what he really meant was they wanted to keep it off their record. The mental exam was ridiculous and by any standard was a complete farce. But after two brief times with two shrinks (one was a nut case) the head flight surgeon called me in saying they weren't finished yet but he was taking action to have me grounded and gave me a certificate that I was latent schizophrenic. That event is a very long story by itself, but I simply mention this to say that this was the way the Lord got me out of flying.

Ironically, after I was grounded I was forced to take a job as an Adjutant officer where I was the ranking officer over 1000 men, and all I did was run the office and talk to men about personal problems. I didn't like flying a desk but that was the best job I ever had in the Air Force. I was grateful when the Major over me came to me as I was leaving saying, “Bill, when you first came here I had very low expectation. I have known a lot of fighter pilots and they are all the same. But you have done an excellent job and the Air Force is loosing a very good man with your departure. I wish you were staying”

I only had one problem when I was in the office as Adjutant Officer. One night the Major told me, “There will be a party at the Cornell's home Saturday night and you are expected to be there.” I replied, “I'm sorry, sir, but I don't go to parties.” He looked at me sternly and said, “This is not an invitation. This is an order.” I looked at him and quietly replied. “Sir, I'm sorry but I already have a certificate that I am crazy.” He shrugged his shoulders and knew that I had high card. It is a wonderful thing when we burn the bridge between the world and ourselves. It has no more attraction to us.

Last Monday I went to a doctor and had a biopsy on my eye. I really like the doctor and asked him what he thought about my eye. “What are the chances of a malignancy?” I was surprised when he said, he would have to wait for the lab report but said the chance was 50-50. I felt very strongly that the biopsy was the will of God. This looks like a real win-win situation. There is a 50% chance that I might get a long awaited exit visa from this world to go to be with Jesus and many of my friends, and there is a 50% chance that he might be able to fix my eye to restore vision in both eyes. This looks pretty good to me.

Thank you for your prayers, bill

Deleted. Ctrl + Z to Undo.

9 June 2019

Dear Phyllis,

Looking back on my life. The military was only a very short blip, but it set the tone for the rest of my life. When I took my physical for induction in the Aviation Cadet Corps, the flight surgeon said to me, “I believe you are the type of man the Air Force is looking for”. Indeed it was a good marriage. I enjoyed the military very much and had a good reputation. After my five years of flying I got out of the military, but the military never got out of me. When I first was married I thought marriage was like the military; I was the Commander, my wife was the First Sergeant, and children were the enlisted men. Rosemary had never been in the military. Ironically, she had a different concept and didn't agree with my view.

My life in that career was definitely an unusual act of God. For the first 17 years of my life I had a very strong anti-military attitude and said, “I never want to be soldier”. But during the summer between my high school graduation and entering college in Michigan I got a general letter from the Air Force ROTC program offering young men an opportunity of spending one hour a week attending a ROTC class, and upon graduation, being commissioned as an officer in the Air Force and the opportunity to go into pilot training. Being a jet pilot suddenly appealed to me very much and I applied for ROTC. That was great. But during my junior and senior year at Michigan I had six weeks of summer camp where I went to an Air Force base to play soldier big time. I went to that camp with a chip on my shoulder thinking I was God's gift to the military and got it cleaned off in a big way. That camp was the turning point of my life. I realized I had serious problems that a piece of paper would not help. I had grown up totally undisciplined and knew the best correction was severe military training. That summer I had learned of an unusual program of Aviation Cadets that offered young men the opportunity to go directly from civilian life into pilot training. It was very selective, difficult to get into, and considerably more difficult to complete; but it looked great. I applied for Cadets and was inducted on my birthday 30 December 1956.

I did very well in pilot training but with little credit to myself. The biggest event was when I was saved the first summer in 1957. Needless to say, that was the termination of one life and the inauguration of a totally different life. From there on Jesus took over and everything that has happened since then has all been His doing. Jesus did very well in pilot training. I had several flights where it was like He was sitting in the front seat and I was the passenger. One night when I was in jet school we had night landings. There were about 30 aircraft going around in a circle making touch and go landings. In flying there is such a thing as being behind the aircraft. Either you are in control of the aircraft or the bird is out in front and you are responding to it. On one approach I messed up real bad. The bird was nearly out of control. It was horrific. My airspeed so so low I was a hair from death. I was panic struck trying to catch up; coming in with full power, desperately trying to keep from falling out of the sky. Miraculously I was able to just make it up to the landing line in front of mobile control, and had the power for a go-around. As I was on lift off mobile control called saying, “Aircraft on the go, identity yourself”. I replied, “This is Cougar 38”. Mobile came back, “Cougar, that was beautiful”. When we came in hanging up our parachutes the other guys said, “Cook, what in the world did you do? We were all out there killing ourselves trying to make good landings and you were the only one all night to get praised like that.” I'm sure it was unusual. No one else flew final two knots above stall speed carrying full power, sinking, to touch down exactly on the landing line.

It is universally accepted that fighter pilots are a special breed of men. By DNA I have always enjoyed that type of life. It was my ambition to be the worst of the worst until I got saved. After that it has always been my ambition to raise the flag of Jesus as high as possible. There was a terrific shock that went through the Fight'n 40^th Fighter Squadron when I first checked in at Yokota, Japan. A friend later told me how a fellow pilot went to him in horror saying, “Cook has a Bible!”, He replied, “What's wrong with that? A lot of us have Bibles.” “Yes, but Cook reads his Bible.” It was almost a contradiction of terms to have a Christ-honoring Christian fighter pilot. The typical image is to be a hard drinking wild individual. Actually a lot of fellow pilots were decent family men but I took a hard stand to avoid drinking social activities. This was a running battle for three years. At one point the Operation officer took me aside and forcefully said, “Cook, if you don't straighten up the Air Force doesn't need men like you.” The Lord marvelously blessed my flying and I had the reputation of being one of the best pilots in the squadron Flying was one of the few things in life in which I have done well. But the pressure was always on over my stand for Christ.

The Lord had spoken to me about leaving military service and go into full time mission work. I was on indefinite status, which meant I had no date of discharge, but after five years I could apply for release; that may or may not be granted. I had just been checked out in the latest F-102 and was near the peak of my flying. One night I was on night alert when my flight commander told me when I got off the next morning to go to the base hospital as I had an appointment to see the doctor. “What's wrong? I feel fine.” “I can't tell you but make sure you are there by 9:00 AM. The Lord told me what it was and I wasn't too surprised when the flight surgeon told me he had had a bad report about me and was subjecting me to a mental exam. He said, “Go back to your squadron and you are now checked out on leave. We want to keep this off your military record.” That was flat illegal, but what he really meant was they wanted to keep it off their record. The mental exam was ridiculous and by any standard was a complete farce. But after two brief times with two shrinks (one was a nut case) the head flight surgeon called me in saying they weren't finished yet but he was taking action to have me grounded and gave me a certificate that I was latent schizophrenic. That event is a very long story by itself, but I simply mention this to say that this was the way the Lord got me out of flying.

Ironically, after I was grounded I was forced to take a job as an Adjutant officer where I was the ranking officer over 1000 men, and all I did was run the office and talk to men about personal problems. I didn't like flying a desk but that was the best job I ever had in the Air Force. I was grateful when the Major over me came to me as I was leaving saying, “Bill, when you first came here I had very low expectation. I have known a lot of fighter pilots and they are all the same. But you have done an excellent job and the Air Force is loosing a very good man with your departure. I wish you were staying”

I only had one problem when I was in the office as Adjutant Officer. One night the Major told me, “There will be a party at the Cornell's home Saturday night and you are expected to be there.” I replied, “I'm sorry, sir, but I don't go to parties.” He looked at me sternly and said, “This is not an invitation. This is an order.” I looked at him and quietly replied. “Sir, I'm sorry but I already have a certificate that I am crazy.” He shrugged his shoulders and knew that I had high card. It is a wonderful thing when we burn the bridge between the world and ourselves. It has no more attraction to us.

Last Monday I went to a doctor and had a biopsy on my eye. I really like the doctor and asked him what he thought about my eye. “What are the chances of a malignancy?” I was surprised when he said, he would have to wait for the lab report but said the chance was 50-50. I felt very strongly that the biopsy was the will of God. This looks like a real win-win situation. There is a 50% chance that I might get a long awaited exit visa from this world to go to be with Jesus and many of my friends, and there is a 50% chance that he might be able to fix my eye to restore vision in both eyes. This looks pretty good to me.

Thank you for your prayers, bill