Corona Virus

19 April 2020

Dear Phyllis,

Obviously the number one topic on everybody's mind today is the corona virus. Unquestionably we are in a time of history that this world has never seen since Adam opened his eyes in the Garden. There have been world wide catastrophic events that have happened before, but there has never been an event that has spread all over the globe in such a short period of time that has impacted nearly everyone in such a major way. It is almost like blowing a whistle and the entire world economy has come to a screeching halt. Many have asked the question, “Does this have anything to do with the end time events spoken of in the Bible?”. I believe the short answer is NO, but Joel Richardson has well expressed it that this is a good practice or preview of things to come.

I have used this illustration many times but I am totally convinced that the problem the Lord is up against in explaining spiritual truth to us is basically the same as a missionary would have in trying to explain life in Los Angeles to a stone age savage in Irian Jaya. That native has never imagined a written language or advanced to the place where he has seen a wheel. The Lord has taken a terrible risk in trying to share things with us by using words and language that delves into the world of the ridiculous to the insane. Beasts full of eyes (Rev. 1:8). Now how in the world are you supposed to understand that? There are many events described that are utterly impossible. “Every eye shall see Him, and they also that pierced Him, and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him” (Rev. 1:7). And I am supposed to believe that? Jesus said to Caiaphas, “Hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven” (Mt. 26:64). Now how is that supposed to happen? Caiaphas is going to see Jesus coming in the clouds?

Gomen nasai. We have got two options. Either we have to totally eject the Bible as a book for the mentally ill, or accept that the Lord is trying to explain things to us that exist totally outside the realm of the world with which we are familiar. I prefer the later.

I love the Book of Revelation and I would be delighted to argue with any man who wants to discuss any chapter. I have never been more confident of my position. You name a chapter or a verse, and I have one of two responses - “Yes, that is what is written, Do I believe it? Yes. Can I explain it? No.” But there are a lot of things that make a whole lot more sense than they did 40 years ago.

I am very comfortable that I have a proper grasp of chapter 6. Here we have the first 6 Seals. The first 4 are pretty black and white. They are the first Four Horse – White, Red, Black, Pale. It is significant that of the Pale horse it is said, “Power was given unto THEM (plural) over a fourth part of the earth to kill with SWORD, HUNGER, DEATH, and the BEASTS of the earth”. In the OT we see time and again that these are the four basic means that God uses to chastise nations (Jer. 14:12,13,15; Ezek. 14:21). In Ezekiel the Lord said, “I will send My four judgments; SWORD, FAMINE, BEASTS, PESTILENTCE”. I believe this is exactly what we see in the first four Seals, or Four Horses, of Revelation 6. The anit-chraist is known as the beast (Rev. 13:3,4,12,1418, 19:20; 20:10). I believe the White Horse is the anti-christ (Beast). The Red Horse is clearly war (Sword), The Black Horse is obviously economic (Famine). And the Pale Horse is not so clear but I believe it is (Pestilence). The Bible simply says Death.

This is what we are dealing with right now with covid-19. This is pestilence. Is this the Pale Horse? No way. This isn't close. The world has seen epidemics before. The Bubonic Plague or Black Death in 13,000 AD killed nearly 1/3 the entire population of Europe. The flu in 1918 killed 20,000,000 - 50,000,000. I'm not sure what the statistics are today but I believe the corona virus has killed about 1 in every 50,000 people in the world. The fatality rate in the US is about 1 in every 80,000 Americans. That is not too deadly. That is a tiny fraction of the Black Death and 1918 flu. It is utterly amazing how swiftly the entire world became united in being hit by one single bug. This does give us a little insight how swiftly and totally the entire world can get immersed in problems that certainly are coming. After the Four horses, the 5^th Seal is clearly major world wide persecution of Christians. The biblical references to persecution in the last days are too many to list but the simplest is what the angel told Daniel 12:10 - “Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried” - and this is in reference to the same warning in Dan. 11:33-25 about world wide persecution. We haven't seen that yet, but it certainly is coming.

There is no doubt that the 6^th Seal in Rev. 6:6-15 is exactly the same event that is described as the 7^th Vial in chap. 16:17-21. I have written about that before but I firmly believe that an honest examination of those two passages prove incontestably that they are the same event. Why the inconsistent presentation? I believe the 6^th Seal is reading the last page of the book and then going back to read the rest of the book to see how it all came about.

The two sevens that are discussed in chapter 8, 9, and 16 are the 7 Trumpets and the 7 Vials. Most of these are acts in nature. The 1^st Trumpet is vegetation, the 2^nd Trumpet is the ocean, the 3^rd Trumpet is the rivers, the 4^th Trumpet is the atmosphere, the 5^th Trumpet is the pit. (This is spiritual.) And the 6^th Trumpet is the Euphrates. This is preparation for Armageddon. The 7^th Trumpet are the Seven Vials. And the Seven Vials are basically the same thing. The 1^st Vial is sores, the 2^nd Vial is ocean, the 3^rd Vial is rivers, the 4^th Vial is atmosphere, the 5^th Vial is kingdom (spiritual) and the 6^th Vial is the Euphrates, And the final 7^th Vial is the 6^th Seal. These are the bad things that are coming to this earth. But corona virus isn't one of them..

Where are we in God's time table? I don't know. But things are starting to get wild. As I wrote in a letter to my son, Dave, I believe we are in 1938 just before the world exploded in an unprecedented world wide war in which 65,000,000 people were killed. No civilization has ever survived being totally given over to sexual perversion and sacrificing children. Until now, every society that was given over to this level of depravity has been destroyed. What does that say for America? It doesn't look good. Japan and Thailand are not innocent. All countries (excepting Islamic) are bad, but America is hands down worlds loudest and premier promoter of depravity as a major political issue. Nearly 50% of the country is lined up with the Democratic Party with the most vial forms of sexual depravity and sacrificing children as a major plank in their political agenda. Unimaginable filth is now a civil right. The bomb hasn't gone off yet, but it is inconceivable that something bad won't happen soon.

On the personal front, it looks like we are coming out on top of one major crisis. The visa service called us last week saying they needed my passport as my next one year Thai visa will be in it this week. That is huge. That means that I am clear to go to the states as soon as that hurdle is behind. The only problem is there are no planes going to the states. Health wise I am fine. There is no noticeable deterioration in my eye. The sore on my cheek is a problem but that comes and goes. Like the states, Thailand is closed down. All schools are closed until July. A lot of businesses are closed, but all food stores and sidewalk venders are open as usual. Car traffic is down slightly but almost as bad as ever. Most people are wearing masks. I hear there are 40 reported cases of covid-19 in Chiang Mai. That is 1 person in every 50,000 has a cold with no deaths. That is not too dangerous.

Jesus is with us and His wheels of history are rolling on. Let's keep close,

                                             bill

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Peter and Jesus

14 April 2020

Dear Phyllis,

“And Peter” I don't know if there are any two words that carry a deeper meaning and expose deeper emotion than those two words. The other morning I was looking at the Scripture related to the Resurrection. It wasn't new revelation, but when I read those words, “AND PETER”, I burst into tears and in agony of wonder and astonishment, I cried, “That's IT! That's IT! That's the Gospel”. Oh it seemed so tremendously real to me. I was inside Jesus and inside Peter when the exchange was made between them. It was indescribable. It was astonishing.

Peter had no idea what Jesus was talking about when He warmed him, “Satan has desired you that he might sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith fail not” (Lk. 22:31,32). Countless thousands of messages have been preached on Peter's denial of Christ. It is one thing to look at that from the outside but it is a different matter to view it from Peter's inside. To do that a person must have gone through the same experience themselves. No one can fully appreciate what it feels like to drown than to have been in 30 feet of water and fall off a ship. The terror if you didn't know how to swim and nobody saw you go over. The desperation as you thrash in the water with your nose and lungs half full of water. This is it, folks. You've had the course. It's all over. What a feeling! You have got to have a little of Peter inside you if you want to know how he felt.

I know a little what Peter felt like when Jesus told him, “The cock won't crow twice before you deny Me three times” (Mk. 14:30,72). Peter was absolutely honest when he said, “No way! I'll die for you”. And he proved it. When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus - and Peter saw what they were up against - he did what any brave man should do. Jesus had just talked to them about buying a sword. Peter said “We have two” (Lk. 22:36,38). Peter grabbed one of the swords and dove into the crowd swinging. He knew the odds and he wanted to go down swinging. No one else did that' Let's give Peter credit for keeping his word and proving he would die for Jesus. He said it, he meant it, and he proved it. We all know the story.

The first stage of Peter's sifting was when Jesus told him to quit and put up his sword. That would have been tough to take. That would have been difficult to be rebuked for doing the right thing. The humiliation would have been a little harder when Jesus bent over to pick up Malcus' ear that Peter had just chopped off. He must have felt silly when Jesus put that ear back on.

But the scene by the fire was worse. That was a brave thing that Peter did when he went in with John following Jesus inside the gate of the priests house. Peter was sitting there in the midst of some of the men who had just brought Jesus in. Malcus was probably sitting there near Peter. It would not be unreasonable to say, Malkus might have had some thoughts about getting even with the guy that just cut off his ear. That is a pretty intimidating crowd. And then when the girl made an issue of it and said, “I know you a one of those guys. I can tell by your accent”. Words that Peter never dreamed could come out of his mouth poured out, Jesus was standing there probably no more than 50 feet away; He looked at Peter and the cock bugled the second time. Crash! Oh the weight of that would have been terrible. Peter's world dissolved in a thousand pieces. Staggering out the gate wailing in disbelief. How could he sleep? The next day would have been like being in hell. Saturday night would have been no better. A Very dear friend of mine had a moral failure with a young girl. It cost him his job. He left the mission field and went home. Years later he told me, “My wife and friends have forgiven me, but I can never forgive myself”. How in the world can you live with something like that? Peter had such plans. He didn't care if he got killed. His whole life was to be faithful and serve Jesus. All that went up in smoke in 30 seconds by words that he could never recover. The worse possible scenario. After that horrible night, Jesus was executed in the worst possible way. His future was an endless hell of regret.

And then the next morning Jesus met Mary at the tomb. He told her, “Go tell my brethren (that is the first time He used that word) that I made it. I'm alive.” Then He added two more words that possibly were the most expressive that ever came out of His mouth. “AND PETER”. Oh what a message! In that He implied, “By the way. I have a special message that I want you to give to Peter. Tell him all is well. Brother, you're okay. No problem. What happened is all gone. Forget it”. Jesus not only sent that message to Peter that morning but later that day He did something special; Peter was the first disciple that Jesus showed Himself to. He would talk to the rest of the boys later that evening when they were locked in that room. The two fellows from Emmaus had just gotten back and told them about their experience talking with Jesus for an hour on the way home (Lk 24). When the Emmaus disciples spoke to the ten (Judas and Thomas weren't there), the disciples said, “Yes, we know. Mary told us and Jesus spoke to Peter today” (Lk. 24:34).

Those two words in that initial message “and Peter”. When Mary told the disciples she might have expressed it this way. “By the way, Jesus made a special point of my errand when He told me, 'Tell my brethren AND PETER'. Brother, you are something special. Jesus emphasized that I was supposed to give this message to you”.

You talk about a good feeling. It doesn't get much better than that. When I read that in Mark the other day it struck me like a cannon of hot air. It was so personal. I burst into tears and cried, “THAT'S IT! That is the Gospel”. I can't describe it. That is what it's all about. But it is so personal. It is like being on the bottom side of a load of guilt and unworthiness, and knowing that Jesus has spoken to you personally saying, “All is well. No problem. You are mine and you are special to Me.”

Gomen, Phyllis. I know that you know all this. There is nothing new here But, man howdy, it sure was new to me! It was and it wasn't. I've known all this for many years. But it sure was fresh when I met with Jesus last week. It may be trite. What a pity that it is. But Jesus sure enough is back from the dead and we too have an unspeakable future with Him.

Hallelujah, bill

Ron and Marlene

12 April 2020

Dear Phyllis,

Today is Resurrection Sunday. It was 61 years ago today that I stood in front of a packed house in a small church just outside the main gate of Yokota Air Base and said, “Good morning folks. Welcome to the Church of The Open Door”.

It had been four months before then that I walked in the dining room of the Officers Club to have breakfast that I saw a man sitting by himself with a well read, dog-eared, Bible on the table. I walked over and asked, “May I join you? I gather you know the Lord”. The man stuck his hand out and replied, “Yes. Please. My name is Russ O'Quinn. I am the teacher of the adult Bible class a the base chapel”. I had only been in Japan a few hours and Russ was literally the first man I met in Japan. He was a civilian tech rep with Douglas Aircraft Co. and was a gifted, dynamic, speaker. He was easily God's #1 man at Yokota. I was one of the first Christian jet fighter pilots Russ had met and I was love at first sight. For the next few months we were inseparable. Russ had been in Japan slightly less than a year and talked his way into a Wednesday night Bible study and the Sunday morning Bible class at the base chapel. The problem was; more folks had gotten saved through Russ' preaching and going home, than stayed for the Sunday morning worship. Chaplin JN Bradberry was furious and threw us out of the chapel and off base. We had a burden that we wanted to start our own church and went to Tamadaiya Height housing association asking if we could rent a house and convert it to a church. They told us they were planning on a new development project and would build a church to our specification. The Church of the Open Door was born on Easter Sunday 1959.

When the O'Quinns were returned to the states later that year we wrote to Jessie Miller of The Overseas Christian Servicemen Center in Denver asking if they had a missionary they could send over to take the church as a missionary project. In July 1960 Ron and Marlene Blough got off the boat in Yokohama to take on the COD as their missionary project. Ron was a former marine who had just graduated from Bob Jones University and became a legend. He was totally undisciplined, hot-headed, and wild as a spring hare. But a man with a deep commitment to Jesus Christ, uncompromising excellent convictions, and a passionate message for soul winning. We were on a collusion course. It was awful. Sunday after Sunday I would come away from service in tears saying, “I can't take it any more”. But I knew quitting was not an option. If I pulled out over half the church would come out with me and that would destroy the church. Of grim necessity, Ron and I developed a system of having breakfast at the O Club about once a month, where we would show up with clenched fists ready to kill each other, have it out with frank, honest, open exchange and two hours later leave, the best of friends with deep respect for each other. That saved the church.

Ron found a former night club half way between the main gate and the bar district that was for rent. There was a good house right behind the club where the Bloughs could live. We converted that into the Christian Terrace. It was excellent - but nobody came in. Ron stood in front of the Terrace passing out tracts to EVERY soul that passed by for several days. Oddly enough the trickle of pedestrians dried up until there was virtually no one walking by. But Ron noticed the taxi company was doing a land-grant business with a steady stream of taxis going by like we had never seen. The GIs would rather pay 50 yen to ride 400 meters than to walk past the Terrace. One Saturday Ron and I were talking about the problem and someone made the unwise suggestion, “Let's go down to the bar district to get them”. Neither one of us wanted to go but we both were too proud to back down. The result was we shamed ourselves into doing it. That night we got together about eight to ten of our best men to go down to the bar district to have our first street meeting. It was hilarious. When we rounded the corner to head down the bar district street, we locked arms and started marching singing Onward Christian Soldiers. The street was jammed with hundreds of GIs and prostitutes out in the street talking. Suddenly it was like an alarm went off. The entire crowd turned in stunned disbelief and stared at us. When we marched 300 meter to the end of the street and got up on a stone wall outside Kay's Bar, the street was totally deserted. There wasn't a dog in sight. Everyone had fled. That started a season that lasted nearly two years of going down to the bar district to have a street meeting every Friday and Saturday night.

The Church of the Open Door was a period that lasted from 1959 to 1966. It was the epic period of my life. It was the time when my roots went deep in the soil learning how to walk with and serve Christ. It was the time when I developed the convictions and methods that have guided my life for the next six decades. I list Ron Blough in the top five men who have had the greatest formative influence on my life. I read a large number of missionary biographies, but I saw in Ron animated the principles of faith that others simply wrote about.

The early years at the COD were utterly unique. We were extremely black and white. Thee was no middle ground. You either loved us or hated us. There was a bit of the moving of the Holy Spirit when we saw some of the finest conversion I have ever experienced. We seldom ran much more than 18-20 people in a service, but of the ones who passed through the vast majority either wound up in full-time service or went on to be major lay-leaders in any church they attended.

Ron and I were both from Pennsylvania and never had any racial feelings. In the 60s segregation was natural but we had two black families. Walt Leper was a phenomenon. He was just plain sharp. You didn't expect to see a man of his caliber in black skin. He would have been an executive in any major corporation. George Abernathy was different. He was just plain southern nigger. For 100 years “nigger” was an acceptable term with no particular derogatory insinuation. Pastors frequently used it in messages. It wasn't until the 1970s and 80s that political correctness converted it into it into an unmentionable four letter word. But in the 60s there were two types of blacks – there were colored and niggers. George was just plain nigger from Alabama. But we loved him. He was colorful. “Yes, aaas saved, Yes aaas saved”. Well, maybe. But we loved George. Then George met Jesus. I never saw such a transformation of man in my life. All the southern colored tapestry disappeared and the most serious man of God you ever saw emerged. George became the finest black Bible teacher I have ever met in my life. The man became a giant.

Ron and I were an excellent team running the COD until in 1962 I was discharged from the Air Force and went to Karuizawa, But for the next two years I would frequently stop by whenever I could. In 1964 my health broke and I had to return to the states for a furlough. In 1965 Ron and Marlene had completed a five year term and went home for a year.. I would have taken the church had I been there but in my absence Ron left the work with Les Fraiser who had come a year prior to head up the Bob Jones ministry in Japan. In September 1965 I returned to Japan. I landed at Haneda around 5:00 o'clock Sunday afternoon and caught a train out to Fusa (Yokota). It was too late for the evening service so I went straight to Bloughs house to wait for the folks to get home from church. At 9:30 a car pulled in the driveway and I walked over greeting, “Les Fraiser?”. A voice in the darkness spoke, “No, I am Pat Melton”. Pat had only been there a month when Les turned the work over to him.

Pat was straight out of Bob Jones and stepped into a buzz saw. He was not prepared for the problems to face him. For the next year he would call me in Karuizawa and I would go down to Yokota to jack him up and encourage him to gambatte (hang tough). The next year in September Ron and Marlene returned to take the church back only to discover it had been reduced to ashes. Their first Sunday I went down to see Ron and Marlene. That Sunday Ron preached morning and evening and I led the services. That night we had three missionary couples and two GIs in attendance. The next morning Ron went to see the land lord to pay the rent and was informed that the land had been sold. That was it.

I had the privilege of being the man who stood up the first morning to say, “Good morning folks. Welcome to the Church of the Open Door. And seven years later I had the privilege of leading the final meeting and say the closing prayer, “In Jesus Name Amen”

                                                  bill

Suffering

Dear Phyllis,

The other day I had an email from my dear friend Wayne Thomas who told me that his wife had Parkinson disease. My first response was to write him quoting Samuel Rutherford who wrote a friend, “I would like to welcome you to my world of suffering”; but then I thought better of it as Wayne probably knew more about that world than I did. But I did write him a letter discussing the issue of suffering; for indeed it is one of the blessings of God.

Many years ago, when I was in Russia, I was talking with a lovely young sister who had just been saved about a year. She asked me the basic question why bad things happen to good Christians. I was speaking in a church in Vladivostok the next Sunday and chose to speak on the subject of suffering, and concluded my message with Paul's word to the Thessalonians, “...that no man should be moved by these afflictions: for you yourselves know that WE ARE APPOINTED THEREUNTO. For verily when we were with you we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it has come to pass” ( 1 Thes. 3:3,4). When the service was over there was one brother from the states who was there that morning, sitting by himself with his head down fifteen minutes after everyone else had left the room. Obviously the Lord had spoken to him about something difficult that morning.

Of all the mysterious ways of God suffering is probably the least understood. On a list of desirability, suffering would be the one put at the bottom. But with God He places it near the top. Jesus began His most famous message, The Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5-7) by listing the greatest blessings. We call them the Beatitudes (Mt. 5:3-12). He told us of seven things that were the greatest blessing and began by saying, “Blessed are the Poor in spirit.” Then after telling us five more blessing He capped the list by saying the greatest blessing is persecution, and he told us to rejoice and be exceeding glad (Mt. 5:10,12). Not because of the pain but for what it produces. We all know the Beatitudes but how many actually believe them?

When we talk about the Cross there are three meanings. There is the Cross of Christ. This stands by itself. This Cross is objective. It is outside ourselves. There is nothing we can do to alter or influence that Cross. It is by the Cross that Jesus did His greatest work. It was by His Cross that He undid the damage Adam caused in the Garden. He restored humanity back to God, destroyed the devil (Heb. 2:14), and opened Paradise to us. We can never be adequately grateful to Jesus for what he did for us by His Cross. The whole of Christian maturity and growth is simply a matter of understanding more of what was involved in the transaction through Jesus' Cross.

But then Jesus told us that we must bear our own cross. This cross is subjective. This is personal. Jesus bore His cross and anyone who follows Him must go the same way by bearing our own cross. But in that there are two more meanings. The cross has a singular meaning. It is an instrument of death. And it is here that we must learn to die to self. But that is the key to liberation. It is when we learn to give up our life to embrace His life, that we begin to enjoy real life. Hudson Taylor called it the exchanged life. Of what a hallelujah day it is when we quit trying to live our own life and allow Jesus to live His life in us. That cross is indeed to key to freedom.

But then there is the more common use of the word cross which we use in describe trails. This is probably the least scriptural but it is the term most used to describe trials. A disability, sickness, a handicapped child, a nagging wife, an unfaithful husband; all these things Christians say, “This is my cross.” I'm not sure that is accurate, but for the sake of discussion I will accept the use of the term to describe suffering.

Samuel Rutherford was banned from His ministry in Anwoth and sent in exile to Aberdeen for nine years. He called his time of exile his cross. But of how he learned to appreciate it. He frequently wrote,”My cross has done for me that which I formally thought was impossible”. “My cross has put a fresh edge on my sword and my love for Jesus”. It was the paradox that his sufferings were the greatest blessing in his life. He wrote, “the cross is such a burden as wings on a bird or a sail on a ship. It is by this that I have learned to fly.” “Grace grows best in winter”. “We must all bear that rough old cross, but I know no tree that bears sweeter fruit than the cross”. To friends he frequently wrote, “We must always remember that Jesus told us our summer days would have showers and our roses would have prickly thorns.”. Trials are joined hand in hand with the positive blessings in life.

At this point in my life there is no one book that has become more precious to me than the Letters of Samuel Rutherford. It certainly is not a book for everyone. If you don't know the Song of Solomon it would be almost impossible to understood much of what he was talking about. He lived that relationship like no man I have ever read or heard of. Much of his expressions are quotes from the Song of Solomon. And his letters are filled with comments of the work an blessing of his cross. That is why, when Wayne Thomas wrote to me telling me that his wife had Parkinson disease I wanted to write to hem, “Welcome to my world of suffering.”

I prefer the land route to heaven. It is a rough way to sail with Jesus through the storms of life. But this is the only way to heaven. If we choose to go the land route we do so at our own peril and must walk alone. But if we want to get there Jesus' way we must accept there are many storms we must sail through. There are time when it seems like Jesus is asleep and we want to wake Him and cry, “Lord, don't You care that we are perishing?” But even if we have to swim Jesus will still keep His hand under our chin lest we go under.

It certainly is not true that anyone enjoys sufferings. Only a masochist could say that, and that is not normal. But the effect of suffering is healthy. It is by the pain of exercise that mussels are developed. Lack of exercise is deadly. I have enjoyed a somewhat sheltered life. The Lord will not allow us to be tested above that which we are able and is limited on the severity of the suffering He can permit in our lives. But He has been gracious in sending a few disappointments along my way. It was no fun at the time. I often wondered why Jesus would allow such calamities to fall in on me, but in retrospect I can honestly say all He has sent has been for my best. One of the great advantage of our elderly years is that we can look at life through the rear view mirror. When we were young there was nothing in the rear view mirror; life was entirely in the windscreen. But as the sun sets in the west we see life clearly in the mirror. There is much more wisdom in that glass than in the windscreen. All the ambitions, things I wanted to do, and things I wanted to be. Now as I look back on my life all I can do is thank God for keeping me from being a greater idiot. Had I got to the places in life that I hoped for, the Lord would have to desanitize me to get me into heaven and once I got there angles would have to wear masks to avoid the smell.

Rutherford wrote, “The Lord has sent me as a spy to spy out the land. I can report that this is a good land.” My heart is with Wayne. Parkinson disease, is no easy program. It is slow deterioration and very demanding on love ones around. In writing about suffering James wrote that the prophets are given to us as an example and “we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and seen the end of the Lord” (Jm. 5:10,11). Yes, praise God! We have seen the end of the Lord. This is a good land. Welcome.

                                                     bill

Dave Hunt

15 March 2020

Dear Phyllis,

I was reminded this morning of an event that happened in Dave Hunt's home one night. This was the real Dave Hunt before he became the internationally famous Dave hunt. In 1964, when I returned to the states from Japan for my first furlough I was staying with my sister in Woodland Hills, Calif. She said, “There is a fine Christian family that I want you to meet”. Two years previous she had met them when they sold their house to her. One afternoon they stopped by and I got a chance to meet them. They invited me to attend church with them and then join a youth meeting in their house that night. The church service was okay but the meeting in their house was something else.

To start with, their house was something like I had never seen before. I mean it was expensive. It was huge and had an enormous swimming pool. Dave was a developer at the time, and had build it to sell. But after he got it built the Lord told him to live in it. He told Jesus, “No way! I am not going to live in a house like this. Abraham lived in a tent and I am not going to live in a house like this.” . But Jesus insisted it was for him. Very reluctantly he surrendered and told the Lord, “Okay, I will live it in it as the caretaker, but this house is not for me - but for You.”. He had it stacked with college kids for meetings. There must have been 70 or more there that night.

There was one unimpressive man that I was talking to, when the boy who was leading the meeting that night, came up and excitedly said to him, “Is it true that you are a jet pilot?” Of course I knew he had made a mistake and was talking to him rather than to me. But I was shocked when the man humbly replied, “Yes I am.” And I was further surprised when I learned he was the speaker that night. When I learned he was a jet jockey I asked, “What do you fly?” I was stunned when he replied, “F-104”. Wow! I thought I was big news being a F-86 Saber Jet and F-102 pilot, but the 104 was the bird they called “a rocket with a man in it”. It had a four stage after-burner that they never could fully open up. It would go so fast that the wings would glow red and they had to slow down before they melted. But the real shocker that night was his message.

He had been a B-29 bomber pilot during the 2^nd WW and was in a special squadron that was selected to drop atomic bombs. His squadron commander, Paul Tibbets, had dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima and he was on a list to drop a nuke if the war continued. Because he was in that special bomb squadron he was one of the few people in the world that had been briefed on what we are doing in the nuclear world. That information shook him to the core. When the war was over, and he got out of service, he decided he better get religious, so he bought a Bible. He had never read a Bible and didn't know how, so he decided to read the back first, and read Revelation. That didn't help at all. What he read there was exactly what he had heard in briefings on nuclear warfare. He decided, “If this is what we are dealing with, I'ld better go the whole nine yards and really get religious.”; so he went to a Catholic seminary to become a Catholic priest.

While he was in seminary, one time he had an assignment to write a paper on the book of Hebrews. In preparation for that paper he got involved in a detailed study of the book. It became an obsession with him where he was studying it virtually day and night. One night he was walking back to his dormitory when the words of Heb. 10:11-14 came strongly to his mind, “And every priest standeth daily offering ofttimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sin. But THIS MAN after He had offered ONE SACRIFICE for sin for ever sat down on the right hand of God... For by ONE SCRIFICE He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.”. In a flash he saw the emptiness of the Catholic mass system of priests offering meaningless sacrifices. But what Jesus did in offering Himself paid the full price for sin forever. Light flooded his soul. He became so excited he couldn't contain himself and was sharing this new discovered truth with everyone on campus. He caused such a commotion that the administration called him in asking him what he had discovered. They said, “Oh, that is very interesting. Would you share this with everyone at a chapel meeting?” He knew it was a trap. He was causing such a stir that they wanted to embarrass him before the entire school. They would have him give his presentation, then put up one of their top theologians to make him look like the tail on Balaam's pony. He cried to the Lord to save him. The day came for his speech. Tremblingly he stood up and shared what he had seen in the Scripture. Silence fell over the auditorium, and not a dog moved his tongue. They couldn't refute him. After that, the administration called him in again, and suggested it might be better for him to leave school, and he was put out.

He felt just like Martian Luther, only he was the only soul on the planet. He got a job working in a post office. One day he was sharing his dilemma with a co-worker who responded, “It sounds to me like you got born-again.”. He had never met a Christian and had never heard of born-again. His friend took him to a Gospel church. Oh the joy to discover the Christian world! After he discovered the Christian world he craved to be a missionary. But Jesus said, “No, I want you to be a school teacher.” Reluctantly, he became a middle school teacher.

When I met him that night in Dave Hunt's home he was teaching in Pasadena and had a Bible study with 500 students every morning at school. This was in the days when it was still legal to share the Gospel with students in America.

I'm sorry that I forgot his name but I never forgot his testimony. The reason I share this story is because he perfect illustration a spiritual principle that I have long held that is contrary to the common conception of serving God. I don't know how we got here, but it is universally accepted that there are two levels of salvation. There are those who have accepted Jesus as their savior. That certainly is gracious that they are so condescending to accept God's offer of forgiveness of sin and eternal life. Then at some later point in life the believer goes a step further to obey Jesus. I isn't presented like that but the term that is used is dedication. Or in other words, what they mean is, to make Jesus Lord of their life. Then there is another level where they use the term “full-time”. This usually means being a preacher or a missionary. Here I get confused. I have always thought following Jesus meant to obey Jesus and do what he says, and I have never been able to accommodate a view that that might be part-time. What is the difference between serving Jesus part-time and full-time? To me following Jesus means full-time regardless of where you are or what you do. Tragically we have created this category that only those who don't work are full-time servants of God.

I say I have never dedicated my life to Jesus. I didn't know you were supposed to. When I joined the Air Force I raised my right hand and swore I would be a soldier. Soldiers don't make some subsequent decision to obey orders. I thought following Jesus worked the same way. I have never had any concept of doing anything but doing what He tells me. For the next four and a half years after I accepted Jesus, my primary goal in life was to tell as many people as possible and see as many souls as possible come to Christ. Flying was just something I did as a job, but my main goal in life was to win souls. I always thought it was a step down to leave the service to stay in Japan as a missionary.

The brother that night in Dave Hunt's home wanted to be a missionary, but he was making a far greater impact for Christ as a middle school teacher. I call that full-time.

Let's give it all we have, full time, wherever He places us. bill