Dear Phyllis,
Another real slow week in Thailand
Perhaps the biggest news is that last week was the Loy
Kratong f estival in Thailand f the two most widely celebrated f estivals
in Thailand f
year when everybody gets cleansed f rom their
sins. We sometime think that the heathen don’t have a conscience of
sin, but it is signif icant that nearly all
cultures have some sort of a major f estival
to cleanses themselves f rom their sins. The
Thais have an interesting way of dealing with
sin. They make little boats out of banana
leaves and put a candle on it; then they placed all their sins on that boat and
set it adrif t in the river. Some people place
a little money on their boat to insure that god receives their of f ering
to cleanse them f rom sin. This might help
people to f eel somewhat cleansed f rom
sin, but it doesn’t do much f or the rivers to be
cleansed f rom pollution, as thousands of
these little boats litter the banks down stream. And some enterprising f olks
add to their wealth by going through the litter of
boats and collect the money placed on them.
Perhaps this might help some people, in an imaginative way,
to f eel relieved f rom
sin by practicing this Buddhist custom, but we know that only God can f orgive
sin. And He has His own way that He has provided f or
us to cleanse us f rom our sins. In Zech.13:1
the Lord tells us; “In that day there
shall be a Fountain opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem f or sin
and uncleanness.”
I have of ten thought that I
am glad that this is not an of uro (Japanese
bathtub). As you know, in Japan f ur
water comes right up out of that volcanic ground.
That mineral water is so strong it actually will heal some kinds of
skin diseases. Because of that, many years ago
they built a leprosarium so that people with leprosy could bathe in that healing
water. I have been over to that leprosarium many times sharing Christ with the
people living there. I don’t mind sitting in a room f ull
of lepers, but I sure wouldn’t want to get in
a hot tub with any of them.
Jeanna Crain got baptized bef ore
she was saved. Jeanna later said to me, “When you get baptized, isn’t that
where you are supposed to get your sins washed away?” I replied, “Some people
look at it that way.” Then Jeanna went on, “When I got baptized, there were f our
other ladies. I was the last one to get in the baptistery. If
the previous f our washed all their sins away,
and then I got in that f ilthy water it, what
does that do to me?” I was greatly amused by Jeanna’s sincere concern f or
getting def iled by someone else’s sin, and I
assured her that getting wet in that baptistery didn’t af f ect
her in anyway. But if that was the way God had
provided f or us to get cleansed in an of uro
or a baptistery, I really wouldn’t care to get in that water af ter
someone else had bathed there.
When I was a boy I worked on a f arm
one summer. At noon , the f armer’s
wif e would ring a bell and about half
a dozen f arm workers would gather at the house
f or hunch. They didn’t have running water in
that house, and we had to draw water f rom a
well to wash up. The f irst one there would get
a bucket and f ill the washbasin with water to
wash his hands. Typical of human nature, the
second man didn’t want to make the trip to the well, and would wash in the used
water. But by the time the third or f ourth
man got to the washbasin the water was f ilthy.
He would have to throw it out and go get some f resh
water. I have always been gratef ul that it
wasn’t just a washbasin that God had provided f or
us to be cleansed f rom sin.
And I have always been gratef ul
that it isn’t a river. A river might be an improvement over a Japanese of uro,
or a f arm washbasin; but there are still disadvantages
to a river. The problem is that the river doesn’t really deal with sin, but
simply carries it down stream like the Loy Kratong banana leaf
boats. If that was the way to deal with sin,
the devil could easily go down stream to retrieve our sins and bring them back
to us. He could hold our sins up to us and say, “Isn’t this yours? I just f ound
it down stream.”
In addition to putting their sins on a banana leaf
boat to set them adrif t in a river, the Thais
have another very interesting way of dealing
with sin. They have amazing little hot air balloons, about a meter (3 ½ f eet)
high, with a very ef f ective
candle inside. When they light this candle, it heats the air inside the balloon.
Then they place all their sins on that hot air balloon, and let it go up into
the night sky. You should see it. I don’t know any place on earth where there
is such an amazing display of dozens, to
thousands, of these glowing hot air balloons f illing
the night sky. The f irst year I was in Thailand f rom
town one night, and saw the most bewildering thing in the shy. It was something
like I had never seen in my lif e. I was many
times brighter than the brightest star in the shy. It looked like an airplane
with its lights on f or landing, but it didn’t move
like an airplane. Then someone told me it was a Loy Kratong hot air balloon. At
Mae Jo University, very near where I live, they have a big deal every year when
they send up at least one thousand balloons at one time. What a sight! It looks
like northern lights as a thousand of these
glowing balloons suddenly slowly go up together f illing
the night sky.
But there is a problem. What goes up must come down. There
is a very large rice f ield right behind my house.
The other morning I saw the remains of f ive
Loy Kratong balloons that had come down scattered all over the neighbor’s rice f ield.
I don’t know where all these balloons go, but I am sure someone has to clean up
the mess. Thank God my sins aren’t on one of
those balloons. I wouldn’t want someone else to see my sins and have to clean
up the mess.
Fortunately, the Father has provided the most wonderf ul
way of dealing with sin. He has provided a f ountain.
There is one thing about a f ountain. You can’t
def ile it. No matter how many times you get in
it, or how f ilthy the sin you wash away, the f ountain
is always f lowing – it is always f resh.
The f ountain never gets polluted. And when you
bathe in a f ountain, where does the f ilth
go? It just drains into the earth and disappears. You can’t f ind
it again. One time I had gotten gunked up with sin, and had to go to Jesus f or
cleansing again. I was terribly discouraged and embarrassed. I was genuinely
reluctant to go to Jesus and ask Him to f orgive
me again. But then He said, “It is okay.
It is a f ountain. No matter how of ten
you bathe; no matter how bad the f ilth you have
to wash away, the f ountain is always f resh.
You can’t def ile it.” It has been said that
the f orgetf ulness
of God is so complete that, no matter how many
times you have to go to Him to repent of of t-repeated
sin, and say, “Lord, I am sorry to ask you to f orgive
this sin again.” The Lord replies, “I don’t know what you are talking about. I
don’t recall of ever f orgiving
you of that sin.”
In Zachariah’s day he wrote in f uture
tense – looking f orward – “In that day…a
Fountain will be opened…” But praise God we know today what that Fountain is,
and when it was opened! That Fountain is the Blood of
Jesus. “And the Blood of Jesus Christ…cleanseth us f rom ALL
sin” (1 Jn. 1:7). When was the day that that Fountain was
opened? That was at Calvary, 2000 years ago. And that Fountain is as f resh
today as it ever was. It was William Cowper who wrote, “There is a Fountain f illed
with Blood, drawn f rom Emanuel’s veins, and
sinners plunge beneath that f lood lose all
their guilty stains.” Oh my goodness, what a mystery!!! Praise God it is
real!!!
Gomen nasai, Phyllis. I am sorry that I don’t have anything
more exciting to write about this week than the Loy Kratong f estival, but I don’t know anything that is better news,
or more satisf ying, than to be reminded of
the inexpressible miracle the Father has provided f or
us in this wonderf ul Fountain where we can
bathe daily f or cleansing f rom
sin.
It sure f eels good to be
clean doesn’t it? bill
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