More Mino Mission

31 October 2010

Dear Phyllis,

 Dave Moore was over last night and got me telling Mino Mission stories. There is a book that should be written, but never will be. Fortunately, all this is recorded in heaven and I am sure it will be high on the reading (viewing) list in heaven. From 1963 to 1964 I had the privilege of being with Mino Mission for one year and got these legendary stories first hand.

Mino Mission was founded by Sadie Lee Widner in 1927. Miss Widner had come to Japan as a missionary with the Episcopal Board to work at the Sendai Girls school in 1917. But with liberalism coming into the Episcopal denomination she left in protest and went to Mino area of Gifu-ken, as an independent, to start her own mission. Betty Whewell came out around 1932 to join Miss Widner and was the director for 50 years after the war. God never made a fiercer fighter who hated idolatry and took a more militant stand for Jesus than Betty Whewell. She was as mean and as tough as they come. Sadie Lee Widner must have been made of similar metal.

Before II WW Mino Mission was nationally famous for taking the hardest stand for Christ. When nationalism and militarism was running at a fever pitch in Japan, Mino Mission refused to compromise or budge a millimeter. In their scrap book I have seen headlines in national news papers declaring “Mino Mission says that idols made with mans hands are not gods”. They have posters that were hung on poles urging “Crush Mino Mission”. There scarcely was a person in Japan that didn’t know of Mino Mission.

Betty told me of the time in 1935, when churches across Japan were being closed and pastors were in prison, they had an order from the police to stop Sunday services and no singing. Miss Widner said, “Here is where we draw the line.” The next Sunday they were having worship as usual. All the believers were on their knees worshiping the Lord when Miss Widner looked up to see the Kempei-tai standing in the middle of the room writing down the names of all attending. The Kempei-tai were the Gestapo of Japan and were the most dangerous force in the country. There was no law governing the Kempei-tai and they were as violent as they come.

When Miss Widner saw the Gestapo standing there, she went over to confront them. She said, “Look at them! They are worshiping the true God in heaven, and we are not going to stop!” She went on, “I have been in Japan for 18 years. The only time we were requested not to sing was when your emperor lay dead in his casket in Tokyo. Last week you issued the same order you did when the emperor died.” The horror of that remark struck the Kempei-tai like lightening, and they bolted from the room.

Street preaching was as basic to Mino Mission as an offering in a Baptist church. The only time I ever saw a Sunday with no street preaching was when the weather was so bad it was impossible. Then you did hospital visitation. Before the war street preaching was extremely dangerous. One day they were to trying to have a street meeting but such a rowdy crowd gathered that it was impossible. The little band of Christians took their box and returned back to the mission headquarter. The ugly mob followed them all the way. The pastor said, “Look, we have the crowd here. Why not preach to them from inside our compound?” He stood up on the box inside the mission compound and began to preach the Gospel. But the violent mob pushed their way past the gate and dragged the pastor off to kill him. Betty joined in the melee, and fortunately, they won the battle to rescue the pastor.

Then a young buck jumped up on the box and began to shout a message. Betty saw that young man standing on that box speaking against Jesus and something in her mind snapped. She thought, “That box belongs to our Lord Jesus! This compound is His! That boy has no right to stand there speaking against the Lord.” She gave the box a might kick and the speakers feet went flying higher than his head. He came crashing down on his back, knocking himself out cold. When he came to, he staggered off in the crowd.

But then the police showed up, and they all were taken to the police station. The police demanded of Betty, “What was he saying?”

“Shiran!” (I don’t know). Hantai hanshi!” (opposition speech). Betty Whewell was never one to use polite language. When they were finally satisfied that Betty actually did not understand the essence of his speech they let her go.

The next day the pastor came to her and said, “Sensei, that was really dangerous yesterday when that young man got up on that box and said, ‘Tenno Heika sama, Banzai!’ (Three cheers for the emperor) and you knocked him down.” Up until post-war Japan Betty Whewell was the only person who decked a guy for saying “Banzai for the emperor”; and lived.

Betty told of another time when they went up to a mountain village to have a street meeting. They set up their banners and got their box out ready to have the meeting when a furious policeman showed up. He took Betty aside and demanded, “Who do you think you are; and what are you doing here?” Betty defiantly replied, “I am Betty Whewell of the Mino Mission. We are here to preach Jesus Christ!” The frightened cop meekly said, “Ah so desu ka?” (Oh, is that so), and took off. She was too tough. The police were afraid to face her.

After the war Betty was one of the first missionaries to get back to Japan. She had a good friend, Mrs. Johnson, who had been a missionary in Manila before the war. Mrs. Johnson had a Bible study in Manila where a military couple, Douglas and Jean McArthur, regularly attended. Mrs. Johnson told Betty, “When you get back to Japan you must see my good friend Mrs. McArthur.” One day she got a lovely invitation to come to their residence at the US embassy to have tea. Betty was thrilled for such an opportunity to spend an afternoon with General McArthur's wife. After the tea Jean McArthur offered, “I have to go down town. Would you care to ride down with me in the car?” Of course she was delighted to accept the ride. As they went out of the gate she noticed that all the Japanese military guard, assigned to guarding the General’s residence, was standing at attention with full military honors. Jean McArthur chuckled and said, “There has been some mistake. Someone told them that the General was coming out. This is an honor afforded only to the General.” Betty sternly responded, “That was no mistake. God made them do that for me!”

In the 1960s and 70s the Sokka gakai were the most dangerous religion in Japan. They were an unusual militant sect of Buddhism and were very high voltage. They were very good at calling their shots and then making them good. There was a great deal of demon power. They particularly targeted Christians and openly said, “Some day we will kill you.” The Sokka gakai rented a house across the street from the mission for the expressed purpose of praying against the Mino Mission. Dear Betty had a buzzer on the end of a cord hanging right beside her chair. When she mashed that buzzer the staff would always come running. Many was the time, right in the middle of supper, we would hear the “ching ching” start up across the street. Betty would hit that buzzer and say, “We have to pray.” It was always the same prayer  – “Lord, we send those curses right back on the heads of the people who are sending them this way.”

 This went on for almost a year. Then I had to return to the states for a furlough. When I got back to Japan, I went down to Tomida Hama to see how things were going. I asked Betty, “How are you making out with the neighbors across the street?” She laughed, “Oh that collapsed months ago.” If the Lord heard our prayers and sent the curses back on the heads of the folks who were sending them our way, they must have had a terrible time. That was one of the few places that I have heard where the Sokka Gakai took such a hard licking.

Oh my goodness, Betty Whewell and Mino Mission stories are endless. When I was there I frequently said, “This is the hardest place I have ever been for my flesh and the best place for my spirit.” The tension there was terrible. Betty Whewell was as neurotic an old maid as I ever met. Being around her was so bad it would drive a wild man sane. She was domineering to an extreme.

 One day a young mother was bringing her child to church and the kid threw a fit that he wanted some candy. The taunt mother stopped at a candy store and bought 5 cents of candy. Betty found out that the mother had bought candy on Sunday and you would have thought she was in the depth of sin. (No one bought a thing on Sunday! I couldn’t read the news paper on Sunday.) The weeping mother had to confess her sin before the church and apologize to the bewildered candy store for dishonoring the Lord by buying candy on Sunday. Horror stories were endless. But amazingly, so were the astonishing triumphs of Christ.

The Lord has all kinds of workers. Some of them may be a wee bit cracked, but the Lord also sees that total commitment to Christ where He can manifest His mighty power.

See you next week.   bill