TSUNAMI!

13 March 2011

Dear Phyllis,

It would be pretty easy to title my letter this week. TSUNAMI! This has truly been a week in history. What happened Friday was probably the worst natural disaster ever to strike Japan in its history. The earthquake that triggered that tsunami was in the top five of the most major earthquakes ever recorded. Needless to say I have spent many hours glued to my computer watching the news on Internet.

That tsunami was something like I have never seen. In 2004, I watched many videos of the major tsunami that hit Thailand’s Pee Pee Island and Puket, but this was totally different. That one in 2004 was water. But this one looked like lava. It wasn’t water. It was a solid mass of material moving slowly like an irresistible bulldozer blade taking everything out in its path. As of this moment, 5:00 PM Sunday afternoon, the Japanese government is still calling the casualties at “several hundred” with expectations that it “might rise to over 1,000”. That is utterly ridiculous! There are numerous villages and cities that have been virtually wiped out where it looks like there are probably NO survivors. Four trains, including one Shinkan sen (Bullet train), that have simply disappeared and no one knows where they went. There must be tens of thousands – if not hundreds of thousands – dead.

A friend called me the other day and asked me if I was grieving and praying for my beloved country of Japan. I replied, “No”. Of course the human suffering at a time like this is enormous. I personally went through a similar natural disaster in the Kobe earthquake in 1995. I was 50 km from the epicenter of that quake when it hit and was in Kobe five times in the next few days digging people out from under rubble. Each time got worse. The human suffering was unimaginable. But that isn’t the problem. The Bible has told us that things considerably many thousand times worse than this are absolutely in the pipe coming this was in the near future. We can expect a lot of this – only many times greater. These are things in the Seven Seals that Jesus is about to open (Rev. 5-16). These are things that will affect 1/3 of the earth (Rev. 8:7, 8, 9, 10, 12; 9:15, 18). Why will God resort to such extreme natural disasters? To warn men and move them to repentance unto salvation. This is the problem. As tragic as the human suffering in northeastern Japan is today, the real disaster is that Japan is not saved. In January, when I went back to Japan, I landed at the Kansai Airport. Taking the train out of Osaka and going up the mountain towards Ikoma, I could look back and see that enormous metropolis lying below me. Real pain went through my heart. I thought, “My goodness, they’re lost!” Millions of millions of people are hopelessly lost on their way to a Christless hell without the faintest idea what they are up against. This is the problem. What will it take to awaken Japan and turn that nation to Jesus? I have no idea. I doubt that this huge national disaster will have any impact on it at all. I know of very little effect that the Kobe earthquake had in a significant spiritual awakening. I can’t imagine a greater opportunity than Japan had in 1945 when everything – including the fundamental spiritual fabric of the nation – went totally to zero. God gave Japan an amazing man in Douglas MacArthur to remold the country anyway he wanted. MacArthur pleaded for missionaries and Bibles, but somehow the Church dropped the ball. A lot of dendo (evangelism) was done, but very little came out of it. The only answer I know is the Holy Spirit. “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit” (Zech. 4:6).

 

On a totally different page, I saw another Richter 9 spiritual earthquake this past week. My friend Scott has a neighbor that is about as bad a loser as they come. The poor guy is a low-life American that is a total spiritual no-hoper. Scott invited him over for the Friday night Bible studies several times, but I thought it was a waste of time. Seeing a guy like that saved just won’t happen. Spiritually there was just nobody home and little expectation that there would ever be any spiritual occupancy. More than that he had a Thai wife who was a serious Buddhist; and a mother-in-law that they said she was more Buddhist than Buddha. People said they could imagine Buddha praying to her.

About two months ago Paul asked me, “What is this business of baptism? My wife wants to get baptized.” I couldn’t imagine anything more unusual. I asked, “Why in the world does she want to get baptized?”

“Because she wants to be a member of the club.”

Scott was out of town last week and asked me to go see Paul to spend some one-on-one time with him. Unexpectedly, he showed up at my house Thursday asking me to come over. He said his wife kept asking, “When is Bill coming? She wants to see you.” I had heard some unusual things were happening and she was being taught one-on-one by a member of the Chinese Church. That is a very good church, and I was sure they were giving her the straight story. It was with great expectation that I went over there Friday night. I thought Marcia had better English than she does, and I had a hard time communicating with her. But the story that came out was something like I have never heard in my life

She has been getting up every morning at 4:30 to read the Bible. I asked, “Why do you want to read the Bible like that?”

“Because I want to be a Christian.”

“Why do you want to be a Christian?”

“Because I love God.”

“How long have you loved God?”

“Two months. Ever since Kae talked to me.”

 Two months ago Scott’s wife, Kae, had spoken to her about the Lord, and it was like that kicked off a Richter 9 earthquake that suddenly totally transform the entire landscape.

She got mad at her husband. Paul professes to be a Christian but she said, “You would have let me go to hell. And I would have gone to hell if Kae hadn’t spoken to me.” He would go regularly with them to the Wat – Buddhist temple – to pray. Paul told me after I left their house Friday night Marcia lectured to him for an hour and a half how Buddhism  was the devils plan to blind people into worshiping idols and keeping them from Christ. Two months ago both Marcia and her mother were devout Buddhist but now they are passionate Christians. Paul told me, “My mother-in-law says that God is talking to her.” I said, “Yes, I can understand that.”

“You can?! Man, this is getting spooky!”

I told him, “Paul, you might as well forget it. It is all over for you. God has got you in His cross hairs. He obviously has a very intense interest in you. He is going to run you down, and you are not going to get away. You might as well run up the white flag now.” He responded, “Why would God be interested in me? I am such a bad person. I have done so many terrible things. Why does God want me?” I have no answer for that one other than perhaps God specializes in that kind of salvation. He chooses some of the worst – the most unlikely candidates – to shows His amazing mercy and love. To save a guy like that, and make him to be a citizen of heaven, brings enormous glory to God.

 Last Friday afternoon suddenly the earth’s crust split and the ground heaved up with astounding force triggering that Sendai earthquake/tsunami. In a moment of time the landscape was transformed. It was almost like the same thing happened two months ago when Kae spoke to Marcia. It wasn’t a gradual process of months of teaching, but when she heard the Gospel, suddenly there was a tsunami-force change in her life.

Paul said, “I wish you had known this girl before. We both had trouble with drink. We fought a lot. She attempted suicide. Now she is so happy and we don’t fight any more.” I told him, “Yes, there is a totally different new Life that has come to live in her heart. The Spirit of Christ has taken up residence in your family. Marcia is born-again.” Paul replied, “Yea, that is the only explanation. I used to think this business about being born-again was male bovine excrement, but now I see it is real. And the funny thing is, now I don’t want to drink anymore.”

 I have seen a number of people brought to Christ over the years but this is almost a first time experience for me. I don’t believer I have ever seen anyone quite like Marcia and her mother so suddenly transformed. They are very unusual spiritual beings. Paul is having a very hard time with the Scripture. He thinks the God of the OT is mean. Marcia told me, “I understand everything I read in the Bible.” I nodded, “Yes, I know. You are being taught by the Holy Spirit.” Paul sat there with almost a frightened, bewildered, look on his face. He will come along. There is no doubt but what he is in the process of being born-again but I will take a little time. He said he loves church.

When I was there Friday night I had Marcia read Ephesians. She had never seen it before but kept raving, “Oh, this is wonderful! This is wonderful!” When she got to Eph. 2:8, she suddenly turned to Paul, thumping her Bible, said, “You have got read this!” (By grace are ye saved)

Man howdy, this is fun! I have seen two historic acts of God this past week. One transformed the face of a portion of Japan and the other was an astounding spiritual invasion in an unlikely home in Chiang Mai.

God is amazing!

                                       bill