Heroes of the Past

22 July 2012

Dear Phyllis,

The other day Jon Ruleson invited me to speak to the Chiang Mai staff of Global Recordings. I had known the founder of GRN (then Gospel Recordings), Joy Ridderhoff, many years ago, and, at one point, she had invited me to come to Los Angeles to be her assistant. Her story is a unique one, and the organization she started has undoubtedly spread the Gospel in a wider area than any other Christian organization in NT history. To date they have made the Gospel possible in over 6,000 languages.

Joy had gone to Honduras as a missionary in the early 1930, but had to return home to Los Angeles due to poor health. She had an intense passion to get back to the mission field , but health would not permit that. However, she remembered how people would gather around a gramophone in Honduras to listen to music. Why not make a record of the Gospel story, and send it to her friends in Honduras? She took what little savings she had, and went to a studio in Los Angeles that could make a record. From that small beginning, her vision expanded to what GRN has become today.

I shared with their staff a few testimonies that Joy had told me many years ago, then concluded my remarks by saying, “Joy and those heroes of years past are gone, and we are left to carry on the mission of making known the Gospel to our generation.” That remark has struck me with a renewed impact of the awesome task that has fallen on our shoulders. Somehow I look back on the warriors that in knew 50 years ago and feel extremely small to attempt to wear their shoes. As a young man I looked up to the men and women of God of that generation. To think that someday we would be their successors seemed like a little boy trying to wear his dad's shoes. Israel of old could look back at Moses with wonder and awe at what that man accomplished. We read the stories of David, the mighty prophets of the OT, and the account of the things that Paul did with marvel. They are gone, and we are left to continue what they started. Oh my goodness, where are we, and who are we that we should have this awesome responsibility?

I am a member of the 1950 missionary community. After the 2^nd WW, the main slug of missionaries went to Japan in 1952 - 1954. After that the flow of new missionaries slowed down considerably. I arrived in 1958, but was a young man in the Air Force at that time. I looked up to those who had preceded me with awe. The thought that the mantel would someday pass to me seemed unreal. I never have been half the man that some of those original pioneers were. It seems they were a special breed of men of God.

I have written to you several times about Dave Martin. There was only one Dave Martin and it is doubtful that there will ever be another equivalent. He pulled a stunt in Bushi that still baffles me. He had started that church and had a fine man in his church who was his top elder. One day this brother was killed in an accident, and Dave had to preach his funeral. In his message he spoke from the difficult text in 1 Cor. 15:29 - “They which are baptized for the dead”. In his exposition, Dave choose the conservative view that in the early church there was much martyrdom. As one Christian would be taken another person would step forward to take their place.

There was a famous incident reported that Caesar once ordered any Christian soldier was to be killed. In the Roman legion there was one battalion of Christian soldiers. Their commander demanded that they renounce Christ or die. To the man, they all refused to compromise. As a mode of execution, the commander stripped them naked and forced them to stand on ice to freeze to death. They stood there and sang “50 Christian soldiers giving their lives for Jesus” all night. As the hours wore on, one man capitulated and fled the ranks. When the commander saw that, he stripped off his clothes, and rushed forward crying, “No! No! There must be 50!” He took the place of the man who defected.

Dave said, “In the early church when one went down another person would step forward and be baptized to replace the one who died.” Then he said, “We have lost one of our key workers. We need someone to come forward to replace him.” Then astoundingly he addressed the father of the man who had died and challenged, “Otoo san, (father) will you come forward and be baptizded for the dead to replace your son?” You don't do things like that at a funeral! And to pull a stunt like that in Japan is totally off the scale of anyones imagination. The stunned old man laughed nervously. Dave repeated, “Otoo san, I am serious. Will you come forward to be baptized for the dead to replace your fallen son?”The man was furious. “No!” Dave responded,. “Alright, that is your decision. Onii san (elder brother), will you come forward to be baptized for the dead to replace your brother?” Astonishingly, the man stood up and came forward at that funeral. He was soundly converted, got baptized, and became a leader in Dave's Bushi church. Only the Holy Spirit could direct a man to pull a stunt like that.

Another one of my favorites was Allen Fadel. I suppose he was an average missionary, but to me he was a giant. Phyllis, you told me about the time when you and Ted were visiting Allen and Jane in Aomori. It was three kilometers from the church in Aomori to Fadel's house. After the morning service, Allen told you, “You and Ted can take the bus back, but the boys, Jane, and I walk home.” A few months before then, the Fadels were standing at the bus stop waiting for the bus. A believer who lived another kilometer past their house walked by, and Allen called out, “Come, take the bus with us”. The believer shyly explained, “Today I only had Y20, and put my bus money in the offering.” Allen turned to Jane and said, “How can we sit in our warm house and look out the window to see our believers walk past our house in the cold?” From that time on, for two years the Fadels walked six kilometers to church every Sunday.

In 1954 there had been a revival in TEAM mission. Many missionaries were touched and did some extreme things. They sold their cars, and rode bicyucles instead. Some sold their washing machines, refrigerators, and other electrical appliances to give everything away for Christ's sake. Allen told me.“Perhaps we did some foolish things.” Later on, everyone bought newer and better cars, more expensive washing machines, and refrigerators. They all wound up with a more luxurious lifestyle than before. Allen said, “Maybe that was wrong, but God knew our hearts. It was to the Lord that we gave away everything we owned.”

Allen often said the work in Aomori was the most ludicrous thing imaginable. Allen was a tall slender man that made it hard for Japanese not to stare at him. Foreigners were so unusual in northern Japan in those days, he must have looked like an alien from outer space to them. Allen would walk down the streets of Aomori, knowing that every person he met was dying to stare at him. But Japanese etiquette demanded that they keep their eye balls caged. He would get to the end of the block, and then suddenly turn around to face a street full of embarrassed people staring at him. He would politely wave at them and go on.

At first the church was very small. There were three men. One was a total social misfit. Another was a legless man who was born with only half a body. And one poor fellow was a blowout in life who couldn't hold a job. Allen tried to set him up in business, and bought him some chickens. They all died. Next he tried pigs; hoping that pigs might be slightly more endurable than chickens. The man would go around the neighborhood collecting garbage from everyone to feed his pigs. Jane would much rather throw her garbage out, but kept it under the sink for him. He would come in the kitchen with muddy boots, reach in the garbage pail to get the garbage, and then strew it all over the kitchen as he carried it out to put it on his sled that he used for collection. Poor Jane, had to mop the floor every morning after he left. On Sunday, Allen would take his three men for a street meeting. He would walk before them playing his trombone. The social misfit would carry a banner. The pig-garbage man would pull his sled with the legless man on it passing out tracts. Allen said you couldn't construct a more ridiculous sight.

Twenty years later, the social misfit had married a wonderful Christian sister and became a mature family man and a real man of God. The pig-garbage man became a successful business man with a large company. And the legless man was Takahashi sensei, of Sapporo, who had a large church, and was one of the top ten pastors in Japan.

Later on, Allen had two Christian policemen in his church. One day a policeman was killed; which meant that they would have to attend a military type funeral. Of course that meant bowing before an idol. Allen and the Japanese pastor were desperately concerned that they not compromise with idolatry; and pleaded with these brothers to take a stand for Christ. Hours of counseling proved fruitless. At last the men said, “Shikata ga nai”(there is nothing that can be done), and left the church in defeat. Allen and the pastor stayed on their knees until late that night praying for them. The next day the two policemen showed up at the funeral, and took a hard stand refusing to cooperate and bow before the idol. The chief of police was furious. As discipline, the two men were separated, sent to different police stations, and demoted.

A few years later one brother set a national record for more traffic arrests than any other policeman in Japan. He was famous for being the strictest cop in Aomori. They had him on TV and everyone was mad at him. He had arrested the head of the driving school for speeding along with dozens of others. Then they interviewed the chief of police for Aomori prefecture. “What do you think of this man?” He replied, “If I had two more men like him, I could reduce the traffic accidents in this prefecture by 50%.” When the emperor was making a trip to northern Honshu, this brother was chosen to be the personal chauffeur for the emperor of Japan.

The other policeman got tired of the discipline. He quit the police force and went to Bible school. He later became the pastor of the Aomori church.

Allen went from Aomori to start a good church in Hitachi, and then a third one in Akebono, Tokyo. I used to visit him often in Akebono. He would tell me how tough it was. Here he was 50 years old. He had been on the mission field for 25 years and was just starting out on a fourth church, like he had just graduated from Bible school and was just starting out in life. In the mean time, his classmates from Bible school were all pastors of well established churches in the states with stable congregations and a comfortable lifestyle and future in front of them.

Dave Martin was unusual. Allen Fadel was probably just an average foot-soldier missionary. But to me these men were heroes. They were men who gave their lives to Jesus and lived a life of total dedication, selflessly proclaiming Christ. Joy Ridderhoff was a weak single woman who came home from the mission field, but still had a burning passion to make Christ known anyway she could. I haven't heard from Allen in many years and have no idea where he is today. Joy and Dave have gone on to join the ranks of biblical and other NT heroes. And we are the ones left here to carry on the banner today. I blush with shame at the littleness of what I have done for Jesus. I have no expectation of standing in line with the giants of the past. But it will be a great privilege to be in the bleacher section in heaven cheering those who have run so well.

What a privilege to serve the Lord!

bill