Story of New Life League

15 June 2014

Dear Phyllis,

New Life League has got to be one of the most amazing organizations to appear in Japan in Japanese post-war history. As best as I can recall, NLL was started by Fred Jarvis in 1956. Fred was a flamboyant, well known figure in the 1950s. He was a gun-ho evangelist and into everything you could think of. One time he asked me to fly him in a small plane over the island of Oshima so he could throw tracts out the window to evangelize that island. (I didn't do it.) He was into everything. He was selling missionary food, insurance, a radio ministry, and a printing ministry. But famous for low quality. We could get tracts for free from NLL, but you had to be careful passing them out as the ink would smear on your fingers. Neil Verwey told me that NLL tracts were such low quality his staff refused to pass them out to prisoners in jail. We all liked Fred, but wise people kept their distance.

There was a dear Norwegian brother who had come to Japan as a missionary, but blew out in five years. Arfin Andos was on his way back to Norway when Fred recruited him to work with NLL. Then about a year, later Fred left Japan to go to the states for a furlough, and never came back; leaving Arnfin with the candy store. We all felt sorry for him. But Brother Andos was a good man and hung in there. Under Brother Andos the quality of NLL printing improved somewhat, but it was famous for being a very nickel-dime operation. Cliff Rimer was more or less his assistant, and Cliff was worlds leading pack rat. Cliff always looked like he had just crawled out from under a truck with grease all over his face, hands, and clothes, and the junk he collected was astronomic. Roald told me, one time, when his children were small, they were riding in their car and the children fell asleep. Some time later they woke up just as they were passing by a junk yard, and the children cried, “Oh goodie. We are home!”.

In 1970, a twenty year old young man came out from Norway to sweep the floor in the printing shop and drive trucks. But then in 1980, brother Andos left japan to return to Norway, and left the candy store with this innocent young man who was now 30. We felt sorry for this poor fellow, but we had no idea who was in our midst. I had known Roald since he was 20 but had virtually no dealings with him until 1981 when we had a big hassle with Sigrid Ridal.

In 1978 I had a most unusual invitation by the town hall in Tateshina to come there to live and evangelize. I couldn't go at the time, but I spoke to brother Andos about it. Sigrid Ridal was with NLL, and was available to fill that invitation. Sigrid was one of a kind. She had the finest heart and love for souls in Japan, and the dumbest head in the world for anything practical. In 1981 she was in bad shape emotionally and had to be sent home to Germany for recuperation. Obviously, she could not be left alone in Tateshina, but getting her out of Japan was like trying to get sin out of the old-man. At Christmas time she caused such a fuss at NLL that I feared she would close down their entire printing ministry. Roald and Inga came up to Tateshina to help get Sigrid out of that town. Any normal mission leader would have just called for the wagon and the men in white jackets to come take her away, but I was blown away with the patience Roald Lidal showed in dealing with this needy German lady. I had never seen such patience and loving care in my life. That was my first serious dealing with Roald.

After Roald took the reigns of NLL, we began to see a startling transformation. This outfit that was famous for a cheapo printing began to turn out some amazingly high quality products. I was stunned by the radical change. After my own life collapsed in 1990, Roald invited me to join NLL. By that time my attitude had changed from looking down on NLL to holding them in high regard. I told Roald, “Out of respect for you and your mission I wouldn't even pray about joining you. You are such a high quality outfit you don't need a troubled man like me.”

But then in 1995 I came to a pivotal moment of life. I had just returned from the states, after being in Russia for two brief terms; and went back to Nara. I was very much at the end of the road with nothing to do. My plans were to go to Kobe to build houses in that city that had collapsed with a historic earthquake the year before. To my surprise, I couldn't find a job, and had nowhere to go. One morning, in a phone call from Neil Verwey, he suggested, “Why don't you contact Roald Lidal, and see if they need help on their new plant they are building in Saitama”. I called Roald and got a very enthusiastic response. In August of 1995 I drove up from Nara with my truck load of tools to join NLL as a carpenter. That was one of the most significant moments of my life.

I was just blown away with this incredible Christian organization. I had been involved in missions for 35 years, and came to the point that I thought if I could just keep from being cynical I would be an overcomer. Everything I had seen in missions was just maddening. Now I was a member of a group that was just like being in heaven. I said this is the closest thing to the visible Kingdom of God that I had ever seen, and well beyond anything I thought was possible on this planet. I had never seen such love and unity. You never heard a critical word. It was praise the Lord in every room all day long. I have never met a person with whom I was more totally one heart than I was with Roald Lidal. On every major issue we were identical. My admiration for him was boundless. I would place him in the top five Christian statesmen that I knew world wide.

NLL had always been a small operation, but when Russia opened up in 1990 they had an order for a large number of Bibles. Then China caught fire. The needs in China were astronomic. Roald had his choice to stay put where they were or rebuild to meet the needs of China. It is to his credit that he stuck his neck out a long ways. It was impossible to build any larger where they were, so he sold the property in Tokyo, and bought a large piece of land in Saitama. He took out a $12, 000, 000 loan from a bank to built a huge new plant, largely to meet the needs in China. Along with four other presses they had, Roald bought a new state-of-the-art printing press that could print full Chinese Bibles at the rate of one every 2.2 seconds. I never got over the awe of watching that press run 24 hours a day endlessly printing millions of Chinese Bibles. I felt at their peak NLL was the most significant organization in the world, having a greater impact for the Kingdom of God than any other Christian organization. As the primary source of Bibles for the underground church in China, eternity alone will reveal what an impact NLL had for the Kingdom of God. The testimonies coming out of China were apostolic and NLL was a major source of the fuel for that fire. In commenting on their annual production, one time Roald told how long the line of trucks it would be of 42 foot containers lined up to ship Bibles out of Yokohama. One time their primary partner, TBL (The Bible League), who were funding most of this printing, warned that their funds were low, and asked Roald if he would reduce an order of 100,000 Bibles to 50,000. Roald courageously replied, “No we won't! The need is so great we will print those Bibles whether the money is there or not.” What a man of God! Just being in that plant was like being in heaven. The love, the cooperation between departments, and the mutual respect that everyone had for each other was something I had never see in any place or any country. Everyone was on the same team pulling together for God.

But then things started going south. Joe Carroll used to say that the devil will always get you on your strong point. Roald's strong point is perfectionism. Everything he touches is perfect. Repair men told me that they had been in hundreds of printing plants all overt the Tokyo area and there wasn't another place like NLL. But in his quest to up-grade, he began to pair down the staff. At first it was just a few old timers that they didn't need and let go. Then a low time in finances hit where they had to release a significant number of key employees.

One was Soma san. Soma had been with NLL for over 15 years. He had been the head of the plate department and then in charge new project that didn't pan out. They offered him a menial job in the printing section which was totally unsuitable for him. It was a heart-rending service that we had at morning devotions when Soma gave his farewell testimony. I was sitting next to Roald. When Soma finished his talk, I turned to Roald and said, “If I was God I would close this place down”.' Roald was stunned. Later that afternoon he came to my room to have a heated discussion. He demanded, “Do you think you are smarter than we are, and know more about how to run this place than we do?” I replied, “No, I am not as smart as you, but even a moron can feel pain.” The problem was that NLL had been a family and you don't treat family members like that. Secular Japanese companies are dead serious about business, but their company-employee relationship is like a marriage. When they hit a down-time they don't lay off, but everybody takes a cut in pay until they get back up. NLL could have done that but Roald was into upgrading staff. Another problem was after they released old time employees, shortly thereafter they would hire new ones to come in at a lower salary. That is not the way to build stability within the family.

I sincerely hope I am wrong, but, in my opinion, Roald offend the Holy Spirit by the way he treated children of God. As a natural father, I would be tremendously offended if anyone treated my children treated like that. If Roald got cross-wired with the Holy Spirit he could have a very serious problem in heaven.

I am in a very difficult position to comment as I have been away for NLL for 14 years, but I understand that there are very few of the old family members left. I do know that there had been a rash of firings, and nearly all the top spiritual men are gone. In his search for a successor, Roald was interested in getting the most qualified man. In his search it seems obvious that Roald largely ignored the spiritual aspect of a candidate and looked more to his natural qualifications. He did find a man who had a background in printing and was a high voltage Japanese business man. He was the kind of man who worked 14-15 hours a day and expected the rest of the staff to do likewise. He certainly runs NLL like a tight ship. The last time I was there I was greatly impressed how radically the atmosphere had changed. The intense sense of the Spirit of Christ was gone. It seemed very much like a secular company with people doing what they were supposed to do to get their pay check. I hope I am wrong but I fear my concern was prophetic that Roald offended the Holy Spirit by his treatment of the Children of God. As a result the Lord blinded his eyes in his pursuit for a successor, and he brought in a man who has change that place into a secular printing house. It is not my position to judge whether or not the present director is a saved man or not – I have seen very little to indicate that he is – but it is safe to say he is no man of God. It appears that NLL is now no longer a functioning Christian organization.

Many Christian organizations start out well but wind up going off the rails spiritually. This would appear to be the case with NLL. I have never lost my respect and admiration for Roald Lidal. He is still a giant of a Christian statesman, but I feel he made a fatal error that has caused the Christian end of NLL.

None of us are exempt. There are myriads of ways of getting in trouble in heaven. It is a solemn warning to stay close to Jesus and put spiritual things first. It is a difficult issue to balance of the natural and the spiritual. To ignore either side is to invite disaster, but it would seem to me to be wiser to place more emphasis on the glory of God.

May God give us all wisdom to honor Christ in all that we do.

Y'all be good,

                                     bill