14 June 2015
Dear Phyllis,
I have very little opportunity to carry the ball for Jesus, but my position on the bench has given me a front row seat to meet some of God's greatest heroes. Among these super stars I would list JB Friends very near the absolute top. Brother Friends was from South Africa and one of the most unimpressive men I ever met. I doubt that he weighed 137 lbs. soaking wet. He was as shy and timid as they come. To shake hands with him was like taking hold of a dead fish. But when he stood in the pulpit – what a transformation! He preached with such power and thunder I feared the pulpit would be reduced to kindling wood before he was done. I never saw a man in whom the Holy Spirit came through more unfiltered than JB Friends. He had absolutely nothing in him by nature but in the Spirit, he was the released power of God.
Brother Friends told how he was saved as a young man but extremely shy. One night he heard a famous man of God preach a powerful message on “I have opened my mouth to the Lord” (Job 33:2). God spoke to him. He waited until the church was empty and there was no one left but he and the speaker. He rushed forward, blurted out, “I have opened my mouth to the Lord and I will not go back”; then fled from the building. He was from Cape Town and there was a one kilo long board walk where hundreds of men would gather every night to smoke and talk. To fulfill his vow, he got a handful of tracts and set out to witness. He walked the full length of the board walk without giving out one tract. Then he turned around and walked all the way back without giving out a tract. As he turned around to give it a third try he thought, “This could keep up all night”. With all the courage he could muster up he walked up to one man and spoke to him about Jesus. And JB said, “I have never closed my mouth since”.
Brother Friends messages were unforgettable but he always took his wife with him to read the Scripture. I mean to tell you, listening to her was something else. One time I was talking with a friend who had been to a JB Friends conferences and asked him if he recalled what JB had preached on. My friend replied, “Was that the man who always had his wife read the Bible?” He didn't recall the message but he could never forget listening to Mrs. Friends read the Word.
I first met Mr. & Mrs. Friends in Karuizawa in 1967. Eight years later they were back for another conference. After one meeting I went up Mrs. Friends and said, “Mrs. Friends my name is Bill Cook...”. She exclaimed, “Bill Cook. We looked for you the last time we were here but were informed you were in the states” (1972). I was stunned that she knew me, but a greater shock was soon to follow. I invited them home for lunch. When we walked in the house I introduced them to Take chan who was living with us. When I introduced Mrs. Friends to Take she exclaimed, “Burtrom, this is the girl we have been praying for!”. When I told Take that the Friends had been praying for her in South Africa, she burst into tears. (I weep now as I write about it). Somehow the Friends were reading my prayer letters in South Africa and had been praying for us. Neil and Peggy Verwey were, of course, very close to the Friends. They both were from South Africa. Years later, Neil told me that JB Friends was the only man he knew that could lay down at night knowing that he had prayed as much as the Lord would have him.
One time JB was speaking to a Japanese audience. At the start of the evening meeting he said, “Komban wa” (Good evening). We all laughed. It was odd that a visiting speaker could say “Good evening” in Nihongo (Japanese). Then he startled us by saying, “Konban watakushi wa Nihongo de inoritai to omoimasu”. (I want to pray in Japanese tonight) No one had ever heard a vising speaker say such a long phrase in Nihongo. Then JB opened his mouth and began to pour his heart out in Japanese. Bong!!! I had never heard anything like it. After the meeting I asked him how he learned to speak like that. He had only been in Japan a few weeks at a time for the occasional conference. He told me as a young man he wanted to be a missionary in Japan but the Lord had told him his field was South Africa. Because of his love for the Bible and Japan he had read the entire Japanese Bible through on his knees and looked up every word.
In an unforgettable message JB told the story of a young British missionary who was going out to preach on day in Japan around the turn of the century. As he was walking past some houses he noticed a man lying on a mat reading something that looked like a Bible. It was so unusual he stopped to check on it, and – sure enough – it was a Bible. This man was dying of tuberculosis. He had never met a Christian in his life, but, somehow had fallen heir to a Bible. Simply by reading the Scripture he was saved and brought into a very deep relationship with Jesus. After some brief fellowship the man said, “I have written a poem if you would like a copy.” The missionary gratefully accepted a copy which was later translated into English by Paget Wilkes. JB Friends quoted that poem in his message that night.
With Him, with Him, upon the Tree Ah this, yes this is rest at last.
Here is the souls phelisity, here is the crown of victory, here is all sorrow past.
With Him, with Him, upon the Tree, Here all my grief and pain have died;
I look in vain for misery for joy is all that I can see with Jesus crucified.
Strong pain hath held me in its sway for six long weary weary years
And yet my heart is always gay, my lips are singing every day
I have no time to tears
No tears and yet the more His grace doeth this my joyful heart ore flow
The more 'tis torn by fierce distress
The while I see a wooing grace rush to its form of woe
That is the best description of the Christian life I have ever heard. “With Him, with Him upon the Tree”; that tells it all. With Jesus... everything is settled here. “No tears and yet the more His grace doeth this my joyful heart ore flow, the more 'tis torn by fierce distress, the while I see a wooing grace rush to its form of woe”. Amazing. And 40 years later I remember that word like it was preached last night. Oh, thank you Jesus.
bill
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