Jim Cook

21 June 2015

Dear Phyllis,

Last week I shared with you the testimony of JB Friends. He was the most unimpressive man I ever met and the Holy Spirit came through him totally unfiltered. This week I want to talk about the dead opposite.

Jim Cook was as outstanding a man as you could imagine. He was every inch a mans man. He was built like a Green Bay linebacker, with penetrating blue eyes, and a vise-like grip. I met him when he was the speaker in Karuizawa in 1975. Jim Cook was an MK from India where his father was a medical missionary. With that as a background that gave him the drop on any other candidate and along with that he was marvelously spiritual. He told the story, as a 12 year old boy he was sitting beside a road and encountered a Hindu sadhu holy man. Respectfully he inquired, “Holy man, have you found the enlightenment that you are seeking?” The sadhu honestly replied that he had not. Then the lad went on, “You are much older than I, but I have found peace in knowing Jesus Christ.” Twenty years later, Jim was back in India, this time as a missionary. One day, when he was the speaker at a pastors conference, an Indian pastor came up to him and asked if he recalled witnessing to a sadhu as a young boy. Jim said he did. Then the man stuck his hand out and said, “I am that sadhu. Because of you I have been a Christian pastor for many years.”

Another moving testimony he told was about his son. While in India, his 9 year old son came down with a deadly disease. The mission doctor told him there was nothing in India that would help but there was a serum in the states that would almost guarantee his recovery. They immediately contacted the states and had a bottle of this life-saving medication sent by air. But it got intercepted in the Indian customs who refused to give it to them. The lads health deteriorated until the doctor told Jim that he was hours away from death. But even at that last minute they still had a good chance of recovery if they could only get the medicine. Jim went to the custom and pleaded one more time. The bottle was sitting on the counter right in front of him. He pleaded, “Please, sir, let me have that medicine. My son's life is at stake.” The custom official replied, “This world will be a better place to live if one more white boy dies.” And spit beetle nut juice on Jim's white suit. Jim went back to the hospital, picked the lad up in his arms, and begged God again for the life of his son. He died in his arms.

Heart broken they went back to their home and dug a grave for his boy. A small group of Indian believers were gathered for that sorrowful funeral. In closing they sang a song. Then they noticed a large group coming out from the village where they lived. Jim seized the opportunity to share the Gospel and stood on his son's grave to preach. He was just getting started when the worst antagonist in that village stepped forward to interrupt him. Then the antagonist faced the crowd and said, “If this man can stand on his son's grave and sing, I want his Jesus.” And nearly the entire village turned to Christ. Jim said that his son won more to Christ in his death than he would have in his life.

After a couple of terms in India the Cooks went to serve the Lord in the Philippines. In 1962 there was an article in Time magazine about a famous Buddhist Monk who was involved in a conspiracy to over throw the government in the Philippines; he was tried and sentenced for execution. But before he was executed he renounced his faith and became a Christian. A reporter asked why he had spent his life in Buddhism but when he faced death why did he turn to Christianity. The monk replied, “Because there is no forgiveness of sin in Buddhism.” I was surprised when I learned it was Jim Cook who had won this man to Christ.

One other famous convert that Jim Cook had in the Philippines was the #2 man in the Huk communist guerrillas. Shortly after this man came to Christ he visited Jim one day in a very agitated spirit. He faced him and demanded, “Is this Gospel you have told me about Jesus true, or is it simply your religion.” Jim said he had never been so deeply searched in his life. After a brief reflection he honestly answered, “I swear by my life it is true.” The man thanked him and left. That night Jim was called out by the police at 1:00 am to go with them out of town five kilos. There he looked down at the body of a man lying in the ditch. The man knew he was going to be killed and he didn't want to die for religion.

When he was with us in Karuizawa Jim Cook was the pastor of a large Baptist church in Hawaii. He told of a day when a tough Marine was in his church sitting up front glaring in hostility as Jim preached. At the close of the service Pastor Cook was standing at the door shaking hands with folks leaving. As the Marine came by he looked him in the eye and said, “Young man, God has an arrow in your heart and you are not going to escape until you give your life to Jesus.” It wasn't too long before the Marine was broken at the feet of Jesus. All too soon he was sent to Vietnam. Faithfully wrote his spiritual father every week telling the thrilling stories of all the Lord was doing and the many coming to Christ. Then the letters stopped.

A year later a Marine chaplain visited Jim's church to share the rest of the story. The chaplain had been with a group of soldiers on a deployment that got engaged in a fierce fire fight. The Christian Marine was badly wounded and loaded on a helicopter for evacuation. But he pleaded, “Take me off. There are other men hurt worse then me. Take them first.” And he was off-loaded. But the chopper never came back. As the brother was lying there dying, the chaplain knelt beside him to comfort him. The Marine looked up and said, “Chaplain the reason you can't help me is because you don't know Jesus as your savior.” In the six hours as he lay there dying he led 18 men and the chaplain to Christ. And he came to share that story with Jim.

Queen Victoria said she got into heaven by the small letter “m”. The Bible says, “not mANY noble are called” (1 Cor. 1:26). The queen said by God putting the small letter “m” in front of “any” she got included. God's favorite selection is the weak and foolish. But He can use the wise and powerful just as well. JB Friends and Jim Cook were radially different men. It doesn't matter what the man looks like on the outside; the determining factor is WHO is in the inside.

Lord Jesus, be merciful and use us as You can.

                                                                                           bill