14 January 2018
Dear Phyllis,
We
are in a transition period looking for a new Thai home church. Seven
years ago when the Lord used Pastor Kichikun to be the medium to
convince me that it was the will of God to marry Pammy I promised
Kichikun that his church would be our Thai home church. I have more or
less been faithful to that commitment, but three months ago Pastor
Kichikun closed the church to go into a broader type of ministry. That
has left me on the street looking for a new place to go.
A
month ago I decided to checkout a church a close friend had started in
Chiang Mai. I have known James for ten years and have great respect for
him. It had been at least two years since the last time I was to his
house but, generally, knew where it was. I was riding my motor bike and
turned in on a road that I thought would lead to his house. Thirty
minutes later I had been on every side street in that part of the city
and still looking. I knew he had rebuilt his home and now had a church
there. At last I rode past a very good looking church that looked like
this could be it. I walked inside and asked if this was James church.
Wrong place. The service started at 10:30 and it was now past 11:00. I
thought shigata ga nai (nothing I could do about it), I might as well
stay here. What I was in for was an amazing surprise. There were two or
three people there who spoke adequate English to give me a simultaneous
interpretation of the service and message. I was highly impressed with
everything I saw and wondered, “what kind of church is this?”. I was so
blessed I wanted to raise my arms in worship God but wasn't sure if that
was safe in that church. It was as biblical as you can get but it
seemed very few were raising their arms in worship. In the meal after
the service I learned that the elderly falang (foreign) lady had started
the church 30 years ago. Beverly was from Canada and had married a man
from Burma while in Bible school in Ohio. They had been missionaries in
Thailand for 40 years and her husband had gone on to be with the Lord
six years ago. I said, “Man howdy, this is the finest church I have been
in in Thailand”. I didn't plan to make it my home church but wanted to
speak with Beverly some more and went back the next week. And last week I
went back to the Beulah Christian Church for the third time. I was in
for a major blessing.
I
got to church ten minutes early and saw a falang man there with a small
Jewish cap on his head. Ben was from Canada and Beverly had invited him
to come to Chiang Mai to hold a week of special meetings explaining the
importance of Israel. It was great to have a foreigner there with whom I
could talk to in English. Ben and I hit it off right from the
beginning. He told me that he was with an organization that had formerly
been called the American Mission to the Jews. I told him forty years
ago I met a brother in Denver who was with the America Mission to the
Jews. He burst out, “I know Eleazar, his wife, children, and
grandchildren”. I thought, “Oh my goodness I haven't thought or heard
about Eleazar Urbach in 37 years. I met him in Dave Hyde's church in
Rogen, Co. The whole story came back like it had just happened last
week.
Eleazar
had been born in Poland, and when Hitler began rounding up Jews in
Poland he and his brother had gone east to Russia to escape Hitler's
Gestapo. The Russians were very hospitable and sent them to government
housing in Siberia. After spending five years in Russian gulag in
Siberia, he and his brother were able to escape and walked from Siberia
to Afghanistan. That was a two year journey and his brother died along
the way. From Kabul Eleazar was able to fly to Israel, and got there
just in time for the war in 1948. After just missing the holocaust in
Germany and five years in a gulag in Russia Eleazar was looking for a
more quiet life. He had an uncle who had immigrated to Brazil and that
looked like a safe place. He was able to make his way to Brazil, and
after getting there he found a good job working in a meat packing plant.
There was a Christian man working there who befriended Eleazar and
invited him to go to a Christian meeting on Saturday night. Eleazar had
no particular religion but was delighted to go to any place that was
social. The Christian message meant nothing to him but the main feature
of the meeting was some very good cake they had after the meeting. The
cake was the main attraction that kept him going each week. He became
such a regular, that one night one of the attendees asked him if he was a
Christian. Eleazar had never given any serious thought to becoming a
Christian. The only reason he was there was to get the cake, and simply
as a conversational response, he off- handedly replied, “Yes I am a
Christian.” With that verbal confession, suddenly, the Holy Spirit fell
upon him and Eleazar Urbach was born-again of the Spirit of God. Up
until that time I had never heard a testimony like that. After being
clearly saved by Jesus, Eleazar returned to Israel and from there made
his way to New York. In New York he joined the American Mission to the
Jews where he was later assigned to Denver. Eleazar told me that he was a
close friend of Miriam Reid, the Jewish lady I had led to Christ in
Japan in 1960.
He
was a character. Every fiber in his body was on fire for Jesus, but he
was more Jewish than a rabbi in Jerusalem. He had a long beard that made
him look like an OT prophet. In private he wore a cowboy hat but he
would put on a highly rabbi looking Jewish hat to go to the Denver
airport to witness to Jews. He was an outstanding Bible scholar and a
very good preacher. In hearing his testimony and looking at his life I
marveled at the grace of God to take a man from Poland, who should have
been burned in a holocaust furnace, take him through five years in a
Siberian gulag, and then walk from there to Afghanistan. And the
unbelievable testimony of his conversion over a piece of cake.
I
hadn't heard a word about Eleazar Urbach since I met him in Rogen 37
years ago. It was a special blessing to hear from Ben how Eleazar has
gone on faithfully proclaiming Jesus for so many years and all his
children and grandchildren were serving the Lord.
Ben
told me that he was brought to Christ when he was 20 in Canada, and his
father was a holocaust survivor who miraculous survived after being in
an especially horrible prison in Germany during the war. His parents
were originally from Hungry and had made it to Canada shortly after the
war. Man howdy did we have a great time fellowshipping. I was able to
fill him in on some Messianic things I knew and he shared some things
that were new to me.
There
is no question but what God is winding the Jewish clock to start it
ticking again in the very near future. Any Christian who is not excited
about Israel is either ignorant of scripture or just uninformed. Or
worse yet – just plain not saved. It is highly significant that there is
such a rising crescendo of antisemitism world wide. Europe is becoming
as dangerous for Jews as it was in the 1930s. Obama was intensely
anti-Israel and was responsible for the first UN condemnation of Israel
promoted by the US. Nearly all UN countries are singularly united
against Israel. Even in America, in liberal circles, there is an
anti-Semitic spirit like we have never been seen before. Daily, as I
read the Scripture, the Holy Spirit is showing me the prominence Israel
has in the heart of God.
I
believe the sun has come down on America. The American society has
changed so much I find it difficult to imagine there is any way it can
be saved. I wonder about Japan. I would like to hope the Lord would yet
save thousands in Thailand. I passionately believe there is great hope
for Islamic countries. Israel is in for one more hard time of
tribulation but they will survive and Jesus will be King. Surely these
are the days spoken of by the prophets. Oh hallelujah, what a time to
serve Jesus! Arigato gozaimasu,
bill
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