Harold

16 June 2019

Dear Phyllis,

Early yesterday morning the Lord reminded me of Harold Carman. I know I have written to you before about Harold, but he is such an amazing phenomenon that this subject deserves one more letter.

Over the years I have known hundreds of missionaries. I would place Harold in the top 3% of the best missionaries I have personally known. In the 13 years that I was with the Karuizawa language school Harold stands out as being probably the best man we ever had.

In September 1977 I had a call from a Japanese pastor in southern Japan asking if I would take a Baptist missionary. I said, “Of course”. The day the train arrived with the pastor and his new missionary I was in for the shock of my life. When I saw Harold get off that train and walk along the platform I though, “What in the wold is this?”. I had never seen anything like it. He didn't look like a man but someone in an inflated suit on the sidewalk as an advertisement for some product. He was huge. He weighed 320 lbs. His face was as round as a pizza plate and he had a silly hat perched on top of that round face But later I discovered that I was in for another shock. His heart for Jesus was as big as his enormous rear end. What a man!

He had been with us a very short time when John Schone said to him, “Brother, you would have a better testimony for Jesus if you lost some of that blubber.” That produced the greatest weight loss program I have ever seen. In an amazingly short time he lost 100 lbs.. One day he showed me his old pants and said, “I can now get my whole body in one leg of the pants I wore six months ago”. I never saw such discipline.

But that went clear across the board. In school I required all students to spend a minimum of six hours a day in language study – two in school and four at home. Harold had been with us a short time when he asked if he could up his time in school. No one studied three hours in school, but that was what he requested. And not long after that he still wasn't satisfied and requested four hours. But that was only half the story. The time he spent in private study at home was like a mad man. We lived about 300 meters apart. At that time I was building a camper for my truck. One night I was banging away at 11:00 o'clock at night. After an exhausting day of study Harold was in bed; he heard me banging on my camper and said, “If Bill can be up this late working I should be studying”. He got out of bed and spent one more hour in the books.

Harold was a phenomenon with all the students. He was the most popular man in town, Everybody loved him and he was a first-class preacher. I considered it a great privilege to have such an outstanding man as a personal friend. One day Harold said to me, “Bill, I am slam different than you all.” “How are you different?” “Doctrinaly I am slam different.” “Harold, you have some of the best doctrine I have ever heard. How are you different?” “I won't tell you.” “Harold, have you ever heard of Baptist Bride?” He was stunned and said, “That's it.”

Harold had been born and raised in the mountains of Tennessee and had never been out of the state. He was raised in a small Baptist sect that felt they were the only Bride of Christ and all other Christians were friends of the Bride. They were the only ones with the Holy Spirit. He had never met a Christ-filled Christian outside of his denomination. In Karuizawa there were many Christians who deeply loved Jesus and some of them weren't even Baptists. It shattered everything he had always been taught.

Harold hadn't been in Karuizawa long before he got a job teaching English in the local junior high school. The English teacher there was, Nagai sensei. (A fairly common Japanese name.) Harold had a deep burden for Nagai''s salvation. He was constantly on Harold's lips and it was a regular request at every prayer meeting. “Please pray for Nagai sensei.” It was the joy of Harold's life that spring, when Nagai sensei responded to an invitation for salvation in the Megumi Church. But it was a grief that he couldn't share this victory with the brethren at home, because Megumi was not a Baptist church.

He had only been with us a little over nine months when he called me early one morning asking me to take him to the hospital in Tokyo' He had woke up in the middle of the night knowing he was dying and woke his sons up to say goodbye to dad. He was utterly amazed when the sun came up and he was still on this planet; and asked me to take him to the hospital. I loaded my camper on my truck and took him to Tokyo. Absolutely nothing wrong. Go on home. Five days later he called asking me to take him to the eki (train station). He was going home. His dad met him with an ambulance at the airport in Nashville and took him straight to the University hospital. Two weeks of exhaustive tests proved absolutely nothing wrong with him.

When I took him to the eki in Karuizawa the last thing I said to him was,. “Harold, when you get home please don't get in a spiritual hassle with the brethren at home until you are on your feet. And, secondly, if you ever get down to Greenville, SC, there is a man there, Joe Carroll, who is the best man of God in America.” Harold wasn't out of the hospital before he was excommunicated as a heretic by the Baptist brethren. He felt like Martin Luther. He was put out of his home church and lonely for fellowship. He got to fellowshipping with Pastor James Bell in Gallatant One day he was talking to Brother Bell who told him, “Next week we are having an Australian evangelist, Joe Carroll, here for some meetings.” Harold pleaded, “Please introduce me to Brother Carroll?” That lunch was a pivotal moment in his life. Harold explained his mysterious sickness, and Brother Carroll put his finger exactly on the source of the problem, and the cure. It was the devil. Joe told him, “Take a hard stand for healing. It will be the worst day of your life, but in 24 hours you will be healed”. Harold did what Joe told him, and, yappari, (just as I thought) it was he worst day of his life. He spent the day dying an agonizing death, and in 24 hours it was completely gone.

After that Harold went to Greenville where he was big news at the Evangelical Institute. From there he returned back home to Tennessee where he has been the pastor of a very good church ever since.

In the year 2000, Roald Lidal had a large group of Japanese pastors tour the NLM printing plant in Hatoyama. I was there at the time and asked if I could give a testimony of my experience delivering Bibles to persecuted Christians in the mountains of Vietnam. Afterwards there was a brief luncheon for the pastors and I was invited to eat with them. But I was in a very melancholy mood and refused. We had a physical struggle in the kitchen, and one Japanese brother came over to join the fray dragging me in. to sit beside him. As we talked he told me that his name was Nagai. I was surprised to learn that he was originally from Karuizawa. I asked, “How did you get saved?” He said, “Did you ever know a missionary by the name of Harold Carman?” Nagai sensei was a Wycliffe missionary.

Oh Harold, I love you! I love you! I love you! You have always been an example for me. I'll never be able to shine your shoes, but thank you for showing me what it is to follow Christ.

Dear Phyllis, I don't know if Harold will ever see this letter but I just wanted to share with you what a real man of God looks like; and I will always be grateful for the privilege of his fellowship.

In our marvelous Lord Jesus,

                                          bill

PS: I have only shared with you a portion of what I wanted to say, but maybe I can continue this story next week.