26 July 2020
Dear Phyllis,
It has been my great privilege to have known a number of the finest Christian men of our time. When I first went to Japan everyone was talking about Joe Carroll. He had been there twice in 1954 and the next year in 1955 as the speaker for the Karuiawa missionary conference and they had had what was probably the best conference in post-war Japan. I thought I would like to hear this man one time before I died. Little did I realize I would later be his disciple and spend many year working and living with him. Yes he was good, in his day he was arguably the finest preacher in the English language world wide. But I have known other men who may have had more of Christ.
Of those men I would have to put Neil Verwey as the finest Christian man I have ever met. Neil certainly was not the best preacher, and perhaps not the top missionary – though he was probably among the top ten in Japan. But I never met a man who was more Christ-like. It was my privilege to be closely associated with him for over 20 years and watched him respond under the most challenging situations.
One of the highlights was a time when we had a serious disagreement. We had an argument over what I have always thought was the most ridiculous issue of my life. To this day I feel Neil's position was incomprehensible, but he sincerely held it. It was an argument over some rent. When we had a squabble over the rent Neil said, “Look I will pay the rent, but in my heart I feel you should”. That was no solution. It went on for a month. One day I went to Habikino to give Neil the money for the rent and we got into a hot go-around. Finally Neil pleaded, “Let's pray”. “NO! We can pray after we get this settled.” We got to an impossible impasse. Then Neil pulled a stunt that has probably never happened any other place on this planet. Neil was a big man (spiritually). He was close to being one of the highest Christian statesmen in Japan and was very well known world wide. He was the founder and director of one of the best mission in Japan. Neil got out of his chair and crawled on his hands and knees to my chair and lay flat on the floor with his head on my feet crying. You talk about motivation. I came out of that chair like it was an ejection seat in a jet fighter and hit the floor with a thud. Pray? Yes we did. We prayed like I had never prayed in my life. I prayed the holiest prayer of my life and couldn't think of another word to say. Neil broke out again and prayed, “Lord, I am the worst man in Japan. I have the hardest head on earth. Bill said he would rather deal with the devil than with me. Lord, my heart is breaking. I long to hear Bill say, 'I forgive you'.” That's it folks. What do you say after that? I can't remember. All I recall is getting up off the soaked floor and embracing. For the life of me I couldn't recall what the problem was. Neil picked up the envelop with rent money and handed it back to me, saying, “I hope this problem is settled”. My heart sank. I cried, “Neil. Please don't bring up that problem again”. He quietly said, “Yes, I understand”, and kept it. Over the years, Neil Verwey gave me thousands and thousands of dollars.
Four years ago I had my back slam to the wall. We were in Laos to get a Thai visa. I was dead broke and didn't have money to get home. I did something I have never done in my life and wrote his son, David Verwey, asking if they could send me some money to get out of this hole. David sent me $1,000. Two years later when I was in Japan I thanked David for the $1,000 he sent me at that critical time. David stunned me by saying, “That money didn't come from me”. On his death bed, Neil had given $1,000 to David with the instruction, “If Bill Cook is ever in a tight spot, please send this money to him”. On his death Neil had given me money to get out of that jam in Laos.
Another time I had a weird experience. I had just returned to Japan from being a long time in Thailand. I went back to Hatoyama to stay in my old room at NLL. That night I had the worst anxiety attack of my life. I don't remember why but it was a zinger. I was absolutely panic stricken but I didn't know what to do. Early the next morning I woke up with my mind racing in all kinds of insane direction. Finally I decided walk to Osaka (500 km). I put on some walking shoes, took my Bible, and left NLL to walk 500 km to Osaka. I went 300 meters and came to the bus stop. I thought, “This is crazy. I had Y100 in my pocket. Why not take the bus the first 30 km to Tokyo?” I was next to broke, but thought, “I still have Y10,000 in my bank account. If I'm going to die I don't need that money. Why not draw it out and buy a bus ticket to Ikoma?” I did and got the night bus to Ikoma.
When I got down there everything was fine. I felt good and had a great time visiting my friends in that area for one week. But I still was very quezy about returning to Hatoyama. When I told Neil about my experience and had drawn my last Y10,000 from the bank because I was going to die and didn't need the money, he secretly put another Y10,000 in my account. The last night I was in Ikoma I had a dream. The Lord told me that the devil had erected some strong holds in my heart that needed to be torn down. I was staying with the Hirotas. The next morning when I went down stairs for breakfast, Miyuki told me that Neil had called and wanted to see me. When I went to see him he immediately got out the Bible and began to show me Bible verses. I said, “Neil, your dead wrong. This isn't about instruction. The Lord told me that the devil has erected a strong hold in my heart that must be torn down (2 Cor. 10:4). We began to pray. It was a prayer like you have never heard. If you ever write a book on spiritual warfare and want to include a chapter on how to tear down spiritual stronghold - and you had a transcript of Neil's prayer, I wouldn't recommend including it. It wasn't a typical in-Jesus'-name-get-out prayer. He didn't command the devil to leave. But Neil cried to God like a mother praying over a dying baby. I don't recall what he said but I will never forget the pathos with which he prayed. I don't know what happened, but I do know that in 20 minutes I was a totally free man. Whatever it was, it was gone. Twenty hours later when I got back to NLL everything was fine. That was as black and white experience with anxiety as I have ever had.
Neil Verwey was not an Impressive man. You weren't struck by his presence when he walked in a room. But he had the tremendous heart of a servant. You couldn't beat him to the dish pan to wash the dishes. He was always the lowest man in his mission. He rode the junkiest bicycle in the days before the had cars.
Roald Lidal was the finest business executive I ever met. In 1997 I said Roald Lidal is probably making the greatest impact for the Kingdom of God as an any man on this planet. New Life League (now called New Life Ministries) was the principle supplier of Bibles for the house church movement that was experience the greatest expansion of the Body of Christ in New Testament history. His vision, his faith, His courage was as great as any man I knew. He ran an incredibly clean ship. And he was a first class Christian. But when he came to down-sizing staff he started with the weakest man in the printing section. When Neil came to the agonizing moment when he had to down-size, the first man he let go was his best man . I was stunned when he told me Endo was leaving. I asked, “Why him?”. Neil said, “Endo is the youngest and the most qualified man we have. He has the best shot at getting a new job.” The difference between Neil Verwey and Roald Lidal is that Roald was thinking first about how to make his organization better. Neil thought about the future of his individual employees.
I have known hundreds of excellent Christian men over the years. I have met some incredibly outstanding preachers. I have known a number of men that you knew a general was there when he walked in the room. But I never met a man that I felt more keenly embodied the Spirit of Jesus. What a goal to emulate! Jesus can do this for anyone if He can find the man with the right heart.
Have a great week walking with Jesus,
bill
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