Hi folks...I survived the Typhoon. :) It came in the middle of the night, so I didn't actually see it. It was rainy with strong wind gusts yesterday. When I went out for my bedtime snack to Starbucks, the train station was full of folks stranded due to the shinkansen trains being suspended.
Anyway, yesterday I went to visit Mr. Masuda at the OCC. (See this post for background info.) He actually knew Miss Smith and she told him to take care of the property after she left Japan. We discussed a few things and I asked him about why there weren't many Japanese coming to Christ. He had been wondering the same thing and was asking God himself. He also mentioned that there is a growing thought that Japan should move away from parts of its constitution dealing with having only a self defense force. They are primarily concerned with North Korea.
I have been wondering if the lack of the gospel spreading was due to some spiritual barriers. Last night, I had a dream. It was a very short dream about an oriental (Chinese) looking man who said his name was Nanking. I hadn't heard of Nanking, so I didn't know if it was Nan King or Nanking. I searched the web this morning and was startled to read about the worst war atrocities by the Japanese in a city in China called Nanking (or Nanjing). If you want to read about it, you can find many places on the web, but I warn you: some of the things you will read about will be very disturbing...even some of the pictures at wikipedia. There is a memorial hall in Nanjing built for the memory of those who died...estimated (and the estimations vary widely) to be around 300,000. A few of the things I read about I wouldn't be able to repeat...pure evil. I have continued to cry when thinking about it at various times this morning.
The events there at Nanking have been a sticking point between many Asian nations and Japan...especially China. Japan consistently denies much of it, even though there are many witnesses and even some old video footage. There is actually a film that just came out this year, and will be released in the US in December. I'm not sure if I could go see it. In Nanjing, there were some western folks (and missionaries) who decided to stay after foreigners were warned to leave. There were about 22 of them who helped protect many people from the Japanese army and also helped the wounded. There are a lot of stories there, which I think the film tries to capture.
Anyway, I continue to pray and read about what all this means. Please pray for me as I try to sort all this out.
--David
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Sounds like a pretty strong insight. Perhaps the country needs to repent for those atrocities or face similar ones at the hands of the Chinese. It is a terrifying thought, but certainly not out of the realm of possibility based on what I have read is done to Chinese Christians imprisoned there. I am very concerned about a Chinese imperialistic surge especially in Asia, probably Taiwan first. (There are other things that concern me that this could very well happen that I'd be glad to tell you about offline.)
I have also heard that there was a ceremony that the emperor was supposed to be engaged in several years ago that, as weird as it sounds, was some kind of, er, intimate, er, joining with the ancient sun goddess. I know he was trying to decide whether to go through with the ceremony or not. I think that I heard that he did go through with it. You might check into that too. That is demonism on a national level.
One thing that is sure is that something is blocking up the pipes But the thing that is absolutely true is that God wants to break through in Japan, and what God wants, God gets. It's one of the perks of the job!
From what I read, the emperor is supposed to 'join' with the sun goddess when he is instated as emperor...but I can't remember where I read that. Also, he is supposedly a descendant of the sun goddess as well.
Most people believe that their ancestors' spirits are still hanging around. They pray to them, offer them sacrifices of food, etc. Even companies will conduct rituals for folks who have died who may be 'wandering' spirits and could bring bad things on them. Lots of other superstitions as well.
Post a Comment