This story was relayed to a group of us assembled together to hear our Jewish brother Art Katz speak many years ago. Art was a different sort of brother. He was very Jewish yet as convicted of Christ as any of us if not more so. He definitely brought a certain Jewish flavor of gospel with him. He NEVER spoke unless there was something God wanted to impart into us.
He had traveled to Japan to meet with a Japanese brother who went by the name of Professor Tashima. During WWII, the Christians particularly in leadership roles had to hide up in the mountains for the duration of the war. It was a dangerous time for them and as a result spent much time in earnest prayer. Many times God was Professor Tashima's only companion. After the war was over, Professor Tashima returned to ministry but there was something about him that made others uncomfortable around him so he could not find a pastoral position open for him. He was later assigned to the leper colony because nobody wanted the assignment.
During his first day at preaching there, he stood at the pulpit which was quite high above the gathering of lepers to keep the speaker from "contamination." He began to preach to them about the Love of God. He looked down upon the crowd of lepers below him and his heart was filled with the love of God for them. So much so that he was compelled to leap down off that high platform and went about hugging tightly each one of them telling them that God loved them. As he hugged each one of them with the Love of God in him for them, each one of those lepers was completely healed. Leprosy in the scriptures is a symbol of sin, of uncleanness. Those lepers had been set free by the Love of God in Christ to go about their lives free from the restrictions of the leper colony, free to live their lives in the freedom and gratitude of the Love of God.
After that Professor Tashima would go about street preaching and telling people of the Love of God always miracles accompanying his preaching. As he would go about preaching a woman who had been used by the Japanese soldiers for sex against her will during the war would stand in the back and cry out with a loud voice, "Where is the love of this God? I was used sexually all these years and I have sexual diseases that have disfigured me and my beauty and ruined my life. Who is going to love me? Tell me how can you preach the "love of God" when I have to live with such a thing? (This was before antibiotics were available for those diseases) She was very disruptive at all his meetings and would cry out each time so he prayed and prayed to God about how he could show this pitiful and bitter woman the Love of God. The Lord finally spoke to him. "I want you to marry her to show her my love..." So he went to her and married her to show her the love that God had for her. He never caught those sexual diseases.
When Art Katz was visiting and spending some time with them years later, he noticed that she was radiantly beautiful, almost embarrassingly so. He went behind a pillar so he could observe her better to understand how she could be so radiant (It was troubling him). To his surprise, her face was still very disfigured. Her radiance was the Love that she had received from God. She was literally radiating with the Love of God.
A simple message with such powerful results: "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life." "Of a truth, Jesus Christ died for All sin, for All mankind, for All time."
Now days there are so many people seeking after the "power of God" and the conviction of others when we should be seeking Him for His Love for ourselves and for others. Conviction will follow, miracles will follow but what good is it if we don't have the Love of God in our hearts for others? Jesus went about preaching the Love of God but He was driven in compassion to demonstrate it...
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Saturday, July 19, 2014
The Testimony of Jesus
"Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down his life for his friends." - Jesus
One of the greatest news stories I have ever had the privilege of publishing at INCN (Inter-National Christian News) will probably never make it to the "Christian News" that we have today. Oh I could tell you stories of dramatic healings (some that I have witnessed personally) and even resurrections from the dead in Jesus name. But of all those reports, this one stands out the most in my memory because, of all of the stories I have been privileged to publish in those "Newsie" days or even witnessed, this one perhaps expresses the Love that God has for us the most. It demonstrates the definition of a "Christian," a follower of Jesus that by it's nature humbles us before Him.
I believe it was in Iran where it is the death penalty to convert to Christianity. A relatively newer Christian had converted and was charged and sentenced to death. Another man who had become a Christian years before very quietly maintained his relationship to God. He was a fairly highly placed government official. It was extremely dangerous for him to witness to anyone. Even though he wanted to share the love of God that he had discovered in his own life for years, there was very little he could do to share it because of his position.
There is (or at least was at the time) a law in that country that said that a man's guilt and sentence could be absolved if someone else were to take his place. It was the greatest witness of that high ranking official to show the love of God in Christ that he presented himself as the legal substitution for that newer convert's life. He took the death penalty upon himself so the other man would be set free. Of all the years of his life as a Christian, his greatest witness of the Love of Jesus and faith in the promises of Jesus to everyone around him was in his death.
If his final testimony doesn't grab our hearts and humble us to our knees before God, then we are yet spiritually dead in our sins.
ps that was in the days when news articles actually had to be fully confirmed by reliable witnesses...
One of the greatest news stories I have ever had the privilege of publishing at INCN (Inter-National Christian News) will probably never make it to the "Christian News" that we have today. Oh I could tell you stories of dramatic healings (some that I have witnessed personally) and even resurrections from the dead in Jesus name. But of all those reports, this one stands out the most in my memory because, of all of the stories I have been privileged to publish in those "Newsie" days or even witnessed, this one perhaps expresses the Love that God has for us the most. It demonstrates the definition of a "Christian," a follower of Jesus that by it's nature humbles us before Him.
I believe it was in Iran where it is the death penalty to convert to Christianity. A relatively newer Christian had converted and was charged and sentenced to death. Another man who had become a Christian years before very quietly maintained his relationship to God. He was a fairly highly placed government official. It was extremely dangerous for him to witness to anyone. Even though he wanted to share the love of God that he had discovered in his own life for years, there was very little he could do to share it because of his position.
There is (or at least was at the time) a law in that country that said that a man's guilt and sentence could be absolved if someone else were to take his place. It was the greatest witness of that high ranking official to show the love of God in Christ that he presented himself as the legal substitution for that newer convert's life. He took the death penalty upon himself so the other man would be set free. Of all the years of his life as a Christian, his greatest witness of the Love of Jesus and faith in the promises of Jesus to everyone around him was in his death.
If his final testimony doesn't grab our hearts and humble us to our knees before God, then we are yet spiritually dead in our sins.
ps that was in the days when news articles actually had to be fully confirmed by reliable witnesses...
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Injustice
It troubles me when I see injustice. When nations and movements use their positions as bullies. You know the drill. A missile here, a bomb there, a drone assassination, a grenade or a burst of machine gun fire goes off and suddenly innocent civilians and even children get blown to bits or wish they had. It's collateral damage some people say as they wipe the guilt of innocent blood off their hands and go about their business and their politics. I think we can all agree on that one.
I think we can all agree that children especially shouldn't be punished for choices that adults or governments make and innocent adults shouldn't be either. It's an injustice when people suffer for what others do. But, I think the greatest injustice is when people get upset about injustice and then fail to cry out for JUSTICE (In any way that actually counts). We are really good at getting all upset about injustice. We will even stomp around and get down right mad about it. The truth is in this country is that only makes us feel good about ourselves. It does nothing for those who are actually suffering injustice at all.
As some of you know, nothing gets done, openly at least, unless a majority here can be swayed to support it. There isn't a whole lot of conscience press wise or politically as to how it gets done or who gets hurt either. The only thing that is important is swaying public opinion towards a particular action and scoring political points. Whether it's an invasion of a country or punitive actions even at home, Republican or Democrat it is always the same mode of operation.
If the truth doesn't fit an agenda, a lie will work just as well. Just keep repeating it. WMD's anyone? Just ask anyone in Iraq if life is better since that US invasion. Ask the people in Libya how life is since the US helped their "Arab Spring" go over so smoothly. Or Egypt? Or the CIA's encouragement of a rebellion in Ukraine. Sanctions in Iran? Who really suffers from American intervention of any kind? Innocent civilians, the poor and yes children. Thousands if not millions of children are growing up with no sense of stability or safety courtesy of our government's foreign policies. Those children are going to grow up hating this country.
I think we can all agree that children especially shouldn't be punished for choices that adults or governments make and innocent adults shouldn't be either. It's an injustice when people suffer for what others do. But, I think the greatest injustice is when people get upset about injustice and then fail to cry out for JUSTICE (In any way that actually counts). We are really good at getting all upset about injustice. We will even stomp around and get down right mad about it. The truth is in this country is that only makes us feel good about ourselves. It does nothing for those who are actually suffering injustice at all.
As some of you know, nothing gets done, openly at least, unless a majority here can be swayed to support it. There isn't a whole lot of conscience press wise or politically as to how it gets done or who gets hurt either. The only thing that is important is swaying public opinion towards a particular action and scoring political points. Whether it's an invasion of a country or punitive actions even at home, Republican or Democrat it is always the same mode of operation.
If the truth doesn't fit an agenda, a lie will work just as well. Just keep repeating it. WMD's anyone? Just ask anyone in Iraq if life is better since that US invasion. Ask the people in Libya how life is since the US helped their "Arab Spring" go over so smoothly. Or Egypt? Or the CIA's encouragement of a rebellion in Ukraine. Sanctions in Iran? Who really suffers from American intervention of any kind? Innocent civilians, the poor and yes children. Thousands if not millions of children are growing up with no sense of stability or safety courtesy of our government's foreign policies. Those children are going to grow up hating this country.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)