Kenji Oyama's Testimony

Sunday night

Kenji has been my translator here in Okinawa as well as much of the time in Tokyo. We have spoken together in thirty one speaking sessions in the past week. We are both physically tired, but are encouraged by the response of those who have attended the meetings where I have spoken.

This is his story:


Here's a two minute clip of us speaking in this morning's church service:

Final Day of GW Conference on Okinawa

Saturday night

The Grace Walk Conference ended this afternoon and I was very pleased with the response of those who attended. This was the first time that most of them had heard the grace walk message. There were many questions as people worked through all the yeah-but-what-about questions that everybody has when they first hear this message after spending years trapped in the legalism of their respective religious traditions. They asked the same questions people have asked me around the world. As I shared answers from the Bible, it was so encouraging to see the light turn on in their eyes as they began to understand who they are in Christ. I spoke tonight in church on the subject of The Love of God.

It's amazing how the devil fights against Christians knowing that we are righteous. This is the gospel. Paul said in Romans 1:16-17, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ . . . for in it (the gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed. The true and complete gospel must include the message of the righteousness of God that becomes ours at salvation. Otherwise, it is only half a gospel - enough to get somebody into heaven, but not enough for them to enjoy the abundant life Jesus promised.

Thanks again for your prayers. Tomorrow I will preach at another local church here in Naha, Okinawa's capital. The video below is a segment from one of the sessions today.

Report From Okinawa

Friday Night

I've taught all day and evening at the conference here in Okinawa. The participants were extremely receptive to the message. One pastor, who is the president of his denomination, gave a testimony tonight and said he is "a grace walk salesman" because he promotes the book and the message everywhere he speaks. He said he had given a copy of the book to many pastors in his denomination.

My friend and translator, Kenji Oyama, gave a powerful testimony in the service tonight about how God's grace has transformed his life and minsitry. Kenji's Dad is a very famous pastor here in Japan, known by Christians all over the country. Kenji described how the Lord brought him to brokenness after he tried so hard to live up to the standard he felt had been set by his Dad. It was a moving testimony. I hope to video his story while I'm here and post it on this blog later.

The following video is the conference participants singing one of my favorite hymns and then a young woman singing another hymn I listen to at home every single morning. She has recorded her own CD. You'll understand why as you hear her.



These are photos I took today:

A Free Day On Okinawa

Thursday night

Today was a free day, the only one I will have during my time in Japan. It was an unexpected pleasure. Kenji & Mariko (my translator/host and his wife) and I toured the island today with three of the pastors here. They went to great lengths to ensure that we had a good time and we certainly did.

We went to the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, the largest in the world. (They say that it will soon lose that title when a larger one being built in the middle east opens.) The aquarium is part of the Ocean Expo Memorial Park located in Motobu, Okinawa. The main tank holds 1,981,290 gallons of water. It is incredible. Words can't describe it. I've posted the video below to give an idea of the size of the aquarium and the gargantum sized fish, stingrays, etc. that are in it. Look at the size of what's in the aquarium compared to the people standing in front of it. (I apologize if it seems I'm showing you my "vacation pictures" but I've always said this blog includes personal things:)




I took these pictures today too:

The day off was great. Tomorrow (Friday) starts the conference weekend. I will speak approximately 15 hours between Friday and Sunday. Thanks for remembering me in prayer.

From Okinawa

Thursday night

I arrived on Okinawa with my translator and his wife, Kenji and Mariko Oyama, late yesterday. Today we were with several pastors who showed us the area. I'll try to post some photos and video about today in another blog.

The video below is a 78 year old pastor I met in Tokyo. This is a short clip that gives a little of his story. This is the man I mentioned in an earlier blog who said that when he understood the grace walk, people told him he looked younger. He is leading a group through a study of Grace Walk right now.

From Tokyo To Okinawa

Wednesday morning

Yesterday was a good day sharing the message of the grace walk with the conference participants. I met several people whose lives have been transformed by the revelation of the grace walk.

One young lady told me that she had trusted Christ two years ago. After about six months, she found herself in a legalistic church. She said, "I began to stop enjoying the Christian life and wondered why. Then somebody gave me your book and I read it and understood the reason. I was becoming legalistic about my Christian life." She went on to say that the Holy Spirit revealed to her that the grace walk is the authentic Christian life. Now she is studying to prepare for ministry and wants to spend the rest of her life sharing the grace walk message with the people in Japan.

I also talked to a 78 year old pastor who beamed as he shared the story of how his life had been transformed. I shot a short video of him and will post it on this blog when I have the time. He said, "People tell me I even look younger since I read that book!" I told him that if that's the case, I think I'll go back and read it myself! You'll enjoy his testimony. I hope to get it up online ASAP. There are a few "technical difficulties" I'm having with it that need to be worked out first.

I leave Tokyo in an hour and will go to Okinawa where I'll speak for the rest of my time in Japan. I'm looking forward to being there. Okinawa is the premier vacation destination here, a Japanese version of Hawaii. I was pleased to learn that I have tomorrow free and that my hosts will give me a tour of the island, so that should be fun.

Then on Friday I will speak all day and evening, the same schedule on Saturday and then preach in a local church on Sunday.

I'm not sure if I'll have Internet access there or not. If I do, I'll post additional updates about my time here. Pray for my time of ministry in Okinawa.

Video of Ministry at Tokyo Bible Church

Ministry In Tokyo, Japan

Monday morning:

After a fourteen hour nonstop flight, I arrived in Tokyo on Saturday afternoon. It is eleven hours later here than on the east coast in the States. By the time I got to bed I had been up for twenty six hours. I slept for ten hours, the longest I have slept in many years, and woke up completely refreshed. In Japanese tradition, I slept on a futon on the bamboo floor but slept like a baby.

Yesterday morning (Sunday) I spoke at Tokyo Bible Church, a large church in the heart of Tokyo. Seiji Oyama is the pastor of the church. I first met he, his wife Cathy and brother, Kenji six years ago when I spoke here. Gary Smalley introduced them to my books and ministry. Seiji (Japanese) and Cathy (American) lived in California for many years where he ran an export business before returning here to assume the pastorate at the church where his Dad served as pastor for fifty four years.

Last night I spoke at a cross-cultural ministry meeting in another location. I enjoyed it more than I’ve enjoyed anything in a long time. There were people there from many different countries, some believers and others seekers. A small group from Myanmar gave testimonies and sang. Have you seen people whose face seemed to radiate the love of the Father? That was them. We sang “Amazing Grace” and “Jesus Loves Me” as well as traditional songs from their country and in their language, with the words projected phonetically on an overhead screen so that we all could sing. Having seen the violence going on in Myanmar on the news lately, it was moving to see this group.

One lady from the Ukraine sang. She is a professional singer with the voice of an opera singer. Her voice is absolutely angelic. She has sung for the emperor of Japan and even sang a thirty minute private concert for the Pope. I was totally mesmerized by her voice.

After the meeting, Kenji Oyama (who is my translator for much of the week) and I were asked to join our hosts for my favorite food – sushi. (I had a good lunch yesterday too – lotus root, an eggplant/spinach dish, a tofu patty, some sort of tofu soup, bean sprouts, and a cucumber/ginger salad type dish. I loved it, but my stomach can’t figure out what’s going on here.)

I eat sushi at home ever week, but I did eat one last night I’d never had before - sea urchin. Melanie gives me a hard time about eating raw fish (she hates fish), but I tell her that Jesus ate fish and that when she learns to let Him live through her she’ll eat it too. She insists that while he might have eaten fish, she feels quite sure that he didn’t eat it raw. She reminds me that when the disciples came ashore, he served them cooked fish. I hate it when my wife tries to show off her Bible knowledge to me in an attempt to disprove my wisdom. :)

Today begins the teaching marathon. I speak from ten this morning until nine thirty tonight. I know I’ll enjoy it, but it is tiring. I find it harder to speak with a translator in Asian languages than anyplace else in the world. The reason is that the translation often doesn’t seem to fit. I might say something that takes me three seconds and it will take ten seconds to translate it. Then I can say something else that takes ten seconds and they’ll translate it in three. It’s weird.

Please pray for my time here as I come to mind. I love the Japanese people, the country, culture and church. I pray that grace will continue to spread across this country where there are so few Christians.

The Death of A Saint

His name in English was Wiseman. I met him while we were in the village of Mafutseni in Swaziand. I learned that Wiseman was in the final stages of AIDS. I prayed for him. He lifted his trembling hands and twig-sized arms to the Lord as I prayed. I prayed for his wife too, who is HIV positive. Wiseman and his wife have two children.

I told Wiseman that his face would be the one I remembered as I told people here in the states about the horrible pandemic of HIV/AIDS in Swaziland. Over 40% of the people are infected, including many of the orphans we met.

Wisemen died this past weekend. He leaves behind a wife and two children. When he was diagnosed with AIDS, his family deserted him. His wife is now alone and has nothing. His church is struggling. They need financial help to bury him. I told them yesterday that we will help.

Helping to bury a man who died from AIDS. How does that thought settle in your mind? For many years, I would have felt conflicted about such a thing. "How did he get AIDS?" I would have asked. Then I went to Swaziland and saw the conditions there. I met Wiseman. I don't know how he got AIDS. The truth is that the thought did cross my mind, but it only took a split second for me to realize that it didn't matter. I didn't ask. I didn't care. My heart broke when I saw him and his wife, whose demeanor was one of a broken but faith-filled woman. I met his children. I saw Wiseman's love for Christ and I know Christ's love for him. That was all that mattered. I felt the love of Christ being called forth from me by their circumstances.
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A man and his wife were driving to church one Sunday evening when they came around a curve in the road and saw a car ahead them, overturned in a deep ditch. The car was completely upside down. As the couple slowed down and looked closer at the overturned car, they could see that somebody was in the front seat.

The man slammed on brakes and he and his wife jumped out of the car and rushed over to the wrecked vehicle where the injured driver was slumped over, obviously unconscious. Looking through the window, they saw that the man inside was bleeding. Immediately they began to try to open the door of the car, but it wouldn't budge.

Grabbing a large stone in the ditch, the husband smashed the windshield so that he could reach through it and pull the injured driver of the car out. When the window broke and he pulled the windshield away from the car, something immediately became very obvious. There was an overwhelming smell of whiskey coming from the car.

The odor was overpowering. As the couple looked closer, they saw an empty Jack Daniels Whiskey bottle lying beside the bleeding and unconcious man inside.

"He is drunk!" the husband said. "Yes, he is," answered the wife. "That must be why he wrecked the car." "What should we do?" the wife asked her husband. "Leave him alone," he answered. "If he hadn't been driving drunk, this wouldn't have happened."

So they left and went on to church. What do you think about that? Did the drunken driver bring it on himself? Without a doubt. Did the couple make the right choice in leaving him without helping?

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I was recently speaking to somebody about how over 40% of the people in Swaziland are infected with HIV or AIDS. "How do they get it?" he asked. I explained that many people there have the disease for the same reasons people here have it. (Though there are many children who have HIV/AIDS who did nothing but be born.) I understand the question. I suppose we would all ask it, but here's another question:

Will we love people who are hurt and dying only if their problem came through no fault of their own? I will admit that the story I have told about the drunk driver isn't real. I made it up to make a point. What if a couple on their way to church did what I described? I think most of us would be horrified at such a response.

The story of Wiseman isn't a made-up story. It's real. Is the situation any different? Will we help only those who we deem to be innocent or will we love people even if their problem is the result of their own bad choices? Again, I don't know how Wiseman got AIDS. I do know his wife has HIV. His children may be infected. I was told that over 60% of the orphans we met there are HIV positive.

I want to help hungry children in Swaziland. I also want to help provide medication to suppress the AIDS virus in those with HIV. And I want to provide help for the 90% who will die from AIDS with no opportunity to find some measure of comfort because they can't go into a hospital.

I have lived my whole life in the part of the body of Christ that takes pride in being Christians who "believe the Bible" and "live by the Bible." I can't help but wonder why I've heard so little in the church world I grew up in concerning helping the poor and needy. The Bible is filled with teaching about this matter. Jesus Himself said that when we help these, we have done it unto Him.

"I think we ought to be more interested in getting them saved," I heard a person once say. But how can we do that if they die first? The life expectancy in Swaziland is 32 years old. And how can we talk about their eternal souls while watching their physical bodies wasting away from hunger and disease?

I plan to share the gospel with people in Swaziland, but I want to share it in word and in deed. How can I talk about God's love there without showing them that love?
You'll read more about this in next month's newsletter, but I thought it is important not to wait to make you aware of this need. For now, if you want to help, send a financial gift to Grace Walk Ministries. Indicate that you want it to go to Swaziland. You can call the office and use your credit card to help expedite their receiving the gift, if you'd like to do it that way. I make no apologies for asking you to help. Every cent you send will be sent there to help Wiseman's family and others who are suffering there.

By the beginning of the year, the ongoing plan to help in Swaziland will be in place. I'll give you more details soon. For now, let's help with this immediate need. Giving money to help one who died from AIDS. Some might call it strange. I believe God would call it "GRACE."

Ministry in Springfield, Missouri

I am headed home this morning after teaching a Grace Walk Conference at First Evangelical Free Church in Springfield, Missouri. The group attending the conference was responsive to the message. Several attending came from other states, including Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Kansas.

Although I've been teaching this conference for over ten years, I never get tired of it. It is always encouraging and invigorating to see the response to the grace of God. The adjectives people use to describe the grace walk are typically, "rest" and "freedom." One 76 year old man said to me yesterday, "This is the best thing I have experienced in my whole Christian life." I agree with him. The gospel of grace really is amazing.

Melanie and I are off to Georgia tomorrow, where she will visit with our children and grandchildren while I'm in Japan. I assume I will have Internet access in Tokyo and Okinawa and will give updates on this blog while I'm there.

Dead Cats

While a little boy was in school one day, his cat got killed. His mother was very concerned about how he would take the news. When he got home, she explained what happened. The little boy turned away and began to cry. "Don't worry," the mother said reassuringly. "He's in heaven with God now." The little boy whirled on his mother and with desperation and anger in his voice yelled, "What's God gonna' do with a dead cat?"

That's how we all feel sometimes, don't we? Melanie and I have faced a situation in our own lives lately that has come to a very different ending than we had hoped and anticipated. (One day I may write about it, but we're still too close to it to do that now.) The truth is that I know God has the situation in His hands, but from my perspective the outcome seems final and the whole thing appears to be a dead issue. Though I know it's in His hands, my emotions have at times screamed, "What's God gonna do with a dead cat?!" In other words, "Why did it have to end this way?"

I'm sure Mary and Martha felt like that when they buried Lazarus. Martha spoke for all us at times when our crisis doesn't seem to end with a miracle, but with a misery that screams "The End" at us. Martha said, "Lord, if you had been here ..." That's the feeling we all have at times. It seems like Jesus stays out of town when we need Him to step in and do something.

There is an answer to the question, "What's God gonna do with a dead cat?" He may resurrect it. Dead things don't deter God. He can put life right back into something that is "as dead as a door nail." Hope isn't gone just because a situation appears to be ended.

Or God may not resurrect it, but may instead redeem it. In other words, He will use the disappointments and devastaions of our lives to accomplish a greater purpose. We don't know what's good and what's bad for us. Only He does. What we do know is that our Father loves us. He isn't sadistic, but gently and tenderly loves us at all times. Never do we need to believe that more than when life makes no sense.

When circumstances spiral downward and God doesn't step in to change them, He can use the outcome in a positive way. We don't have to see how He plans to use it for that fact to be true. Faith means that we trust Him even when our senses tell us all hope is gone.

Our faith is in our God, period. Faith isn't believing that we will get what we want. It is knowing that we get what God wants and being willing to accept that and rest in it even if our emotions and thoughts argue.

So, what's God gonna do with a dead cat? Whatever He wants. His role is to be in charge. Ours is to trust.