Our man in Japan

The word of the Lord is trustworthy: It gives wisdom.. Psalm 19:8 So, did your guy win? Are you a Kishida fan? I guess we will find out in the general election shortly. In the meantime, today is the feast of St Jerome, who is responsible for the Vulgate, the Bible in Latin. It's online if you fancy having a look at it. 

Woe to you, earth & sea, For the devil has come to you in anger Knowing that he has but a little time. Revelation 12:12 It's only natural that much of the media in Japan focuses on Japan, & similarly much English language media focuses on America & the UK. But it is good to be reminded what is happening elsewhere. You may think Islamist violence is limited to Afganistan these days but that is far from the case. The Barnabas Fund writes: "the centre of global Islamist violence shifts today from the Middle East to West Africa" & gives an example of 5 killed & a church vandalized in the village of Fantio, Niger. This kind of thing however usually doesn't make the BBC & CNN because both employ Muslim editors, who while not terrorists themselves, are very keen to keep the truth about Islam away from viewers. 

People from great cities.. Zechariah 8:20 What makes a city great? According to Time Out, San Francisco is the greatest city in the world. I've never been there, but I have travelled a little, & if you ask me, Rome is one of the greatest cities I've been to. How many cities have suburbs that are independent countries? Not even London, NY or Toyko can boast that...

Whoever welcomes this little child in my name.. Luke 9:48 Do I miss teaching kids? Yes and no. These days I only teach adult English learners, but there is no question kids bring something completely different to the English classroom. 🙃🤔👹🙂

Who can discern one's own errors? Psalm 19:13 Jesus said: Where 2 or 3 gather together in my Name, there I am with them. (Matthew 18:20) Note: You need at least 2 for a church. So this New Age idea that you can find Truth on your own, in your own spiritual experiences, is not helpful. Sure God speaks to us all individually in a miriad of Ways, through Creation, Holy Scripture, other Christians, but we cannot do Jesus or faith or truth on our own. Which is another reason why atheism is so dangerous. When you are so full of pride that you think you can learn nothing from any Christian, you are very close to hell. The faults of other people are often easy to spot. It takes humility to notice your own. 

The valleys decked with grain.. Psalm 65:14 In Britain my commute to work never involved passing rice paddys. Yesterday however, I saw an older lady harvesting the rice in the fields. God bless you, Obaasan! It's hard work but we appreciate the fruits of your labour. 

Horror for my neighbors.. Psalm 31:12 What are you scared of? Socialism? You can get a sexy Bernie Sanders costume for Halloween, says the NY Post. Covid? Well let's just say big pharma stands to make considerable amounts of money from vaccines, doesn't it? Are you scared of Death? Madness? French women? Getting a manicure? Well let me point you in the direction of the horror movie I watched last night, Repulsion (1965) directed by the infamous Polanski, starring the delectable Deneuve. This is rightly highly regarded as a very effective chiller; it's a black & white low budget shocker set in Kensington, West London. What I found interesting was how the convent is across the road from all the murder & mayhem. The nuns seem to lead a happy carefree existence while the central protagonist is losing her battles with her unbearable demons. I think unintentionally Polanski ended up making a Catholic movie. He may have wanted to argue how religion fails to help people wit...

 Who is this man, about whom I hear such wonders? Luke 9:9 Today is the feast day of St Pio, a modern Italian saint who died in 1968. Pope John Paul II made him a saint in 2002, less than 20 years ago. And yet, such extraordinary things are said about this guy. If you have never heard of him, I suggest you look him up. He is very famous in Catholic circles, but unknown just about everywhere else. 

Hope in the Lord, for with him is unfailing love. Psalm 130:7 Do you like robots? In just about every large shop, Japan now has a computerized till. Meanwhile in 2020 there were around 1.9 million unemployed Japanese people. In England, we say, "Pay peanuts, get monkeys!" Global capitalism may prefer to have "workers" that don't require feeding, that never moan about wages or conditions, but a robot can't consume your products either. Me, I'd rather see a nice cheerful Catholic girl from the Philippines at the supermarket than deal with a machine that is uncaring, unfeeling, and wouldn't shed a tear if I starved to death. Immigrants aren't all bad people, Japan. Just saying. The price of robot cars is already becoming clear. A person in Tokyo has already been killed by one. Welcome to 2021! 

 Those who sow in tears will reap with songs.. Psalm 126:5 2021 is not the easiest time to be a Christian. Then again, it is harder in North Korea, and has been for a long while. Agricultural metaphors like the one above may not speak as vividly to suburbanites nowadays, but I think most of us still get the jist. Elsewhere the Bible says we reap what we sow. This is common ground with Buddhists who talk a lot about karma. The difference is of course the time scale & the destination. Buddhists inherited the karmic thing from Hinduism. I would argue that Buddha improved the hand he was dealt, but it was a pretty poor hand to begin with. My wife comes from the Nichiren side of Buddhism in Japan. I have mixed feelings about the dude. Nichiren was right to see the Buddhism of his day as corrupt. But focusing on chanting rather than acts of compassion seems totally the wrong focus to me. But things got worse a couple of centuries later. When Christianity first arrived in Japan, the p...

 They will kill him, but three days after he has been killed, he will rise. Mark 9:31 Some of us die of cancer. Some of us die of heart disease. Some of us die in traffic. Some of us drown, some of us take our own lives, some of us are murdered. Jesus was murdered. He didn't get a fair trial. He was innocent of any kind of crime or sedition. But He rose again, & you can too if you follow Him. 

 The devil comes & takes the word from their minds, for he doesn't want them to believe or be saved. Luke 8:12 You have an enemy. This is something people who aren't religious struggle with. I see in America right now the number one vid has a rapper dude with black wings. This Halloween you'll quite possibly see a cute lady wearing horns. 👹People struggle to take this kind of thing seriously. But seriously, look at the news for 5 minutes. You really think there isn't evil in the world? If you think people are basically good, why so much greed, pride, anger, lust, avarice, envy? I think serial killers or psychopaths is where you can see the devil at work most clearly. How can you explain their senseless cruelty with merely naturalistic explanations? As Shakespeare put it: When devils will the blackest sins put on, They do suggest at first with heavenly shows, As I do now. (Iago) Iago is one of the greatest villians in world literature. He destroys the lives of every...

 Let us be content with having food and clothing.. 1 Tim 6:8 One of the things about living in Japan as a poor Englishman is things you took for granted in the UK are now something of a luxury. Tomato ketchup is probably in almost every English household but weeks can go by here while I'm without it. (By the way, the local brands aren't as good as Heinz!) The good thing is when I finally get hold of some, as I did today, I appreciate it more.  Christian households say grace but growing up with non observant parents I never got in the habit as a kid, so saying it now is still hit and miss. I try to remember to be thankful but I'm still not as grateful to God for all His good gifts as I should be. 

 Your faith has saved you... Luke 7:50 In a move certain to be warmly welcomed in schools & homes from Cumbria to Cornwall, Boris has put British schools in the hands of a Kurdish immigrant. A Muslim, it seems. Why, Boris, are you so tone deaf sometimes? I simply can't support you any more. This is the final straw. Why? Just why? 

 A sword will pierce your own soul.. Luke 2:35 One of my favourite titles that the Blessed Virgin Mary has is Our Lady of Sorrows, which is celebrated today in the Catholic liturgy. My local RC parish church in Bognor Regis, West Sussex was Our Lady of Sorrows. Beautiful church, and probably the best Catholic parish I was ever honored to be involved with. Mary has suffered. The traditional Catholic iconography of the Virgin's heart pierced by many swords comes from this verse. Extreme, but every mother who has lost a son, like my own grandmother, knows more about it than those who are quick to mock anything they don't understand as sentimental or worse.  

 神はそのひとり子を賜わったほどに、この世を愛してくださた。 God so loved the world that he gave his only Son... John 3:16

 When Jesus had finished teaching the people.. Luke 7:1 Have you learnt everything Jesus has to tell you? Has He finished with you? Have you finished with Him? Because although I've been reading the Gospels for 40 years now, I feel I'm barely getting started at actually living it all out.  

 The case may be decided by the evidence of two or three witnesses.. Matthew 18:16 Lying atheists always claim there is not "a shred of evidence for God". They simply don't understand the first thing about evidence. 99% or so of atheists have no legal qualifications at all. Clearly there are millions of Christians worldwide who are witnesses to the Power of the Resurrected Christ. 

 When a blind person leads another, the two will fall into a pit. Matthew 15:14 Good leaders are so important. Choose wisely, LDP. 

 There is greater than the Temple here.. Matthew 12:6 The exclusive claims of Christianity are rooted in Christ's own words, as here. 

 I am not worthy to have you under my roof. Matthew 8:8 The Catholic liturgy includes these words at every mass. Christians don't deserve Christ, or God's grace, but most of us recognize our desperate need of Him. Morbid wallowing in guilt & shame? No, just realism. 

 Rachel weeps for her children.. Matthew 2:18 Why is the "Justice" Dept of a "Catholic" President trying to ensure more unborn babies are murdered in Texas? Not content with killing kids in Afganistan, Biden seems to want more blood on his hands. Who voted for this guy? Shame on you! 

 We have only seen a fraction of his works. Sirach 43:32 So, let's do math today! What fraction of God works have you seen? 2/3?? Nope, sounds too high to me. 1/3? Even though I have crossed the world by plane from Europe to Asia, I still haven't seen 1/3 of the planet and there is a whole universe out there. 1/300? Again, still too high. 1/1000000? Well, getting closer. Maybe in 50+ years on Earth I have seen a tiny tiny fraction of what God has done and what God is capable of.. 

 The bright radiance of the stars accounts for the beauty of the sky. Sirach 43:9 Atheism and irreligion have increased as light pollution has blotted out the stars in the cities. Given Greens are concerned about the overuse of energy, maybe street lighting at night should be seriously looked at?  

 How magnificent are the works of the Lord! Sirach 39:16 Dog & cat videos are enormously popular on YouTube, but I don't think God gets enough credit for the beauty of pets. 

 Sin began with woman.. Sirach 25:24 I see 2 ladies seem to be running for city mayor. I hear their loudhailers most days (Election tech in Japan doesn't seem to have changed much since 1955.) On the poster one, a middle school teacher, I think, writes 'Change!'. What kind of change?? Change for it's own sake isn't a good thing. The other makes a big thing out of being a woman. I'm sorry, but that isn't a good enough reason to vote for you. What are your actual policies? If it is more abortion, more policing of male speech & behaviour, & more gay propaganda everywhere, count me out. To be fair though, I don't trust any of the 4 candidates & won't be voting for any of them. God bless the voters here in trying to discern who will do the least harm!