Our man in Japan

The heavens declare the glory of God.. Psalm 19:2   I love Britain but it has to be said this sunny autumn weather in Kyushu is glorious. 

Because of the crowd.. Luke 19:3 May God have mercy on the souls of all the young people who died in Seoul last night. And on those who died in the bombing in Somalia. 

Trouble which came to us in Asia.. 2 Corinthians 1:8 There are many countries in Asia where it is not easy to be a Christian. Afganistan, Iran, Myanmar, China, Vietnam, Iraq, Northern India...but the worst is still North Korea. 

The enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly.. Philippians 3:18-19 Not everyone who hates Christianity is obsessed with food. But let's face it, before this pandemic hit, restaurants and celeb chefs were reaching new heights in Anglo-American culture. France & Japan have been obsessed with food for quite a while - the word gourmet is French. But there is something obscene about game shows on Japanese TV involving people overeating or eating very quickly, while some kids in South America don't even have a bed to sleep in. Do you eat to live, or live to eat?   

Persecuting the Church.. Philippians 3:6 Terrible things continue to happen in northern Nigeria. The liberal media focus on Ukraine, while in Kaduna, 36 people were abducted. One man lost his wife, mother & daughter in one day. Islamist extremists are deliberately targeting Christians. 

Why is this granted to me..? Luke 1:43 Gillian Keegan went to Catholic school, & represents the lovely cathedral city of Chichester. But she seems to vote with the alphabet people 100% of the time, so is she really the right fit as a "Conservative" Education Secretary for the UK?? She seems more liberal than conservative. 

Trust in the Lord Jesus.. Philippians 2:19 God knows what He is doing. It feels like He is punishing Britain for its lack of fidelity to Him. But hopefully He will have mercy on us soon. In the meantime, if Rishi can end this war with Russia that Boris & Liz were so committed to, he will do the whole world a favour. 

Children of God... Philippians 2:15 It is looking like Rishi. Who is a child of God, but which false Hindu god does he serve?  But at the end of the day, the election in 2024/25 will be decided constituency by constituency. Mr Sunak has a lot to do before then to turn things around. As a man of faith, hopefully he will still be against the radical secular agenda Kier embraces. 

Woman, why are you weeping?  John 20:15 God alone knows how many Ukrainian & Russian women are weeping today, for lost sons, brothers, or husbands. I know many Japanese dearly want peace, so I urge you all to write to Kishida and tell him to stop supporting Biden's misguided & one sided anti-Russia policy which is only prolonging the war. This will also help the Japanese economy. Hurting ordinary Russians with sanctions is only hurting us too, making inflationary pressures worse. 

My beloved brethren.. 1 Corinthians 15:58 Machiavelli, in The Prince, writes that a ruler either rules through fear or love, and suggests love is better. In North Korea we see what ruling through fear looks like, although the party indoctrination machine is so thorough, Kim may actually be loved by some of the North Koreans, crazy though that seems.  In democracies, leaders rule through love usually, or fear of the other guy. To me, Kier gaining power in Britain is an absolute nightmare. So I will support whoever the Tories elect, but I have a lot more affection for Boris, than for Rishi. Yes Boris is flawed. Who the hell isn't? God, Jesus, Mary. That's the full list, & Protestants would even quibble about the third name on the list. 

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition.. Philippians 2:3 I still feel Jacob RM would be one of the best Tory leaders we could wish for, but it seems like he won't run. As Plato said, the best people don't seek power. Failing the Moggster, I prefer Boris to Rishi or Penny. 

Fruit from my labour.. Philippians 1:22 This is the most shambolic Tory administration I have ever seen, though it is possible things were pretty fraught in the 70s before Thatcher, but I don't really remember. However, I still cannot support Kier or the Labour Party as I have zero confidence in them being any better. Christian options on the right need to get stronger so we have real options for social conservatism, as the Tories seem more feminist than conservative these days. Not protecting the right to peaceful protest against abortion is the last straw.  Why should Catholic grannies protesting outside a clinic where babies are murdered go to prison??! It is the butcher doing the murdering that should be going to prison.  No policeman worth his salt will enforce an unjust law. 

When you are old.. John 21:18 When Kyle Schwarber is old, he has something to show his grandchildren from today's game- a record breaking home run. Darvish may prefer to talk about other days, even though he mostly pitched well. There is always the World Baseball Classic in the spring. Will he get picked for Japan? Sho wants to go. Still, the series isn't over yet, but a shut out was the last thing the Padres wanted or needed. 

He is a hireling & does not care about the sheep.. John 10:13 Buddhist funerals cost enormous amounts. Buddhist altars cost a fortune. Shinto is responsible for the deaths of millions in WW2.  Yet Kishida feels only the Moonies deserve investigation. Absolute hypocrite! I'm not a Moonie, never will be, but to pick them out when creepy cult SGI is part of his own coalition is a bit much! 

He who has begun a good work in you will complete it.. Philippians 1:6 God is there at the moment of our conception. He creates us, and we start off innocent, though with sinful inclinations because of original sin. Many of us get more & more corrupt the older we get, though those who choose Christ begin to move in the opposite direction. As the great Pope JP2 said, all of us at any moment are moving towards God or away from Him.  Life is a battlefield between good and evil. The Good News is Christ has already won. Christians, though, are still in the trenches, until we die.  

Reached the tomb first.. John 20:4 God knows who will die first. He knows who will live a long time, & who will die young. If you are the kind of person who likes to plan ahead, over 5 years or 20, just remember tomorrow isn't guaranteed. 

Star differs from star in glory.. 1 Corinthians 15:41 "Ziggy Stardyke", a Manc student, has earned herself notoriety by vandalizing a Van Gogh at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. Words fail me. In terms of cultural & art appreciation the woman is a black hole- sucking light from everyone & everything around her. Her parents must be very proud..

Opening my mouth boldly... Ephesians 6:19 I used to have classes on Fridays. These days I just go to the dentist.. 

Bring them up in the discipline & instruction of the Lord .. Ephesians 6:4 So many social problems in the West are due to kids not being formed according to Biblical values. The drug epidemic in America may be partly due to the lack of an NHS, but it seems to me Christian kids are less likely to want to risk drug experimentation. 

Let the wife see that she respects her husband.. Ephesians 5:33 If she disrespects you, don't marry her.  

Behold, an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a minister.. Acts 8:27 Before there was woke or trans, here we see the early Church reaching out to the margins: a black person who is part of a sexual minority. Jesus is the answer to everyone's needs. The answer to this dude's issues was not to celebrate his identity as a eunuch, nor to celebrate his blackness: it was to get baptized. 

Honest work with his hands... Ephesians 4:28 Is Musgrove a great clutch pitcher? Buck isn't so sure.. Either way,  it looks like Darvish will get another crack at the Dodgers. 

They were startled & frightened, & supposed that they saw a spirit.   Luke 24:37 Today on the way home from church I saw some Japanese children playing with a Jack O'Lantern decoration like it was a piñata. Japan tends to like its Halloween 🎃 cute rather than too scary. As for me, going to the dentist is about as scary as it gets in suburbia. Until you get that cancer diagnosis, or North Korea drops the big one. Philip Larkin has a poem about ambulances, which ends:                                                 Far From the exchange of love to lie Unreachable inside a room The traffic parts to let go by Brings closer what is yet to come And dulls to distance all we are. 

By the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, & even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.    1 Corinthians 14:21 When I first came to Japan 22 years ago, I did have dreams about being some kind of missionary. No church or mission agency sent me, I just went with my gut. 22 years later, in what Christians often call the missionary graveyard, I have very little to show for it. Maybe one or two converts in 22 years? I have been too lustful, too angry, too proud, too lazy to be much of a missionary. But it's possible even if I was a saint most Japanese would not have been interested anyway. Great men like St Ignatius & St Nicholas of Japan, whose names I am not worthy to even mention,  did make an important impact, but 98% or so of Japanese remain stubbornly Buddhist/Shinto/not much of anything spiritually. That will change eventually, but I suspect it may take a major disaster to shake the complacency here. Jesus said "Blessed are the poor..", but...

The truth is in Jesus.. Ephesians 4:21 Accept Christ as your Saviour before it is too late! 

You are held in honor, but we in disrepute.  1 Corinthians 4:10 Who do you most honor? Otani is coming off another great season, & is a hero to boys who love baseball everywhere. Nothing wrong with that. I love sports myself. But there is something deeply wrong with a society that honors actors, ballers, rappers, scientists, nurses, and entrepreneurs, but spits on evangelicals and Catholics. 

The unsearchable riches of Christ.. Ephesians 3:8 Some translations use immeasurable instead of unsearchable, but given Google's wokeness and hatred for traditional Christianity.. If you are still using Google as your main search engine I suggest you find a better one. Good news: Twitter at least may be changing for the better with the Musk buy out. 

The Gentiles are fellow heirs.. Ephesians 3:6 A Gentile is a non-Jew. So for all of us, Japanese, Korean, English, American, Russian, Chinese, etc, the Bible doesn't make a distinction. Clearly in the historical books such as Kings and Acts, nations like Babylonia & Greece are mentioned, but modern nation states such as Japan 🗾 and the UK are not mentioned. I think we can learn from this: language divides us since Babel, but we don't have to be enemies.   So for Kishida today to turn to extremely negative language- 'barbaric'- to describe, yes, a provocative & dangerous missile fly-over by North Korea, is to make things worse not better. Yes it was needlessly dangerous but no one actually died. We need to talk to the North Koreans. If we can't shoot down such missiles before they reach our shores, then we need to encourage them not to send them, and mere insults isn't going to get the job done. I am not arguing for unilateral concessions, but surely neg...

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven & earth, does not live in shrines made by man .. Acts 17:24

Their eyes were kept from recognizing Him.. Luke 24:16 What is stopping you from recognizing Jesus as the Christ, the Only Son of God, the 2nd Person of the Trinity, God Himself?  Muslims struggle with the idea that a man can be God. Jews struggle to see Jesus as the Messiah. Many people across 🌏 Asia struggle to see the Christian church as a force for good, and maybe have doubts relating to the legacy of colonialism. Here in 🗾 Japan, Buddhism and Shintoism do permeate the culture in varied ways, often preventing people from being open to the message of the Gospel.  But this is a tragedy. I know from my own brother-in-law's suicide that a nominal Buddhist faith is often not enough to save someone from despair. I know that we all will meet and recognize Christ eventually, for He will be our Judge after we die. I pray that many more in Asia and in my home in the West will recognize Christ as the great I AM, God Himself, before it is too late.    

Eat whatever is sold in the meat market.. 1 Corinthians 10:25 I won't be buying 🐛 bugs to eat anytime soon. Saint John the Baptist did get by on locusts but I have no desire to emulate him on this.