Our man in Japan

 We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens..  Hebrews 8:1  Jesus Christ is the perfect sinless heavenly High Priest, interceding for us. 

 The dead in Christ shall rise first..  1 Thessalonians 4:16

 He shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling & a rock of offence.. Isaiah 8:14  Jesus is either one or the other. Either He offends you or He saves you. There is no middle ground. 

 Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts..  Isaiah 6:3  Again a reference to the triune nature of the Godhead. God the Father creates everything perfect. We humans mess it up. So Jesus, God the Son, comes to offer Himself for our sins this week on Good Friday, an atoning death we remember each time we celebrate the Holy sacrament of the Eucharist. Most people know of Da Vinci’s famous painting of the Last Supper- that is today in Christian liturgy, except in Russia which uses a different calendar. Finally the Holy Spirit of God helps us reflect on & understand these things. 

 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes..  Isaiah 5:21  So I listened to RFK’s VP pick, Nicole Shanahan, as she spoke in Oakland today. There was lots to like. She’s a breath of fresh air, and I commend her for having the courage to walk away from the Democratic Party. They will hate her for it & drag her through the mud, & she doesn’t deserve it. She’s a decent mum (far more articulate and probably much more intelligent than Biden & Kamala put together) who is very concerned about environmental health. She understands that much science is in the thrall of corporate interests, and that’s important. However, she does seem to be more of a New Age Californian than a Christian and that I can’t support. I predict she will poll well with the young, not so well with republicans. Kennedy has doubled down on his Dem roots with this pick, moved his ticket to the anti war liberal left, and hopefully stands to hurt Biden substantially in the Fall. 

 Their honourable men are famished..  Isaiah 5:13  Something is very wrong in British publishing and with public taste when a lady who writes SM porn can become a millionaire while my friend the Welsh Catholic poet Andrew Mcfarlane struggles to get published.. 

 I will also command the clouds..  Isaiah 5:6

 Women received their dead raised to life again.. Hebrews 11:35  God listened & answered when Elijah asked Him to raise the dead (1 Kings 17:22) It is not a fairy story. If you read Kings, it is not fantasy fiction - it’s an historical account of that period. And look around you- you may not believe in resurrection but in creation we see cherry trees that seem dead in January spring to life and blossom again this time of year. Maybe these trees ‘know’ something you don’t. The fact is God is Master of life and death- no one escapes His will, ever. We can run but we can’t hide. 

 Unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son..?  Hebrews 1:5 Shohei is I believe innocent of any real crime, but if he did pay his friends’ massive debts to an illegal bookie he may have left himself open to money laundering charges. So at this point he’s a fallen Angel, so to speak. He needs to choose his friends more carefully. No sports star is perfect, we are all sinners, except Jesus Himself. Next week, Holy Week, we remember that Jesus was handed over to the authorities by the betrayal of His friend Judas, but He wasn’t caught unaware of who Judas really was. We know how that ended. I’m sure some Americans & maybe even some Japanese would like to see Otani crucified by the press, but I’m not one of them. But I would like to see justice for Pete Rose, who also got in trouble for gambling- seems to me he was treated too harshly.. 

The cunning artificer, & the eloquent orator..  Isaiah 3:3 The former leader of SGI, Ikeda, is dead, & Jesus Christ is still alive. 

 The ships of Tarshish..  Isaiah 2:16 May God have mercy on the souls of the dead. 

 He will teach us of his ways.. Isaiah 2:3 If we don’t listen to God, we usually end up learning the hard way. 

 How is the faithful city become an harlot!  Isaiah 1:21  Isaiah was referring to Jerusalem, originally. Now the Pro Palestine activists would probably like to reinforce that reference, but it seems to me most cities have their vices. Fukuoka certainly does, as does London, and New York. As for faithful cities, it seems Indianapolis has over 3000 churches..! 

 Overthrown by strangers..  Isaiah 1:7  Britain now has Muslims running Scotland  & London, a Hindu as PM and now Wales has the son of a Zambian mother in charge. Yet the left somehow persist in insisting our country is racist!!!? 

 Not in chambering..  Romans 13:13  The KJV brings another great word into our lives, which seems to be an archaic way of saying sleeping around..

 The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.. Galatians 5:22 Everything good comes from God. The more we resist God in our lives, the more corrupt we get. It’s sad to see Ukrainians condemning the Pope for trying to help them achieve peace. Notice how longsuffering immediately follows peace. Peaceniks are often seen as naive, but I for one see peace as something that is sometimes incredibly difficult but still worth trying for.  

 I will save my people from the east country.. Zechariah 8:7  I won’t be in Japan forever. My wife is talking about seeing Greenwich (a very nice part of London if you haven’t been) but I suspect the only way I’m getting out of here is in a box..

 Keep yourselves in the love of God..  Jude 21 We exist because God loved us into existence, but pretty soon this fallen world can make us feel anything but loved. But drink, drugs, gambling or sleeping around are not the answer. As the saying goes, so many of us are looking for love in all the wrong places..

 That the heathen should rule over them..  Joel 2:17 Rishi has lost the country. Hopefully he will be our last Hindu PM. But people who think Starmer will be any better are deluded. 

 When contending with the devil..  Jude 9 Lee Anderson has become Reform’s first British MP. The Tories under Sunak cast him out for talking about Islamists. If Rishi has no stomach for the fight against Islam in Britain, then he can expect to lose millions of votes to Reform. 

 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper, & be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.. 3 John 1:2  It’s hard not to remember the people of Fukushima today. 

 Meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better;  neither, if we eat not, are we the worse .. 1 Corinthians 8:8 I just feel Japanese culture, particularly commercial TV, is too obsessed with food. And still, you could say British TV is worse in some ways, because there is more nudity. Japanese TV is more like American TV than European TV, in that respect. 

 The trump of God.. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 Yes, Trump is actually mentioned in the KJV. A book written centuries before he was born. However, bear in mind that this book is talking about trumpets at the end of the world. God ordains who wins elections, but that is not to say He fully approves of everything they do. Sometimes, in the case of Kishida, Biden or Boris, for example, He punishes people by giving them what they voted for. 

 God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness..  2 Corinthians 4:6  You or I can easily turn a light switch, thanks to considerable work by electric power companies. Almighty God creates stars, including our very own Sun. No God, no life. 

 The whole world lieth in wickedness.. 1 John 5:19 We have made some technical and scientific progress since St John wrote this, morally not so much. Biden yesterday still lying about being the progress candidate just shows how spiritually blind he really is. 30,000 dead in Palestine, countless more in Ukraine and Joe still believes he’s the good guy?!? Trump isn’t a good option either but he’s still much better than the alternative. I won’t condemn anyone who feels Jill Stein, Cornell West or Kennedy are better options but if Joe is still your guy you are either corrupt or stupid! 

 Many false prophets are gone out into the world..  1 John 4:1  I have mixed feelings about the growth of Mormonism & Jehovah Witnesses in Japan. On the one hand, both are better than Buddhism, Shintoism or atheism because they do at least believe in the Bible & Jesus. However, both are so very different from traditional Trinitarian Christianity that I cannot recommend them..

Ye know that no murderer hath eternal life..  1 John 3:15  Women who have had abortions, this means you. Repent! 

 Even now there are many antichrists  1 John 2:18 The antichrists have far too much power in Japan. Which is why Japan is going backwards..

 Meats for the belly & the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it & them..  1 Corinthians 6:13

 Ever learning, & never able to come to a knowledge of the truth..  2 Tim 3:7  There are probably more PhDs than ever before, so why isn’t there world peace & a cure for cancer? It’s because we have smart people who don’t even have common sense, let alone wisdom. Richard Dawkins would be the poster boy for this, but how many at Todai are actually making a positive contribution to society? As a literature grad myself, I admit my subject isn’t the most utilitarian, but I still think too much focus on STEM leads to a culture losing its roots. We do need to remember the greatest minds of the past. For us English, John Milton is long overdue a revival. Forget the latest trendy Jamaican feminist and get back to the classics! 

 The world passeth away..  1 John 2:17  Well we will never have February 2024 again! That’s done & gone. I for one won’t miss it. But as you get older it’s hard not to miss things about the 70s 80s and 90s that are gone now. I loved living in Liverpool in the early 90s but I will probably never go there again. And even if I did the Liverpool of 2024 won’t be the same. It was the wonderful friendly scousers & northerners I met there who made it special. For example, I met my first Tranmere fan on Merseyside & he taught me a lot about football.