daily rambliniscings

A 60-year-old man has been found on the roof of his floating house nearly 10 miles out at sea, two days after the tsunami that devastated the north-east coast of Japan.

Hiromitsu Shinkawa must have resigned himself to his fate when he was swept away by the retreating tsunami that roared ashore in his home town of Minami Soma in Fukushima prefecture.

As the wave approached, Shinkawa took the fateful decision to return home to collect belongings. Minutes later he was out at sea clinging to a piece of the roof from his own home.

Incredibly, he was spotted by a maritime self-defence force destroyer taking part in the rescue effort as he clung to the wreckage with one hand and waved a self-made red flag with the other. He had been at sea for two days.

Reports said that on being handed a drink aboard the rescue boat, Shinkawa gulped it down and immediately burst into tears. His wife, with whom he had returned home as the tsunami approached, is still missing.

“In his latest volume of “Jesus of Nazareth,” Pope Benedict XVI says the condemnation of Christ had complex political and religious causes and cannot be blamed on the Jewish people as a whole.” Catholic news

The reason this is seen as important, is made abundantly clear in a Israeli newspaper’s report of what Prime Minister Netanyahu wrote to the pope: “”I commend you for rejecting in your new book the false claim that was used as a basis for the hatred of Jews for hundreds of years,” Netanyahu wrote to the pontiff.

The prime minister added that he hopes “the clarity and bravery” shown by Benedict will strengthen relations between Jews and Christians worldwide and promote peace in the next generations. “I look forward to seeing you again soon and expressing my deep esteem for you personally”
Thanking the pope

Then there is an opinion writer for the same newspaper who sees this in a larger framework of where the world is moving towards religious wars (Christian/Muslim) again, and he believes it is a good thing that the Christians don’t view the Jews as an enemy this time. Preparing for holy wars

This pope is quite intelligent, so it is a bit of a surprise to see him basically refute the idea that he speaks for ALL the Catholics in the world, by writing that the actions of the Jewish leaders did not implicate all the Jewish nation in the death of Christ.

Inspired words say this in the 1858 Great Controversy book: “The Jews who first started the rage of the heathen against Jesus, were not to escape. In the judgment hall the infuriated Jews cried, as Pilate hesitated to condemn Jesus, His blood be on us and on our children. The race of the Jews experienced the fulfillment of this terrible curse which they called down upon their own heads. Heathen and those called Christians were alike their foes. Those professed Christians, in their zeal for the cross of Christ, because the Jews had crucified Jesus, thought that the more suffering they could bring upon them, the better could they please God; and many of those unbelieving Jews were killed, while others were driven from place to place, and were punished in almost every manner.

The blood of Christ, and of the disciples, whom they had put to death, was upon them, and in terrible judgments were they visited. The curse of God followed them, and they were a by-word and a derision to the heathen and to Christians. They were shunned, degraded and detested, as though the brand of Cain was upon them. Yet I saw that God marvelously preserved this people, and had scattered them over the world, that they might be looked upon as especially visited by a curse from God. I saw that God had forsaken the Jews as a nation; yet there was a portion of them who would be enabled to tear away the veil from their hearts. Some will yet see that prophecy has been fulfilled concerning them, and they will receive Jesus as the Saviour of the world, and see the great sin of their nation in rejecting Jesus, and crucifying him. Individuals among the Jews will be converted; but as a nation they are forever forsaken of God.”

Yes Lord, i do.

If you are American, here is a golden chance to help persecuted Christians around the world. Representative Frank Wolf from Virginia “has introduced H.R. 440, a House bill which would create the post of “Special Envoy.” According to the bill, its main focus is to have the special envoy promote religious freedom of minorities in countries of the Near East and South Central Asia.”

Lin spent 15 years in political incarceration during the years of severe Communist rule in his home country of China, all because of his faith.

He served the Seventh-day Adventist church in ministerial or administrative work for more than 50 years, most of it in China.

He was born in 1917 in Manila, Philippines, the second son of a Chinese diplomat, a graduate of Columbia University in New York City. During his childhood years, David lived in the Philippines, Canada, Shanghai, and Jakarta, Indonesia, all places where his father served as a diplomatic consul for the Chinese government.

During this period he not only learned his mother tongue but also English and Bahasa Indonesian.

In 1927 when Chiang Kai Shek came to power in China, his father lost his official position under the defiant Peking regime. The family then moved back to Shanghai where David and his brother attended a school operated by British educators. Three years later they moved to Peking where the brothers attended the American school.

In Shanghai, as a youngster, David decided that he want to become a minister, a statement that stunned all of his classmates. At that time the family attended a Methodist church.

In 1932 family moved to Hankow to work in the Bureau of Internal Revenue and it was there that the family came in contact with a Seventh-day Adventist member who arranged for them to attend Bible lectures in a local Adventist church.

Upon graduation from high school, David went on to attend an Adventist college, the China Training Institute, where he majored in Bible. When war interfered with the school program, David went to Hong Kong where he was able to arrange to go to the United States where he attended the Pacific Union College, Angwin, California. He graduated from this school in 1941 with a major in theology and then went to the church’s seminary in Takoma Park, Md., a course that he did not complete until 1946.

In the fall of 1942, in the middle of World War II, he was called to teach Chinese at his alma mater. After a year of teaching, he went to Honolulu where he served as a literature evangelist, selling Bibles and religious books. He returned to the west coast in 1944 where he coordinated the Chinese Bible Correspondence school of the church’s radio ministry, “The Voice of Prophecy.” He printed all of the lessons by hand because there was no Chinese type available.

At the end of World War II he returned to Shanghai with a group of American missionaries and immediately started working with the church’s radio department. In 1949 the provisional office of the China Division of the church turned overall duties to Chinese staff in Shanghai and he then became secretary of the church’s China Division.

Because of the war situation, the Adventist mission had its assets frozen in December,1950. For two years, without a job with the church, David made slide rules for a living. He spent his spare time translating an Adventist book, “Desire of Ages,” from English to Chinese. Over a period of years he translated many books into his native language.

In April, 1958 David was arrested by Chinese authorities on a counter-revolutionary charge because of his faith and in 1960 was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He spent this time at a water conservatory where he pushed wheelbarrows, operated a power winch, and served successfully as an x-ray technician, a power station switch operator, and a tractor electrician on a state farm.

Fortunately in the years that he worked for the state he received humane treatment but spent these many years with little contact with his family, his wife, children, and mother.

On March 28, 1991 David was fully exonerated and the record of his imprisonment was erased from his be record. During the years that he was incarcerated, the family faced financial problems. But their needs were supplied. When his 15-year term was over, he was transferred from a state farm to a mining establishment where he translated technical literature. He was employed there for five years, received regular wages, and was able to enjoy church privileges.

When he retired, he moved back to Shanghai and served as pastor of one of the largest Adventist churches in China. When he once again retired from this assignment, David followed his children to the United States where he has been a resident. He spent many of his retirement years doing translation work as well as providing educational facilities for Chinese home country of China.

His children are all located in the USA. They are Flora, a nurse in the Washington, D.C. area; Roger, of Seattle, Washington, an employee of Microsoft; Ruby, of Highland, CA; and Angelina, a physical therapist. His wife, Clara, resides with her family.

Funeral services for the Chinese leader will be held at the Loma Linda Chinese Adventist Church on Sunday, February 20, at 4 p.m.

(as reported by Don Roth in Charles Tidwell’s FED newsletter)

I met this great leader of God’s children in China in 1999. During the 1970s i had read many of his articles in “The Layworker” magazine, and was impressed, along with my mother, with his non-compromise, give-it-all-for-Jesus without becoming fanatical mindset. May you rest in peace, man of God, and may your sleep be short, and soon we can all go home to be with Jesus forever.

Yesterday i took 10 more Japanese 1858gc books to the church, as i had taken 40 the week before, but one lady asked for 5 already. There are usually around 45 people who attend church every Sabbath, so i wanted to make sure that there were enough for each person to have a copy if the leaders there decided it was good to pass them out.

The sermon was titled “The God of History”, and the first half was about things that went on in the Old Testament, and how we know that God is in control of the affairs of man. THEN! The pastor started talking about how we can learn more of the God of history thru the writings of Ellen White, and especially thru The Great Controversy! He then explained in more detail than i ever have from any pulpit, the origins of this book, its expansion and subsequent editions etc etc. It was straight as an arrow. Near the end of his sermon he reached into his suit pocket, and pulled out the 1858gc in Japanese!!! He recommended it, and said it was available for free to anyone who wanted one out in the lobby. Well, i shed some tears at this point, as i just couldn’t believe that anyone of any position in the Seventh-day Adventist church in Japan had much of anything except either neglect or contempt for this book which i spent nearly 2 years, and thousands of dollars on. He is also very open to the idea of my carrying on some kind of study of the book, and one elder who treats me very well said he would bring it up at the next board meeting. The pastor’s wife and this elder also said i’m welcome to sleep overnite at the church on the 25th of this month, as there will be a revival meeting that evening, then i wish to come to church the next morning for Sabbath service. This is also very unusual for me to experience in Japan. Yes, i’d rather stay in someone’s house, but this is a very nice gesture 🙂 On a final note, after choir practice (yes, even me!) and handing out some flyers for a rice-cake pounding/eating event on the 20th, the pastor’s wife slipped me something, even specifying that it was just a donation, not payment for books, because she knows i would never take that on the Sabbath. Just dumbfounded.

So now that everyone in the church knows about the book, and that the pastor is definitely in favor of the book, many doors should open to study together and perhaps spread this book more here in my beloved, adopted, terribly godless country — Japan.

Jesus is good, all the time. I just can’t believe how things have worked out here in the last few weeks, when i was feeling like throwing in the towel on Japan and Seventh-day Adventists here. Surely God is more patient with us than we are with ourselves!

I really, really enjoyed the General Conference Session. It was above my hopes even, as we finally got a strong leader for God’s remnant people – the first in over 30 years – praise the Lord! Then i was offered volunteer work at Gospel Ministries International, run by David Gates and affliated with MissionTV which is run by Jon Wood, so stayed there 3 months until kicked out, then i stayed 5 weeks with an elderly couple (near Southern Adventist University campus), then here and there, with cousin in Atlanta where i sold my baseball cards and got contacts to sell my coins, with my sister and brother in Tennessee a while, and got a feeling that America is becoming very, very polarized on political and religious and basically every other issue too. I did sell some 1858gc books, and had a few studies, but there wasn’t much interest. People are rich, increased with goods, and in need of nothing (?)

One thing that has hung over my head about this whole ordeal, was that no matter where i go among SDA circles in Japan, this event precedes me, and i’m basically shunned or at best looked on as a “hot potato” by most church leaders/members. In 2004 someone in Chiba area wanted me to come and promote the 1858 Great Controversy book at their church there, as they really enjoyed it, but the pastor that was involved with me in this homeless incident had been transferred to that area, and he refused permission. (now that pastor is head over all of Eastern Japan Conference!) Just last month i was informed by a member of the Nara church where i like to go for its simplicity, that a pastor had warned her not to talk much with me. So this thing is always over my head here.

Then yesterday!

Sabbath January 29 was my first time in over 5 years to go to the Kobe SDA church. I had been there maybe 3 times before, and remember helping out handing water to neighbors there one afternoon after the big earthquake in 1995. This time, i was treated very warmly by 2 or 3 people, then, the next day when i met the pastor and his wife, i received more warmth 🙂 Well, this was very unexpected, but when i found out that 2 of the people who were so nice to me were recent converts from other denominations, i thot “that explains it”.

But yesterday when i was getting ready to sit on the floor in the tatami room where the legs go under the table by the warm heater (kotatsu), one elderly lady raised her voice and said (in Japanese) “You’re Danny, aren’t you?” Taken aback, i said i have been called Daniel, Danny, Dan, and BigD. She said, “You’re the one who was involved with the homeless at Osaka Center church weren’t you?” “Oh no” i thot, “Here we go again. Just when i was thinking this church might be nice to me, this thing over my head explodes again…” But then imagine my surprise when she said “You did a GREAT thing”, and started clapping for me in front of the other 5 or 6 people in our Sabbath School class! I was too dumbfounded to even get goosebumps. She went on to say how the church had basically split over the issue, and she had left and come to this Kobe church. She said she had talked with some of the anti-homeless members, and couldn’t believe some of their responses like “there might be germs they leave on the dishes”. “Well, wash them with soap like we do everybody else’s” she told them matter-of-factly. She said a couple of more things that just thrilled, and bewildered me, because even among my closest church friends here in Japan, even the ones who support what i did tell me that i should be “more accommodating”.

When i’ve told about this event with the church and homeless in Japan to Brothers and Sisters in other countries, it has had an impact. I don’t tell it to trumpet myself, but to show how we should not only be studying the Bible, but putting what is written into practice in our daily lives. We MUST live like Jesus. We must treat others like we want to be treated if we expect to have any place in heaven. When i tell about this, i usually say “many of the elderly ladies in the church were happy to see the homeless come and even helped them with sweaters and kind words, but the church board was dead set against them, and the pastor was a harmony-keeper.”

So i now i know of at least one church member who was very favorably impressed with the actions taken to help the homeless back then, and had the courage to tell those around her that the church’s treatment of them was wrong, and then took action to separate from such a group of people who chose not to follow Jesus. Praise the Lord!

We went to the hospital to check in this morning at 6 a.m. but it wasn’t until almost 1 p.m. that Robert was finally taken to the theatre. His surgery lasted until around 7 p.m. and than he was brought to his room around 9 p.m.

Thanks so much for the MANY MANY prayers that were being said for both of them. I shall now go to bed but hopefully can get to the 100 plus e-mails very soon in the next day or two that are waiting for me to respond to. If yours is one of them, sorry for the delay.

Thanks for continuing to remember these men in your prayers during this week. Wichit will be able to check out of the hospital probably in 3 to 4 days, and Robert in 5 to 7 days.

We shall keep in touch. Please pass this message on to others that you know that might appreciate receiving this wonderful news – answers to our many prayers.

This is the first itme for internet above 30,000 feet – sweet 🙂 Then across the big pond.

There is always anxiety about change, and it gets more pronounced as one gets older. To have something stable, a place to put your stuff, familiar faces, familiar foods, familiar languages. God is so good to us, and knows just what each of us needs, and what we should do to further the advancement of his kingdom. I hope to stay in Japan up to 2 years, and save some funds to help start a little Bible school somewhere in SE Asia, and also to of course keep spreading the 1858 Great Controversy. Your prayers are desired.

Reading Jeremiah this morning, these 2 places really stood out:
Jer 15:16 Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.

Jer 17:10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
11 As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.

May all of you reading this be in good health, and may your path be right in the way of the Lord always until he comes and we have no more temptations and battles to face

More than 15 police officers, as well as journalists with a video camera and a state religious affairs official raided the Saturday morning worship service of the Seventh-day Adventist congregation. Police questioned the ten church members present how much they were paid to be Christians, and two were given heavy fines, Protestants complained to Forum 18 News Service. Police insisted to Forum 18 the meeting had been illegal as the congregation is waiting for registration: “You don’t need a licence to talk about chess or football, but you do about religion.” Protestants complained about an Interior Ministry press release on the raid which said Adventists represent “a faith prohibited by law”. “Adventists have lived in Azerbaijan for more than 100 years and have never been banned,” Protestants told Forum 18. Fines for religious activity seem set to rise sharply if proposed amendments are approved in Parliament on 21 December. And a Muslim’s legal attempt to recover books confiscated by the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations has been dismissed – despite the confiscations being against the Constitution and law.

After initially denying that police from his department had raided a Saturday morning Seventh-day Adventist worship service on 11 December, an officer of the 4th Department of Sumgait police told Forum 18 News Service that the service was raided because church members did not have state permission to meet. “They weren’t praying – they were holding lectures,” the officer – who would not give his name – told Forum 18 from Sumgait on 16 December. “That’s propaganda of a religion.” Asked whether police officers would have raided and the court would have handed down heavy fines if the meeting had been about football or chess, the officer responded: “You don’t need a licence to talk about chess or football, but you do about religion.”
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No doubt similar things will be seen in the land of the free, and home of the brave before long.