Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Different Times for sure

Isaiah 21:4  My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me.

So I am at a restaurant in Haneda Airport having dinner. I am with friends. As we check out menus I quip on his decision for a dish that has spinach in it to make sure they know where it comes from. So he asks and the worker is quite amazed he asked if the spinach was from Tohoku? So they had to call a manager. No it's not it comes from Kansai. Thank you. So we begin to order he decides on beef. I told him about the Miyazaki Mad Cow disease. So again her comes the manager...NO ITS NOT. Then I jokingly said make sure its yoku yaki...(This means cooked well done). There were several people who died last month or so ago by eating raw meat. In Japan they don't cook the meat medium it is almost always rare unless you say, "Yoku Yaki kudasai." The manager was not happy with us. I got chicken then I am reminded that the chicken from Kansai where the spinach is from was infected with bird flu and they had been killing millions of birds. Was this that road kill? I didn't have the nerve to ask the waiter so I powered it down giving it to the Lord. Then I am thinking if we get green tea what will my friend do? As I sipped my ice water then I freaked is the Tokyo water safe? The government here has been lying to us so much we are loosing trust and faith in their judgement.

We are  definitely living in different times for sure.  It is so easy to get all freaked out and actually go crazy worrying about all the dangers. We live in a time for fears to run rampant. The news is always sensational. It always wants to grip the reader or listener or viewer and have them hang on for dear life as they have to wait until the end of a broadcast just to find out it wasn't that great of information. They drag you along and keep you in suspense and then..."That's it." What? Do churches do the same thing? Do they play off the fears of people to keep them in line. Hmm. The Bible says perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. Deut 10:12: And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,  2 Tim 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. What God requires we must take heed. Spend more time fearing and loving him and these other things won't be a problem. Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what [is] good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Where has Dan Been?

Hey guys,

Sorry for not writing. I have not been busy as much as just been sick. I caught pneumonia a month ago and it has been a slow healing process. I still am not 100%. My body is telling me I am not young. I went to the states for about 10 days and I did nothing. I apologize for not hooking up with many of you like we normally do but I needed to rest. Still it was a busy time. I was able to attend the Pastors Conference in Murrietta and kick back with some really great guys. The word of God is so awesome and refreshing. It was good to just sit back and soak it up. The worship was absolutely amazing. I am praying for a worship leader or team to come and bless the Lord here in CC Iruma. I am back in Iruma now and getting back to teaching my ESL classes. Everyone is excited that I am back. It is humbling to have loyal students. Pray for them to receive Christ. I have witnessed to all even sharing with a few end times stuff. It kind of scared one student but she still comes. She actually said why do I need this prophecy in my life. I don't believe it. I laughed and said, "Do you believe in gravity?" she said, "Yes of course." I said, "If someone doesn't believe in gravity that wouldn't change the effect it has on their life. They would still fall and get hurt like everyone else even though they don't believe.

I said, "Prophecy is like a law of gravity. The Bible is 100% accurate and whether you believe it or not does not change the fact that these things will come and happen. God is in control and you will see that the Word of God doesn't need our approval to actually happen." She was shaken by this. I apologized if I freaked her out but Matthew 24 is true and we are seeing it unfold before our eyes. Earthquakes, famines, diseases, Wars, troubling times are going to increase. You think things will calm down. Rude awakening about to happen to this world. The monetary system is crumbling before our eyes and though we all tell you that it will fail as the Bible predicts no one believes it. Israel is going to face some very tough challenges on the horizon. The Bible says a world dictator will come and set up his capital in Jerusalem. The Jewish nation as a democracy will cease to exist but as a Jewish nation it will always remain. The Bible Says Jesus will come again and set up his kingdom on Earth at which time the Jewish nation will revert back to a theocracy with King Jesus as their power and leader and king.  All the nations will come and worship him. But before all that happens there are some sick things that will happen on this earth. Some things that are just unimaginable but as accurate as the Bible is you can be sure they will happen.

The great thing is the Bible tells us in three places before all these things transpire Jesus will take his church out of the trouble. The rapture is a doctrine that has not changed. The Bible still teaches us it is real and will happen. Man's views have changed and they twist the scripture but it puts them in a hard position as the rest of their theology falls apart since they have to change everything just because they have a hard time and choke on God's word. Simply believe the Bible at face value and it isn't hard. Faith like a child means you just believe it though your intelligence can't reconcile it. God meant our faith in him to be powered by faith. Faith is the monetary system of Heaven. Faith gains you rewards. Great faith gets great rewards. Diminished and weak faith yields limited and small rewards.

Anyway, I am feeling better. We have teams coming now for relief work every week. Pray for the dynamics of the teams and the gospel going out. Pray for safety. Pray for my health to fully recover. Pray for more ESL students. Pray for the church to grow. Pray for a location for our school and church to happen.

God bless you all,

Friday, June 3, 2011

Home is in the heart

I live in Japan my home is where my family is.  Yet when I return to the US and enter my childhood home I have a tendency to say, "Ah, its good to be home again." Yet when I went to Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa a place of Spiritual residence where I did a lot of growing I caught myself saying, "Ah its good to be home." Where is home? We use the cliche "Home is where the heart is." I have to agree. The fondness of good blessings and memories make things worthy of being called home. I have a heavenly home. I haven't seen it and I don't know really what to expect. Yet I know that when I get to that final destination it will be that same thought..."Ah it is good to be home."

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.  
1 Pet 1:3-5

 I can't wait to go home now question is which one am I referring to?