HomeARC ML 2405
WHAT'S WRONG WITH JAPAN? 1/88 DO 2405
1. PTL! Jesus help us! Please guide us, Lord, You know what's best. Have Thy way. Thy Will be done, in Jesus' name. Perhaps we'd better begin with basic policy on finances & the way we have operated for all these years, in fact all my life, & that is that if we don't have it, we don't spend it! We don't borrow, we don't go in the red. If we can't afford it then we just don't do it.
2. Whatever ministry we're in, whatever project we're involved in, has to live up to two basic criterions: Number one, that it's God's Will for some reason. I'm sure from the way I've seen Him do business for years, His Will is largely contingent not only on the fruitfulness or the need of a project, but also on its ability to either pay for itself or operate within our available funds, or being of such importance that God wants the whole World to consider it, contribute to it, & therefore, some kind of very important & necessary missionary project to reach a certain field, a Pioneer outreach.
3. The Lord, I believe, keeps books. We know He keeps books, there's a lot about it in the Bible, stats etc., & so have we for a good many years. And I think that we'd all agree that our basic financial principle of operation has been to operate within our income, to not go into the red, not go into anything we can't afford to pay for, that we do not have the funds for, & depending on its fruitfulness & its necessity, whether we're willing to sacrifice & to rob Peter to pay Paul, to take from other projects to sacrifice them for the sake of some particular project that we think has a special time, a special priority.
4. As the Lord says, it behooves us that before we build a tower we sit down to count the cost. Before we decide to engage in a war, we sit down to figure out if we're sure to win it, before we get into it.--Luke 14:28. Well, I must say that in the matter of the School in Japan, this is something which we didn't do specifically, as far as figure out the actual cost of what it is going to cost to operate, as we didn't yet know. It's sort of a trial balloon & we just hope it doesn't burst!
5. Trying to reach the field is the main aim & goal!--Not just to have a School or show off or make our Hosts happy or even educate our children or any other purpose! There's only one purpose God has, & that is to save souls, our primary purpose! Perhaps I might even say equal to it is to give souls a chance to be saved, to get out a witness in a particular field.
6. Considering the importance of the field of Japan, as being literally now the richest, most powerful economic nation on Earth, it has been insufficiently reached as far as a truly extensive witness is concerned. I may be wrong, but it seems to us that Japan has not really had its chance & sufficient priority & emphasis in our ministry, especially important people!
7. There have been some problems in the past & there are some big problems right now. Problems in the past have been some of the leadership, poorly trained & poorly experienced & poorly financed, & not following the norms which are recommended for the Family. Considering that they're working in the richest country in the World, Japan ought to be the richest part of our Family; instead it's turning out to be one of the poorest! In comparison, proportion & ratio, considering the rich field they're working in, their income is extremely low! It's below the poverty level & they're barely making ends meet, & some of them aren't making it! So something's wrong! Something's wrong with that field!
8. It's the richest, most powerful economic nation on the face of the Earth, yet the Family there is barely eking out a poverty-level existence, & the standard in the Homes is not even as high as it is in some of the poorest fields like the Philippines & Thailand! So something's wrong with that field, there's something wrong with the way they operate somehow.
BEGGING & BUMMING?--OR LIVING BY FAITH!
9. So far, we know that they have depended primarily on a street witness, on everything from distributing literature & selling tapes to what amounts to begging & panhandling & almost bumming from some of the sad tales we've heard! They walk into a restaurant with a flock of children, in fact the parents are even ashamed to go in with them but send the kids in by themselves, to ask for drinks of water, kids who have been working hard out in the field, & God's Word says, "The labourer is worthy of his hire! And they that preach the Gospel shall live of the Gospel!"--Luk.10:7, 1Cor.9:14. So I can see no excuse on God's Earth, & this makes me furious, for sending a bunch of little kids into a restaurant to ask for nothing but a glass of water or to go to the toilet, & unable to afford those kids even a glass of milk or a cup of hot chocolate! God help us!
10. Something is wrong with parents that have so little faith! For God's sake, why don't they go in with them & ask for something worthwhile besides a glass of water, & explain why & witness to the proprietor & provision it! And if they haven't got the faith to do that, then why don't they just shell out & buy those kids a glass of milk or a cup of hot chocolate & make the proprietor glad that they came in & a lot more receptive to their Message!
11. Most of you foreigners are supposed to be from the U.S. & Europe, some of the richest countries on Earth, & you go over to Japan & act like beggars!--Worse than beggars! You're not even begging for something worthwhile, you're just asking for a glass of water & taking up space, using up glasses that have to be washed, using up table space or counter space that's needed by customers!
12. This is one of the worst examples I ever heard of in my whole life of not living by faith! I never in my life sent my kids alone into an establishment of any kind that served food or drink to just ask for a glass of water & sit there while they drink it! And yet that seems to be a common practice in the wealthy, powerful, richest country on the face of the Earth, that our people are so weak in faith & so ashamed of what they're doing & have so little faith to ask for anything, that they're ashamed to walk in with their children, & they send them in instead & use them, just like the proprietors & some of the Japanese people have mentioned that they don't like the way we're using our children! God help us!
13. My God, if you're going to use them for something, use them for something worthwhile that counts, that pays!--Not a glass of water! If they're going to take up space, let'm get in there & ask for something & really make it pay off! Let'm all buy a nice hot cup of chocolate or even a hot hamburger, & besides that, get the guy to make a donation to the cause, or buy some Posters & Tapes on top of it! Parents that are ashamed to walk in with their children & send them in instead to front for the parents, send in their little children to beg for the parents & can't beg for anything more than a glass of water or a chance to go to the toilet, this is absolutely the most shameful thing I ever heard of!
14. It just makes me furious that you go around like a bunch of penurious beggars who haven't got the faith to ask for anything but a glass of water! If they're going to ask for something, let'm ask for something worthwhile!
15. Something's wrong with you Family in Japan that you haven't been going for the top, going for big things, going for the people that really have the money instead of just out on the street with the hippies & the kids & the old ladies & one or two businessmen that haven't got time to even pause!
FIND FRUITFUL METHODS THAT ACCOMPLISH GOD'S PURPOSE!
16. I saw a video where a group of real good kids were really doing a good job of singing & busking out on the street there, & not one soul was stopping to even look at them, the crowd was just passing by! So it must be the wrong method!--If it's not getting a crowd, if it's not drawing attention! Even if the people that notice them like to pretend that they don't notice them, & would rather just pass on by, then there's something wrong with that method!
17. The basic problem there is that they haven't discovered the right method of witnessing, they're not reaching the right people! They're not "accomplishing the purpose whereunto they were sent", as God's Word is supposed to do!--Isa.55:11. And when it does, it is fruitful & it is profitable!
18. Now I have operated on that principle, as you know, all these years & all my life for that matter! I kept trying to find some better method, some way to reach more people, & some way to make it pay, & we have! And right now as far as I'm concerned, considering the size of our group, we're at the top of the heap! We are winning more souls & probably making more money per capita than any other tiny little group on Earth, as far as preaching the Gospel's concerned! But I can't say that much for the Family in Japan! They are not getting results!--Or too few & poor ones!
19. In Japan, the richest, most powerful economic power on Earth, our Family is third! Japan is third in every category on the list of accomplishments, of fruits borne by our Family around the World. Japan is number three, down somewhere around the middle compared to all the other areas! Poor bankrupt areas like Latin America, poor, poverty-stricken nations like India rank first & second in the World in virtually every category!--In witness, in literature distribution, in souls won! They are outpacing the Japanese Family two or three to one!
20. Japan, the richest nation on Earth, which should have the richest Family on Earth, is third on the list! Now something is wrong! Either that, or Japan & the Japanese are totally impossible & it is totally unprofitable & unfruitful, & therefore we ought to pull out our troops & send them someplace where they can accomplish more & get more for their efforts & more for their money than they're getting in Japan! That's the problem. The School is not the problem, it's the Family in Japan that's the problem! (See #2412, coming soon!) They're not reaching the right people, obviously, or not asking!
WHY NOT REACH THE TOP!
21. I think there's more prospect, more potential & possibility in Marianne's ministry & her girls in reaching the top, the cream of the crop in Japan, than there is in all of your street litnessing, witnessing, busking & begging put together! One of those guys has got enough millions he could support the whole Family there, it would be a drop in the bucket to him! The amount of money the Family needs each month is nothing to some of those guys! They could afford to give that much every month & support the entire Family in each of their Homes in Japan!
22. But in all these years now you've been out fiddling around on the streets & in the parks & doing a little so-called Holy Ghost sample & begging for a few little Yen for a few little Tapes & Posters etc. There is something wrong with the way the Family is operating in Japan, in the richest, most powerful economic nation on the face of this Earth! You're obviously not reaching the right people!
23. When you consider what the total Family income in the country of Japan is each month, it's pretty bad!--An amount like that in a country that is the richest nation on the face of the Earth & has got so much money they don't even know what to do with it! They go around shopping not just for clothes & bric-a-brac & souvenirs in the other richest countries on Earth, they go around shopping for whole businesses, whole factories, industries, banks, even shopping now for governments! They're able to buy'm out!--And yet our Family is there running around with their hand out asking for a glass of water! My God, what the Hell's wrong with our people!
24. Japan is the richest country on Earth, the most powerful economic power on Earth, full of what seems to be the best people on Earth, with the least crime, the most courtesy, politeness, consideration, the whole traditions & customs built on what I would call basic principles of love, consideration for each other, concern for each other, cooperation with each other, & compared to the rest of the nations on Earth, the cleanest & safest! So God has blessed them, prospered them! Why hasn't He you?
25. Why are they so rich? Why have they become so prosperous? Who does the blessing of a nation, anyway? Just their own arm has saved them? Well, they cooperated with God on it, they worked hard, but God Himself told us that He humbled them to make them great, & He's blessed them financially, materially, security-wise, in every way!
26. The few top people that the Family has reached there are usually heavy givers!--The few top people you've reached you could almost count on one hand! Sad to say, after 12 or 15 years in that country you've reached fewer people than you can count on one hand who are faithful supporters, real heavy givers & have got it to give! So what do you expect?--This few, less than half-a-dozen people, to support the whole Family in Japan?
27. What's the matter with the Family in Japan? Why aren't you reaching the top people? Why aren't you getting at them? Because how could you expect to reach them just out on the streets panhandling & begging & sticking out your hand for a few Yen donation or whatever! That doesn't earn anybody's respect! In fact the Japanese are rather contemptuous of people that have to go around begging!
28. They figure why come over there from the U.S.A. & beg in Japan? Well, I must admit the U.S.A. is getting awfully poor by comparison, & they're already begging from Japan, begging for loans & begging for bonds & begging for money to finance their extravagance! The U.S. is not paying for their riches, they're borrowing them! The U.S. is begging!
29. But I hate for our Family to be a prime example of the poor American, the poor Ugly Americans running around the streets with their hands out begging from the poor & begging from the run of the mill people in the street, instead of going to the top & the people who have got it! (Maria: Even their door-to-door isn't doing it, they can hardly get in!) Well, if that doesn't work then they're going to have to try something else.
30. As far as I'm concerned, the ministry that has the greatest potential & is already reaching top people who want to help, they just want to know what to help & how, is the Personal Ministry! They've got an ideal open door now, & thank God it's opening wider & they're doing better all the time! I think there's more potential, more possibility in that particular ministry in reaching the top & the most powerful people & the ones who are not only able to give, but able to influence & defend us & take care of us, than all the street witnessing put together!
31. I don't doubt that there are right now Homes that are grumbling & complaining & murmuring & griping because we gave the NO's there instructions to take them off the streets! "That was our most lucrative ministry! That was our most profitable ministry! We could sell Posters & Tapes faster & make more money in one day than all this other kind of stuff!"--Because you haven't tried all this other kind of stuff, you never emphasised all this other kind of stuff! Although we have & we've pounded away on it time & time again for year after year after year, you're still not trying to reach kings & queens & top people! Why aren't you? You're afraid of them! Are you afraid of getting dressed up & going out to the places where you can meet them?--Or following up on the contacts you already have?
32. You know, it doesn't matter what kind of business you're in, it takes a certain amount of investment to make any kind of money! And if you're going into an expensive business that you really expect to pay off, you've got to really put the money into it, you've got to really invest something! And if you're going to meet people at parties or clubs or English classes or Escort work, you've got to buy nice clothes & be willing to go in there & spend at least enough for a cup of coffee, for God's sake! You people aren't even willing to go into a little sidewalk lunch stand with a counter & a few stools & buy anything at all, you just ask for a free glass of water in a free glass that the guy has to wash! What kind of economy is that, anyhow?
33. Considering how little the Family has accomplished there & how little it is accomplishing, frankly, it looks to me like it could be more profitably used somewhere else, especially when it gets to where it costs more money than they are making, just to put it flatly businesswise! When you're only third on the list of all areas, even of the poorest of all the areas on Earth, when even India & Latin America rank ahead of you on accomplishments & stats, something is wrong with Japan!
THE JAPANESE: GOOD PEOPLE!
34. Maybe that ought to be the title of this: Something is Wrong with Japan! Or, What's wrong with Japan, anyway?--The Family in Japan! It's not that there's something wrong with Japan, they're doing great! It's the richest nation on the face of the Earth, with the hardest working, most considerate, thoughtful, polite, courteous & cooperative people almost on the face of the Earth!--Good people, perhaps the best on Earth, people who've got lots of money & people who have got big hearts, they're human, if you get to'm!
35. I'll grant you they're hard to get at! They have been isolationists for hundreds of years! They isolated themselves from the rest of the World for hundreds of years & wouldn't even have any contact with the rest of the World, & maybe for pretty good reason! What little contact they had with the rest of the World, they didn't like it, they decided they were better off themselves without it! Maybe that's one reason they're as good people as they are today. They didn't get contaminated & corrupted & poisoned by the rest of the World & all of its rot! They're good people, strong people, hard-working people who have a real work ethic & a real cooperative ethic, consideration for each other.
36. Even the head of a company will visit his employees who are sick! Did you ever hear of such a thing in the U.S.A.? If an employee gets sick & is absent too long, an employer in America would just fire him! He won't give a damn about his condition or his health or his family or anything! They couldn't care less!
37. But in Japan, every company is like a family, & the employees know that they are employed for life, & they & their children will be taken care of from the cradle to the grave! They may seem like slaves to the Americans & lack the American independence & blah blah, but at least their employers take care of them & are concerned about them & want to help them make it! And if they can't make it there, they try to find them another job someplace else.
38. Imagine, visiting them when they're sick, concerned about their personal problems, concerned about their family, their wife, their children, their old folks, & wanting to make sure they're cared for! The Japanese care! How many U.S. employers have that concern? They couldn't care less! They can hire & fire at will & not even think of people as people, they're just numbers, digits on their books or computers!
39. So I don't think the problem is with the Japanese people! They're good people. Only they're a little bit sceptical about the rest of the World & foreigners.--And you can't much blame'm! They've had some pretty bad experiences with foreigners!--Including the last bunch of foreigners blowing up their whole country & decimating their population! No wonder they're sceptical about foreigners, they certainly haven't done them very much good!
40. How much good has the rest of the World done Japan? About the only good the rest of the World had done Japan is buy their very good superior products which are worth it & which they're happy to get at economical, reasonable prices, & know that they're good & workable & usable & they're not going to find all kinds of things wrong with'm!
41. Their products have become the best in the World, known for being the best products in the World!--Well-made, rightly-made, efficiently-made by conscientious workers who work hard to try to make it the best on Earth, & they have! They have made their products the best on Earth & their country the best on Earth!
42. They're good people! Hard-working people! Look how they've worked themselves up from absolute total destitution & destruction in only 40 years! In 40 years they have worked themselves back up from worse than nothing! They were wiped out 40 years ago, cities destroyed, hundreds of thousands of people killed & totally in poverty with nothing, absolutely nothing!--Defeated, wiped out! But they went to work & rebuilt their country & their economy & their businesses & their cities & their homes, until now they've got more skyscrapers than New York City! They've got the largest city in the World, Tokyo! Metropolitan Tokyo has a greater population than the whole State of California! And they're making it! They're employed!
43. Japan is not only the richest, but it's the cleanest, it's the best, has the least crime & the best people of any country, let's face it, on the face of this Earth!--With less corruption, less of everything bad, less evil than virtually any country anywhere, outside of perhaps Switzerland! If you want to take good people, hard-working people & clean people, tight laws & tight restrictions & everybody trying to obey the law, another country like that is Switzerland! And there they are, the two richest countries on Earth!
44. The U.S.A. is no longer rich! They're so deep in debt they're absolutely poverty-stricken! They just don't know it yet because they haven't had to foot the bills yet! But when they do & if their creditors ever clamp down on'm & say "Pay or else!", they're going to take a nosedive for the gutter & they're all going to be living on the streets!
45. But there our Family is in Japan--the richest country on Earth, the greatest economic power on Earth, where the people have money, not to burn, not even to spend, but instead they like to invest it & put it where it will bring dividends & it will bring profits & income! Smart people, the most saving people on the face of the Earth! They save more money there per capita than any other nation in the World! They don't spend it, they save it, & they've got it, & they've got it to give if our Family could get at'm & tell'm what to give to & for & why & get'm saved!
WHAT'S WRONG WITH JAPAN!--AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT!
46. You're just not reaching them, that's all! The Family in Japan is not reaching the Japanese, for some reason.--Why? Because you've gone for the easy money, the easy pennies, the easy Yen out on the streets where you can make a fast buck or a fast Yen in a hurry without any real preparation or planning or anything, just go & you can make it daily!--With no thought really for the future, no thought for what you're really there for! What are you there for? Just to sell Posters? Just to sell Tapes? Just to make enough to live? Is that what you're there for?
47. Aren't you supposed to be there to evangelise Japan? So if you're going to evangelise Japan, shouldn't you be trying to be getting to the best people, not just begging on the streets? Shouldn't you try to be going to the best people of Japan & trying to witness to them & win them to the Lord?
48. Let me tell you, if you had done it that way for all these years, the Family in Japan would not only be rolling in souls, you'd be rolling in dough, & wouldn't be third on the World list of Family accomplishments, ranking behind two of the poorest areas in the World, India & Latin America of all things! You ought to be ashamed of yourselves! You ought to be ashamed of yourselves to think that you're ranking behind India, a pagan, heathen, Hindu nation!
49. Religion is no excuse! You can't say, "But the Japanese are Buddhists!" & the Japanese are this & the Japanese are that, & "It makes it hard for us to reach them with Christian religion!" Well, so is India! They've even got worse religions in India! Hinduism is one of the worst! They've got over 14,000 different gods!
50. So, what's your excuse? You can't use religion as an excuse! "Well, the Japanese are pagans, they're heathen, they don't have a Christian culture like Latin America." Well, they might use that on Latin America, but let me tell you, the kind of Catholicism they've got in Latin America just about equals the kind of Buddhism they've got in Japan or Hinduism in India!
51. So what's your excuse? Why haven't you reached Japan? Why haven't you gone to the top? Apparently you just didn't have the right kind of people there that had the faith for it & had the vision for it & really saw who you ought to reach, & set your goals high & aimed for it & battled for it & went for it! You don't go for it, so you don't get it! My Lord help you!
52. When I heard about those clubs there, I instantly saw the tremendous potential! If our girls could do what they did with the top military, the officers of the military, the rich people of the Philippines, I knew what they could do with the captains of business & industry in Japan!--And they are doing it!
53. So there's something wrong with you Family in Japan! You're not going to the right people, that's obvious. Because it's harder to get in to see bigshots & influential men & bosses & corporation executives etc. It's a lot harder & takes more time, & you've got to be better dressed & you've got to have a little more wisdom, a little more sense & a little more power from the Lord & a little more prayer!
54. Or when you've made good contacts, you haven't followed up on them & fed them spiritually. You don't want to waste all that time on prayer & really getting the power of God & the faith of God & the vision of God to get in there & reach people that could be tremendous powers for the Lord! You'd rather fiddle around with trying to sell a few Posters & Tapes just to make a daily hand-to-mouth living!
55. You're day labourers! You don't think about the future! You just think about today, & "let's just get out there & sell a few things just to pay for our food today & hopefully maybe the rent will come in somehow"--& that's it! (Maria: It seems like even store-to-store & door-to-door there isn't very fruitful. There must be something else!) Yes! There is!
56. Well, you have reached a few top people & it has really paid off! And it has been more by the personal route, by getting in to businessmen somehow, getting in to those businesses some way. But it has taken time & effort & prayer & real vision & real wisdom! It's hard! It's difficult! It's slow! But once you get one, you've got one, & it pays off! (Maria: It seems like they've gotten many of their best friends through provisioning, the provisioning contacts.) There you are! They have gone to the people who have got it & have got something to give, & have persuaded them, in order to get food in their mouths!
57. You have got to have a purpose, you've gotta have a project, you've gotta have some kind of an appeal! And what better appeal could you have than a whole passel of little children tagging along behind you & "We need something to eat!" The people can see the need! Those businessmen, those produce men, those grocers can just look at those little kids & all those mouths to feed & know you need it! And those people have proven that they're willing to give it, if they can see the need, if the Family can prove to them the need. So the provisioning has been a real profitable ministry there, because the people can see you really need the food & they're willing to give it, & give it over & over again & for years!
58. So it's not because they're not willing to give. It's not because they can't see the need. It's because you people have only reached just those people, because you were desperate & willing to go & beg & ask & present your problem & your needs & your ministry & sell yourselves to those producemen & those grocery men etc. You have taken the time to develop & encourage & cultivate those friendships, which takes time & takes follow-up. And it's paid off!
59. (Maria: The people whose main ministry has been provisioning have usually gone with a national who interpreted for them, like a real nice-looking, very presentable man, a foreigner with a nice national girl who's very sweet & charming, as a team, & they've gone in & they've done real well.)
60. Well, that's why we want a survey of the Homes in Japan to see what's wrong! Is it the personnel, is it the lack of nationals? It's obviously a lack of being able to speak the language, most of you haven't even studied or tried to learn! How many of you have made a conscious, determined, diligent faithful effort to try to learn Japanese? You just haven't done it! That's another one of the major problems.
61. How are you going to witness to people who speak Japanese if you can't speak Japanese & you've only got one person in the whole Home who can speak Japanese, & they're busy out provisioning? How are you going to witness? And you're not going where you can find English-speaking Japanese! You're going on the streets where just the common people of course don't speak English.
62. How do you people who only speak English expect to witness at all to the Japanese, when you're not even going where the kind of people who would speak English are at? That takes the businessmen, the salesmen, the emissaries of corporations who have to travel to other countries who are able to speak enough English conversationally, to be able to witness to them.
63. But the Japanese people who can speak English apparently are rather rare & few & far between, & the Family are not going where they're at! They're at the top!--The top businessmen, executives, the people you ought to be reaching, & which our girls are now reaching in the clubs!
64. All right, I think we've pretty well covered the problem! Number one, you didn't bother to learn Japanese, so how the Hell do you ever expect to witness to the Japanese, other than depending on a few nationals, of which you don't have enough! You're never going to have enough if you still can't speak Japanese & can't witness to the Japanese after years in Japan!
65. But it's too late now to learn the language for most of you. The time is short, & you are going to have to try to find some people that speak English.--And they're there! You can find them, but it's going to take a little perseverance & pain & planning & prayer to reach them!--To be well-dressed & to go to the right places where you'll find the English-speaking Japanese businessmen. That's the field, & if you're not trying to reach that field, you might as well forget it, because you're not reaching the people who are really important & the people who can support you & protect you!
66. So that's what's wrong with Japan! Number two, you've been for the fast buck, the quick pocket change out on the sidewalk & on the street real fast to people who don't even know what they're buying or what for, but here's somebody asking for it & they've got a pretty picture, so all right. "Here are some of those American bums, those Ugly American poor hippies & foreigners that I'm sorry for, okay, I'll give'm a few Yen." That's what you've been doing, obviously.
67. And so you're now complaining because you've been taken off the streets! "Oh, that was our most profitable ministry, that's where we made our most money & the fastest & the quickest! We'd go out in one day & make so many thousand Yen, right away, quick, without any effort to speak of!" Yes, & without much planning or prayer or power or purpose or goal of who you want to reach, just anybody that passes down the street! Like the guy who said he had a date with a girl on the corner of Hollywood & Vine at 8 o'clock!
68. "Yeah? A starlet, somebody important, some beautiful girl?" "I don't know! How do I know who's going to be on the corner of Hollywood & Vine at 8 o'clock! I'm just going to be out there at 8 o'clock & anybody that passes by, I'll grab'm!"--That's been your plan & program! You've got a date with a girl on the corner of Hollywood & Vine--any girl!
69. So what are you gonna do about it? Are you gonna repent & go after the right Japanese who can really help you?--Or do we have to pull you out because you can't make it! You'd better decide now, or it'll be too late! God bless & help you!--In Jesus' name, amen!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
