Praying for Japan after the Earthquake
Our hearts are saddened at the damage caused by the massive 9.0 earthquake that rocked Japan to its core on March 10. The visual images of destroyed villages, imperiled nuclear plants, mountains of debris left by the tsunami–and the stories of personal tragedy as well as heroism–have touched our souls deeply. The 24/7 news coverage has etched the devastation indelibly upon our minds.
I was in Salt Lake City when the earthquake struck–involved in board meetings with the National Association of Evangelicals. We immediately went to prayer, and followed things closely throughout the entire day.
One of my favorite verses when confronting natural calamities is Isaiah 26:9 – “My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.”
This is a time for great learning in the Japanese nation. It is time for them to yearn for God during this time of “night.”
Here’s how we can pray and help them.
First of all, a personal reflection. I have been to Japan a number of times. My first visit was in the 1980s when I visited and taught in Osaka and Tokyo–a massive metropolitan area with millions of people. I was amazed how Japan had miraculously rebuilt its nation and economy after a crushing and humiliating defeat in World War II.
Yes, it was true that “Made in Japan” carried a stigma in the 60s and 70s. But by the 80s and 90s it stood for quality, innovation, hard work, self-reliance and the world’s third largest economy.
But below the successful surface was an unhappy nation that did not enjoy a robust relationship with the God who had blessed them.
For many centuries, Japan was a graveyard of Christian missions.
Here’s the quick history. In 1549, Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier was the first missionary to Japan. Under his ministry, many were converted and the church grew rapidly. But Japanese officials saw Christians as a threat, and severe persecution began. The opposition to Christianity grew. In cities like Unzen, Christians were boiled in volcanic lava. Others were crucified on wooden crosses in the town of Nagasaki. Japanese soldiers rounded up all known Christian in 1637, around thirty thousand of them, and killed each one.
Following this, the church went underground in hopes of protecting those who managed to survive. The church struggled for several years. However, by God’s grace the church survived. Faithful missionaries did not stop coming. They heard about the monstrous persecution and answered the call to minister to the few faithful believers who were left.
Japan now has only 1.7 million active Christians out of a total population of 126 million. Whereas neighboring South Korea is over 25% Christian, and Christian evangelism is exploding in nearby China, Japan remains, according to the Joshua Project, “the second largest unreached people group in the world.”
I hope that is about to change.
Let’s pray that God will use many means of compassion and restoration to bring scores of millions into his Kingdom in the coming years.
Maybe God can use an earthquake to bring a mighty revival to the nation of Japan.
According to one source, Japan is often overlooked as a country that is has little exposure to the gospel because it is a rich nation with a high standard of living. The high cost associated with living in Japan actually contribute to what keeps Japan as one of the most unreached countries in the 10/40 Window having a Christian population of less than one percent. Many missionaries from America to Asia fly right over Japan completely unaware of the lack of exposure to the gospel it has. Japan is one of the safest countries in the world to live but it is also one of the most spiritually dark. The following are just a few facts.
• There are about 7,800 protestant churches in Japan and the average church size is 35 people… that is one church for every 16,000 people.
• There are only about 270,000 people serving the Christian population of Japan. Thats one Christian for every 477 people.
• Nearly 80% of Japanese pastors are in their 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s with there not being many Japanese Christian men to replace them. In 15 years many Japanese churches will have few pastors.
• Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. More than 30,000 people have committed suicide each year for the past 13 years (about a 100 people a day or one every 15 minutes).
• Japan has 183,000 known cult groups registered with the government and is known by some as the cult capital of the world.
• Abortion is the most common form of birth control.
• Japan is the #1 provider of child pornography.
• Shinto & Buddhist world views prevail.
Due to Shinto & Buddhist world views Japan has over 8 million gods and almost every house has a little altar where food is offered, incense burnt, and prayers are offered to false gods. Japan quite possibly could have the highest concentration of demonic activity in the world in light of what the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:20, “what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not God.”
Japan is a very hard place to do ministry and help is needed to plow the soil. Having the world’s 3rd largest economy, significant political influence, and a resourceful and diligent population, Japan has tremendous potential to reach countries American missionaries have no access to in the 10/40 Window… should the Lord work in Japan as he has in other nations such as South Korea.
The Lord wants to reach the younger generation of Japanese. A 2001 poll on Japanese teens revealed that 85% wondered why they exist but only 13% percent believe they exist for a reason. 11% wish they never existed and some tragically contribute to the 100 people per day who commit suicide in Japan.
Jesus tells us “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”
Let’s pray for a revival among youth to sweep across Japan.
American pollster George Gallop, Jr., has an interesting perspective. He recently said about Japan:
“The findings of the study show that the [Japanese] populace is somewhat insular, uncomfortable with diversity and “outsiders”, and possibly, in some small degree, “racist”. In terms of reaching out to help others, the focus is primarily on one’s own family group and not on persons outside these groupings. Broader altruistic motives are not so apparent.”
“Most Japanese, judging by their responses to scales on happiness, are neither “very happy”, nor “very unhappy”. Their responses tend to fall between these two extremes. In earlier Gallup International surveys, responses for many nations fell more heavily in extreme positions than is the case in Japan.”
“While at least moderately happy, many Japanese seem resigned to being caught up in ‘the system’ or ‘the cycle of life’. There is a degree of fatalism in their somber mood. Teen’s perspectives on life tend to a sense of nihilism to an alarming degree. A note of hopelessness is found in the responses to a number of questions. And there is little evidence of eternal hope, although a considerable number do believe in some form of life afterlife.”
“Like much of the rest of the world, the Japanese tend to take relativistic view on ethical matters. There is little belief in ‘absolutes’, and this is true across the all-generational groups. In the ‘hierarchy of crimes’ (things that are wrong), those related to economic and family matters far outweigh those related to sexual activity.'”
“Seven in ten among adults, and half of teens, say they do not know enough about Christianity to express a favorable or unfavorable opinion about this religion. Corresponding, seven in ten adults, and half of teens say they do not know enough about the teachings of Jesus in order to give an evaluation.”
“In summary, then, we see challenges or obstacles to presenting the Gospel in a number of ways: in the insular feelings and somber mood and feelings of hopelessness of the Japanese people; in the relatively little importance they give to religion compared to other aspects of life, yet at the same time their attraction to other religions (namely Shinto and Buddhism) and “new religions”, as well as their attraction to the paranormal.”
“In some respects there seems to be a solid, impenetrable wall that could prevent the spread of the Gospel in Japan. Are there any possible openings in this wall? In seeking to reach people for Christ, the Christian message of hope and reassurance in times of darkness would likely be paramount.”
Japan has now entered such a season of darkness and trial . After years of self-sufficiency and the despair and death that it brings, we need to light up the Japanese nation with compassion, care, rebuilding and hope.
RescueNet, a YWAM Relief team out of Australia, is sending a team to Japan this week. If you are interested in supporting this outreach effort, please contact Josh Harmsworth at (360) 774-1181.
And let’s pray for Japan’s first great spiritual awakening as a result of the devastating earthquake.
It is could light up all of Asia in the 21st century.
“My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.”
An Actress, A Governor, and the Culture War
I remember when I first saw Natalie Portman’s picture. Our oldest son, Nathan, had just graduated from high school in 1999 and received his high school yearbook. As a joke, he pasted a photo of her next to his in the South Kitsap annual– as if she was in his graduating class!
He liked her then. She was a rising star.
In 2011, her stardom hit paydirt when she won her first Oscar as Best Actress for her performance in Black Swan. Her acceptance speech was short and seemed sincere–but one little sentence in it caused an old debate to re-surface:
How important is marriage to having children?
The answer to that question determines the overall happiness and stability of societies.
I hope we choose well in the 21st century.
Here are the actual words of Natalie Portman on February 27 at the Academy Awards:
“So many people helped me prepare for this role. Mary Helen Bowers spent a year with me, training me, Michelle Rodriguez and Kurt Froman and Olga Kostritzky, Marina Stavitskaya, and my beautiful love Benjamin Millepied, who choreographed the film and has now given me my most important role of my life.”
“Given me the most important role of my life.”
She was referring to the role of motherhood.
Natalie was clearly pregnant on stage–and also unmarried. She’s had sex (or was in some type of “relationship”) with Black Swan’s choreographer, Benjamin Millipied, and together they’d produced a baby.
In all thirteen generations of American history–except the last two–that reality would have been looked down upon as not ideal or desirable. Children were supposed to be born into marriages where both the presence of a mother and father was necessary and vital to to their nurture and future success.
But Natalie Portman is a part of a generation that no longer believes in the ideal–God’s order of things. She believes that sex or “love” is all that’s required to bring a child into the world.
Enter the Governor–former Governor Mike Huckabee–who is considered one of the leading presidential contenders for 2012. On a March 3rd talk show hosted by Jewish commentator and film critic, Michael Medved, Governor Huckabee shared his perspective on Ms. Portman’s example:
”You know, one of the things that’s troubling is that people see a Natalie Portman or some other Hollywood starlet who boasts of, ‘Hey look, you know, we’re having children, we’re not married, but we’re having these children, and they’re doing just fine.’ But there aren’t really a lot of single moms out there who are making millions of dollars every year for being in a movie.”
It’s true that Natalie Portman has more resources than most to raise her child out of wedlock. The Governor was right on that point. But he went on to say:
”Most single moms are very poor, uneducated, can’t get a job, and if it weren’t for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death and never have health care. And that’s the story that we’re not seeing.”
That is also a sobering truth. The largest single cause of poverty in America is single parent homes–children being born out of wedlock.
Then the Governor-and-possibly-presidential-candidate-Huckabee–shared some down right scary statistics:
“You know, right now, 75 percent of black kids in this country are born out of wedlock. 61 percent of Hispanic kids — across the board, 41 percent of all live births in America are out of wedlock births. And the cost of that is simply staggering.”
Let those stats sink in for a moment.
- Three out of four African-Americans that you know were born missing a dad or mom.
- Six out of ten Latinos are victims of single-parent homes.
- And nearly four-in-ten of all live births in the United States are children that will not grow up “normally” in the loving nurture and more-successful structure of a two parent home.
That’s a huge problem–for any society.
The Heritage Foundation rightly points out that:
“Couples who are married have a higher average household income, more assets, and better health than many of their single or cohabitating counterparts. Conversely, families that are headed by unmarried females make up more than half of all families living in poverty. And paychecks are not the only reason two parents are better. Research shows that ‘improvements in child well-being that are associated with marriage persist even after adjusting for differences in family income.’ With four of every 10 U.S. children now born outside of marriage and welfare spending skyrocketing—especially on single-parent households—policymakers and taxpayers can no longer afford to overlook the effects of family and marriage on civil society.”
This is an important discussion. And it’s not just about abstract statistics.
I am personally close to a situation right now where a young teenager is devastated and hurting. She lives with her mother but they don’t get along because of the brokenness of the home. She spends weekends at her father’s place–and cries. She goes back home to her mother–and doesn’t feel loved and protected.
She’s missing security and blessing because the nuclear family is not valued and encouraged.
But back to Mike Huckabee’s analysis. Governor Huckabee was not singling out Natalie Portman for ridicule or disrespect–just commenting on a national problem that she had brought to the forefront by her words at the Oscars. A few days after, he clarified his remarks:
“In a recent media interview about my new book, A Simple Government, I discussed the first chapter, ‘The Most Important Form of Government Is a Father, Mother, and Children.’ I was asked about Oscar-winner Natalie Portman’s out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Natalie is an extraordinary actor, very deserving of her recent Oscar and I am glad she will marry her baby’s father. However, contrary to what the Hollywood media reported, I did not ‘slam’ or ‘attack’ Natalie Portman, nor did I criticize the hardworking single mothers in our country. My comments were about the statistical reality that most single moms are very poor, under-educated, can’t get a job, and if it weren’t for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death. That’s the story that we’re not seeing, and it’s unfortunate that society often glorifies and glamorizes the idea of having children out of wedlock.”
For the past week Natalie Portman’s words and Mike Huckabee’s response have dominated the social media. One side has said that what Natalie Portman has done is okay–it’s modern, individualistic, and is nobody else’s business. The other side has retorted that it is not helpful to our society to popularize or condone having children outside of marriage. It only hurts the kids–and the entire society in which they live.
During my lifetime, this is the second major national discussion we’ve had on out-of-wedlock births. The first occured in 1992 when Vice President Dan Quayle made his famous remarks about ficticious TV single mom Murphy Brown–and the media escoriated him for it. At the time, Quayle was tarred and feathered as prudish, out-of touch, and bigoted for his criticism of single motherhood.
Years later, the press quietly admitted that Quayle had been right–and that the growing epidemic of single parent homes was a major problem in our nation.
Apparently we have short memories.
So I welcome the debate again in 2011. Because here’s the simple truth: Sex outside of marriage is not good for people; Having children out-of-wedlock hurts kids and increases poverty; We should not glamorize or condone single parenting; We should work hard to keep our marriages intact–a gift of love, security, and prosperity to our children and their children.
That’s the bottom line.
Elevate marriage and family–discourage its counterfeits.
We are in a culture war over the future of marriage and family. Natalie Portman currently represents the secular side that wants to minimize the importance of the nuclear family. I hear a “demonic echo” coming from that direction. Satan wants to destroy kids and inflict poverty and despair upon people. One of his greatest strategies is to bend and break the traditional family.
I ask you to pray for Natalie Portman and many others like her.
Mike Huckabee represents the other side–the Judeo-Christian consensus that believes that God has something vital to say on this subject. He loves all human beings–especially vulnerable children–and created the family structure to nurture, protect, and defend them. Governor Huckabee wants families and children to be strong, productive, and fruitful.
And now you know the real reason that this story hit the front pages. Mike Huckabee might run for president of the United States in 2012, just as Dan Quayle ran for Vice President in 1992. The secular media, who do not believe in the importance of marriage and family, saw this as a great opportunity to try and cut him down to size.
Let’s not let them succeed.
Mike Huckabee is right on marriage, single parenting, and out-of-wedlock births. I asked my wife to order his book, A Simple Goverment, for my birthday.
Maybe he’s right on a few other important ideas that are vital to America’s future.
The Obama Administration Comes Out of the Closet on Marriage
Barack Obama declared throughout the 2008 presidential campaign that “marriage was between one man and one woman.” During that same period, he expressed strong support for homosexuality and the right of homosexuals to civil unions and other benefits.
Many of us were confused by his stance. Was he trying to walk the fence–pleasing homosexuals on one hand by strongly supporting and encouraging their sexual rights–but also trying to capture Judeo-Christian voters by speaking up for traditional marriage? Or was he truly conflicted in his mind about whether homosexuals should be allowed to alter the five thousand year definition of marriage?
We do not know the man’s heart. But now we do know that he stands opposed to all forty-four presidents before him on the issue of marriage. We also know that he is neither a Christian or a Muslim on the subject. As I have stated for two years, in policy, he is a secularist. His position on marriage is not only anti-Christian, it is against the moral teachings of every major religion in the world.
Furthermore, we know that he is desperate to activate his base in order to win the 2012 presidential election. Because on February 23, the Obama Administration came out of the closet on marriage by saying they would no longer defend in court the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
By doing so they have thrown down the gauntlet on the most important moral issue of the 21st century.
This is a stunning development–worthy of our prayers and attention. For five millenia wise and civil societies have built their social fabric on the God-given concept that the joining together of a man and a woman in the blessing and protection of marriage is essential to stable societies and the nurturing of children.
Only one worldview–atheism/secularism–which accepts no moral absolutes–has ever rationalized the crucial nature and definition of the marriage relationship.
The secularists in Europe have made vast inroads on this issue over the past forty years. Homosexual marriage has been growing steadily in popularity there. Now America, once the world’s most Christian and free nation, is following the European path to dissolving the sanctity of marriage.
We now know that the 2012 US Presidential election will not just be about our economic woes or uncertainty in the Middle East.
The issue of marriage will be front and center.
Marriage must be saved.
The secularist assault on morality must be stopped.
The New York Times said about the president’s about-face: “Although President Obama drew much criticism from gay righ advocates during his first two years for dragging his feet on their most important issues, they now see him shifting his positions as he looks at the 2012 elections. The president has calculated that the benefits of responding to his base out weigh the risks of upsetting conservatives who wouldn’t vote for him anyway. The president’s views on homosexual marriage are ‘evolving.'”
This is why the response to the Obama Administration’s coming out of the closet on marriage brought such swift and powerful reaction from the people of faith.
I am a board member of the National Association of Evangelicals–the largest consortium of Christian leaders and churches in America. Following the Obama Administration’s about-face on marriage, NAE President Leith Anderson issued this statement to our members:
“We are at a crossroads in the fight to defend traditional marriage. Attorney General Holder’s announcement on Feb. 23 that the administration will no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in federal court is a break with the time honored tradition in which the Justice Department works to uphold laws passed by Congress. Congress now needs to step in and hire its own lawyers to defend traditional marriage—IF we can convince them to do so. Congress must act within 30 days, or it will lose the right to defend DOMA in the courts.”
“Traditional marriage is fundamental to healthy families and a healthy society. This is a critical moment! Let’s flood Congress with calls and letters, asking them to act now to defend traditional marriage. The NAE has a new website where you can go to find the names and addresses of your legislators: www.nae.net/advocacy. You can write them directly from our site! I encourage you to take a minute to do so right now.”
I am grateful of Leith Anderson’s leadership. I encourage to respond to his trumpet call to action.
The highly respected Heritage Foundation also chimed in on the need to save the institution of marriage. Here is their sobering message:
“This Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder sent his own version of a “Dear John” letter to the Speaker of the House, informing him that President Barack Obama’s Justice Department will no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in federal court. The letter clearly states that the decision was personally made by the President himself, who, supposedly just this week, came to the conclusion that DOMA violates “the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment” of the U.S Constitution. This purely partisan act is completely consistent with both President Obama’s unprecedented politicization of the Justice Department and the same-sex marriage movement’s end-run around for democracy.”
“DOMA was enacted by overwhelming majorities of both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996. DOMA has two core provisions. First, it defines the words marriage, spouse, husband, and wife wherever they appear in the U.S. Code as referring only to the union of a man or a woman. Second, it defends the right of each state not to be forced to accept the redefinition of marriage in a handful of other states as a result of state court decisions or laws. Nearly 40 states have enacted state-level DOMAs, and 31 have embraced traditional marriage in their state constitutions. No state’s voters have ever voted to the contrary.”
“President Obama knows all of this. He also knows that his Administration’s litany of failures (unemployment above 8 percent, Guantanamo still open, exploding debt, etc.) has weakened him politically. By now asserting that there is no rational case for defending marriage as the union of one man and one woman, President Obama is echoing the claims of same-sex marriage advocated who portray the defenders of traditional marriage as irrational and bigoted. Nothing could be further from the truth. As Heritage Foundation Senior Research Fellow Chuck Donovan explains, defense of traditional marriage is not only rational but a cornerstone of civil society:”
“‘Marriage is the cornerstone in an archway of values that form the constitution of the family and the foundation of civil society. To its advocates as an institution with a pre-political meaning, it is not an entity created by the state but rather one recognized by the state. It is not about one family, but the coming together of two families, whose role in begetting and bearing children make them not merely part of a community but the creators of community. The community they create is not time-bound, but existing across generations. … What is at stake is the whole task of society to ensure that as many children as possible are raised by their mothers and fathers.'”
“There is one silver lining in the President’s decision to call the vast majority of Americans who believe in traditional marriage bigots: Congress now has the opportunity to offer a real defense of marriage in court. Up to this date, the Obama Administration’s fraudulent defense of DOMA in federal court has been characterized by even supporters of same-sex marriage as “collusive litigation.” Congress should defend its rights as a co-equal branch of government under the United States Constitution and fight for marriage.”
“This does not mean that Congress needs to vote on DOMA again. DOMA is still good law. It does mean that Congress needs to act to make sure DOMA has effective and aggressive defense in court. Members of Congress, should seek to intervene in the case to assure that DOMA gets the vigorous defense that should be afforded to all federal statutes for which reasonable legal arguments may be offered—and that the President is refusing to provide.”
As Heritage points out, not only has the president turned his back on traditional marriage–the backbone of American society–but he has also chosen to selectively enforce the laws of the land–a direct affront to his oath of office. This greatly weakens the traditional strength of our three branches of government.
The Obama Administration wants to dictate to the US Supreme Court and Congress.
The Family Research Council also decried the administration’s position:
“Family Research Council condemned the decision today by President Obama that the U.S. Justice Department will abdicate its responsibility and no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court. The Defense of Marriage Act, (DOMA) enacted overwhelmingly by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton in 1996, is currently under attack in the courts.”
“Family Research Council President Tony Perkins made the following comments regarding the decision: ‘This decision by President Obama and the Department of Justice is appalling. The President’s failure to defend DOMA is also a failure to fulfill his oath to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States. What will be the next law that he will choose not to enforce or uphold?’
“‘Marriage as a male-female union has been easily defended in court and overwhelmingly supported by the American people. There is absolutely no excuse beyond pandering to his liberal political base for President Obama’s decision to abandon his constitutional role to defend a federal law enacted overwhelmingly by Congress.'”
“‘With this decision the President has thrown down the gauntlet, challenging Congress. It is incumbent upon the Republican leadership to respond by intervening to defend DOMA, or they will become complicit in the President’s neglect of duty,’ concluded Perkins.”
If you do not believe that we are truly in a fight for the heart and soul of our civilization, then you need to think again.
The battle for slavery was the great moral issue of the 19th century. We won–after a bloody Civil War. Abortion was the greatest moral evil of the latter part of the 20th century. We are getting close to reversing it–and saving the lives of millions of children.
In the 21st century, the pillar of marriage is weak, crumbling, and about to be re-defined. This will produce disastrous consequences to us, our children, and our grandchildren if we allow its demise.
I ask you pray, make phone calls, and rise up to strengthen and re-establish the institution of marriage in your nation. Start with your own. get active in your state and nation.
The Obama Administration has come out of the closet on marriage.
We must repent of our apathy, seek God’s forgiveness, and through his strength and guidance–put this looming danger back into the shadows where it properly belongs.