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本当にノアの箱船と大洪水はあったのでしょうか？

ケン・ハム

2014年10月転載
本当にノアの箱船と大洪水はあったのでしょうか？
著作権©2005 Answers in Genesis -US, Answers in Genesis USA -「不許複製」。 本書のいかなる部分も、出版社の書面による許可なく、いかなる方法でも使用または複製することはできません。 大量注文価格につきましてはご要望に応じてご相談下さい。

詳細については、Answers in Genesis, PO Box 510 Hebron KY 41048, USA にお手紙ください。
印刷地　日本
翻訳はJames Arendt による

聖書に登場するノアと箱船の記述は、人類の歴史を通して最も広く知られている出来事の一つです。 残念なことに、他の聖書の記述同様、それらも単なるおとぎ話と受け取られがちです。

しかし聖書は、真正な全人類の歴史の本なのです。 この視点に立って、最もよく質問されるノアの箱船と大洪水に関して、権威と自信をもってきちんと答えることができるのです。

ノアの箱船の大きさは？

その造りは次のとおりである。すなわち箱船の長さは三百キュビト、幅は五十キュビト、高さは三十キュビトとし、（創世記６章１５ 節）

よく描かれるノアの箱船は、屋形船のような形（例えば、キリンの首が屋根から突き出ている）ですが、聖書に書かれている箱船はこれとは違い、巨大な船でした。 比較的最近（1800年代後半）まで、ノアの箱船の容量を超える船は造られませんでした。

多くの近代的な海洋船と比較しても、ノアの箱船の大きさは今日でも印象的です。長さ１３７メートル、幅２３メートル、高さ１４メートルです。1 これらの３つの数字をかけると、ノアの箱船は約４万４１１０立方メートルという大容量を持つ巨大な船であった事がわかります！

オハイオ州シンシナティ近郊にある創造博物館での驚くほど素晴らしい展示のひとつは、箱船の建造をテーマにしています。

現代のコンテナ船には、高さ ２．４メートル、幅 ２．４メートル、長さ １２．２メートルの同じ形状のコンテナが積載されます。 ノアの箱船にはそのようコンテナを５００以上も積むことができた可能性があります。

ノアの箱船の幅・長さ・高さは、現代の貨物船と同じ比率です。

ノアはどのようにしてすべての動物を箱船に乗せることができたのでしょう？

「ノアの箱船：実現可能性の研究」の著者John Woodmorappe（ジョンウッドモラッペ）は、神が創造された種類を保存するのに必要な動物の数は、最大でも16,000種類であると述べています。

またすべての生き物、すべての肉なるものの中から、それぞれ二つずつを箱船に入れて、あなたと共にその命を保たせなさい。それらは雄と雌とでなければならない。 （創世記 6章 19 節）

箱船はあらゆる種類の動物を運ぶ必要はなく、神もそのようには命じませんでした。 箱船には、空気を吸う地上に住む獣、はうもの、鳥だけが乗せられました。 水生生物（魚、クジラ、ハマグリなど）、昆虫、および多くの両生類は、箱船の外で十分な数が生き残っていた可能性があります。そのため、箱船に乗る必要があった動物の総数は大幅に少なくなります。

動物に必要なスペースを大幅に減らすもう1つの要因として、ノアの時代には動物の「種」が今日のように驚異的な多様性を見せてはいませんでした。動物が地上に再び繁殖するためには、「種」よりも上位の「種類」に相当する動物だけを、箱船に乗せる必要がありました。2 例えば、今日存在するすべての犬種が出現するには、ひとつがいの犬しか必要なかったのです。

創造論者は、箱船に乗せる必要があった動物の最少数を、１万６０００匹～３万５０００匹と見積もっています。

ノアはどのように箱船を造船できたのか？

聖書は、ノアとその息子たちが自分で箱船を造ったとは書いていません。ノアが熟練した労働者を雇ったかも知れません。 だから、わずか数年でノアと息子たちが箱船を造ることなどできないと考える理由はありません。

ノアの時代の人の体力と精神機能は、少なくとも私たちと同等でしたし、もしかしたらそれ以上だったかも知れません。 当時の人間は確かに植林や伐採するための効率的な手段を持っていただけでなく、箱船に必要な巨大な梁と板を加工し、運搬し、造船するための効率的な手段を持っていたに違いありません。

１－２人の男性だけで今日１２週間で大きな家を建てることができます。もし３－４人の男性が数年間働けばどれだけ多くの仕事ができるでしょう？ アダムの子孫たちは、複雑な楽器を作り、金属を鍛造し、都市を造りました。彼らの道具、機械、技術は、現在私達が使用しているものと同じくらい優れていたのです。3

太古の文明の「謎」を調べていると、ノアの大洪水前の人類の知識の量は今日の人類と同じかも知れないし、より多かったかも知れません。 古代の人々が私たちよりも原始的であったという考えは、チャールス・ダーウィンの進化論に由来するものにすぎないのです。

実際には、神がアダムを創造した時、アダムは完全でした。6000年前に神の道徳を破ったことによって、今日の人間の知性は衰えてしまいました。しかしながら、コンピュータ（過去60年間に設計され生産された道具）は、私たちの精神的処理能力の自然な低下に対して多くを補っています。 コンピュータは、今までにも増して、情報を集め保存することを可能にしました。

ノアは恐竜をどのように箱船に乗せたのでしょう？

ほとんどの恐竜はそんなに大きくはありません。あるものは鶏くらいの大きさでした。また、 ほとんどの進化論者は、恐竜は鳥から進化したと主張していますが、恐竜は鳥とは全く関連がありません！ 科学者は、恐竜の平均的な大きさは実際には羊程度であると考えています。 もちろん、すべての恐竜は、幼い時はとても小さいのす。

おそらく成獣になっていない状態のティラノサウルス・レックスが、箱船に乗せていました。（創造博物館には、この恐竜の動く模型が多くの他の恐竜と共に展示されています。）

例えば、神は、２頭の成獣の竜脚類恐竜ではなく、ノアに２頭の若い竜脚類恐竜（例えば、アパトサウルス）を連れてきたでしょう。 象、キリン、またはそういった非常に大きくなる他の動物も同じです。 しかし、たとえすべての動物の成獣が乗せたとしても箱船には十分な余裕がありました。

異なるタイプの恐竜の数については、これまでに発見された恐竜の「種」には数百の名前がありますが、おそらく実際には約５０の異なる「種類」があると言えるでしょう。

どのようにしてノアはたくさんの動物を集められたのでしょう？

すなわち、鳥はその種類にしたがい獣はその種類にしたがい、また地のすべての這うものも、その種類にしたがって、それぞれ二つずつ、あなたのところに入れて、命を保たせなさい。（創世記６章 ２０ 節）

この聖句はノアが動物を探したり遠く離れた場所を旅したりする必要がなかったことを伝えています。 創世記１章に基づいて、ほとんどの創造論者は、大洪水の前に大陸が１つしかなかったと信じています。 動物は単に「帰郷本能」（創造主によって動物に植え付けられた行動）によって呼び出され、箱船の傾斜台を登りました！

これは超自然的な出来事（人知では計り知れないもの）ですが、神に出来ないことではありません。今日でさえ、私たちは神の創造に見られる動物の素晴らしい習性、すなわちカナダのガンや他の鳥の渡り、モナーク蝶の飛行、クジラと魚の年ごとの回遊、冬眠の本能、地震への感受性、そして 神の動物王国の数え切れないほどの魅力的な能力は人間の知識を遥かに超えています。

大洪水はおよそ４５００年前でしたが、それ以前に、恐竜はもうすでに絶滅していたのではありませんか？

神の創造の記述（創世記１章と２章で述べられています）は、地上に住むすべての生き物が、神がアダムとイブを造ったのと同じ日、創造週の６日目に造られたと教えています。 それゆえ、恐竜（陸生動物）は人間と同じ時に生きていたことは明らかです。

また、あらゆる種類の陸生動物のうちの２匹 （雄と雌）（一部の動物のうちの７組）が箱船に乗りました。陸生動物種のどれも既に大洪水の前に絶滅したと信じる理由はどこにもありません。 さらに、ヨブ記の「ベヒモス」（第４０章）の記述は、竜脚類恐竜以外の何ものでもありません。ですから「ベヒモス」の祖先は、箱船に乗っていたはずです。

ノアはすべての動物をどのように世話をしたのでしょう？

神が超自然的手段で動物を箱船に連れてきたのと同じように、神は確かにこの驚くべきイベントの為に動物に忍耐する能力を与えられました。 創造を信じる科学者たちは、今日、多くの種に見られるように、神が動物に冬眠する能力を与えたことを示唆しています。 ほとんどの動物は生き残るために計画的な方法で自然災害に反応します。 箱船にいる多くの動物は、恐らく神によって超自然的に誘引されて冬眠した可能性があるのです。

箱船の造船中にその中を歩いたなら、水と食糧の貯蔵と供給のための船内の独創的なシステムに間違いなく驚くことでしょう。 著者ジョンウッドモラッペは、その著書 「ノアの箱船：実現可能性の研究」で説明していますが、現在の小規模な農家は非常に狭い場所で何千頭もの牛や他の家畜を飼うことができます。 箱船には、少数の人々が給水から汚物の掃除まで、動物を飼育し、世話することを可能にするあらゆる種類の装置が備えられていたことを容易に想像できます。

ウッドモラッペは、１万６０００匹の動物を８人の人が世話するのに、特別な装置は必要ありませんでした。 しかし、特別な装置があれば、どのように動力が供給されたでしょうか？ あらゆる可能性があります。 重力はどうでしょう？ 風は？ そして箱船の動きは？ ノアにはあらゆる技術の知識があったのかも知れません。

大洪水はどのようにすべての生き物を滅ぼすことできたのか？

地の上に動くすべて肉なるものは、鳥も家畜も獣も、地に群がるすべての這うものも、すべての人もみな滅びた。 すなわち鼻に命の息のあるすべてのもの、陸にいたすべてのものは死んだ。（創世記 ７章 ２１ー２２ 節)

ノアの大洪水は、40日間暴風雨が続くよりもはるかに破壊的でした。 聖書によれば、「大いなる淵の源」は、ことごとく裂けました。 すなわち、地震、火山噴火、によって地殻から出てくる溶岩流や間欠泉の熱湯が噴出したと言うことです。 しかもこれらの噴出は、大洪水の始まりから１５０日目まで止みませんでした。 – そのため、地球は文字通り約5ヶ月間水中で激変していたのです！

比較的近年、人間が記録した局地的洪水、火山の噴火、地震は、生命と土地にかなりの破滅をもたらしていますが、これらは神が最初に造った完璧な地球を破壊した世界規模の大激変と比較すると、小さなものです。箱船に乗せていなかったすべての陸生動物（および人々）は、大洪水によって破壊されました。その数十億は今日私たちが見るおびただしい化石記録（大洪水による）として保存されてきました。

大洪水の水はどこから来たのですか？

それはノアの六百歳の二月十七日であって、その日に大いなる淵の源は、ことごとく破れ、天の窓が開けて、 雨は四十日四十夜、地に降り注いだ。(創世記７章 １１ー１２ 節)

聖書は、水は地下と地上の2つの源から来たと教えています。 明らかに、地下からの水の供給源は、火山や地震活動によって開いた淡水の巨大な地底湖でした。 地底湖はおそらく、エデンの庭の川や、大洪水以前の地球の残りの部分に水を供給していたでしょう。

大洪水の水はどこに行ったのでしょう？

聖書を信じていない地質学者でさえ示唆しているいるように、大陸はかつて「陸続き」であり、今日のように広大な海で隔てられてはいなかったように思われます。 大洪水には地形を変えるのに十二分な力がありました。 聖書は、神が海盆を形成し、陸地を水よりも高く持ち上げて大洪水の水が安全な場所に戻ったことを示しています。 （神学者によっては、第 104篇がこの出来事を指しているのではないかと考えています。）創造を支持する科学者にも、大陸が分かれたことが、大洪水が起こる原因となったメカニズムの一部だと考えてる人たちがいます。

ノアの大洪水が起きたという証拠は地球のどこにありますか？

すなわち、彼らはこのことを認めようとはしない。古い昔に天が存在し、地は神の言によって、水がもとになり、また、水によって成ったのであるが、 (第二ペトロ３章５節)

地上には、海底から山頂までノアの大洪水の証拠があります。 車、電車、または飛行機のどれで旅をしても、地形の物理的特徴は、峡谷やクレーターから炭鉱や洞窟まで、過去の破壊の跡を明白に示しています。

地殻の約７５％は堆積岩です。 これらの砂や土などでできた地層は、主に水中で堆積し、かつては泥のように柔らかかったものが、現在では石のように硬くなっています。 これらの堆積層には、数十億の死骸（植物や動物の化石）がみるみるうちに埋もれています。
地球上のあらゆる痕跡が全ての人にさらされている！

現在ノアの箱船はどこにありますか？

箱船は七月十七日にアララテの山にとどまった。 （創世記 ８章４節）

箱船は現代のトルコのアララテ山の辺りの山々に漂着しました。（聖書は実際の山を特定していません）。多くの探検隊がそこで箱船を探しました。 箱船の場所や存在についての決定的な証拠はありません。結局のところ、約４５００年前に山地に漂着し、単に劣化して壊れてしまった可能性もあります。

しかし、ある科学者や聖書学者は、箱船が実際に保存されている可能性があると思っています。おそらく、過去の裁きと来るべき裁きを思い出させるためであろうと。

なぜ神はご自分の創造した地球を破壊したのですか？

主は人の悪が地にはびこり、すべてその心に思いはかることが、いつも悪い事ばかりであるのを見られた。（創世記 ６章５節 ）

この聖句は明白に語っています。 ノアとその妻および息子とその妻を除いて、地上のすべての人は、神の道徳に違反し、暴力と堕落から立ち返ることを拒否しました。その 結果は神の裁きでした。 それは破滅に至るほど厳しいもので、誰一人言い訳はできませんでした。

神はまた、大洪水を使って、神を信じなかった者と神を信じる者を分け、その信じる者の心をきよめました。 歴史と聖書を通して、この繰り返しの一連の出来事は何度も起きました。分離ときよめ。 裁きと救いです。

神がいなければ、また世界の真の歴史が記された聖書の理解と真の知識がなければ、人は何度も何度も同じ過ちを繰り返すことになります。

キリストは箱船のようではありませんか？

人の子は、滅びる者を救うためにきたのである。（マタイによる福音書 １８章１１節）

神の御子、主イエス・キリストは箱船のようです – イエスは滅びる者を尋ね出して救うために来ました。 ノアと彼の家族が箱船に乗り、大洪水の水から神によって救われたように、イエスを主であり救い主であると信じる者は、人類の最終的な裁きから救われます。 最後の日に地球を破壊する火から神によって救済されます。

ノアとその家族は、救われるために箱船の扉を通って中へ入らなければなりませんでした。 ですから、私たちも、救われるために、永遠に神から離れないように、「扉」を通って行かなければなりません。 神の御子、イエスは、神に対して反抗する者達の罰を背負うために歴史に足を踏み入れました。 イエスは言われた、「わたしは門である。わたしをとおってはいる者は救われ、また出入りし、牧草にありつくであろう。」（ヨハネによる福音書１０章９節）

良き知らせ

Answers in Genesis (AiG)の目的は、創造主である神に栄光と栄誉を帰し、世界と人類の真の起源と歴史に関する聖書の記録の真実を証言することを目指しています。

この真の歴史の一部には、最初の人であるアダムが神の命令に反抗したが故に、人類に死と苦しみ、そして神からの断絶をこの世界にもたらしたという悪い知らせがあります。
私たちの周りにもその結果を見ることができます。アダムのすべての子孫は、生まれた時から罪の性質をもっています。（詩篇51：5）私たち自身にこの神への反抗心（罪、神の道徳的な規則を破ること）があります。したがって、聖なる神と共に生きることが出来ず、神から離れてしまっていると告げられてしまったのです。聖書には、「すなわち、すべての人は罪を犯したため、神の栄光を受けられなくなっており」と書いてあります。（ローマ人への手紙 第 ３ 章２３節）

しかし良い知らせとは、私たちが罪に定められることがないように神が取り計らってくださった、と言うことです。「神はそのひとり子を賜わったほどに、この世を愛して下さった。それは御子を信じる者がひとりも滅びないで、永遠の命を得るためである。 」（ヨハネによる福音書 ３章１６節）

創造主であるイエス・キリストは、全く罪がないのに、私たちの為に身代わりとして罰を受けてくださいました。私たちが罪の故に受けるはずの罰とは、魂の死、そして神との断絶です。イエス・キリストは、父なる神のきよさと正義を全うするために私たちの身代わりに罰を受けてくださいました。 イエスは私たちの代わりに完璧な神へのいけにえとなって下さったのです。 イエス・キリストは十字架にかけられ、殺されましたが、三日目に死人の中から甦り、死を征服しました。ですから真の意味でイエスを神の子または救い主として信じる人は、神の道徳と規則を破るという罪を悔い改める事によって、（彼ら自身の益の為にではなく）創造主のもとに立ち返って創造主と共に永遠に生きることが出来るのです。

だから、「彼を信じる者は、さばかれない。信じない者は、すでにさばかれている。神のひとり子の名を信じることをしないからである。」（ヨハネによる福音書 ３章１８節）

何と素晴らしい救い主、 そして、私たちの創造主であるキリストの何と素晴らしい救い！

連絡先については裏表紙をご覧ください。また、創世記の最初の節（６０００千年前の天地創造と地球全体を覆うノアの大洪水を含む）聖書の正確さと権威を受け入れる牧師がいる聖書信仰教会に連絡してください。

この小冊子の多くの部分は、すでに廃版となっている、Ken HamとMark Dinsmoreによって共著されたパンフレットから抜粋されました。他のいくつかのセクションはThe New Answers Book 1からのものです。

ノアの箱船と大洪水の魅力的なトピックは、ケンタッキー州北部（シンシナティ空港の近く）のAiG創造博物館の主要テーマです。詳細はwww.creationmuseum.orgをご覧ください。

１. キュビトの一般的に認められている寸法は約４６センチですが、最大５３センチの大きさである場合があります。

２. これは一つの例です：ミニチュアプードルからセントバーナードまで、今日では２００品種以上の犬が存在します。これらの犬はいずれも最初の犬の種類の子孫です。他のすべての動物の種類 – 猫、馬、牛 など-も同様に、自然に、「種類」内で繁殖し今日のすばらしい「種」へと分化しました。

神は、すべての動物の種類にも、人間にも、この種類内の変化を遺伝暗号に「プログラム」しました。神はまた、動物の基本的な「種類」が他の「種類」同士で交配して繁殖するのを不可能にしました。 例えば、猫や犬は交配して新しい種類の動物を造る事はできません。 これは神の計画であり、ダーウインの進化論が不可能である一つの事実です。

３. 証拠に関しては、Dr. Donald ChittickによるThe Puzzle of Ancient Man （古代人のパズル）を参照してください。

４. 恐竜が比較的最近まで生きていたという顕著な証拠については、The Great Dinosaur Mystery Solved（偉大な恐竜の謎が解決された）を読んでください。または、ティラノサウルス・レックスの骨に柔らかい組織や血管の発見に関する魅力的な記事を探してください。 ティラノサウルス・レックスはおそらく最近まで生きていたことを示す素晴らしい証拠です！ www.answersingenesis.orgを参照してください。

５. 地球ができてから何十億年も経っていないという説得力のある証拠については、John Morris博士のThe Young Earth （ヤング・アース）を読んでください。

エベレスト山の高さは８キロ以上です。 そうだとしたら、どのようにして、大洪水は「天の下の高い山々を皆」覆うことができたのでしょうか？ 聖書は「高い丘(high hills)」のみを指しています。現在の山々は、プレートの衝突とそれに伴う隆起によって、大洪水の終焉に向かって形成されました。エベレスト山の最上部を形成する層には、それ自体が化石を含む堆積層で形成されています。それこそが証拠です。

追加の読書：

The New Answers Book （新しい解説書） – ケン・ハム（Ken Ham） と他の著者。

質問シリーズの他の小冊子：

EtsとUFOは本当ですか？ – Dr. Jason Lisle
本当に神はいますか？ – Ken Ham （ケン・ハム）
６日間か何百万年間か？ – Ken Ham （ケン・ハム）
恐竜に本当に何が起こったのですか？ – Ken Ham（ケン・ハム）
カインはどこから妻を見つけたのですか？ – Ken Ham（ケン・ハム）
「人種」はどこから来たのですか？ – Ken Ham（ケン・ハム）
なぜ死と苦しみがあるのですか？ – Ken Ham（ケン・ハム）と Mark Looy （マーク・ルーイ）編集者
どのようにキリスト教徒は 「ゲイ」結婚に応答すべきですか？ – Ken Ham（ケン・ハム）

外国語の翻訳

上記の資料の中には、他の言語でも入手可能なものがあります。 詳細は最寄りのAiGの支部にお問い合わせください。

東京に住んでいる英語を勉強したい方は、「マギの英会話 英語教室-初心者の方ご安心を」にしてください。

Pastor David J Meyer

Where did it all come from? October 31st is a day of ghosts, witches, goblins, and grotesque creatures. It is also a day of orange and black, of candles and jack-o-lanterns. Costume parties and strange customs occupy the minds of western civilization, and all of this seems to be intensifying every year. Children wearing every kind of costume imaginable, and some unimaginable, have been going for door to door for years at the end of October saying “trick or treat” and collecting bags full of treats. In recent years, many people have been decorating their yards as cemeteries and making their houses look spooky. Even churches have Halloween parties and set up “haunted houses” as fund raising projects. Where did it all come from, and what does it all mean? Most people would say it is all harmless fun. Some would venture to say, “If there is any witchcraft in it, it is white witchcraft.” In order to truly answer both of the questions where did it come from and what does it mean, we must go clear back to the origin of it all.

Halloween has its origin in the British Isles about 1300 years ago. In those days, there were many men and women who practiced a so-called “nature religion” known as Wicca. (The word “Wicca” means “wise ones.” The word “witch” is derived from “Wicca.”) The witches worked their spells and magic as individuals or sometimes in groups of 13 known as Covens. Sometimes the witches and wizards worked as a triumvirate or power of three. The female Wiccan was known as a witch, and the male Wiccan was known as a wizard. The word “warlock” was not used by witches to identify themselves. It is actually a Scotch-Gaelic word that means “traitor.” Satanists use the word “warlock.”

The Wiccans were worshippers of the “Earth Mother”, the sun, the moon, and stars. Witches do not believe in Satan. The Wiccans or witches meet every Friday night at a gathering called an “esbat.” They draw a magic circle with a six-pointed star in it called a “hexagram”, from which we get the word “hex.” The coven of 13 stand “sky clad” or naked in the hexagram and work spells by chanting and doing rituals such as “drawing down the moon.” The full moon is sacred to witches, especially if it is on a Friday. It is considered to be even greater if the Friday is the 13th day of the month.

Eight times each year, the witches celebrated a sabat and the ritual work and spell casting was always done on the eve of the sabat. The sabats are Imbolc on February 2nd, the spring equinox on March 22nd, Beltaine on May 1st, the summer solstice on June 22nd, Lugnahsaid on July 31st, the fall equinox on September 22nd, Samhain on October 31st, and the winter solstice on December 22nd, which is also known as Yule.

Witches have special ways of celebrating for each sabat, and even though they do not believe in Satan, it is Satan who gives them the experiences they have and deceives them into thinking it is the forces of nature they are tapping into. Halloween is the most important of the eight sabats in witchcraft and is known to the witches by the Scotch-Gaelic word “Samhain”, which is pronounced “SOW-EEN.” It is believed that on that night, the barrier between this world and the next, known as the astral plane, becomes very thin. The witches believe that this allows spirits of departed ones to travel freely back and forth between the earth and the spirit realm. Thus, Halloween is the highest day in Wiccan witchcraft. On that night for many centuries, witches would work their magic and then have wild parties all through the darkness of that night. They would play games, such as bobbing for apples, because witches regard the apple as sacred. The witches would also tell stories from their personal diaries of spells known as their “book of shadows.” These ghost stories would start when the hosting High Priest or Priestess would say, “A witches’ tale and a cup of ale for the host of our guests unseen.”

In those early days in England, there was another kind of witchcraft known as Druidism. The Druids were called “men of the oaks” and were a strange clan of men who dressed in white robes. The Druids worshipped Cernnunos, the “horned hunter of the night.“ Halloween was sacred to the Druids because their sun-god receded to the underworld on October 31st, which is why darkness increased and light decreased according to their reckoning.

As darkness set in on October 31st, the clan of Druids would put on their white robes and hoods. They would carry sickles and Celtic crosses as they began a torchlight procession. At the beginning of the procession, a male slave was killed and dragged by a rope fastened to his left ankle. The Druids would walk until they came to a house or a village where they shouted the equivalent of “trick or treat.” The treat was a slave girl or any female to be given to the Druids. If the people refused to a girl as a “treat”, blood was taken from the dead slave and used to draw a hexagram or six-pointed star on the door or wall of the village. Spirits of the “horned hunter of the night” were invoked by the Druids to kill someone in that house or village by fear that night.

If the house or village gave a girl as a “treat”, the Druids put a pumpkin with a face carved in it in front of the door or gate of that place. Inside the pumpkin was a candle made of human tallow to keep evil spirits away. Thus, the Jack-O-Lantern was and is a sign that you have cooperated with Satan.

The treats or female victims were taken to Stonehenge where they were raped and killed and then sacrificed on the sacred bonefire until only glowing embers were left. The “bonefire” is the origin of the modern day bonfire. As a matter of luck for winter survival, all villagers were expected to use the glowing embers of the bonefire to light their hearths.

As we can clearly see, Halloween is not harmless. Satan has people in our modern era mimicking the witches and Druids of old. All of this is cursed of God. We live in a time when witchcraft is being revived. Movies are filled with witchcraft and numerous television programs such as “Charmed” are teaching witchcraft to millions. The Harry Potter books are likewise furthering the cause of Satan! Halloween is no joke and is not harmless fun! This evil holiday has no part in the life of a Christian. The Roman Catholic Church borrowed Halloween from the witches, which shows how blind they are. May God help you as you read this tract to avoid Halloween and warn others that it is strictly the invention of Satan and can never be anything but evil of the first magnitude!

Pastor David J. Meyer
(A former astrologer and occultist)

Related Bible Verses:

Deuteronomy 18:9 –12
Galatians 5:19 – 21
Revelation 9:21
Revelation 21:8

Published By:
Last Trumpet Ministries International
PO Box 806
Beaver Dam, Wisconsin 53916

http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org

In midsummer Japan holds public festivals which are called in Japanese Omatsuri. One of the ceremonies in the festival is when men dressed in traditional Japanese garments carry an ornamental box that sits on two poles. The box is called Omikoshi. They carry the Omikoshi passing spectators while bouncing it up and down as everybody chants, “Wa shoi! Wa shoi! wa shoi! … ” over and over! You can hear it in the YouTube below:

This word doesn’t even sound like a typical Japanese word. Most Japanese people do not know what it means. I heard it’s from Hebrew meaning “Let’s carry”

In the photos, you can see four men carrying the Omikoshi before the crowd.

On Aug. 5, 2006 while hitchhiking to downtown Niigata, a young lady named Manami offered me a ride. She said that she worked in an care center for the elderly and today they were having a festival. She invited me to come. And so I accepted her invitation because my purpose in the first place was to go out to meet people and make new friends.

From the website Israelites Came To Ancient Japan I knew that the Omikoshi in the festival is somewhat similar to the Ark of the Covenant of God as described in the Old Testament of the Bible. It was my first opportunity to photograph it since reading the web page. The photograph of the Omikoshi below was taken in the elderly care center just before the start of the festival.

Omikoshi

The second character from the left of the ideograph is the Chinese / Japanese word for “God”. And so it would certainly seem safe to conclude that the Omikoshi has its roots in religious tradition. Most Japanese people today say they are non-religious, but you should see and hear them during festival time when men carry the Omikoshi through a crowd of spectators! They lean it over so the spectators can touch it and thereby get a “blessing!”

What the Bible says about the Ark of the Covenant:

1 Chronicles 15:25 So David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the house of Obededom with joy.
26 And it came to pass, when God helped the Levites that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, that they offered seven bullocks and seven rams.
27 And David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, and all the Levites that bare the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the song with the singers: David also had upon him an ephod of linen.
28 Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, making a noise with psalteries and harps.

The Bible also says that the Ark was supported by two poles or “staves”.

Exodus 25:10 And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.
11 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about.
12 And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof; and two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings in the other side of it.
13 And thou shalt make staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold.
14 And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them.

When you hear the people shout “wa shoi!” over and over in a joyful tone of voice, I don’t see how anybody can say that the tradition of the Omikoshi is not related to the time when “David, and the elders of Israel … went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the house of Obededom with joy.” Does this indicate that the Japanese are descendants of the ancient Hebrews? It certainly seems so to me. I think at least some of them are. At the very least I think the Shinto religion on which the Omikoshi is based has its roots in Judaism.

At the festival I met a Japanese Christian lady. I asked her if she realized that the Omikoshi is a tradition that came from the children of Israel as described in the Old Testament. She replied that she hasn’t been a believer that long and didn’t know. I encouraged her to read her Bible.

Copyright © 2017 by James Arendt

This is another adventure I had on my old kt70com/~jamesjpn site which I am reposting. It occurred from April 27 to May 7, 2005.

I had two consecutive hitchhiking adventures, the first to Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo, and the second to Nagano. The total distance traveled in the 19 vehicles that picked me up was about 1750 kilometers or 1095 miles. This was during the period called “Golden Week” in Japan. Golden Week is a string of 4 national holidays which begin on April 29 and ends on May 5. Many people travel during this period to visit their parents and relatives. That makes it a relatively good time to hitchhike long distances.

The first day, Wednesday April 27, I hitchhiked to Osaka, a distance of 565 kilometers from my home in Niigata City to my friend’s home, and in only 9 hours and 40 minutes! This is exceptionally quick considering that it was on a weekday. The 4th and last vehicle, a mini van, took me 498 kilometers of the 565 kilometers or 88% of the distance. This is the furthest traveled in a single ride since I have been keeping statistics from August 2003. The driver went a bit out of his way to take me right to my friend’s house! The driver and his partner are members of the “Sokagakai” sect of Buddhism. They are not known to be friendly to other religions, and especially not to Christians! But they were polite. I first ask them questions about what they believe and listen to them. This obliges them to listen to me when I tell them about Jesus!

In Osaka I saw my friend Kengo – the sponsor of my very first web site at kt70.com/~jamesjpn – and his girlfriend Aya. I first met Kengo while hitchhiking through Shizuoka in 1998. He was the person who helped me get started with web site construction back in 2001 by offering me free web hosting on his server! After sowing seeds of the Word of God in his heart over the years, I finally had the opportunity to pray the prayer of salvation with him to receive the Lord Jesus Christ into his heart!

Osaka is next to the city of Amagasaki where a tragic train accident occurred on April 25 when 107 people died when the lead car derailed and smashed into a building.

Two days later I took the train to Kyoto and visited two friend’s homes. This was the most expensive part of the trip – about $10 to travel only 1.5 hours. People often ask me if I visited the many temples in Kyoto. I do not visit temples!! I tell them if I wanted to see a Buddhist temple – which I don’t – I would take a little walk down the road from my house to see one.

The photo the Okubo family who took me from Kyoto to a parking area near Gifu City. A Japanese muck raking tabloid called “Friday” published an article in that week’s edition about my Christian Fellowship, The Family International, and had a line about yours truly in it! It says, (my translation from Japanese) “Hitchhike evangelism – A male believer of the group who supports the Ainokakehashi Project (a web site I made for my friends in Hiroshima) is engaged in evangelism while hitchhiking across the country. On his web site are many photos of regular people who picked him up.” Ha! While at a parking area I pointed out to Mrs. Okubo the magazine at the newsstand and told her there was a line in it about me. She said, “What?! There’s something bad in it about you?” “Not at all” I replied, and I showed her the article. She understood very well that the particular magazine is a muck raking tabloid trying to make money by throwing dirt at others. The article didn’t even have all the facts correct. But I felt honored that the reporters noted my web sites. The Devil may be trying to hurt my hitchhike ministry by this article, but because Friday magazine, though nationwide, is read by a relatively small percentage of the population, so far nobody who has picked me up since the article has mentioned it. None of my close Japanese friends read such a gossip rag.

After spending the night in Gifu City, I hitchhiked to Tokyo. Shigeru, an officer in the Japanese Self Defense force took me a good distance and even bought me lunch. He works as a MP. Shigeru says that unlike the US Military, there is no military court system in Japan. Serious crimes in the military are brought before civilian courts. I had a great time talking to Shigeru and shared the Gospel with him.

An Indonesian couple with two small daughters in the car took me back to Niigata from Tokyo. The husband spoke English well and was quite talkative. They are Muslims. I have no problem at all with most Muslim people I meet. Only a small percentage of Islamic people I have met have tried to argue against the Divinity of Jesus Christ. The Indonesians were very friendly. They understand very well the *real* reasons for the war in Iraq. Many Japanese tell me that the war is about religion. Nothing could be further from the truth. I try to help them see how they have been conditioned by the mass media to think so.

Trip to Nagano May 6-7

I hitchhiked to Nagano on Friday. An elderly man took me most of the way and even bought me lunch. Nearly every week I go to Chino City to perform marriage ceremonies. I get a ride to the wedding chapel, but to return home, I often walk from Chino station to the Suwa interchange, a distance of about 3 kilometers or almost 2 miles carrying all my luggage with me. But I really don’t mind it. It keeps me healthy. Part of hitchhiking is not only the “hitch” but the “hike” . When I get weary of walking, I think of wealthy people who spend thousands of dollars just to scale a mountain peak while enduring all sorts of discomfort but getting nowhere. I walk not just for exercise, but to get somewhere!

On the right is a photo of Mrs. Yamashita and her children who were riding in the car that picked me up on May 7. Her husband, Masa, speaks English. He took me from Suwa IC to the Suwa parking area a few kilometers down the road. Masa has since been writing me emails asking deep questions about the reasons for war and why believing in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and personal savior is so important.

From Suwa a college student, Mr. Mochizuki, picked me up and took me as far as Matsushiro parking next to Nagano City.

There were not many cars at this parking area and so I opted to walk directly to the drivers and show them the sign I was holding an A4 paper sign with the name “Niigata” which was my destination. One lady in a S.U.V. saw the sign and waved her hand back and forth meaning “no!” I saw that the license plate of her car said “Nara”, a city near Osaka which meant that they would be going at least part of the way to my destination. After about 20 minutes the lady walked up to me with a map saying that she and her husband would take me as far as Nadachitanihama, a parking area not far from the junction that goes to Niigata. They would be entering the junction going the opposite way from Niigata, but because the parking area is not far from the junction, and because this particular parking area has a bridge crossing to the other side with traffic going to Niigata, I happily accepted her proposal!

Later well into the trip the couple decided they would do me a favor and take me toward the direction of Niigata from the junction. This unfortunately was not nearly as good for me as the original plan for they took me instead to the Joestsu IC. It’s not as easy to catch a ride at an interchange as it is from a Parking Area, and besides that, it was already dark. So after waiting unsuccessfully for 20 minutes I decided to leave the interchange and make my way to the nearest train station and take a train the rest of the way home. It was $40 just to travel 60 miles! I had to climb a low fence to get to the regular road. There was a gas station nearby where I asked directions. The attendees said it was too far to walk to the station and one of them, the sweet girl in the photo, Miss Satomi, gave me a lift!

Did you like this page? Please write and tell me about it! Or if you see any typos, misspellings or bad grammar I would appreciate hearing about it so I can correct it.

This is from a Facebook post written by my good friend, David Nikao, the guy who opened my eyes to the true interpretation of Daniel 9:27

Look at who President Trump has surrounded himself with, and what they have in common:

Mike Pence, self-described “evangelical Catholic”

Chris Christie, Roman Catholic

Newt Gingrich, Roman Catholic, Council on Foreign Relations

Michael T. Flynn, Roman Catholic

Rudy Giuliani, Roman Catholic, 9/11 coadjutor, alleged Knight of Malta.

Jared Kushner, fan of the Count of Monte Cristo (“Count of the Mount of Christ;” story about the Jesuit General getting revenge on all of the Order’s enemies during its suppression).

Steve Bannon, chief strategist and Senior Counselor for the Presidency of Donald Trump, former executive chair of Breitbart News, Jesuit-trained from Georgetown.

Eric Trump, Jesuit-trained from Georgetown and serves as board member of Georgetown’s Business, Society, and Public Policy Initiative.

Ivanka Trump, attended Jesuit Georgetown for two years

David Malpass, Jesuit-trained from Georgetown, Vice President of the Council for National Policy, leading appointment selections for positions involving economic issues.

Keith Kellogg, trained by Jesuit at Santa Clara University, leading appointment selections for positions involving national defense issues.

Michael Catanzaro, trained by Jesuits at Fordham University and St. Ignatius High School, leading the policy implementation team for energy independence.

Andrew Bremberg, graduate of Catholic University of America, Executive Legal Action Lead.

James Carafano, Jesuit-trained from Georgetown University , reported to be the primary aide to the State Department of Trump administration transition team.

Ed Feulner, Roman Catholic former President and founder of Heritage Foundation; Jesuit-trained from Regis and Georgetown Universities.

Ken Blackwell, Jesuit-trained from Xavier University, leading appointment selections for positions involving domestic issues.

Boris Epshteyn, Trump’s foremost spokesman; Jesuit-trained from Georgetown.

Another oldie goldie adventure from my old website I am reposting.

On April 30, 2004, I hitchhiked 500 kilometers from Niigata city to Nagoya, the 3rd largest metropolis in Japan. It was the second day of “Golden Week.” Below is a brief description of what Golden week is all about:

The Golden Week is a collection of several national holidays within seven days in the end of April and beginning of May. It consists of four national holidays: Green Day (Midori no hi) on April 29, Constitution Day (Kenpo kinenbi) on May 3, “Between Day” (Kokumin no kyujitsu) on May 4 and the Boy’s Festival (Kodomo no hi) on May 5. (Taken from http://www.japan-guide.com/topic/0005.html)

The most interesting person who picked me up on the way was a 24 year old Buddhist monk by the name of Tetsunori. He said he sat down in mediation for two weeks straight in a cross legged position without sleeping on 3 different occasions! He was not allowed to sleep nor move during this time! I asked him how it went. “My legs hurt” he replied. I told Tetsunori all about Jesus and my life as a missionary and he told me all about his life as a monk. I was surprised to learn that he is allowed to listen to any kind of music he likes or watch any type of trashy Hollywood film. I would think they would have more separation from the world. But Japanese Buddhists have much more freedom than other Asian countries. They are allowed to marry and have children which is not allowed in Thailand or Tibet. Tetsunori says that he is the 17th generation of Buddhist monks that have been responsible for the care of a temple he lives in. I pray that the Lord used me to plant some seed of the Word of God into his heart. Buddhism is another “works religion”. Only the Blood of Jesus Christ can save us! I told Tetsunori that Jesus’ Message is simple enough that a young child can understand. We both agreed that if only highly intellectual people can attain to knowledge of salvation, not many would be saved. I know I wouldn’t be. I couldn’t even spell the word “intellectual” correctly and had to look it up! 🙂

In the Nagoya area I stayed with my Brazilian friend Paulo and his family. He took me to a typical Japanese Golden Week festival.

“Koinobori. Carp streamers, called koinobori in Japanese, decorate the landscape from April through early May in honor of Children’s Day on May 5. In Japanese culture, the carp symbolizes courage and strength because of its ability to swim up a waterfall. Since these are traits desired in boys, families traditionally flew koinobori from their homes to honor their sons. Ranging in size from about a foot to several meters in length, the koinobori resemble jewel-toned sea beasts swimming through the watery, azure skies. May, 1998.” (Taken from http://www.hardfocus.net/stevie/koinobori.htm)

On May 3rd. I left downtown Nagoya at 1:30 PM to start back home. This is rather late to hitchhike another 500 kilometers, but I couldn’t leave any earlier. It was absolutely imperative for me to be back home sometime this evening in order to perform a Christian style marriage ceremony the very next day! I opt to hitchhike at least part way to save some money.

Though I like to be cheap on myself, in order to save some time to get out of the busy city center, I took a 20 minute train ride to Tajimi, a small town that is close to the Chuo Expressway. This expressway passes through Nagano Prefecture which is on the way to Niigata. It is also a tried and proven route I have traveled many times and the same route I used to travel to Nagoya.

The entrance to the Chuo Expressway is about 3 kilometers distance from the train station, a bit too far to walk because I am pressed for time, so I caught a ride from a kind man going that way. I arrived at the expressway entrance about 2:30 PM. So far so good!

I was not surprised to find most of the traffic heading back the opposite direction to Nagoya. I know that at least SOME drivers would be headed to Nagano, but after waiting more than 30 minutes I was getting a bit discouraged. The drivers that were heading the direction I wanted to go ignored me, but others offered me a ride going back to Nagoya. I knew there is a fairly large parking area called Utsutsutoge only 5 minutes down the road toward Nagoya, so I decided to take up the next offer going that direction (the opposite way I intended to go) thinking that I could find my way on foot to the other side of the parking area which heads back in the right direction. I have done this from time to time when I thought it was necessary. To date there hasn’t been a single parking area I haven’t figured out how to get to the opposite side. Some have a foot bridge to cross over but most have access roads which run parallel to the expressway with a tunnel going under the expresswsay. But the Utsutsutoge parking area is the very first expressway parking area to have neither! It is situated in mountains with no access road running parallel to the expressway. There was no way I could get to the opposite side going in the right direction unless I would attempt to cross the expressway on foot – something extremely dangerous if not illegal! Cars were whizzing past as fast as 140 KM per hour. That means to give myself at least 5 seconds to cross safely both the East bound and West bound lanes, I would had to wait for both directions to clear for a distance of at least 200 meters or about the length of two football fields. That was not going to happen. It was heavy traffic during “Golden Week” which is vacation holiday time in Japan when folks travel long distances to see their relatives or go sightseeing. Back in 1998 I did the cross the same expressway in this manner, but it was in a area far from the big city with few cars passing that time of day. Happily I wasn’t spotted by the police.

All was not lost, however. I knew that though I had to keep heading the opposite direction from what I originally planned, I still had a few more options. One was to travel as far as Maibara from where I could catch a ride on the Hokuriku expressway which would take me to Niigata. But this route is much longer. It would add another 150 KM to my journey. Another possibility was to try a new expressway route that I had never traveled on before. It’s called the “Tokkai-Hokuriku”. This also heads toward the Hokuriku expressway which would take me to Niigata, but cuts the distance in half. The reason I never attempted to travel this route before is because the expressway is not completed in the middle (at that time). There is a stretch of 35 kilometers of normal road connecting both ends. My third option was to travel to a point I could get off the expressway I was on now and hitchhike back the opposite way.

The driver who picked me up at Utsutsutoge suggested that the Tokkai-Hokuriku route may be the best one for me. He said he traveled it only very recently toward Toyama. I knew if I could get as far as Toyama, it would be a piece of cake the rest of the way – or so I thought! More about that later.

On the map the blue line represents the route to Nagoya. The red line was my return trip. The green line was a possible alternate route which though much more out of my way, is a route I had traveled much before. The part of the red line that crosses Honshu toward the Sea of Japan and connects two points of the green line ending at Toyama (name not listed on the map) is the Tokkai-Hokuriku, a new route I had never used before.

After a 40 minute wait, a car with 2 men and a women took me half way to Toyama. Their names were Mitsuru (the driver), Yoshinori and Rie, all friends employed at the came company. We traveled though some of the most beautiful mountain areas of Japan with lots of lakes, rivers and even a waterfall.

They couldn’t take me as far as I would have liked but dropped me off at a tourist area with other parked cars and a constant flow of traffic. It took me at least a half hour to get my next ride, a married couple by the names of Hiroshi and Masayo. I had something in common with them. They both spent a year living in Moscow and could speak Russian! We exchanged a few sentences in Russian. There are not many Japanese people interested in Russia. Only a very small percentage of the population is interested in visiting, and only a very tiny percentage who learn the Russian language.

It was 7:30 in the evening by the time we arrived in Toyama on the Hokuriku Expressway. I still have some 250 kilometers left in my journey! The winds were blowing very strong along the Hokuriku which runs close to the Sea of Japan. So strong in fact that the cars and trucks where swayed sideways by heavy gusts! So though I originally told Hiroshi and Masayo that I would get off as soon as we arrived at Toyama to hitchhike further, because of the wind and the lateness of time, I lost confidence and turned to “the arm of the flesh” and decided to take the train the rest of the way. They themselves encouraged me to do the same. We thought there would still be trains going to Niigata at 8PM. We were wrong!

As it turned out, I missed the last train by about a half hour. There was no way I could get home by train that night! So Hiroshi and Masayo offered to take me back to the expressway entrance. I lost 45 minutes of precious time because I didn’t have faith to continue hitchhiking, and now I was forced to hitchhike like it or not!

I was desperate! It is now completely dark, about 8:15 PM. Hitchhiking is much more difficult at night. A few cars with Niigata license plates seemed to slow down for me. I ran up to them in excitement thinking the driver would offer me a ride. This only caused the driver to become afraid of me and he fled away! One man stopped and I asked him a pleading tone of voice to take me at least part way home. He refused. So I realized that I needed to calm down and have more faith that God would come through for me. A pleading and desperate sounding tone of voice was working against me.

After about 45 minutes a man offered to take me as far as Arisomi – a large parking area a good distance down the road. I knew from experience that it was a very good place to get my next ride.

Most of the people ignored both me and the paper sign I was holding: — Niigata.

At the parking area I tried to talk to the few who made eye contact. One man seemed to be willing to take me but his wife was not! She had a look of apprehension in her eyes. So I politely excused myself and left.

I don’t like to make the Japanese people feel they must do anything for me. I try to leave it up to them. I know that God’s sheep are always around somewhere. Sometimes they seem to be only 1 in a thousand. It was now 9:30PM and the cold attitude most people had was understandable. Why was I so dumb to get myself into such a situation anyhow?

After many rejections I decided to step away from the crowd and stand near the expressway entrance. This way more drivers would see me. But as I turned to go, one couple I had asked only a few minutes before approached me. The wife began chiding me for letting myself get in such a fix! I just smiled and calmly said that I had misjudged the time and had hoped to get a train, but there were no more trains. She softened her voice and said if it was all right with me, they would take me as far as Nagaoka – about 90% of the rest of the way! Of course I was very glad to accept their offer.

Throughout the journey they were both talkative and asked me many questions about my life. The wife asked me what I teach. I told them about Jesus and why He was killed on a cross. Most Japanese don’t know or realize the meaning of the cross. They don’t know that crucifixion was the preferred method of executing criminals during the reign of the Roman Empire. And so I make it a good history lesson for them. Japanese people tend to be very indifferent toward religion in general, but because they like to learn history, I try to approach them from this angle.

About half way into our trip the couple conferred with each other and decided to take me the rest of the way home – an extra distance way out of their way of at least 100 kilometers! And half of that is by low road. I refused their offer at first but the husband insisted several times. So I left it at that. It was my final answer to prayer to be home that night! Though it was after midnight when I finally arrived home, there was still plenty of time to get a good night sleep in preparation for the next day. I had to be on a train at 8:02 that morning to travel a 100 kilometers back in the direction I came!

By Camilo Mejia,

Conscientious objector Camilo Mejia: “I was a coward not for leaving the war, but for having been a part of it in the first place.”

In March 2004, 28-year-old Sgt. Camilo Mejia turned himself in to the U.S. military and filed an application for conscientious objector status. On May 21, he was sentenced to one year in prison for refusing to return to fight in Iraq. He was released from prison on Feb. 15, 2005.

I was deployed to Iraq in April 2003 and returned home for a two-week leave in October. Going home gave me the opportunity to put my thoughts in order and to listen to what my conscience had to say. People would ask me about my war experiences and answering them took me back to all the horrors – the firefights, the ambushes, the time I saw a young Iraqi dragged by his shoulders through a pool of his own blood or an innocent man decapitated by our machine-gun fire. The time I saw a soldier broken down inside because he killed a child, or an old man on his knees, crying with his arms raised to the sky, perhaps asking God why we had taken the lifeless body of his son.

I thought of the suffering of a people whose country was in ruins and who were further humiliated by the raids, patrols and curfews of an occupying army.

And I realized that none of the reasons we were told about why we were in Iraq turned out to be true. There were no weapons of mass destruction. There was no link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. We weren’t helping the Iraqi people and the Iraqi people didn’t want us there. We weren’t preventing terrorism or making Americans safer. I couldn’t find a single good reason for having been there, for having shot at people and been shot at.

Coming home gave me the clarity to see the line between military duty and moral obligation. I realized that I was part of a war that I believed was immoral and criminal, a war of aggression, a war of imperial domination. I realized that acting upon my principles became incompatible with my role in the military, and I decided that I could not return to Iraq.

By putting my weapon down, I chose to reassert myself as a human being. I have not deserted the military nor been disloyal to the men and women of the military. I have not been disloyal to a country. I have only been loyal to my principles.

When I turned myself in, with all my fears and doubts, it did it not only for myself. I did it for the people of Iraq, even for those who fired upon me – they were just on the other side of a battleground where war itself was the only enemy. I did it for the Iraqi children, who are victims of mines and depleted uranium. I did it for the thousands of unknown civilians killed in war. My time in prison is a small price compared to the price Iraqis and Americans have paid with their lives. Mine is a small price compared to the price humanity has paid for war.

Many have called me a coward, others have called me a hero. I believe I can be found somewhere in the middle. To those who have called me a hero, I say that I don’t believe in heroes, but I believe that ordinary people can do extraordinary things.

To those who have called me a coward I say that they are wrong, and that without knowing it, they are also right. They are wrong when they think that I left the war for fear of being killed. I admit that fear was there, but there was also the fear of killing innocent people, the fear of putting myself in a position where to survive means to kill, there was the fear of losing my soul in the process of saving my body, the fear of losing myself to my daughter, to the people who love me, to the man I used to be, the man I wanted to be. I was afraid of waking up one morning to realize my humanity had abandoned me.

I say without any pride that I did my job as a soldier. I commanded an infantry squad in combat and we never failed to accomplish our mission. But those who called me a coward, without knowing it, are also right. I was a coward not for leaving the war, but for having been a part of it in the first place. Refusing and resisting this war was my moral duty, a moral duty that called me to take a principled action. I failed to fulfill my moral duty as a human being and instead I chose to fulfill my duty as a soldier. All because I was afraid. I was terrified; I did not want to stand up to the government and the army – I was afraid of punishment and humiliation. I went to war because at the moment I was a coward, and for that I apologize to my soldiers for not being the type of leader I should have been.

I also apologize to the Iraqi people. To them I say I am sorry for the curfews, for the raids, for the killings. May they find it in their hearts to forgive me.

One of the reasons I did not refuse the war from the beginning was that I was afraid of losing my freedom. Today, as I sit behind bars I realize that there are many types of freedom, and that in spite of my confinement I remain free in many important ways. What good is freedom if we are afraid to follow our conscience? What good is freedom if we are not able to live with our own actions? I am confined to a prison but I feel, today more than ever, connected to all humanity. Behind these bars I sit a free man because I listened to a higher power, the voice of my conscience.

My old website at kt70.com~jamesjpn is no longer on line. I am therefore posting some of the articles from it to this website.

On May 16, 2008 I saw two young bamboo shoots about 3 feet high growing next to my house. I knew because of their thickness they would taller than me in just a matter of days. And so I thought it would be a fun project to set up a tripod and take a photo of them daily for a few days.

In the photos are two bamboo shoots and three sawed off bamboo stumps. Also notice the many other fully grown bamboo trees in the background. In the first photo taken on May 16, the bamboo shoot in the center is about 2.5 feet high and appears to be growing at an angle in relation to the bamboo stump directly behind it. On May 21, the bamboo in the center is now 256 centimeters or about 8.5 feet tall. It more than tripled its height in 5 days!

With another man also hitchhiking! His partner with him took the photo.

Due to popular request I have complied a list of tips and lessons I learned over the past several years hitchhiking in Japan. I think the basic tip is to use common sense and have the attitude of, “where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

• Get to the a good intersection of the highway that has a nice long red traffic light which builds up a good row of vehicles in front of it when the light turns red. Sometimes I walk 3 or 4 kilometers to get to it, sometimes and sometimes I take train or a bus to get to it.
• I usually stand before the traffic light. The longer the light stays red, the better. I stand near the light when it first turns red and wait for the first car to come. When I think the driver is close enough to see the whites of my eyes, I either hold out my thumb or hold out a sign that shows my destination. If the driver either makes no eye contact with me, shows no interest, or waves his or her hand back and forth indicating “NO!”, I proceed to walk up to the next car, and then the next, and then the next until either I get a positive response from the driver or the traffic light turns green and the cars begin to move again. When the light turns green, I turn around and walk back to the light and wait till it turns red again.
• Sometimes I’ll continue to hold out my sign after the light turns green in spite of the fact the traffic is flowing. Sometimes an interested driver who sees my sign though he passes me by and crosses the intersection will return back for me and offer me a ride. This has happened dozens of times.
• I try to present myself well groomed and dress reasonably well in dress pants and a dress shirt, never in jeans. Sometimes I’ve hitchhiked wearing a suit and tie but I found it really didn’t help much.
• I try to make eye contact with the driver and smile. Once he or she makes eye contact, it usually means a ride.
• I made signs showing my destination with A4 size paper and a thick pointed magic marker. I use a clear plastic holder to keep the signs together with the sign of my destination on top. The sign is written in Japanese ideographs (Kanji).
  
  

  An example sign written on A4 size paper in a plastic folder with other signs below the top sign.

  Usually I’ll carry the marker and several blanks sheets of A4 paper in the plastic holder if I need to make a sign of a new destination. The driver is usually happy to write the Kanji down for me. I can copy Japanese characters if I look at them, but the Japanese will write them much nicer than I can. 🙂 Since 2016 I started using larger binded sketchbooks to make signs. One advantage is the pages are bound and will not fly away in the wind as A4 pages can. I write one kanji on a page and hold the sketchbook open showing two pages. The names of most cities and prefectures in Japan consist of two kanjis. The sign is therefore larger and easier to see from a far distance.
  

  

  A3 page in a binder can be used for signs.

• A sign should not show a destination that is too far away. On a regular road the destination should be not further than the next major city. The exception to this rule is if your destination is the largest city among all the cities you will be passing. Some examples: Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Niigata.
• At expressway entrances, try to stand at a safe place before the entrance where the cars can easily stop. There are good expressway entrances to hitchhike at, and poor ones. How do you know the difference? By experience!
• If after you catch a ride from a driver entering the expressway who is going toward the direction of your destination but considerably short of it, have him drop you off at the largest service area that is before his exit point. Service areas are better than expressway entrances because the flow of traffic is always in the direction you want to go. I stand near the facilities on the side of the road where cars would pass when exiting. If you are too obvious or stand too close to the exit ramp, the traffic cops might tell you to leave when they see you.

Dr. John Gideon Harnett

The original title of this article is My drug addiction story
Posted on Dr. John Gideon Harnett’s Revolution for Jesus website. I am reposting it with his permission. Dr John G. Hartnett is an Australian physicist and cosmologist, and a Christian with a biblical creationist worldview.

How I got addicted

About 15 years ago I started to develop leg pains. I sought medical help and after much investigation the doctors could not diagnose the cause. In the early years with this developing pain I started taking the over-the-counter paracetamol as a reasonably effective pain-killer but I became tolerant of the paracetamol and the pain developed to the point I needed to find something else for relief. Doctors suggested various drugs and even acupuncture without success.

About 6 years ago my doctor started me on prescription pain-killers, where each tablet contains 500 mg paracetamol with 30 mg of codeine. Codeine is an opiate, a morphine derivative; it, in fact, is converted to morphine by the liver. Codeine is a drug of dependency, but no doctor told me about the downside of taking this medication long-term. More on that later.

Initially I’d only take one or two tablets per day and it was reasonably effective. Also I took up talking a lot as that seemed to alleviate that pain, while I was walking at least. But as time passed the effectiveness of the codeine reduced and I increased the number of pills per day. By 2014 I was taking 4 per day and by 2016 it was 6 per day and even some times 8 pills.

In 2013 a new doctor diagnosed the cause of the pain as peripheral neuropathy resulting from untreated coeliac disease, which I have apparently had my whole life but only started to manifest symptoms about 15 years ago. About 6 years ago I was formally diagnosed with coeliac disease and have been on a gluten-free diet ever since. But the damage to my nerve fibres was done and I was told I could only mask the symptoms with strong pain-killers.

For the most part I was able to manage with the daily pain and some relief using the codeine pills. However in the last 4 years there were times where I started to develop unexplained symptoms like headaches, digestive problems (even though on a strict gluten-free diet) and a very unwell feeling, but they would come and go.

Pain goes to my head

Then on my last trip to Japan in March/April 2017 I started to feel ill almost daily, and by early April headaches started to develop. I developed not only what you would call tension headaches but something like ‘brain fog’, which was very disconcerting.  I noticed myself taking the codeine pills just to try to relieve those bad headaches. The headaches developed into migraines and it became difficult to do my job there, working at a national research facility AIST in Tsukuba.In the evening of April 19, I felt so ill, nauseated with head and neck pain, that I called my Japanese host to take me to the hospital. We spent most of the night there where they investigated with a CT scan and finally a MRI. Those tests cleared me but they gave no diagnosis, saying the head pain was probably muscle related.

However the next day I decided that whatever was making me sick was too much for me to bear in Japan and I planned my early return from the 60-day JSPS fellowship—cutting it short by 6 days. I was booked to leave Japan Sunday night April 23.

On April 22, 2017, I was expected in Tokyo, to present two lectures at a biblical creation seminar. The night before I emailed the organisers, and asked for them to pray for me, as I was feeling so unwell that for the first time in my life I considered pulling out of a seminar.  The morning I needed to catch the train to Tokyo God told me “as they went they were healed” (Luke 17:14).

So I obeyed and went to the train station and by the time I got to the train to go to Tokyo (a 40 minute ride) I had no headache and was well enough to proceed. I arrived at the seminar and was able to effectively give my two lectures with a 2 hour lunch break between where I had no problem from headaches or the sick feeling. I consider that an answer to prayer. Then soon after I sat down, after my second lecture was over, the ill-feeling started to return as well as the headaches. God gave me sufficient grace for the moment to get me through that. Thank the Lord!

Medication-Overuse Headaches

After arrival back in Australia I the headaches actually got worse. By this time I was experiencing 24 hour chronic migraines that were very debilitating. I even imagined that my time in this world was not going to be for much longer.

I went to my doctor and explained about the CT scan and MRI in Japan. He was not concerned of anything life threatening. But that doesn’t help as much as you might think when you are so brain-fogged and suffering chronic migraines. We examined options like amines in foods, which can cause migraines in some people. But I had not changed my diet much at all so why should these migraines develop?

The doctor gave me a new drug to try—eletriptan, which is a headache, anti-migraine medicine that narrows blood vessels around the brain. And it did enormously reduce the pain of the migraine. But the triptans are also drugs of dependency. I wasn’t too excited to start another medication, especially without knowing the cause.

So here I was still feeling ill, but with reduced headaches, and taking a lot of drugs of dependency, which can do damage to the liver. I went back again to my doctor, seeking further advice about anything else I could do, because restricting my diet further, to eliminate all amines, salicyclates and glutamates, didn’t help. The doctor basically told me there was nothing else anyone could do. I had tried alternative drug types, and acupuncture. Stronger opiate drugs were just not an option.

I remember walking out of that doctors rooms thinking: “Well, man cannot do anything else; it must be time to start trusting God.” It wasn’t like I had much choice.

As I drove back home, one thing the doctor had said, as I stood in the doorway of his office, on my way out, was that all those opiates are poisons as are triptans, and it has been scientifically documented that they can cause as much pain as they relieve.¹ Wow! (And this includes the over-the-counter paracetamol.) The fact of this rebound effect is established in the medical literature. The drug relieves the pain at one moment but gives it all back to you later, especially in those who use pain killers for a chronic condition, like myself.

That was Friday May 12^th. On that day was the last day I took codeine and an eletriptan pill. That was 9 days ago now. I have not taken a single pain-killer of any type since that day—in fact, I took the large quantity I did have and threw them in the garbage bin.

The reason I did this is because on that Friday, I read on the web about medication-overuse headaches (MOH).²  This relates to drugs that are associated with the development of chronic daily headaches and they include caffeine, ergots, paracetamol, codeine and the triptans. Their long-term use may be damaging to the liver and kidneys. In my case it made me very unwell, lacking of any energy, chronic migraines and disturbed digestive system.

According to Wikipedia,³

“MOH is a serious, disabling and well-characterized disorder, which represents a worldwide problem and is now considered the third-most prevalent type of headache. Population-based studies report the prevalence rate of MOH to be 1% to 2% in the general population, but its relative frequency is much higher in secondary and tertiary care.”

The only way of treating this condition is to stop the medication. Some people will stop the drugs immediately, others may taper them and others may even need to be hospitalised for detoxification under medical supervision.

‘Cold Turkey’

I decided to go ‘cold turkey’ – complete cessation of all medications, no matter what. I couldn’t contemplate having the headaches any longer. I wasn’t going to stretch out the detox process to make it easier but have the headaches even longer. Now my story really begins. And I suffered the typical acute opiate withdrawal symptoms that anyone taking heroin would suffer.

I really prayed and had confidence from God that I needed to quit completely and never to take those pain medications again. God told me that He would see me through. On the second day after quitting, one of the worst days, my son Ben prayed for my healing. That prayer, I can say now, was answered.

The first night after quitting was not any different because it was like my normal state with the drugs in me. I was able to sleep ok, despite the migraines. During that next day though I developed diarrhoea, and progressively pain throughout my body, especially a sort of nervous ache in my arms and legs. The diarrhoea was very bad and lasted nearly 6 days. I lost 4 kg in weight as I ate essentially nothing for 4 days—only drank juice and water.

The second night I was wide awake all night and feeling very ill. In fact, I never slept at all for 3 nights (72 hours) straight. By body was tired but my mind could not sleep. On the 4^th night I slept 1 hour and the 5^th night 2 hours (and I was overjoyed with that). It is amazing that I could still function after 5 nights with only 3 hours sleep in total. Though feeling extremely tired in the day I could still think, and now much more clearly as the ‘brain fog’ was lifting.

One thing that kept me from sleeping was the nervous aches in my limbs. It was partially relieved with hot compresses and walking around the house. I read online that the expression ‘kick the habit’ is a direct reference to the feeling you have to kick your legs and move your arms about. The agitation one feels comes from the brain trying to restore normal function of its opioid⁴ receptors. Because while taking opiates (codeine in my case) the brain does not manufacture the natural opioids. The receptors are wide open with no opioids to attach to. This is what causes the other acute opiate withdrawal symptoms, all of which I experienced including cramps and cold sweats and aches throughout my body. Those were mostly on the second and third days after quitting.

By the sixth day the headaches were reduced by at least 80% but still coming and going. I knew I was on the right path to full recovery, and I was through the most acute stage. Still that night I only could sleep 2 hours; really it was the following morning after staying awake all night. On the 7^th night I got 3 hours of sleep but the 8^th night I slept over 5 hours. During the waking periods it was still post-acute symptoms that kept me awake. Nervous aches in my arms would come and go in severity.

May 21 is my 9^th day since quitting the drugs, but from what I read, post-acute symptoms can last for months, even years, as the brain re-estabishes normal function. But having gotten some real sleep for the first time last night, I know I am on the correct path. Trust in God kept me through the darkest moments when I cried to my Creator to deliver me from what felt like torture. I believe that over the next week clarity of thought will be further strengthened and the headaches will further fade.

This leaves me with the original pain in my legs now being untreated. But let me tell you this. I would rather live with that pain than the brain-fog and migraines I experienced. I now pray for my God to deliver me from those leg pains without medication. Man cannot help so I suppose it has come down to that. I am eagerly waiting for God to act.

References

1.  Kudrow, L., “Paradoxical effects of frequent analgesic use”. Adv Neurol. 33: 335–41, 1982.
2. Medication-overuse headache, the migraine trust
3. Medication overuse headache, Wikipedia, accessed May 21, 2017.
4. Opioids are drugs that act on the nervous system to relieve pain. The term is in reference to any opiate type chemicals, which includes those made from the opium poppy (morphine, codeine, heroin etc) as well as any man-made synthetic chemicals.

If you are a frequent visitor of this website and wonder what happened to the layout, it’s because I moved my domain jamesjpn.net to a different hosting service called Ipage.com

I was previously using Bluehost for the past 3 years, but they jacked the price on me and I couldn’t afford it. It would have expired at the beginning of June. Plus I didn’t think their service was so good. This website performed poorly on the Bluehost server. Now it’s speedy Gonzales!

The reason the format changed is because I had trouble importing the database. Instead of that, I used a tool to import the individual posts and pages which I valued the most. But it didn’t bring the old layout with it.

There are somewhat fewer features on this site than before due to the absence of plugins that added those features. Some of them were no longer maintained by the developer which means the website was vulnerable to hackers. And if the same plugins slowed down the loading of the site, I’m better off without them and the features they added. Google will rank me better if the pages and posts load faster.

A good resource to find web hosting: https://www.cloudwards.net/best-web-hosting/

Charles Obadiah “Chuck” Baldwin (born May 3, 1952) is an American politician, radio host, and founder-former pastor of Crossroad Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida. As of July 2014 he was pastor of Liberty Fellowship in Kalispell, Montana. He was the presidential nominee of the Constitution Party for the 2008 U.S. presidential election and had previously been its nominee for U.S. vice president in 2004. He hosts a daily one-hour radio program, Chuck Baldwin Live, and writes a daily editorial column carried on its website, on News with Views, and on VDare.(Source Wikipedia)

This is from Chuck Baldwin’s Facebook post of May 5, 2017. He is a rare Christian indeed to have such insights!

I believe there is a conspiracy of powerful elitists to surrender America’s independence and national sovereignty to a globalist New World Order. I believe the Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission, and Bilderbergs are especially culpable in this evil subterfuge of our liberties. I had hoped that Donald Trump would honor his word to “drain the swamp” of establishment insiders, but he hasn’t. As with every President of both major parties before him, Trump has littered his administration with CFR globalists. In just the first couple of months of his presidency, Donald Trump appointed more CFR members and fellow travelers than Barack Obama.

I believe that the national news media purposely keeps the American people in the dark about the truth of what is really going on. I believe the media deliberately covered up the events of 9/11, Waco, Ruby Ridge, TWA Flight 800, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Sandy Hook school shootings, etc., ad infinitum. Heck, I believe the media covered up what really happened in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. For all intents and purposes, the national news media is little more than a propaganda ministry of the federal government.

I am also convinced that there is a blatant attempt underfoot to turn the United States into a police-state-style surveillance society, to which personal freedoms and liberties are being quickly and egregiously sacrificed. Passage of the USA Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the Indefinite Detention clauses of the National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAA) are examples of this flagrant betrayal of freedom. And the Democrat and Republican parties are equally culpable in this blatant usurpation of our liberties. And on this subject, too, Donald Trump is on the exact same course as his predecessors.

I opposed the preemptive invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan by G.W. Bush, the bombings of Libya, along with the current bombings and drone attacks going on in countries throughout the Middle East–including Trump’s bombing of Syria and his decision to increase the number of U.S. ground forces in the Middle East. It should be obvious to everyone that the Obama administration did nothing to change the perpetual war/preemptive war doctrine introduced by George W. Bush. And it should be equally obvious that Donald Trump is continuing to escalate America’s unconstitutional wars of aggression around the world. At the rate Trump is going, the United States could soon be in a global nuclear war.

I am personally convinced that ISIS, al-Nusra, etc., are contrivances of Dark (illegal) Operations of America’s CIA, British Intelligence, and Israel’s Mossad. Saudi Arabia and Turkey are also partners in this nefarious activity. I’ll say it flat out: The “war on terror” is totally the creation of the Deep State in the West to keep America in a state of perpetual war and to keep the people of America in a state of perpetual fear and anger.

Furthermore, I believe the international “war on terror” is a ruse to assist the goals of the central banks to create global government. All of the talk about Iran and Syria (and even North Korea) being a threat to the world is a bunch of hysterical propaganda. And FOX News (along with many pastors and churches) is at the heart of the pro-war propaganda machine. Neocons and globalists are using the Muslim people as the proverbial Straw Man to give the American people an enemy to hate, so that they will accept perpetual war abroad and police-state measures here at home.

I opposed the bailouts for Wall Street. I regard the Federal Reserve as a corrupt cabal of international banksters whose actions are nothing short of criminal. I wholeheartedly support the abolition of the Federal Reserve and a return to sound money.

I believe both major parties in Washington, D.C., are drunk on government spending. No matter which Party controls Congress or the White House, government spending skyrockets, as do deficits. We are witnessing this reality yet again. Just this week, with the GOP in control of both houses of Congress and the White House, we watched the House approve–and President Trump endorse–yet MORE federal spending and LARGER federal deficits. G.W. Bush spent more tax dollars than Bill Clinton; Barack Obama spent more than Bush; and Donald Trump is already spending more than Obama. When it comes to federal spending, there truly isn’t a dime’s worth of difference between the two parties. No wonder Senator Rand Paul said this about the omnibus spending bill that passed the House this week: “President Hillary Clinton would have been proud of this bill.”

And speaking of federal spending, one reason Donald Trump wants to increase military spending is because the U.S. government is dropping so many bombs all over the globe that the military is running out. Consider: as of April 30, the U.S. has dropped over 79,000 bombs just in Iraq, Syria, and Libya.

I believe G.W. Bush and Dick Cheney should be in prison for committing international war crimes against humanity and Hillary Clinton should be in prison for selling access to her office to foreign interests and for facilitating (or maybe even directly causing) the death of America’s Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens. I believe politicians such as Lindsey Graham, John McCain, Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi are enemies of freedom.

I took these photos in 2008. They were on my old website which is no longer on line, and so I’m re-posting them.

In the summer of 1997 I needed to leave Russia and St. Petersburg for a visa renewal trip. Rather than make another visa trip to Helsinki in Finland, I opted for neighboring Estonia instead. As you can see on the map below, the distance from St. Petersburg to the Estonian capital city of Tallinn is not much different than from St. Petersburg to Helsinki, Finland.

And as you see from the maps (see below also), Estonia is the smallest of the three Baltic Republics that were former members of the Soviet Union — by force, not by choice! The other two are Lithuania which is the largest of the three, and Latvia. The only thing they have in common with Russia is a common border. Each Baltic country has its very own language which is not Slavic and therefore not related to the Russian language. The three languages are not related to each other either. Most of the ethnic peoples of these lands would rather have nothing more to do with Russia or the Russian language and tend to be offended if one tries to initiate a conversation with them speaking in Russian. Nevertheless, unless the individuals from neighboring Baltic countries know English or some other common European language between them, they are forced to communicate with each other in Russian, like it or not, because Russian is the only common language they know! Russian was the language of education during Soviet times.

Here we have a closer look at Estonia. You can see that Finland is just across the Baltic Sea. The Estonians have much more in common with the Finns than with the Russians or even the Latvians on its southern border. This is because the Estonians were a Finnish tribe and their language is very similar to Finnish. Like the Finns, they are a hard working people and have rebuilt their country and economy relatively quickly after being set free from the Soviet Union.

After World War 2 Stalin forcibly exiled half the Estonian population to Siberia and replaced them with Russians. If I remember correctly, the ethic population is roughly 40% Russian and 60% Estonian. On the Estonian side of the border with Russia there is a city called Narva that is 90% Russian. During the breakup of the Soviet Union, some Russians wanted the city to become part of Russia rather than Estonia. But in 1997 the Russians living in Narva were glad they didn’t become part of Russia and are happy to live in Estonia! They know they have a much better life in Estonia than they would have had in Russia. The Estonian economy is much better.

In the Summer of 1997 I lived with my missionary friends in the city of Tallinn for one full month. I visited once before for a day on the way to St. Petersburg by land from Poland. My friend Yan drove a tiny Polski Fiat from Warsaw through Lithuania and Latvia. His intention was to re-enter Russia from Latvia but was advised against it as being too dangerous. There are many highway robbers in Russia but few if any in Estonia. So we drove through the Eastern side of Estonia and entered Russia at the border town of Narva. Talk about adventure! If you are bored with life, try driving a car through Eastern Europe some time and enter Russia. You will be greeted by a border guard on the Russian side carrying an AK47 automatic weapon. No joke! I saw it with my own eyes! But that was in 1997. I don’t know if they still carry AK47s today.

Most of the ethic Estonians and Latvians in Latvia I met resented being greeted in Russian though they all knew it! In order to talk to the young people in the above photo, I had to greet them first in English! This is because they have great national pride and hate the fact they were taken over by the Russian speaking Soviet Union against their will.

When I was in Riga, Latvia, though people knew me and my friends were foreigners, they would still speak to us in Latvian! My Polish friend would smile and them and say in Russian, “I can communicate in only Russian, Polish and English!” They always complied and spoke in Russian.

The young people told me they don’t speak English and so I asked them if they could speak Russian. “Sure we can,” was the reply, “no problem!” So I pulled out my Estonia Bible and showed them Scriptures explaining in Russian what they meant. This impressed them for they knew I didn’t read Estonia but I knew the Bible well enough to find the parts I was looking for. I could recognize the name of the books of the Bible in Estonian.

Before I went to Russia, in Japan around 1992 I met a young lady from Latvia. I was excited to meet her because I was studying Russian then and wanted to practice it with her. But she told me in English she didn’t want to speak Russian with me. “That’s not our language,” she said. “We have our own language.”

Interestingly, the Estonians were the worse speakers of Russian. This is because the Estonian language is not an Indo-European language as is Russian, Lithuanian and Latvian.

Russian Helen and me when I was 44

My elderly Russian friend Helen of St. Petersburg Russia passed away in 1999. I want to honor her memory with this article.

I first met Helen in the fall of 1994. She was sitting on a park bench near the famous Hermitage art museum of St. Petersburg. I was distributing Gospel tracts in the area and offered one to her. She gladly received it and began conversing with me in fluent English.

Helen was born in the Russian city of Pyatigorsk, a city in southern Russia near Cheynya. Some of her family were killed by the Bolsheviks in the Revolution. Pyatigorsk’s Orthodox church was subsequently destroyed. In spite of that, Helen managed to retain her faith in God and His Son Jesus.

Helen had a good education in Moscow and majored in both English and German language. Later she became a well paid interpreter.

I didn’t learn until months later and several visits to her apartment that she was once the main interpreter for Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin during a press conference in Moscow with journalists from Japan! She said that when Yuri Gagarin entered the room, she was the first woman he saw and immediately approached her, took her hand and kissed it in the manner of Russian greeting.

She lost her life savings during the Ruble crash when the Soviet Union broke up. The money she had in the bank had been enough to buy a good automobile. Its value was reduced to the purchasing power of less than one loaf of bread by the time I met her! She had to learn to exist on a pension that would barely cover only her rent. In order to make ends meet, she gave English lessons to school pupils. Many couldn’t afford to pay her with cash but would bring food instead. At times she and her mentally handicapped son Sasha would go outside to collect cardboard boxes and bottles to resell them.

Helen told me once she would rather starve than see her cats go hungry. She was frequently ill. I suppose her age was around 79 when she passed away – about 17 years above the average life expectancy for a Russian women of that time.

There were many poor elderly people in St. Petersburg when I lived there, and of course I couldn’t help them all but I felt especially led by God to try to help Helen because she manifested a spiritual hunger and appreciated all the Bible related materials I gave her. Not only did she read them all, she shared them with her friends. She once told a friend, “Read this and you’ll never want to read anything else again!

She attended the Russian Orthodox church but didn’t find much spiritual satisfaction from it. Once she said, “You go to church, give an offering, light some candles and pray. What do they give you in return? Absolutely nothing! But you, James, you not only bring me food and money sometimes, but you’ve given me the greatest gift of all, the Words of God!

On July 31 1996, Yanek from Belarus, Angela from St. Petersburg and I traveled overland by bus from Murmansk to the remote village of Teriberka. We went to visit our friend Marina who was a student we met in Murmansk. These two areas are circled in red on the map below. The distance is a bit more than 100 KM or 60 miles, but it took 5 hours by bus on dirt roads! Though it was summer, we could still see patches of snow on the ground! Most of the area in between these two places is tundra. There is nothing growing higher than an inch or so from the ground due to the permafrost just beneath the soil.

In the year 2000 a Russian submarine sank not far from where I lived. The city next to Murmansk called Severomorsk is a Russian Navy base. Only Russian military and the local town’s people have permission to enter this city. And believe it or not, even the tiny village of Teriberka is part of a military restricted zone. I didn’t know that before arrival. On the 3rd day border guards came to Marina’s apartment and told me I had until the next morning to leave or be incarcerated!

A map showing the relationship of this area to the rest of the world. You’re probably thinking, “What’s so special about that village anyway?” It’s special to me because it probably is the most remote area I’ve ever been in the world — a place only missionaries and National Geographic people would want to visit!

There was nobody else on that beach except for the people with me! It was clean with no litter whatsoever which is unlike most Japanese beaches. Parts of it are rocky with very smooth large stones. Even in the summer the water is too cold to swim in without a wet suit.

On the third day, two men who said they were government officials came to Marina’s apartment when I was there and asked me if I obtained permission to visit their area. I told them I didn’t know I needed permission. Marina told them I am an invited guest. The men said I was in a military area restricted to foreigners (especially Americans!) and that I needed permission. I didn’t see a single sign of any military activity at all! They told me to leave at the earliest opportunity and that I may be fined later. But there was no fine and nothing more came of it.

More photos of Teriberka.

I lived in St. Petersburg, Russia, from August of 1994 to October of 1997. It was known as Leningrad during the time of the Soviet Union. Many people who don’t live in St. Petersburg still call it Leningrad! At least they did during my stay in Russia. But I don’t remember a resident of St. Petersburg refer to it by the Soviet name. They are proud of their pre-Soviet history when Peter the Great founded the city on the tributary of the Neva river — actually a wetland. The mosquitoes in the summertime are terrible!

The photo is Gostini Dvor on the main street, Nevsky Prospect. In 1997 I spent over 2 whole hours looking for a weather thermometer but could not find one. The salespeople kept telling me to go to a pharmacy. I replied, “I’m not looking for a body thermometer! I want a weather thermometer.” They replied, “Yes, but they also sell those at the pharmacy.” Well, can you guess what happened when I posed the same question to the pharmacy people back then? They looked at me like I was nuts! “This is a drugstore, not a household appliance store!” “I know I know! But the main department store in town TOLD me to come to you!” And so I was bounced back and forth about 3 times before I finally gave up. A few weeks later I went back to my old neighborhood in Chicago and found what I was looking for in a Dollar Shop in a matter of minutes.

The lady on the right is a nostalgic communist who is campaigning for the return of communism. Behind her are photos of Stalin, Lenin, and a contemporary politician named Zugannof. If you guessed by the sour look on her face that she doesn’t like me, you’re correct. She knows that I am a foreigner and a Christian missionary. I just smiled back at her and walked on.

St. Petersburg is situated on a tributary, and so it is divided into several small islands that are linked by bridges and tunnels. Here is a typical beggar in Petrogradskaya Ostrov (Petersburg Island). It is hard to tell which beggars are really in need and who is faking. Some are professional beggars who actually pay the Mafia to beg on their turf. After a day’s work of soliciting donations, they can relax in a fine restaurant eating a good meal. This is something I could not afford to do when I was there!

There was real poverty in St.Peterburg when I was there. I often visited a poor lady named Helen. Here I am with her in 1997. But though she was old and needy, she never begged. She taught English and got paid in groceries. Sometimes I would bring her food and gifts. Read more about Helen, a former interpreter who helped in an interview with the famous Yuri Gagarin, the first man to be shot into space into orbit!

Here is a picture of me and my friends in a school in St. Petersburg. It is close to Easter and I am giving a talk to the pupils on the meaning of Easter — the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I had the total support of the school teachers and principal to do so. Do you think I could get away with this in a public school in my homeland, the USA? Only deep somewhere in a rural area in the State of Indiana where the Amish live perhaps.

Here I am with Natasha Blond in a park in front of a horse. Isn’t she pretty? The horse was kinda pretty too. Her family name is not “Blond” but I named her that because of her real 100% natural blond hair, smooth as silk! You can tell that I really liked Natasha Blond! But alas, she was way too young for me.

In the photo is Russian Stephanie, American Nat, and me at the main exhibition hall in town. We are offering audio-visual teaching material for children. This is partly how we supported ourselves. The rest of the support came from donations from the headquarters of The Family and monthly donations from my faithful friends in Japan to whom I wrote monthly newsletters of my missionary activities in Russia.

In the picture on the right is Lydia (right) talking to a lady from the former Soviet republic of Georgia. I don’t know why in English we say “Georgia” because the correct pronunciation doesn’t sound anything like the US state of Georgia. It sounds more like Gruzia. Lydia was a friend of the head of security at the main exhibition hall of St. Petersburg. He would let us inside for free when everyone else had to pay $1.00. A dollar doesn’t sound like much now but it sure did then! That was 5000 RUBLES!! It was nice to walk around with the head of security. This way the other guards would get to know us and leave us alone while we offered our teaching materials to the guests.

Here’s Lydia again on a street by a vendor of flowers. Lydia is from Kiev, Ukraine. People often remarked that she spoke with an accent, unlike a Ukrainian. This is due to her learning English and being with missionaries from America. She married and has a one-year-old daughter named Diane.

As you can see from the graph, I hitchhiked in 2016 much more than in 2015! It was my second best year since keeping records from August 2, 2004.

If you think in miles, just divide the distance in kilometers by 1.6.

Including what I kept track of in 2004, the total distance I traveled to date which includes my 1000-kilometer trip to Osaka in January is 233, 415 kilometers. This took 1010 days of hitchhiking, but not all of them were entire days. Sometimes I hitchhike to town from my countryside home which is only 30 minutes by car.

Of all the rides I got, only 5% were from trucks. The rest were regular cars, and a few were even buses! I also got a few rides in sports cars, classic old cars, and luxury cars such as a Mercedes.

Most of the people who picked me up were Japanese with only 1.7 non-Japanese. This includes Chinese, Koreans (not including those born in Japan) Russians, Americans, British, French, Brazilian, Peruvian, one Iranian, a few Bangladesh, and many Pakistanis. There have been even young mothers with their little children in the car, around 65 far so far! Can you imagine a lady with little kids picking up strange men in any other part of the world? I can’t.

Most of the time the purpose of my travels is to earn money in locations that offer me part-time jobs. Other times it is simply to see friends such as my next trip to the Tokyo area. I love to meet new people this way because I love to share my faith in Jesus Christ with the Japanese who do not know Him, which is most of them. Chances they will hear the Gospel for the first time in their life from me, and they may never hear it again.

Just think of what a missionary faces in Japan: First, you have to learn how to communicate in a difficult language. Japanese is not especially difficult to pronounce, but because most words have two roots which are pronounced differently, one from Chinese and the other Japanese, it is not easy to add new vocabulary. The best way is to also learn how to read the Chinese (Kanji) characters, and this takes time, at least a couple of years of daily study. Secondly, even though you can speak Japanese fluently and base your message of the Gospel solely on Bible Scriptures, they still will not understand you! The core doctrine of mankind being born into sin is alien to the Japanese. One reason is there is no specific word for “sin” in the Japanese language. The word they use for sin is the same word meaning “crime”. Therefore to say we are sinners is to call ourselves criminals in the Japanese mind, and because Japanese culture teaches people to be law-abiding citizens, the idea of being a criminal is loathsome to them! I have to spell out exactly what I mean about sin — breaking God’s moral laws which are stricter than man’s legal laws. Also, the concept that Jesus’ Blood cleanses us from sin is totally foreign to the Japanese. I have to explain the Jewish former practice of animal sacrifices for them to understand. And the evolution verses creation debate is almost unheard of in Japan. It’s interesting that though they have been brainwashed with evolution in school and on television, most Japanese don’t think deeply about it and have no strong opinions either for or against evolution.

To sum up, it takes much longer to win a soul in Japan than in Western nations, even those where Roman Catholicism is the primary religion. One good thing about the Catholics is they all know they are sinners! Most of them anyway. I sure did. My mother told me so. 🙂

This is all of chapter 1 of Fifty Years in the Church of Rome by Charles Chiniquy.

Charles Paschal Telesphore Chiniquy (30 July 1809 – 16 January 1899) was a former Roman Catholic priest who left the Catholic Church and converted to Protestant Christianity, becoming a Presbyterian Evangelical minister.

My father, Charles Chiniquy [pronounced, “Chi-ni-quay”], born in Quebec, had studied in the Theological Seminary of that city, to prepare himself for the priesthood. But a few days before making his vows, having been the witness of a great iniquity in the high quarters of the church, he changed his mind, studied law, and became a notary.

Married to Reine Perrault, daughter of Mitchel Perrault, in 1803 he settled at first in Kamoraska, where I was born on the 30th July, 1809.

About four or five years later my parents emigrated to Murray Bay. That place was then in its infancy, and no school had yet been established. My mother was, therefore, my first teacher.

Before leaving the Seminary of Quebec my father had received from one of the Superiors, as a token of his esteem, a beautiful French and Latin Bible. That Bible was the first book, after the A B C, in which I was taught to read. My mother selected the chapters which she considered the most interesting for me; and I read them every day with the greatest attention and pleasure. I was even so much pleased with several chapters, that I read them over and over again till I knew them by heart.

When eight or nine years of age, I had learned by heart the history of the creation and fall of man; the deluge; the sacrifice of Isaac; the history of Moses; the plagues of Egypt; the sublime hymn of Moses after crossing the Red Sea; the history of Samson; the most interesting events of the life of David; several Psalms; all the speeches and parables of Christ; and the whole history of the sufferings and death of our Saviour as narrated by John.

I had two brothers, Louis and Achille; the first about four, the second about eight years younger than myself. When they were sleeping or playing together, how many delicious hours I have spent by my mother’s side, in reading to her the sublime pages of the divine book.

Sometimes she interrupted me to see if I understood what I read; and when my answers made her sure that I understood it, she used to kiss me and press me on her bosom as an expression of her joy.

One day, while I was reading the history of the sufferings of the Saviour, my young heart was so much impressed that I could hardly enunciate the words, and my voice trembled. My mother, perceiving my emotion, tried to say something on the love of Jesus for us, but she could not utter a word her voice was suffocated by her sobs. She leaned her head on my forehead, and I felt two streams of tears falling from her eyes on my cheeks. I could not contain myself any longer. I wept also; and my tears were mixed with hers. The holy book fell from my hands, and I threw myself into my dear mother’s arms.

No human words can express what was felt in her soul and in mine in that most blessed hour! No! I will never forget that solemn hour, when my mother’s heart was perfectly blended with mine at the feet of our dying Saviour. There was a real perfume from heaven in those my mother’s tears which were flowing on me. It seemed then, as it does seem to me today, that there was a celestial harmony in the sound of her voice and in her sobs. Though more than half a century has passed since that solemn hour when Jesus, for the first time, revealed to me something of His suffering and of His love, my heart leaps with joy every time I think of it.

We were some distance from the church, and the roads, in the rainy days, were very bad. On the Sabbath days the neighbouring farmers, unable to go to church, were accustomed to gather at our house in the evening. Then my parents used to put me up on a large table in the midst of the assembly, and I delivered to those good people the most beautiful parts of the Old and New Testaments. The breathless attention, the applause of our guests, and may I tell it often the tears of joy which my mother tried in vain to conceal, supported my strength and gave me the courage I wanted, to speak when so young before so many people. When my parents saw that I was growing tired, my mother, who had a fine voice, sang some of the beautiful French hymns with which her memory was filled.

Several times, when the fine weather allowed me to go to church with my parents, the farmers would take me into their caleches (buggies) at the door of the temple, and request me to give them some chapter of the Gospel. With a most perfect attention they listened to the voice of the child, whom the Good Master had chosen to give them the bread which comes from heaven. More than once, I remember, that when the bell called us to the church, they expressed their regret that they could not hear more.

On one of the beautiful spring days of 1818 my father was writing in his office, and my mother was working with her needle, singing one of her favourite hymns, and I was at the door, playing and talking to a fine robin which I had so perfectly trained that he followed me wherever I went. All of a sudden I saw the priest coming near the gate. The sight of him sent a thrill of uneasiness through my whole frame. It was his first visit to our home.

The priest was a person below the common stature, and had an unpleasant appearance his shoulders were large and he was very corpulent; his hair was long and uncombed, and his double chin seemed to groan under the weight of his flabby cheeks.

I hastily ran to the door and whispered to my parents, “M. le Cur’e arrive (“Mr. Curate is coming”). The last sound was hardly out of my lips when the Rev. Mr. Courtois was at the door, and my father, shaking hands with him, gave him a welcome.

That priest was born in France, where he had a narrow escape, having been condemned to death under the bloody administration of Robespierre. He had found a refuge, with many other French priests, in England, whence he came to Quebec, and the bishop of that place had given him the charge of the parish of Murray Bay.

His conversation was animated and interesting for the first quarter of an hour. It was a real pleasure to hear him. But of a sudden his countenance changed as if a dark cloud had come over his mind, and he stopped talking. My parents had kept themselves on a respectful reserve with the priest. They seemed to have no other mind than to listen to him. The silence which followed was exceedingly unpleasant for all the parties. It looked like the heavy hour which precedes a storm. At length the priest, addressing my faith, said, “Mr. Chiniquy, is it true that you and your child read the Bible?”

“Yes, sir,” was the quick reply, “my little boy and I read the Bible, and what is still better, he has learned by heart a great number of its most interesting chapters. If you will allow it, Mr. Curate, he will give you some of them.”

“I did not come for that purpose,” abruptly replied the priest; “but do you not know that you are forbidden by the holy Council of Trent to read the Bible in French.”

“It makes very little difference to me whether I read the Bible in French, Greek, or Latin,” answered my father, “for I understand these languages equally well.”

“But are you ignorant of the fact that you cannot allow your child to read the Bible?” replied the priest.

“My wife directs her own child in the reading of the Bible, and I cannot see that we commit any sin by continuing to do in future what we have done till now in that matter.”

“Mr. Chiniquy,” rejoined the priest, “you have gone through a whole course of theology; you know the duties of a curate; you know it is my painful duty to come here, get the Bible from you and burn it.”

My grandfather was a fearless Spanish sailor (our original name was Etchiniquia), and there was too much Spanish blood and pride in my father to hear such a sentence with patience in his own house. Quick as lightning he was on his feet. I pressed myself, trembling, near my mother, who trembled also.

At first I feared lest some very unfortunate and violent scene should occur; for my father’s anger in that moment was really terrible.

But there was another thing which affected me. I feared lest the priest should lay his hands on my dear Bible, which was just before him on the table; for it was mine, as it had been given me the last year as a Christmas gift.

Fortunately, my father had subdued himself after the first moment of his anger. He was pacing the room with a double-quick step; his lips were pale and trembling, and he was muttering between his teeth words which were unintelligible to any one of us.

The priest was closely watching all my father’s movements; his hands were convulsively pressing his heavy cane, and his face was giving the sure evidence of a too well-grounded terror. It was clear that the ambassador of Rome did not find himself infallibly sure of his position on the ground he had so foolishly chosen to take; since his last words he had remained as silent as a tomb.

At last, after having paced the room for a considerable time, my father suddenly stopped before the priest, and said, “Sir, is that all you have to say here.”

“Yes, sir,” said the trembling priest.

“Well, sir,” added my father, “you know the door by which you entered my house: please take the same door and go away quickly.”

The priest went out immediately. I felt an inexpressible joy when I saw that my Bible was safe. I ran to my father’s neck, kissed and thanked him for his victory. And to pay him, in my childish way, I jumped upon the large table and recited, in my best style, the fight between David and Goliath. Of course, in my mind, my father was David and the priest of Rome was the giant whom the little stone from the brook had stricken down.

Thou knowest, O God, that it is to that Bible, read on my mother’s knees, I owe, by thy infinite mercy, the knowledge of the truth to-day; that Bible had sent, to my young heart and intelligence, rays of light which all the sophisms and dark errors of Rome could never completely extinguish.