Sims Harold Lois 1946 Japan

TOKYO CttRlSTlAN HOLY BIBLC Go ye into all the world an d preach the gospel to every creature, ^ [Mark 16:15 V«l t o Mi Koesport Peiiiia Aii|«iist. 1940 iiiu er 8 EMPEROR HIROHITO DENIES DEITY Interesting Figures About Japan T h e United States Army announces that mi s sionaries will be permitted to return to Japan, the o nly condition being that some r es p on s ib l e mission agencj ^ se e to it that shelter, food an d other essentials are made available. T he A rm y feels that missionaries ca n make a v a lu a b le con t ri bu ti on to th e reconstruction of Japan, while at th e same time making it clear that they have no intention of making fnissionary activity a tool of m ili ta ry o cc up at io n. A nt ic ip at in g t hi s p er mi ss io n, t he Roman C at ho li c Church laid plans long ago, a nd ordained eleven Japanese priests in Rome. They sailed late in February. Meantime, 19 Jesuit priests in the United States h av e b ee n c le ar ed by th e State Department fo r admission to Japan, a nd th e names of 49 others have been submitted fo r similar clearance. P r o testant mission boards expect to return s ix m is sionaries It is no t whether the m er g er , five years ago, of all Protestant churches in Japan is to c on ti nu e in operation. There a re no w about .180,000 church members in Japan; of whom 230,000 arc Protestants, 120,- 00 0 a re Roman Catholic a nd 30,000 a re Eastern Orthodox. American bombing of Japan de stroyed 426 Protestant churches, 50 Roman Catholic churches, 26 schools, 15 hospitals, leaving 90 Roman Catholic churches s ti ll cap a bl e o f f u nc t io n in g. On e of the largest Catholic c om mu ni ti es in Japan was at Nagasaki, com pletely destroyed by the second atomic bomb on .-\ugust 9, 1945. Copied from Th e Evangelical Christian. LAKE JAMES REPORT Several of t he members of o u r mission staff were privileged to attend tiie School of Missions week at Lake James, it was g en er al ly agreed among th e many' niissionarie.s an d f ri en ds wlio attended th e camp that this wa s th e greatest an d most successful year so far. I t was esti mated that . so me 4 00 were present at l ea st for o n e session. T h e enrollment or number o f registrations amounted to no less than 235. We wish to thank e ve ry one wlio made it possible fo r us to share in th e fellowship a n d inspiration that only m is si on s week at Lake James ca n Miss Mary Louise Zace, another recruit for the Church of Christ, Cunningham Mission, is from t he C en tr al Church of Christ in Savannah. Ga. Sh e was b ap t i z ed into Christ in 1936 at th e ag e of 11, by O. T. Sparrow. Miss Zace was educated in th e p ub li c s ch oo ls of Savannah an d wa s graduated f ro m C om me rc ia l High School in 1942. In September of th e same y ea r, she wa s enrolled in the Atlanta Christian College where sh e spent three years. H er .senior year w as taken at t he Cincinnati Bible S em in ar y where sh e w as g ra du at ed with th e While Camp Rutlcdge .she dedicated herself to full t im e C hr is ti an service. H e r dc.sirc to serve Christ, her musical talent, and h er stenographic ability h a ve helped he r qualify for tlie work she plans to do fo r and with the nii.ssion. Utsunomiya, Japan, a c it y w it h a population of 80,000 wa s burned nearly to t he ground by B-29 bombers am i U. S. naval carrier planes during th e war. 7.000 buildings went up in smoke. Today 83 of al l t he d es tr oy ed b ui ld ings ar e • restored. There are now more re s taurants than before th e raid. Five schools an d Shintoisni is no l o n ge r the st at e religion of Japan. T he emperor is no longer held in such high esteem as a divine being as before the war began, for he ha s denied his d ei ty . T he U. S. Army P u bl ic R e la ti o ns Uft ice made public tn e m es sa ge de li ve re d by Emperor Hirohito. In part he d ec la re d, W e stand by the people an d we wish always to share with them in their moments of joys an sorrows. T he ties between us an d ou r people have alway s stood upon mutual trust an d affection. They do n ot d ep en d upon mere legends an d myth. They are not predic ted on the F.ALSE CONCEPTION THAT T H E EMPEROR I S DIVINE an d th e Japanese are superior to other races an d ar e fated to rule the world. We feal deeply concerned to note that consequent upon the pr o tracted wa r ending in ou r defeat ou r people ar e l ia bl e to grow restless an d fall in to t he slough of despond. Radical tendencies in excess ar e gradually sp re ad in g an d the sense of morality tends to lose its hold on the people with the result that there are signs of confusion of thought. In December of last year a news reporter visited on e of th e largest shrines in Tokyo. He reported that in contrast to th e thousands t h at w ou ld h av e been present five years ago, w or s hi pp in g t he e mp er or , he found o nl y a bo ut 20. This certainly is evidence enough that Shinto- is m lost power during th e war. Buddhism, too, lost som e of it s influence. On th e other hand, as couhl be expected, Christianity, although pe r secuted, gained in followers. Naturally, we are anxious to know if th e em peror will become a Christian or not. Every p er so n h as a r el igi on an d a go d or number of gods of some kind. n I iiil. 3:19 Paul writes about th e enemies of t he c ro ss o f Christ rcfer- in g to them as p er so ns whose en d is destruc tion, WHOSE GOD I S THEIR BELLY. Even th e atheist who denies th e existence of th e one true and living God ha s a god, even though it might be hi s o wn p er so na l being, b ut wh o among us can save himself. But. besides th e emperor, we a re anxious about t ho se w ho have l o st faith in hi m and no w a re s e ek in g after another god. Perhaps some have been so di s appointed in hi m that they will tr y to live without a n y faith whatsoever. Only Jesus Christ, the Son o f G o d a n d the S av io r o f th e world, is th e answer to the longing search of their h ea rt s. We must h as te n, t he n, to Japan

Sims Harold Lois 1946 Japan

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