The Salvation of Mr. M.

The Salvation of Mr. M.

We returned from Shulam on Friday, August 29, 2008. At 13:00 the next day, Sarah, Ako, Lew, and I met with Mr. M and his wife. His wife has been a faithful member of our church for many years now and has constantly sought the Lord for her husband’s salvation. His son, daughter-in-law, and daughter are all Christians. Mr. M has attended church off-and-on, mostly off, for many years but had never come to a point of decision for himself. However, a few months ago he learned he had inoperable pancreatic cancer. He had now completed his first round of chemotherapy and wanted to talk about his relationship with Christ.
As we talked we learned more of his journey. When he was in his 20’s he was riding a large motorcyle at high speed. A very large truck stopped in front of him. When he applied his brakes, they failed. His motorcyle did not slow at all. In a nanosecond it flashed through his mind, “I’m going to die.” Suddenly his motorcyle stopped, just short of colliding with the truck. He said there was no screeching or skidding and the motorcyle did not shudder in the least. His brakes still had not worked. He and his cycle just gently stopped. He said he knew from that time that there was some god or some being that had saved him. But, since he wasn’t injured he just went on with his life.
Looking back now, some 40+ years later, he recognized that the Living God had saved him. He now believes there is a god. I told him that was good but that even the demons believe there is a God [James 2:19] but they will not humble themselves and repent. I asked Mr. M, “Do you remember ever repenting with your own mouth and asking Jesus to come into your life and take control?” He said he hadn’t. I told him he was not born again and he needed to do that.
We explained that he needed to know for sure that he was born again and had eternal security. He needed a point in time he could refer to and say, “On this day I prayed to receive Jesus.” When we asked him if he was ready, he said, “Yes.” I lead him in a prayer and covered everything I could think of beginning with his belief in the virgin birth and going through the resurrection of Jesus. Lew said he had never heard such a detailed sinner’s prayer. I told him we had been praying for this man’s salvation for almost 20 years and I wanted to make absolutely sure we didn’t leave anything out.
Mr. M’s wife was very excited. We believe he had a genuine encounter with the Lord. Water baptism had been a big stumbling block for Mr. M and he had steadfastly resisted it. Interestingly, Mr. M had insisted his elderly mother be baptized before she died. We were able to lead her to salvation and did indeed baptize her just before she slipped into senile dementia and was unable to communicate. She passed away not too long after her baptism. However, Mr. M resisted for several more years until his conversion August 30.
We had intended to get back with him very soon but got very busy and then I had to enter the hospital. Sarah called on Tuesday, 9/9/08, to say that Mr. M had refused any further chemotherapy and was leaving on Friday for an alternative treatment center that uses diet and natural remedies. He would be gone at least a month and maybe longer. Mr. M was told if he took the 2nd round of chemo he would live for one more year. He decided he did not want to be so sick and would try this other treatment. Sarah was concerned this may be the last time we saw him so he needed to be baptized now. I told her to see if he was willing and she and Ako made the arrangements.
Wednesday, 9/10/08, I got a pass to leave the hospital for 7 hours—officially to visit my 2 daughters leaving for America. After a brief stop at home, we all headed to the church to baptize Mr. M. His whole family was there. We gathered any church people who were available on short notice. Sarah, Hunter, & Mason had cleaned our church pool (a small, kid’s pool) and started filling it with water. We ran a hose from the church shower and turned on the hot water to warm up the otherwise frigid water.
Since it usually takes almost 8 hours to fill this pool we only had about a foot of water in it. Mr. M got on his knees and, after prayer, stretched out face down in the pool. Sarah and I splashed water on any exposed parts to make sure “every part of him” was soaked. Again, we had waited too long for this moment to leave anything uncovered! Mr. M was really a good sport about this and shared a brief testimony at the end in which he genuinely thanked his family for their love and concern over many years.
We completed this momentous occasion inside the church as we all shared the Lord’s table together. We then gathered around Mr. M, anointed him with oil, and prayed for his complete healing from the cancer. And, since this is Japan, we all posed for a photo to commemorate the day. Mr. M and family returned home to prepare for his trip to the treatment center and I returned to the hospital to complete my treatment.
Please stand with us for Mr. M’s complete and total recovery. We are praying that God will grant him many more good years.
As a church we believe Mr. M is the first fruit of what God wants to do in so many families in our church. Almost every Japanese in our church is the first, and only, Christian in their family. Most of our married women have unbelieving husbands. We believe the time has come to complete their families—to bring in all who are yet resistant to the gospel. We see God working in so many of the husbands as they face new and difficult situations. Mr. M said this cancer was one of the first things in his life he couldn’t overcome by himself. Hard work and determined endurance could not heal him or save him. He had to turn to Someone higher and Greater—the Living God. May God bring many others to this point!