Mission trip in Shinshiro

After all the hectic times last week during which I submitted a paper, finished my VISA application submission (which has to be resubmitted because of a mistake >_<), preparing for conference and attending mission trip, finally I returned back to Chiba!

The mission trip was really a blessing for me. I was really feeling the presence of God through his church. I realized how important it is to pray for revival, to free people from satan's bind, and to crush the control of the demon. And I experienced how Holy Spirit gave me the courage to go and tell other people about Jesus.

It is really encouraging to see a church that is really full of Japanese people, as other churches in Japan have so few people, much less young people in there. But in this Shinshiro church, not only there are all kinds of people from children to old people, but in the Sunday service there are 300 people worshiping there!

What is different about this church is that this church has the vision for Japan's revival, and all the staff are one in heart. Like many other churches in Japan, they also had times where they were stagnant and experienced how hard it is to reach Japanese people and tell them the gospel. But they learn from many churches, and also from missionaries from Indonesia, including from our head pastor that once served as a missionary in Kalimantan.

In July 9, 1992, they were told by God to start a spiritual warfare, although they didn't understand at that time. But they started to pray to break the bond of idolatry and spirit worshiping in Japan. Then they found out that their region was the place where once a huge war happened, and in 6 hours around hundred thousands of people were killed, and since then people started to worship the dead spirit, afraid that they will receive curses from those dead spirits. They then told by Holy Spirit that this is the veil that blinds the eyes of people, that caused them to not be able to see the light of the gospel. So after they started praying to break the bind and to lift the veil that blinds people, God starts to guide people towards the church.

In rural area such as Shinshiro, people's bond are very strong, and it is very hard to become a Christian because of that. Especially because the custom of praying for the ancestor's spirit is very strong in Japan. Before, even if one person become a Christian, other 10 people will harden their heart because of that. And somehow people didn't stay for long in the church, one week they were attending and the next week they stopped coming suddenly. But after they started the spiritual warfare, mysteriously people started to go to church and asked them to break down the butsudan (place to put the picture of ancestor or buddha statue) for them! After they are praying for the veil to be lifted, God opened the eyes of the people, and those that are sensitive spiritually can see that real form of what they are worshipping, are evil spirits! And they want to be freed from them! After people become Christians, their problems (which are caused by evil spirit summoning and worshiping) are vanishing, and other people that see the change that happened in those people are attracted to church as well. People are now staying in church, and influence their surroundings, just as God want us to be.

Almost 20 years has passed since the spiritual warfare started, and Shinshiro church is still growing healthily with a vision for Japan revival through spiritual warfare. Later God opened their eye that Japan spiritual realm is based from the Jomon era, and people from Jomon era are the sailor tribes that came from Indonesia! After that Yayoi era came, where people from Korea came to Japan and eradicated Jomon people. And they found out that the Buddhist culture in Japan is a mixbreed from shamanism (which was rooted from the Jomon period) and confucianism (which came from Yayoi people from Korea). In Buddhism they believe the reincarnation, so there should be no need for grave nor ancestor worshipping, because they will be reincarnated. But what is taught in Buddhism in Japan (and in China or Korea) is that they should worship their ancestor spirit, which is taught in confucianism. And one of their worshipped god, inari, which is a fox ridden by a god named Dakini, is the name of a god in Hinduism, which can still be found in Bali.

So they slowly uncover the hidden truth behind the history, where most Japanese people wouldn't even stop to think about. Most Japanese people would think that Japanese were originated in Japan and they are special people selected by their god Amaterasu, but in reality the custom to worship Amaterasu and the emperor was started in Meiji area, and there are no such thing as pure Japanese because they are originated from Jomon and Yayoi people, which were moving from Indonesia and Korea!

So during the mission trip, we as representation from Indonesia, prayed for the revival in Japan and for breaking the chain that binds the people in Japan, especially in Shinshiro. The spiritual realm in Japan and Indonesia is strongly linked, and victory in Indonesia will mean victory in Japan and vice versa. We were also doing home visit, and telling people about Jesus and the gospel, although we were mostly rejected by people there. But we learned from this experience not to depend on our own strength or wisdom, but to ask for God's power and Holy Spirit's blessings to empower us to spread his Words. I myself experienced how Holy Spirit turned my fear into joy and the willingness to reach out to people.

Returning back here in Chiba, I wonder if the people here in Tokyo is also bound by the evil spirits, in different shape. Most people in Japan still worship their ancestor or go to temple wishing for good luck even though they would say that they don't believe in the spiritual world. I hope God would give me wisdom to find out the truth about the reign of evil spirit in this area and Tokyo, too.