Chapter 13 - In All The Cities

One of the most faithful distributors of the Fountain of Joy in the hospitals, was Mrs. Ogaki, the wife of the printer. At the time the leafIet began being printed by her husband she was an outpatient at a local hospital, taking daily treatments on a hand crippled by rheumatism. She began to make certain that every bed-ridden patient in her hospital received a copy of the latest issue.

One day in 1964 Mrs. Ogaki set out wearily for the hospital for the daily treatment on her hand. How sorry she felt for her husband, who had to bear more of the burden of the printing because she was so handicapped. Safely tucked in her bag that day were a number of copies of the Fountain of Joy leaflet. She and her husband were now producing up to 15,000 copies a month for the Mission. The latest edition had just come out, and she was determined that each patient in the hospital would receive a copy.

When her treatment for the day was over, therefore, with a deep bow and a cheerful word to each one, Mrs. Ogaki presented a crisp, new copy of the leaflet to patient after patient. In one room, however, she hesitated, for the bed was empty. But after a moment’s pause, she felt urged to put a copy of the magazine by the pillow, for the next patient who would occupy the bed.

Not long after she had left the hospital that day, a man of about 40 years of age was wheeled into the ward and helped into that very bed. He was suffering great pain in his stomach due to continual excessive drinking. When the nurse left him alone in his misery he suddenly noticed the copy of the Fountain of Joy beside his pillow. He was somewhat puzzled as to what it might contain, but put in to one side, determined to read it after the awful pain had subsided.

When he read it, its words gripped his heart. He became one of the most grateful recipients of the leaflet as Mrs. Ogaki distributed it in the hospital each month. He literally devoured its pages, finding spiritual food for the first time in his life that satisfied his hungry soul.

On leaving the hospital, he often visited the Ogaki’s home, and began going with them to their church, before long accepting Christ as his own personal Savior.

One day Peggy said to me, “What about sending sample copies of the Fountain of Joy to all the 7,500 hospitals in Japan?”

“Good idea. Let’s do it!” I said. “We’ll trust God to fulfill the promise of Ecclesiastes 11:1 ‘Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.'”

Thus “Operation – Fountain of Joy” was launched in August, 1964, and thousands more patients were reached with the Gospel. There were many favorable responses from hospitals all over Japan, and circulation steadily increased toward 80,000 a month. This little messenger for God continued to carry its witness into lonely, suffering wards all over Japan every month.

But there are millions of people in Japan who are not sick, who need to hear of the loving Savior too. For a long time Peggy and I had realized the possibilities of newspaper evangelism. We had placed our first little advertisement in a local newspaper in 1960, and this had brought such a good response we had longed to use this tool for evangelism in a larger way.

I had thought of the possibiljties of a tract ministry, and made a few calculations. I estimated that it would cost about $10,000 to publish a million tracts in Japan, at a penny each. If these million tracts were distributed to a million homes by the cheapest method possible, which is by mail, it would cost another $10,000.

With our present staff of fifty people, including all wives and the children old enough to stuff envelopes, stick on stamps or write on addresses, it would take at least 3 and helf years to get the mailing ready!

But by way of contrast, I realized that due to the miracle of the present generation this entire task could be accomplished in one afternoon, for less than a thousand dollars. For if we bought newspaper space, it would cost them less than $1,000, and then the mighty newspaper agency would deliver it free of charge to over a million homes in one afternoon.

We also made the startling discovery that the newspapers with the largest circulation in the world are not those of New York or London, but they are the Asahi, Mainichi and Yomiuri newspapers of Japan! The Japanese printing presses pour out the fabulous total of one billion magazines and two billion books every year, and 26 million newspapers every day! In spite of the difficulties of learning to read and write the language, Japan is one of the most literate countries in the world.

Thus we longed to launch out into newspaper evangelism (sometimes called “advangelism”) as soon as possible after our return from South Africa, but we could not because of four obstacles. The first was that we certainly did not have the necessary money, for it would take hundreds of dollars to get started. We already had so many financial commitments in the Mission, including the Voice of Joy broadcasts, that contribution income was barely keeping pace with the need.

The second obstacle was that we did not have New Testaments to offer. I felt very strongly that if we were going to make a start, we should advertise like this: “If you have never seen a New Testament and are interested enough to read it, we will send you a copy free of charge.” I felt that since we say a lot about the Gospel being “free,” the very least we owe to the unsaved world is the opportunity to see a free copy of God’s Word, if they are willing to read it.

Japan differs from many countries in being highly educated. Since they are a reading nation, what better could be put into their hands to read than the New Testament? Because Japan has so many false religions, millions of Japanese have never even seen a New Testament.

But if we placed an ad offering New Testaments free, how many should we have on hand? I had not way of knowing how many would ask for one, but I knew that before we placed the ad, we would need plenty of them on hand.

The third obstacle was that extra office staff would be needed to handle the additional correspondence that would result. The staff presently handling the Voice of Joy broadcast responses, and sending out correspondence courses to those who requested them, was already burdened with a large volume of correspondence. At least two more persons would be necessary to cope with the increased mail that would result from the ads.

In the fourth place, someone was needed who knew how to write ads. In Japan, some of the very best talent of the nation is used in advertising. Some of the people who have graduated from the best universities spend all their lives designing ads. An ordinary person could not begin to write ads as effectively as these highly skilled people. I learned, for instance, that the most powerful word in the advertising world is “free.” The second most powerful word in advertising is “new.” I began to notice how many times the words New and Free appeared in ads, and was amazed.

I approached the MissionÅfs 35 evangelists and asked them to try designing some ads. They worked hard on it, but when I looked through them I was quite discouraged, and wondered what could be done. Obviously, we must have a skilled advertisement writer if this advertisement in newspapers was to be effective.

I tried to find someone to write ads and to find extra office workers, but no matter how I searched I could not find anyone suitable. The Mission had already introduced new converts to over 100 churches, so I contacted the ministers of these churches and asked them to help me find persons with the qualifications I listed. There was no fruitful response.

Then I approached our missionary friends and asked them, but they could not help me either. When I addressed a meeting anywhere, I would ask the audience if they could help find people for these responsibilities. But I couldnÅft find a single person that would fit into the pattern for newspaper evangelism.

One day I was thinking about these problems during my quiet time, when the Lord spoke to me clearly from Matthew 17:24-27: “Go to the sea and cast a hook.” Suddenly I saw afresh the principle of God. We have to step out in faith, I realized, and if we step out in faith, God will supply everything that is necessary.

It was necessary for Peter first to cast the hook. Only after he cast the hook in obedience to the Lord was the thing he looked for supplied unexpectedly – in the mouth of the fish. A miracle indeed! I realized that God would work a miracle for us just as definitely as for Peter, if we believed God and acted in faith.

“Go to the sea” spoke to me of the masses of Japan. Go to the masses and exercise faith! Go to the sea and cast a hook! This principle of believing God and acting in faith came home to me more clearly than ever before, and I said, “Lord, yes! In faith I will go to the sea now, and I will cast a hook. In faith, I will not put this matter off any longer. I will now make a start with newspaper evangelism and I know that You will supply everything that is needed.”

I left the room and said to everyone I met, “We are going to make an immediate start with newspaper evangelism.”

When I spoke to Sato Sensei I learned, as I had expected, that there was not even enough money in the treasury for the first small advertisement. I just wanted something small, centering around the Word of God. It would cost about $150 for an ad 1 and helf by 3 inches but we did not have even that much.

Yet I felt that if we could just get people asking for the Word of God, we would be performing a tremendous service. But the Mission did not have any New Testaments to give away either, and no money to buy them. What if we advertized: and many more thousands asked for them than we might have planned for? The Mission could go bankrupt overnight! And we had no idea how many should be ordered.

There was no extra office staff to handle responses; There was no advertisement writer. But God had spoken. –”Go to the sea and cast a took. Go to the multitudes and exercise faith.”

A few days later Peggy and I sat in one of the biggest newspaper agency buildings in Osaka and attached the Mission seal to a contract for a newspaper ad each month. Signatures are not used for contracts in Japan. Instead, each person carries a personal seal, and attaches their seal, to a contract rather than signing their name.

As we walked out of that building we knew there was no money, no New Testaments, no office staff, no advertisement writer. It was a lonely journey back home that day. Our faith was severely tested in those moments, with these tremendous hindrances.

A day or two later as I began opening the letters that had come in the mail, one of the first was from a fellow missionary in Japan who wrote. “I’ve heard of your adventure in advangelism. The Lord has spoken to me, and told me to pay for the first advertisement. Just let me know the cost and I will send you a check.”

I was still praising the Lord when one of the girls from the office staff walked in. “A thousand New Testaments have just arrived,” she said.

We did not know how many New Testaments would le needed as the result of that first newspaper ad and had not ordered any! We had consulted many people, but no one could tell us. But God knew! That’s why He sent a thousand. For when the requests came in from that first ad, there were exactly 997 people who asked for one. A wonderful God had not only supplied the need, but supplied the very thing needed–not too much nor too little, but just the right quantity.

Just a few days before the ad had to he placed, I went to a minister near the Mission, taking with me all the ads that we had designed in the Mission for possible use. I wanted his opinion on which would be the best one of these to use. As I was showing them to him the minister said, “Do you know what? I worked for an advertising company just after the war, and one of my fellow workers found Jesus Christ as Savior. Perhaps he could help you.

We contacted the man immediately, and found him tremendously capable and eager to help out. After he had left the university he had made advertising his business from morning to night. Now he had an opportunity to write advertisements for Jesus Christ. This man’s face lit up with joy when he realized that his gift could be used for the Kingdom. His joy was reflected in our faces too, when we realized that God had answered our prayers and supplied the man we needed.

Before the first newspapers hit the streets of Osaka, a very frail girl came to the door and said, “I so envy your lady workers who go out visiting in the hospitals, but I don’t have the strength to do that. Oh, if I could just sit a desk and write letters for people, and pour out my energy that way, I would do everything I could to bring them to Jesus Christ! Couldn’t you use me? Isn’t there any way-in which I could serve the Lord?”

This young lady had been a tuberculosis patient for 13 years. This was the first winter in 14 years that she had not been hospitalized, for she had had tuberculosis of the intestines that had spread to her spine and then to the joints of both her thighs. She had undergone eight operations and was almost given up as hopeless by medical science. But she had found the Savior through a Bible given her by a friend, and had recovered. As I listened to her story. I realized, that here was a person God had prepared to help with the correspondence resulting from newspaper evangelism.

A day or two later the wife of a minister who knew nothing of our proposed newspaper project, came to the Mission and said, “I’ve been very busy during the years bringing up my children and didn’t have time to do much else for the Lord. But now the children are grown and are suddenly off my hands, and I am free to do something for God. For a long time I felt that if I could write letters to people, that could be my ministry. Couldn’t you please introduce, me to some bookshop or some place where there would be an opportunity to write people who are interested in spiritual things?”

“Lady,” I said, “we don’t need to introduce you anywhere. God has sent you here!”

Later I discovered that this lady was so capable and so mature in the Lord that the more difficult letters, in the office could always be passed over to her desk. The Lord used her to handle masses of correspondence that grew out of the newspaper evangelism project.

On October 5, 1964 the first advertisement appeared in the Mainichi paper, which has a circulation of 1,200,000. Two more ads appeared before the end of 1964, reaching

3,600,000 homes altogether, which represents about 15,000,000 persons. Of these, 3,869 requested and received free New Testaments, 649 asked to be enrolled in the correspondence course, and 48 accepted Christ. And all of this was set in motion for less than $500 in advertising expenses! This certainly demonstrated the possibilities for newspaper evangelism. It led us to pray even more boldly, “Lord, make every newspaper here become a Gospel tract. Make every newspaper boy a messenger of God.”

One of those who received a New Testament wrote: “I do thank you for the Holy Book you so kindly sent me. However, because it is so holy, I wonder if it is all right for me to put it into an ordinary school bag and read it on the train? I am 17 years old and working as a maid. In the evenings I go to school to try to finish my High School education, so I have very little time to read it otherwise.”

This young lady completed a correspondence course within a month and wrote to say she was certain the Lord had saved her.

A 14 year old school boy wrote asking for a Bible, saying he liked to study anything but was a bit worried that he might have to believe in Jesus if he read too much. Within a month he had gone through two correspondence courses. At the end of the first courses he said he had received Jesus as his Savior. He began on a third course, and was introduced to a local church.

A young textile factory worker completed one course and accepted the Lord.

A 23 year old girl wrote saying that on the very same day that her grandmother died of cancer, her brother was killed in a car accident. As a result, her heart was filled with the fear of death. But on that very same day she had also read their ad. She too, began diligently studying the Word of God.

A dancer who had been with a famous troupe became mentally ill and had to leave the work she loved. She saw the ad, and wrote asking how to find joy in her heart in spite of her circumstances.

A young factory hand who had often contemplated Suicide saw the offer of a New Testament in the ad, wrote asking for help and began studying the Bible.

An older woman who had grown up thinking money was the most important thing in life and had lived through 16 years of a loveless marriage because of this wrong attitude, realized in reading the ad that money is not everything, and asked for a Bible.

A man with an incurable disease who had been trying to drown his troubles in sake, saw the ad while in the depths of his despair, and began studying the Bible.

So the letters poured in from young and old, rich and poor, in all walks of life. And all this time responses also continued to come in response to the Voice of Joy.

Every letter received a personal answer, so that by 1964 41,000 letters and communications had been sent out. Those answers were most carefully and prayerfully written, even though there were so many. One person wrote saying he had wept when he received a seven page letter from the Mission in answer to his questions. He was touched to think anyone would care so much!

One day I heard of a new post office that had opened near us and said to Peggy, “I’m going to mail some letters there.”

We still did not have a car, but I now had a motor scooter rather than a bicycle. I filled the two biggest boxes I could find with mail, strapped them to the back of the scooter and set off for the post office. I found a brand new building with two very friendly Japanese girls behind the counter, so I bowed to them and they bowed to me.

The bowing custom is still strong in Japan. It is estimated that elevator operators in department stores, for example, bow on an average of 2,650 times a day!

So after I and the postal clerks had bowed to each other for awhile I asked, “May I mail some letters here at your post office?”

They bowed again and said, “Yes, you may mail as many as, you wish.”

I bowed again. “Do you really mean that?”

“Yes,” they smiled, bowing, “mail as many as you want to here.”

I turned around, walked out to the scooter, unstrapped the boxes and brought one box in and carried it up to the counter. The next time one of the ladies looked up I was standing there with a big box of letters in my arms. Even if I wanted to put this mail in the red box out in front” I told her, “it would fill it up so much no one else would he able to get their mail into it.”

These clerks didn’t know about the special large red box that had already been put in front of our home earlier, by the main post office. A mail truck came by at intervals to empty it, the same as for other public mail boxes. But the mail had become far too much even for this box, on many days. It was not unusual for the Mission to receive several hundred letters in one, day from people seeking spiritual help. One day 700 letters and just cards had come in, and there had been days in which over 1000 communications arrived to be answered. Once we placed a small advertisement in a young people’s magazine and the next few days over 5000 people responded.

Whenever I went to the post office to buy stamps, I usually bought $300 to $900 worth at a time. Now it isn’t possible to walk into a post office and buy $900 worth of stamps! Quantities like that have to be ordered, and of course, even with this amount, there is no discount. Postage alone is a tremendous expense in the Mission budget.

They looked at me a few seconds as if they couldn’t understand the queer Japanese accent of this foreigner. Then hurriedly one of them lifted the lid of the box and found that it was filled with letters. Another envelope to every inquirer containing a New Testament was also in the box. Since it was too heavy for her to take she said, “You’d better bring it behind the counter.”

I carried it around the counter and saw that there was a silly little table there. I knew the mail would never fit on that table! One of the clerks struggled with the mail awhile, and then gave up and told me to just empty the box in a corner of, the post office. So I emptied the contents of the box there, and went back to the scooter.

The next time the clerk looked up, I was standing there again with another box of letters. Again I brought it in behind the counter and emptied it on top of the other bundle A letters, As I went to the door, they bowed to me and I bowed to them. But as I left I didn’t tell them that I was going to get more letters.

I went home and filled two more boxes. When I arrived back at the post office I stopped where they could see me through a big window. One of the clerks was pointing at me as if to say, “There’s that foreigner again!”

I brought in the two boxes, one at a time, and emptied them behind the counter. There was now a terrific heap of them, and I thought to myself,–I’m going to have to do plenty of bowing now!

I asked them to do all they could to get the mail out as soon as possible, bowing to them as I backed out. They bowed and said, “We’ll do everything we can. We’ll take care of it,” making all kinds of wild promises. But they were standing there rubbing their hands as if they didn’t know where to start. By now I was at the door, and I bowed again as I left, but didn’t tell them I was going home for still more letters.

I filled two more boxes, came down to the post office and parked the scooter again. Looking up, I caught the astonished expression of dismay on their faces as they saw me ready to unload more mail! I brought these boxes in and emptied them behind the counter. By now the letters were piled almost as high as the counter itself.

When I got home this time I received a frantic phone call from the post master, who had Just arrived. he pleaded with me not to bring any more mail! “We just can’t handle such large quantities here,” he apologized.

Several hours later I passed the post office on an errand and noticed that they had called in three or four men from another branch office nearby to come help them handle this unusual amount of mail.

This incident proved to be a great blessing, for now when the Mission has a large amount of mail that they want to go out quickly, all we have to do is make a phone call to this post office, and immediately a mail van is sent to take the mail we have prepared to a larger post office.

In the beginning of 1965 we did not have the money to carry on ad evangelism for the coming year, even though we had seen how effectively God had been using it. The contract we had signed had expired at the end of 1964, and we needed to know whether to sign another contract for 1965. “Lord,” we prayed, “please give us a sign so that we know what to do during 1965. Please show us what Your mind is concerning this.” We wanted real assurance that it was the will of God for us to continue.

The following morning we were in the Kashiwara church. Pastor Umehara still helped in the hospital evangelistic meetings, and I reciprocated by helping at times with the church meetings. The church now had about 100 members. On this Sunday morning I shared with them how miraculously God was using newspaper evangelism and asked them to pray that we would have real guidance concerning its use during 1965. I didn’t tell them that I was praying for some sign, asking the Lord to show me in one way or another that it was His will to go ahead.

The next day one of the church members came to me and said that he could not sleep the night before. “If a missionary like you can come all the way from South Africa,” he said, “trusting God to give you New Testaments and the money you need to do God’s work in Japan, then surely I must trust the Lord in the same way for my own people.”

He had a big packet with him, and as he handed it to me he said, “I know I must trust the Lord just like you do. I don’t have the money for New Testaments any more than you do. But I went to my brother this morning, and I borrowed this money to buy New Testaments. My brother also said that this newspaper evangelism must go on. It’s a blessing to our people.”

As I stood with tears in my eyes, holding the sacrificial gift that had been given us, the man went on to say, “Now I’m going to work and pay this money back. But in the meantime, may your work not come to a standstill.”

As I stood there thoughtfully after the man had gone, why, I thought, should it always be the missionary trusting God for funds? Why shouldn’t the Christians also believe God for funds in just as real a way as the missionary does, for the work of the Mission?

This was the sign, the assurance, that God sent, and very soon the wheels were set into motion for newspaper evangelism in 1965.

About this time I also received a letter from a missionary friend in South Africa, Danny Vermoulen, that greatly encouraged me. This man had heard of the need of New Testaments in Japan and wrote, “I’m doing mission work just as you are, and have to trust the Lord for my needs. But I also want to trust the Lord for needs there in Japan. This Morning I have committed myself to the Lord to give $300 worth of Bibles every Year for the next five years. I do not have the money, but I trust that God will supply it.

He began to pray that the Lord would help him to have a share in this ministry, and soon the first $300 arrived from South Africa. A letter came with the gift in which he said, “This was given me for our travel allowance. No matter how we prayed, money did not come in for Bibles, so I’m sending you my travel allowance for the time being.” After he had sent this sacrificial gift, the Lord worked a miracle and replaced the money he should have used for his own travel allowance.

Sacrificial giving such as this provided the New Testaments so badly needed, so that the Japan Mission advangelism in 1965 again brought a rich harvest of lives transformed.