Isaiah 45:21-22 “And there is no God apart from me,
a righteous God and a Savior;
there is none but me.
Turn to me and be saved,
all you ends of the earth;
for I am God, and there is no other.”

Once again we have a very powerful statement of the Creator’s call to everyone He has created. Atheists and polytheists alike are sadly deceived. Until recently, America has not had much direct contact with non-Christian religions, but that has changed remarkably in recent years. The problem is that nominal Christians have had no intellectual or spiritual defense against the lies of other religions (or against the lies of some who pretend to be Christian) and they have descended into a relativistic swamp with no signposts. Recent surveys have shown that a disturbingly high percentage of Americans believe there is no absolute truth. That sort of relativism has pervaded Japanese society for a long time, to the point that there is a Japanese proverb that says, “Even the head of a sardine can be an object of worship.” Here, God is calling out to mankind, who is wandering in this relativistic fog, “Here I am! I do exist, and I will save you if you come to Me.” It is certainly indicative of His character that He would bother to do so. Of course, the ultimate indication of that character is that He sent His Son, to live our life with us and die our death for us, and this passage makes it clear that He did it for everyone, “to the ends of the earth.”

God called and appointed me as a herald of this good news, and that’s why I’m here ministering in Japan. The reception rate has been sadly low, but there have been those who have received and believed, and for that I am deeply grateful. I cannot force anyone to repent and believe, but I can and must issue the invitation. I have been doing so in Omura now for nearly 33 years. I keep seeing signs that people have been moved by what they have seen in and heard through me, yet the great harvest I have prayed for still hasn’t come. I must not give up, because as this passage says, there is no other salvation. I am to keep proclaiming the Gospel and living as a demonstration of it, standing in prayer against the lies of the devil that blind people from the truth, so that in God’s time His salvation will indeed be poured out on these people, for His glory.

Father, I really understand my own father crying out to You that if he was what was in the way of revival in Japan, to take him out of the way. He didn’t see the great harvest, and so far neither have I, but You have spoken to my heart that it is coming. Thank You for the interactions just in the past few days with people to whom we witnessed years ago, and for the evidence that they haven’t forgotten, and are drawn. I do pray that everything holding them back would be broken, that there would be a steady and growing influx of people into Your family, Your kingdom, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!