July 20, 2001
While hitchhiking from Niigata to Nagano Prefecture, I was picked up at an expressway service area by a couple with their teenage daughter. I noted that the license plate on their car was from Ishikawa Prefecture -- an area on the Sea of Japan that I frequently traveled.
I introduced myself and told them that I am a Christian missionary. To this they laughed and exclaimed, "We are Buddhist monks and live in a temple!"
This is not the first time I've met Buddhist monks while hitchhiking. With the notable exception of the sect called "Nichirenshoshu" who aggressively proselytize, I find them to be quite friendly and easy people to converse with.
I said, "Let me guess. You must be of the sect called Jodoshinshu and live in Kanazawa."
Again they laughed and said, "Both correct! How did you know that?"
I replied that it wasn't a hard guess. Kanazawa is the main city of Ishikawa and Jodoshinshu is the primary Buddhist sect of that region. I suppose they were surprised that a foreigner would know that.
Buddhist monks in Japan can marry and raise a family. This is the one of the main differences between Japanese Buddhism and Buddhism in Thailand or Tibet, etc. I always tell them I like the fact that they can marry. I usually share that the Bible recommends marriage.
Most Buddhists (except the Nichirenshoshu) are very open minded and tolerant of other religions. Rather than trying to preach to me their doctrines, they seemed to be more interested in hearing what I had to say. They proceeded to ask many questions like; "What do you do everyday? How do you minister to people? What do you teach them? What is the name of your sect?"
I shared that I am a member of a small Christian organization called "The Family." One of our ministries is to visit and cheer up the elderly. I also shared that the enemies of Christ are seeking to silence our witness. I got into quite a bit of detail touching the political and the economic of what I call the "Great Conspiracy" of anti-Christ world takeover resulting in one world government! The reason I like to warn people about this is so that when the Biblical prophecies of Revelations 13 start to be fulfilled, they will remember that I told them about it beforehand and will want to receive the rest of my witness about Jesus Christ and Him as their Savior rather than worship the false imposter who will claim to be Christ and take his "mark of the Beast."
"Surely you don't tell the elderly those things when you visit them! You said you are seeking to cheer them up!"
"Quite right!" I replied. "We don't touch those subjects at all. We only want to give them the simple message of Jesus Christ and the Love of God! I am covering these other things only because you told me that you are Buddhist monks and so I think you don't want to hear about Christ!"
"That is not so! We are open to hear about Christ!"
It is not everyday in Japan that God opens to me such a wonderful opportunity to share the Gospel with such an invitation from the Japanese! So I posed the question:
"Why do you think that Jesus Christ died on the cross?" I waited a few moments till I could see that they didn't seem to know the answer, then I continued:
"In the time of Christ the Roman Empire was the government. It was Roman practice to execute criminals by crucifixion." The Buddhist lady questioned. "That means then that Christ was a criminal?"
"He was accused of being a criminal by jealous leaders of the Jewish religion who wanted to get rid of Him, but after the Roman governor Pilate examined Him, found him innocent of all charges and wanted to release Him."
"You mean that Pilate was one of His supporters?" she queried.
"No, not exactly, I said. "Pilate was neutral. He just didn't want to see a innocent man die. The Jewish religious leaders wanted to get rid of Jesus and so put political pressure on Pilate saying, 'If you let this man go you are no friend of Caesar!'
"Pilate bowed to political pressure very much like the politicians of this present day do! But Jesus could have escaped if He wanted to. The Bible says that He could have asked His Father to send legions of angels who would have saved Him! But He chose of his own accord to die on the cross."
"Why was that?" the wife asked.
"To fully understand why, you have to know something about the Jewish faith. It was required for the Jews to offer a sacrifice of a lamb for God to forgive their sins."
"By this you mean that Jesus' death on the cross was a sacrifice for the sins of the people?" the wife inquired. I could see that the light of the Gospel was beginning to shine in their hearts!
"Exactly!" I replied, "Jesus was God's ultimate sacrifice for the sins of man!"
They all seemed to understood this point very well! I was elated! I think that one of the greatest thrills for any teacher is to know that he or she has just imparted some knowledge and wisdom to another.
"You are a good missionary! You helped us understand what Christianity is, and just in time too!" I was just about to get off the car.
Thank You Jesus! I really pray that the tiny seed of Faith of the Word of God I planted in their heart will grow, and that they will want to learn more about Christ.
Normally I don't get into deep Christian doctrines of redemption with the Japanese people, but I find it interesting that the more religious a Japanese person considers himself or herself to be, the easier it is for him or her to understand the Gospel. An example of this is one of my friends who after studying Buddhism for many years turned to Christ. Most Japanese have unfortunately been brainwashed by their society to steer clear of any kind of religion.