"Then said Jesus unto them plainly" - Choice Facing the Islamic Terror

Ginza, Tokyo, in summer

Choice Facing the Islamic Terror

Last night or early this morning around 3 or 4 a.m. of Japan Time, a strange thing happened to me.  A stranger called me by phone but I did not respond to it.

And, in the morning news on TV, they were reporting that 100 persons were killed in Paris.

I really think that God gave me pre-notice of the very tragic and disastrous terror in the capital of France carried out by Islamic terrorists.

If Muslims in Europe can live peacefully enjoying a high level of living standards, there would be no acts of terror in Paris and other cities in Europe.  If all the Islamic nations in the Middle East, including Syria and Iraq, are governed by democratic governments and could enjoy social stability and prosperity as seen in the West, there would be no acts of terror in Paris and other cities in Europe.

But both the conditions seem to be impossible.  Then, will the world have to continue to suffer such terror as seen in Paris today?

The underlying issue is how poor Muslims feel desperate.  And, to them, prosperity of the West has been achieved by sacrificing them.  So, the West should give them hope toward the future.  The West should help Islamic countries develop economy after putting an end to the wars ranging from Syria to Iraq and Afghanistan.  Then no Muslims would go and live France and other European countries.

However, this world is under influences of rich European and American people.  They would think that it is advantageous for them to make poor Muslims poorer.  They would not give up any of their wealth to make poor Muslims a little happy.  People who are making big money in London and New York would not mind if the Third World War is triggered by this conflict between Islamic terrorists and France.

To prevent this trend of Islamic terror, we have to deal with super-rich people and rich people of the West and other regions, including the Islamic world.  We have to force them to give up a major part of their wealth so as to transfer necessary money for poor Muslims.  

But, if super-rich people and rich people of the West and other regions, including the Islamic world, think they do not mind terror caused by poor Muslims as long as they can enjoy rich lives, this trend of terror would continue to the full-phase of the Third World War.

Peace and poverty of all or the war and the huge gap between the poor and the rich are a choice for us.


  



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Joh 11:14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
Joh 11:15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.

"all the prophets and the law prophesied until John" - Christ Jesus and Each Individual

Tokyo

Christ Jesus and Each Individual

The most important aspect of Christ Jesus is that He can answer any questions from anybody.

"How should I handle the case?", "How can I act on this occasion?", "Which one should I choose?", etc.  People have various questions, but Christ Jesus can answer them all with authority.  It is because He is God.  He must understand everything and every individual living in this world to the details.

Christ Jesus has to carry every burden each person is carrying and suffering.  If there is one unhappy person, He can take responsibility for it.  If there is a person feeling pain, Christ Jesus can be in charge of solving it.

But, can any person say that he will take care of everyone living in the world?  Indeed, what Christ Jesus meant through His words and actions is that He would understand everybody and address all of their problems.

In this context, Christ Jesus is the king of mankind, since a true king is the one who is responsible for every problem and trouble his subjects face.

But, in reality, everybody cannot even handle well his own problem.  We cannot even help our neighbors so as to relief them from their pain.  We cannot carry burdens of our neighbor so as to help them.  We cannot be responsible for unhappiness of our neighbors.  But Christ Jesus can take responsibility for unhappiness of everyone on the earth.

If He has not such ability, He is just a man.  As He has such super ability, He can be God.  But to understand His ability, it is better for us to think about it as to whether He can answer every question and solve every problem each individual is concerned with or suffering.  It is so, because the greatest issue for individuals is always their personal issues concerning human relationships, social status, financial problems, duties, responsibilities, fears, worries, etc.

In other word, we had better rely on Christ Jesus and consult Him in order to find answers to our individual questions or lessen our pains and burdens.  In this, there is great value and merit in following and believing Christ Jesus.

So, we should know how great Christ Jesus is, since He can handle every problem of everybody.



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Today I saw a miracle.  Just in front of me, two cars with identical main license-plate numbers (ex. 27-71 and 27-71) appeared side by side on a road, though some other minor parts of the license plate description were different.  I think it was a sign for something great happening.  And I saw somebody on a street, so interestingly.





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Mat 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
Mat 11:13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
Mat 11:14 And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.

"Ask, and it shall be given you" - Evil Bureaucracy Everywhere

Tokyo

Evil Bureaucracy Everywhere

What type of people were abhorred by Christ Jesus?

First of all, rich men, and then professionals of religion and the elite in society.  From a king to a petty official, persons in the positions of any political power are abhorred by Christ Jesus.  Today, especially elite bureaucrats who fall in this category are all the more influential on the general public openly or covertly.

When Haruki Madarame was recently interviewed by The Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper, he mentioned his experiences in this regard he encountered as chairman of a certain governmental committee to supervise the Japanese nuclear energy industry.

It looks like an episode before the occurrence of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident.  When Madarame could not agree to an issue or a decision an elite official of a nuclear related agency of Japan put forward to him, the official intimidated him, saying, "Mr. Chairman, then we will stop providing information for you."

The committee Mr. Madarame presided over had regulatory power and authority.  He was in a position to supervise activities of nuclear-related agencies of the Japanese Government.  But elite bureaucrats knew a method of reversely controlling Mr. Madarame.

In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear accident, Madarame suddenly became a person in the news.  Many people blamed him, since he could not guide the nuclear industry sufficiently professionally to prevent the accident.  He was forced to answer every severe question in official sessions held in the Japanese parliament, called the Diet.

To the general public of Japan at the time, the most responsible persons for the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident were top executives of the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), then prime minister Naoto Kan, and chairman of the Nuclear Safety Committe of Japan Haruki Madarame.

However, Madarame testified that elite bureaucrats were also responsible or more responsible.  After the accident, they ran away, shifting all of their responsibilities to Madarame and the operator TEPCO.

Indeed, even staff of TEPCO complained that those elite officials of government agencies had requested many meaningless reports and applications from TEPCO for years before the accident.  When TEPCO engineers tried to apply a minor change to a nuclear facility, they were requested to file many papers and forms to regulatory agencies.  But, most of officials in those agencies had not good knowledge about the nuclear engineering.

And in fact, no elite bureaucrats were blamed for the nuclear accident to be reprimanded or demoted.  They have really succeeded in running away.


So, in any countries, elite bureaucrats must be keenly monitored and supervised, since power and authority they have are far larger than the general public assume.

However, one of major reasons why ISIS gained momentum and has acquired formidable military power and political influences around Iraq and Syria is that the US military forces had almost completely destroyed the bureaucratic system of the Saddam Hussein regime through the War on Terror.

It is indeed difficult to make the best use of bureaucracy.  We have to at least remember that Christ Jesus hated it even in Jerusalem 2000 years ago.

Truly, we have to be careful, since it is thought that key members of ISIS are ex-elite bureaucrats or military officials of the Iraq Government ruled by Saddam Hussein and the Baath party.






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Luk 11:9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

"His disciples say unto him, Master" - Origin of Nationalism of the Empire of Japan

Around Tokyo

Origin of Nationalism of the Empire of Japan

In the transition period from the samurai era to the modernized Meiji era in Japan in 1850s and 1860s, there was a civil war between the samurai camp supporting the Tokugawa shogun, the title of the head of the samurai class for the past 250 years, and the opposition samurai camp gathering around the imperial court in Kyoto.

The Tokugawa regime was then taking a policy to open the door of the nation to the world after 250 year-long isolation of Japan, in the wake of receiving a strong request from the US to establish a diplomatic relation between the two countries.  (For this purpose, the US sent a fleet well armed to Tokyo Bay to deliver a written official demand to the Tokugawa government in 1853.)

But the anti-Tokugawa camp was against the policy.  They claimed that the nation isolation policy had been supported by the imperial court in addition to past shoguns.  Therefore, they requested the Tokugawa clan to return the title of shogun to the imperial court and step down from power.

The then shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu actually returned the title to the emperor but tried to become the head of the new government to be established in cooperation with all the samurai leaders and the imperial court.  However, the opposition samurais did not accept this plan.  They thought that it was a good opportunity to put an end to the rule by the Tokugawa clan.  So, the revolutionary troops, mainly consisting of samurais of the Chosyu clan and the Satsuma clan, started a civil war against the Tokugawa government.

Nonetheless, now ex-shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu did not respond to a violent challenge from the opposition with his troops.  He left the Edo Castle, the main base of the Tokugawa shogun, in Tokyo (then called Edo) and retired in a temple.  But some samurai clans who did not like to obey leaders of the opposition samurai camp fought back.  As a result a year-long civil war was set off in Japan in 1868.  

It ended with overwhelming victory of the anti-Tokugawa samurai camp.  And Emperor Meiji moved from Kyoto to Tokyo to be the effective monarch of Japan.

However, after taking over power from the Tokugawa clan, those imperial samurai leaders changed their diplomatic policy.  They abandoned the nation isolation policy to see advanced industrial power of the Western powers.  They formed the Meiji Government to introduce into Japan various Western systems and products of the Western civilization.

Though some samurais who were on the Tokugawa side were purged or executed, Tokugawa Yoshinobu was eventually pardoned and competent samurais who once served the Tokugawa regime were employed by the Meiji Government.  And, Japan started in full swing to modernization and industrialization as a whole.

However, it is important that most of samurai leaders who demolished the feudalistic Tokugawa regime had been first against the opening of the nation.  Though their main motive was apparently to simply go counter to the Tokugawa shogun, they must have wanted to protect the culture and traditions of Japan from foreign influences.  In this context, they might be called patriots.


And, 70 years later, namely in 1941, the Empire of Japan launched a risky war against the US, the UK, and other allied European countries.  Even at the time, the samurai (warrior) spirit was observed well by military officers and some politicians.  And there were many generals of the Imperial Army and Navy who were descendants of Chosyu and Satsuma samurais.  It is as if their old ideology of national isolation or samurai-era nationalism had revived.  During WWII, those leaders of the Imperial Army and Navy and the Imperial Government showed strong hostility to the Western culture, though the Empire allied with Germany and Italy.

After WWII or the defeat of the Imperial military to the US, Japanese changed their policy again.  They accepted the American-style democracy as well as various American systems and cultural influences.  The democratic Japanese Government became so pro-American.  Even the Imperial House of Japan discarded the old paradigm of accepting militarism based on samurai spirit.  Today, love for peace seems to be one of main features of the Imperial House.

Nonetheless, if there had not been the civil war (called the Boshin War due to the name of 1868 in classic Japanese) between the Tokugawa camp and the imperial samurai camp in 1868, the Empire of Japan before WWII should have been more realistic and pragmatic in its diplomatic policy with many ex-elite samurais of the Tokugawa regime taking key positions in the Meiji Government and the successive Imperial Government.


For example, ancestors of incumbent Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, were samurais of the Chosyu clan whose territory was mostly present-day Yamaguchi Prefecture in West Japan.

http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2135204275885398101/2135204424985561303



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Joh 11:8 His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?
Joh 11:9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.