"he gave them power against unclean spirits" - Faith in God, Fear of God

Around Tokyo

Faith in God, Fear of God

Christ Jesus said that people with faith in God were like lams in a pack of wolves.

Conversely, people without faith in God would try to abuse and harm others to satisfy their desire, which believers would never do.  And, how badly they abuse and harm others is unpredictable and limitless.  There are many hidden atrocities conducted by citizens onto others.  The human world is full of danger.

The issue is that wolves do not realize how cruel they are, so that those without faith do not realize how cruel they are to others as well as to themselves.

But God did not give intellectual and spiritual ability to the mankind so that they become intellectual and spiritual wolves.  There is a purpose for God's creating the mankind with higher ability.  But if the mankind abuses it, they must be destroyed by God.

Maybe what we need is the fear of God in this regard as well as faith in God.

Indeed, who can stand before anger of God that the mankind is incurring due to their betrayal of God in this context?


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Mat 10:1 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.
Mat 10:2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;
Mat 10:3 Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;
Mat 10:4 Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

"but by prayer and fasting" - Prayer to God to be Free From Ill Spirits

Around Tokyo

Prayer to God to be Free From Ill Spirits

If nobody wants to be richer than others, there will be no crimes.

But there is another factor for evil deeds and crimes, ill spirits or Satan.  In the era when Christ Jesus was living, people believed existence of ill spirits and Satan.  They thought that if a person was haunted by an ill spirit or Satan, he or she would have acted like a mad or evil man or woman.

To cope with ill spirits or Satan, people have to always try to follow teaching of God, according to Christ Jesus.  Without receiving a decisive influence from an external world, minds of people can be captured by an ill spirit.  Bur today, commercialism is sending messages and images via TV broadcasting and the Internet that are intended to invoke and amplify material desire among the audience and consumers who will consequently have less resistance to influences of ill spirits and Satan.

Today, there must be more people, than we suppose, who are under influence of ill spirits and Satan.  Accordingly, tens of millions of people are neglected while they are suffering hardships and tragic fates, and news about such people in Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, etc. are reaching all over the world.   So, in this modern era, people who are controlled by ill spirits are not simply acting like mad men, but working coolly and rationally in Wall Street businesses, companies in the financial sectors in advanced countries, and big businesses all over the world.  However, on the other hand, tens of millions of people in some parts of the world are living very dangerous life.

So, people under control of ill spirits and Satan must look just ordinary people with some wealth.  They may not be violent at all in their behaviors.  They may look like observing laws and rules.  They must be living like normal citizens.   But they neglect tens of millions of poor people in the world while they know the fact.

We had better doubt common sense.  The society in which we live must be controlled by wealthy people, politicians, other elite members of the society who behave like honest men but actually whose minds are controlled by ill spirits and Satan.

Even Islam teaches that for Muslims to get free from ill spirits, they have to pray to Allah at least five times a day.

We need incessant prayer to Christ Jesus and God to be completely free from ill spirits and Satan.  



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Mar 9:29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

"he took Peter and John and James" - Christ Jesus and the Gospels

Around Tokyo

Christ Jesus and the Gospels

Christ Jesus did not order His disciples to write down His words and His actions for future generations.

Christ Jesus sometimes referred to the Old Testament, which means that He might think about a possibility that His words and deeds would be someday compiled in another Testament.  But He never made any efforts to keep His life in record.

It is in clear distinction from the case of Islam where the Koran has played an essential role.

So, it is enigma about Christianity: How Christ Jesus regards the New Testament, and especially the Gospels.

So, we have to judge whether or not the Gospels were written through guidance of the spirit of Christ Jesus.

  

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Luk 9:28 And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.
Luk 9:29 And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.

"Thou son of David" - Meaning of Believing in Christ Jesus

The Tokyo Station

Meaning of Believing in Christ Jesus

Christ Jesus apparently thought that life after death was real.  So, believing in Christ Jesus means believing in life after death.

But life after death is either in Heaven or the hell according to Christ Jesus.  So, believing in Christ Jesus means understanding how to be allowed to enter the Heaven.

Accordingly, if you truly believe in Christ Jesus, you will have no fear for death, at least, in principle.

But what is the spiritual world that must exist above this material world?  Probably to make us concentrate on life in this world, Christ Jesus did not reveal specifically the real state of the spiritual world.

What is more important is believing in Christ Jesus means believing existence of God.

So, believing in Christ Jesus itself is salvation of our souls.


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Mat 9:27 And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on us.
Mat 9:28 And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.

"And the spirit cried" - Descendants of Abraham from a Stone

Tokyo

Descendants of Abraham from a Stone

Christ Jesus said that God can even make descendants of Abraham from a stone.

Due to this word, Judaists have lost their special positions, though they have been still descendants of Abraham.  And, indeed, Arabs have claimed that they are also descendants of Abraham.

God also made Obama the first African American.  He could make a US President from a son of a modern African.

Then he must be able to make a US President from a woman, if He so wishes.  Or will He make a US President from an indecent billionaire?

Whichever, if God intervenes in the 2026 US Presidential election, people must learn a holy lesson.





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Mar 9:26 And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.
Mar 9:27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.

"Give God the praise" - Ultimate Precedence

Tokyo

Ultimate Precedence

It is not because there is zero that 1, 2, 3. and other numbers exit.

It is because there is the concept of the infinity that zero, 1, 2, 3. and other numbers exit.

It is not because men can think about God that God exists.
But God exists so that men can think of God.


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Joh 9:24 Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner.
Joh 9:25 He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.

"all things are possible" - The Finite is Generated from the Infinite

Tokyo

The Finite is Generated from the Infinite

The life is finite.  But people live without being harassed by the concept of the finite.

It is said that animals live as if they could live forever since they do not understand the meaning of death.  However, human beings know that someday the end of life happens to each of them.  Their lives are finite.  But human beings are also living as if they could live forever.

This is a different matter from that about whether one believes existence of life after death.  It is a matter that human beings feel there is something that is infinite.

It is the basic law that everything finite is generated from the infinite.  Everything finite is part of something infinite.  Life of a man is finite, but God is infinite.  Life of everyone, which is finite, must be part of the infinity of God.  Accordingly, none get panicked to think that his life is finite, since his life is part of the infinity of God.

People do not clearly think such a thing.  But they must unconsciously feel that they are part of the infinity, so that they feel a kind of confidence about their existence.

If there is nothing that is infinite in this universe, the mankind should get depressed as if they were put in a cage.

There is a great gap between the mankind and the God, which is infinity.  Materially human beings are finite, but spiritually they can be close to God's infinity.

Anyway, the finite is generated from the infinite.  Human beings are generated by God.



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Mar 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

"The Son of man must suffer many things" - Finite Numbers from the Infinite

Tokyo

Finite Numbers from the Infinite

No matter how many finite elements are accumulated, they cannot reach the infinite.

Rather finite elements are part of the infinite.  It means that the infinite first and then finite numbers.  It proves that God is first and human beings second, since God is the infinite and men are finite entities.



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Luk 9:22 Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.
Luk 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

"John the Baptist; but some say, Elias" - God and Human Civilization

National Diet Bldg., Tokyo

God and Human Civilization

It is very strange that God has not directly spoken to any men since He gave His words to Muhammad 1,400 years ago.

Or it is very strange that there have been none who have received words of God in these 1,400 years.  Of course, it might be stranger that God has not sent His Son again in these 2,000 years, though Christ Jesus said that He would be back to this world at the time when the end of the world is near.

But it is more disappointing that the mankind has not fully discovered what God is in these 1,400 years or 2,000 years, though Judaists seems to have believed that God is their God and that is enough for them for these 4,000 years.

People have various objects in their lives.  To achieve them, the mankind, as a mass of people, has developed various cultures and civilizations.  The mankind has acquired various knowledge about the nature and technologies to manipulate products of the nature to make itself happy, if not for compering with God.

However, if the ultimate goal of human activities in various fields is to make individuals happy, people should follow the teachings of God, since God loves the mankind.  Conversely, the fact that the mankind has developed material civilization more than relying on the teaching of God might mean something horrible.  The mankind might be challenging God.

It is Satan who is challenging God, according to the teaching of God.  Then, Satan should help the mankind develop material civilization.  In this context, we cannot expect nothing wonderful in the future of the mankind with extremely developed civilization.  God will surely destroy Satan and the human material civilization that is supported by Satan.

Finally, no matter how happily a man lives and dies, it is God how to treat his or her soul after death.  Human science and technology, as well as wealth, are useless in the end for any human beings.




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Luk 9:19 They answering said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again.
Luk 9:20 He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God.
Luk 9:21 And he straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing;

"he had been blind, and received his sight" - 150 Million Foreign Workers

Flying with a piece of rainbow

150 Million Foreign Workers

There are globally 150 million people who are working in foreign countries.  In the US, there are 37 million foreign workers.  Those workers send money to families in their home countries.

A remittance is a transfer of money by a foreign worker to an individual in his or her home country. Money sent home by migrants competes with international aid as one of the largest financial inflows to developing countries. Workers' remittances are a significant part of international capital flows, especially with regard to labour-exporting countries.[1] In 2014, $436 billion went to developing countries, setting a new record. Overall global remittances also totaled $583 billion.[2] Some countries, such as India and China, receive tens of billions of US dollars in remittances each year from their expatriates. In 2014, India received an estimated $70 billion and China an estimated $64 billion.

Christ Jesus told 2000 years ago to be kind to foreigners since ancestors of Judaists had been once foreign workers in foreign countries.

However, the fact that India and China are top two countries in terms of the amount of remittances suggest that the world is not developing in a sound manner.  The global economy is making rich Hindus and Chinese richer but making poor Hindus and Chinese leave their home countries to work in foreign countries.

Anyway, those working in foreign countries should need help from God more than those working in their own countries.  That must be why Judaists have never abandoned their religion since they had been expelled from Palestine about 1900 years ago.



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Joh 9:18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight.
Joh 9:19 And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now see?
Joh 9:20 His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind:

"they put new wine into new bottles" - Appearance and Truth

Fukushima City, Japan

Appearance and Truth

Christ Jesus said, "Don't judge people by their appearance!"

In other words, we should not try to look better than others for the purpose of gaining more favor than others.

This truth is often adopted by mystery novelists.  The true culprit of a crime is sometimes a person who looks so innocent, pretty, or handsome.

Indeed, there are no descriptions in the Bible that suggest that followers of Christ Jesus included beautiful women, though there might have been some such women.

Anyway, the Bible teaches that the world became bad since men started to marry good looking women.  


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Mat 9:17 Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.

"What question ye with them?" - Japanese History and the Imperial Family

Tokyo Bay

Japanese History and the Imperial Family

The history of Japan is divided into the five stages:
I: From the Stone Age tens of thousands of years ago to the establishment of the imperial court around the 4th century.
II: From the establishment of the imperial court to the start of the first samurai regime in the early 12th century.
III: The period of samurai government from the early 12th century to the middle of the 19th century when the last samurai regime collapsed.
IV: From the Meiji Restoration of the imperial authority in 1868 to the end of WWII in 1945.
V: From the end of WWII to the present day.

The most important feature of the Japanese history is that Japan has not been occupied or colonized by foreign tribes or nations except the short period of occupation of Japan by the US and allied forces after WWII.  And, Japan has only one family that is recognized as royal family all thorough its history: the Japanese Imperial Family.

It is especially interesting that only one family, the Imperial Family, has occupied the position at the top of the Japanese society and Japanese races all through the Japanese history.  Though samurais (warriors with administrative power) took over power from the imperial court in the early 12th century, they did not abolish the imperial court.

Through the period of samurai regimes, samurais established their governments to govern and control all over Japan while emperors and the imperial court were left in Kyoto without any actual political power.  However, no samurai families openly tried to supersede or succeeded in superseding the imperial family, though samurai shguns, the top leader of the samurai class, put emperors and the imperial court under their control.

Till the middle of the 19th century, this political structure had worked well.  No foreign countries could invade and occupy Japan while the integrity of the Japanese society had been well maintained.

But, when Western nations, including the US and Russia, expanded their colonial activities to the Far East and tried to make Japan open the nation to them based on their military power, samurais understood that the traditional national system of Japan was ineffective.  From the early 17th century to the middle of the 19th century, the last samurai regime led by the Tokugawa clan closed the door to most of foreign countries.  Bur they found that the world was rapidly changing with Western countries, with advanced technology, expanding their power to Asia.   Japan could not be excluded from this trend.  Sooner or later, those Western nations with advanced weapons realized by their industrial revolution would soon colonize Japan by force.

Accordingly, Japanese came to abolish the samurai rule and established a modern government with the emperor set anew as the monarch.  Ex-samurais became bureaucrats, officials, military officers, and other elite members of a modernized government.  This is what is called the Meiji Restoration.

Put simply, to cope with the Western colonizing power and defend Japan and the Japanese race, Japan needed an authentic symbol at the core of its national system.  And, the Imperial Family was fit for this purpose.  All the Japanese were assembled around the Imperial Family to cope with Western powers.  They were requested to pay absolute respect for the Emperor, though some democratic systems were introduced into the Japanese politics and society before WWII.

After the Empire of Japan was defeated and WWII ended, Japan has been strongly influenced by the American culture and civilization.  The new Constitution, which  ensures full democracy, was adopted where the emperor is defined as a symbol of the Japanese people without real political power.  The Japanese people are positioned as supreme rulers of themselves.

So, the Imperial Family has survived to date.  It is truly a symbol of the Japanese history.  However, it is still unknown what role they should play in future.  But one important factor contributing to their 1500-year long survival is that the Imperial Family has been in the center of the traditional culture.  If it has lost political authority completely, the Imperial Family should hold a position with authority in the shinto religion and various fields of traditional culture.


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Mar 9:16 And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them?
Mar 9:17 And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;

"and made them all sit down" - The Key is God

The Tokyo Suburbs

The Key is God

One of the important teaching of Jesus Christ is that human beings must first think about God and then think about their living.

It means that as long as men are following the teaching of God, God will help them survive and live well.  However, if you cannot think that God has actual power to save poor believers and He would really exercise His power for them, you cannot follow the teaching of Jesus Christ.

In this world, wealth and worldly power have decisive influences on people.  To be happy, one must have money.  To be safe, one must be protected by social or political power.  This is  commonsense.  But, Jesus Christ teaches that it is God that saves people who are not happy and safe.  Jesus Christ teaches it is not money and worldly power that saves people who are not happy and safe.

In other words, Satan teaches that only money and worldly power can make human beings happy, so Satan tells human beings to be as cool or cruel as possible to others in order to be happy.  But Jesus Christ teaches that human beings must first follow the teachings of God and then God will take care of them.

One of the keys to handling this issue is what God is for human beings.  From the beginning, can human beings believe in existence of God?  The teaching of Christ Jesus is based on the condition that people can admit existence of God as super existence with unlimited power.  And, He teaches people who admit existence of God that God must be first respected and then He would take care of people.

Today, most of people think they can be happy if they have money.  Some of them might think that God is existent, but they also think that God does not give them money and make them happy.  Others even deny existence of God, and they naturally think that God does not give them money and make them happy.

However, even the most advanced science cannot deny existence of God who created this material universe.  The most advanced science even suggest other material universes outside our material universe.  So, we cannot deny existence of the spiritual universe outside our material universe.  And God can exist materially and spiritually.

If human beings belong to the universe God created, it is logically correct that they first follow the teachings of God before trying to be happy based on money.

Every problem in this world is related to human desire to be happy.  But, if everyone first follows the teaching of God as he or she is supposed to do, there will be no problems and tragedies in the world.

The theme for human beings is God and how correctly they can understand God.


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Luk 9:15 And they did so, and made them all sit down.
Luk 9:16 Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude.

"when Jesus made the clay" - A Lecture by Great Author Soseki Natsume

Around a City in the North of Tokyo

A Lecture by Great Author Soseki Natsume

The most popular author in the modern history of Japan, Soseki Natsume (1867-1916), once made a speech to young people.

As the audience were mostly students of universities, colleges, or high-schools, who were expected to become elite members of the Japanese society before WWII, Soseki especially dealt with their future.  So, the highly-respected author, who once taught the English literature in the Imperial University of Tokyo, delivered a lecture.

"Most of you are elite students.  When you graduate from schools, you would be regarded as elite candidates of the society.  If you start to work in government offices or big enterprises, or engage in any professional work, you will be envied.  And, as time goes by, you will have some power and wealth.  Then commonplace people will have access to you for your power and wealth.  They will flatter you to gain your favor.  And you may corrupt and degenerate.  You have to be careful in handling your power and wealth."

Soseki Natsume himself did not have access to politicians and financial cliques, though he was sometimes invited to parties or banquets by leaders in politics and business.  Soseki kept some distance, in a deliberate way, to those elites of the Imperial Government and business leaders.

And, there were no other authors except Soseki who clearly gave a warning for negative effects of power and wealth on humanities in the history of the Japanese literature.  Every author wants to be rich, influential, and famous.  Ordinary authors cannot hold a warning for evil of money and social status, admonishing young people not to be influenced by a rotten climate of the society.

If you become very rich or obtain some political or social power with high status, you will have controlling power over some people.  And, it will be very difficult for you to be benevolent, fair, just, and kind to them.  One of the most important themes of literature must be this issue.




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Joh 9:14 And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.

"the golden altar which is before God" - Green Islam or Yellow Islam

Tokyo

Green Islam or Yellow Islam

According to the teaching of Islam, Muhammad actually met Christ Jesus.

The Isra and Mi'raj are the two parts of a Night Journey that, according to Islam, the prophet, Muhammad, took during a single night around the year 621. It has been described as both a physical and spiritual journey.

Hadith
From various hadith we learn much greater detail. The Isra is the part of the journey of Muhammad from Mecca to Jerusalem. It began when Muhammad was in the Masjid al-Haram, and the archangel Gabriel (Jibrīl or Jibrāʾīl) came to him, and brought Buraq, the traditional heavenly steed of the prophets. Buraq carried Muhammad to the Masjid Al Aqsa, the "Farthest Mosque", in Jerusalem. Muhammad alighted, tethered Buraq to the Temple Mount and performed prayer, where on God's command he was tested by Gabriel.[6][7] It was told by Anas ibn Malik that Muhammad said: "Jibra'il brought me a vessel of wine, a vessel of water and a vessel of milk, and I chose the milk. Jibra'il said: 'You have chosen the Fitrah (natural instinct).'" In the second part of the journey, the Mi'raj (an Arabic word that literally means "ladder"[8]), Buraq took him to the heavens, where he toured the seven stages of heaven, and spoke with the earlier prophets such as Abraham (ʾIbrāhīm), Moses (Musa), John the Baptist (Yaḥyā ibn Zakarīyā), and Jesus (Isa). Muhammad was then taken to Sidrat al-Muntaha – a holy tree in the seventh heaven that Gabriel was not allowed to pass. According to Islamic tradition, God instructed Muhammad that Muslims must pray fifty times per day; however, Moses told Muhammad that it was very difficult for the people and urged Muhammad to ask for a reduction, until finally it was reduced to five times per day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isra_and_Mi%27raj

This story for Islamic teaching suggests that Islam is decisively linked with Judaism and Christianity, though it has its own unique part.

If Judaism is blue, Christianity is red, and Islam is green, their relationships can be expressed in analogy with  light's three primary colors as below:



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_color

Maybe, the white part represents the true religion.  Then, we have to find the overlapped teachings of the three religions to be true believers of God.

However, if Judaism is blue, Christianity is red, and Islam is yellow, their relationships can be expressed in analogy with  light's three primary colors for color material as below:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RYB_color_model

In this case, the common part of the three religions is not white but black that is not true religion but nothing.  Then, we should not have take together the three religions but should leave them separately as they are.

The point at issue is after identifying Judaism as blue and Christianity as red, what color should Islam take.  If it takes green, all the three religions together would eventually result in white, the true religion, but if it takes yellow,  all the three religions together would eventually result in nothing or nothingness.

In this context, the religious fate of the mankind depends on Islam.  And we cannot take an optimistic view on the outlook of it, since Islamic nations have been under tragic conditions since the start of the 21st century to date.

Or maybe there are two types of Islam: the green one and the yellow one.  Then should we conquer the yellow Islam as the above tentative theory suggests?


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Rev 9:13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
Rev 9:14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

"in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon" - Same Old Evil after 15 Years after the 9/11 Terror

Tokyo

Same Old Evil after 15 Years after the 9/11 Terror

The 9/11 Terror did not make especially poor men rich and rich men poor in the US and other Western nations.  But it triggered some serious changes in the world.

The most important result has been unstable conditions in Islamic nations.  As the US demolished the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq, ISIS terrorists expanded its power of influence in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and other Islamic regions, which resulted in a large number of refugees to Europe.

Indirectly this situation that the US cannot fully occupy, control, and foster pro-American regimes in Islamic nations despite its long-term War on Terror has bee taken by Russia and China as showing a kind of weakness of the US power.  Accordingly, Russia has acted bellicosely in Ukraine and China has acted  militantly in the South and East China Seas.  Even North Korea continues its nuclear-weapon development plan.

The 9/11 Terror killed 3,000 Americans and other nationalities, but the following War on Terror and Islamic civil wars took on and victimized millions of lives of Muslims.

It tells that the then President W. Bush made a bad decision and led a wrong war.  His lack of  qualification as a US president was also revealed by the 2008 Financial Crisis.  So, American voters chose Barack Obama as the first African-American President.  This revolutionary choice somewhat contributed to stability of the American society and the global political mood, though Islamic nations under threat from ISIS have not been enjoying the benefit.

The lesson of the 9/11 Terror is to understand evil of wealth, because super-rich people in both the US and oil-producing Islamic nations became enemies of Muslims as they suppressed them.  As poor Muslims thought that they were abused by rich Muslims and Americans, some of them supported AlQaeda and now are supporting ISIS.

Rich Americans and rich Muslims, both must have found a chance in making more money after the 9/11 Terror.  Accordingly, none are serious in preventing tragedies in Islamic nations.  Indeed, Dubai and some other Islamic nations are prosperous, and the US economy is also expanding 15 years after the 9/11 Terror.

Unless those countries concerned give up their prosperity and use it as resources to realize justice and welfare among poor Islamic people, the aftermath of the 9.11  will not cease any time soon.

Put simply there is still the same old evil 15 years after the 9/11 Terror: the rich and super-rich in the US and Islamic nations.



The war on terror has resulted in loss of hundreds of thousands of lives and the 9/11 had a 0.28% share in the total loss. They justify the loss of lives as ‘collateral damage’ but explain that to a young orphan in Iraq or Afghanistan provided they managed to survive.
https://hemafro.wordpress.com/2014/06/03/10-reasons-as-to-why-the-war-on-terror-is-an-ignominy/

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Rev 9:11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

"into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida" - Uniqueness of Okinawa, Japan

Tokyo

Uniqueness of Okinawa, Japan

It is said in a city with population less than 300,000, you can be easily identified by others such as the police if a certain incident occurs and you might surely encounter your acquaintances in a place where you do not expect such an encounter in the long run.

Accordingly, some smart guys, including some criminals, want to live or work in a big city with population of more than one million.

In Japanese villages in old times, there was an untold rule of ostracism.  If a villager did something that gravely provoked others, if not a criminal, and did not compensate damage, the person would be treated as if  he or she did not exist in the village.  Every human relation and  companionship would be rejected except in the cases of funerals and fires.  Then, in some cases, a  villager ostracized had to leave the village because the person could not live normally any more.

This kind of social customs can be seen any small communities in the world.  Villagers envy others, have a grudge against one another,  and have their prides hurt and neglected.  If there were no rules and authority to govern villagers, a village can be easily fallen apart.  If villagers got their revenge on one another without restriction, no order and peace could be maintained in a village.

Accordingly, people would behave cautiously and get sensitive to others' moods in local villages everywhere in the world.  It is because every member of a village knows every other member.

To avoid such evil, one has to leave his village  and come to a big city.  Then, he would be freed from close censorship by other villagers.  But, in a big city, there are too many temptations in addition to too many criminals.

Traditionally, Asians were living in such local communities with various restrictions.  Even in capitals and big cities of their countries were under strong control of their native rulers who also controlled religions of their countries.  Then since the 16th century, Westerners started to invade and colonize Asian regions.  And, if native rulers of those Asian regions could not cope with Western military power and surrender, local people in the regions had to just follow their rulers.  It is because Western colonialists used old systems and regimes of regions to effectively control their-colonized territories.  So, if a local villager who wanted to be free from old customs in his village fled from the village to a capital, they had to face another cruel rule by Western colonialists who mostly set their colonial bases in big cities.

Especially in Islamic nations, restriction imposed on villagers was strong.  Even if they came to live in their capitals, still religious restriction was strong.  And Western countries have strong influences on their governments in their capitals.  It would be very difficult for them to be free, if they ever wished to be free.

In Japan, the ratio of urban population against its whole population is 92.49% while the UK 82.09%, Canada 81.47%, the US 81.28%, France 79.06%, Germany 74.89%, Italy 68.69%, China 53.17%, Thailand 47.94%,  and India 31.99%.

Japan is a highly urbanized Asian nation; most of Japanese are free from old or traditional social restriction as have been found in local villages in older days.  But, in Japan, Okinawa Prefecture, an island province in the East China Sea with population 1.4 million, seems to be still under conditions of close relationship and strong restriction in terms of social life of people.  It might have unique influence on the fact that Okinawa has more US military bases since the end of WWII than any other prefectures in Japan.
 
Okinawa Prefecture in Japan today might somewhat look like an old Western colony, though there are more human empathy in Okinawa that cannot be frequently seen in Tokyo and other big Japanese cities outside Okinawa.


Note: Okinawa prefecture constitutes 0.6% of Japan's land surface, yet as of 2006, 75% of all United States Forces Japan (USFJ) bases were located on Okinawa, and U.S. military bases occupied 18% of the main island.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okinawa_Prefecture


http://bumblebeemum.net/2015/04/03/singapore-to-okinawa-flights/


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Luk 9:10 And the apostles, when they were returned, told him all that they had done. And he took them, and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.
Luk 9:11 And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing.

"he saith unto him, Follow me" - What Japanese Chess Implies

Tokyo Bay

What Japanese Chess Implies

In Japanese chess (shogi), there are possible 80 moves in a given stage on average, but chess has only 35 possible moves on average.

It took 16 years for computers to defeat a professional shogi player after they had beaten a professional chess player.  Shogi is far more complicated than chess.

It is thought that shogi was imported to Japan from China around the 6th or 7th century, though this game was originated in  ancient India.   Incidentally, Western chess was also from the same origin in ancient India.

So, Japanese have trained their brains through this game, shogi, in addition to go play for more than 1300 years.  It might imply that Japanese have been traditionally more clever than Westerners whose brains have been trained through chess whose complexity is less that that of shogi.

Indeed, Japanese are good at manipulating matters in strategic ways.  That is why Japan could become a country well industrialized and modernized even before WWII, unlike any other Asian nations.  Since the abolition of its closed-door policy  in the middle of the 19th century, Japan rapidly caught up with Western nations in terms of science, technology,  industry, and culture.  Indeed without Japan's success in its industrial revolution since the middle of the 19th century, most of Asian countries, including China, India, and Korea, should be under colonial rule by Western nations even today.

However, Japan had not been influenced by ancient Greek civilization till its start of Westernization after its Meiji Restoration or a drastic regime change from the rule of samurai to the imperial government.  Therefore, underlying philosophy, rooted in the ancient Greek Civilization, that allowed Europeans to develop their scientific study was so remote from the traditional Japanese culture.  So, contribution by Japanese to development of the global history of modern ideas and thoughts is so little as compared with Japan's contribution to global science and technologies.

Moreover, Japan led by samurai leaders closed its door to Western countries, except the Netherlands, from the early 17th century to the middle of the 19th century for the purpose of preventing influx of Christianity into the Japanese society.  So, even today most of Japanese do not become Christians and are not not familiar with ideas and thoughts based on Christianity.  Only, 1.5% of the Japanese population go to church.

In China, it is said that there are more than 60 million Christians, accounting for only about 5% of the Chinese population, though its communist government does not allow full freedom of religion.  China has also never been under influence of the ancient Greek civilization in its history of ideas.  But, Chinese love complicated games more than Japanese.  They are strategists as good as Japanese.  But, there is a big difference between Japan and China in terms of their views on humanity and society.

After WWII, a new Japanese Constitution  was formulated along with advice from General MacArthur who led the US and allied forces that occupied Japan.  And, the framework of the Constitution was set by young US officers who believed in Christian virtue.  Therefore, the Japanese Constitution was basically influenced by Christianity.  The success of Japan after WWII was made possible partly owing to this Constitution.  There are many articles and provisions that pure Japanese cannot even come up with in drafting a constitution.  But, with this Constitution, Japan came to be regarded as fully modernized to be a member of developed Western countries after WWII.  In other word, Japan shares some basic cultural value with Europe and America.

However, China is different.  Though it is governed by those who nominally believe in communism, a product of modern European civilization, China is not under influence of Christian virtue.  Leaders in the Chinese politics and industries do not share basic cultural value with Europe and America.  

As Japan has succeeded in development of technology and economy, it is no wonder that China has also succeeded in these fields, because they are strategists as good as Japanese.  But, China looks being short of some important elements of civilization Japan has sufficiently and Europe and America have fully.

Anyway, as Japanese chess, imported from China, is more complicated than Western chess, Japanese and Chinese can well play with Westerners.




http://nekomadoblog.jugem.jp/?eid=275


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess


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Mat 9:9 And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.

"they marvelled, and glorified God" - Women and Criminals

Around the National Diet Bldg., Tokyo

Women and Criminals

European women and American women are so mean and rotten to the eyes of Muslims.

However, Muslims never laugh at European and American women for their indecent looking.  It is because Europe and America have more economic, political, and military power than Islamic nations.  But since no Islamic women try to look so indecent as European/American women, it is apparent that Muslims despise the European and American culture

Even from a viewpoint of Christianity, today's European and American cultures are rotten;  European and American women expose their skins too much.  It is completely against the teaching of Christ Jesus and God.  Satan controls Europe and America more than Islamic nations.

It is because the Western or global main economic system promotes such indecency among European and American women.  Wealth in European and America is obtained through activities of businesses.  And, businesses earn profits by selling more goods and services.  And the strongest motivation for consumers buy such goods and services is not only needs but also desire.  So, businesses are making consumers' desire increase.  They present advertisement that arouse lust in consumers.  This mood is reflected in behaviors of women.   European and American women are. like businesses, trying to arouse lust among men.  This is completely anti-Christ and also anti-Islam.

Surge in number of female inmates takes world prison population above 10 MILLION

The female prison population has jumped by 50% since the start of the century, according to the report published by the Institute for Criminal Policy Research at Birkbeck, University of London. 

This compared with an 18% increase in the number of male inmates. 

As a result, the proportion of women and girls in the total world prison population has risen from 5.4% in around 2000 to 6.8%.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/surge-number-female-inmates-takes-7298387

https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=zZZeAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA35&lpg=PA35&dq=%22crimes+by+women%22+statistics&source=bl&ots=hTGxsqXfaL&sig=HVZh2x9M3uGf08sCnI-stoMqA90&hl=ja&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiA5vCMg4DPAhUEJJQKHf_hCH0Q6AEINTAD#v=onepage&q=%22crimes%20by%20women%22%20statistics&f=false

One bad man can sacrifice a few women or a few female victims on average.  But one bad woman must surely turn one man to a criminal and one child to a future criminal on average.

Put simply, unless all the women in the world become Muslims, God will not bless the mankind with so many criminal records in the past history.



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Mat 9:8 But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.

"This is my beloved Son: hear him" - True Target of Satan

Fukushima City

True Target of Satan

There is a story, an American detective story, that a police detective was killed by a man who was so persuaded by the detective's wife.

But to confuse the police, the wife and her lover planned to kill other two police detectives before killing her husband, so that the police would suspect that the killer was a crazy criminal who had a grudge on all of the three detectives.  They thought that then the incident would remain unsolved.

This is an example to carry out a task without letting others know the intention.  Such a tactics can be seen in everyday business.  To hide a true motivation, some people sacrifice innocent parties or launch other operation in different directions to draw attention of people concerned.  It is all to hide their ill motivation.

In the human history, Judaists were attacked, sacrificed, and executed so many times.  The most tragic case of such persecution was carried out by  Nazi Germany before 1945 or the end of WWII.  It was Satan, of course, that was behind the scene.  Satan occupied the minds and hearts of Germans at the time to have them terminate Judaists.

However, Satan hates Christians and Muslims as much as he hates Judaists.  And the populations of Christians and Muslims are far larger than that of Judaists.  Satan must have targeted Christians and Muslims while he was using Nazi Germans to mass-murder Judaists.  Especially, Christianity was based on the teaching of the Son of God, Christ Jesus.  Termination of Christianity must be put the highest priority on.

In fact, after WWII, faith of Christians in Europe and the US has changed drastically.  Commercialism and the market economy have eroded the minds and hearts of Christians.  After WWII, ethics in the European and American societies have deteriorated so much.  They saw the Holocaust and doubted power of God and Christ Jesus, so that they have become less pious and righteous.  The effect of the Holocaust was so devastating in faith of Christians.

Historically, there was no proof that the more Judaists were persecuted, the more Christian faith was exalted.  In Pogroms in Russia, many Judaists were persecuted, but as a result, anti-Christ communists took over power in Russia. After the purge of Judaists from Spain in the late 15th century, the Inquisition  was intensified to persecute those suspected  to be anti-Christ in Europe, damaging faith of Christians.

Put simply, anti-Judaist movement was planned and guided by Satan.  By doing so, Satan was weakening Christian faith secretly.  The more Christians have attacked Judaists, the weaker the faith among Christians has become.

In other words, Satan who wanted to destroy Christianity had occupy the minds and hearts of some Christians to have them hate and persecute Judaists as an effective  means to erode, weaken, and demolish Christianity.

Now Satan seems to be working to have Europeans and Americans hate Muslims.  He must think that the more European and American Christians hate Muslims, the more Christianity will be damaged eventually.

For Satan, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam must be not so different as these religions follow the only one common God.   He must be pretending as if he were not targeting Christianity when he was persuading Christians to attack Judaists and Muslims.


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Mar 9:7 And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.

"through the towns, preaching the gospel" - About Animation People

The Tokyo Station

About Animation People

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was once betrayed by Ub lwerks (1901-971) who contributed to creation of various animation characters such as Mickey Mouse.

Iwerks one day left Disney due to some controversy with Walt Disney to establish his own business but failed.  Iwerks was a good  character designer but lacked a sense to cope with the trend of the society.  But, later Iwerks returned to Disney to be specialized in technical aspects of animation creation.

Walt Disney was sometimes betrayed and duped while his business was expanding before WWII by New York-based business men some of whom even hired some staff out of Disney to cut the ground out from under. The case of Iwerks was one of such examples. However, Walt Disney accepted Iwerks back to the Disney studio.  Iwerks contributed to Disney films such as Mary Poppins of 1964.

The success of Walt Disney was mainly made possible by his passion in creating animation films and other works, including the Disney Lands.  However, if he could not forgive Iwerks, such feeling must have been reflected in his works with negative effects.  Then his works must not have become so popular especially among children.

Anyway, the most impressive thing about Walt Disney is this episode involving Iwerks who had betrayed Walt Diseney to leave him but was later allowed to return to Disney.

By the way, John Alan Lasseter who contributed to Toy Story, Frozen, and other recent Disney works was highly influenced by Hayao Miyazaki's wotk Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro of 1979.  Miyazaki is a Japanese artist globally popular for his animation works.

Miyazaki once criticized Disney works for their lack of respect for the audience from a standpoint of professional in the same trade.  But nowadays Miyazaki changed his view on Disney, praising high quality of their works.

In the field of animation, people need to have generous minds and tolerance even to their rivals.


Luke 17:1-10 New International Version
“If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. 4 Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”


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Luk 9:6 And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where.

"shake off the very dust" - God-Believing Japanese Politician before WWII

Around the Tokyo Station

God-Believing Japanese Politician before WWII

In Japan, Korekiyo Takahashi (1854-1936) is even today respected as one of the most successful and competent politicians before WWII.

He was well know for his remarkable work as the Vice Governor of the Bank of Japan to get investment from European countries and the US during the Japan-Russo War (1904-1905) and also as the Minister of Finance during the financial crisis in 1927.

He became a friend of the Rothschild family and kept good relationships with some financial leaders in Europe and the US.  So, Takahashi was a pro-Anglo-Saxon politician in the Empire of Japan before WWII.  Takahashi also delivered criticism to the expansion of excessive armament of the Imperial Army and Navy.

In 1921, he was appointed to the prime minister of the Imperial Government.  In that era, the Imperial Army stationed many troops in Manchuria.  Takahashi said at the time that the Empire sent troops to Manchuria to defend the Empire (including Korea) from aggressive invasion by Russians.  He stressed that the Empire of Japan should not have territorial ambitions in Manchuria and China.  He was critical of attitudes of some Japanese against Chinese, because Takahashi thought there had been a mood in Japan of despising China since the First Japanese-Sino War (1894-1895) where the Empire defeated the military of the Qing dynasty.

Korekiyo Takahashi wrote some essays where he admitted that he believed in God, though he did not mind the form of worship.  Though Takahashi was taught Christianity by an American priest when he was a teenager, he did not openly confess that he was a Christian but he thought that God was above any religions.  However, as militarism and nationalism came to gather momentum in Japan in 1930s, Takahshi became a target of radical military officers as an enemy of the Japanese race.

Accordingly, in the February 26 Incident of 1936 where some young Army officers tried to take over power from the Cabinet with full of "rotten" ministers, as they claimed,  Takahsahi was shot to death.  This semi-coup d'etat finally failed as the Emperor was strongly against insurgent officers and troops, because they killed or attacked Takahashi and other ministers the Emperor trusted.

However, the Imperial Army could not solve its problem involving many young officers who had strong criticism toward and complaints to the Japanese political system at the time.  And, after the February 26 Incident of 1936, the leaders of the Imperial Army intensified their operation in Manchuria and China as if they had been trying to divert the brunt of criticism from unsatisfactory officers to oversea military operation.  On this trend, the second Sino-Japanese War started and eventually the Pearl Harbor attack was carried out.

So, the assassination of Korekiyo Takahashi in 1936 became a foreboding of the tragedy of the Imperial Japan joining WWII, since Takahashi was a kind of Christian, pro-Anglo-Saxon, and compassionate with Chinese.  The Empire of Japan in WWII was almost totally against the Christian world, the Anglo-Saxon nations, and China.    

Anyway, Korekiyo Takahashi has been the only Japanese prime minister, to date, who wrote in an essay that he believed in God.



Korekiyo Takahashi with Rothschild in Tokyo in 1934
http://tatemonoen.gdd.jp/view/178305/



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Luk 9:5 And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them.

"neither have two coats apiece" - A Murderer and A Priest

Around Tokyo

A Murderer and A Priest

John Grisham's novel The Confession was translated into Japanese and one Japanese reader read it to post his opinion.

The reader was finally puzzled by the motivation of Travis for his confession to a priest in Kansas of his murder in Texas for which an innocent African American youth was to be executed as the tragic victim of false accusation. 

In 1998, Travis Boyette abducted and raped Nicole "Nikki" Yarber, a teenage girl and high school student in Slone, Texas and buried her body in Joplin, Missouri some 6 hours from Slone. He watches unfazed as the police arrest and convict Donté Drumm, a black high school football player with no connection to the crime. Despite his innocence, Drumm is convicted and sentenced to death. He has been on death row for nine years when the story takes place. While Drumm serves his prison sentence, lawyer Robbert "Robbie" Flak fights his case while Black Americans protest his false conviction, creating a law and order situation. 

Meanwhile, Boyette had fled to Kansas and had lived there ever since. He had been suffering with brain tumor for the past nine years and his health had deteriorated. In 2007, with Drumm's execution only a week away, reflecting on his miserable life, he decides to do what is right: confess.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Confession_(novel)

In the story, eventually Travis escaped the police after his confession of the murder in Texas and his help to find the dead body of the victimized girl.  Then, he called the priest in Kansas who had helped save Donte, though in vain, telling that he was alright and his brain tumor was not fatal.

The Japanese reader could not find a clear motivation for Travis to reveal his hidden crime, since Travis was not actually dying.  (Travis attacked another young woman, while being at large, to be arrested in the end of the story.  So, he was not fatally ill.)

In my estimation, Travis wanted to have access to the pretty wife of the priest.  As a strategy, he confessed his murder in Texas to the priest to have the priest get interested in him and get more chances to go to the church and see the wife of the priest.  But, he could not succeed in penetrating into the church.

Meanwhile, the priest came to strongly feel a kind of responsibility for saving Donte.  His zeal influenced Travis who thought that leaving the half-way house, against law, for Texas with the priest to save the African American youth might not be a bad idea, since if he had been fully released from the half-way house after expiration of his term, he would have had no special merit.  And in Texas, he was also influenced by hot enthusiasm of the lawyer and his aids in trying to save Donte.  Travis was overwhelmed and could not get away from them.  So, he led them to the place where he had buried the dead body of the girl, though soon after it he ran away.

It was a desire of Travis to the pretty wife of the priest that first brought him to the church and made him confess his crime as a mean to have access to the couple.

The key to reality of this story is involvement of the priest and his faith.   God looked like using the mean criminal Travis to reveal the truth of cruelty of death penalty and racial prejudice.

So, the Japanese reader may well not understand how a bad man can be sometimes influenced by strong faith and passion of a Christian priest or a true Christian priest, if he has the pretty wife, since most of Japanese have never been to church and never been acquainted with Christian priests.



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Luk 9:3 And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece.

"Jesus to those Jews which believed" - Typhoon No.10 Moving from East to West

Tokyo Station

Typhoon No.10 Moving from East to West

For the first in the Japanese history, a typhoon has moved from the east to west on the Pacific Ocean immediately south of the Japanese Archipelago.

It is Typhoon No.10 (Lionrock) that finally landed yesterday on the Pacific coast of the Tohoku (northeast) region of Honsyu Island after it turned around at the sea area east of Okinawa Island (the southernmost major island of Japan) and moved from the southwest to the northeast, following back to the direction it had taken from the east to the west two weeks ago or so.



http://malaysiagazette.com/en/world/typhoon-lionrock-hit-japan%E2%80%99s-tohoku

Typhoons usually have access to Japan from southwest to northeast.  But most probably for the first time in the written history, a typhoon has moved to the opposite direction.

Maybe a great warning for global warming or something about Japan it must be.



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Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

"many believed on him" - Intelligence of God and the Mankind

Around Tokyo

Intelligence of God and the Mankind

What are our bodies, animals, plants, rocks, water, air, etc. made of?

Essentially they are materially made of protons, neutrons as well as electrons.  Only these three elementary particles are the building blocks of everything in the nature and the universe except some mysterious matter such as dark matter.

However, protons, neutrons as well as electrons cannot be directly observed, captured, or stored.  At one level up in the material stratum, we can identify the origin of everything around us: hydrogen.

Any other atoms and elements are made through nuclear fusion of hydrogen atoms, which mostly occurs in fixed stars such as our sun.  Gold, silver, copper, iron, etc. were all produced through chains of nuclear fusion starting from hydrogen. And, any common matter and substances such as water, stones, plants, chemicals, metals, proteins, various molecules, etc. were produced through chemical reaction of atoms whose original forms are hydrogen.  

Hydrogen can be observed, collected, and stored in the form of the hydrogen gas each molecule of which consists of two hydrogen atoms: H2.  But indirectly hydrogen is observed in water, since one molecule of water consists of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.  Water is a kind of another form of hydrogen, though accompanied by oxygen.

The sun is a great ball of hydrogen burning in the nuclear fusion process.  We can see the state of nuclear fusion of hydrogen in the sun, though other atoms produced by hydrogen nuclear fusion are also in their nuclear fusion process deep in the sun.

So, from the sun to water, everything essential to our life is directly made of hydrogen atoms; and our bodies, animals, plants, chemicals, metals, etc. were all results of nuclear fusion and chemical reactions that started from hydrogen atoms.

So, our material world and universe are really the hydrogen type.  And, can it happen by chance?  Without a grand design, can it be possible?  Apparently this hydrogen dominant universe and world cannot be a result of random and infinite-time trials of creation of material universes and worlds.

God must have designed it and successfully created the whole hydrogen-based universe just in one Big Bang.

And designing is mental work based on intelligence.  Therefore, in this context, God resembles the mankind in that He has at least a human-type of intelligence.  Or more correctly, the mankind was given a part of intelligence of God.  Therefore, the mankind is responsible for God in terms of how they use intelligence given by God.

The more intelligence a man is given, the more responsible he is before God.




The Sun exudes a constant stream of hydrogen, called the "solar wind."
http://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/water-from-the-sun-77291080/?no-ist



Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. And when you burn it or use it to produce electricity, the only waste product is water.http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31926995


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Joh 8:29 And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.
Joh 8:30 As he spake these words, many believed on him.

"Jesus, thou Son of God" - Haiku Master Basho in Summer Mountains

Tokyo Bay

Haiku Master Basho in Summer Mountains

Once Basho, a notable haiku poet in Japan in the late 17th century, traveled from Edo (Tokyo) to Mutsu, the vast local region northeast of Edo.

It was travelling to observe nice and interesting scenery and create haiku poems, since Mutsu was then with full of mountainous and seaside nature in addition to farming villages through paths of hundreds kilometers.

In a mountain area, Basho was walking up and got absorbed by a flood of buzzing of cicadas, since it was mid-summer.   The sun was high, the mountains and fields were full of green, the air was hot, and cicadas were naturally and loudly buzzing to add the heat to the air.

Basho saw a wall of rocks on the road side.  It stood there in the contrast against trees and other thick green plants.  He felt that the buzzing of cicadas was incessantly hitting the surface of the rock wall.

But suddenly Basho realized that nothing was heard except the buzzing of cicadas in his environment.  Rather, he felt how widely spreading the buzzing of cicadas was over the air where no other sounds existed.  Then, he could catch silence of the environment through the buzzing of cicadas or through a very short momentary pause of the buzzing in its vibration.  Yes, he found that cicadas were making noises in the middle of stillness in mountains.

Then he felt that the buzzing of cicadas was penetrating in the rock wall that stood still and the buzzing also forcibly penetrating into his mind.  The more the sound was penetrating into the rocks, the more the stillness in the air covered by the buzzing could be sensed.

So, he made a famous haiku poet facing mountains near and far and listening to the spredaing buzzing of cicadas:
Oh what mountain stillness revealed
by the deeply seeping into the rocks
of the buzzing of cicadas so hot.

Cicadas were not trying to hide the stillness.  But as it was essentially so still in the mountain, they made noises fully without restriction.  It is as if the stillness in the mountain used the so many cicadas buzzing so as to make Basho realize the deep and vast stillness

Matsuo Bashō (1644 – 1694), or Matsuo Chūemon Munefusa was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative haikai no renga form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as the greatest master of haiku (then called hokku).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsuo_Bash%C5%8D

Through full of noisy evil things in this world, can we, however, sense silent holiness?


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Mat 8:29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?
Mat 8:30 And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.
Mat 8:31 So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.
Mat 8:32 And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.

"One of the prophets" - Why God Gave Christianity and Islam to Mankind

Tokyo

Why God Gave Christianity and Islam to Mankind

Interestingly, the Koran denies the deity of Christ Jesus and teaches that He was not God.

What does Islam and the Quran say about Jesus? 

O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion: Nor say of Allah aught but the truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) a messenger of Allah, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a spirit proceeding from Him: so believe in Allah and His messengers. Say not "Trinity" : desist: it will be better for you: for Allah is one Allah: Glory be to Him: (far exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belong all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs. (4:171,Yusif Ali)

Christ the son of Mary was no more than a messenger; many were the messengers that passed away before him. His mother was a woman of truth. They had both to eat their (daily) food. See how Allah doth make His signs clear to them; yet see in what ways they are deluded away from the truth! (5:575, Yusif Ali)

The Jews call 'Uzair a son of Allah, and the Christians call Christ the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say. Allah's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth! (9:30, Yusif Ali)

https://carm.org/what-does-islam-and-quran-say-about-jesus

However, Christianity is a religion based on belief that Christ Jesus is God.  How can this be possible that Both Christianity and Islam have been prevailing in parallel for more than 1300 years?  And, have leaders of both the religions to solve this discrepancy in cooperation?

It is time for Christians and Muslims to discuss this matter: Why do Christians believe that Christ Jesus is God while Muslims deny it, and why do not Muslims believe that Christ Jesus is God while Christians believe it?

And, what proof will Christians present to support their belief that Christ Jesus is God, and what proof will Muslims show to uphold their belief that Christ Jesus is not God?  There must be hot discussions and contention between them.  But they must address and solve this issue, since this is one of the most important issues for the mankind.

The answer is, however, in the truth we have to admit that God is almighty and God is the Lord of the mankind.  He can make Christians believe that Christ Jesus is God and, at the same time, make Muslims believe that Christ is not God, since God is almighty and God is the Lord of the mankind.  But, there remains another question: Why does God do so?

From the beginning, God could have shown himself as a mighty king or emperor leading a million troops to Judaists and Roman troops in Palestine in the first century but not as a son of a mere carpenter.  Or Gould could have appeared as a mighty king or emperor leading a million troops to Muhammad and Arabs in the seventh century without using His angel to send His messages to Muhammad.

So, we have to think about why we have just such history as has ambiguous and non-conclusive incidents involving God, as seen in the cases of Christianity and Islam.

For example, there is the law of gravitation in the nature.  Anyone can confirm it by dropping an apple or any other objects from his hand to the ground.  We can confirm it that the law of gravitation works in the nature.  But we cannot confirm existence of God in such a manner.

However, for Christians and Muslims to discuss why they have different views on Christ Jesus must be useful to deepen our faith in God, hopefully.  Those without true face will not like such discussions and not be interested in it from the beginning.  But those who really love God and true faith must want to address this issue.

Why did God give Christianity and Islam to the mankind, in addition to Judaism?  This is the issue that the mankind must address in total cooperation.





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Mar 8:27 And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am?
Mar 8:28 And they answered, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets.
Mar 8:29 And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ.
Mar 8:30 And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.