The last song we sang to the Lord, with Melting Pot, this morning was as you know from 1 Chronicles 16:23. Here, King David offers praises to God with his people, after bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem.

It is such a blessing and privilege to be here together with you in this place to worship our Lord God, with all of our heart and soul!

Last week, I received a letter from a Christian stateman who was asking us to raise a certain number of names in a petition to prevent an administration of evil ideas from passing through the Diet. These ideas include making "kimigayo" our national anthem. Kimigayo means 'it's your nation', but this song is addressed to the emperor, so it is really a proclamation saying that Japan is the emperor's nation! Of course, I will do what I can to raise as many names as possible.

This kind of evil often reminds me of our evil path in World War II. I also recall a well-used Christian named Kanzo Uchimura, who tried his best to reject the authority that would make all Japanese people confess that the Japanese Emperor was the incarnation of God and Japan was his country.

Well, after the war, there were many changes in our country that were instigated or influenced by the United States. Some of these were definitely for the better, although some were probably not. But, at any rate, here we are -- in this time of history and in what it is in Japan. We thought and believed, though maybe mistakenly, that we have walked along the way of democracy. However, today, we are faced with serious problems in our religions, society, and economy. We, Japanese, have long believed that we have been one of the great powers in the world, one of the wealthiest nations in the world. We never thought of any of the problems that we have and are suffering from right now. However, today, we are deeply sunk in darkness, and most of us cannot find the way out!

Economically, we are still facing a dead end.

We are surrounded by cults, and evil beliefs.

Most people can't find peace of mind, suffering from visible and invisible problems.

But, all we need to do is written in today's scripture passage. I know that we have been negligent in praying for the authorities of our nation. Without God and His truth, people honestly can't tell what is right and what is wrong. But, to know, all we have to do is go back to the words of the Bible. Unfortunately for us, we have only a few Christian statesmen in Japan. They have little power in the majority of non-Christian politicians. Those who are without the truth make mistakes easily. They may lead our nation in the wrong direction very easily. So then, our prayer for them is necessary. We must pray that their eyes are opened, to realize that their power and rights are not for their own satisfactions, but for the happiness of the Japanese people.

The greatness of the Korean Christians, I found out, was that they all prayed together with one heart for their nation's crises. Before holding the Olympics in their country several years ago, they faced a certain problem. Then, they came together and prayed together to God.

Right now, we are faced with a really serious problem; politicians are trying to make the song of the emperor our national anthem, as well as make all Japanese salute the Japanese flag. We, Christians, strongly have to reject this, for during World War II, the Japanese Army did evil by attempting to conquer the other nations of East Asia using this flag representing the authority of the Japanese Emperor.

Ep.6:18 encourages us to pray for those who are leaders over us; this includes not only the prime minister and his cabinet, but governors, statesmen, mayors, city officials, our bosses, and even the fathers and mothers of our families. We all need to pray for them right now, before letting August 15th, the anniversary of when the War ended, pass by us. I strongly feel this way.. Everyone pray!

Translated by Junko Okamoto - Edited for the Net by Shido
For another sermon see: Oita Evangelical Christ Church
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