THE EMMAUS WALK PRESENTS:

Paul Ariga's Testimony:

"THE GODS WERE SILENT"

Chapter 4,

"God's Voice Is Swedish!"


With God's help I was preparing to enter the Tokyo University about this time. I had passed my entrance examination. Many students, who fail in their entrance examinations, often commit suicide. Entrance into a university is not as easy as it is in America.

During this time Missionary Lars Johnson asked me to interpret for him. It was the Sunday before I was to enter the University. In his message he spoke of his need for an interpreter. As he spoke the words of Japan's great Salvation Army leader came to me, "There are so many who are living for their own happiness, but so few who are living for the happiness of others."

I was the only one in the church audience who met the qualifications of an interpreter. Therefore, I understood that he was making his plea to me. I forsook my university plans to follow the Lord.

My unsaved parents were very angry with me. They asked, "Are you going to become a religious beggar? If you need future financial help, don't come begging to us for help. We won't give you any." They were not happy with my decision.

One day while praying and fasting the Lord gave me a vision. It was a vision of Christ asking Peter three times if he loved him. From the bottom of my heart, and with tears, I cried out, "Yes, Lord, I love you more than anything." Then Revelation 2:10 came to me, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life." I was convinced that God was calling me.

I used part of my university money to enter the Japan Evangelistic Band Bible School in Kobe. Then a family emergency arose. My older sister had to have an operation in connection with the movement of her expectant child. In the operation the child died.

Usually for the first baby the mother returns to the home of her parents and they bear the expense for the delivery of the baby. However, my parents were without money for the added expenses of the operation. I sent them the rest of my university money. This left me without any money for my Bible school expenses.

I told Rev. Goro Sawamura, head of the school, of my predicament. From America, from an unknown source, he secured the necessary $40 a month to put me through Bible school for four years. Later I learned that Rev. Cuthbertson had secured these funds from a person who wanted their [sic] name kept secret.

The Japan Evangelisgtic Band Bible school in Kobe was started by two of England's outstanding missionaries. They were Rev. Barclay Buxton and Rev. Paget Wilkes. They were Anglicans. The school was run on faith principles.

However, we didn't only pray that others would supply our needs. Three times a week the students worked in the school garden so that there would be enough vegetables to feed the hungry student body.

"Healed Without Money," Chapter 5, from "The Gods Were Silent," by Japanese Evangelist Paul Ariga


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