Sow the wind Reap the Whirlwind

                  

Charles and Lettie Cowman left America on February 1, 1901, to serve as missionaries in Japan. They were received by Juji  Nakada and together they pursued their dream of starting a Bible training institute. According to Charles “the aim of the institute would not be to produce classical scholars, but young men and women who could handle their mother tongue with effect, who were steeped in the Bible and who could so proclaim it as to arrest and influence all classes of people”

Within a few months of being in Japan, that dream became a reality. They were able to open a mission hall where Nakada could preach the Gospel and train leaders. The hall held Bible classes in the daytime and was the venue for evangelistic services in the evening. This was the beginning of the Oriental Missionary Society. In 1902, Ernest Kilbourne joined Cowman and Nakada to assist in the growing ministry.

A small monthly periodical called “Electric Messages” began being printed in November 1902. This was mailed to supporters in the United States;  It included monthly reports of the work that was being accomplished. The name was later changed to The O.M.S. Standard and is currently called OMS Outreach. Having outgrown their original building, a need for a larger building for the Bible Training Institute arose in early 1903.

By the end of 1903, a new school had opened in Tokyo, providing ample room to grow. The larger space not only accommodated more students, but also provided for great conventions and hundreds of guests. Burdened by the number of people who remained unreached in Japan, Charles began The Great Village Campaign in 1913. He had a vision “whereby every person in Japan might hear the Gospel in the next five years”.

He could not rest until the entirety of Japan’s 58 million-person population was reached. Teams of missionaries visited every town, village and home throughout Japan, proclaiming the Gospel and distributing Bibles. Tokyo was the first to be visited, where 3 million Bibles were delivered. From there, workers went out among the provinces to continue with their goal of providing every home with a Bible.

Charles recognized he needed to study the Bible to be effective. According to his wife Lettie, “he followed a unique method of Bible study. He would read through one book of the Bible at a sitting. The next day, he would reread it. This was often continued for a week at a time, or longer, until the contents were thoroughly mastered. He likened this method to that of a landscape painter who first draws an outline, then adds a tree, a flower, and a brook.”

In1920 Charles wrote a paper entitled, “bible study and personal work”.  He included a section under the title “a great variety of fish” that emphasized the importance of memorizing scripture systematically for ready recall. He harked back to the office procedures which he had found useful in the Christian life. He wrote “in our great telegraph offices…where literally thousands of telegrams are filed daily for transmission the world over and where thousands are relayed from one point to another. It seems there would be great confusion and difficult in finding them again after being sent.

Such is not the case, on the contrary, each telegram is carefully filed away in such order, that if you the sender desired to again see your own telegram the next day, or the next week or even the next year, as it is often the case, it could be produced within a few moments. In the great telephone office just ring “central” and ask for your number and almost instantly your friend responds. How is it done? Systems. ” The system pervaded the very blood of Charles Cowman.

Earnest Kilbourne was a quiet man with indomitable courage and unwavering faith in God. When Charles won him to Christ he became his closest friend. “Their relationship”, wrote Lettie, was “too beautiful for words”. When Charles lay dying, he and Kilbourne reminisced about their long and happy relationship in the Lord with each other. “God knit our hearts together” the ailing leader sighed. Then reflecting in the silence that followed, he corrected himself. “No, knit is not the word. He has burned our hearts together”.

Kilbourne’s son summed it up “The two men were in effect one”.  Charles Cowman and Earnest Kilbourne -the name always flowed together and will probably be connected in Jerusalem the Golden. Side by side they had laboured; side by side they now rest in their graves waiting for the great trumpet sound in the resurrection morning.

Saul of Tarsus was a zealous, driven, highly capable religious leader with a clear sense of direction. His encounter with the risen Lord put him on an entirely new path in life. His conversion energized the most astute Christians; a man with obvious potential for the kingdom had just accepted the Lord. One could only imagine what the great Saul of Tarsus could accomplish when filled with the Holy Spirit! But he still had a long way to go before he would reach his potential for the Lord.

God's call happened on the Damascus Road (Acts 9:1-22). The basis for God's calling of Paul was grace- God's unmerited love, kindness and favor. Paul deserved death, but God called him to life and into a life of service as an apostle. He called him to proclaim the life giving Gospel of grace. In his final epistle, he wrote “he has saved us and called us to a holy life not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace” (2 Tim 1:9).

After conversion Saul did not return to Jerusalem immediately, instead he spent the next three years in Damascus and Arabia. He “grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah. After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall” (Acts 9: 23-25).

The Jews were so determined to kill him that they even set a guard on the gates lest he should escape them. But the ancient cities were walled cities and the walls were often wide enough for a chariot to be driven round the top of them. On these walls there were houses whose windows often projected over the walls. Rahab the harlot let down the spies by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall (Joshua 2:15). In the dead of night Paul escaped through one of the houses on the wall and returned to Jerusalem.

Years later when Paul was discussing some of the things he can boast about, he recalled this incident of being lowered in a basket as one of the great events of his life.  He wrote to the Corinthians, “ If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness...In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. But, I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands,” (2 Cor. 11:32-33).

In Acts 9:26 we are told that “when he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple”. Saul had left Jerusalem “breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples” (Acts 9:1). When he finally returned to Jerusalem three years later the name "Saul" still evoked fear in the disciples!  His arrival was not greeted with enthusiasm by the Church.

“ALL” includes the apostles, they were also afraid of him! The disciples had vivid recollections of Saul’s conduct the last time he was in Jerusalem. All the believers shunned him, naturally thinking he had come to spy on them. How disappointing that none of the apostles was willing to so much as investigate the testimony of Saul. A conversation with him would have enabled the Spirit of God in Saul to bear witness with the Spirit of God in them.

Saul had left a conquering hero of Pharisaism. He returned distrusted by the disciples and regarded by the Pharisees as a renegade. He had escaped the plots of the Jews in Damascus only to find himself the object of suspicion by the disciples in Jerusalem. Saul spent the first days of his Christian life in Jerusalem on his own. Believers avoided him; they did not believe he had truly become a believer! They thought that was simply his latest tactic to infiltrate the community of faith in order to identify and arrest them.

Saul was rejected by everyone in Jerusalem. That’s when Barnabas came to his rescue. His name was Joseph but the apostles called him Barnabas, which means “son of encouragement ”(Acts 4:36-37). Barnabas took Saul and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus (Acts 9:26-27). Barnabas believed Saul's story and sincerity.

It would appear that in addition to all of his other wonderful gifts, Barnabas also had the gift of discernment. He told the disciples how Saul had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him. This fulfilled a major criterion of a genuine New Testament apostle; they had to have had a personal encounter with Jesus. Although Acts 9:1-9 does not state that Saul saw the Lord, here we see affirmation that he did see Jesus and thus met one of the major requirements of apostleship.

Barnabas explained that Saul was a fearless speaker in the Name of Jesus. The apostles would have understood his bold preaching for that is what they had experienced (Acts 4:31,33). Barnabas presented Saul to the apostles as a disciple of Jesus who was bold and courageous for the gospel. The disciples knew that only the Holy Spirit could have given Saul such boldness. Peter was convinced and Saul was his guest for fifteen days (Gal. 1:18).

What a welcome consolation Barnabas must have been to Saul! Saul was human and rejection must have caused some disappointment. Barnabas was concerned and took an interest in Saul. He saw the situation and took Saul; he listened to his story and believed it. It is to the credit of Barnabas that he had the insight and the courage to stand by Saul at the crucial moment in his life when the evidence seemed to be against him.

Only eternity will reveal how precious was Barnabas' befriending of this man who would become the greatest apostle of all.  To the end of his days Paul never forgot what he owed to Barnabas, the first man to trust him in Jerusalem. Even believers who have seen the power of God at work in their own lives can doubt God’s ability to change others. Encouragement may be the greatest gift we can give to struggling Christians.

Barnabas was characterized by an encouraging spirit. Everybody needs a few of these "Barnabas types" of men in their midst! Are you one? Is there anyone that this very moment the Holy Spirit is urging you to encourage today by a visit, a call or a text? Be a Barnabas to that person today! You will experience the joy of being one of God's sons of encouragement!