Narrator: Today, Japan is desperate, the American Pacific fleet, backed by powerful British units, is taking tearful tow to enemy aircraft. Japan's unnecessary use of a new weapon, kamikaze, suicide pilots who died squarely in Allied ships particularly. Japan's growing desperation is reflected in this fanatical sacrifice of pilots and aircraft in a crazy attempt to hold the allies off.
Get news reels in our hands. Take us inside Japan revealing the story behind the kamikaze, the Japanese's long training to applying obedience and worship of the emperor teach their children that ceremonial suicide is one of the greatest acts that each man is capable.
Kamikaze pilots are men trained for death. Nearly all the suicide pilots are between 16 and 20 years old. Celebrations are held to honor them when their training is finished. Prayers are said, and they need them for they're already as good as dead. The prettiest Geisha girls entertain them. Their pictures appear in Japanese newspapers as national heroes. Garbed in ceremonial robes, their heads are shaved except for a small patch of hair. During their last few days of life, they walk solemnly through the streets. They're ready for their mission of death. This is their big day. To cries of banzai, they prepare for their last flight.
Pastor Anderson: Japan is one of the nations in this world that has the lowest percentage of Christians. There are very few Christians in Japan. If you don't count Americans who are over there on military bases, I mean, there are very few Japanese people who are Christian. It's a tragedy. It's sad. We love those people. We wish that they would be saved. We would love to see them embrace the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and be saved.
Speaker 3: Shinto is by far the largest religion in Japan, practiced by nearly 80% of the population. Yet, only a small percentage of this identify themselves as Shintoist in surveys. This is because Shinto has different meanings in Japan. Most of the Japanese attend Shinto shrines and beseech Kami without want or need to belong to an institutional religion. Therefore, the number of members is often counting those who join organized Shinto sects. Today, there are 81,000 shrines and 85,000 priests across the country.
A Shinto religious site can be a formal temple approached by a vermilion cross-beamed gateway or an unadorned feature of the Japanese landscape marked off only by a white straw rope. The devotee presents an offering, clasps their hands, or rings a bell to alert the spirit of the environment of their presence, and say a prayer to respect and honor them. Small shrines for Kami are also very common in homes and offices. Followers of Shinto celebrate a mythical history of Japan and a special bond between the people and its islands.
In the 19th Century, Shinto was used to legitimize militaristic and fascists nationalism, a phase that officially came to an end in 1946 after Japan's defeat in World War II, when the emperor publicly renounced the belief that he was the living embodiment of Amaterasu, the Shinto goddess of the sun.
Pastor Anderson: That because of Japan's rejection of the gospel over the centuries, rejection of the Word of God, rejection of the wisdom of God, they are suffering today, and there are many, many things in their country that are just terrible as a result of rejecting the wisdom of the Bible. Listen, if you reject the wisdom of the God in your life, you'll end up the same way. If you've walked down the same path that these people are going down, you'll end up at the same destination. It's a cautionary tale when you look at the history of Japan and when you look at the current condition of Japan.
Look at Deuteronomy 4:5. " Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'" When people look at a nation, they're either going to look at that nation and say, "This is a wise and understanding people," or they're going to look at that nation and say, "Wow, how foolish. That's a bad example. I better not go down that road."
God is admonishing the Old Testament nation of Israel that if they would follow His word, keep His commandments, and fear the Lord that other nations would look at them and say, "This is a wise and understanding people." He said the Word of God is your wisdom. This is your wisdom, not your own carnal understanding, but the wisdom that you gain from studying the Bible itself.
Look at verse number seven, this is what they will continue to say, " For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?" What the Bible is teaching us here is that what makes a nation great is following the Bible. What makes a nation godly and righteous, what makes a nation wise and understanding, what makes a nation prosperous is adherence to the Word of God. That is what makes it a great nation.
The Bible says righteousness exalted a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. Look at Psalm 33:10, the Bible says, "The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. The Lord looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men. From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth. He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works."
What does that mean when the Bible says that God fashioneth their hearts alike? It means that people in America are just like people in Japan, are just like people in South America, are just like people in Germany. Look, people are people, humans are humans whether in Africa, Asia, Europe. We're all human. We're all people. All our hearts are fashioned alike by God. What makes one nation a great nation and another nation a failure? Well, it just depends on whether or not their God is the Lord. It just depends on whether or not they respect and adhere to the Word of God. It's not about skin color. It's not about race. It's not about ethnicity. It's about the Word of God.
Many people would lift up today Japan as being a great, positive example and say, "We should be like Japan. Look how great of a nation Japan is," but Japan is not a great nation today. Now, they went through a period where they experienced a lot of financial prosperity about 20 years ago or so when they were really thriving in the '90s, and they were second only to the United States and Germany as far as exports and financial prosperity. Pretty much, the USA, Germany, and Japan were looked at as being some of the prosperous nations at that time. Here's the thing, just because you have financial prosperity and a lot of exports, that doesn't mean that you're a great nation. It doesn't make you a great nation.
There are many people today who have all kinds of money and wealth, but I wouldn't want to trade places with them because wealth and money is not the final pursuit of our lives. Even that is slipping away from Japan as their economy goes downhill and as they've lost that stand. They can no longer even have that financial prosperity that they had 27 years ago.
Why is Japan in trouble today? Well, let me read for you this article. The Japanese now have one of the lowest fertility rates in the world. At the same time, one of the highest longevity rates. As a result, the population is dropping rapidly.
Speaker 4: Japan is shrinking literally. Inside the Pacific Island Nation, more people are dying than being born.
Male: I'm scared for the future of my children and my country.
Speaker 4: A demographic time bomb has already exploded, threatening to cripple the world's third-largest economy.
Female: The problem is that young women are not having enough children to keep our country going.
Speaker 4: Japan's population has shrunk by a record one million since 2008. At the same time, the Japanese are living longer. Japan is home to the fastest aging society in the entire world. There are approximately 33 million people over the age of 65. That's roughly 25% of the country. Experts warn that number could reach as high as 40% in the next few years.
Male: We're dealing with an unprecedented situation. No other country in the world is facing such a crisis.
Speaker 4: Ryuichi Kaneko is head statistician at Japan's National Institute of Population. He says that the situation doesn't change and change dramatically, Japan's population will drop from 127 million today to 107 million by 2040, 87 million by 2060, and a mere 46 million by 2100.
Male: The rate of aging in Japan will only climb. We are projecting that by 2060, 40% of the population will be 65 years or older.
Speaker 4: The government is in a panic. 10 years ago, it created an agency to encourage couples to have more children.
Female: Having a family is a beautiful thing. I'm trying to encourage others to see it as a blessing and not a curse.
Speaker 7: This is why Japan is known in the world as the country with very few children.
Speaker 4: Kaneko also discovered that millions of Japanese aren't even dating. A survey he did in 2011 found 61% of unmarried men and 49% of women in their 20s and 30s were not in any kind of romantic relationship.
Male: If they are in a relationship, they are postponing marriage too much later in life or simply choosing to remain unmarried.
Pastor Anderson: Without a dramatic change in either the birth rate or its restrictive immigration policies, Japan simply won't have enough workers to support its retirees, and will enter a demographic death spiral. Yet, the babies aren't coming. Now, this is not the blessing of God when a nation has one of the lowest birth rates, one of the lowest fertility rates in the world. Let's just look at some scripture on this and see what the Bible says if this is the blessing of God.
First of in Proverbs 14:28, the Bible reads, " In the multitude of people is the king's honor: but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince." When people are lacking in the realm or in the kingdom, that is a bad thing. This is going to have dramatic repercussions when they're not reproducing over there, the population is dropping, and half of the people are going to be over 65. Who's going to care for them? Who's going to take care of them? We're facing something similar in the United States.
Speaker 4: Japan's population is aging at a more rapid pace than that of any other country. Autonomous driving technology and home robotics are two promising solutions for this challenge. These technologies promise to provide people of all ages and physical capacity the ability to move around independently and freely. (Singing).
Pastor Anderson: I'm just going to read you a litany of verses here that show you that fruitfulness is a blessing from God, and that fruitlessness and not reproducing physically is a curse from God. The Bible says, in Genesis 1:28, " And God blessed them, and said unto them, 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.'"
Genesis 9:1, " And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth." Genesis 9:7, " And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and," did I mention, "multiply therein." God's very repetitive here saying, "Be fruitful. Multiply. It's a blessing.
Genesis 17, another blessing, "I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee." In Genesis 17, God blesses Ishmael by telling him that he will be fruitful and multiply. Genesis 28:3, "And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people." Genesis 35:11, " And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins."
Genesis 48:4, " Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people. Genesis 49:22, " Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall." Exodus 1:7, " And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them." Leviticus 26:9, " For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you."
Look, when God is blessing a nation, they're fruitful. They multiply. When we see an entire nation that is not reproducing, that is not the blessing of God. Look at the Bible, Psalm 127:1, " Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep. Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate."
Japan is in trouble today. Why? Because they've forsaken the Word of God. They've forsaken the right way. They've not listened to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They've not listened to books like Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, righteous laws of God. They've leaned on their own understanding. They've developed their own philosophy, their own world view, their own lifestyle where it's all about work, and making money, and succeeding, and prospering, and being honorable in the side of men.
Speaker 8: According to Japanese propaganda, there were solemn rituals before takeoff. The divine purity of their sacrifice would inspire and save the nation. Even the emperor sent his thanks. Crowds turned out to wave them away. The truth is very different.
Pastor Anderson: They're not worried about being honorable in the side of God and obeying the words of Jesus Christ. Be fruitful and multiply means nothing to them. They have their own ideas. They're so smart with their own understanding. Now, their whole country is in a crisis because they don't have anybody to take care of the aging population. Now, their population is dropping. It's messing up the economy. It's messing up their way of life because they didn't listen to God.
Look, we need to listen to God, and do things His way. In the end, we'll end up better. This is how you end up when you don't listen to God. Now, you say, "Well, what's going on though, Pastor Anderson? Why are they not having any children? Why did they have one of the lowest fertility rates in the world? What's going on here?" Well, there's clearly a subset of Japanese youth who have withdrawn from dating. Instead, they focused on online porn, and games like Nintendo's Love Plus, more like love minus. They play a Nintendo game called Love Plus in which players conduct their relationship with an anime girlfriend.
Speaker 9: 21-year-old Saku Aruno of Osaka works in a supermarket, and sings in a J-pop band. His girlfriend's name is Manaka. She's 16. They're a Love Plus couple. Here, Saku slips into the role of a schoolboy and meets the virtual Manaka while playing the game.
Male: I pretended I was the new kid at school, and decided to check out the tennis team. When I first saw Manaka, she was tending the grounds. Then, we had a chat. That's how our relationship started. Since then, we've become closer and closer.
Speaker 9: Saku Aruno spends about three hours a day with his virtual girlfriend. She's always with him because Love Plus runs on Nintendo DS, a mobile emulator. Saku once had a real girlfriend too, but not for long. Now, he's devoted to Manaka alone.
Pastor Anderson: Hundreds of thousands of young men are known as Hikikomori. Hikikomori, shut-ins who eschew human contact and spend their days playing video games and reading comics in their parents' homes.
Speaker 10: In Japan, nearly a million young men have locked themselves in their bedrooms and refuse to go outside. This phenomenon of isolation has been attributed as a side effect to Japan's highly competitive economy and culture. How is Japan's economy destroying their youth? Japanese culture generally places a significant amount of emphasis on education and employment. In recent years, Japan has seen a significant downturn in their economic growth.
However, Japan's recession isn't the same as in most other countries. Stores don't go out of business. Luxury spending continues. The fabric of society still seems comfortable. The lack of available new jobs does have a massive impact on younger generations. With fewer jobs to go around, many Japanese men give up hope, and withdraw from society,
Furthermore, the longer one is unemployed, the harder it is to find a job since companies tend to hire fresh out of high school and college. Young adults and adolescents who confine themselves for long periods of time are called hikikomori. They're among the generation of youths called grass eaters, which are mostly men who shy away from sexual relationships and general social contact. They tend to live at home with their parents, some well into their 40s.
Additionally, most Japanese youths are expected to provide for their families putting tremendous stress and pressure on them to succeed. The weak economy also puts a strain on relationships as many Japanese women refuse to date unemployed men, considering them weak and effeminate. Japan's government has warned that more than one and a half million are on the verge of becoming hikikomori. An estimated 700,000 hikikomori have already locked themselves away. The influx of socially-anxious men has created big changes for Japan, including a massive drop in birthrates to record lows, and shift in consumer habits away from a more masculine-driven culture.
Pastor Anderson: For years, Takeshi hid from the world, playing video games all night, and sleeping all day, eating from a tray his mother left outside his room. He was a hikikomori. One of an estimated one million Japanese teens and young men who have become shut-ins with virtually no human contact beyond their parents. Some of the hikikomori first withdrew because of some social embarrassment, bad grades, or a romantic rejection. The longer they drop out, the more shame they feel in a society where one's status and reputation are paramount and hard to attain.
This godless culture in Japan says, "It's really important what the people around me think about me. I get romantically rejected, or I get bad grades, or I commit some dishonorable act. It's time to just withdraw to the mother's basement and become a hikikomori." We can learn from this that we need to not go down that path of worrying so much what people think.
See, the problem with pastors in America today is that most pastors care too much about what people think about their sermon. They think too much about how the congregation is going to react, how the media is going to react, how the community is going to react instead of just getting up and preaching the Word of God, and wondering how God is going to react. See, that's the Christian mentality, not the godless mentality that's so worried about our being honorable and respected in society. The longer they drop out, the more shame they feel in a society where one's status and reputation are paramount, and hard to change.
Parents, and especially mothers, often enable the withdrawal because they keep putting that tray of food outside the door. In Japan, mothers and sons often have a symbiotic codependent relationship, says psychiatrist, Tamaki Saito, who first identified the disorder in the 1990s. Takeshi reentered society after four years, thanks to a government program that sends female outreach counselors known as rental sisters to coax the hikikomori out of the house. I mean the government is hiring women to go in and be called a rental sister, and to coax them out of the house. That program doesn't always work. As one shut-in at 15 years said, "I missed my chance."
Look, this is what happens when you reject the Bible. All the Japanese men, they're so smart. They're building all these great technology, and stereos. I mean, look, this isn't the '90s when they're shipping all of the Sony, and the Panasonic, and all the dirt bikes, and the Suzuki. Look, they were doing great. They were manufacturing a lot of great stuff. You know what, without the Lord though, "Oh man, we're succeeding in business. Oh man, we're making money Oh man, we're doing great."
Yeah, your kid is locked in the room playing Nintendo Love Plus. You're not going to have any grandkids. There's going to be nobody to take care of you because you rejected the wisdom of the Bible, and you didn't teach your children the Bible, "Honor thy father and mother, that it may be well with thee, and that days may be long on the earth."
Speaker 1: Kamikazes used [inaudible 00:26:23].
Pastor Anderson: As we talk about the hikikomori, which is a small part of the population, but it's substantial, a million dudes, a million losers, a million video game dweebs eating chips off their chest in the basement playing pornographic Nintendo games. A much larger percentage of the population is what's known as a herbivore man. This is a phenomenon in Japan known as the herbivore man.
Now, this has nothing to do with them not eating meat. These people are eating meat. They're eating fish. They're eating sushi. The herbivore man or the sÅshoku-kei danshi, I'm sure I'm pronouncing wrong is a term used in Japan to describe men who have no interest in getting married or finding a girlfriend.
Speaker 1: Only 10% ever gets through the terrific scream of the auto ringer that backfire. Of these, 90% have blasted out to the sky before they reach the vital core of the fleet.
Male: Trust is the most important thing in a relationship. Manaka is a partner I can trust. She never cheated on me. That's why I prefer her to a real girlfriend. I don't think very much about the future. At the moment, I'm very happy with Manaka. I hope it always stays that way.
Pastor Anderson: Listen to this, surveys of single Japanese men conducted in 2010 found that 61% of men in their 20s and 70% of men in their 30s consider themselves to be herbivores. Now, listen to that. Look, okay, there's a million dudes locked in the basement getting a tray of food outside the door. Okay, that's a lot. Surely, the majority of the young men in Japan ... No, no, no. 61%, more than half in their 20s. What does it mean to be a herbivore man? It doesn't just mean that you're not interested in getting married or finding a girlfriend. It also means that you eschew all things manly.
(Singing).
We need to watch out in America. We're going down the same path. Effeminate men are on the rise in both America and Japan. They eschew the stereotypes of manliness. You know what? Those came from the Bible. God showed a difference in gender. He taught in 1 Corinthians 11 that men should have short hair and that women should have long hair, and woman should not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, and that a man should not put on a women's garment, for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God. God is the one who said in 1 Corinthians 6:9 that the effeminate would not inherit the kingdom of God.
Be sure you have a Kings James Bible. The modern verses will try and say that it's referring to a homo. No, no, no. It's talking about effeminate men. It's not the same thing. Just because the guy is effeminate doesn't make him a homo. It's still a sin. It's still wicked. We need to be men.
What have we learned from the Bible today so far? Well, we learned, first of all, that the greatness of a nation has nothing to do with the ethnicity of the people. It has everything to do with whether their God is the Lord. Not just enough to give lip service to God being the Lord, you have to actually keep the commandments, and statutes, and judgments it the Bible because righteousness exalted the nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.
Then, we looked at Japan, and saw a sign that because they've rejected the Lord, God is not blessing them because you have a lack of fruitfulness. The way that that's happening is because of just strange trends amongst the young people where they don't want to date, they don't want to get married, they don't want a girlfriend, they don't want a wife, they don't want to procreate. That's pretty weird.
Male: She's the first girl I welcome into my life. If not for her, I wouldn't have my current friends or much fun. That's why T-say especially.
Speaker 11: Yes, T-say isn't your average girl. She's 25 kilograms of silicon.
Male: At first, she was just a doll I bought from a store, but I began to feel affection for her. She's not a girlfriend or a daughter, but T-say is very important. The dolls are young because it meets the public's demand. They are school-aged because animation films wouldn't sell if the character were at their 30s. It could be the reason why men go for idol groups. I think many men are disappointed by real women.
Speaker 12: Have you been in a relationship with a woman?
Male: No, I didn't like something that complicated. I couldn't get myself interested in pouring my energy into a relationship. The dolls have a healing quality and make me smile when I come home.
Speaker 13: [Japanese 00:32:59].
Speaker 14: [Japanese 00:33:12].
Speaker 13: [Japanese 00:33:13].
Speaker 14: [Japanese 00:33:21].
Speaker 13: [Japanese 00:33:22].
Speaker 14: [Japanese 00:34:28].
Speaker 13: [Japanese 00:34:48].
Pastor Anderson: Now, obviously, people still have the lust of the flesh whether they get married or not, which is why there's a huge amount of prostitution in Japan. Basically, where this type of reclusive, socially-backward type men can have their needs met in the wrong way, outside of the godly way of one man and one woman getting married, till death do them part. They're seeking out prostitution.
Now, prostitution is technically illegal in Japan, but they basically get around it, and have tantamount houses of prostitution known as Soapland. It's basically a bath house that's housing prostitution known as Soapland. They're going to a Soapland, or they're looking at filth on the internet, or whatever they're doing on a video game, or whatever. They're not getting married to avoid fornication.
"Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whore mongers and adulterers God will judge. Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favor of the Lord." Then when they do fornicate actually with a real life human being, and actually commit fornication, and a child is produced, it's often aborted.
Speaker 15: Every one of these statues represents a life lost. The replicas of Jizo sama, the guardian of dead children or Mizuko the water baby who represents a fetus. Japanese women buy them at temples like this to placate the spirits of their fetus lost through miscarriage or more commonly abortion. Tens of thousands of these statues had been placed at this one temple alone. So many that every two years, the Buddhist priest burn the effigies to make room for new ones. 21-year-old Megumi had an abortion less than three weeks ago at Dr. Jakuni's clinic. She's at the temple with her boyfriend Hitachi today to buy their statue.
Female: [Japanese 00:37:06].
Female: [Japanese 00:37:07].
Speaker 15: With three years of nursing training behind her, Megumi was due to sit her final exams when she fell pregnant.
Female: [Japanese 00:37:44].
Speaker 15: With no follow-up counseling, the temple is her only outlet for grief.
Female: [Japanese 00:38:09].
Pastor Anderson: In fact, in Japan there are 340,000 abortions a year. Keep in mind, their population is much lower than that in the United Sates. It's about a third of the United States population and they're aborting 340,000 abortions a year. That's about a thousand a day.
(Singing).
Something is wrong with this picture. Something is wrong. You know what? God fashioned all our hearts alike. It's not because they're Japanese, friend. It's because they rejected the God and the Bible over and over again for centuries. Every time the Gospel was brought to them, every time Bibles were brought to them, they've rejected it, and turned away from it, and rejected it. I mean, for hundreds of years, they had policies of locking out missionaries, not even letting anyone trade with them, rejecting. After World War II, a lot of people tried to go in there to evangelize Japan. It's flooded with Bibles. Now, it's just a handful of people over there that are Christians now, decades later.
This is where it takes you, my friend. Yeah, you want to be free from all the restrictive guidelines of the Bible, right? I want to be free. They promised them liberty, it says in 2 Peter 2. I want to be free of all God's Commandments and rules. Yeah, you're also going to be free of manliness. Remember, that's what it said. They're not bound by manliness. You know what, bind me with manliness, please, because I don't want to go down this path.
Speaker 16: People in Japan have long prayed to deceased ancestors, and have shared a belief that the spirits of the dead watch over them. In the 6th Century, Buddhism arrived in Japan where ancestral worship was very important. In 686, Emperor Tenmu issued a directive for every home in Japan to make an altar with a Buddhist image or scripture. People were to pray at the altar and make offerings. The directive was intended to spread Buddhism, which until then was confined to the nobility.
Later during the Kamakura period, the Confucian practice of memorial tablets for the deceased arrived from China. This led to Butsudan being used to pray to both Buddhist images and ancestors, but only amongst samurai and noble families. The spread of Butsudan to the common people came in the mid-17th Century. A shogun at policy of registering everyone through Buddhist temples was a major factor. The temple registration system was adapted by the shogunate to suppress Christianity. Every family had to be affiliated to a Buddhist temple. People all around Japan started keeping an image of their affiliated temples put at their home and putting it in a cabinet.
Ancestor worship eventually became a standard feature of prayers before a Butsudan. Each morning and evening family members pray at the altar. Whenever they have something important on their minds, they will kneel at the Butsudan and seek guidance in the presence of their ancestors. Later, they will report how things turned out. A daily Butsudan ritual helps children to learn the family's spiritual values and practices. The Butsudan first appeared in Japan 1300 years ago, but it remains an essential factor in spiritual wellbeing.
Pastor Anderson: "But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death." Look at what Japan is doing. Look at the rejection of Christ. Look at the rejection for the principles of the Bible. Look at the rejection of traditional marriage. Look at the rejection of having children. Look at the rejection of normal dating. Look at the embrace of pornographic video games, and just prostitution, and just embracing godless culture, and meaningless life, and realize that that is something that could happen to us or our nation if we don't follow the principles of the Bible.
One last thing I want to bring up is suicide in Japan is a major problem as well, one of the highest suicide rates in the civilized world and the advance cultures is in Japan. The reason why, I'm going to read this article here. It says, "When it comes to suicide, Japan has a very different way of viewing it, and has an attitude more complex than probably any other country." They have something called inseki-jisatsu or the act of responsibility-driven suicide.
"There has been a code of honor associated with suicide since the 12th Century when samurai warriors use to commit seppuku, literally meaning cutting the belly to avoid surrendering to the enemies. The idea of this honorable suicide was revived again during World War II by Japan's imperial government, and particular emphasis was laid on the virtues of militarize suicide attacks, Hello Kamikaze.
While seppuku is no longer practiced in the modern-day Japan, the idea of an honorable death by suicide has evolved in parallel to its modern-day form of inseki-jisatsu where people committing suicide as an act of responsibility is deemed an act of great honor. For instance, people committing suicide to alleviate the burden of debts on their family through a life insurance payout comes under the category of inseki-jisastu, and is considered worthy of honor."
It's wicked. Killing yourself is wicked. It's dishonorable. It's one of the most hateful dishonorable things you could is to commit suicide. You're ruining the lives of the people that you leave behind. Over there, it's an act of great honor. Why? Because this book is not the guiding light over there. That's why. That's the crazy stuff you come up with when this book, that when Shinto guides you, and Buddhism guides you.
This sermon on Buddhism, I shared all the examples of suicide, and Buddhism, and how it's glorified in certain aspect in Buddhism, and everything like that. Look, when you don't have the Bible, you're following Satan. Buddhism's of Satan. Shinto is of Satan. Atheism is of Satan, I mean, look, you're following the devil. The devil would love for you to kill yourself.
That's why in the Bible, when people are demon possessed, they threw themselves in the fire. They threw themselves in the water. They were a very self-destructive cutting themselves. We see that even today in America, the cutting themselves, and the suicide, and all these things. We're talking about what does society looks like that has been one of the most closed-off to the gospel societies in history of mankind. Are you listening?
Japan is one of the places in this world that has been the most closed off to the Gospel, the most isolated from Christianity where they're killing missionaries. For hundreds of years, we're talking about going back to the 1600, 1700, 1800, just for years, and years, and years saying, "We don't want to listen to anybody else. We know everything. Our culture is better than everyone else. We're wise in our own side. We're wise. We don't need the Lord. We don't need his commandments. We don't need his Word. We don't want Moses. We don't want Jesus." You know what, this is where you end up.
All right, everybody. How are you doing today?
Congregation: Good.
Pastor Anderson: Good. All right. My name is Pastor Steven Anderson. I'm from Arizona in the United States of America. Today, I want to talk to you from the Word of God. The title of my sermon today is that The Devil is a Deceiver. The Devil is a Deceiver. The Bible talks about the devil a lot. The one thing that it emphasizes over and over again is that he is a deceiver. Meaning, that he wants to treat you, or fool you, or beguile you.
Now, the Bible says in Revelation 12:9, "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world, He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." The Bible calls the devil a great dragon and a serpent. It says, "That he deceives the whole world." Now, notice, it doesn't say that he tries to deceive the whole world. It said he deceives the whole world. Why? Because most of the world is deceived today. Most people do not believe the truth today.
The Bible says, "Broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in there at because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Most people today are deceived. Most people are being lied to and they don't even know it because the serpent the devil has deceived them.
Now, in Revelation 20:1, the Bible says, " And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit," that's talking about hell, "and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled, and after that he must be loosed a little season." The Bible talks about the devil again deceiving the whole world, being a snake, being a serpent, being crafty, and tricking people.
It says in Revelation 20:10, "The devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." Not only is the devil a deceiver, but the devil has his workers, his minions, his henchmen, if you will. The Bible says that the devil is transformed into an angel of light. Then, his ministers or his workers are transformed into the ministers of light.
The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3:13, "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. The Bible says in Matthew 24, " Take heed that no man deceive you." It says in verse 11, " And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many." One of the ways that the devil deceives people is through false religions, through false preachers that lie to you, and beguile you, and deceive you.
Now, the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 11:3, "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him."
The Bible is warning that there are deceivers that will preach another Jesus, another Gospel, another spirit. He's warning us about these people. We want to make sure that we're not deceived by them because there's only one Jesus, and there's only true Gospel, but there are a lot of false prophets, a lot of deceivers out there that would lie to us. The Bible says that they want to corrupt your minds from the simplicity that's in Christ.
Now, what does simplicity mean? What does it mean when something's simple? Basic, easy. If something as simple, I should probably be able to explain it to a seven-year-old, and they could understand it. If I explain it to a six-year-old, if it's very simple, they might understand it. Now, I was looking at some of this stuff. This doesn't look very simple. A lot of this stuff, I know I used to do this back when I was in school, but a lot of this, I have no clue what a lot of this even means. This is not simple.
See, a lot of preachers, this is how they make the Gospel. You're sitting there like, "What? What?" You're trying to figure out like, "How do I get to heaven? How do I get saved?" They're like, "It's just right here. Yeah. I mean, right there." Here's the thing, God did not make the Gospel this complicated. The Gospel is actually very simple, but there are a lot of preachers that will beguile you or deceive you. They'll come at you with something like this, and they'll use a bunch of complicated words, and complicated language.
They try to make the Gospel complicated where you ask people, "Hey, do you know for sure you're going to heaven?" They don't even know. People go to church their whole life, and you're like, "Hey, what do you have to do to go to heaven?" "I don't know," or "Hey, do you know for sure you're going to heaven?" "I hope so. I mean, I'm living a good life. I don't know." Because they complicated the gospel to deceive you.
The Bible says, "Don't let the devil deceive you from the simplicity that's in Christ." See, being saved is actually very simple. The Bible compares being saved to drinking a glass of water. The Bible compares being saved to eating a piece of bread. The Bible compares being saved to opening a door and walking through it. Pretty simple, right? It's easy to be saved. I'm going to tell you exactly how to be saved right now very simply, very easily from the Bible. In fact, I'm going to use a Bible verse that you've already heard your life to do it.
John 3:16. Who knows John 3:16? Put up your hand. Okay. Let's say it together. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Now, that verse right there tells you how to be saved, but I can't even count how many times I've told somebody that verse. As I told them that verse, they started to quote it because they already had it memorized.
Then I ask them, "What do we have to do to be saved?" They said, "Live a good life." Does that verse say live a good life and you'll be saved? No. That verse says, "That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." What's the one thing we have to do to be saved according to John 3:16?
Congregation: Believe.
Pastor Anderson: Believe. Now, is that hard? Is that complicated? Is that simple? That's pretty simple. All you have to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. Other people will complicate that and say, "Well, there's seven steps to salvation." No, no, no. There's one thing we have to do to be saved, and that's believe in Jesus Christ. Some people will say, "You got to get baptized. You got to get catechized. You got to confess. You got to go to a priest. You got to do it all," and they'll make a big complicated process. The Bible says the Gospel is simple, the simplicity of Christ is this, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall be saved. That's what the Bible says.
The Bible says, " That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." You just believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died, and was buried, and rose again, and confess that with him to your mouth, and the Bible says you shall be save. Isn't that good? Isn't that simple?
Now, why is that so important? Because a lot of people think they're going to heaven because they are good person. Let's see how well that lines up with the Bible. I can't even tell you how many times I've asked someone. Why do you think you're going to heaven? They say, "Because I'm a good person." Okay, well, here's what the Bible says, "There's none of doing good, no not one." Jesus said, "There's none good but one and that's God."
The Bible says no one is good. Why? Because the Bible says for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Has anyone in here never sinned before? Everybody sinned, right? I've sinned. You've sinned. If we go to heaven by being good, none of us are going because we all sinned. Not only that, but the Bible says, "The thought of foolishness is sin." Even just thinking a bad thought is a sin. I'm sure we've all thought many bad thoughts. We've all sinned. We probably sin every day because none of us is perfect. If we had to go to heaven by being good, no one would go to heaven.
Okay. Another thing I hear is that some people will say, "You got to be baptized to go to heaven. If you get baptized, that's how you get to heaven." I heard that a lot. Well, here's the problem with that. It's that, first of all, that's not what John 3:16 said. That's now what the Bible said anywhere. The Bible said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved." The Bible said, "That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."
Here's the other problem, you don't baptize yourself, do you? You go to church, and the church baptize you. Here's the thing, that means you're relying on someone else to save you. You're relying on a church, or a preacher, a pastor to save you, instead of just putting your faith and trust in Jesus to save you. Now, it's a man that decides whether or not you get baptized, and whether or not you go to heaven. That's not what the Bible says. The Bible says that we are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, not by baptism. Baptism is a good thing to do, but that's not what gets you into heaven. We're saved by believing in Christ.
Another thing that people will bring up as being a way to heaven is they'll say, "Well, you have to repent of all your sins. If you repent of your sins, you'll be saved." Well, the word "repent" means to turn from. If I have to turn away from all my sins to be saved, then that would mean I have to stop sinning. Guess what? That's impossible because nobody is that perfect. Nobody's ever turned from all their sins. Now, we could try. We should try. We should try to turn from our sins, but are you ever going to really turn from all of them? Are you ever going to be perfect? No, because we're human.
The Bible says that if we say that we have no sin, it says that we make Him a liar. It says that if we say that we've not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us. The Bible says if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and truth is not in us. If you say, "I turn from my sins," you're a liar because all of us are still sinners. None of us is righteous. None of us does good all the time. Is anybody here going to stand up and claim, "Pastor Anderson, I'm perfect. I've never sinned. I turn from all my sins. I've repented always." No one would say that because if you did, it would be ridiculous because we know you.
The Bible says that we're not saved by turning from our sins or repenting our sins. That's a work-based salvation. The Bible says we're saved not of works. Let's name actually both. It's not by being good or we'd all be going to hell. It's not by repenting of your sins or we're all going to hell. It's not by baptism because, then, we'll be relying on a church or a man to save us. When in reality, salvation is a personal thing between you and Jesus. It's in your heart.
The Bible says, " That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. A lot of people will say this, "Well, yeah, okay, believe on Jesus to be saved. Then, if you don't live right, you'll lose your salvation." Who's ever heard somebody say you could lose your salvation? You could lose it. You heard that before? You'll lose it.
Here's the thing, the Bible says the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Eternal means forever. If God gives you a gift that lasts forever, how many time do you have to get that gift if it's going to last forever? One time. If God were to take that away from you, He lied when He said it was eternal. The Bible says that, "Whosoever believeth in Him should not perished, but have eternal life." Jesus said, "I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man plucked him out of my hand."
The Bible says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." Once you believe on Christ, you've already been passed from death to life. You'll never come into condemnation. You have eternal life. You cannot lose your salvation.
Now, let's say you did something really bad after you got saved. Let's just get crazy and say that you killed somebody. God is going to punish you for that obviously. You're going to prison or whatever. He's going to make sure you get your punishment in this life, but you would still go to heaven if you believed in Christ. Why? Because once you believed in Christ, there's nothing you could ever do to lose your salvation because God has promised us eternal life, and he will never break that promise.
That's why in the Bible, there's a famous quote about the people who go to hell, that Jesus will save them one day, depart from me I never knew you." Who's ever heard that before? Depart from me, I never knew you. He didn't say I used to know you. He said, I never knew you because once He knows you, He knows you. You're saved. Once you're born again, once you're a child of God, you'll always be saved. There's nothing that could ever cause you to lose your salvation.
It's like this, I have nine children. This guy in the green shirt here is my oldest son, but he has eight younger brothers and sisters. I have nine children. Now, if my son disobeys me, do you think I just smile, and tell him, "That's okay. That's all right. Just do what you want to do, man. Just express yourself." No. If he disobeys, I'm going to punish him, but am I going to throw him out of the family, tell him, "You're not my son anymore."
Who here wants to give me a rule? What's a rule in your house? Who's got a rule in your house that you want to share with us. What's one of the rules that you have in your home? You got something?
Arian: Don't be disrespectful.
Pastor Anderson: Don't be disrespectful, right. What would be an example of being disrespectful?
Arian: Cursing.
Pastor Anderson: Cursing. What's your name?
Arian: Arian.
Pastor Anderson: Ariel?
Arian: Arian.
Pastor Anderson: Arian?
Arian: Yes.
Pastor Anderson: All right. Let's say Arian comes home today, and says, "Hey, mom. Blankety blank blank. Hey, what the bleep is going on, mom?" Now, do you think that she's going to say, "All right, Arian. You will leave this house, and you can never live here again. You're not my daughter anymore," or is she just going to say, "Wow, Arian, you learned a new word in school today."
Now, the true story is she's not going to do either of those things. You know what she's going to do? She's going to punish Arian. Arian is getting a whooping, but she's still their daughter. Here's the thing. Even if Arian were to run away from home, she's still their daughter. It's not going to remove the DNA from her body that those are her parents because your parents will always be your parents. No matter what happens, they're your parents. If you disobey your parents, you're getting a whooping. They're not going to throw you out of the family and say, "You're not our daughter anymore because you've used the wrong language." That's not going to happen. Do you understand what I'm saying?
Now, who do you think is a better parent, our parents or God? God is our Father in heaven, right? Here's the thing. If we break God's rules, He's going to punish us just like Arian's mom would wash her mouth with soap. If she came home talking that way, she'd shove a bar soap in her mouth. Here's the thing, God is going to punish us for our sins on this earth if we're Christian. If we're truly a Christian, if we believe on Jesus, if we've received Christ as Savior, He's never going to throw us out of the family.
Does everybody understand? He'll discipline us. but we still have eternal life. We're still going to heaven. Look, no matter what I do, I'm going to heaven. If I go out and live a sinful life, God's going to punish me. If I live a good life, God's going to bless me. At the end of the day, I know where I'm going. I'm going to heaven for one reason. Not because I'm good, not because I turn from my sins, not because I got baptized, or doing anything else. It's because I do what? I believed on Jesus Christ as my Savior. I believed on Him.
Do you see how simple the gospel is? You can express the plan of salvation in one word, believe. It's just believing on Jesus. That's it. His death, His burial, and His resurrection. Now, I want to ask you a question today. Who here believes what I just preached to you? Who here believes that Jesus died for all of your sins, and then He's the only one in heaven? Put up your hand if you believe that Jesus died for all your sins, and that you go to heaven by believing in him. Just if you believe in Him, you'll be saved. It's a free gift. Who believes that? Put up your hands nice and high if you believe that. Okay? All right.
Now, here's the thing. I want to lead you in prayer right now to tell God that that's what you believe, so that you can know for sure you're going to heaven. If you believe that, only if you believe that. Let's bow our heads right now. If you believe that, you could pray with this with me out loud onto God. Say, Dear Jesus.
Congregation: Dear Jesus.
Pastor Anderson: I know I'm a sinner.
Congregation: I know I'm a sinner.
Pastor Anderson: I know I deserve hell.
Congregation: I know I deserve hell.
Pastor Anderson: But I believe that you died on the cross for all my sins and rose again.
Congregation: But I believe that you died on the cross for all my sins and rose again.
Pastor Anderson: Please save me right now.
Congregation: Please save me right now.
Pastor Anderson: And give me the free gift ...
Congregation: And give me the free gift ...
Pastor Anderson: ... of eternal life.
Congregation: ... of eternal life.
Pastor Anderson: I'm only trusting You, Jesus.
Congregation: I'm only trusting You, Jesus.
Pastor Anderson: And thank you for making it simple.
Congregation: And thank you for making it simple.
Pastor Anderson: Amen.
Congregation: Amen.
Pastor Anderson: Now, who just prayed that prayer? You meant that, right? Now, put up your hand nice and high. Look, that right there is what the Bible says you have to do to be safe. Just confess with your mouth to Lord Jesus, and just believe that Jesus died, and was buried, and rose again, and thou shall be saved. I mean, it's that simple that if thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thy heart that God is raised from dead, thou shall be ... He didn't say you might be saved. Thou shalt be saved.
You're saved now if you have trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you're saved. You already know that no matter what happens between now and the day of your death, you will be in heaven. The question is, how do you want to live your life in between? You could just say, "Well, I'm going to heaven no matter what. I'm just going to go out and party." Here's the thing, if you do that, if you do that, you will still go to heaven, but you're going to screw up your life on this earth bad. God is going to whoop you harder than Arian's mom will whoop her when she comes in and starts blankety, bleep, blank, blank.
God is going to punish you if you do that. You don't want to do that. If you choose to live a life that follows the Bible, that follows God's Word, you know what, God is going to bless you. It's a much better way to live your life. Plus, if we love God, we should obey Him. We should want to serve Him and please Him.
I don't want to just go waste my life getting drunk, and sleeping around, and being an idiot, and getting diseases, and hurting other people, and hurting myself. I'd rather live a life trying to get other people saved, trying to get other people to heaven with me by preaching the Word of God. Isn't that a better way to live your life than just puking your guts every morning because you're out partying the night before?
I'd rather do something valuable with my life. I'd rather study God's Word, preach God's Word, and get people saved, so that when I get to heaven, I want there to be a whole bunch of people there that got there because I preached to them. Wouldn't that be a good thing to have up in heaven for all eternity? That's how you want to live your life. I want to thank you very much for listening so well, and being so respectful. Nobody cursed me out or anything. I appreciate it. God bless you all. Have a great day. Thank you.
