Coincidence... or not?

I can still hear the drums outside my closed window, hollow and tinny, echoing from the street between whistle blasts. Boom! Boom! Whistle, whistle. Boom! Boom! Marching feet. I slid open the glass to hear better and was sorry I did. I can't see anything from my window, but I can hear the festival processional coming through the big street in front of my apartment, apparently blocking traffic.

A festival wouldn't ordinarily bother someone - unless, of course, you are a Christian in Japan. Japanese festivals are full of Buddhist and Shinto religious symbols, chants and activities. Even if they're couched in the guise of a harmless dance or cultural/historical event, don't be so quick to think all is well. So you've seen "Karate Kid II" - remember the Bon Dance they introduced so innocently? It's a festival and dance inviting the spirits of deceased ancestors back to their native homes so they can be worshipped.

I hear the drums again, coming back up the street.



Two weeks ago, in fact, a lady came to my door asking for money for the local Buddhist temple festival. This may indeed be it.

At any rate, I was unable to sleep last night because of strange noises in the floor above - under - both - I'm not exactly sure. Running feet - back and forth, back and forth, strange music, drum beats that made my floor vibrate - after 10 p.m. in a family apartment!! I turned on my lamp, read my Bible and prayed, and eventually the noises stopped.

Then early this morning my dreams turned from normal to creepy to demonic - a sure sign for me that something is afoot in the spiritual realm.

I am a child of God who is not welcome in Satan's kingdom.

And then, at 2 in the afternoon, a festival marching up my street.

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand agains the devil's schemes. FOR OUR STRUGGLE IS NOT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD, BUT AGAINST THE RULERS, AGAINST THE AUTHORITIES, AGAINST THE POWERS OF THIS DARK WORLD AND AGAINST THE SPIRITUAL FORCES OF EVIL IN THE HEAVENLY REALMS. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." - Ephesians 6:10-13.

Friends, our actions are NEVER neutral!

Our lives and the way we live them are always accepting someone and rejecting someone. Some choose to accept God and rejecting Satan; others choose to please people, please the crowd, accept the ways of Satan ("called the prince of this world") and reject God.

There is no such thing as an action with no consequence. Even to choose NOT to believe in anything is a choice, a statement, a coming to one side of a line drawn in the sand.

P.S. - Christ already won, He wins now, and He wins in the end. Not a bad record!