I plan to complete my correspondence courses this year. The contents are as follows: Beginner's course "Jesus' Invitation" (1) Who is Jesus?, (2) Believing in Jesus, (3) Jesus Teaching about Sin, (4) New Life in Christ, (5) Church as the Body of Christ. Intermediate Course "God's Eternal Plan" (1) Man Created by God, (2) Man's Sin in the World, (3) Abraham and the Old Covenant, (4) Jesus and the New Covenant, (5) God's Eternal Plan. Advanced Course "Seeking God's Kingdom and Righteousness" (1) God's Will and Denominations, (2) Seeking Truth and Unity, (3) Christians, Members of Christ's Church, (4) Worship at Church, (5) Organization and Growth of Church. I am on Advanced Course # 2. Some students are waiting for #2, so I need to complete this soon. So far 25 have been taking one of these courses. 5 of them have dropped out. Although none of them has become Christians yet, I am confident that we will see some good visible fruits someday. Hime Takano, a housewife with two kids, wrote me as follows:

"I am surprised that the Ten Commandments apply even to modern people. I think these are like eternal principles." In another letter she wrote me after finishing the Intermediate, "This course is very easy to understand. To tell you the truth, I have been taking other Christian correspondence courses. Yours is the easiest to understand. However, I find myself skeptical of things in the Bible. I often say to myself, is it really true? A few days ago, I watched the movie Ben Hur for the first time because I wanted to learn more about Christianity. Jesus appears in one scene. Somehow I feel Jesus' greatness. I am looking forward to taking advanced courses." After she took the first one of the Advanced, which discusses the sin of denominations, she was disappointed at the reality of denominations. She wrote me, "I thought churches were closest to God. If what you are saying is true, why do I need to go to church? You say you will show me the solution to the problem of denominations. I am looking forward to it."

You may see her faith in God go up and down. It is very easy to be selective in what one can believe. The Advanced deals the problem of denominations as well as the way that one can be a non-denominational Christian. Japanese see Christianity as a whole, except they seem to see some distinctions among Catholics and Protestants and some cultic groups such as Moony churches, Mormon churches, Jehovah Witness. They also ask the question like "Are you a Protestant church? Are you Mormon?" The truth about denominations in Japan is that there are much more denominations in Japan than in the U.S., because missionaries from various countries came to Japan and their groups were split in Japan. Eventually they need to be aware of the sin of denominations. I think the earlier the better.