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 In Babylon, the prophet Daniel found the promise that God made through Jeremiah.

"in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years." (Daniel 9:2 ESV)

What did Daniel do when he received the words from the Lord? What he did was that he prayed before the Lord, asking for forgiveness. He humbled himself and prayed before the Lord, recognizing not only his sins, but sins of his ancestors that they committed before God.

There is a 70th year anniversary that has a significant meaning to Japan: the Pacific War. Recently, Prime Minister Abe went worshipping at Yasukuni Shrine, where approximately 2,100,000 soldiers who died in the war are worshipped. He also went to war memorials in other countries. In this time of increasing darkness, I sense that there is something that the Lord is saying to us, the churches in Japan. That is, the reality that there are "spiritual debts" toward Asian countries that have not been paid.

The 70th year anniversary of the Pacific War, we, SIR (Strategic Intercession and Research) Network have sent prayer teams to various places of the war on the days that have meanings in the context of the 70th year. Those teams stood on the land to pray with the local churches and Christians.

 Below is where we have gone to pray. Starting out at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii on December 8th (7th in Hawaii)in 2011, we went to Hong Kong (Dec 28th), Singapore (Feb 15th, 2012), Kalijati, Indonesia (March 8th), Corregidor Island, the Philippines (May 7th), the Battle of Midway (prayed at a ceremony in Hawaii, Kokoda, Papua New Guinea (Sept 8th), Tarawa and Makin, Gilbert Islands (Nov 23rd, prayed at a National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii), Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands (feb 7th, 2013), Singapore (the Shonan Shrite Site, Feb 15th), Buin in the Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea (April 18th), Dutch Harbor, Allusion Islands (May 30th), Kokoda and Sanananda, Papua New Guinea (July), Majuro, Marshal Islands (Feb 6th, 2014), Sandakan in Sabah and Labuan, Malaysia (April), Biak Island, Indonesia, and Imphal India (May), Guam (Aug 15th), Rabaul, Papua New Guinea (Sep 20th), Leyte Island, the Philippines (Oct 20th), and Clerk Air Base on Luzon Island, the Philippines (Oct 25th).

As we stood on these fields and prayed together with the local church and Christians in those countries, the Lord spoke to us the promise of "restoration and healing." Standing on the lands that were once battle fields where much blood was shed, I felt the responsibility of releasing the curses on those lands in the name of Jesus who died on the cross.

We also faced the reality that many of those battle fields had been kept tied in curses through groups of family members and relatives from Japan coming to the lands after the war. They built memorial monuments for the dead soldiers so that they could hold memorial services, but it resulted in inviting evil spirits to the lands by them praying to and calling down the dead spirits at those services. Without exception, that lands that were once battle fields were groaning under such curses, manifested as volcanic eruptions, conflicts, wars among tribes, and the prevalence of idol worship.

We prayed to the Lord on the lands, repenting of our sins, asking for forgiveness and reconciliation to the local people, and asking for the removal of the curses poured onto the lands. The Lord heard those prayers, and also the local churches and Christians accepted our repentance and forgave us.

I met many people who would point at us, Japanese, saying, "my family was killed by the Japanese. But today, I forgive the Japanese." There were also many people who would say in their prayer, "Heavenly Father, first, I forgive Japanese people, "I believe that the reconciliation was a gift given to us in the promise of "restoration and healing" through the intercessory prayer on the lands on the 70th year.

The "spiritual debts" the Japanese churches owed have already been paid off in the Gospel of the cross. And now, I feel the coming of "God's Time," the time when we shall be sent to those countries with the Gospel.

The Apostle Paul appealed that he was "under obligation"(Romans 1:14), having the responsibility of preaching the gospel. I believe that Japanese churches are "under obligation" to those countries that we hurt, infringed, and invaded during the Pacific War to deliver the Gospel. And, that is necessary for the revival in Japan.

It will have been 70 years since the end of Pacific War in 2015.

The battle of Iwo Jima, the battle of Okinawa, the air raids to around 130 cities, and the dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were events that took place during the last six months of war. We have already been led to careful and thorough research on those events through intercessory prayer, but on this 70th year, I feel that the Lord is laying His hands on the whole nation of Japan to give the "restoration and healing" through sending us to stand on the lands and pray.

Missionary work after the war in Japan was began by the missionaries sent from European and American churches right after the end of the war. The Gospel was delivered in the towns burned to ashes by the countries that were once enemies. It is not an exaggeration to say that churches in Japan were built up through those missionaries' tears and prayer in hardship and the support from their home countries that sent them.

 For 70 years since the end of the war, churches in Japan have been devoted to preaching the Gospel and praying for the revival in Japan. The reality, however, is that the ratio of Christians to the whole population has not been changed; some say that it is declining.
There are words that are used to express one's refusal of Christianity. Those are words that Christians in Japan have heard at least once; that is, "Christianity is a religion of the United States." These words make me think what is behind them. Those missionaries came to the town that burned to ashes by the air raids, offered many supplies, and delivered the Gospel. It is said that Japanese people, in their extreme poverty, crowded around the supplies and surged to churches. Having lost in the war, many people who were disappointed at the gods they had believed in received the Gospel and became leaders of Christian churches later.
 
However, once the occupation, the so-called "seven golden years," were over, people started leaving churches. Now, more than one million people go to shrines and temples on New Year's Day for their first visit of the year, where Japanese people once went to pray for victory in the war. I cannot think but that there is a hidden "hostility", that turns into the resistance to the Gospel.

I believe that on the 70th year since the end of the war, we are asked to have intercession and prayer that bring "putting to death the hostilities" and the "restoration and healing". I am also certain that intercessory prayer from the United States, who was once our enemy, is needed in this process of reconciliation.

Finally, I believe that the time is coming, the time when Christians in Japan and countries of the Allies, including the United States, England, Australia and Holland, shall take each other's hands and bring "the Gospel of Reconciliation" to the countries that became the battle fields during the war.

The 70th year, to receive God's time.

SIR Network, Nozomu Takimoto - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Please pray for the work of the Lord in Japan and that the hearts of the Japanese people will be able to respond to the Gospel, no longer thinking it is from the United States or is a Western religion. Pray also for the work of the SIR Network in bringing reconciliation and healing to Japan's war enemies and to the Japanese themselves.