“Dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations”
As Shigeru Ishiba the president of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party, ascends to Prime Minister of the country and is formally sworn in as the 102nd Prime Minister at an extraordinary session of the lower house of Parliament on Oct. 1, attention is turning to his Christian faith. He reportedly does not visit the Yasukuni Shrine out of religious conscience. In May 2016, Japan Christian Today interviewed Minister Ishiba at the time about his faith in a first-hand account.
According to the interview, Ishiba is a fourth-generation Christian and a maternal believer. His maternal great-grandfather, Kanamori Toren, was the second president of the Christian Doshisha University. “I didn’t come to faith on my own,” Ishiba says, ”but on the other hand, I’ve never had the terrifying thought of there is no God.
Ishiba attended a church-affiliated kindergarten, served as a Sunday school teacher during high school, and was baptised at age 18 in the Tottori Church founded by his maternal great-grandfather Kanamori. Ishiba said, “Faults can be found always in whatever humans do, and I’m sure I have many faults. So, when I pray, I always remember two things: ‘Please use me for Your work’ and ‘Please correct my faults’. That’s all I can pray for.”
He confessed that the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18:9-14 is always on his mind. “I have always taken the scripture, ‘Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted,’ to heart and have always taken it as a lesson,” he said.
Prime Minister Ishiba speaks annually at the National Breakfast Prayer Meeting organised by CBMC Japan. At the 2017 prayer service, he cited “Worship the Lord, O Holy and Beautiful” and “How Precious” as his favourite hymns. In Korean hymns, it is Hymn 42, “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness,” and Hymn 600, “The Church’s One Foundation”.
His faith could also be found when he expressed his opinion on Japan’s defence and peace. He, who was also a Defence Minister, said at the time, “I want peace, but the world is a history of war, and it will continue to be so. It is necessary to increase reciprocity in the U.S.-Japan alliance.” Prime Minister Ishiba said, “Since my high school days, I have always thought about how to prevent war in Japan. I am praying for peace in this world and for God to correct if there is any fault.’
“He always kept the words of the Bible in his heart, and his humility in facing the truth he found in the midst of his anguish left a strong impression on me,” the journalist said at the time. As for his convictions as a politician, he said, “Though I don’t have something to be said as a ‘great conviction’, but if I believe that something is necessary for the country, even if it is unpopular, I will persuade people and do it.”
He said, “In 1984 before I became a lawmaker, Michio Watanabe’s quote, ‘There is only one thing a politician needs: to speak the truth with courage and sincerity,’ stuck in my mind and has stayed with me ever since.” (Source: Christianity Today Synthesis).
All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations. (Psalm 22:27-28)
God, we thank You for raising up a God-fearing man of faith who confesses You as his Lord as Prime Minister of Japan. Please grant him the faith to recognize his human weakness, to pray with a humble heart, to keep his heart steadfast in following Your good will, and to fulfil his duties as Your steward. Through Your church and missionaries in Japan, establish more witnesses of the gospel in this land who receive Your word and follow it with their lives, so that this barren nation of Japan may be restored and revived as a nation worthy of Your name.
Prayer 24·365
prayer@prayer24365.org
