Did you know?
In 1868, a Japanese samurai named Takuma Sawabe confronted the Christian missionary Nicholas with one purpose: to kill him for preaching Christ. But Nicholas did not respond with fear. He calmly asked Sawabe to listen to the Gospel first and then make his decision. Sawabe listened—and something remarkable happened. The man who had come prepared to kill a Christian missionary became convinced by the message of Jesus Christ. In April 1868, he was baptized and took the name Paul.

Paul Sawabe didn’t simply change his mind about Christianity. His entire life changed direction. He went on to become Japan’s first native Christian priest and risked his life preaching Christ to his own people. Nicholas translated Christian writings into Japanese and helped establish a Christian mission in Japan, where Christianity had once been forbidden. Thousands of Japanese eventually embraced the Christian faith as the Gospel spread throughout the country.

This is what makes Sawabe’s story so remarkable. He did not begin as a seeker looking for Christianity. He came as an enemy intending to kill one of its missionaries. Yet after hearing the Gospel, he became a follower of Christ and devoted his life to proclaiming the very faith he had once opposed. The samurai who once wanted to kill a Christian missionary became a priest of Christ.