01/14/2026
π¨WARNINGπ¨ Long and unpopular post ahead...
I've had many mentors in the martial arts. An overwhelming majority of them have been very adamant about a couple of things. Among them, the absolute necessity of not discussing two subjects in your dojo: one is politics and the other is religion. They are widely regarded as Dojo killers.
It is no secret that our martial art, Bujinkan Budo Taijitsu is steeped in Eastern Religion. It weaves in and out of the Bujinkan very seamlessly and many of the practices, etiquette and nature of things "introduce" regular folks to Buddhism and Shintoism. Is that a bad thing? Most certainly not. And that's my caveat.
I've known many Buddhists in my life and only one was a terrible person, who may have just acted like he was a Buddhist when it suited him. But that's neither here nor there. In this world, you are free to worship how you want and who you want. Well, for the most part but you understand what I'm saying. Which brings me to The Reason for this post.
It's no secret that myself and my wife are Christians. Not just regular everyday Christians, but Christians who truly try to live the way that Jesus instructed us to in Matthew 5, 6 and 7. As the world changes constantly, sometimes unrecognizable from one day to the next, Christianity is fast becoming a minority religion. At least for those of us who take it seriously and adopted as a way of life.
For years, I have intermingled my Christianity and the Eastern religion of My Chosen martial art. Constantly telling myself that what we do has nothing to do with Buddhism or Shintoism, but we're just paying honor and respect to the Warriors who came before we did. Honoring our teachers in the past who are long gone for passing down this martial art many generations. I was told that by my Christisn teacher In the last year as my wife and I have grown in Jesus and feel as though He's called us into deeper waters, I find myself looking at things much differently than I did even 2 years ago. I find myself in a place where I don't want to offend the Holy Spirit.
One of the things that I believe dishonors God is when we place other items or gods before him. This is taught to us throughout scripture, and here's a few for you to look up. Because never take my opinion or what I'm saying or anyone else's for that matter. Look at these when you get a chance: Exodus 20:3, Deuteronomy 6:14, Isaiah 45:5, John 14:6, Psalm 82:1, Acts 4:12 and so on. Again, read and study for yourself never take anything as the gospel that someone else is telling you.
2025 was the worst year of my life and the best year of my life. How's that possible? Easy. My wife and I both were sick in 2025, bad sick. I'm currently on dialysis. She still struggles with the pain of nerve damage in her legs from a lawn mower accident that happened in 2024. It was during this time in 2025 where neither of us could work, and we lived as best we could on what we had. Which wasn't much. Many things happened at the dojo in my absence that wasn't necessarily good for it. I guess I should preface this whole thing by saying we believe that God built this dojo for us so that we could do good for our community and students.
How was 2025 the best year of my life? Because that is the year when I formed a complete Bond with Jesus. I knew that he wasn't going to let anything bad happen to me beyond what already has.
Which finally brings me to my point: I have intermingled these religions long enough. I decided with my wife to pull all things from the dojo that had anything to do with another religion, and kamiza. The shrine, the sage, anything to do with the Japanese or Chinese zodiac etc.
I'm sure people will find this post and cause me a great deal of grief because of the changes I've made. But trust me when I tell you, I would rather offend you than my God.
Last Sunday evening, we held a prayer meeting at the dojo. We gathered everything in the dojo that represented Eastern religion such as the shrine the gifts on the commandanna, the Zodiac things Etc and we put them on the table to get rid of. We placed a single cross on that shelf. We decided to let Jesus have his rightful place in our dojo and promise to never hide him again. About 10 of us walk to the entire building, touched every wall, every chair, the rugs, the mats, doorways, the kitchen appliances and literally everything in there to make sure it was going to be pleasing to God.
I also just noticed that the Shadows made two additional crosses appear on either side of the cross. I thought maybe you might get a kick out of that.
Again, I'm not trying to offend any of my colleagues or Dojo owners or other practitioners in our martial art. That's not my intention. My intention is to publicly state that Jesus comes first inv everything that I do. "everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven...but, whoever does not acknowledge me. Y before other men, I will not acknowledge him before my father". - Matthew 10:32
We've changed the Bow in process and everything. Now we will put the work in and grow this thing back to where it's supposed to be before it was ran into the ground by my absence. I want to thank our students and family who came out to do this thing with us. It was a good night.
