100 Sermon Illustrations on War

An intense illustration from the Vietnam War.

By late 1967 the North Vietnamese had stationed 100,000 soldiers in Laos and Cambodia; 40,000 of them had the task of keeping the Ho Chi Minh trail secure. Against these enormous numbers the Americans had thirty or forty Green Beret conducting reconnaissance in Laos and Cambodia at any given time. On half of their missions they had to fight their way out.

It was late morning when Recon Team Maine's helicopter landed on a slash-and- burn clearing about 15 miles inside Laos, near Highway 165. Additional troop helicopters, gunships and A-1 Skyraiders hung back just beyond earshot, ready to intervene in case of trouble.

Their helicopter lifted away. The leader of the team headed for a woodline, then froze - everyone froze - just ahead were bunkers and milling groups of North Vietnamese soldiers. The leader backed away, turned for another woodline and saw it, too, bristling with men and heavy earth-and-log bunkers - Communist soldiers were EVERYWHERE.

The recon team was totally surrounded on an open landing zone, outnumbered perhaps twenty to one by an entrenched enemy, overlooked by heavy machine guns whose bolts they now heard slamming shut. By any reckoning, the leader and his seven men had about ten seconds to live. Mike Buckland tersely radioed an airplane circling overhead, "Have inserted into a major unit and not yet engaged. Stand by."

But the NVA just stood there watching, some only 20 yards away. The Green Beret leader made a shrewd observation: the Communists had bomb shelters, not fighting bunkers. These lacked firing ports, so the NVA couldn't shoot from inside and had to climb out even to see, silhouetting their heads and shoulders like targets in a shooting gallery.

Meanwhile a half-dozen enemy leaders marched from deeper in the bunker area with an indignant "we'll get-to-the-bottom-of-this" air about them. Maybe, just maybe, their unmarked helicopter had been mistaken for a similar-looking Russian helicopter used by the North Vietnamese. Buckland smiled, waved and called out reassuringly in Russian.

More NVA were standing atop bunkers now, craning necks like gawkers at a traffic accident. They didn't even point their AK-47's at the team. The Green Beret let the Communist officers approach to the edge of the woodline, only fifteen paces away. Then all three Americans opened fire, and the Communist's commanders were history.

Stunned NVA machine gunners grabbed their guns but did not fire, unable to believe what had happened. The Green Beret annihilated them. So astounded were the NVA that the Americans fired a full ten seconds before the enemy shot back, but then it turned into a melee. They cleaned the bunker tops again, then lay down in a slight depression. The cross fire was so heavy the Vietnamese began shooting each other.

The Communists launched three human wave assaults, each one beaten back. Bullets smacked into the backpacks they were using for cover, then a bullet tore a radio receiver from the leader's hand. He picked it back up and called for napalm before they were overrun. Fifteen Communists jumped to their feet, shouting and dashing and firing just as a fighter-bomber rolled in.

Then a bouncing 750-pound napalm canister split apart so close it spewed petroleum-smelling globs on the recon team's backpacks and weapons and on Mike Buckland's hands and shirt. An instant later the napalm burst hot orange all around them and set ablaze backpacks and a Montagnard's rifle. They felt the air sucked away as black smoke blocked the sun, and inside its shadow the Communists disappeared.

The napalm globs on the recon team's men did not ignite. Buckland recalled a verse from Isaiah: "When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned." The fighter bombers pushed back the North Vietnamese and a helicopter snatched the Green Beret team away from the landing zone. Only one man was superficially hurt.

Now and then I hear a replay of the achingly stupid anti-Vietnam War song, “War,” sung most famously by Edwin Starr in the 1970s. How about these lyrics?

War, huh, yeah

What is it good for?

Absolutely nothing,

Say it again, Y’all

War, it ain’t nothing

But a heartbreaker,

War, friend only to the undertaker

Good for absolutely nothing? Well, except for maybe establishing the United States of America, stopping Hitler, and ending genocide by Bosnian Serbs. You know, that sort of thing.

Friend only to the undertaker? But maybe also a friend to Iraqi Kurds no longer subject to Saddam’s poison gas attacks, to South Koreans free from Communist totalitarian rule, and to the citizens of Singapore liberated from Japanese Imperial rule.

Of course, war is horrific. Of course, much evil occurs in war, much innocent life lost. But much good can and does come from war.

It would be presumptuous to claim you know why our Sovereign God allowed or caused a particular war to happen, but examining history, one can see a variety of helpful results, and it doesn’t hurt to list them as possible reasons. Yes, one could list countervailing negatives, but to answer Mr. Starr, one need only show that his “absolutely nothing” is absolutely ridiculous. Furthermore, it would be theologically lame to suggest that, regarding war, God is left trying desperately to salvage some good from a thoroughly bad thing. He is active, and not just reactive, as he works His perfect purposes in perfect ways. For instance, He might use war:

• To make human “diamonds.”

As with diamonds, the refinement of souls takes heat and pressure. War is the crucible par excellence, where people rise above their normal behavior to exhibit moral excellence. Note, for example, the Don Cheadle character in “Hotel Rwanda.”

• To stop, prevent and punish evil.

Whether freeing the Jews from Nazi concentration camps or protecting Balkan Muslims, armed intervention is sometimes necessary to stop the bloodshed. In fact, “peace” (where tyrants were allowed free rein with their people) was more deadly than war in the 20th century. World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, etc. killed 25-30 million. Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, the Hutus, etc. killed over 100 million of their countrymen, while left alone by outside forces. (Jung Chang’s and Jon Holiday’s new book on Mao pegs his “peacetime” death toll at 70 million.)

As for pre-emption, Israel supplies important examples. From the day of its founding, the nation was under fire. So its pre-emptive strike on the Egyptian Air Force in 1967 and against Iraq’s Osirak reactor in 1981 were quite understandable.

The world is beset with evil people. A few of them come to extraordinary power. When their twisted wills are unchecked, they do grave harm. Saddam Hussein has killed more Muslims, and more innocent Muslims, than anyone on earth, and he needed to be stopped. It is utterly fitting that he be on trial for his life.

• To steer history.

Thank God for the Polish cavalry, which secured Europe from the spread of Islam at the outskirts of Vienna in 1683. And arguably, there would be no state of Israel if the Allies had not defeated Hitler and stopped his annihilation of the Jews.

• To teach theology.

Raised against the biblical doctrine of original sin is the Romantic notion of the perfectibility, or even improvability, of man. War shows this conceit to be laughable. “The Christian Century” soon proved to be a thoroughly devilish century in the trenches of Europe, particularly at the Somme, where the British suffered 20,000 casualties in just one day.

War performs reductions to absurdity. After Hitler invaded the Sudetenland, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain chose the way of appeasement, declaring “peace in our time.” The ensuing horrors demonstrated the folly of enablement. Similar, the Hutu slaughter of Tutsis demonstrated the absurdity of tribal bitterness and the vacuity of U.N. leadership perspectives. And some have argued that the events of 9/11 buried the relativistic pretensions of post-modernism.

• To parade His handiwork.

Even lost man can prove himself extraordinary in war. Witness the lost GIs who face daily the gauntlet of IEDs on the roads of Iraq. Recall the Jews who battled the Syrians on the Golan Heights in the Yom Kippur War. War reveals the resourcefulness and courage of mankind, believers and unbelievers alike. When infantrymen hold a bridge at any cost or pilots fly up flak alley, unsaved warriors provide inspiring testimony to God’s craftsmanship.

• To rally a people.

Many credit World War II with lifting the U.S. out of the Great Depression and galvanizing the comradeship of the “greatest generation.” Across “the pond,” the Battle of Britain produced the UK’s “finest hour.” Read the accounts of the rescue at Dunkirk, of the prayer rally at Westminster Abbey, of the hundreds of small, private craft braving the English Channel to extricate trapped soldiers from under German guns. Such community and nobility on the home front is commonplace in many just wars.

• To advance science, technology and engineering.

Now and then we hear of all the great things that have come from auto racing, e.g., the rear-view mirror. But much more could be demonstrated from war -– radar, sulfa drugs, atomic energy, night-vision devices, body armor. These developments now facilitate commercial flights to volunteer mission points, provide electricity to urban churches, and equip police patrols in gang-infested neighborhoods.

Harbors, interstates, airfields, etc. are built for military purposes but endure for normal usage. (In Bible times, Roman military roads allowed Paul and his colleagues to traverse the Empire.) Today, transport aircraft stand ready for disaster relief.

• To advance the arts and humanities.

As President John Adams put it, “I must study politics and war, that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.”

• To draw people to Himself.

It is said that there are no atheists in foxholes. War has a way of concentrating one’s spiritual attention, and many have come to the Lord through such conflict. Indeed, more Americans were converted during the first Gulf War than were killed in combat.

• To secure religious liberty and extend religious liberty.

The Revolutionary War secured the prominent position that America’s First Amendment plays on the world stage. The religious liberty we enjoy is a beacon to the world, and has facilitated the development of our evangelical publishing and missionary base.

Right now, I’m reading “The Bookseller of Kabul,” which lists the rules the Taliban imposed when they took power in 1996 -– e.g., no women in public without burkas; no shaving until your beard has reached the length of a clenched fist; daily attendance at the mosque at prayer time; no kite flying. (Yes, no kite flying.) Thank God -- and war -– that those tyrants are on the run.

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[Original illustration at this number was deleted for being obsolete]

A soldier in the Vietnam War had a Christian roommate [Dave Roever] whom he called “Preacher-man.” The Christian called him “Pervert Number One”. His friend was Pervert Number Two. The soldier was badly wounded and filled with anger. After the war he married, then almost divorced. He spent all his time drinking and fighting. He only found peace when he turned his life over to God.

He had heard that Preacher-Man had been killed with a phosphorus grenade. Then he heard Roever was alive and called him on a radio program. Both went to church together one Sunday, where Preacher-man is giving a message.

~~~~~~~~~~ [November 15, 1991] ~~~~~~~~~~ Background ~~~~~~~~~~

Dave Roever (pronounced Reever) in “From Tragedy to Triumph” video tape.

He grew up in a Christian home, married his high school sweetheart, went to Bible college, got drafted, and decided to enlist in the Navy. He took SEAL training and was assigned to riverine warfare. Dave's buddies were all corrupt (see story of one of them above) and took shots for venereal disease, while Dave remained faithful to his wife. They called him “Preacher-Man.”

While on a patrol he prepared to throw a phosphorus grenade to clear a booby-trapped area. It went off in his hand (a sniper may have shot his hand) and burned up half his body. The right side of his face was burned down to the skull, his chest was blown off so he could see his heart beating. He threw himself into the water only to see the phosphorus burning intensely white even under water. They pulled him back in the boat and medevacked him to a hospital. Two weeks later they opened up his chest and he caught on fire again from concealed phosphorus (the doctor’s report testifies to this); he burned all the way through the gurney and fell on the floor. Thirteen other patients were taken with him to an intensive care unit in Houston, and twelve died there. One wife came up to her wounded soldier, was disgusted and never came back. His wife whispered, “I love you, Davey.” He regained sight in his right eye, had his face reconstructed, wears a plastic ear and hairpiece, but can play piano dramatically.

His wife gave this invitation:

“Everyone is going to serve a god. You may not serve the same God I serve. You may serve Buddha, or Allah, or the god of Mars – he was the god of war and violence.

"We act like the god we serve. If you are a violent person, you’re serving the god of Mars. There’s another god called Venus, the goddess of sex.

"I want you to think about this: When you are lying in a battlefield, legs and arms blown off, lying there dying, Is your god big enough to pull you through? If the god you serve cannot care for you, I suggest you change gods now, and serve the One who will take care of you, who will pull you through in difficult circumstances.”

Christmas sermon 1990. God's peace vs. world's peace.

1. Most people long for peace.

2. Peace is the essence of Christmas.

a. Prophesied in OT.

b. Fulfilled by Jesus in NT.

3. Peace is possible in this life.

a. Inner spiritual peace.

b. Peace in relationships.

c. Peace in world.

4. Be peacemakers.

a. Make your peace with God.

b. Make peace with others.

Illustration on the importance of partnership:

During World War II, over China and Burma, the Flying Tigers of General Claire Chennault were outnumbered - in the air, on the ground, and in planes, pilots, and parts. Yet they destroyed 217 enemy planes and probably 43 more, according to James Wilson in his book “The Principles of War.” Chennault had 20 operational P-40s and this remarkable record was accomplished in 31 encounters. His losses were six pilots and 16 planes.

Throughout the campaign, Chennault used a strategy that the enemy apparently never discovered. His men flew in pairs firmly committed to each other. Even when outnumbered 10 to one, Chennault never sent up 10 planes to the enemy’s 100. He sent up five pairs of two; each pair went after one enemy plane at a time. His two aircraft always out-numbered the enemy’s one.

Chennault was using the principle of concentration. Before, his pilots engaged in individual dogfights which as sport were superb, he said, but as war were all wrong.

We are at war against the prince of the power of the air - Satan, the deceiver, who can still be overcome by those who used concentration and other sound principles found in God’s Word. God used concentration when he whittled down Gideon’s army to a chosen few who were committed to each other.

War. The thunder of bombs, the wail of the wounded, the sharp smell of fear. “It’s something you never get used to,” muttered a U.S. Marine classmate returning from Vietnam; especially when the weight of responsibility falls directly on you.

I felt it years ago as a marine lieutenant, knowing that the lives of 50 men were in my hands. Later, in the White House, I never lost the brooding realization that every decision I influenced could mean life or death to soldiers fighting in the jungles of Vietnam.

But the most wrenching sense of responsibility hit one morning when I climbed into the back seat of the White House limousine, opened the newspaper, and saw a photo of a nine-year-old South Vietnamese girl running naked down the street, the jellied napalm searing her skin after a bomb attack ordered by a U.S. Commander [but see note below]. The little girl’s arms were stretched out as though in supplication, her face contorted in a scream of pain and terror.

The image earned the photographer a Pulitzer Prize and helped turn the heart of a nation against the war. But for me, there was no escaping a sense of personal responsibility. The photo was scorched permanently into my memory, whispering the haunting question: Was I responsible for policies that led to this small child’s agony?

In the years that followed, my life and that of the little girl strangely converged. Her name was Phan Thi Kim Phuc, and she was rushed to the hospital by the photographer, where she was treated for third-degree burns. Her wounds were so severe that every time they were cleaned and dressed the pain caused her to lose consciousness.

Later, the Communist Vietnamese government discovered that she was the “girl in the picture” and paraded her endlessly in anti-American propaganda. She was forced to pull up her sleeves and exhibit the deeply ridged skin to visitors from around the globe.

Then, as an adult, her life changed dramatically: A group of believers introduced her to the joy of new life in Christ. Eventually she went to Cuba where she met a young Vietnamese man who shared her faith. They married, and on their honeymoon the young couple defected to Canada. Getting off the plane in a strange country, without money, without family, and without friends, Kim Phuc was buoyed up only by her intense faith. “God guided me.... I go by faith,” she told an NPR interviewer. Today the couple lives in Toronto with their small son.

Meanwhile, back in the White House, I too fell at the feet of God and discovered new life -- a life that took me from the corridors of power to the walkways of prison cellblocks. But over the next two decades, the image of the little girl in the photo hovered in my memory, with its haunting question.

Then one day last fall, I opened the newspaper and a second photo jumped out at me: Kim Phuc, now 33 years old, laying a wreath of flowers at the Vietnam War Memorial. There she stood, slim and radiant before the black polished granite, with a remarkable message: She was extending forgiveness to those who had once bombed her family and countrymen. “I have suffered a lot from both physical and emotional pain,” Kim said. “Sometimes I thought I could not live, but God saved my life and gave me faith and hope.”

The sea of veterans in American uniforms spread out before her brought back terrifying memories of war and suffering, as Kim later told a reporter. Yet she prayed for strength to utter words of grace and hope: “Even if I could talk face to face with the pilot who dropped the bomb,” she said, “I could tell him we cannot change history, but we should try to do good things for the present and for the future to promote peace.”

When she finished her brief but poignant remarks, the veterans rose to their feet, exploding in applause. Several broke down and wept. “It’s important to us that she’s here,” one veteran said. “For her to forgive us personally means something.”

And it “means something” to that old Nixon hatchet man as well. The frail, South Vietnamese woman, once so powerless, reached out across the years, as it were, to the man who once held so much worldly power and spoke words of forgiveness and reconciliation.

It is a fitting image for Easter, when we celebrate the power of the Resurrection over the forces of death itself. A world of sin will never be free of war and destruction. Time and again we are promised that THIS is the “war to end all wars.” But time and again the promise proves empty, and conflict breaks out somewhere else in new forms. As G. K. Chesterton once quipped, original sin is the one doctrine empirically verified by 3,500 years of human history. The only power that conquers sin and evil is the Cross; the only power that provides real peace is the Resurrection.

From Kim Phuc’s first picture, the world learned the horrors of war; from the second picture, the only source of peace. Nor does her story end there. Kim and her husband have nursed a secret dream to attend Bible college someday. When I retold their story on my radio program, “BreakPoint,” several Bible colleges called to ask how they could help the couple’s dream come true.

The world will always be full of wars and rumors of war, but Christ’s resurrection brings peace -- supernatural peace -- to those who give their lives to him.

________

COPYRIGHT(C) 1997 BY CHRISTIANITY TODAY, INC/CHRISTIANITY TODAY MAGAZINE.

MARCH 3, 1997 VOL. 41, NO. 3, PAGE 96; 7T3wh7T30967225

================================

Update (in file):

Daily Record, April 13, 1997, page A-13, by Anne Gearan (AP).

The American officer who ordered napalm dropped was John Plummer. He had reports the village was unoccupied by civilians and was traumatized by the photo. He ended up divorced twice and developed a drinking problem; the picture confronted him in wakefulness and sleep. In 1990 he committed his life to God and left his job with a defense contractor to become a Methodist minister. On Nov. 11, 1997, Plummer and some of his friends sat far back in the crowd as Kim spoke. Afterwards he spoke to her.

[Holwick: Some believe his role in the incident has been exaggerated while others say it is a case of mistaken memory - that no Americans were involved in the incident except as photographers and doctors. At this point in the war, most of the fighting was done by Vietnamese themselves and the South Vietnamese air force was responsible for dropping the napalm, not Americans (see http://www.ndqsa.com/myth.html).]

During the June 4th 1944, WWII invasion of Normandy 25-year-old Pvt. Ray Aebischer’s parachute opened with such a jolt his heavy jump-pack was torn from his shoulders, plummeting to earth. Everything he needed (machine gun, carbine, ammo, canteen, food rations, personal items, etc.) was lost. Ray was so sure he’d never see his gear again he dismissed it from his mind.

Pvt. Aebischer didn’t count on Emmanuel Allain. Then in October 1997, a letter arrived from Mr. Allain, a WWII aficionado and collector. He wrote, "I found in a farm in Normandy all the stuff (belt pistol, carbine, suspenders belt, canteen, pocket first aid, etc.) of a soldier." The name on several of these items was Ray R. Aebischer.

Now 81, Aebischer said he was "dumbfounded." Last month he and his wife flew to England, where Allain met them with the wayward jump-pack in hand. "I could think of so many instances where I could have been killed," he said. "I thought to myself, except for the grace of God, I could be there. The real heroes are still over there."

*

Memorial Day began in honor of those precious lives involved in the Civil War. Let's join those soldiers now in that great video library of American passion and courage. Rewind the tape around 130 years to a somber American memory. Revisit the trauma, return to the sadness, and remember the war!

The camera of time stops far away, zooming in on a long forgotten hillside. The sun is sinking on a hostile terrain. We stand alone in the lengthening shadows beside another fallen soldier. His young face is still. In a blazing moment, his life was cut short. All earthly plans were suddenly ended.

Let us wait to embrace a weeping comrade as he gathers a little strength. Breathing heavily, he turns to press on. He will often remember this day. Uninvited, the tape of his mind vividly remembers the whole awful nightmare again and again. It replays the gripping panic, horrifying sights, that deafening roar, and screams of terror. Who can imagine the wounds in his soul? Who will bear his burdens? Who will still those haunting memories, how they once laughed, they feared, they fought, they worshipped, and they died!

On the darkened screen, thousands of lights appear. From cottage to cottage we observe the silhouettes of lowered heads. We gaze upon an aching family. We hear a sobbing mother as she reflects back several years to the voice of her little son calling to her. We listen to a widow's wail. She stares vacantly at shattered dreams. We kneel before a clinging child as she tries to understand.

Lincoln and Gettysburg! The President told General James F. Rusling, "I went to my room one day, and there locked the door, and got down on my knees before Almighty God, and prayed to Him mightily for victory at Gettysburg ... a comfort crept into my soul that God Almighty had taken the whole business into His own hands, and that things would go all right."

Near the end of the war, when Robert E. Lee surrendered, the officials prepared to march into Richmond. Lincoln declared firmly, "There shall be no triumphal entry into Richmond!" He made his way to Richmond and walked throughout the city alone. Abe Lincoln walked with his head bowed down, with heavy step and a sad heart. Was there ever a triumphal entry like that in any war in history? When the President went to Jefferson Davis' room, he asked his officials to leave him alone. After a few minutes one looked inside. There sat Lincoln with head bowed on Jefferson Davis' desk, face in his hands and tears falling. Great compassion gripped him for the great men who lived and fought for the Confederacy! His sympathetic heart helped bind North and South together. In many respects this moment was the greatest victory of the Civil War.

This president knew godly honor and integrity! He was deeply concerned for human life! Remember him at Gettysburg, "...that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that the government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Lincoln and Gethsemane! The President remarked when elected to office, "I have read upon my knees the story of Gethsemane, where the Son of God prayed in vain that the cup of bitterness might pass from Him. I am in the garden of Gethsemane now, and my cup of bitterness is full and overflowing." There was nothing phony and arrogant about this President! We see Lincoln in the White House during the dark days of the Civil War, the weight was heavy to bear. He said, "I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seem insufficient for that day."

President Lincoln understood something of the Savior's Gethsemane. He knew human worth, the dread of sin, the pain of loss, commitment to values, the thread of life, the sense of providence, the price of freedom, sympathy for "the enemy," the value of divine guidance, a sense of the eternal, and the panorama of a sea of graves.

Lincoln and Glory! The President received a Bible from a Baltimore delegation of black men. He commented, "In regard to this great Book, I have but to say that it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world and communicated through this Book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man's welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it." Lincoln was prepared for glory! He trusted in the crucified and resurrected Jesus Christ!

The President stood with D.L. Moody before 2,000 little urchins in a Chicago warehouse. He told how he went to Gettysburg, looked across that great battlefield and saw all that blood. He shared how he fell on his knees and cried out, "Oh my God! These boys shed their blood to get us free! How much more Jesus shed His to make us free!" Abraham Lincoln's confidence for Glory was through the blood of Christ! [1] Just as his Bible said, "Being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him" (Romans 5:9). The loving Son of God died to free us from sin and hell! This has been long forgotten by many Americans. That was not the case with President Lincoln! The greatest victory ever won on any battlefield of human life, when the struggle is hardest, was won through Jesus Christ at the cross! Abraham Lincoln won his greatest battle the day he asked Jesus Christ to forgive his sin and to become his Savior. "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7b).

Americans, don't forget the blood shed for you! Through Lincoln's guidance black Americans found freedom under God. Like his Savior, Abe Lincoln gave his life for freedom. After his assassination and burial, Chauncey Depew recalled, "I was one of the committee in charge of the funeral train which was bearing his body to his home... As we sped over the rails at night the scene was the most pathetic ever witnessed. At every crossroad the glare of innumerable torches illuminated the whole population, from age to infancy, kneeling on the ground, and their clergyman leading in prayers and hymns." As the body was being escorted through the night, where was the one who lived within that temporary home of that tall bearded man? Lincoln was in Glory! "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8). Please friend, remember to prepare for Glory! Trust in Abraham Lincoln's God, Jesus Christ!

Chuck Brocka

8595 S. 40 E.

Sandy, UT 84070

________

[1] Holwick: I have doubts about this point. Lincoln spoke briefly in Moody's Sunday School when he was newly elected as President but I have found no reference to Lincoln having contact with Moody after Gettysburg. It would also be unusual for the President to refer to the blood of Jesus. Lincoln made many references to God but very few to Jesus.

"Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived."

- Abraham Lincoln

- _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 136.

During a fierce battle in New Guinea during World War II an allied soldier was left for dead by the side of a trail. Later he recovered consciousness and lay there helpless, expecting every moment that Japanese soldiers would arrive and finish him off. Finally four Japanese soldiers did arrive. To his surprise, however, instead of killing him, they lifted him gently and carried him to the side of a track in another part of the forest. Before leaving him, one of them said, “You will be quite safe here. Some of your countrymen will arrive soon and pick you up. We are Christians and hate war.”

William Moses Tidwell, “Pointed Illustrations.”

In a recent CITY JOURNAL retrospective of three American cartoonists, Stefan Kanfer recalled one whose name might not be familiar: Bill Mauldin. You may, however, remember his drawing of the Lincoln Memorial statue with its head in its hands, an act of mourning the day after John F. Kennedy was shot.

Mauldin was an Army G.I. during World War II. Having learned to draw from a correspondence course and later at the Academy of Fine Art in Chicago, he began contributing cartoons to the 45th Division newspaper. Soon his cartoons appeared in STARS AND STRIPES, the Army newspaper.

His drawings depicted, writes Kanfer, “two 'dogfaces,' unshaven battle-weary men known only as Willie and Joe.” Willie's and Joe's remarks vividly illustrated the lives of the common soldier. In one, Willie remarks to a medic: “Just give me the aspirin. I already got a Purple Heart.” In another, Joe, peeking out from his tent at a puppy shivering in the rain, says: “Let 'em in. I wanna see a critter I kin feel sorry fer.”

Mauldin wrote about Willie and Joe saying: “Their nobility and dignity come from the way they live unselfishly and risk their lives to help each other. They wish ... they were someplace else, and they wish ... they would get relief. They wish ... the mud was dry, and they wish ... their coffee was hot. They want to go home. But they stay in their wet holes and fight, and then they climb out and crawl through minefields and fight some more.”

Kanfer notes that historian Stephen Ambrose described the soldiers of the Battle of the Bulge in much the same way. “What was unacceptable to the G.I. in that foxhole,” Ambrose explained, “was letting his buddies down. They knew the difference between right and wrong, and they didn't want to live in a world in which wrong prevailed.”

That same motivation has always spurred our soldiers to action — including our troops in Operation Iraqi Freedom. They also endured hardships, bad weather conditions — and some, taken prisoner, endured torture — all because they knew that in fighting the war, they were overthrowing a regime in which “wrong prevailed.”

I remember the famous photo a few years ago of a Princeton student at an anti-war rally carrying a poster that read, “Nothing is worth dying for.” How sad. But Col. David Perkins at a ceremony in Baghdad, remembering those who died in Iraq, got it right. “There are things worth dying for,” he said. “Freedom is one of those things.”

And while we do well to celebrate great war heroes like Eisenhower and Patton, don't forget the quiet, humble sacrifice of the enlisted soldiers that Willie and Joe represented: those who left the comforts of home, the love of family, and the safety of their country to fight so that right would prevail.

In his discussion of Psalm 131, Saint Augustine wrote that “humility of heart is a sacrifice.” On this Memorial Day let us share the sacrifice of those who served in all the wars, from the Revolution through Iraq — and do so by humbling ourselves in gratitude to them. And yes, fly the flag today and say a prayer of thanks for all the Willies and Joes who humbled their hearts, taking on difficult roles to serve our country.

For further reading:

Stefan Kanfer, “NOW THAT'S POPULAR CULTURE,” CITY JOURNAL 13, No. 2 (Spring 2003).

Chris Tomlinson, “U.S. TROOPS REMEMBER COMRADES AT CEREMONY,” SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, April 26, 2003.

“PRAYER FOR PEACE, MEMORIAL DAY, 2003,” by the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation, White House Office of the Press Secretary, May 23, 2003.

Adam Sparks, “GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN,” SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, May 23, 2003.

Paul Beston, “THE SANDS OF J. CREW,” AMERICAN SPECTATOR, May 23, 2003.

Michelle Malkin, “REMEMBER THE DEAD — AND THE LIVING,” Townhall.com, May 23, 2003.

Lynn Vincent, “SONS & DAUGHTERS,” WORLD, May 24, 2003.

WORLD magazine includes a LIST OF SOLDIERS WHO DIED IN OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM on its site.

Visit THIS WEBSITE dedicated to promoting the original intent of Memorial Day.

BreakPoint Commentary No. 020527, “REMEMBERING THE FUTURE: THE LESSONS OF MEMORIAL DAY.”

BreakPoint Commentary No. 020528, “CIGARETTES, CANDY, C-RATIONS, AND FREEDOM: MEMORIAL DAY MEMORIES.”

You can read the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (July 4, 1776) at the National Archives and Records Administration website.

Anne Morse, “I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO MYSELF,” BREAKPOINT ONLINE, August 19, 2002.

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Copyright (c) 2003 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #21120]

Pastor William L. Stidger tells the story of a man in his congregation who served in the Navy during World War II. One night, this man was running his transport across the Atlantic, when he noticed the white trail of a torpedo coming toward him. His ship was manned by hundreds of soldiers; the potential loss of life would have been devastating.

Nearby, another smaller ship had also seen the torpedo coming. The captain of this smaller vessel maneuvered his ship between the transport and the torpedo. The explosion destroyed his ship; all those aboard died.

The man who told this story ended it by saying, “Dr. Stidger, the skipper of that other ship was my best friend.” Slowly, he remarked, “You know, there is a verse in the Bible which has special meaning for me now. It is this: ‘Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’” [John 15:13]

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Wayne H. Keller, Emphasis, Nov./Dec., 1998, pp. 41-42.

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[Original illustration at this number was moved to HolwickID #4615]

The statistics from Vietnam say it all. According to the statistics 55,000 Americans lost their life in Viet Nam. But since that time twice that number -- 110,000 Viet Nam veterans -- have committed suicide. Those veterans couldn't live anymore with the awfulness of the war still going on in their minds and dreams.

The White House Press Briefing Room seldom allows for theological debate, but a last-minute question from an “unbiased” journalist turned the White House press corps into unsuspecting seminary students.

As Press Secretary Ari Fleischer finished his work on Feb. 6, 2003, a final question flew toward the podium. A reporter referenced a letter sent to President Bush from the National Council of Churches expressing “unease” regarding the president's “moral justification for war on Iraq.” Fleischer responded that the president was a “deeply religious man” and would act to protect the nation as commander-in-chief.

Stepping up to the pulpit, the presumptuous reporter began his sermon: “You just said the president is a deeply religious man. Jesus Christ was an absolute pacifist. How does the president square his militarism with Jesus' pacifism?”

Several of his colleagues erupted in protest. “No, he wasn't,” one reporter shouted. Another sought to educate the uninformed. “How about the time at the temple with a whip, where he beat those money-changers? Does that sound like he's an absolute pacifist?”

Journalism as theology aside, was Jesus a pacifist?

Holy Scripture teaches that Jesus did not ultimately seek to bring about a better version of a fallen world, but to inaugurate a new kingdom where the present heavens and earth would be re-made with no trace of sin at the end of time. The nations will be his inheritance as all mankind bows to his authority. The drama of history marches on to bring to fulfillment all Christ accomplished in his life, death and resurrection.

Jesus achieved his goal through unconventional war. He came not to battle the visible pawns of power -- the governmental leaders and tyrants of his time or ours -- but the invisible principalities and powers of the world as presided over by Satan. Undoing the impact of mankind's fall in the Garden of Eden demanded that he destroy not the fruit but the root of sin. Spiritual force had to be used to cast out sinful power -- the sole source of all earthly tyranny, murder and war.

In the proper light, Jesus is seen as a mighty warrior who stopped at nothing to conquer evil. Jesus is revolutionary.

To suppose that this present age understands Jesus in ways contrary to John the Baptist and the apostles Paul and Peter is to think that eyewitnesses to Christ's words and actions are less reliable than the opinions of modern theologians. C.S. Lewis said, “If Our Lord's words are taken in the unqualified sense which the Pacifist demands, we shall then be forced to the conclusion that Christ's true meaning, concealed from those who lived in the same time and spoke the same language, and whom he himself chose to be his messengers to the world, has at last been discovered in our own time.”

The very idea that Jesus was not a pacifist goes against the grain of prevailing liberal myths. He did instruct his followers to live peacefully with one another without vengeance, for God has delegated the power of the sword to the state as his authorized agent against the evil powers of the age. Yet many modern theologians and pastors tell the story of evil as the saga of vast impersonal forces at work with only the church to speak up for peace. War, a remnant of the fall, will remain constant in human existence until the end.

As tragic and horrible as war is, those ordering or involved in conflict with a moral justification can be assured that God is not against them.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #4080]

Even the mightiest fighters themselves realize that it is better to walk in the paths of God. "As Stonewall Jackson stood one morning at the door of his tent, the soldiers in blue in the distance, beside him the soldiers in gray, a battle being imminent, he offered a prayer like this: 'O God, bring quick victory to one army or the other. O God, settle this cruel warfare, and send us back to our homes, to our God-given purpose of winning men to Jesus Christ.'"

- From {Men and Religion}

Nine hundred years ago a dispute between Modena and Bologna over a well bucket began a war which devastated Europe. A Chinese emperor once went to war over the breaking of a teapot; Sweden and Poland flew at each other's throats in 1654 because the king of Sweden discovered that his name in an official dispatch was followed by only two etceteras, while the king of Poland's had three. The spilling of a glass of water over the Marguia de Torey led to war between France and England, and a small boy, by throwing a pebble at the duc de Guise, led to the massacre of Vasey and the thirty years' war.

- Argus

At a college summer retreat out in the mountains of California soon after World War II, among those present were a young man who had flown in Hitler’s Luftwaffe, another who had flown with the Japanese, and a third who had been in the US Air Force and had bombed the cities of Germany. None of these knew that the others were present at the retreat, nor did they know each other, and none was a Christian.

At the final meeting, the traditional fagot service, when any person deciding to accept Christ and give his life to serve the Savior tossed a fagot or stick of wood on a bonfire symbolizing his life would now be given to burn for Christ, the German stood to accept Christ, walked to the fire and threw a fagot in; a few moments later, the Japanese; then following him, the American pilot, all receiving the Lord Jesus Christ.

Then the three ex-war pilots, with their arms around each other and tears streaming down their faces, sang with all those present,

Blessed be the tie that binds

Our hearts in Christian love.

Triage during World War II was an intense experience. In triage a wounded soldier was either given a yellow tag, red tag or blue tag. The yellow tag meant that the soldier could return to duty; the injury was not that severe. The red tag meant the soldier had no hope and was red-tagged which meant literally left to die. The blue tag signaled that the soldier would need treatment and could be saved if they gave them medical treatment. Supplies were low during this time so doctors had to determine if a soldier was really worth saving.

A soldier named Lou was given the red tag by doctors. He was still conscience though and a nurse began to talk to him. After speaking with him for about 20 minutes the nurse broke the rules and switched a blue tag on Lou from his original red tag. Lou was transported to a hospital and his life was saved even though Lou had his leg amputated due to the injuries. A few years later the war ended and the nurse came home to the states. She got married and lived a wonderful life. Her husband was LOU.

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Illustrations and Quotes by Burns and McKinnon

[verse 3 is most familiar and quoted of this poeml; Lovelace fought on the side of the Royalists against the establishing of the Puritan Commonwealth]

Tell me not, sweet, I am unkind,

That from the nunnery

Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind

To war and arms I fly.

True, a new mistress now I chase

The first foe in the field;

And with a stonger faith embrace

A sword, a horse, a shield.

Yet this inconstancy is such

As you, too, shall adore;

I could not love thee, dear, so much,

Loved I not honour more.

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As a former Army Ranger, Seattle pastor Tom Allen described a special connection he felt to the characters in the World War II movie Saving Private Ryan:

I was extremely proud -- until the last minute of the movie. I was proud watching the Rangers take Omaha Beach. Then they receive a mission to go deep into enemy territory to save Private Ryan. They hit skirmish after skirmish, and some of them are killed along the way. They finally get to where Private Ryan is holed up, and they say, "Come with us. We've come to save you."

He says, "I'm not going. I have to stay here because there's a big battle coming up, and if I leave my men they're all going to die."

What do the Rangers say? "We'll stay here and fight with you."

They stay and fight, and it's gory and hard, and almost everyone dies except Private Ryan. At the end, one of the main characters -- played by Tom Hanks -- is sitting on the ground. He's been shot and he's dying. The battle has been won.

Private Ryan leans over to him, and Hanks whispers something to him. Everyone in the theater is crying because Tom Hanks was shot; I was crying because of what he said -- it was so terrible. Ryan bent down and Hanks said, "Earn this."

The reason that made me angry is no Ranger would ever say, "Earn this." Why? Because the Ranger motto for the past 200 years has not been "earn this." The Ranger motto for the past 200 years has been Sua sponte, "I chose this." I volunteered for this.

If Hanks was really a Ranger he would have said, "Sua sponte." In other words, "This is free. You don't pay anything for this. I give up my life for you. That's my job."

And so when you look at the cross and see Jesus hanging there and hear him say, "I thirst," you do not hear "earn this." You never hear Jesus say, "Earn this." He doesn't say, "I've given up everything for you. Now you need to gut it out for me."

What he says is "I thirst." He says, "Sua sponte. I volunteered for this. You don't have to pay anything for it."

from a sermon by Tom Allen, Seattle, Washington Preaching Today audio tape #200

[An account of the martyrdom of American missionaries in the Philippines in World War II.]

In the spring of 1939 the American Baptist Foreign Mission Board reassigned James and Charma Covell and their family from their ministry in a Japanese university to ministry in the Philippines. Their daughter Margaret (Peggy) completed high school in Manila in 1940 and returned to the U.S. to attend college. Due to the deteriorating political situation they sent their remaining children, David and Alice, back to the States to attend school, planning to reunite with them on their furlough in 1942.

The Covells became two of 18 American Baptist missionaries serving on the central island of Panay about 350 miles south of Manila in the Philippines. Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 the missionaries on Panay held a meeting in Iloilo City to consider what they should do. They decided to return to their respective locations and carry on as long as possible. Missionary Fred Chambers, president of Central Philippine College, had, by order of the government, closed the college and directed the students to go home. Dr. Fred and Mrs. Ruth Meyer and missionary nurse Jennie Adams transferred patients and equipment from their hospital to an inland town. There they continued to minister to the sick and wounded in spite of the war. Other missionaries continued to serve wherever they were needed. During this time many Filipino families also evacuated to inland villages.

Manila fell to Japanese troops on Jan. 2, 1942, and Bataan fell three months later. Seven American Baptist missionaries and five children were captured by invading Japanese forces on the island of Panay on April 17 and imprisoned in Iloilo City. They were later transferred to Santo Tomas internment camp in Manila where they survived the war despite harsh adversity, sickness and appalling malnutrition.

FELLOWSHIP IN HOPEVALE

The Covells, along with nine other missionaries and one child, fled to a mountain hideout when the Japanese invaded Panay. It was a secluded area in a narrow ravine, deep within the dense forest and tall cogon grass, reachable only by a winding, rough trail crisscrossed by many misleading side paths. Impressed by the beauty of the place, Dr. Francis Rose named it Hopevale. In the ensuing twenty months the number at Hopevale varied as some American mining families stayed awhile and then moved on. None of them would have survived long without the help of their Filipino friends and colleagues who brought them food and news at the risk of their lives.

The missionaries and their Filipino friends gathered for prayer and worship in a deep ravine they called The Cathedral in the Glen. Sometimes as many as 100 people joined in the services, singing hymns and sharing their faith in God's goodness. In July 1942 the missionaries received a note from their imprisoned colleagues in Iloilo. It contained an impassioned plea to surrender, since the Japanese had threatened to kill all foreigners who were captured. After a long discussion, the missionaries at Hopevale decided to stay where they were.

Word arrived in early December 1943 that the Japanese intended to make a push to find every American between Dec. 15 and 20. The Rev. Dianala and Mr. Rio, two local Christian leaders, advised the missionaries to scatter, but they were not physically able to do so. They chose to stay together and face whatever might come, including the risk of being captured.

Early on Sunday morning, Dec. 19,1943, Japanese soldiers were sighted approaching Hopevale from several directions. The miners' families fled quickly, the last of them leaving less than an hour before the Japanese arrived. These families were eventually rescued by an American submarine on the western shore of Panay in March 1944.

The eleven missionaries and one child that remained, along with three miners and two children, scattered when the Japanese soldiers arrived. The women and children were overtaken, though, and all surrendered.

They were told that they would be put to death the next day. Jimmy Covell pleaded with the soldiers in Japanese. The leader of the battalion, Tai Watanabe, seeming to be influenced by the appeal, radioed his headquarters for orders.

The answer came about noon the next day, December 20, insisting that the mandate be carried out. The Covells insisted that they had nothing to do with the war, but the soldiers would not listen. Finally, the missionaries asked for time to pray. This request was granted. The little group formed a circle and prayed together. After about an hour the missionaries came forward, singing a hymn and saying they were ready. One by one, each adult was led to the mountain top and beheaded. The children were stabbed to death.

The bodies were put into a cogon thatched bamboo house that was then burned. There was evidence that although Mr. and Mrs. Covell had been murdered with the others, they seemed to have been treated somewhat differently. Mrs. Covell's body was wrapped, as if some soldiers had felt remorse and attempted to show special regard for her knowledge, and no doubt her respect, of their language and homeland.

LOVE LIVED OUT

When the news of the massacre reached America, the Covell children were shocked and saddened. Peggy, the older daughter, probably wondered what her father had prayed about during his last hour. Knowing of her father's love for the Japanese and disdain for war, she might have imagined that the foremost prayer on his lips was that peace would come to the world.

Peggy, a sociology major at Keuka College, was uniquely prepared to fill the role of Japanese speaking social worker in a Japanese relocation center in Colorado. Relocation centers housed Japanese Americans who had been interned at the outbreak of the war. Like her father, she loved the Japanese as sisters, brothers and friends.

FROM SUFFERING AND SACRIFICE COMES JOY

Even though the Covell children did not blame the Japanese people for the death of their parents, the fact that Peggy would serve at a Japanese relocation center made a big impression on many Japanese who heard the story.

One Japanese prisoner of war heard about Peggy's work and was deeply moved by her great spirit of love in spite of what had happened to her parents. When he returned to Japan after the war, he spoke to an old friend, Captain Mitsuo Fuchida, about what he had heard. Captain Fuchida was the Japanese Naval pilot who led the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was wrestling with his memories of the war now that it was over, and this forced him to contemplate the meaning of his life. The returned soldier [actually a sailor, Lt. Kazuo Kanegasaki] told Capt. Fuchida the story of the Covell family and about Peggy's work in the Japanese relocation center. In his mind her work was a symbol of great love and forgiveness.

Captain Fuchida couldn't comprehend the meaning of what he had just heard and thought about it often. Soon thereafter, he bought a Bible and began reading it for himself. On those pages he soon found the same kind of forgiveness his friend had heard about in the life of the Covells. He gave his life to the Lord and declared it publicly on the streets of Osaka.

Many Filipinos who protected their American sisters and brothers went on to become strong leaders in the Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches. They became pastors, teachers and engineers; one became the general secretary of the Convention. For each of them the suffering and sacrifice of their American friends became a deep inspiration for their service to God.

A passage from CHRIST AND THE FILIPINO SOUL by the Rev. Henry W. Munger describes well the effect the martyrdom of the American Baptist missionaries at Hopevale continues to have on generations of Filipino and American Christians. He writes, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. The devoted band of missionaries who crowned their years of sacrificial service with the gift of their lives have not died in vain. They challenge us to match their sacrifices with ours, to carry on the work they were doing, to take up the torch they threw down, and to hold it high."

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References:

"Covell NHK Broadcast/ Story," by Hisayoshi Saito: James Covell

"I Led the Attack on Pearl Harbor," Decision, December, 1991,

Mitsuo Fuchida/John A. Barbour

"Hopevale - From Life To LIFE" and "Hopevale Revisited" by

Laura Lee Marques, 1990

Information from David Covell and Alice Covell Bender, 1997

Roberta Stephens is an American Baptist missionary in Japan and Ann Borquist is a former American Baptist missionary to the Philippines.

[Dan O. Yoshii, a Baptist Christian who was born in a Japanese Relocation Camp during the war, has done extensive research on this story to find how Fuchida became connected with Peggy Covell - it was not as direct as many accounts suggest. Professor Katherine Scott Sturdevant of Pikes Peak Community College is also researching it. If anyone has personal knowledge of the Covell/Kanegasaki/Fuchida connection, please contact Prof. Sturdevant at Katherine.Sturdevant@ppcc.edu]

A Japanese soldier who stayed in the jungles of Guam for 26 years after the end of World War II in adherence to the Imperial Army's code of never surrender has died of a heart attack, hospital officials said Tuesday.

Shoichi Yokoi, 82, became a national hero on his return to Japan in 1972 for his dramatic tale of survival.

His first words upon arriving in Tokyo -- "It is with much embarrassment that I return" -- were broadcast nationally and instantly became a popular saying.

He died Monday at a hospital in the central city of Nagoya, in his native Aichi prefecture.

Yokoi's exploits in the jungle fascinated the nation. The Japanese, in the throes of the post-war industrial boom, were intrigued by his bare diet of nuts, berries, frogs, snails and rats, and how he wove materials from tree bark.

His return triggered a search for other Japanese soldiers left from the war, and turned up another straggler in 1974, this time in the Philippines.

Unlike Yokoi, whose rifle had rusted and become useless, former Lt. Hiroo Onoda had kept a working firearm and killed several villagers before he was discovered in the Philippine jungle.

Yokoi, a former sergeant, was drafted into the army in 1941 and sent to northeastern China, and later to Guam. Japan occupied Guam during the war and most of its 22,000 troops were killed when U.S. troops recaptured the island in 1944.

Two local hunters discovered him in January 1972 in a remote Guam jungle wearing a pair of burlap pants and a shirt which he said he had made from the bark of a tree.

He was repatriated to Japan a month later where he started life over in a country and a world he hardly knew.

Japan had then become a nation without an army, just beginning to emerge as an industrialized power. Upon his return, Yokoi, who had been reported as killed in action, was dumbfounded by the changes that had occurred since he left on a military transport more than a quarter century ago.

At the first news conference since his homecoming, Yokoi, surrounded by reporters and photographers after nearly three decades in complete jungle isolation, appeared bewildered and was unable to answer questions posed to him.

He contracted an arranged marriage in November 1972, and traded his solitary cave in Guam for a home in Aichi Prefecture with his new wife Mihoko.

He became a regular commentator on television programs, where he discussed survival skills. He wrote a best-selling book on his experience in Guam and in 1974 ran unsuccessfully for a seat in Japan's upper house of parliament.

On Tuesday, friends and neighbors visited Yokoi's home in Nagoya to pay tribute to Japan's man who "never surrendered," Kyodo news agency reported.

Yokoi's wife Mihoko, 69, told reporters she felt she had lost "a treasure from my heart," Kyodo reported.

"We have had 25 years of happy life, and I told my husband 'Thank you'," Kyodo quoted her as saying.

In 1991, Yokoi had an audience with Emperor Akihito during a reception at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Yokoi, who had said upon his return that he regretted having failed to serve the Imperial Japanese Army well, was overcome with emotion when he met the emperor, media reports said.

^REUTER@

It's Memorial Day -- a time of recalling the sacrifices of those who have defended our most precious freedoms. And we are right to pause and reflect on those brave men and women willing to give of themselves in such a noble cause. But it's also important to think about how our longing for permanent peace -- unattainable in this world -- points us toward a world in which it is possible.

This longing was illustrated by two teenage boys I know. The older boy received, for his fifteenth birthday, a DVD player. He was allowed to pick several movies to go with it, and he chose nothing but war films: THE PATRIOT, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, GLADIATOR, and THE SANDS OF IWO JIMA. Over the next few days, he and his brother were engrossed in the action, cheering whenever the good guys finally whipped the bad guys, and when peace broke out.

Most of us react in exactly the same way to real life wars. Whenever we hear of a long, bloody battle ending somewhere in the world, we celebrate, heave a sigh of relief, and hope that maybe this time peace will last. This was especially true in the wake of the great world wars in the last century. Remember the "war to end all wars" and the "war to make the world safe for democracy"? After World War I peace lasted a scant twenty years. Many wars broke out after World War II. And despite the promises of politicians, we know in our hearts that peace never really lasts for long.

Which leads to an interesting question: Why is it that humans are apparently designed to desire good and noble things we cannot possibly have?

Considering this question, the Christian apologist C. S. Lewis came to a fascinating conclusion. If our deepest desires cannot be satisfied in this world, he wrote, then we must have been made for another world. This truth was one of the factors that led to Lewis's conversion to Christianity.

The Scriptures confirm that we are designed for a different world, and they urge us to focus on the world which is yet to come. As Paul advised the Colossians, "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth" (Col. 3:2).

Sadly, our inner longing for the good guys to win, for true peace and justice, has often led to tragic efforts to obtain them on earth, including dangerous utopian schemes that ultimately destroyed millions of lives. And that's why it's so vitally important that our children understand where these longings come from.

We need to teach our kids that while we should certainly fight for justice and freedom here on earth, we must do so in the knowledge that our true desire for peace and justice will only be satisfied ultimately in heaven.

As we celebrate this Memorial Day, there'll be no shortage of classic war films on TV. If your kids decide to watch one, help them to understand why we like such movies: because God designed us to hunger for a world where there's lasting peace.

One day, as the prophet Isaiah writes, men will "beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, [and] neither shall they learn war anymore."

Until then, however, we honor those who fought our wars and sacrificed for a peace that is transitory, but that is a reflection of the peace to come.

For further reading:

"The Dark Hour of Our Nation's Soul," a special BreakPoint broadcast with Charles Colson, 12 September 2001.

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Copyright © 2001 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. 'BreakPoint with Chuck Colson' is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

Today's 'peace churches' attempt to follow the radically simple teaching of early Christianity to wage peace through loving non-violence.

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PACIFISM means different things to different people. Its dictionary definition is “the opposition to war or violence as a means of settling disputes.” To some it means demonstrations which try to stop nuclear submarines or trains carrying nuclear weapons. To others it means selling out to the Russians. Many tend to ignore the subject, perhaps fearful of what changes it would bring to their lives if they were to investigate it carefully. One thing is certain: it is an explosive issue, touching deep into the faith life of the disciple of Jesus Christ.

Can a Christian be a pacifist in this modern world? Can one completely reject the use of violence on both a personal level and on a national level? If someone wants to take what is ours, must we reject the use of force to stop him? Does our position on this issue, the use of force in order to have our own way, reflect our relationship with God? Does it indicate our faith in God and in his control of events in our lives? Let us explore this subject, attempting to examine it not only with our logical mind but also with our spiritual eye, trusting that God will guide us on this path and provide us with his light that we may see the truth.

If pacifism is of God, then like all things of God, it does not stand alone. In the great wisdom of God, it has to be deeply mixed with the other areas of the Christian walk such as love for others, rejection of the world, and trusting God in all matters concerning our lives.

THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS

Jesus appeared to teach pacifism when he told his disciples: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God ..... Do not resist the evil man but whoever slaps you on the right cheek turn to him the other also. And if anyone wants to sue you for your shirt, let him have your coat as well. Love your enemies. Give to everyone who asks you; when a man takes what is yours, do not demand it back” (Luke 6:30 and Matt. 5:9-44). These are hard sayings of Jesus and we might respond, as some of his listeners have done elsewhere, “Who can follow them?”

Jesus declared that the life of the Christian will be different from the life of the Old Testament Jew. One of the areas of change is in the Christian's relations with other people. Love is now to be the overriding concern. He said, “You have learned that our forefathers were told, 'Do not commit murder; anyone who commits murder must be brought to judgement.’ But what I tell you is this: Anyone who nurses anger against his brother must be brought to judgment. If he abuses his brother he must answer for it to the court; if he sneers at him he will have to answer for it in the fires of hell” (Matt. 5:21-24). Jesus does not even allow a Christian to be angry with someone! What then will he do with those who kill?

Jesus taught, “You have learned that they were told, 'Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.’ But what I tell you is this: Do not set yourself against the man who wrongs you” (Matt. 5:38-39). What a strong statement! Only the Son of God could call for such faith in God's control of the situation. Is he telling us that the Christian life is to be lived in the Kingdom of God and not in this world?

The apostle Paul said on the subject of peace, “Let us pursue the things that make for peace and build up the common life” (Rom. 14:19). And “The Kingdom of God is justice, peace and joy, inspired by the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). The disciple James wrote,

The wisdom from above is in the first place pure; and then peace-loving, considerate, and open to reason; it is straightforward and sincere, rich in mercy and in the kindly deeds that are its fruit. True justice is the harvest reaped by peace-makers from seed sown in a spirit of peace. What causes conflicts and quarrels among you? Do they not spring from the aggressiveness of your bodily desires? You want something which you can not have, and so you are bent on murder; you are envious, and cannot attain your ambition, and so you quarrel and fight (James 3:17-4:2).

What could be more clear? How can it be made more understandable? The Bible is plainly telling us that peace and love (pacifism) comes from God while violence and greed (the antithesis of pacifism) spring from the evil in one's heart. Can we accept this? If we have greed in our heart, don't we want to push down and hide this truth?

God would have us be at peace with all men but not all men want to be at peace with us. When we get into a situation that requires us to respond either with violence or with non-violence, does God just sit back and watch our reactions to see if we do right or is God actively involved in what is occurring? This is perhaps the heart of the matter for many people. Are we on our own or is God watching over us as a father watches over his children? To what degree does God control the affairs of human persons? If we are on our own then we need to be in control of our lives but if God is in charge we would allow God to control our actions.

The Bible has much to say about God's hand on the affairs of the world. Paul's speech in Athens makes it plain:

Since the God who made the world and everything in it is himself Lord of heaven and earth, he does not make his home in shrines made by human hands. Nor is he dependent on anything that human hands can do for him, since he can never be in need of anything; on the contrary, it is he who gives everything -- including life and breath -- to everyone. From one single stock he not only created the whole human race so that they could occupy the entire earth, but he decreed how long each nation should flourish and what the boundaries of its territory should be. And he did this so that all nations might seek the Lord and, by feeling their way towards him, succeed in finding him. Yet in fact he is not far from any of us, since it is in him that we live, and move, and exist (Acts 17:24-28).

Psalm 121 tells us that the Lord is always watching over us, day and night, to guard us. Jesus tells us that not even the sparrows are forgotten by God. “More than that, even the hairs of your head have all been counted” (Luke 12:6-7). There is much in the Bible to show us that God works all things for our good, that we need have no fear.

EARLY CHURCH PRACTICE

When we are seeking the true meaning of the teachings of the Bible, it can be helpful to us to go back to our roots, the early church which was founded by Christ through the power of the Spirit of God. The manner in which the early church lived out the teachings of Christ may help us to understand how we are to live the Christian way as the early church was taught by the apostles who were taught by Jesus.

The early church took the teachings of Jesus and the apostles very seriously. Guided by the Holy Spirit, they were strong pacifists. They did not identify with any earthly nation but rather claimed citizenship in heaven, considering themselves as strangers and aliens on the earth (Heb. 11:13-16 and I Peter 2:11). They believed that the governments were given by God and therefore to be obeyed when it did not conflict with obeying God (Acts 4:19; Rom. 13:1-6 and I Peter 2:13-14). However, Christians could not be judges or soldiers as this would place them in positions where they might be responsible for taking someone's life.

Most serious scholars of church history today agree that for the first three centuries of the Christian church, Christians rejected not only emperor-worship and idolatry but also participation in the military. Obedience to the gospel, the early church held, was consistent only with a position of nonresistance and not serving in the military. This does not mean, of course, that all early Christians were consistently following the teachings of Christ and the apostles. The New Testament gives us much evidence that not all were true to the gospel but many were lured by Satan off the narrow path.

Yale church historian Roland Bainton writes, “From the end of the New Testament period to the decade 170-180 there is no evidence whatever of Christians in the army. All of the East and West repudiated participation in warfare for Christians.” Guy F. Hershberger adds, “it is quite clear that prior to about AD 174 it is impossible to speak of Christian soldiers.” None of the Christian leaders in the pre-Constantinian era (ca. 313) approved of a military career for disciples of Jesus Christ.

Many early writers spoke of this pacifism. Tertullian wrote, “The divine banner and the human banner do not go together, nor the standard of Christ and the standard of the devil. Only without the sword can the Christian wage war: for the Lord has abolished the sword.”(1) About 240, Origen wrote, “You cannot demand military service of Christians any more than you can of priests. We do not go forth as soldiers.”(2)

Justin Martyr wrote about the year 160, “We ourselves were well conversant with war, murder, and everything evil, but all of us throughout the whole wide earth have traded in our weapons of war. We have exchanged our swords for ploughshares, our spears for farm tools. Now we cultivate the fear of God, justice, kindness to men, faith, and the expectation of the future given to us by the Father himself through the Crucified One.”(3) Twenty years later, Athenagoras asked, “How can we possibly kill anyone, we who call those women murderers who take drugs to induce an abortion, we who say they will have to give an account before God one day! We are convinced that with God nothing goes unexamined, and that the body, after serving the irrational urges and lusts of the soul, will have its share in punishment. We have, therefore, every reason to detest even the slightest sin.”(4) Hippolytus (ca. 218) states that soldiers who become Christians are not allowed to kill and must refuse to obey orders to kill. He also says that judges who want to become followers of the Christ must resign or be rejected by the church.(5)

MODERN PRACTICE

This pacifism did not survive the Constantinian change. By the year 314, the church was excommunicating military deserters without any consideration of the motives for desertion. Leo Tolstoy, author of War and Peace, said, “A pacifist can not own property. For ownership requires the use or threat of force to protect it.” When the early church gave up community living and began living as individuals with each one owning their own possessions then the church also gave up pacifism. The two seem to go together.

Dr. Eberhard Arnold, founder of the Society of Brothers, began to question the wisdom of the Christian churches when he observed the results of World War I. He saw the German Christian soldiers killing and being killed by the enemy soldiers who also claimed to be Christian. How could German Christian ministers and priests bless the German army and send it off to war while the enemy Christian ministers and priests were blessing their armies and sending them off to war also? How could a Christian soldier maim and kill other Christian soldiers? How can one part of the Body of Christ do evil to another part? This seemed very contrary to the teaching of the Bible to Dr. Arnold. This line of reasoning led him to become a pacifist.

The churches today, as of Dr. Arnold's time, have problems dealing with the issue of pacifism. There are the historic peace churches such as the Mennonites, the Quakers and the Church of the Brethren that preach pacifism. Then there are those churches that accept the so-called 'just war position. Many of these have developed elaborate guidelines as to what constitutes a just war. But there are also those ministers of the gospel of Jesus that preach nationalism, loyalty to the state and hatred of governments that oppose ours. In his book, Preachers Present Arms, Ray H. Abrams documents at length the story of the involvement of the clergy in the world wars as well as the Vietnam war. One minister told his people, “We are fighting not only for our country and for the democracy of the world but for the kingdom of God .... We can not draw the line between Christianity and the military. The two go together. Every church should be a recruiting station.”

Governments are created by God as servants whose duty it is to take vengeance on evildoers, to punish the evil and to protect and shelter its citizens. God has given the sword into their hands. He has granted the government honor and dignity that it might rightly be obeyed in that which is not against God. But because governments are outside the perfection of Christ, they sometimes feel a need to go to war with their neighbors. To do this they need an army that will carry out their bidding. Governments recognize that most young people can not be aroused to kill unless they first hate those that they kill. Therefore, before a government leads its people into war, great propaganda efforts must be made to bring people to the point where they can believe it is right to kill other human beings. Often, in the guise of religion, they declare that the enemy is evil and under the control of the devil. At the same time they may state that God is with them. These propaganda efforts to bring forth hatred should alert the Christian immediately that something is wrong. Hatred should be obviously identified as the work of Satan and not of Jesus Christ.

Supporting the military activities of a government seems to be in opposition to the call of the New Testament to reject the world. John tells us to love not the world nor the things of the world. Jesus said that his disciples are in the world but not of the world. Rejection of the worldly system means rejection of selfishness which is what nationalism boils down to. When a country says “This is mine” and fights to get it or keep it, then those who support it are following a spirit other than the Spirit of Christ.

The faith required to be a pacifist must provide the Christian with the assurance that God is in charge of all that happens to the Christian. Just as Jesus said that we should look to the Father for our daily needs, we can be confident that he loves us and is leading us into God's kingdom. If we can not trust God then we need to trust in our own power. But we, who call ourselves followers of Christ, have placed our complete trust in God.

Considerable human logic is used by the opponents of pacifism. Their arguments sound reasonable until we remember that Christians are in the 'upside down' kingdom where things are done differently than in the world. The opponents of pacifism may recognize Jesus as the Christ but in their arguments against pacifism they are noticeably lacking in any attempt to support their position with the teachings of Jesus or the apostles. This seems very inconsistent for such an important subject.

The late Francis A. Schaeffer, author of A Christian Manifesto, stated,

I am not a pacifist because pacifism in this fallen world in

which we live means that we desert the people who need our

greatest help. Consider the following illustration: I am walking

down the street. I see a great big, burly man who is beating a

helpless little girl to death. I come up and I plead with him to

stop. If he won't stop, what does love mean? Love means I stop

him in any way I can including, quite frankly, hitting him. To

me this is necessary Christian love in a fallen world. What

about the little girl? If I desert the little girl to the bully,

I have deserted the true meaning of Christian love and

responsibility to my neighbor. Now extend this illustration to

violence at a national level. We have in World War II the

clearest possible illustration with Hitler's terrorism. There

was no possible way to stop the awful terror that was occurring

in Hitler's Germany except by the use of force. As far as I'm

concerned, this is the necessary outworking of Christian love.

The world is an abnormal world. Because of the fall it is not

the way God meant it to be.(6)

Schaeffer presents the classical arguments against pacifism with his 'what would you do if . . .' situation. He seems to feel that it is necessary to combat violence with violence ('an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth'). He ignores the fact that responding with violence may make the situation worse instead of better. If he resorts to force, what guarantee does he have that he will prevail? In fact the might lose and then the situation would be worse. On the other hand if he uses non-violent means to save the girl, his chances oaf succeeding are as good and perhaps better than if he resorts to violent means.

In his excellent book, What Would You Do?(7) John Howard Yoder, a leading Mennonite theologian, presents an excellent analysis of this type of argument against pacifism. He points out that, in addition to the various options that one has in such a situation as Schaeffer describes, there are always many unknown elements that may affect the outcome of our response. Choosing the violent response may often have surprisingly undesirable results as the history of international conflicts reveal (such as the U.S. governments disastrous decision to use military force in the Mid-East several years ago).

Schaeffer's argument also ignores the reality of the power of God in the situation. Nor does he justify his response by showing that he follows the explicit teachings of Jesus. Where does the hand of God fit in his reasoning? Isn't God in charge of what happens to his children? Yet Schaeffer seems to say that, since we live a in a 'fallen world,' we must use the world's method of survival. Shouldn't we be living in the kingdom of God, accepting whatever God sends us as for our good? This may seem simplistic to many but isn't that exactly what faith is all about? Only the simple, child-like faith that trusts completely in God's loving providence can produce the assurance that whatever God allows to happen is for our good.

Some people tend to confuse pacifism with passiveness. In a certain sense perhaps they are similar. To be passive means to receive or be subject to an action without responding or initiating an action in return. But passiveness also implies that one is not participating, that one is inert. In this sense nothing could be farther from the truth. A pacifist relies upon the power of his heavenly Father who is all-powerful. Therefore, he has greater influence on the events that effect his life than the non-believer because he can call upon his God who hears his cry and can move the mightiest of mountains. Certainly the prayers of a Christian for his nation have more effect upon the country than any political or military activity he might participate in. For the Bible tells us that “all government comes from God, the civil authorities are appointed by God” (Rom. 13:1). God is the one who controls their rise and fall and the extent of their territory (Acts 17:26). Schaeffer is sadly mistaken when he asserts that the only possible way to have stopped the awful terror caused by Hitler's Germany was by the use of force.

A Dutch book written in 1660 by T.J. van Braght, The Bloody Theater or Martyrs Mirror of the Defenseless Christians, describes all the known martyrdoms from the first century to 1660. It also attempts to describe the faith of the Christians that allowed them to submit humbly to death, even the most horrible of deaths. It is a long record of those who died that they might live, who chose the lowest path so that God would raise them up to the highest. They testified to their faith in God with their blood. They accepted the evil of violence from others without returning the evil. Can we say that they were wrong and that they should have resisted with force? Or do we honor them for their faith?

PEACE-MAKING

When Jesus was questioned by Pilate, he said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my disciples would be fighting that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but as it is, my kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). Jesus is truly king and members of his kingdom do not fight as members of the devil's kingdom do, killing and maiming their fellow man, but they fight a spiritual battle against spiritual forces that are far more powerful than human enemies.

Pacifism can not be separated from other areas of the life of a disciple. How can one be a pacifist, for example, if he has great wealth that needs to be protected? How can one be a pacifist if he has no love for the needy, if he is not willing to share with those in need? Pacifism itself is not the real issue. It is our relationship with God and our fellow human beings that is important. As we know, Jesus will judge us not on what doctrines we believe but on what actions we take to express our love for our heavenly Father and how we help God's children who are in need.

Pacifism, then, is really the sum of the fruits of the Spirit defined by the Apostle Paul as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, fidelity, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). All of these ingredients are required to be a pacifist. But, above all, faith is required. And faith is a gift from God (1 Cor. 12:9).

The evidence indicates that Jesus and his apostles opposed the use of violence as a means of settling disputes. The early Christians followed this path of 'defenseless Christianity' and many suffered martyrdom at the hands of violent men. It is something for us to consider. Perhaps a Christian should be a pacifist ....

As Paul indicates that there are different levels of faith (Rom. 14:1), so there are also different levels of pacifism (as pacifism is directly tied to faith). Some Christians would be pacifists except for 'just wars' while others are pacifists (such as members of the historic peace churches) to the extent that they would actively attempt to prevent wars (including civil protests against the arms race) and would register as conscientious objectors in the event that they were drafted into the military. The faith of a few Christians (such as the Hutterian Brethren) is such that, as pacifists, they could not take part in either military activities or political activities. (Since the government has the power of the sword, it has blood on its hands even in peace-time.)

Each follower of Jesus must examine his own conscience to determine his position on this important subject. The Bible tells us that “we all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one will receive what is due to him for his conduct in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). “God is love and anyone who lives in love lives in God, and God lives in him. Love will come to its perfection in us when we can face the day of judgment without fear; because even in this world we have become as he is” (1 John 4:16-17).

________________

NOTES

1. On the Chaplet, 11-12.

2. Against Celsus, VIII.7.3.

3. Dialogue with Trypho, 110.3.

4. A Plea Regarding Christians, 32-35.

5. The Apostolic Tradition, 16.

6. Speech given in Washington, D.C. in 1982.

7. Scottsdale, Pennsylvania: Herald Press, 1983.

*

The New Republic, a major national newsweekly, arrived in my mailbox the other day. Its cover offered an evening-time picture of New York City. In the foreground was the Statue of Liberty. In the background, framing that famous statue, were the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in all their vastness and solidity. The headline read: "It Happened Here."

Two weeks after the most devastating attack ever launched on the U.S. mainland by foreign enemies, the shock has just begun to wear off. Flags are back at the top of flagpoles. Football games and baseball games go on as scheduled. People go about their daily lives. But this does not mean we have even begun to assimilate what happened on Sept. 11.

Meanwhile, our forces mass in the East for what may turn out to be a ferocious military strike on the nation of Afghanistan. The full attention and power of the U.S. government is now directed to finding and destroying the terrorist network believed responsible for the slaughter that was visited upon our nation two weeks ago. The nation stands behind these efforts in almost total unanimity.

Is there a distinctive Christian voice at a time like this? We are Americans, and we are Christians. Does the latter mark us off as in any way different from the former? Does the church, as church, have anything unique to say?

Many American Christian leaders are making strong just war arguments at this time. That is, we are arguing from Romans 13 and other texts, as well as from the broader Christian tradition, for the legitimacy of the resort to force on the part of our government in order to defend our nation and its way of life from the terrorist network that so viciously attacked us. The fundamental role of the government is to serve God by ordering public affairs, advancing the common good, and deterring and punishing evildoers both domestic and foreign. Those who would fly civilian jetliners into buildings and take thousands of lives certainly qualify as dangerous evildoers, and the government is certainly justified in responding to the threat they pose. Thus we argue, as Christians, and thus others argue, on the basis of other commitments and perspectives. Different paths, same outcome.

The Christian just war tradition also imposes constraints upon governments even as they undertake their legitimate function of deterring and punishing offenses against public order and justice. The tradition requires the right intention (not vengeance, but peace), the right goals (not mere mayhem, but justice and security), the right means (sufficient and proportionate force, not more) and the right spirit (not pleasure at a positive good, but mournfulness about a necessary evil). Here the Christian voice is indeed distinctive from the general public voice; that is, if we follow the just war tradition with fidelity. There can be no holy war, no crusade, no thirst for revenge, no pleasure in killing, no indiscriminate attacks, within the framework just war theory offers. If this kind of just war thinking is effectively communicated by Christians to government leaders, and it has an impact, then a distinctive Christian voice has been heard and has made a difference.

And yet a nagging question remains: Is this all there is to the Christian witness at a time like this? As we contemplate the horror just visited upon us, and the violence our nation is about to visit upon others, is there nothing more to be said? Are we as Christians content merely to bring out the just war theory, run through the categories, see that our nation is justified in making war, and then sit back and watch the bombs fall?

We do have a Savior and Lord who undertook his mission without recourse to violence. Who said that those who live by the sword will die by the sword. Who argued that peacemakers are blessed, and taught ways to be a peacemaker. Whose presence in the world was not as a partisan ready to kill for a cause but instead a suffering servant ready to die for one. Who taught love of enemies and overcoming evil not with evil but good. Who wept over Jerusalem and lamented that she did not know the things that make for peace. Who was captured by the vision of another kingdom coming, in and through himself, to replace the sad and sorry kingdom we now live in.

If the witness of Jesus is anything more than dreamy idealism, or a vague future hope of a better world, then his followers must be marked by the impact of his words and witness even now, even in the cauldron of grief and anger that now grips our nation.

Christians will think differently than others. We will be aware that violent hatred is rarely eliminated by force; it may be prevented from harming us for a while, but ultimately a more radical kind of treatment is needed -- that which in the long run can turn those inclined to be enemies into friends. Christians will dare to ask unpopular questions about how to make life better for the very civilization in which hatred of our nation currently breeds. We will propose initiatives to reduce tensions and enhance mutual understanding between the Muslim world and the West, including our own nation. We will follow Jesus' teaching about removing the log from our own eye and actually listen to those who can offer insights about how we are perceived by those who hate us.

We will not assume that the only way to respond to what has happened is exactly the way our nation decides to respond, but instead be willing to offer fresh insight and alternative solutions as an expression of our loyalty both to our nation and to Jesus. We will remember that every human being is made in the image of God and will respect the dignity that this imputes to all, even those whose evil deeds are beyond description. We will pray for our nation's enemies, weep over the destruction that all warfare causes, and yearn for the coming in fullness of the reign of God, when every tear is finally wiped away, and no one -- at last -- shall hurt or destroy anyone else.

Come, Lord Jesus. Do not tarry long. May you find your church faithful, O merciful Lord, until you come.

_________________

Gushee is the Graves Associate Professor of Moral Philosophy and senior fellow with the Carl F.H. Henry Center for Christian Leadership at Union University, Jackson, Tennessee.