Love Your Enemy

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dlr110
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Love Your Enemy

Post by dlr110 »

I write a church publication for our church called "The Prayer Warrior." It's a list of members and friends that are currently in need of prayer for specific needs and for up coming events. I also include a short story like this one that I thought was a very interesting one.

Love Your Enemy

On Sunday December 7, 1941, while he was peeling potatoes, Jacob DeShazer heard the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor over the radio. He became enraged, shouting: "Japan is going to have to pay for this!" On April 18, 1942 Corporal Jacob DeShazer, was a
member of LT. Colonel Jimmy Doolittle’s raiders as a B-25 bombardier and on the last B-25 to launch from the flight deck of the USS Hornet. They were on a bombing mission to avenge the attack on Pearl Harbor. Their target was Nagoya, Japan south of Tokyo.

DeShazer grew up in a Christian home but didn’t think the Bible was for him, claiming to be a devout atheist. But on this day as their plane neared Japan he began to think about his possible death and eternal destiny. They successfully bombed all their targets and then flew for safety inside China but were forced to parachute into enemy held territory over Ningpo, China. They were out of fuel because they launched 170 miles early after the Hornet was spotted by a Japanese picket boat. DeShazer was injured in his fall and was captured the next day by the Japanese. Incidentally stories have it that at the exact time Jacob was falling into Japanese occupied China, his mother awoke suddenly and began praying for her son!

For the next 40 months, DeShazer was a Prisoners Of War. Tragically, 1/3 of POWs died in captivity of disease, torture, starvation or some just simply gave up and died. Not surprisingly, DeShazer was full of hatred for his captures who were extremely cruel, but there were rare exceptions. While in solitary he was given a Bible by a guard that had belonged to another POW. He read it constantly and now the Holy Spirit was working on him. On June 8, 1944, DeShazer gave his life to Christ.

After the war, General McArthur issued a plea for 1,000 Christian missionaries to teach the Japanese people about the one true God. DeShazer was already planning to return to Japan and to do just that! Before his release in 1945, DeShazer felt an overwhelming love and sympathy for the Japanese people and a great desire to tell them of Christ.

After his return home, Jacob began his studies to become a missionary. During that time he married Florence Matheny who would serve thirty years beside him in Japan. At that time Jacob was much in demand as a public speaker. People wanted to hear of his experiences as a POW and his conversion under such extreme conditions. Then on December 8, 1948, 6 years and 8 months after boarding the USS Hornet to bomb Japan, Jacob DeShazer, now boarded the USNS General Meigs to deliver Bibles instead of bombs to the Japanese people.

Just as amazing is the conversion of Captain Mitsuo Fuchida, (Mit-sue Foo-che-da) the squadron leader who in the early morning of December 7th 1941 led the attack mission on Pearl Harbor.

Following Japan’s surrender in 1945 Mitsuo was called to testify at the Japanese War Crime trials. This infuriated him, as he believed this was little more than "victors' justice" and was convinced that the U.S. had treated Japanese POW’s the same way they had. Later in 1947 he was surprised to learn from returning Japanese POW’s that were not tortured or starved but were treated mostly with Christian kindness and respect. In 1948 Mitsuo read a Gospel tract written about Jacob’s time as a POW and how he gave his life to Christ. The name of the tract was “I Was a Prisoner of Japan.”

He then began reading the Bible and in 1950 he understood and became a Christian. Fuchida spoke full-time of his conversion to the Christian faith in presentations titled "From Pearl Harbor To Calvary." So committed for Christ was Mitsuo that he spent the rest of his life as a missionary in Asia and the United States. Mitsuo and Jacob became dear friends and sometimes traveled together preaching the Gospel. In 1959, Jacob moved his family to Nagoya to establish a Christian church in the very city he first saw through a B-25 bomb site. Only God could have brought these two warriors from different cultures, beliefs and on opposite sides of a war together on a new mission, sharing and preaching the Gospel as Warriors for Jesus Christ.
David R (United States Navy Retired)
Don't just count your many blessings, be the blessing others count on!
Visit my website: Woodburning Art by David https://www.wdbydavid.com/
doglegg
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Re: Love Your Enemy

Post by doglegg »

Amen
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treefarmer
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Re: Love Your Enemy

Post by treefarmer »

Thanks for sharing this with the forum, David. ::handshake::
That's an interesting account of how God deals with different hearts to accomplish His purpose.
Treefarmer

A GUN IN THE HAND IS BETTER THAN A COP ON THE PHONE.
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Re: Love Your Enemy

Post by TPK »

Cool story David! ::tu:: Thanks! ::handshake:: :D
TOM - KGFG - (Knife-Guy-From-Germany)

I believe..., every knife is a soul, looking for a soulmate. :wink:

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