UNBROKEN: The Power of Scripture vs the Power of Self
“A lifetime of glory is worth a moment of pain”
Memorial Day is a time to remember and honor the fallen.
Over 1.4 million service members killed in the line of duty since the signing of the declaration of independence. 416,000 of which died in World War II.
Everyone honors these men and women in their way.
Mine this week was reading through a certain story including both those who died and those who suffered but lived.
Louis Zamperini, the mischievous Italian kid whose legs would become famous, endured great and horrific things. In the 1936 Olympics, as he kicked around the track breaking all world records for a final lap, he thought on what his brother had told him.
"A lifetime of glory is worth a moment of pain" (p.35).
This week for the Tim Challies 2020 reading challenge, I found myself in Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.
As I celebrate my 8th Anniversary with Janelle this year, it brings to mind another day's event in history.
On May 27, 1943, the engines died on the Green Hornet, a beat-up B-24, while searching for a downed aircraft south of Hawaii.
The bomber fell from the sky and crashed at sea, with its eleven crew, some to suffer an ultimate and others an unbelievable fate.
Pilot 1st Lt. Russel Allen "Phil" Philips (POW, survived) Princeton, IN
Co-Pilot 1st Lt Charlton H. Cupernell, O-662752 (MIA / KIA) CA
Bombardier 1st Lt. Louis S. Zamperini, O-663341 (POW, survived) Olean, NY
Navigator 1st Lt. Robert H. Mitchell, O-728413 (MIA / KIA) IL
Crew Sgt Otto Anderson, 36246343 (MIA / KIA) WI
Crew Pvt Leslie A. Deane, 17056966 (MIA / KIA) KS
Crew SSgt Frank Glassman, 36328580 (MIA / KIA) IL
Crew SSgt Jay S. Hansen, 18045149 (MIA / KIA) ID
Crew Cpl Michael Walsh, 13056672 (MIA / KIA) PA
Tail Gunner SSgt Francis P. McNamara, 15100716 (died June 30, 1943) Pollagh, Ireland.
On the raft, Russel Phillips, Francis McNamara, and Louis Zamperini were saved alone.
After 47 days of severe sunburn, hunger, dehydration, fighting off sharks, and drifting over 2000 miles, only Louis and Phil were to be taken captive, interrogated, and tortured by the Japanese.
Francis died on day 33 at sea. I found this young strong Irish man's story particularly intriguing. Francis has immediate difficulty dealing with being lost at sea. On the first night, in a mad fit he secretly consumed all of the life rafts emergency rations. Louis remembered how he could help but resenting him.
For the first few weeks, Francis didn't assist or help the other two men much, but primarily complained and wept in despair.
But after being shot at by a Japanese bomber, all three men had to work night and day to save their leaking raft and fend off hungry sharks.
Louis later would conclude, "in the last days of his life, in the struggle against the deflating raft and the jumping sharks, he had given all he had left. It wasn't enough to save him—it had probably hastened his death—but it may have made the difference between life and death for himself and Phil" (p. 172).
Phil and Louis ended up making it 47 days on rainwater, fish, and small shark meat only to be captured by the Japanese on the Marshal Islands.
Louis learned to endure hard things from a young age and into his college years. He quickly went from being the almost failing troubled kid to the one who could break world record mile time. Life had taught how to take a punch and throw one back now and then.
The rest of Unbroken follows the story of Louis and his nemesis, the Bird, Mutsuhiro Watanabe, and the horrific suffering he and many others endured as a POW. The most infamous was the Bird's command to hold a large wooden beam above his head and promising to shoot Louis if he dropped it.
Despite all the sadistic efforts employed by the Bird, Louis endured and was eventually liberated.
Suffering sometimes hits in a moment. The engines fail and before you know it, you find yourself just trying to keep your head above water. Where do you find your hope in times of crisis?
I had the privilege of preaching a sermon this week on Romans 15:4 and this very topic. My big idea was Scripture Supplies & Sustains our Hope to Sacrifice Self. If you would like to give it a listen you can follow the link here.
The essence of the message is this: In suffering we will fall back on our instruction.
Just like when the engines died on the Green Hornet, Phil instinctively began going through all the emergency procedures he had learned in his training. So too, in the providence of God, when we suffer, we fall back on where we turn to for our instruction.
Ultimately, we will fall back on either the Power of the Scriptures or the Power of Self.
The Power of Self teaches us to trust in our abilities.
The Power of the Scriptures sustains our Hope in Jesus'.
"Rage, wild, random, and impossible to quell, began to consume him." (p. 359).
Louis had endured great and terrible things. But he mostly had done it by looking inside himself for strength and determination. But Power of Self can only sustain you so long.
After being liberated in 1945, each year Louis spiraled further and further into his former torment. Louis had learned from life how to be hard, to have tough skin, to find the power within himself. But soon, the only relief he could find was the bottom of a bottle.
Louis reunited with his family after 2 years of being a POW.
Eventually, that wasn't even enough. He became filled with despair, hatred, fury, leaving Louis broken and lost. He became obsessed with wanting justice. He wanted to find and kill the bird and end his nightly nightmares.
Louis' story does not end hopeless.
He heard a preacher speak on the woman caught in adultery say, "here tonight, there's a drowning man, a drowning woman, that is out lost in the sea of life."
The preacher read these words from Romans 3:23-24, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Billy Graham continued, God says, 'If you suffer, I'll give you the grace to go forward.'
As it is recorded in Unbroken, "In a single, silent moment, his rage, his fear, his humiliation, and helplessness, had fallen away. That morning, he believed, he was a new creation. In the morning, he woke feeling cleansed. For the first time in five years, the Bird hadn't come into his dreams. The Bird would never come again" (p. 383).
In 1950, Louis went to Japan to visit his former captures, abusers, and torturers at Sugamo Prison, in Tokyo. He looked them all in the eyes and said I forgive you, and then shook their hands and embraced them. That is the Power of the God of Hope.
But one-member tormentor was missing.
Louis was told that the Bird was dead. But over 40 years later, to his and the shock of the world, the Bird was still alive! Louis, in his 80s, wrote him a letter asking to meet.
He finished his letter with these words:
“At that moment (referencing Sugamo Prison), like the others, I also forgave you and now would hope that you would also become a Christian.”
I believe Louis' brother was right but confused the final destination. See, "A lifetime of glory is worth a moment of pain", is an extremely true statement.
But our moment is not a race, 47 days at sea, two years in prison, or battling our vices. Our moment is this life! It is but a breath, and the lifetime of glory that awaits us is secured by our hope in our savior Jesus Christ.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb. 12:1-2)
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John Owen came from Welsh descent, was educated at Queens College, and became a renowned Puritan theologian, Oxford professor, and passionate pastor who lived from 1616 to 1683. In 1647, he wrote the exhaustive treatise The Death of Death defending Limited or Definite Atonement against the Arminian view of Universal Atonement or Unlimited Atonement.