By DANNY MINTON

A discolored sheet dated fifty-seven years ago lay in a desk drawer atop some papers. In bold letters, the heading read, “Selective Service System: NOTICE TO RESISTANT TO APPEAR FOR MEDICAL INTERVIEW.” The first line proclaimed, “You are hereby directed to report for a medical interview at the place and time designated below. Failure to comply with this Notice will result in you being declared a delinquent and subject to the penalties provided by the Universal Military Training and Service Act.” The letter was dated June 23, 1966, a little over a year since the U.S. entered the Vietnam War. At the time, I was classified as a 1Y due to a football injury, meaning I would not serve unless there were a national emergency. Due to the war, my classification was being called to verify if my status was correct. The meeting with the doctor resulted in my reclassification to 4F as a medical deferment. When the draft was initiated in 1969, I would have been called to serve. Several young men I knew faithfully served; some returned to be buried. 

Depending on what study one reads, the number of years that the world has been entirely at peace in the last 3,400 years is from 0 to a maximum of 268 years. Historians claim the U.S. has been “war free” for only 17 years since 1776. Many wars started because one country aggressively attempted to take over another country’s territory. The leaders often decide to initiate the conflict, requiring those under them to sacrifice their lives for the goals of leadership. The result brings into action those who fight to defend themselves. In most cases, it becomes the task of the young to fight the battles whether they want to or not and whether they understand the cause. 

A young soldier about to enter a situation where he would likely die in war wrote a letter to a friend before his final journey toward death. “It was not the young, however, who started the war. It is as if our leaders had broken off the writing of a novel they had started and which, for a lack of inspiration, they are incapable of incising. They are leaving it to the young men to bring it to conclusion, but the young are not fully conversant with the plot! In a sense, we are scapegoats. What is the use of complaining? We are obliged to carry out the orders imposed on us.” (From “Danger’s Hour” by Maxwell Kennedy, p.263)

The young man who wrote these words, Flying Officer Fujisaki, was volunteered by his superiors to be a part of TOKKO, a Japanese Special Attack Unit known by most as Kamikazes. Kamikaze pilots were to keep their radio transmissions open as they made their final dive toward an American ship so their fellow soldiers could hear. Instead of steadily keying his mike, Fujisaki tapped out his wife’s name in Morse code. Like many chosen for similar missions, he had no desire to be at war or die. They only wanted to be home. Roma Dussault, a sailor who served on the USS Bunker Hill when two TOKKO pilots crashed into her, killing nearly 400 shipmates, commented in later years “about the things that he knows were done on both sides and figures if he ever met a kamikaze, he would try to understand.” (Danger’s Hour, p.452)

One of, if not the toughest, commandment for Christians to obey is “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Reading Kennedy’s book made me stop and think about those we see as enemies. Most of those who fight in war don’t want to be there, no matter what side they represent. They just want to be home with their families. They enjoy being with their spouse, children, and friends. They could easily be friends with those they are trying to kill in war. I came across a note in the obituary section of a Houston paper decades ago. The note spoke of the death of a man’s friend. He mentioned how he fought for Germany as a pilot in the Luftwaffe during WWII. He wrote about how he will be missed. The note was signed, “Your Jewish Friend.” Think about it; the man who served a country that murdered millions of your Faith, some of whom were family, was now called a friend. 

Enemies and those who persecute us are not always those with whom we are at war. For various reasons, some may not like us or what we believe. Sometimes, we may have heated arguments over differences that turn into dislike or, eventually, hate. We may find it hard to like and be around certain people. But Jesus tells us to love our enemies and those that persecute us. Why should we? The answer becomes as simple as telling us to love our family or Christian brothers and sisters. Jesus died for our enemies as well as for each of us. He told his disciples as they made their way to Gethsemane that their love for Him was shown by their love for others.  

Loving your enemies is not always easy, especially when they present themselves as unlovable by what they do to us or others. The ways of Satan are alive and active in the world in which we live. As people of Faith, we will be hated by the world because it conflicts with the ways it wants to go. Satan lives in ways contrary to what God expects of us. He uses those whom God loves to end up being our enemies. We cannot accept the ways of the world; however, we must always pray for them and rejoice when they turn to God. Have you ever wondered why God waits so long to send Jesus back? Maybe the answer is found in the words of Peter, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9 (NASB) If God loves the people of this planet so much, shouldn’t we follow that example? 

How can we learn to love our enemies and pray for those against us? We should learn to look beyond what they are doing and see them as human beings. People are so loved by Jesus that he proclaims, “Father forgive them, for they don’t understand what they are doing.” Only when we start looking at people as people loved by Christ can we begin to see our enemies differently. I’ve mentioned before the story of Jake Deshazer, an atheist, and prisoner of war in Japan. He was horribly treated by the Japanese guards and hated them. Then he was given a Bible to read. When he came to the part of Jesus on the cross and his forgiveness, he decided to be like Jesus and start loving his enemies. His attitude changed those who guarded him. He became a Christian and returned to Japan after the war to preach the gospel, affecting the lives of others to follow.

Hating our enemies only hardens our hearts and keeps them from knowing the love of Christ. To love them can open doors to understanding what it means to be a disciple of Christ. Most of those called to fight the wars of the world are young and would rather be anywhere else but putting their lives in harm’s way. The Kamikazes of WWII were young, gifted men. “Ordinary students – gifted young men who studied math, philosophy, and economics, and who sometimes questioned the established order.” (Danger’s Hour, pp.460-61) The enemies were more similar than different from our youth. When we learn to see our enemies through the eyes of Jesus, we can then understand how Jesus can command us to love them. After a while, the command fades away, and the nature of the heart of Jesus helps us to love and pray for them, not as enemies, but as potential brothers and sisters in Christ.

Danny Minton is a former Elder and minister at Southern Hills Church of Christ