By Danny Minton

I recently wrote an article entitled “The Casualties of War” about our greatest war against Satan and how we should arm ourselves in the fight against the evil that he presents to the world around us. We are promised to win this war if we look to Jesus to lead us in the battles we face. However, as in any war, there is a cost to obtaining victory. It’s important to remember those who have paid the price for what we have today and ask ourselves if we are willing to pay for the cost of victory that Jesus promised.

On the morning of April 6, 1945, my father, Albert “Smitty” Minton, stood at his post on the decks of the naval battleship USS North Carolina. The Americans had set up a perimeter off the shores of Okinawa in what would be the deadliest battle of WW2. On the morning of April 6, the Japanese planned to launch “Operation Ten-Go,” a plan to drive out Allied forces.

On April 6, Operation Ten-Go began with over a hundred kamikazes on a suicide mission, attacking the naval forces. My father’s battle station was below deck in a room determining the logistics of firing the 16”/45-caliber Mark 6 guns. While dashing across the deck to head below to his station, one of the American ships fighting the suicide bombers inadvertently fired into the North Carolina, killing Edward Emil Brenn, John Malcolm Watson, and Carl Elmer Karam Jr. The explosion on the deck sent shrapnel flying, wounding several sailors, including my father. He did not know he had been hit until arriving at his battle station, where his commanding officer saw his leg bleeding and sent him to sick bay.

Albert “Smitty” Minton receives a Purple Heart.

The United States was victorious at Okinawa, but the cost of victory was staggering. The U.S. losses included 12,000 killed and another 37,000 wounded. The Japanese would suffer over 100,000 casualties. 

The United States would go on to be victorious in WW2. The cost of the victory would not be known for years. During the years at war, the death toll is estimated by some to be close to 75 million people, including 20 million military, 40 million civilians, and millions unaccounted for.

War is not like the glamorous movies that Hollywood has produced in the past. It is not like sitting in our homes playing board games like Battleship, Risk, or one of the many war-based games available. It’s not like sitting in front of a computer, engaging in battle on the screen, and when done, turning it off and returning to a safe and secure life. War costs lives and devastates families. The cost of victory comes in the form of death, injury, mental issues, health problems, and pain that can last a lifetime.

As Christians, we also face a war. It is a war against Satan and the evil he exhibits throughout the world. Sometimes, the battle is fought as a group, and at other times, one we must fight individually. Jesus told his disciples, “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.” John 15:18-21 (NASB)

In the letter of Hebrews, the writer tells us about those who have gone before us, fighting to proclaim the ways of God to a lost world. They did not share in the outcome of victory even though they paid a high cost, even death. “And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.” Hebrews 11:32-40 (NASB) 

Thousands of people we will never know paid the price of victory to allow us to live in a world of freedom. Thousands of others who have gone before us paid a price to keep God and Christ alive and well in a world where Satan seems to reign. The battle will continue, one that each of us must fight to obtain eventual victory. We are promised victory because the cost has already been paid for us. It was paid with the blood of Christ as he took our place on the cross. Because He paid the debt for our sins, we obtain victory through eternal life. “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

The question to consider remains, “Are we willing to pay the cost of sharing Christ today to proclaim His gift of victory with future generations?”

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