His Enemy, His Life

When does one know when you should fight against someone or for  someone? Well, too often, we fight against those whom we should not – our spouses, our children, our parents, our co-workers, fellow church members, and so on.

Under the Old Testament law, God had established what we call the “eye for an eye”  law. In other words, if someone has wronged you, then they deserve the same thing back. And then Jesus Christ (God in the flesh) came and upped the ante. He taught something contrary to what our old nature wants to do. Read below:

Matthew 5:43-44
43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy.
44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.

What Jesus taught here is what I call “graduate-level” Christianity. It is not easy to accept, much less practice. Let me ask you – when is the last time you actually fulfilled the above verse? When is the last time you requited someone good for their hate? Blessing for their cursing?

The following true story from Dr. Samuel Gipp in the book, Fight On! is a great illustration of someone who did not give up fighting against the enemy and then for the enemy…enjoy!

His Enemy, His Life
Dr. Samuel Gipp

Robert Boardman joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1942, shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and soon found himself in Company C., 1st Stank Battalion. He fought his way through historic battles on Cape Gloucester, Peleliu and Okinawa. While in Australia prior to his first engagement, he read his Gideon’s New Testament and realized his need to trust Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour, which he promptly did. Then he returned to duty. It took the Marines 76 bloody days to utterly destroy the Japanese on Okinawa. Just four days before the fighting ended, Boardman’s tank was knocked out by anti-tank fire. While helping a wounded comrade, a sniper shot him in the throat, destroying his larynx. For the rest of his life Boardman would only be able to speak with a deep raspy voice.

Shortly after this happened the world war ended, but Boardman’s personal war continued on. After the war he returned to Japan and spent 36 years as a missionary to his former enemies. Bob Boardman fought against the Japanese during World War II and fought for their souls afterwards. Fight on!