By Debra Rae
November 10, 2015
NewsWithViews.com
November 10, 2015
NewsWithViews.com
“The Red, White, and Blue” or the White Flag of Surrender”?
A highly respected Christian institution, Seattle Pacific University (established 1891) claims as one of its notable graduates “bombardier Jacob “Jake” DeShazer. Following the infamous attack at Pearl Harbor, Jake volunteered for the daring Doolittle Raid on Tokyo. Thereafter, in a Japanese prison, he made peace with the God of his youth while enduring forty hellish months of beatings, torture, and starvation, not to mention two years in solitary confinement.
Upon recuperating from his ordeal, Jake served thirty fruitful years as a missionary to the Japanese he’d grown to love. Largely due to Jake’s testimony, the commander responsible for dropping torpedoes at Pearl Harbor, Mitsuo Fuchida, likewise gave his life to Christ. Over the years, Fuchida and DeShazer spoke to large crowds, both together and individually. As a result, literally thousands of people met Christ.[1]
Veterans Day Ceremony
On November 10, 2015, a club at SPU, “Students for Military Veterans Support,” will honor Jacob DeShazer—all vets, in fact—at a Veterans’ Day[2] ceremony to be held at the campus church. Problem is, some students (who choose to remain anonymous) express discomfort with patriotic elements to be featured at the chapel service. Their complaint has resulted in restricting the club from presenting the colors, not to mention the Pledge, at their Veterans’ Day ceremony.[3]
With respect to honored congregants, over seventy percent in the U.S. military today self identify as Christians, and experience dictates that atheists in foxholes are rarities. In his research, Marine Colonel Ronald Ray discovered that, in scores of manuscripts throughout our history, 73 percent of military prayers have been offered in the name of Jesus. Only recently have prayers, as this from the West Point Prayer Book (1948), been denigrated as politically incorrect: “Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage; We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will ... through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”[4]
1.poptop.hypermart.net/testjjd.html(Accessed 6 November 2015)2. When Woodrow Wilson declared 11 November a public holiday, the primary intent was to reflect on sacrifices of those who had served in the armed forces. Originally known as Armistice Day, the holiday became Veterans Day in 1954. Ceremonies and parades are dedicated to honoring troops for their service, mail service ceases, federal employees are off work, students are out of school, and some retail establishments and restaurant chains offer free or discounted goods to our America’s heroes.3. The Dori Monson Show, KIRO Radio 97.3 FM (Accessed 6 November 2015)4. IMarine Colonel Ronald Ray.Endowed By Their Creator: Historic American Military Prayers: 1774-Present (First Principles Press).
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by Debra Ra
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