The movie “We Were Soldiers” starring Mel Gibson is one of my favorite movies, and at the same time one of the hardest to watch. The bravery of those men is absolutely inspiring. The dedication of soldiers standing as brothers while outnumbered in a foreign country is far more than something to be admired. It’s something to aspire to as a country and as people. But on the other hand, the sadness, the loss, the death, and then watching the family dealing with it all is extremely sorrowful. It’s absolutely depressing. I love the movie, but hardly ever watch it.
I’ve tried to read the book on which it was based, We Were Soldiers Once…and Young. I bought it for my father-in-law. He read it, and told me it was good. So some time after I bought it for him, I borrowed it and tried to read it. I could barely make it through a third of the book. The depression I go through after watching the movie is nothing compared to what I was experiencing reading the stories of the individuals. You see, the movie hits some highlights, but the book goes into great detail about the individuals and gives battle details that too hard to even read them. And it’s just sad to read, and I couldn’t do it – not to discount the suffering of those men, but I couldn’t even read about the sufferings they lived through in that battle. And being the “born in 1973” guy that I am, and having a dad that was in the war (like mine was) for some reason thought a book to remind my father-in-law of the horrors he went through while he was there was a good idea. I’ve never actually apologized to him for buying him the book – but I’ve wished a hundred times that I’d just bought him something else that year.
But having recently watched the movie again, there are several topics from the movie that I want to reflect on in these devotionals. And unlike the Otis Epistle, they merit more discussion than a single paragraph in a short devotional. So this is Part 1 in the “We Were Soldiers Once” series. In this first one I’d like to discuss the general open topic of “the enemy”…and how we treat them.
Like most war movies, of course, the Americans are fighting “the enemy”. The scene is set early that the enemy is ruthless and evil. In the opening scene of the movie, the French army is in the North Vietnamese Ia Drang Valley and the squadron is attacked. We see one Vietnamese soldier ask the commander, “are we taking prisoners?” The commander tells him coldly, “There are no survivors. If we kill all they send, then eventually they’ll stop sending them.” But as the movie goes on, you see certain things shown about “the enemy” so that they become a little more personalized. There’s one particular soldier that we see writing in his diary or journal or whatever, and in his book he has a picture of what is obviously supposed to be his wife clipped to one of the pages. This guy has glasses so he’s easily recognized when we see him later trying to muster his courage and overcome his obvious fear and then runs to attack Mel Gibson. The guy gets shot and later Mel is given his journal and then mails it to the grieving Vietnamese wife. Because she’s mourning the loss of her husband just the way we’ve been shown the American wives mourning the loss of their husbands. The little guy with glasses might have been drafted like so many American boys were and found himself fighting in a war he had nothing to do with. But now, he’s just “the enemy”. And what do we do with “the enemy”? We hope that the good guys swoop in and kill them all. They do, after all, deserve it. Don’t they?
Flash back with me to Jonah. Not the Jonah in the whale’s belly. Not the Jonah before that who’s a moderately well-known prophet. Not the Jonah who preaches the message to the city of Nineveh and causes everyone from the king to the cattle to wear sackcloth and put ashes on their heads in repentance. No, I want to flash back to the end. To the Jonah in Jonah 4 who is complaining to God about being merciful and gracious and loving. Oh, not complaining about God being merciful and gracious and loving to HIM, but about God being loving to everyone and spared Nineveh. Because Nineveh is “the enemy”. Unknown. Faceless. “The enemy”. And we, I mean, Jonah wants God to deal with “the enemy”.
Just like we feel today. We see those are attacking our beliefs. We see those that attack our country. We see those that mock us for believing what we believe. And like Jonah, we want the God of Revelation to show up with the Four Horsemen (not Ric Flair and the wrestling guys) and dish out the judgment that we think “the enemy” deserves. But what did God tell Jonah? “There are 120,000 people in Nineveh, and guess what? I created each and every single one of them. Furthermore, whether you like it or not, self-righteous Jonah, I love every single one of them – because I created every single one of them.” Just like Jesus told the listeners in Matthew 5:44&45, “I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” And we need to realize that.
We hate “the enemy” – and classify lots of people and groups as “the enemy”, but like Jonah at Nineveh, we need to be reminded that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – and our God loves them just like he loved us, because He’s not just “our God”. And they may pray in a different way or to different gods, and they may fight for their beliefs and be willing to die (and kill) the ones that they classify as “they enemy” because of it, but in the end God sees them as worthy to die for. Because He wishes that “all would come to repentance” that’s 2 Peter 3:9…and that just doesn’t apply to people you like.
So Listen for the Whisper that asks if we pray for “the enemy” or wish them death? When we hear that this terrorist or that murderer has been killed or put to death? How happy were we? Do we hope they found Jesus, or are we (hypocritically) glad that they got what they deserved? Do we read the obituaries and hope that those listed there are Christians? Do we pray that those that will soon be listed will come to repentance and find Salvation in Christ before it’s too late? Or do we see those names listed like credits at the end of a movie and not even care? Complacently indifferent if they knew Jesus like you do?
The Vietnam War Memorial has 58,195 individual names listed. To most it’s just a list of names. But it’s so much more than that. For every name, there’s a family eternally changed because that name is listed on that wall, and every name on that wall is important to some family. God knew every single one. Jesus died for every single one. And He died for those on “the enemy” side, too. God’s love reaches where sometimes ours won’t. But if we cared like we’re supposed to, we’d share Jesus every minute of every day to make CERTAIN that not a single name that shows up in an obituary hasn’t already been written in the Book of Life. And I’m not saying that I do and that I’m perfect and everyone that reads this should be like me…because I’m the one that reads them like movie credits. Even worse, I only read them to make sure that our local paper (infamous for mistakes) doesn’t have the name spelled differently in the header compared to the actual listing. Even to the point of posting the wrong ones on Facebook. Have I ever stopped for one second to consider their eternal fate? no. Have I been the one to get excited that someone’s been sent to a lethal injection, and scoffed at “death row conversions”? yes. I’m not proud of either, but if I’m to have any credibility, I have to be willing to admit my shortcomings. Especially if I intend on being able to change them.
This devotional wasn’t as cheeky and humor-filled as most. But it shouldn’t be. People are dying every day without knowing Jesus, and I’ve either been glad about it because I’ve classified them as “the enemy” (however I’ve personally defined it) or, just as badly, haven’t even cared. Jesus cared. I’m glad he did, because if He hadn’t cared for them, He wouldn’t have cared for me. And I meant more to Him than just a name on some marble to be walked by as He went looking for a name He recognized. Every name on that wall is important to some family. And if we’re all supposed to be God’s family, they should be important to us. If you need to share Christ with someone, now would be a fine time for that. And if you haven’t prayed for someone’s salvation, now would be a fine time for that, too. Especially if you’ve decided on your own that they’re “the enemy”.
~Dwayne
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