The Oddity of Unnecessary Hurling and Hiding

Let's start with a real-life account from Hiroo Onoda's book, No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War, which illustrates the futility of hurling at others and hiding from others when it is no longer necessary.

“When World War II ended, it was a time of great joy and celebration. Proverbial swords were beaten into plowshares, prisoners were set free, and millions of soldiers went home to their families. However, one man, Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda of the Imperial Japanese Army, chose not to believe broadcasts announcing the war's end. For the next 29 years, Lieutenant Onoda hid in the jungles of the Philippines, refusing to come home. 

"Knowing he was still out there, the authorities tried to reach him with the news. However, Onoda dismissed leaflets left by the islanders as enemy propaganda. He considered letters, family photos, and newspapers dropped from planes as clever tricks.

"In 1974, a Japanese college student made it his personal quest to track down the holdout. After trekking through the jungle, the student found the old soldier and befriended him, but he could not convince him to surrender. 

"Eventually, the Japanese Government sent Onoda's former commanding officer into the jungle with orders for him to stand down. Relieved of duty, Onoda emptied the bullets from his rifle and turned in his weapon. For him, the war was finally over. He returned home to a hero's welcome.”

Here’s a summary of what you just read, and what it means, by author Paul Ellis. 

“For three decades, Lieutenant Onoda was engaged in a war that existed only in his mind against an imaginary enemy he feared and distrusted. This war is how some people relate to God. They're opposed to God in their minds, or they think God is gunning for them on account of their sin. They have not heard that there has been a cessation of hostilities, that the war has been won, and that the Prince of Peace now sits on the throne. 

"Ignorant of this good news and fearful of God, they are lying low in the jungles of performance-based religion and politics, humanism, and godless self-deception. God hates them – or so they think. His anger is mounting – so they think. They are not sure what God is doing now, but they expect him to show up one day, and when he does, there will be hell to pay.”

Are we afraid of God, hiding from God in some mental or emotional jungle, thinking God is going to get us, or worse yet, thinking God is going to send us to Borneo and make us a missionary or something? Some people are so nervous about what God may do to them that they make coffee nervous. As Lieutenant Onoda did for 30 years of his life, they are fighting in a self-imposed war based on beliefs and misbeliefs about a history settled long ago. That makes me nervous.

Just as Japan has peace with America, we have peace with God. Listen, there’s only one way to have God's real, honest-to-goodness peace. The peace of God comes through having peace with God. Romans 5:1

Why do so many people struggle with peace? Romans Chapter 5 reveals the four types of people without God and, therefore, without peace. 

The first and second kinds of people are found in Romans 5:6. “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” Romans 5:8 reveals the third type of people without God. “But Christ demonstrates his love toward us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:10 reveals the fourth type of people without God. “For if we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, and much more, have been reconciled, we shall be saved by Christ’s life.”

So, people are either helpless, ungodly, sinners, or enemies of God, or they could be all of these. Well, that’s really good, positive news! I'm just kidding. But in a way, it is good news. 

If you need help or feel helpless, if you need an internal clean-up and a new start, if a besetting sin has you in its grasp, and if you think you are an enemy of God, no one is too far gone to come back to God. As I have said many times in this article, God’s not mad at you; God’s mad about you. You are God’s workmanship, and “God don’t make junk.” You are not junk.

I bet you are wondering about what happened to Lieutenant Onoda after he returned to Japan, according to an article written by CNN in May 1996, entitled “Former WWII Soldier Visits Philippine Hideout:”

"After Onoda was convinced that the Pacific War had ended, he became a different man. He stopped terrorizing the Filipino farmers and set up a generous scholarship fund for their children. Later, Onoda returned to the Philippines to thank the people for their assistance in keeping him alive during his self-imposed isolation."   

Do you remember that Japanese student who consistently sought, found, and informed Lieutenant Onoda that the war was over? I hear him saying, “Put down your gun, quit hiding, and you can have peace.” Well, that’s what I say to many of you. (I used to be you, too.) “The war is over. Call off your firing squad of hatred of God and other people. Quit hiding when you need to be found. Let it go. Do you see the change in Onoda’s life? That could be you, too!”

Here’s your "give us this day our daily Ed" takeaway. Just like the student and the Lieutenant, I’ve done my part; you do your part, and things won’t come apart.