#seventhdayadventist

“We tried to shoot him… but our rifles jammed.”

During the Battle of Okinawa, one of the bloodiest battles of World War II, many soldiers were wounded and left helpless on the battlefield.

Bullets were flying everywhere. Explosions shook the ground. Men were crying in pain, calling for help, while others were trying to survive.

But in the middle of that chaos, there was one man who kept going back.

His name was Desmond T. Doss.

He was different from the other soldiers. He did not carry a gun. He refused to kill. He entered the war not as a fighter, but as a medic. His mission was not to take lives, but to save them.

While others ran away from danger, Doss ran toward the wounded.

One by one, he carried injured soldiers to safety. Every time he rescued one man, he prayed:

“Lord, help me save one more.”

He was tired. He was weak. He was surrounded by enemies. But he kept going back. Again and again, he risked his life just to save another wounded soldier.

Years later, in a documentary, a former Japanese sniper who fought during that battle shared something powerful.

He said there were 12 men in their sniper unit, and all of them remembered Desmond Doss.

They saw him rescuing American soldiers. They aimed their rifles at him. They tried to shoot him.

But something strange happened.

“Every time we tried to shoot him, our rifles jammed. Again and again, we could not fire. I believe it was the power of God that protected him.”

As the former Japanese soldier told the story, he was already in his 90s. Tears rolled down his wrinkled face as he remembered the man they could not kill.

Imagine that.

The enemy himself testified that something greater was protecting Desmond Doss.

No gun in his hand.

No weapon to defend himself.

Only faith, courage, and a prayer.

Desmond Doss reminds us that when God has a purpose for your life, He can protect you in ways people cannot explain. The enemy may aim at you, but God can still block what was meant to destroy you.

Sometimes the strongest person is not the one holding a weapon.

Sometimes the strongest person is the one who keeps serving, keeps praying, keeps loving, and keeps saving others even while surrounded by danger.

Desmond Doss did not fight with bullets.

He fought with faith.

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know” (John 14:1-4).

We are nearing the borders of Heaven, friends! The day of our Lord Jesus' coming is at hand, and Jesus is the only way to our Heavenly Father and Heaven (John 14:6). Is He coming this week, next month, or even this year? “No one knows the day or the hour, Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:42-44).

We don't know when Jesus will return, that's why He wants us to be ready now. That's why we need our reminders now. Are you ready?

May we invite Jesus into our hearts each day (Revelation 3:20). May we place every sin and burden at His feet each day (1 John 1:9; Matthew 11:28, 30). May we follow His example in doing our Heavenly Father's will each day (Matthew 11:29; Matthew 12:50). May we obey His commandments with a sincerely loving heart each day (John 14:15). And may we faithfully sound the alarm of His soon return each day (Joel 2:1).

MOVING DAY, MAY 7, 1976