Echoes Into Eternity Chapter 12
Nuclear Weapons, Marathon Runners and Oskar Schindler
As we finish our study on ‘What Really Echoes Into Eternity,’ I’d like to offer some closing throughts.
During my six and a half years as a Naval officer, my official job designation number was “1310” which meant: “Officer qualified for duty involving piloting heavier-than-air, or heavier and lighter-than air types of aircraft”. Within this designator I had a special qualification: Nuclear Weapons Delivery Pilot.
I was trained and qualified to load, arm, and drop nuclear weapons.
We practiced this often, with three weapons- the B-43 one megaton ‘Big Boy’, the B-57 ‘Underwater Destructor’, and my favorite the B-61 ‘Silver Bullet’- a shining stainless steel weapon that you could ‘dial a yield’ – from .1 kiloton blast to a 1 megaton mushroom.
The Nuclear Weapons Tactical Manual gave us all the information we needed to know to deliver these weapons. Usually we would utilize a ‘laydown’ delivery (fly over the target and drop it at low level) or ‘loft delivery’- pulling up over the target, releasing the bomb when the aircraft was almost in a vertical climb, continuing the loop, rolling out and getting as far away from the target that you could before the 72 second timer detonated the weapon. At 580 kts that measured out to about nine miles. They told us that we would survive the blast at that distance if we observed a few principles.
The manual told us that as long as we got the tail pointed at the blast, the gamma and beta rays would be absorbed by the metal of the empennage of our aircraft between us and the blast.
There was a caution in the book that said when the thermal wave passed the aircraft, our fire retardant flight suits would probably begin smoking. But not to worry- this was considered normal.
We also wore an eye patch over one eye when the blast went off because even while wearing a special gold plated visor to protect our eyes from radiation, the intense light from the blast would probably fry our exposed retina. When that happened we would then take the eye patch off and have one good eye to fly back to the ship. However, we never practiced one-eyed landings on the aircraft carrier. (Did they really expect us to get back to the ship?)
We planned missions with targets inside the Soviet Union and in Korea. Fortunately, it was all a drill. None of us wanted to be involved in nuclear war– we all figured that if that day ever arrived, and we received the order to drop the big one, we would probably get a head cold, have stuffed noses, and be medically unfit to fly that day. That was the plan anyway.
There were only two times that nuclear weapons were used- in Japan at the end of World War II at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These two atomic bombs destroyed large sections of these two cities and created a lot of headlines. But actually, by this point in the war, the job of bringing this mighty country to its knees had already been done by the dropping of small incendiary bombs on all the major cities of Japan.
Japanese soldiers were trained never to surrender. Death for the Emperor God was preferable to the disgrace of giving up alive. In three years of fighting their way island-by-island up from Australia to Iwo Jima, U.S. soldiers had suffered horrible casualties against Japanese soldiers who refused to surrender, even when faced with overwhelming odds. The suicide dive bomber ‘Kamakazi’ attacks against the American fleet during the Okinawa campaign sunk and damaged many ships, killing many American sailors. On Saipan, many Japanese civilians preferred jumping off cliffs and dying rather than surrender to the Americans. With the invasion of the Japanese homeland islands looming on the horizon, the generals and admirals prepared for a projected 1 million Americans killed and wounded. American Army units in Europe that had survived three years of brutal combat where frontline divisions had suffered over 85% casualties were preparing to be transported to the Pacific for this upcoming invasion.
After the Marianas and Iwo Jima islands were captured, America now had airfields where B-29’s could fly to the Japanese home islands. The XXI Bomber Command began an intensive campaign to destroy the industrial might of Japan, and their will to continue the fight. For five months, M 69 incendiary bombs were dropped by the thousands on the urban area of Japan.
The M-69 had an innocent appearance. It was a simple 20 inch long steel pipe with a 3 inch diameter filled with napalm, or jellified gasoline. The M-69 had a 3-foot-long strip of cloth which functioned like a kite's tail and popped out when it deployed to prevent it from tumbling during free fall. When this steel pipe hit the roof of a building, it usually punched through, which set off a time-delayed fuse which caused the bomb to detonate 3 to 5 seconds later when the bomb was embedded in the floor or lying on its side on the ground. The exploding charge ignited a small amount of white phosphorus powder which set fire to the napalm and blew a burning glob of the gasoline gel out the tail of the steel casing. This burning glob would be propelled up to 100 feet away where it would stick to whatever it hit. If the material was combustible, an immediate intense fire would ignite.
M-69 bombs were bound together in clusters of 38 and fitted inside a finned thin-walled cylinder container that opened clamshell-like at about 2000 ft. over the target, scattering the bomblets.
The first raid utilizing these incendiary cluster bombs occurred on the night of March 9 & 10 against the capital Tokyo. 279 B-29 bombers dropped 1,665 tons of bombs. It was the most destructive air raid of the war. Over 80,000 Japanese civilians died, and 16 square miles of the city was destroyed. The heat was so intense from the fires started by these small incendiary bombs that steel bridges melted.
During the next five months, all major Japanese industrial centers were destroyed by a massive bombing campaign utilizing these 20 inch by 3 inch small bomblets. Small fires started larger fires, which in many cases led to intense firestorms.
Tokyo on August 11, 1945
The largest raid of the World War II occurred on August 1st when 836 B-29s dropping 6,145 tons of these small incendiary bombs on four Japanese cities. A few days later on August 6th, the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, causing very extensive damage. On August 9th, the second atomic bomb destroyed much of Nagasaki.
These two blasts convinced the Japanese Emperor Hirohito to surrender. However by the time he made that decision, the industrial might and all major urban centers had been destroyed by the small incendiary bombs. The combined effect of these small fires did a much better job of ending the war than the use of two big atomic blasts.
Hiroshima, August 1945
It is the same with the Body of Christ.
If we are going to fulfill the Great Commission and Make Disciples of All Nations, we modern Christians have often resorted to the “Big Blast” stadium events, television ministry, and city and nationwide campaigns. The strategy is often “get as many into a building or stadium, preach a message, and get as many as possible to come forward at the “altar call”. Many of us have been impacted by this type of event.
Many studies say that there are approximately 2.4 billion non-Christians in the world today. What is the most effective way to reach them in this generation? Is that even possible?
Say we rent a stadium and began holding meetings. We see an average of 1000 people a day coming to Christ. Soon, nine of our friends are holding similar meetings in nine different stadiums across the world. They too are seeing a thousand a day come to the altar and receive Christ. This is good, right!?!?
However, at this rate, it will take all ten teams at the 10 stadiums 657 years to reach these 2.4 billion. If we had 100 teams at 100 stadiums with 1000 a day, it would still be 65 years of work to reach the unreached.
Does this seem like or even possible?
Would Jesus really ask us to do the impossible? Reach the world for Him? Bringing the message to every soul on Earth?
But there is another way. It’s more like the “Jesus” way He modeled in the Gospels.
Jesus did speak to the masses. The location of the Sermon of the Mount along the shore of the Sea of Galilee has proven acoustical qualities which would allow a man standing at the bottom of this bowl of volcanic rock to speak in a normal volume and be heard by a person 500 yards away at the top. My friends Roy and Mary once stayed at a Bed & Breakfast at the top of the “mount” which today has a road that winds up the natural amphitheater. They could not sleep because of the noise of the traffic on the road that was naturally amplified into their room!
But Jesus spent most of His time with His small group of 12. He gave them everything He could. But even in that group, He had an “inner circle” of three- James, John, and Peter- to whom He spent much intimate time. These three were witnesses of the Transfiguration on Mt Tabor where Moses and Elijah appeared to have a talk with Jesus.
So let’s take Jesus’ intimate group of three as our model. Pick out three this year and spend much quality time with them, giving them all that you have regarding the Kingdom of God, the Word of God, and cultivating God’s presence in your life. When the year ends, each of you four pick three new disciples for the next year, giving them all that has been given to you. The third year the now 12 pick three new disciples and repeat the process. Continue this process with three new disciples each year. Guess what happens???
Exponential Expansion!
Each disciple makes three new disciples each year. How long does it take to reach the 2.4 billion unsaved? Take out your calculator and do the math. You will be amazed, because in 21 years of this process that begins with one making three, with each making three more each year, over 2.4 billion are reached!
21 Years!
Principle: Small fires will grow into big fires, that soon consume the neighborhood, the city, the country, and finally the world.
It is One by One - Won by One.
We can fulfill The Great Commission in our generation!
Together Making Disciples!
A Second Thought:
The life of a disciple is often compared to running a race.
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, Hebrews 12:1-2
It is not a sprint, but more like a marathon. It is a life-long race, and we are to finish strong.
In the early 1980’s, I began to run marathons. My first was in 1983, and it was a 24.6 mile beautiful course from the Maui Mall in Kahului to Whaler’s Village in Ka’anapali on the Westside. I trained for weeks prior to the race, and amazingly finished under four hours. Later that year, I entered the Honolulu Marathon, which began at 5:30 am by Aloha Tower in downtown Honolulu.
Because there were over 10,000 runners, we all had to arrive at 2:30 am to line up for the start. I did not get the proper amount of sleep that night. I made a bad decision to eat hamburgers and pizza late the night before. I arrived at the starting line a bit uncomfortable. Nevertheless, I began strong, and actually passed the 20 mile mark at 2:20. I was excited, thinking that I could actually break three hours.
But passing through Kahala, the cheeseburgers and pizza decided that they needed somewhere to go, and I found myself in the bushes of someone’s home, puking and relieving myself. The next five miles were up Diamond Head Road, and then down to Kapiolani Park. I crawled up that hill, stopping at each water table, pouring down large quantities of water. It took me over an hour to run that last five miles. The only thing that kept me going was the knowledge that my cousin was at the finish line with my camera the photo.
I didn’t finish well.
The following spring, I ran the Maui Marathon again, this time training hard, eating properly, and getting the right amount of sleep. I finished well in three hours eighteen minutes.
We are called to run the Life Discipleship Marathon. We are to discipline ourselves, and not allow anything to keep us from running our best, all the way to the finish line. Unfortunately, statistics show that in many cases, over 75% of those who begin in full time ministry in their 20’s and 30’s dropout of the race sometime along the way. They let discouragement and the traps of the enemy keep them from finishing strong.
Finally:
The movie “Schindler’s List” was one of the most shocking portrayals of Nazi Germany’s concentration camps. Oskar Schindler was a German businessman and member of the Nazi party. He ran a slave labor factory using Jewish inmates and manufactured munitions for the German army. During the war, he developed relationships with ‘his Jews’ that contrasted sharply to the SS soldiers who ran the camps, often protecting them from Nazi brutality and saving their lives in the process. As the war ended, and the Germans began to flee to the West to escape the approaching Russians, the order was given to kill all the Jews in the camps. Instead, Schindler began ‘buying’ his Jewish workers from corrupt Nazi officials. He compiled a list of over 400 Jews and purchased their lives with his own money.
At the end of the movie, all the Jews on ‘Schindler’s List’ gathered on the road out of the camp as Oskar made his getaway in the middle of the night. They presented him with a document signed by each testifying how he saved their lives and a golden ring made out of one inmate’s tooth, with a passage from the Talmud engraved “He who saves one life saves the world entirely”.
Do you recall Schindler’s reaction?
As he looked at the many that he saved- parents with their children, husbands with their wives, and others, He was overwhelmed- but not at what he had done, but what he could have done.
He looked at his car and sorrowfully declared: “I could have gotten 10 for this car”. He took a gold pin out of of his lapel, and with tears said “If if sold this, I could have saved two more.”
Once on a flight from Orlando to Los Angeles, Laura & I sat next to a young lady named Lydia. After takeoff, we discovered that she was a teacher. Since we too were in the education business in Honduras, we began talking, eventually telling her about our Boss, and the great things that He had done in our lives.
As we were passing over New Orleans, Lydia began telling us about her life. Over Dallas, we began to tell her how we had become followers of Jesus. Over Phoenix, she told us that she had been thinking that it was time to address some issues in her spiritual life. By the time we began the approach into Los Angles, we were encouraging her to seek out a few churches that we knew in the area, and really consider receiving Jesus as her Lord and beginning a relationship with Him.
Lydia was receptive.
We landed and arrived at the gate. Lydia was on the aisle seat and walked off the airplane first. Laura grabbed her bag and slipped out to follow. A few moments later, I made it into the line of passengers deplaning.
That’s when it happened.
As I stood there in that crowd in the airliner, I suddenly found myself standing in a much larger crowd, and not on a 737 but rather in a huge meeting room crowded with people. They were smiling, shouting, celebrating something. It was wall-to-wall with excited, exuberant people. Suddenly I was aware that I was standing in what the Bible describes as the “Marriage Supper of the Lamb”. The end of this world had come, and all the followers of Jesus were together celebrating their arrival into the eternal presence of The King!
Suddenly the crowd in front of me separated, and elbowing her way through the crowd appeared Lydia, walking toward me. She was so excited. “I just wanted you to know that I made it!” she exclaimed.
Suddenly the vision ended, and I was back in the center aisle of the airliner, with passengers in front and behind me. What I had just seen was real, just as these passengers were real. I couldn’t wait to tell Laura.
When I exited the aircraft, Laura was standing there waiting for me, with a big smile on her face. “I saw it!” she cried out. “She’s going to be there!”
We had both seen the same vision of Lydia at the celebration! We both knew that on the final day when we entered Heaven to be with the Lord for all eternity, Lydia would be there too! We were floating on clouds as we walked through the airport.
A great missionary once wrote to those that he had a part in bringing them into the Kingdom:
After all, what gives us hope and joy, and what is our proud reward and crown? It is you! Yes, you will bring us much joy as we stand together before our Lord Jesus when he comes back again. For you are our pride and joy. 1 Thessalonians 2:19 NLT
On that day when we all stand together before the Lord, we won’t regret any time that we spent telling someone about the Lord, any money that we gave to the missionaries, or any efforts that we made to help God’s people and the needy of this Earth.
In fact, like Oskar Schindler, our only regret will be that we didn’t do more!
I found Oskar & Emilie's graves outside Zion Gate in 2007.
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