World War II hero Desmond Doss, left and center, and actor Andrew Garfield, portraying him in Mel Gibson’s film, Hacksaw Ridge.
“Lord, please help me get one more.” – Desmond Doss, private first class and Congressional Medal of Honor winner, in Hacksaw Ridge.
I often catch up on movies I’ve missed during overseas flights. While flying to Nepal in late April, I finally saw Mel Gibson’s uplifting Hacksaw Ridge, the story of conscientious objector-turned-World War II hero Desmond Doss.
Doss, who refused to touch a gun but patriotically sought to serve his country, was a Bible-carrying U.S. Army medic who rescued between 50 and 100 soldiers on a horrible battlefield on the Japanese island of Okinawa.
He saved those men one at a time – and in an answer to prayer.
Doss cried out, “Lord, please help me get one more.” And then, after he rescued one more, he repeated that prayer. Over. And over. And over again.
I thought of this yesterday as I was reading brother Jordan’s inspiring Day 8 lesson, “A world of diversity.” Jordan has blessed us these past seven days with a primer on Islam (“Islam 101,” he dubbed it). There is much to learn about and pray for when it comes to our Muslim friends and neighbors, and those following Islam who we do not know and might even consider the “enemy.” We have gleaned many insights in the years we have been serving with Climbing For Christ in predominantly Muslim countries; I’ll be sharing some of this in the days ahead.
But the greatest lesson of all was captured in Jordan’s “A world of diversity.” As he said, it is simple. And it shouldn’t be missed.
Behind this overwhelming number – more than 1.7 billion Muslims – is the reality that each person is a soul, created and loved by the God of the Bible. Each one of those 1.7 billion Muslims is destined for eternity separated from God, hell-bound, unless the Holy Spirit moves their hearts to declare Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
“…because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame’” (Romans 10:9-13, ESV).
Every ONE who believes in Him.
Rather than focusing on the massive number of lost Muslims, let’s look at the individual. Let’s recall the name of a single Muslim and ask the Spirit of God to visit him or her right now. As I write this, the faces of many friends in many places flash before my eyes (again, I’ll be sharing more about this in future Project Prayer: Ramadan 2017 stories). Suffice it to say, they are people I have grown to love, to cherish, and long to call “brother” or “sister” in Christ.
I am praying for them now. I am praying, as Desmond Doss cried out in 1945: “Lord, please help me get one more.”
If we all would recognize that we are standing on a spiritual battlefield more horrible than Hacksaw Ridge, where the eternal resting place of those around us is at stake, and we all grasped the vision and mindset of PFC Desmond Doss, think how many the LORD would allow us to witness to and prayerfully lead to HIM!