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July 2005  --  Back to current issue and main Archives


Hello everybody, I am the authors son, Jake. I was asked to write for his monthly article for the month of July.

For school, I had to write a paper about a book that I read entitled “Silence.” It was an intense book about a priest who went to Japan to minister the gospels and convert people to Christ. My prompt for the paper was: What would you do if you were forced to give up your faith? What would you sacrifice? Would you do it? For me, the answer was a hard one. I didn't know if I could give up my faith. I've heard of martyrs of the faith and I pictured me being one of them. But what if I was to choose between myself and someone I loved? What then? Well, this is the paper that I wrote telling everybody what I would do.

The Choice The journey seemed to last a lifetime, but at last it ended. I was abruptly stopped and my blindfold taken off. The world around me was black, but it wasn't a natural black that one gets when one's eyes are immediately introduced to night. It was a black that had sharp teeth. Slowly my eyes adjusted to the night and I noticed that I was perched precariously on some sort of precipice. As I stared into the void, I saw no bottom to this great cliff and the black seemed to overpower me, like a black cat pouncing on a hapless mouse.

As I stood on the edge, I was unnaturally calm and my many months of ministry in this country came back to me. I started to reminisce upon happier times and thanked God again for allowing my family to come with me and share in my ministry, and reap its benefits with me. But before I could smile, a sharp object touched my back. I forgot that I was captured, and I jolted.

“Father, I hope that the journey here wasn't too long and painful.” The man's voice was calm and carried with it a sense of compassion. “I don't want to put you through any more unnecessary torment. All I ask of you is to say five little words: ‘I am not a Christian.' If you do, no more harm will come to you, and you and your family will be able to live out your lives in peace.”

I slowly turned to look at the soldier who had been my interrogator for many weeks. His figure was cut out with a silhouette to match the darkness around us, and I could make out the sword that was in his hand. My eyes worked its way up to his face and what I saw was not the soldier's. I saw intense green eyes staring back at me. The face staring back at me was also not the soldier that had been with me, but that of my Savior. His face was bright and full of color and His eyes, oh those eyes, how wise, how omniscient. Before I could react, the eyes faded and turned back into the black outline of the soldier's, and I was once again taken back to reality and the dark world around me.

I composed myself and with all the strength I could muster, I spoke with feigned confidence: “Save your breath, for I will never disown my Lord and turn my back on my faith.”

“Father, I tell you the truth, it is not my voice that will convince you, but that of those for whom you care for the most.” And seemingly on cue, a carriage was heard approaching for the distance. The carriage stopped at the edge of the cliff and another outline of a man forced four people out of the carriage, and lined them up with their backs toward the valley below and with their hands tied up. I recognized the group of people in front of me and I started to speak, but the soldier interrupted me. “You thought that your family was safely hidden, didn't you? Well, sorry to disappoint you, but they didn't hide well enough.” Is that a smile I see on his face? That bastard is actually enjoying this! Continuing, “Now, I'm going to give you only four chances to relinquish your faith, and then I'm going to kill you.”

Light rays had begun to appear behind the mountains in the distance, and I finally saw the brown eyes that the soldier had. He carried himself well and had nice features. However, I noticed that he was tired and badly needed a shave. He turned to the soldier who brought my family out of the carriage, “Did you bring it?” The other soldier nodded and, without being told, went back to the carriage and brought out a picture. He walked up to me and placed it at my feet.

The image that stared back at me was that of a man with brilliant eyes. I immediately recognized the picture as that of my Savior.

“All that I ask of you is to place one foot on this picture and then I will let you and your family leave. No more harm will ever be placed upon you. Now please step.”

The world around me now had a dark blue hue and dawn was approaching. I clenched my teeth and stared intently at the soldier, never blinking. Then without warning, he walked calmly toward my family and with his sword still in his hand, ran it through my sister. She gasped and then looked at me; her wonderful blue eyes faded into darkness and she fell off the edge. My mother screamed, and I looked away, allowing a tear to fall to my cheek.

The soldier walked slowly back to me and simply said again, “Now please step.”

My mind was going a million miles an hour and I raised my head to heaven and pleaded with God to give me wisdom and strength, but I received no response. I looked back into to brown eyes of the soldier and then at the picture at my feet. How could I relinquish my faith like this? How could I ever live with myself knowing that I trod on a face that has been the basis of my very existence? However, how could I allow my family to be killed because I wanted to keep my peace with God? I looked back at the soldier and again without saying a word, he started walking toward my family.

“Wait!”

He turned to me and I turned to the picture. I began to bring my foot up, but it seemed to be weighted down, like a sinker on a fishing line. Oh God, please don't look down upon me for what I'm about to do. You know that I will always love and obey You. I brought my foot up and with tears streaming down my face, I placed it upon the picture. At that moment, dawn broke and a world of light and color filled my eyes.

What would you do? I know that's a hard question, but you need to ask yourself these things. The Christian life is a hard life and we will be discriminated against. Jesus told us: “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.” (John: 15. 18,19 NIV)

So brothers and sisters, please don't take the above story as a “be all, end all” way of doing things. I gave you that story as a way of opening up your hearts. No matter what happens in our lives, the Lord knows our hearts, as long as we live for Him, we have nothing to fear.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All Rights Reserved.

The “NIV” and “New International Version” trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.