I married my wife on January 24, 1970. At that point in time, I had just 19 months left on my commitment to the United States Marine Corps. I never minded the prospect of going overseas—at least not until I got married. As a matter of fact, I fully expected to go to a Western Pacific (aka Westpac) assignment, but there were only so many assignments for aviation electronics technicians in the First Marine Air Wing; my number just never came up.
After I got married, I did not want to get a Westpac assignment. I wanted to stay home with my wife. Who wouldn’t? Once my remaining commitment slid inside of a year, I assumed I would not get the call. Wrong! With just a little over nine months before discharge, I got my Westpac orders. I would not be permitted to spend my first Christmas with my new wife.
I arrived in Okinawa where Marines got their Western Pacific assignments. I fully expected to be assigned to one of the two air bases where Marines served in Vietnam—Da Nang or Chu Lai. Either was fine with me. Everyone stationed there received combat pay and paid no income tax on their earnings. It was a chance to send home lots of extra cash on my Sergeant’s pay.
To my surprise, the orders in the packet they handed me said “Iwakuni, Japan.” I’ll admit…I didn’t see that coming. No combat pay…no tax break…but away from my wife nonetheless. It had been 25 years since the Japanese and Americans shot at each other there. I will say, however, the sentiment toward Americans at that point wasn’t all positive—especially among the elderly. As a matter of fact, we were restricted to base on August 6, the date that America dropped the bomb on Hiroshima.
Japan was a fascinating place to me. Moreover, the exchange rate back then was 360 yen to one dollar. By comparison, today it’s 89 yen to one dollar. I could take the train from Iwakuni to Hiroshima in less than an hour, On arrival, I could spend the day eating and browsing stores—buying a few things along the way. I’d ride the buses in the city and arrive back at the base that evening, having only spent three or four dollars.
One thing though…Christmas in a land where less than 1% of the people are Christians—”gonna be a dismal Christmas,” I thought. Being an American military town, I wasn’t that surprised when I saw wall-to-wall Christmas decorations there in Iwakuni—anything to get the servicemen to go out on the town and spend their money. I decided to go to Hiroshima a few days before Christmas and check it out. To my surprise, it was Christmas everywhere—sleighs, Santas, reindeer—you name it. Except one thing though…no Jesus.
Interesting…the Japanese imitate our commercial view of Christmas as well or perhaps even better than we, ourselves, do. Christmas trees are everywhere with holiday lights on the streets and in the stores. It looked just like America…maybe even better—but no Jesus.
The Japanese know how to put on Christmas. It’s not a no-work day, but it is celebrated throughout Japan—but no Jesus.
I’ve gotten out to some stores this year. Everyone loves the lights and decorations…the trees and the sounds of Christmas. But you know, there’s not nearly as much Jesus out there this year. It’s almost like the stores have hired politically correct consultants to make it seem like Christmas in their stores without actually having to acknowledge that it’s based on anything special. It’s like being back in 1970 Hiroshima. It looks like Christmas and sounds like Christmas—but no Jesus.
Now, don’t get me wrong; don’t misunderstand me here. I’m not for imposing Jesus on anyone. I’m convinced that Jesus only becomes a part of one’s life by receiving Christ as one’s Savior. You can’t do as Constantine attempted in the fourth century and force Christ on anyone; it just doesn’t work that way.
The purpose of my comments here are twofold. First of all: Look how far our society has drifted away from the Savior of the world. As Christians, we’ve allowed Jesus to take a back seat in our lives, and it’s just trickled down. The result is a rapid acceleration of the dissembling of the Christian values upon which our nation was founded.
Second of all, and most important, here’s our challenge: Let’s make certain that we, as Christians, unapologetically proclaim Jesus as our Savior. Let’s tell our friends. Let’s keep Jesus in our Christmas…and every other day of the year. Here’s the deal: If we don’t take a stand for Christ, who will?
Pastor Wayne Turner of Fayette Bible Church in Fayetteville, Georgia is also the author of Bible Track, an online daily Bible-reading schedule and commentary which may be accessed at http://www.bibletrack.org.
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