With God Nothing Shall Be Impossible

A few days ago I wrote about the book Unbroken, an unbelievable WWII story of survival against all odds.  When I wrote then I hadn’t yet reached the part of the book where Zamperini was a prisoner of war, and now having finished the book, surviving 47 days at sea on a raft seems small compared to the incredible strength it took for him to survive months and months of torture as a prisoner of war in Japan.  As I listened to story after story of cruel beatings and in particular how he was treated by one specific Japanese guard, Watanabe, I was stunned and angered.  This guard, an absolute madman, took it upon himself to torment Zamperini, beating him, whipping him, kicking him, humiliating him, again and again and again.  When the psychopath guard got moved to another POW camp, he had Zamperini moved there too so he could continue to torment the American soldier.  As just one example among countless, the deranged Japanese man once had Zamperini and a few others stand in front of over hundred other prisoners and forced all of those prisoners to punch Zamperini as hard as they could in the face.  That day he took over two hundred punches to the face, passing out long before they were done.  At other times the guard took his metal belt buckle and whipped Zamperini in the face.  And yet, in the end, the madman did not break Zamperini—with superhuman strength and willpower, the American soldier survived the months of torture and after the war miraculously made his way home. 

             Zamperini struggled immensely for several years, filled with anger for the man who had tormented him, vowing he would return and kill him.  But then he became converted to the Lord, committed to devoting his life to Christ, and ultimately was able to forgive all of his captors.  Many years later when he found out that Watanabe was still alive, Zamperini wrote him a letter offering forgiveness and encouraging his former enemy to become a Christian.  He even tried to meet with his tormenter, but the Japanese man would not see him.  The incredible ability of Zamperini to forgive such a monster is the greatest miracle of the whole story in my mind.  He took to heart the words of the Savior, “Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you” (Luke 6:27-28).  He took to heart the words he probably never read from the Savior in this dispensation: “Of you it is required to forgive all men” (Doctrine and Covenants 64:10).  The Savior made no exceptions to that command; no exclusion for those who have committed the most heinous crimes like Watanabe.  That is surely the kind of forgiveness only possible through the grace and enabling power of the Savior who showed us the way, crying out as He was tortured on the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).  His story is similar to that of Corrie ten Boom who was able to forgive one of the guards who had kept her in a concentration camp.  This unbelievable ability to forgive and let go of hurt that these and others have displayed shows me that I have a long way to go, sometimes struggling just to forgive my own children for their mistakes.  Zamperini proved the truth of the words of the angel, “For with God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:37).  From surviving weeks on a raft in the Pacific ocean, to living for years through starvation and torture in prison camps, to finding forgiveness for the most evil of men, Zamperini showed that we “can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth [us]” (Philippians 4:13).