I Surrender All (The Story Of Lt. Hiroo Onoda, The Last Japanese Soldier)

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

(Romans 12:1-2)

On March 10, 1974, almost 30 years after the end of World War II, Lt. Hiroo Onoda finally handedover his rusty sword and become the last Japanese soldier to surrender.

Onoda had been sent to Lubang Island in Mindoro in 1944, with orders to conduct guerilla warfare and prevent enemy attack in the island. For 29 years, long after all his fellow soldiers had either surrendered or been killed off, Onoda continued defending the island territory for the defeated Japanese army. He hid in the jungle, living off the land, stealing food and supplies from local citizens, evading one search party after another and killing at least 30 nationals in the process.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent trying to locate the lone hold out and convince him that the war is over. Leaflets, newspapers, photographs, and letters from friends were dropped in the jungle, announcements were made over loudspeakers, begging Onoda to surrender.

Still he refused to give up his fight. Some 1,300 men had been deployed in the effort before Onoda finally received a personal command from his former commander and was persuaded to give up the futile, solitary war he had waged for so many years. In his autobiography entitled: “NO SURRENDER: My Thirty Year War” Onoda describes the moment that the reality of what had transpired began to sink in: “I felt like a fool…what had I been doing for all these years? For the first time I really understood…this was the end. I pulled back the bolt of my rifle and unloaded the bullets…I eased off the pack that I always carried with me and laid the gun on top of it. THE WAR WAS FINALLY OVER.”

Lesson:

1. Onoda’s story, is our story as well. We are fighting our own personal war against the sovereign King of the universe. Some express their resistance overtly, perhaps through a lifestyle of unbridled lust and perversion. Others are more subtle – they are active in church work – but beneath the surface, running his own life and unwilling to be mastered by Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

2. In Onoda’s case, he had become accustomed to living as lone guerilla soldier, moving from one jungle hideout to another. By the time he was 52 years old he scarcely knew any other way to live. Resisting, running, and hiding had become the norm – the way of life with which he was most familiar and comfortable.

You may have made a profession of faith; you may have long considered yourself a Christian and others may assume that you are a Christian but you have never waved the white flag of surrender to Christ; you have never relinquished the right to run your own life. In short, YOU HAVE NEVER TRULY BEEN BORN AGAIN.

3. If you claim to be a follower of Christ while living in denial about certain areas of your life that are not pleasing to him, my desire is to help you see the truth – YOU ARE NOT LIVING FULLY SURRENDERED LIFE, no matter how many people may think of you as a “GOOD CHRISTIAN”.

4. It is an IRREFUTABLE TRUTH with which every human being must come to terms, sooner of later. THOSE WHO RESIST his sovereign lordship set themselves up to be TYRANIZED by other lords.

(From Rev. Teofilito A. Rufon’s Sunday Worship Messages)