Saved in a War Zone [Tract]

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We sat on the ground with our automatic rifles across our laps.

It was constant danger in South Vietnam, and we didn’t go anywhere without our rifles, not even to a little outdoor church service in the middle of the battalion base camp.

Captain Gunther was the chaplain, a dear Christian man who loved the Lord Jesus. He was one of God’s faithful servants during the Vietnam War who risked his own life by holding these little services for any soldiers who would come. He couldn’t hold the services on a regular basis, so an assistant would work around to our foxholes to tell us when he was planning to hold a service.

I only had a chance to attend these services a couple of times, as the heavy fighting pressed in on us. However, I began to be deeply concerned that with the heavy fighting, my days could be numbered. Fighting in a war is brutal. We were losing men almost every day, and I knew I wasn’t ready to die.

I was nineteen years old, as were most of my buddies fighting beside me in the war.

I knew I was a sinner, and reality was sinking in that I probably would not come out of the war alive. I thought I’d never see my home again. Those fears made me decide I had better get the matter of my sins settled with God, so I attended the next church service when I was able to leave the foxhole for the thirty-minute service.

This time I hung onto every word of the chaplain’s message.

At the beginning of the services, Captain Gunther took an old cassette player out of a plastic bag and shook off the dust. He pushed the button, and scratchy organ music began to play. Then he passed out old, outdated programs from Bible talks that had been held back in the U.S. in various churches.

These old programs told the wonderful story of God’s love for sinners. He read Romans 3:23 to us: “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” That I already knew. Then he read 1 Timothy 1:15: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” and he explained that the Lord Jesus suffered and died for sinners on Calvary’s cross so we could be saved from our sins. That was the answer I needed!

After the service, Captain Gunther asked if anyone wanted to remain behind to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour.

The three soldiers who didn’t were dismissed, and they picked up their rifles and returned to their positions just inside the barbed wire.

I was one of two soldiers who stayed behind, and right then and there I accepted the Lord Jesus as my very own Saviour, believing that His suffering on the cross was for my sins. I left that little service with peace in my heart, knowing that if I died in the war, I would go to be with my Saviour in heaven. There were two of us saved that day.

It wasn’t long after that that we were involved in heavy fighting. Our point man took a direct hit. The rest of us tried to reach him while still in close combat, but he died. Then my machine gunner got hit and was killed. I was beside him carrying the ammunition for the machine gun. Then I took a hit that paralyzed my leg but was able to roll into a ditch that was in front of us where I took cover from more incoming fire. Combat medics soon treated me.

We lost a lot of brave soldiers that day, but God saved my life. After surgery, I was flown to an American hospital in Japan and then back to the U.S., bringing a “souvenir” with me — a bullet that couldn’t be removed because of its location. It is a reminder of how close I came to death. But of more importance, I also brought back something in my heart that is very special and precious to me — my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who loves me and died for me more than two thousand years ago. He has promised, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5). He was with me in the foxhole and He was with me in that ditch.

Is He your Saviour too? I found Him in a war zone, but you can find Him and accept Him as your Saviour right where you are … right now.

“What must I do to be saved? … Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:30‑31).

“God [commends] His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).