Preserved by God
Now a man from the house of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son … But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. Exodus 2:1-3
The baby was Moses, Israel’s future deliverer.
Many Christians have a testimony of how God preserved them supernaturally before they came to faith. Mitsuo Fuchida is one.
Born into an isolated Japanese rural community, Mitsuo’s leadership potential was quickly recognised. He joined the Japanese navy and soon grew in stature as a pilot. World War 2 saw him flying missions in China and Ceylon before leading the attack on Pearl Harbor.
He survived a crash that killed everyone else in his plane in Borneo and recovered just in time for the Battle of Midway. Appendicitis struck the day before the raid. Disobeying doctors’ orders he struggled to reach the upper deck of his aircraft carrier just as American planes attacked and eventually sunk it. Everyone below decks perished.
Of the seven commanders and thirty two squadron leaders who started the war with him, he was the only one to survive. He was unexpectedly called out of Hiroshima the day before the atom bomb was dropped on the city. The Japanese government sent in a research team of seventy men to survey the bomb’s damage immediately after. Fuchida was the only team member to survive. None of the men had protective clothing because the effects of radiation were unknown to them.
Astounded at how Christians expressed forgiveness to the Japanese as the war ended, Mitsuo Fuchida bought a New Testament. Reading of Christ’s forgiveness to those who crucified him, the man broke and gave his life to Christ. This was in April, 1950.
Speaking opportunities slowly grew until by 1955, Fuchida had spoken to more than 200,000 people in over 600 meetings in many countries of the world. By the time of his death in 1976 this trophy of God’s grace had preached all over the world and won thousands to the Saviour.
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