December 2004 Ensign - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

F I R S T P R E S I D E N C Y M E S S A G E
Peace The Power of
BY PRESIDENT JAMES E. FAUST
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
With all of you, I rejoice in this wonderful
holiday season. I am old
enough to have enjoyed many
Christmases. As I get older, I seem to enjoy
these special holidays more each year.
Perhaps this is because there are many
more than just our own families to love
and be loved by.
Among the Christmas experiences that are
etched most sharply in my memory are the
ones spent away from home and loved ones
while serving in the mission field or in military
service. Each Christmas when I was in the military
in World War II, I wondered when the terrible
suffering and agony of war would end
and we could all go home. And as we sang,
“Peace on earth, goodwill to men,” 1 I wondered
if the Germans and the Japanese who
were Christians were also singing this familiar
refrain with the same yearnings in their
hearts. Then it all ended 59 years ago after
the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan.
Mankind had never before seen such destructive
power. There was a concern in our hearts
about the beast that had been unleashed.
I would like to recount a story told by
Kenneth J. Brown, who was serving as a U.S.
Marine in Japan following the dropping
of the bomb. His moving story about a
Japanese Christian he met at Christmastime
in Nagasaki is as follows.
“I watched him turn from the street and
climb the path leading to our shelter. He was
groping, hesitating. As he came near he folded
his umbrella and stood quietly a long moment.
His thin coat soon dampened from the cold
rain that was falling from the same sky that
had brought death to nearly half his townspeople
three short months before. I concluded
that it must take some special courage
to confront one’s conquerors without invitation.
It was little wonder that he hesitated.
“His polite bow to me was no bow of submission.
Rather his squared shoulders and
lifted head let me feel as if I were looking up
at him even . . . though I towered over him a
foot or more. I recall being disturbed that I
hadn’t yet become used to the near sightless
eyes of those who had looked heavenward
that morning when the bomb dropped. . . .
The power of the Christ
has influenced for
good the hosts of His
followers on the earth
for more than 2,000
years. It is the power
in the knowledge that
Jesus Christ is our
Redeemer, our Savior.
ENSIGN DECEMBER 2004 3