The Conscientious Objector to Be Shown on PAX TV Memorial Day

[Paul Beach]

Dear friends,

Mrs. Gray has learned that the Adventist documentary, "The Conscientious Objector" about Desmond Doss will be shown on the PAX Television Network at 9:00 pm Eastern / Pacific or at 8:00 pm for those of you who go to bed early in the Central time zone.

This is particularly good news for those of you from the weird and wacky state of Wisconsin where the campmeeting staff cancelled this excellent presentation last year because of "the language." Perhaps the saints in that milky state ate too much cheese that year. Mrs. Gray does not know if Wisconsin is in the the central or eastern time zone and did not look it up, so please watch at 8:00. If it is not on yet, then come back at 9:00.

The documentary is described as "The Conscientious Objector:

The Documentary Of Private 1st Class

Desmond T. Doss

Monday, May 30th 9/8c

The true story of a humble and deeply spiritual young soldier who overcame the stigma and ridicule of being a conscientious objector at a time when non-combatants were labeled as cowards. Through faith and determination, he met every challenge placed in his way to earn the admiration of the Army and a Nation in being awarded America's highest military distinction... 'THE CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR' "

This film also goes into detail about the Sabbath and is very inspirational.

More information is available at http://www.pax.tv/movies/

This is especially important for those of you who have cable television - they need to get high ratings on this show.

Tell your friends!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Gray

[Paul Beach]

Please watch this show. This post was added to put it to the top of the list.

[Jeannieb43]

I definitely plan to watch.

It's not easy finding PAX channel on our cable listing, as it's not one of the channels listed. However, by looking at today's newspaper I found the program listed... and will try to find that channel tonight on my cable.

I'm old enough to have seen Desmond Doss when he returned from the war. I was in elementary school in Takoma Park at the time he was awarded the medal by Pres. Truman.

He was truly "the unlikeliest hero." (i.e., he didn't come from Central Casting....) But all it took was courage. And faith in God.

[Ron Lambert]

A really good movie. Ironic that some of the officers who gave him a hard time, wound up being saved by him later. Interesting the testimony of the Japanese soldier who said he had Doss in his sights all day long while Doss was tending to 75 men and lowering them down the escarpment by rope one at a time. He said every time he tried to squeeze the trigger, his gun jammed. Doss routinely moved calmly tending to the wounded in combat with bullets and grenade shrapnel flying all around, and he never received a scratch.

But then the question arises, why did God allow him to be injured at the end, by the grenade, which left lots of shrapnel in his body and shattered his arm? And then why did God allow an overdose of antibiotics to cause him to become legally deaf?

My guess is that God allowed this for Doss' sake, to give him a constant reminder of his frailty, as a means of protecting him from becoming lifted up in pride of life--especially since the SDA church ever since has constantly made a fuss about him, and held him up as an example. He remains a humble man. He visited at my church in Michigan a couple of months ago. He frequently shows up at Pathfinder Fairs and Campmeetings.

I find it astonishing that anyone could be so courageous as Doss was.

By the way, if anyone is interested in a somewhat similar case of a conscientious objector, and SDA, serving in the German army during WWII, by all means get a copy of A Thousand Shall Fall, by Susi Hasel Mondy (2001 by Review and Herald Publishing Associatio). It is available from Amazon.com for $10.39 new, or $8.25 and up new or used. The book also relates many stories of the experiences of his wife and children back in Berlin, including some stunningly miraculous deliverances.

At one point, while Corporal Franz Hasel's engineers unit was deep inside Russia, his CO asked him if Germany were going to lose the war. He gave him a Bible study on Daniel two, and left him with the words, "they shall not cleave one to another." The CO said nothing, but from that point on began to make every effort to conserve fuel. When the war ended, and many German units ran out of fuel and were left stranded and had to make their way on foot through hostile land, Hasel's unit was one of the few that had enough fuel to make it safely home to Germany in their motorized vehicles.

Franz' grandson, Michael, used to be the pastor of my church, and he told me some of the stories in the book.