By Doug Bing, Washington Conferencep president
There is an interesting story that emerged in the aftermath of World War II. It is the story of Hitoshi Imamura.
He was a general who went to school with other notable Japanese figures from that time period, such as Tojo and Yamamoto. His story, however, ends much differently than theirs. Tojo was executed for war crimes, and Yamamoto was killed when his plane was shot down. General Hitoshi Imamura’s life ended in prison.
General Hitoshi, like many military leaders of that era, was tried for war crimes and was convicted. His conviction was for the atrocities that happened under his command. He was not convicted for actually giving the orders to commit the crimes, but because he did nothing to stop them from happening. Upon his conviction, he was sentenced to ten years in prison.
After his prison sentence was served, his life story took an interesting turn. He felt that his time in prison was not sufficient for the evil that had taken place. He then went into his backyard and had a prison cell constructed of the same size as the one he had lived in. He lived in that cell as if he were seeking some form of self-redemption to deal with the guilt of what the soldiers under his command had done. From there, he wrote books about his wartime experience and donated the proceeds to the relatives of the Allied prisoners who had been executed. He even pretended not to notice when some people passed themselves off as relatives when they were not—and he paid them anyway.
It is an interesting story, no doubt. The question that comes to mind for us, however, is this: What prison cell do we build for ourselves? What box are we putting ourselves in that no one else has put there? More importantly, what cell are we staying in that God has certainly not confined us to live in?
Micah 7:19 states: “He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” There are two forces in our world that are diametrically opposed in what they tell you. Satan wants you in prison. He wants to make sure you stay there. He wants to remind you of all that you have done—and he is very good at reminding.
God, however, says, “I understand what you have done. Let Me take care of it.” He gathers all those things together and says, “I am going to throw them into the bottom of the sea. They are gone. You are free in Jesus. There is no need to stay in the prison the devil wants for you.” Isn’t that good news?
So if you are in a self-imposed prison, thinking you have to stay there, open the door, take the hand of Jesus, and walk out into the life He has in store for you. That is why He came to be born as a baby. That is what the cross and the resurrection are all about—walking away from prison because the debt has been paid.