We Need Nimitz Faith This Fourth of July

President Biden’s debate disaster (exposing his deteriorating mental state) and some recent Supreme Court decisions have created a “gust” of possible renewal in the American nation. They are answers to prayer, and I will thoroughly discuss their impact in coming articles.

But this week we celebrate the “Glorious Cause” of the birth of the United States of America on July 4, 1776. As during colonial times, we face some formidable obstacles to the renewal/transformation of our declining civilization.

I believe we needs some sparks of courage and hope this Independence Day as we celebrate America.

We need Nimitz faith this Fourth of July.

Here’s what I mean.

We Need Nimitz Faith This Fourth of July

As we celebrate the 248th birthday of the United States of America this Thursday, I am reminded of the brave men and women who sacrificially protect our liberties. I also believe there would be no “America” if it weren’t for the providential hand of God on our nation over the past quarter of a millennium. 

Faith produces courage in a nation. But without God’s blessing, that faith is largely in vain.

The name “Nimitz” is very familiar to me. I’ve watched the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier leave the Kitsap Naval Base in Sinclair Inlet numerous times over the past thirty years to protect our freedoms around the world.

This monstrous ocean-going vessel can carry up to 5000 sailors. The USS Nimitz (CVN 68) is nearly 49 years old, having been commissioned into the US Navy on May 3, 1975. It is the oldest active US aircraft carrier in the world and is named after Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz.

Admiral Nimitz was an outsanding admiral in the United States Navy. He played a major role in the naval history of World War II as Commander in Chief, U.S Pacific Fleet, and Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas, and commanding Allied air, land, and sea forces during World War II. 

Nimitz was born on February 24, 1885 and died on February 20, 1966 (age 80 years). He earned his way to the pinnacle of the U.S. Navy, but more importantly, he led our naval victory over Japan in WWII.

Recently Nate Krupp, a longtime friend and evangelism mentor, sent me an article on how Admiral Nimitz responded to the ferocious attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, that launched our war with Japan in the Pacific Theater. The article is taken from the book Reflections on Pearl Harbor by Admiral Nimitz.

My faith was immediately strengthened when reading the courageous and wise words of Admiral Nimitz.

Here’s his remarkable view of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Let’s call it “The Rest of the News.” 

On Sunday, December 7, 1941, the “day of infamy” when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Admiral Chester Nimitz was attending a concert in Washington, D.C. He was paged and told there was a phone call for him. When he answered the phone, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt told him he was appointing Nimitz the new commander of the Pacific fleet.

Nimitz readied his affairs and flew to Honolulu, Hawaii, on Christmas Eve 1941. What he saw at Pearl Harbor was a spirit of despair, dejection, and defeat. You would have thought the Japanese had already won the war.

On Christmas Day, Nimitz was given a boat tour of the destruction wrought upon the Pearl Harbor fleet. Big sunken battleships and Navy vessels cluttered the waters every where you looked.

As the Admiral returned to the dock after viewing the devastation, the young helmsman of the boat asked him, “Well Admiral, what do you think after seeing all this destruction?”

Admiral Nimitz’s reply shocked everyone within the sound of his voice. He boldly stated,

“The Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could ever make, or God was taking care of America. Which do you think it was?”

Nimitz saw with faith–which found its hope in God.

The young helmsman asked incredulously, “What do you mean that the Japanese made three big mistakes?”

Nimitz explained: 

“Mistake number one was the Japanese attacked on Sunday morning. Nine out of every ten crewmen aboard those ships were ashore on leave. If those same ships had been lured to sea and sunk, we would have lost 38,000 men instead of 3,800.”

He continued:

“Mistake number two was that when the Japanese saw all those ships lined up in a row, they got so carried away sinking the battleships that they never once bombed our drydocks that were opposite the ships. If they had destroyed our drydocks, we would have had to tow every single ship to the mainland to be repaired.

As it is now, the ships are in shallow water and can be raised. One tug can pull them over to the drydocks and we can have them repaired and at sea by the time we could tow them back to the American mainland. I already have crews ashore anxious to man those ships.”

Nimitz concluded:

“Mistake number three was that every drop of fuel in the Pacific Theater is contained above ground in storage tanks that are five miles away over that hill (he pointed in that direction). One Japanese attack plane could have strafed those tanks and destroyed our entire fuel supply.”

“That’s why I say the Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes attack force could make–or God was taking care of America.”

Nimitz saw the half-full glass, not the half empty one. And he gazed on it through the eyes of “In God We Trust.”

Admiral Nimitz was a Texan, born and raised in Fredericksburg, Texas. Maybe he had “big vision” because he was from the Lonestar State. But he was born an optimist by nature and “born again” through his faith Jesus Christ.

Anyway you look at it, Admiral Nimitz was able to see a silver lining in the situation and circumstance where everyone else saw only despair and defeat.

President Roosevelt had chosen the right man for the job. We desperately needed a leader in 1941 who could see silver linings in the midst of the clouds of dejection, despair, and defeat.

We have the same need in 2024.

There are many evil regimes threatening world peace and freedom in our day. They include Communist China, totalitarian Russia, jihadist Iran, and unpredictable North Korea. Inspired by invisible demonic forces, these and other dictatorial nations want to wreak havoc in the 21st century as Germany and Japan did in the 20th.

We must be people like Admiral Nimitz “who understand the times with a knowledge of what [God’s People] should do” (1 Chronicles 12:32).

We need “Nimitz faith” this Independence Day–and the courage and resolve that go with it.

Ask God for a “gust of faith” in your own life–and do then your part  praying and working for an American and worldwide spiritual awakening.