Rev. Shigeo Shimada (1906-1984) was born in Japan and began to follow Christ through his sister’s influence. After his father disowned him for believing a “foreign” religion, Shimada immigrated to America for seminary studies. He arrived with his broken English and only $200 in his pocket, yet he clung to the truth that the same God who saved him in Japan would provide for him in a foreign country.[1] He eventually married a Nisei wife and pastored Japanese Methodist churches in Alameda, San Francisco, and Spokane. Though he had planned to return to his homeland after completing his studies, the Lord directed his steps to shepherd Nikkei Christians during World War II and its aftermath. For just such a time, Shimada exhorted the Alameda Japanese Methodist Church on the Sunday before evacuation:
You and I are and will be suffering a great deal because of this war. This is an opportunity to test our Christian faith. Let us meet all suffering face to face and endure the coming tribulations patiently. Let us not give up hope, whatever our trial may be. I assure you that a new, better world will be born through our suffering just as a new life is born through the sacrifice and suffering of a mother who gives birth to a child. Remember, you are all Christians and you are all citizens of the kingdom of God. The Issei people are called enemy aliens, and unfortunately the Nisei are treated like aliens as well. However, we must not become enemy aliens of God. Please behave as children of God wherever you may go and whatever your situation may be.[2]
Shimada prepared his congregation just as the apostle Peter had bolstered persecuted Christians during the Roman Empire (1 Peter 4:12-13). Suffering for the Christian should not be strange or unexpected, but an opportunity to joyfully share in the sufferings of Christ. Like a wooden beam proves its strength under the weight of a heavy load, believers reveal Christ’s glory by the extent they suffer for his sake. Thus, Shimada viewed the church’s tribulation as an opportunity to test their faith. As James had implored first-century Christians displaced from their homes and scattered: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4). James did not say “if,” but rather “when” trials come, for suffering in a fallen world was inevitable for Christians. James also promised multifaceted trials because, like the Japanese Americans on the Sunday before evacuation, he could not exhaustively foresee every potential hardship. Believers were to prepare for whatever might come and rejoice in the truth that faithfully enduring those trials would make them more like their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
They were also to pray for wisdom in these difficult times: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (v. 5). Shimada counseled his church how to face their trials boldly and to endure them with wisdom. They were not to flee from suffering or falter in their faith “like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind” (v. 6). Instead, they were to persevere with the hope that not only would they be sanctified by their trials, but that they would emerge from their suffering to a new and better world. Suffering would lead to glory just as a mother’s joy in her newborn infant replaces the pain of childbirth (John 16:21; Romans 8:20-23).
Shimada also reminded his people that they were Christians—“little Christs” who bore the image of God (Genesis 1:27; 2 Corinthians 4:5-7). They were therefore to represent Christ in the way they lived and in their response to suffering (1 Peter 2:18-23). As Paul wrote, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies” (2 Corinthians 4:8-10). Although two-thirds of the evacuees were U.S. citizens, Nikkei Christians were to live as citizens of God’s kingdom (Ephesians 2:19). As children of God, they were spiritual royalty (John 1:12) and guaranteed an eternal inheritance as co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:14-17). They might be called enemy aliens by earthly foes and have all of their possessions seized. They might lose houses and farms, businesses and churches, but they would never lose their standing with God. Thus, Shimada exhorted them not to become hostile toward or alienated from the everlasting faithful God who promised to never leave them nor forsake them (Matthew 28:20b; Hebrews 13:5b). He urged them to live as children of the King in whichever place God called them to be royal ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20).
Shimada himself would soon be tested as he joined other Japanese Americans being temporarily housed in assembly centers around the country. Evacuation orders came so quickly that the relocation centers were not yet ready for residents. So Shimada recounted how he, his wife, and her mother were assigned to live in one of the filthiest horse stables at the Tanforan Assembly Center, a former racetrack ten miles south of San Francisco. They slept in an old horse stall which had been whitewashed inside without first being cleaned. Linoleum had been placed on the floor directly atop a pile of manure. The putrid smell filled the air day-and-night until it saturated their hair and clothes. Shimada greatly resented being treated like an animal until, reflecting on Christ’s sacrifice, his mind was renewed (Romans 12:1-2):
As I fretted over this unfortunate circumstance, my thoughts turned to Jesus Christ who was born in a stable that must have been much worse than ours. It was not whitewashed. The floor was not covered with linoleum. It must have been filthy with the manure of animals. . . . It was fortunate that Mary had cloths; otherwise baby Jesus would have been wrapped with straw just like a baby animal. Yet Mary and Joseph did not complain about their miserable situation. When the shepherds came to meet Jesus and worship him, it was a heavenly picture. I am sure that the stable was full of glory. However, in another stable of the twentieth century there was nothing but the spirit of resentment and bitterness. Why such a difference between the two stables? It was a difference of the hearts. Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds were profoundly related with God, whereas God was absent in my heart in our stable. I was deeply ashamed of myself. When I realized that being put in a stable as the holy family had been was a unique experience, a spirit of peace replaced the resentment and bitterness in my heart.[3]
Shimada’s situation did not change. He had not been transported out of the stable and the horse manure still reeked just as badly. His heart was changed, however, by reflecting on Christ, who had been born as a helpless babe in a smelly stable: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law” (Galatians 4:4). His joy was not found in the absence of sorrow, but in the presence of God.
God’s Word consistently teaches that believers are not rescued from circumstances, but through them: “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). God’s “way of escape” is often provided through his power to endure the suffering. Daniel prayed in the den of lions (Daniel 6). Paul and Silas sang praises in prison (Acts 16:19-26). Jesus went willingly to the cross for the joy set before him (Philippians 2:8; see Luke 22:42; Hebrews 12:2). So also, a believer’s faith is not determined by circumstances, but rather his response to circumstances.
After five months in Tanforan, Shimada and his family were transferred to the Topaz Relocation Center in Utah where agitators often accused Christian ministers of being pro-American spies. The senior minister, Rev. Taro Goto, was even attacked one night and almost killed. Shimada had to sleep with a guard outside his bunkhouse, yet he continued to faithfully shepherd the flock which God had given him in the camp (1 Peter 5:1-4). Like Jesus, he was willing to lay down his life for the sheep (John 10:11), for he was no hired hand who fled from ministry when times were difficult (vv. 12-13). He would pastor his people at the risk of his own life.
Throughout the war, Shimada remained loyal to America despite the ill-treatment against Japanese Americans (Romans 13:1). He called his fellow Nikkei to exercise charitable judgment toward the U.S. government. Although he acknowledged the internment had been a terrible decision which brought much sorrow to innocent people, he stated, “It is not fair to judge an action taken during the hysteria of war with the same severity we would judge the same action taken in a calm and peaceful atmosphere. War came suddenly to the American people; they were not ready for war.”[4] Shimada demonstrated an attitude of forgiveness even before America admitted doing wrong.[5] Like his Savior who had hung upon the cross, he could say with compassion: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34a).
Shimada’s Christ-like love permeated all of his words and actions. As he once wrote to encourage a young Nisei soldier who had volunteered to fight in the U.S. army:
I am sure through your own dedication you can understand the great meaning of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. He dedicated himself to the kingdom of God just as you have dedicated yourself to the beautiful America that you hold in your heart. Jesus Christ fought a good fight, and when the time came, he sacrificed himself on his battle front, the cross. I want you to fight bravely for your nation and for humanity, and if it is necessary, sacrifice yourself for your nation just as Jesus Christ did on the cross for the kingdom of God.[6]
The soldier wept over that letter and shared it with many Japanese American volunteers in his regiment. He was killed in action only a few weeks later, honored by his country and honored by the Lord.[7]
After the war, Shimada continued to pastor Japanese American churches. He also had the privilege of leading his aged father to Christ over twenty-five years after his father had disowned him and thrown him into the street. The Lord rewarded Shimada’s sacrifice of faith by transforming his father’s heart to trust in Jesus. Like Abraham, Rev. Shimada could truly declare that God had blessed him, so that he could be a blessing to others (Genesis 12:1-3).
[1] Shigeo Shimada, A Stone Cried Out: The True Story of Simple Faith in Difficult Days (Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1986), 13. The title of Shimada’s autobiography is taken from Luke 19:40, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
[2] Ibid., 122.
[3] Ibid., 123-24.
[4] Ibid., 124.
[5] The U.S. government eventually issued repeated apologies to the Japanese American people.
[6] Shimada, A Stone Cried Out, 132.
[7] The 442nd Regimental Combat Unit, consisting solely of Japanese American soldiers, became the most decorated military unit for its size and length of service with 18,143 decorations for bravery. Ironically, many families still behind barbed wire displayed a banner in their window with one or sometimes two gold stars signifying the sons they had lost in battle.
