One of the boldest stratagems of the Second World War involved the bombing of Tokyo shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Jacob DeShazer, one of the Doolittle’s raiders who participated in that assault, led a life fleeing from God until his captivity as a prisoner of the Japanese. His story and that of the commanding Japanese pilot in the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mitsuo Fushida, intertwine in a way only God could orchestrate through a series of remarkable providences. This story shows the hand of God in the lives of two relatively obscure warriors, which in the end resulted in the conversion of many Japanese people and the witness of the Gospel to untold thousands of others in the post war world. History is not only stranger than fiction, it displays the glory of God in amazing ways.

This seminar will survey the military history in the Bible. We will examine the weapons (some of them of massed destruction!) and interesting campaigns of Israel, Assyria, Babylonia and Egypt from a perspective not often pursued in biblical studies. We will also look at the Roman army as it appeared in the New Testament.