’Chaplain Ernst Gordon in his book "Through the Valley of the Quai" tells of the hardship prisoners of War during World War II as they were imprisoned by the Japanese army. These men wrote Chaplain Gordon were reduced to skeletons, riddled with disease, and the only way they could survive was by the law of the jungle,everyman for himself. They hated, the cursed, they stole; they watched one another die and looked forward to death as their only means of escape.
A few prisoners decided this was not the way they wanted, to live. They began to study their Bibles, they would offer prayer for the dying, and the atmosphere began to change in that prison. Eventually, a worship center was built, and many of the men began to come to worship. This reawakening of faith effected a miraculous change. in the morale or the prisoners. Instead of living by the law of the jungle, every man for himself, men were now willing to help another, care for one another, to love one another Chaplain Jordon writes, "This Church of the Spirit which the worship center was called, was the throbbing heart which gave life to the camp and transformed it in considerable measure from a mass of frightened individuals into a caring community. From this renewal, we received, the inspiration that made life possible. This inspiration
...