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Series Code: TIJ
Program Code: TIJ005107S
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00:24 Charles (Charlie Brown) and his crew should have died
00:28 a fiery death in the frozen fields of Germany on the 00:31 20th of December 1943. 00:34 You see, Charlie Brown, a farm boy from West Virginia, USA 00:39 was the captain of the B-17 Flying Fortress Bomber called 00:44 "Ye Old Pub". During a bombing run over Germany the plane was 00:49 hit by anti-aircraft fire then attacked by Luftwaffe fighters. 00:54 The bomber was crippled and limping back home to England. 00:58 It certainly didn't look like they wouldn't make it out of 01:02 Germany alive. But their survival wasn't due to Charlie's 01:07 flying skills, it was due instead to the mercy of a 01:11 veteran German fighter ace Franz Stigler who instead of 01:16 finishing off the bomber, decided to show mercy and 01:20 escorted the plane to safety. 01:22 Charlie Brown's miracle is one of the greatest examples of 01:26 mercy to come from the annals of the II World War. 01:30 Unknown to Franz Stigler, as a result of his act of mercy 01:35 he not only blessed the men on the B-17 and their families, 01:39 but he himself received a blessing 01:43 although he wasn't to know it for many years. 01:45 Join me as we follow the amazing journey of two men who first met 01:52 in combat in the skies above Germany. 02:14 Here by the Sea of Galilee Jesus gave us the Beatitudes, 02:18 they are part of what is known as the Sermon on the Mount 02:22 where Jesus outlined the eight principles for living. 02:26 But the Beatitudes aren't just spiritual principles, 02:30 they've been influential in developing western civilization 02:35 as we know it today. Each Beatitude begins with 02:39 the work Blessed. Jesus means that if you display these 02:44 qualities you will be blissfully happy, this is the 02:49 happiness that can come only from God. 02:52 In other words, when in your life, you have the qualities 02:57 Jesus describes in the Beatitudes, you will share 03:00 in the joy of heaven here on earth. It's the only way to 03:05 to truly live. Among the Beati- tudes He said in Matthew 5:7. 03:18 Like each of the Beatitudes there is a great truth hidden 03:22 in this radical contradiction and this great truth 03:26 can be seen played out in the Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler 03:31 incident in World War II. 03:32 Charles Brown, the young American bomber pilot 03:39 did his training in one of these North American Harvard trainers, 03:44 Harvard's were built in greater numbers than most other 03:48 combat aircraft during World War II. Over 17,000 of these 03:54 American single-engine advanced trainers were produced. 03:58 And were used by all of the allied forces during 04:01 during World War II as pilot trainers. 04:04 Harvard's were used to train pilots of the US Army Air Forces 04:09 the US Navy, The Royal Air Force, and other air forces 04:13 of the British Commonwealth. 04:15 Brown completed his bomber training course by the time 04:20 he was 21 years old and was soon thrust into the heat of battle. 04:24 On the 20th of December 1943 he found himself over Germany 04:31 struggling to keep his plane flying, only one of its four 04:36 engines was still working. 04:38 They were returning from their first combat mission together 04:42 as a crew on the B-17 Fortress Bomber called "Ye Old Pub" 04:47 their mission had been the bombing of targets near the 04:51 German city of Bremen but on the way back to the RAF 04:55 Airfield in England, Brown's B-17 had been attacked by 05:00 fifteen German fighter planes and left for dead. 05:04 Brown had been knocked out in the assault regaining 05:08 consciousness in just enough time to pull the plane out of a 05:12 near-fatal nosedive. Of his crew members, 05:16 one was dead and six wounded and II Lieutenant Brown was 05:22 alone in his cockpit. The three uninjured men were tending to 05:27 the others. At first Charlie Brown didn't notice the German 05:32 fighter plane to his right, he was desperately trying to 05:36 work out what he had to do he had six wounded men 05:40 in the back. The chances that he would make it back to England 05:45 were very slim, some of his men were strong enough to parachute 05:50 but the critically injured would never survive the experience. 05:55 Brown's co-pilot Pinky re- entered the cockpit 05:59 we're staying he said, the guys all decided, 06:03 you're going to need help to fly this girl home. 06:07 But suddenly Brown wasn't listening, he was looking past 06:13 Pinky frozen, Pinky turned to his right and saw the German 06:19 Messerschmitt 109 near them. Brown finally spoke, 06:23 he's going to destroy us he said. The pilot of the 06:29 Messerschmitt 109 fighter plane was German Ace Franz Stigler 06:34 he had every reason to shoot down the American B-17 bomber 06:39 in front of him. Enemy forces had already killed his brother 06:44 early in the war and they were now bombing German cities 06:48 Not only that but if Stigler shot down this bomber 06:53 he would reach the demanding number of kills to be awarded 06:57 the Knight's Cross, the highest honor for bravery for a 07:02 German soldier in World War II. But as Stigler prepared 07:06 to squeeze the trigger, the thought occurred to him 07:09 that it was strange that the bomber wasn't firing back at him. 07:12 He went in for a closer look and he saw that the plane 07:16 had no tail guns blinking, no tail gun compartment and no less 07:22 left stabilizer, in fact, Stigler could see straight through the 07:27 middle of the plane where the skin had been blown apart 07:30 by shells. Then he could see the terrified young crew 07:34 trying to tend to their wounded, even the nose of the plane had 07:39 been blown away. 07:40 How was this plane still in the air? 07:44 It was then that Stigler remembered the words of his 07:48 first commanding officer Lieutenant Gustav Rudall 07:51 who had told him. 08:13 Stigler had been taught that if he survived the war, 08:18 he needed to know that he fought with honor and humanity. 08:22 Now, let's go back to Charlie Brown, he thought he was 08:28 hallucinating, the German had flown over to Brown's left 08:33 and was frantically pointing and saying words that Brown 08:36 couldn't understand. Stigler was trying to tell Brown 08:40 to land his plane at a German airfield and surrender or 08:44 divert to nearby Sweden. But Brown and his crew didn't 08:50 understand what Stigler was trying to say so Stigler just 08:54 stayed flying beside the stricken B-17. 08:57 Stigler had flown beside the B-17 over German-occupied 09:03 territory and all the time Brown was anxiously wondering 09:07 what was going on. 09:09 Eventually, it all got too much for Brown who craned his neck 09:14 and yelled back at his top gunner, screaming at him 09:18 to get back into his turret and shoot this German down. 09:22 But before the gunner could bet back there to take a shot, 09:26 the German looked Brown in the eye and gave him a salute, 09:31 then he peeled away. Stigler had escorted the plane so that 09:37 the German anti-aircraft guns wouldn't shoot it and 09:41 he had seen it safely all the to the North Sea 09:44 Eventually against all odds Brown managed to land his B-17 09:50 back in England. Stigler never mentioned this incident 09:55 as he could have been Court Marshaled, he lived in fear 09:59 he'd be found out and he was unable to ever feel at home 10:04 in Germany again. 10:05 He eventually immigrated to Canada in 1953 where he became 10:11 a successful businessman. Stigler often wondered if the 10:15 crew of the B-17 had made it safely back to England. 10:19 Although Brown had reported to his commanding officers 10:22 how a German pilot had saved their lives, they told him 10:27 not to tell anyone so as to not encourage any positive 10:31 feelings toward the enemy, Brown said... 10:42 Charley Brown served in the US forces right up until the 10:46 beginning of the Vietnam War and eventually settled with 10:50 his wife in Miami before moving to Seattle. 10:53 But the question of what had happened over Germany 10:58 always haunted him. So aside from telling their wives 11:03 the men had rarely spoken of that encounter. 11:06 Brown in particular had been deeply traumatized by 11:11 the incident. In 1996 the now retired Lieut. Col. Brown was 11:18 asked to speak at a reunion for combat pilots called 11:21 A Gathering of the Eagles. 11:23 Someone asked him if he had flown any memorable missions 11:28 during World War II, well he thought for a moment 11:32 and recalled the story of Stigler's escort and salute 11:36 and that was the first time that Brown spoke publicly 11:41 about the incident. 11:42 The response about Brown's presentation was strong 11:46 although it seemed such and unlikely story that some 11:50 questioned whether it had happened the way that Brown 11:53 remembered. Even Brown him- self-wondered whether his 11:58 memories of that day were accurate and that's why after 12:02 giving his talk Brown decided, he would try to find the 12:06 unknown German Pilot. For four years Brown searched 12:11 through Air Force records in both the USA and in Germany 12:15 to try to find a clue to the identity of the other pilot, 12:20 but nothing turned up. 12:22 Eventually in 1990 when living in Seattle, Brown placed an add 12:29 Brown placed an ad in a Combat Association newsletter. 12:32 At home in Vancouver Stigler saw the ad, he yelled to 12:38 his wife, this is him, this is the one I didn't shoot down. 12:43 Immediately he wrote a letter to Brown and that's how 12:48 five decades after that fateful December bombing run Brown 12:53 received a letter from Stigler who wrote "I was the one" 13:00 But Brown was too impatient to actually read it, he looked 13:03 for the phone number and called Stigler immediately. 13:07 Tears were streaming down Brown's face as he realized 13:12 from Stigler's detailed account that he was indeed finally 13:16 speaking to the man who had saved his life so many years ago. 13:21 Amazingly Franz Stigler and Charlie Brown had been living 13:26 just over 300 kilometers from each other for many years. 13:30 In gratitude for his act of mercy, Brown made Stigler 13:36 the guest of honor at a reunion he organized with his crewmen 13:40 from "Ye Old Pub". The crewman showed Stigler a video 13:45 of their children and grand- children people who would not 13:48 have been alive if it were not for his act of mercy. 13:52 In fact, Franz and Charlie became close friends for the rest 13:58 of their lives. both men felt that together they should 14:02 tell their story to as many people as possible to help them 14:07 that there's always another way, a better way that the world 14:13 could be infinitely better than it is. 14:17 They both died of heart attacks within a few months of 14:21 each other in 2008, Stigler was 92 and Brown was 87. 14:28 In their obituaries, each was listed as a brother of the other. 14:34 We live in a world where mercy seems to be an exception 14:42 rather than the rule. When we hear of stories of 14:47 mercy such as the story of Franz Stigler we're impressed because 14:53 we experience and hear so much of the opposite. 14:56 We are used to hatred, cruelty, violence, and revenge 15:01 yet, when Jesus said blessed are the merciful for they will 15:06 be shown mercy. He was describing the standard rule of 15:11 God's kingdom, (the norm). Christ teaching here about 15:15 mercy isn't just an isolated random teaching in the Bible, 15:20 it's a principle which runs consistently all the way 15:25 through the New Testament. The apostle James wrote... 15:34 And Jesus said... 15:44 Since mercy is so important what precisely are the 15:50 characteristics of mercy? 15:51 Well, Jesus told a story to answer that very question. 15:55 It's the story of the good Samaritan in the 10th chapter 16:00 of the Bible Book of Luke. 16:02 There was once a Jewish man traveling from Jerusalem to 16:06 Jericho, on the way he was attacked by robbers, 16:10 they stripped him of his clothes beat him up and left him for 16:14 dead by the side of the road. Luckily a priest was on his way 16:19 down the same road, but when he saw the man, he ignored him 16:24 and crossed to the other side of the road. 16:27 Then a respectable temple assistant came along, 16:31 he walked over and looked at the man lying there but then 16:35 he also crossed to the other side of the road and avoided 16:38 the injured man. Next, a hated Samaritan, a people who had been 16:44 the despised enemy of Jews for generations came along. 16:49 When he saw the man's condition his heart went out to him, 16:53 he gave him first aid, soothed his wounds and bandaged them. 16:58 Then he lifted him onto his donkey and led him into an Inn 17:02 and made him comfortable. In the morning the Samaritan 17:06 took out two silver coins and gave them to the Innkeeper 17:10 saying take good care of him, if it costs any more, 17:14 put it on my bill, I'll pay you on my way back. 17:18 After telling this story, Jesus asked a very pointed question. 17:23 Which of the three men was a good neighbor? 17:27 The third one, the one who showed him mercy 17:31 his audience responded. 17:34 From this story, we see that first, a merciful person sees 17:39 the distress of another. He or she doesn't ignore it for any 17:43 reason, whether for religious reasons, cultural, or political 17:47 reasons, or for reasons of self-interest. 17:51 Second, a merciful person responds internally from a heart 17:56 of compassion for another in need. 17:59 A merciful person feels compassion for another 18:02 because they are able to put themselves inside the skin 18:06 of the one who is suffering. 18:08 Third. A merciful person doesn't just feel for another, 18:13 they actually do something for them. 18:16 They make a practical effort to relieve the suffering. 18:20 They don't just respond internally, but externally 18:24 through their actions. 18:26 Fourth. A merciful person doesn't discriminate between 18:31 people, they respond with mercy even when the person 18:35 in distress is an enemy. Right in the heart of the Lord's 18:39 Prayer are these words... 19:01 So, how do we become merciful? Well, Jesus didn't say 19:08 "Blessed are the merciful without any context" 19:11 Try to this here taught... 19:24 These first four Beatitudes reflect our total dependence 19:29 on God. The last four represent how this dependence is reflected 19:35 in our lives. This Beatitude about mercy is the first 19:41 in this last set of four. You see mercy comes from a heart 19:47 that has first felt its spiritual bankruptcy. 19:50 A heart that grieves sin, a heart that has learned to wait 19:54 meekly on the Lord. It comes when we hunger and thirst for 19:59 the righteousness that we know that we need ourselves. 20:03 When we have walked the road of the Beatitudes, 20:06 then we will be merciful to others. Mercy comes from mercy, 20:13 the mercy we show to each other comes when we have understood 20:17 and accepted God's mercy to us. As a sequence of the Beatitudes 20:23 tells us, the key to becoming a merciful person is to recognize 20:28 our brokenness and our total dependence on God and His mercy. 20:33 Notice what the Bible says here in Hebrews 4:16... 20:50 And then it says this in Ephesians 2:4,5... 21:12 Yes, mercy comes from mercy. The mercy we show to each other 21:17 comes when we have experienced God's mercy to us. 21:22 Jesus said that the merciful will receive mercy. 21:27 The citizens of the kingdom of God will reflect in their own 21:31 hearts how every perfectly the heart of God. 21:35 They are recipients of God's mercy and therefore they are 21:40 dispensers of mercy, they've received God's mercy and 21:45 therefore they show and share 21:47 God's mercy. It's the natural process. 21:51 Being merciful is a characteristic that is contrary 21:56 to human nature, mercy doesn't come naturally. 22:00 For someone to be merciful requires them to have a new 22:04 heart which only God can provide. This is ultimately why 22:10 showing mercy to others isn't a condition of receiving 22:14 God's blessing. Rather it's a result of having been blessed 22:19 by God, this is why it is the merciful who will receive mercy. 22:25 Jesus isn't saying it is because they are merciful 22:30 that God will show mercy to them, no, instead, 22:34 He's saying that showing mercy to others demonstrates that we 22:38 are Christians, followers of Christ. 22:41 There is no better evidence that we have been forgiven by God 22:46 than our willingness to forgive others. 22:49 Throughout the Bible God gives us six different ways in which 22:55 we can show mercy. When we forgive others, we are showing 23:00 mercy as we've already seen. When we show compassion 23:04 for others, we are showing mercy, we are not to look down 23:08 on the suffering, but to identify and embrace the fallen 23:13 and the downtrodden. 23:14 Another way to show mercy is by giving ultimately everything 23:21 we have belongs to God and we demonstrate His mercy to others 23:26 in the way that we give to meet the pressing needs of others. 23:30 Mercy doesn't mean that we throw away our resources 23:34 But rather that we use them wisely in helping to meet the 23:39 needs of others in distress. We also show mercy in how we 23:45 speak to others. Someone has said that mercy is giving other 23:50 a piece of your heart and not a piece of your mind. 23:53 Of course, an important way in which we show mercy to others 23:58 through what we say is by sharing with them the good news 24:02 about Jesus. About the for- givness and mercy that is 24:06 found in Him. The Bible also tells us to show mercy by 24:11 praying for others, we can intercede with God 24:15 for their needs, and we can pray for their conversion. 24:19 So there they are six different ways to show mercy. 24:42 Of course the source of all mercy and the supreme example 24:46 of mercy is found in how God has treated us. 24:50 He didn't come to humanity as a remote and lofty God, 24:55 but in human flesh, He came as a man, "The Word made flesh." 25:01 God truly walked in our shoes and He experienced our suffering 25:07 and our struggles. He came to us not just as a great teacher, 25:12 but as an example of how to live. 25:16 Christ's redeeming death on the cross of Calvary is the 25:20 greatest demonstration of mercy the world has ever known. 25:24 This Beatitude is a challenge to everyone. 25:31 If you are bearing a grudge looking for revenge or 25:35 maintaining bitterness in your heart, let it go, 25:39 it is as simple as that because the mercy you show to others, 25:45 reflects the mercy you yourself have accepted from God. 25:50 If you would like to accept the goodness and grace 25:54 that God freely offers you, if you would like to experience 25:58 the mercy of God that will allow you to be merciful 26:02 and forgiving towards others and have peace, 26:04 then I'd like to recommend a free gift we have for you today. 26:09 It's the book "Thoughts From .the Mount of Blessings"/ 26:13 This amazing book shares the wonderful details of the 26:17 Beatitudes in more depth and is our gift to you and 26:22 is absolutely free. I guarantee there are no costs or 26:26 obligations whatsoever. So make the most of this wonderful 26:31 opportunity to receive the FREE gift we have for you today. 26:35 Phone or text 0436.333.555 in Australia or 020.422.2042 26:46 in New Zealand, or visit our website at TIJ.tv 26:51 or simply scan the QR code on your screen and we'll send you 26:55 today's free offer totally free of charge and with no 26:58 obligation. Write to us at GPO Box 274 Sydney NSW 2001 27:05 Australia or PO Box 76673 Manukau, Auckland 2241 27:12 New Zealand. Don't Delay, call or text us now. 27:16 If you've enjoyed our journey through the Beatitudes, 27:25 and our reflections on the blessings of being merciful, 27:28 then be sure to join us again next week when we will share 27:32 another of life's journeys together. 27:35 Until then, let's pray together. 27:38 Dear Heavenly Father, We thank you because you are 27:44 a God of mercy despite our mistakes, our failures and, 27:48 our sins, you extend your kindness and compassion 27:52 toward us. Help us because you have shown us mercy 27:57 to be merciful to others and find peace. 28:00 In Jesus' name, we pray, Amen! |
Revised 2022-10-25