WORD OF TRUTH
Special Edition 2016 Issue 2
(Dear friends this is a reissue. I have sent it to my mail list a couple of times before. As many of my good friends know, my right hand since my stroke 3-4 years ago has been hindered from typing quite a bit. So what I have done recently is edit some old writings that I feel are relevant. I have done that here and hope it is good. If you don't find any benefit I am sorry. Just let me know.I will delete your email from my list.)
REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR
Today the industrious Japanese people are known for making electronics and automobiles, and being a close ally of the USA. Only 75 years ago this week very few in the USA had ever heard of Sony, or Toyota, but on December 7, 1941, we sure learned they could make airplanes and bombs! President Franklin D. Roosevelt referred to it as “A day that will live in infamy”, and it has. Long before 9/11/01 became a focus of national unity (for a short time); Pearl Harbor became a focus of national unity for four years of America’s involvement in World War II. Many of our fathers and grandfathers fought in that war, many at the cost of their lives. There are only a few survivors still alive now.
I was not born yet, but I am a “war baby”, born November 1942. I remember the war, and Pearl Harbor, more from history than living it. But, remarkably, I remember seeing back then on our recently bought Admiral television, with the small round screen, and in black and white; the signing, aboard the battleship USS Missouri, in Tokyo Bay, of the peace treaty between the USA.and Japan. I do remember it, although in September 1945, I was just under three years old! So it is possible what I saw was a replay a few years later, but I remember my father pointing out what was happening on the television at that moment. So it made an impression on me at a very young age
I was glad that this year all the major networks seemed to honor the few still living, and those heroes who died there in Hawaii on that Sunday morning; those sailors, marines, soldiers, airmen and coast guardsmen who scrambled to bring some order out of the chaos that was at Pearl Harbor that day. The nation came together, and it was good that God in His Providence brought us through, or you and I ( if alive at all), might not only be driving Nissans and Toyotas, watching Panasonic and Sony TVs, listening to Onyko and Yamaha stereo systems; using Nikon and Olympus cameras-----but we would likely be speaking Japanese, or German!
While we commend the courage of “The Greatest Generation”, and all our military today, as well, who put their lives on the line for this country, our military might will not save us. We cannot trust in our might and armaments “Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help ; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not
unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord!” (Isaiah 31:1)
Apply this verse spiritually, and see the urgency of it! Their armaments were horses and spears; today it is tanks and planes. It will take the sovereign mercy of God to turn around a nation that has come so far down the slippery slope since the days of World War II. We have enemies that have sworn to destroy us, and America’s leaders do not know how to handle them. They are bad, but if God becomes your enemy, you know it’s all over! When I see that God is a God of justice, I tremble for my grandchildren, and yours, should the Lord tarry. I for one, pray-- “God, please, in Your Sovereignty, send a revival or--- better yet, come soon, Lord Jesus!” (See Habakkuk 3:2 and Revelation 22:20).
Of course, war is not a new problem for the Christian to consider. Look at the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, Chapter 24
Of the Civil Magistrate
1 God, the supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained
civil magistrates to be under him, over the people, for his own gloryand the public good; and to this end hath armed them with the powerof the sword, for defence and encouragement of them that do good,
and for the punishment of evil doers. (Rom. 13:1-4)
1 God, the supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained
civil magistrates to be under him, over the people, for his own gloryand the public good; and to this end hath armed them with the powerof the sword, for defence and encouragement of them that do good,
and for the punishment of evil doers. (Rom. 13:1-4)
2 It is lawful for Christians to accept and execute the office of amagistrate when called there unto; in the management whereof, asthey ought especially to maintain justice and peace, according to thewholesome laws of each kingdom and commonwealth, so for that end
they may lawfully now, under the New Testament wage war upon justand necessary occasions. (2 Sam. 23:3; Ps. 82:3, 4; Luke 3:14) (1)
they may lawfully now, under the New Testament wage war upon justand necessary occasions. (2 Sam. 23:3; Ps. 82:3, 4; Luke 3:14) (1)
Franklin D. Roosevelt died in office during his fourth term as president. Succeeding him was Vice-president Harry S. Truman (A Baptist from Missouri). I’ll leave it to your own study to decide if you think President Truman was a good Baptist. He was called “give ’um hell Harry”, and didn’t mind cussing once in a while. One thing for sure, he had inherited his job from a good war time president. There are a lot of things I do not like about my Grandfather Smith’s favorite president, Mr. Roosevelt, but he knew how to hold the country together in a very necessary war. For that we must give Mr. Roosevelt credit. He did his job.
President Truman wanted to carry on the legacy. After the Germans surrendered, he had to make an awful decision for a professed Christian. The fanatical Japs were not going to surrender, and perhaps would carry the war on for many more years. D-Day in Normandy had cost may lives, but was the beginning of the end for the Nazis. To do the same thing in Japan, invade them, would cost many more allied lives, as well as Japanese. The atomic bomb had been secretly developed in New Mexico. So with much apprehension and after warning the Japanese to surrender, ‘or else’, Truman ordered two of them dropped; one on Hiroshima and one on Nagasaki in August, 1945. These cities were devastated, many Japanese lives were lost, many maimed for life. Yet the war ended swiftly after that. The Imperial government of Japan surrendered quickly, to be formally signed as stated earlier, on the USS Missouri in September, 1945.
Did Truman do right? He thought he did. In spite of many naysayers, In spite of the awfulness of what was done, history has proven that Harry S. Truman evidently did the right thing. A horrible thing to end a horrible war that began for the USA on December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
Will it ever come to that in the Middle East? Would any American president in this day of weak kneed political correctness ever do such a thing to save thousands, even millions, of American lives? It is a terrible decision, but this is the challenge our current president, or one to come later, may well have to face if things proceed on their present course. May God help us, for only He can. It’s always been that way, but perhaps we see it clearer now. Oh, let us trust him!
Why do we have wars? Why do people and nations want to kill each other?
Here are some words to help us to grasp it better from the late minister, Dr. David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, who pastored in London during WWII.
So our first reply to the question “Why does God allow war?” is to ask another question— “Has God ever promised to prevent or to prohibit war?”
(2) Our second answer may also be put in the form of a question: “Why do we expect God to prohibit war?” or “Why should God prevent war?” Apart from the theoretical reason that God should prevent war because it is sinful, with which we shall deal in the next section, there can be no doubt that the real reason why people expect God to prevent war, is that they desire a state of peace, and feel that they have the right to live in a state of peace. But that immediately raises another question, which, in a sense, is the fundamental question with respect to this whole matter. "What right have we to peace?"
"Why do we desire peace?” How often, I wonder, have we faced this question? Has not the tendency been to take it for granted that we have a right to a state and condition of peace? (2)
And again Dr. Lloyd-Jones says
The question that needs to be asked is not "Why does God allow war?” but rather, "Why does God not allow the world to destroy itself entirely in its iniquity and its sin? Why does He in His restraining grace set a limit to evil and to sin, and a bound beyond which they cannot pass?" Oh, the amazing patience of God with this sinful world! How wondrous is His love! (3)
“And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows” (Matthew 24:6-8).
notes
(1)London Baptist Confession of 1689, Chapel Library edition, Pensacola, FL, no date. Free copies: 2603 W. Wright St, Pensacola, FL 32505, or see
(2) Why Does God Allow War? D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones; Originally published 1939, Hodder and Stoughton; 1986 edition, Evangelical Press of Wales, page 91
(3) ibid; page 101
A CHRISTIAN NATION
How shall we think of our own nation? Our nation has never been a pure Christian nation, any more than Israel was ever entirely godly. But our nation certainly had strong Christian roots, and God, truth, the Bible, and morality were revered even if not consistently obeyed or practiced in those early days. The Puritans, who were an unusually strong force in our nation’s founding, looked upon America as a new Israel and regarded their venture as an “errand into the wilderness,” much like the Jews’ desert journey toward the Promised Land. Isn’t it right to say that America was blessed in its early history because in a large measure its God was the Lord? I think that is obvious. Large numbers of our people sought God fervently, and God heard them and blessed them with peace and prosperity.
But now? Now we have a remnant of believing people and have no doubt been spared many great tragedies because of them. But our country is not Christian anymore. It is militantly secular. God is not sought out, nor is his word honored. I fear to think what is coming for the United States of America, whose god no longer is the Lord. America’s real god is money. And yet, the blessings of God surround his people, even in a godless or fiercely secular environment, and it is right to remember them.
James Montgomery Boice
But now? Now we have a remnant of believing people and have no doubt been spared many great tragedies because of them. But our country is not Christian anymore. It is militantly secular. God is not sought out, nor is his word honored. I fear to think what is coming for the United States of America, whose god no longer is the Lord. America’s real god is money. And yet, the blessings of God surround his people, even in a godless or fiercely secular environment, and it is right to remember them.
James Montgomery Boice
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