A study that is having a profound effect on my soul

[Lou Newton]

I am a history buff and have studied WW2 more than most other history.

It was the study of the battle of Midway that caused me to find myself unable to deny that God had preformed many miracles for us to helped us defeat Japan. That led me to finally give my life to my Creator.

But the last month the Lord may have led me to study WW2 in even more detail.

It has had a profound effect on my soul.

While watching or reading I found myself continually giving thanks to The Lord Jesus. At times I was unable to stop worshiping The Lord of Mercy and Justice for quite some time.

I am so thankful that we will not be judged by mere men. I am so thankful that there will be total mercy and justice in the end.

These videos certainly show the evilness of all men and the goodness of God.

Adam and Eve brought war upon all of mankind when they obeyed Satan rather than obey God.

The Lord Jesus did not desire war for mankind. But mankind brought war upon themselves then just as they do today.

[Travis]

Adam and Eve brought war upon all of mankind when they obeyed Satan rather than obey God.

The Lord Jesus did not desire war for mankind. But mankind brought war upon themselves then just as they do today.

I like history too.

I haven't studied history enough, I need to spend more time on the subject.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. ” - Santayana

Though written by a pagan, it holds some merit I think.

It seems that amidst the terrible ugly side of war, there is some glory to be seen in parts of it, or at least things to be learned by it.

Judges 3
1 Now these are the nations that the LORD left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. 2 It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before.

[Lou Newton]

I like history too.

I haven't studied history enough, I need to spend more time on the subject.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. ” - Santayana

Though written by a pagan, it holds some merit I think.

It seems that amidst the terrible ugly side of war, there is some glory to be seen in parts of it, or at least things to be learned by it.

Judges 3
1 Now these are the nations that the LORD left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. 2 It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before.

Hi Travis,

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, much history is written by pagans, but some is written by Christians.

Also one can read four different accounts of the same event and get four different versions.

BUT, if one reads while asking The Lord Jesus to reveal the truth to them, the truth often becomes evident.

Truth is ALWAYS a good thing to know. Jesus is The Truth and any truth will glorify Him if one studies prayerfully.

Much of the holy Scriptures are nothing but history and God recorded it for us for a reason.

The truth always glorifies The Lord Jesus.

For instance, seeing the evilness of mankind is truth. For God tells us that all men are evil. So simply seeing how evil men are, reveals the truth of The Lord.

Lou

[Lou Newton]

A reply from Glen Smith

Glen sent me this reply:

WW II pacific and European
Rational men can explain why the Allies won with the might of the USA.
Victory in specific battles and individual heroics are not explainable just by saying Americans were better warriors.
Victories over and over again against superior forces and numbers were not because the Americans were better.
"Accidental advantages" in reconnaissance and intelligence can be said to play a major part.
The 420, 000 American deaths of the 80 million deaths caused by WWII reveal the horrible loss of life in the Allied victory.
Victory for the Allies – spoken forthrightly – if you can see it and believe – is explained spiritually by Divine Superintendence. That stated – The past is in no way any assurance the USA will be fighting for the cause of His plan next time. My reference is Israel of the Old Testament.


Haven't watched it yet - but I will.

If one considers just the "lucky coincidences' of the battle of Midway alone, they made me aware that there must be a God and He must have caused these things to take place. I was an agnostic before I read about the battle.


Lou

[Travis]

Hi Travis,

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, much history is written by pagans, but some is written by Christians.

Also one can read four different accounts of the same event and get four different versions.

BUT, if one reads while asking The Lord Jesus to reveal the truth to them, the truth often becomes evident.

Truth is ALWAYS a good thing to know. Jesus is The Truth and any truth will glorify Him if one studies prayerfully.

Much of the holy Scriptures are nothing but history and God recorded it for us for a reason.

The truth always glorifies The Lord Jesus.

For instance, seeing the evilness of mankind is truth. For God tells us that all men are evil. So simply seeing how evil men are, reveals the truth of The Lord.

Lou

Well, I was only saying that the quote I posted was written by a pagan.

But you make a good point about history in general. God doesn't necessarily need a Christian to write history in order for it to be useful for us.

The scriptures are indeed historical facts, nothing recorded in them is untrue or did not happen, in part or in whole.

Blessings!

[Lou Newton]

Well, I was only saying that the quote I posted was written by a pagan.

But you make a good point about history in general. God doesn't necessarily need a Christian to write history in order for it to be useful for us.

The scriptures are indeed historical facts, nothing recorded in them is untrue or did not happen, in part or in whole.

Blessings!

Hi Travis,

I was not disagreeing with your statement that some history is written by pagans, but it seems you knew that.

Thanks for the reply.

Sometimes, in even really bad accounts, we can learn something very useful. If I read an account ,by a NAZI, of history back in Germany of WW2, I can learn how the NAZIS thought and justified their actions, even if the account is full of prejudice instead of giving an accurate account.

In other words his account will reveal the prejudice and irrational thinking of the NAZIS to us.

If I read Hitlers "Mein Kempf" I can learn how twisted Hitlers mind was. I can learn how Satan influenced this man to do the things he did.

God not only recorded His words and actions in the Holy Scriptures, He also recorded the words of Satan and his actions. Further God recorded the words and actions of both Godly men and evil men.

[Lou Newton]

Battle 360

I watched these videos about the Pacific War against Japan. I was brought to tears many times. The whole story brought out how The Lord Jesus protected our nation during this war. I was moved to give thanks to The Lord Jesus many times beyond number.

I do not know a more profitable attitude than being extremely thankful to The Lord. I was FILLED with thanksgiving to Jesus while I watched this.

I was also filled with sorrow for the men that suffered such horrible things.


The story is about mere men and they have weaknesses and flaws; but they also show how The Lord Jesus inspired them to such courage and bravery beyond what any mere words could describe.


At one point this Carrier was the only US carrier left in the entire Pacific.


After you watch Episode 1 there are 9 more. The next episode should pop up after the one you are watching stops.






Battle 360 Episode 1 - "Call to Duty"

Battle 360 Episode 1 - "Call to Duty"
View on www.youtube.com	Preview by Yahoo

[Lou Newton]

Here is the correspondence between me and Glen about the war in the Pacific:

On Sunday, April 12, 2015 1:16 AM, Glen B Smith <[email protected]> wrote:

WW II pacific and European
Rational men can explain why the Allies won with the might of the USA.
Victory in specific battles and individual heroics are not explainable just by saying Americans were better warriors.
Victories over and over again against superior forces and numbers were not because the Americans were better.
"Accidental advantages" in reconnaissance and intelligence can be said to play a major part.
The 420, 000 American deaths of the 80 million deaths caused by WWII reveal the horrible loss of life in the Allied victory.
Victory for the Allies – spoken forthrightly – if you can see it and believe – is explained spiritually by Divine Superintendence. That stated – The past is in no way any assurance the USA will be fighting for the cause of His plan next time. My reference is Israel of the Old Testament.


Haven't watched it yet - but I will.

On Sunday, April 12, 2015 8:28 AM, lou newton <[email protected]> wrote:

If one considers just the "lucky coincidences' of the battle of Midway alone, they made me aware that there must be a God and He must have caused these things to take place. I was an agnostic before I read about the battle.


Lou

On Sunday, April 12, 2015 1:15 PM, Glen B Smith <[email protected]> wrote:

Yes.
I have seen the Battle 360 series (Just noticed the name)
and several others about the Pacific and European theaters.
The inexplicable is phenomenal.

The inexplicable starts with December 7, 1941 when all five US aircraft carriers were at sea when the Japanese attacked. All but three ships that were damaged or sunk were repaired and made fit to fight in the war. The list is long. The battleships Arizona and Oklahoma, and the target ship Utah could not be repaired. The successful salvage was due in a large part to the shallow water of the harbor.

Japanese battles won at the Battle of Java Sea , Corregidor Island in Manila Bay (Fort Mills), and Bataan should have been from a military point of view the start of continued victories. The Battle of the Coral Sea (4-8 May 1942) was a tactical victory for the Japanese in terms of ships sunk, the battle would prove to be a strategic victory for the Allies for several reasons. The battle marked the first time since the start of the war that a major Japanese advance had been checked by the Allies. More importantly, the Japanese Japaneese had well trained pilots and a superior aircraft to the USA. The fleet carriers Shōkaku and Zuikaku – one damaged and the other with a depleted aircraft complement – were unable to participate in the Battle of Midway, which took place the following month, ensuring a rough parity in aircraft between the two adversaries and contributing significantly to the US victory in that battle. If I recall correctly, the damage to the Japanese carrier was what seemed to be an impossible success. Individual US pilots were unbelievably brave and successful. Many died.

Guadalcanal from a military viewpoint seemed a sure Japanese victory.


The shooting down of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was accomplished as along shot. One story I’ve heard, the pilot thought he was still too far out for a shot but tried out his guns to make sure they were working. The admiral was hit by two bullets – one killed him. This was Operation Vengeance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Vengeance


An army or navy doesn’t have to be God fearers to be the army of the Lord.
He uses all sorts to further and protect His will and plan.
His servants, military and civilian, may die in such conflicts.

I have concerns about servants of the Lord being in the military.
That said, I’ve known committed Christians who served and killed in battle.
Distracters of military and Christian used to describe the same serviceman or a military
ought to remember the Roman centurion of Matthew 8 and Luke 7 and the centurion Cornelius, a God-fearing man, of Acts 10 and the Holy Spirit falling upon them.

Try this site for detailed time line in the Pacific:
http://www.wtj.com/articles/pacific_...y/timeline.htm

On Sunday, April 12, 2015 1:19 PM, lou newton <[email protected]> wrote:



Yes, the terrible carrier torpedo bombers that we had at the battle of midway were very slow and were not maneuverable. (Douglas Devastators - they were not very devastating)

But, even worse, the torpedoes they carried were hardly ever successful. They went off course so badly that they sunk the subs they were launched from sometimes. ( this happened several times) . They also failed to explode when they did hit more often than explode.

There were only a few pilots that survived Midway that flew them. BUT the Lord used their sacrifice to sink the Jap Carriers. The Zeros came down low to shoot down the torpedo planes. Even after some had already launched their torpedoes, the Zeros still chased them and shot them down. The Jap Pilots were greedy for the easy kills to add to their score. ( a Zero was the Japanese carrier fighter plane)

But the dive bombers had missed the Jap fleet the first time out and had to turn around and go back to find it. BUT that meant that the dive bombers got there "late", but late was the right time. They dive while the Zeros were down low and the Zeros could not gain altitude fast enough to stop them. The dive bombers hit the Jap carriers with many bombs.

This still would have not sunk them but for this fact:
The Jap fleet did not know where the US fleet was. So they had loaded bombs on their planes to attack Midway island. But a Jap plane found the US fleet and radioed their position. So the Jap Captain ordered that the bombs be taken off the planes and to load torpedoes on them to attack the US Carriers.

Our dive bombers got there just as the deck was covered with the Jap bombs and torpedoes. So the few US bombs that hit caused many Jap bombs and torpedoes to explode and they sunk the carriers. They were sunk by their own bombs and torpedoes. Think of this, since our torpedoes would not work, God arranged for the Japs to load the deck of their carriers with their torpedoes because they worked. This is beyond being able to comprehend. Our torpedoes were so bad that they did not work, so God sank the Japanese carriers with Japanese torpedoes.

Just as bad as losing the carriers, the Jap planes ( 1st wave) had no place to land when they returned from attacking the US ships and the pilots were lost. These were very experienced that had many years of combat in China. They were not able to replace them.

From that day on even Wildcat pilots were able to fight the Zeros on a equal footing. The Wildcats had been having a very hard time with the Zeros when the experienced pilots flew them. When the Hellcats came online they shot the Zeros down in droves. ( The Wildcat was the US fighter plane used on carriers and it was replaced with the far superior Hellcat - both made by Grumman Aircraft in New York)

Add to this, the fact the we had broken the Jap code ( which was highly unlikely) . So we knew when and where the Japs were going to attack Midway.

We should have lost that battle badly. We would have lost our last carriers and the Japs would have had free reign.

But instead the Japs lost the largest part of their carriers and their pilots and planes.

The nations rage against God, but it is all in vain.

Lou

[Travis]

Hi Travis,

I was not disagreeing with your statement that some history is written by pagans, but it seems you knew that.

Thanks for the reply.

Your welcome! Thanks for starting this topic.

I did not make a statement that history was written by pagans though. I did say that a quote I posted from Santayana was written by a pagan.

I do not know a more profitable attitude than being extremely thankful to The Lord. I was FILLED with thanksgiving to Jesus while I watched this.

I can amen to that!

Ephesians 5
20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ

Blessings,

Travis

[Lou Newton]

Your welcome! Thanks for starting this topic.

I did not make a statement that history was written by pagans though. I did say that a quote I posted from Santayana was written by a pagan.




I can amen to that!

Ephesians 5
20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ

Blessings,

Travis

Thanks for the correction Travis and the reply.

Lou