Today, December 7, 2011, is the 70th Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor (in Hawaii) by the Japanese. On that Sunday morning, 70 years ago today, while the sailors and soldiers slept - 353 Japanese fighter planes attacked us in waves --- Eight (8) US Navy battleships were damaged, with four (4) being sunk. The Japanese also sank or damaged three (3) cruisers, three (3) destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one mine layer ship. One hundred eighty-eight (188) US aircraft were destroyed. Two thousand four hundred and two (2,402) Americans died that morning. One thousand two hundred eighty-two (1,282) Americans were wounded.
I wasn't alive back then, but I can still remember the stories of survivors, family, and teachers who recounted what happened that day. Hollywood has made documentaries and movies about this day. I've seen many of them. We remember the photos and the voices from the past.....
The sinking of the USS Arizona is commemorated in the port of Pearl Harbor to this day
-- many Americans are buried at that site.
On the following day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt (on Monday, December 8, 1941) addressed the nation and the US Congress, and declared that the United States was now at war with Japan. Later, we would declare war on Germany and Italy -- and thus, we entered World War II. Before the war would end in 1945 - over four hundred sixteen thousand American military personnel would die (416, 837).
You can go the this link below and watch and hear a clip of President Roosevelt's speech before the nation, declaring war:
We have seen a lot of violence in our lifetime. Jesus said the "wars and rumors of war" would be a sign that we are living in the "last days", prior to HIS return to earth.
As we remember Pearl Harbor Day - as we remember the tremendous sacrifice of the lives lost on that day, and the lives lost in ALL of the wars that Americans have been involved in, before 1941 and after 1941 - let's be thankful for our freedoms.
As I ponder these events and these heroic actions of others, I'm reminded of what the Scriptures say:
Romans 5:6-9 (NKJV)
"For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him."
ONE MAN DIED - SO THAT EVERYMAN COULD LIVE!
Think about it!
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