The American Crisis
How do all aspects of learning reveal the truth of God’s Word? How do events that occurred in history reveal God’s truth? To view life through the lens of God’s Word, you must first be in God’s Word. To teach a topic or an event in history, you must also dig deep into God’s Word to receive revelation knowledge about why something has occurred the way it has. Nothing in life happens by chance. We were not created by chance, and it is not by chance that we are living on this earth today. We were created with a specific design and purpose. To understand that design and purpose, we must understand the Creator. To comprehend how God has used various events throughout history to shape the “grand narrative” of history, we must seek answers and wisdom from the Creator. Seeking these answers and wisdom comes only by opening God’s Word and allowing our hearts and minds to be shaped by His Word. Education, teaching, and discipleship cannot occur if God’s Word has not been opened and applied. Let’s look at an example of how God shapes history through a biblical worldview lens.
How did God connect all of the following through the course of history: The Bataan Death March, World War II, The Atomic Bomb, and Liberty University? At first glance, one might see a connection between the first three items, but not the last. However, God actually used His power over the weather to connect all four events. Not only did He connect them, but He also rescued an individual whom He would use to advance the Kingdom in a mighty way. Learning from a biblical worldview perspective transforms the way you learn and helps you see the vast orchestrating design of God’s greater plan.
- The dropping of two atomic bombs happened to what two Japanese cities? Hiroshima and Nagasaki
- Was Nagasaki the primary target for the dropping of the second atomic bomb? No
- What was the original target? Kokura – specifically the arms factory
In April 1942, the United States surrendered an area of the Philippine Islands to the Japanese, known as the Bataan Death March. Over 15,000 people died during the march, and hundreds of American soldiers were taken as POWs. One of those soldiers was George Rogers. When the POWs were taken, American intelligence lost track of where they were being held. As history would unfold, George Rogers would become key in the advancement of God’s Kingdom.
The day the atomic bomb was to be dropped, it was cloudy over Kokura. The cloud that blocked Kokura that morning was the best thing that ever happened to the city but the worst thing that ever happened to nearby Nagasaki. The American bomber was a B-29 named Bock's Car, and it was supposed to drop the world's first plutonium bomb on Kokura. Three times, Bock's Car passed over Kokura, bomb bays open, a hum in the cockpit signaling that the bomb was ready for release, with the crew wearing special goggles designed to protect them from the flash of the atomic explosion. Even though the radar scope was locked onto Kokura, the orders were to drop the bomb only upon visual identification of the large arms factory that was the target.
A young man named Kermit Beahan peered through the rubber eyepiece of the bombsight. He could see some of the buildings of Kokura and the river that ran by the arms factory, but the complex itself was blocked by a cloud. So, Bock's Car gave up on Kokura and moved on to its secondary target, Nagasaki. Clouds also partly obscured Nagasaki, but not enough to prevent the bombing.
George Rogers, a survivor of the Bataan Death March, was working in the arms factory that day. He could hear the sound of the bombers overhead as they flew past Kokura and headed toward Nagasaki. Had the bomb been dropped on Kokura that day, George Rogers would never have been heard from again. God had a different plan. God desired to use George Rogers. Rogers would later be rescued, return to his home in Lynchburg, Virginia, and become instrumental in the foundation of Liberty University. He worked alongside Liberty’s founder, Jerry Falwell, for decades. George Rogers became the “no” man at Liberty, serving as the Vice President of Finance and Administration. It is said that George Rogers single-handedly vaulted Liberty University to its current place in history.
This is how we view history through a biblical worldview lens. Every event in history is part of God’s greater story. Each moment can be seen either as a result of chance or as God-ordained. The crisis in our classrooms around America today is that students are being taught that chance is the greater lesson to be learned. They are told to try to be in the right place at the right time or to do good so that good will return to them. These messages ring loud and clear today, but it is God’s divine authority that is ultimately at work in all aspects of our lives.
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” Jeremiah 29:11
As George Rogers sat there as a POW in Japanese territory, there must have been times when he thought he would never step on United States soil again. But God had bigger plans. God used the weather to ensure that not only would George step on U.S. soil again, but that his purpose in life would be to leave a Christian university legacy that would impact millions of students for decades to come.
This is the American crisis
Mr. Euler has over 20 years of experience working in Christian Schools, 13 as a Head of School and is currently the Head of School at Word of God Academy, Shreveport, LA., a ministry of Word of God Ministries.
Website www.wogacademy.org
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