The Miracle of Pearl Harbor

Well, good afternoon to all of you once again, and to all of you who may be in line with us as well. You know, today you watch the news and what's going on in the world. We're living under a great deal of uncertainty. All over the world, you've got North Korea and Kim Jong-un. What's going to happen there? Uncertainty concerning Japan and Russia. President Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. Tensions between Iran and Israel and Syria.

Turning tensions between Turkey and Saudi Arabia and Sunni and Shiite Muslims. And of course, here in the United States, recently, we had the mass murders that took place at 1000 Oaks, California, in which 12 innocent victims were killed, and the perpetrator then took his own life. And we've had a number of those over the past number of months. It just seems like the world is going crazy in some ways. Some people are, anyway.

And then also we have the great division we now have in our political system. The two parties are very, very divided. The country is very, very divided. And where's that going to lead to? And then we have, on top of that, we have natural disasters that take place.

Like Hurricane Michael and the California wildfires that are still not in control. We've already taken, I think, 63 or 65 lives, and maybe some number of people are still missing. And then you've got tornadoes that take place from time to time quite often. So what's the immediate future going to bring? Could something happen? You think of those things that happen, and you think, wow, people in those areas, in California, and under Hurricane Michael, and that struck Florida, and some of these other things, or tornado hits and just wipes out whole blocks of cities?

What could happen that could just change our life, I should say, overnight? Could that happen? Well, no one knows for sure. We do know we are living under a gate deal of uncertainty in the world we're living in today. Except that isn't one area of our life. And I appreciate very much Dave Holiday's sermonette. I thought it was very insightful. I hadn't heard about that particular situation he was describing, but it's quite interesting.

But those points he made out are very, very valid points. But what one area of our life can we have stability? Well, one area we can have stability and have security is our relationship with God. Because God is sovereign over all things. And I'm just going to relate this story in my introduction. King Nebuchadnezzar Babylon came to realize how God is sovereign over all things. As recorded in Daniel 4, God caused King Nebuchadnezzar to go insane for seven years. Seven years, he went insane. Didn't know who he was, where he was, or what he was doing. But he got a lot of that.

He brought that upon him so he could learn a very valuable lesson. What lesson was that? God told Nebuchadnezzar that, quote, This decision is by the decree of the watchers and the sins by the word of the holy ones, that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever he wills. Daniel 4, verse 17. So it shows that God is sovereign over all things and over all events that take place here on the earth. And also, the only thing I want to add to that is, by that, what he says there, but also God is sovereign over all things as depicted, or demonstrated by a miracle, actually, that took place 77 years ago.

Both of them realize this was a miracle that God gave us. But I was born on April 9, 1941, in Seattle, Washington, just before this miracle took place. It took place 77 years ago. That goes back to about 1941. But I was born in April of 1941, and eight months later, on December 7, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.

On that same day, Japan also bombed Wake Island and Guam. They also bombed American forces on Davio, Bagnio, and on Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines, which really brought the United States into World War II. And if you know a little bit about history, prior to that, under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the United States had an isolationist policy.

They wanted to stay out of conflicts overseas and out of war. They didn't want to be involved in Europe and other things that were taking place. But few realize that the bombing of Pearl Harbor was a God-given miracle that saved the United States of America. And it saved the United States of America so the work of God could be completed. To do that, I want to give you the real history behind the attack on Pearl Harbor, which shows that God is sovereign over all things, and that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, as we read there in Daniel, or as I quoted in Daniel.

The title of my sermon here this afternoon is The Miracle of Pearl Harbor. I want to begin by just first part of the sermon here talking about a forum that we had in Ambassador College of Big Sandy that Evelyn and I attended many years ago. About every month or so we would have a student body forum down there in Big Sandy, Ambassador College of Big Sandy, who Evelyn and I attended from the fall of 1965 through the spring of 1967. One particular forum, the entire forum was given to one of our professors, he was an English professor down there, Dr. Lynne Torrance, T-O-R-R-A-N-C-E. It was a spellbinding lecture. I couldn't remember all the details of the lecture, but it's online, so I was able to get the information.

It was a spellbinding lecture. The lecture is not online, but his comments from it are online. One month prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Lynne Torrance, who became Dr. Torrance later, got a doctorate degree in English in teaching, he was on an American troop ship, this is before he was converted and called, as a young man. He was on an American troop ship, the Hugh L.

Scott, who was heading for the Philippines. But then all of a sudden he said, the ship made a strange, unexpected stop. It diverted from the Philippines and went over to Hawaii, and it made an unscheduled stop in Honolulu.

They all wondered why. Why are we stopping in Honolulu? A few days later, Dr. Torrance asked their ship's intelligence officer why they stopped in Honolulu. The intelligence officer had been told that the Japanese were about to bomb Pearl Harbor.

And then he says something really strange. He said the Japanese had been goaded to bomb Pearl Harbor by the Roosevelt administration. Why? They had been goaded to bomb the Philippines, to bomb Pearl Harbor, I should say, in order to save America. But how would the bombing of Pearl Harbor save America? Now, if you know the history of that time, Britain and Russia were being attacked by Hitler, that time, by Germany, by Hitler. And they were about to fall. At least they thought that Hitler was going to defeat Russia and Britain. And of course, he came close to that. They got very close. But then the intelligence officer then told Dr. Torrance that if the United States doesn't get into the war to help Britain and Russia, there are only two possible allies at that time that would then be defeated, and that would be the end of America. They would attack America next and be all over.

Again, as we all know, the main enemies are in World War II, Japan and Germany. And here's what Dr. Torrance later became a captive. He became a prisoner of war to the Japanese. So I'll wait for you in a minute. But he was told by the Japanese, when it was to keep guard over him, that he decided to tell Dr. Torrance, because, well, he's not going to live to tell him anybody about this anyway. He's not going to be released alive from the prison. But he said that Germany and Japan had a secret plan together. This is almost unbelievable. Secret plan to conquer and occupy the United States of America. That's what Dr. Torrance was told by a Japanese prisoner guard after he had become a prisoner, who had, in this particular regard, had connections to some of the top government officials in Japan. He had a relative who was close to that. But the plan was this. After defeating Britain and Russia, Hitler planned on invading the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. And Japan was then to, at the very same time, attack the Western portion of the United States. Now, I experienced a little bit of that in a sense.

In case we're back to my very first memory that I can have as a child, I was about three years old. That's far back where my memory goes. That's the first time I can remember. But we were traveling down to visit my grandparents down in C.V., Washington. And as we were traveling down there, we left after my dad got off work, so it was beginning to get dark by the time we got down there. And we saw this train was going there. I looked over there and I sit in the back seat, and my dad was driving. I saw the train, and you could see this passenger train. And you could see that there were lights on the train, but all the blinds were pulled. And I asked my dad, well, how come all the blinds are pulled on that train? My dad told me somebody I never forgot. He liked a kid. He said, because it's a ghost train, and ghosts don't like light.

Well, I believed him. You know, you're a three-year-old kid. You believe everything your dad tells you. In fact, I believed that for several years. And up until the time of sixth grade, I was always in my bedroom. I met from going on, and I went to bed at night in my own bedroom. I kept the closet light on. And my sister said, why don't you keep the closet light on? I said, so I can see if there's any ghosts. He said, well, that's not going to do any good. You can't see ghosts anyway. But anyway, that's the way I was. I didn't move. About sixth grade, I finally realized it a little differently. Anyway, that was my early experience. But back to our lecture that Dr. Torrance gave the student body in Big Sandy.

He said, well, stationed in Pearl Harbor, his ship took on board and went to Honolulu. He was on that ship. They went over to Honolulu. While in Honolulu, they took on board tanks, airplanes, which Douglas MacArthur's Army, or Douglas Arthur's, or the Philippines, the hands army in the Philippines would need if the Japanese launched an attack on Manila. So that's why they went to Honolulu to pick up these supplies to take over to Douglas MacArthur. They then headed for Manila. That is, Dr. Torrance's ship headed for Manila. He then disembarked at the Del Monte airstrip on the island of Mindanao on December 1, 1941, just a few days before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. After the tanks and planes were unloaded in Manila, they stopped there. Then the U.S. Air Force planes dropped there. Air Force planes were then forced to stop in there and land there, and to pick up Dr. Torrance and the other Americans that were dropped off there.

In Mindanao, they were supposed to ride there to pick them up. But the U.S. Airplanes never arrived. They never got to Mindanao. And on May 10, 1942, the Japanese, well, I said you certainly have to... Japanese did get to Mindanao. And on May 10, 1942, Dr. Torrance became a Japanese prisoner of war. He and I have been called into God's Church, but after he came to understand Matthew 24, afterwards I say after he came into God's Church, he began to understand Matthew 24. I'll turn to Matthew 24, because it caused him to ask a question, reflecting back. And after he came into God's Church, he looks at Matthew 24 and he thought, wow, he remembers the experiences of the prisoner of war under the Japanese for a couple of years. Matthew 24, verse 1 says, Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and his disciples came up to show him the buildings of the temple. He said to him, do you not see all these things? Assuredly I said to you, not one stone should be left here upon another that shall not be thrown down.

And his disciples came to him, and privately he said, well, tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming, the end of the age? And he answered beginning in verse 4, but let's drop down to verse 20. He prayed that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath, for then, when this happens, then you have to Christ's return. He said, then there will be great tribulations, there has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, known nor ever shall be. Dr. Torst related that when he came into Gosh-Ersk, he read that scripture, or heard that scripture in a sermon. In a sermon, he asked himself, what will the great tribulation really be like?

Will it be worse than what I experienced as a Japanese prisoner of war? Could it be worse than that?

Dr. Torst's tribulation began on May 10, 1942, as I just related, and he and those with him were interned in the Japanese prison compound at Davio in the Philippine Islands.

And he wanted to describe a little bit about what that was like. They were forced to work on a starvation diet from really dawn until dark.

They soon began to suffer from acute malnutrition, then from scurvy, then malaria, then dysentery.

He read how every fiber of his body cried out for food. He was starving to death slowly. His body began wasting away until he was reduced to a hundred-pound skeleton.

His hunger was greatly intensified by the sight of food. Here, there in this compound, there's this fence. They could see through the fence, and right outside that fence, there's all these fruit trees. He said there were orange trees, banana trees, lemon, quavo, coconut, mango, and avocado trees. Some of the fruit was falling on the ground, just deteriorating. Yet, they couldn't get out there to get it.

His Japanese prisoners, the guards, would not allow them to have any of that fruit. They were rotting on the ground, some of it. They wouldn't let them have any of it. They said Americans deserved to suffer.

So instead, they were given a ration of dry rice. And not only rice, but he said there were more worms in the rice than there were kernels of rice. That was the only protein they got, was eating worms in the rice.

He said half of the scamp was always at the point of death. But they still had to march to work every day, even though many of them had a hard time just standing. But they had to, because the Japanese guards had bayonets. And if they slowed down or started to slow down anyway whatsoever, refused to walk, they would stab them with the bayonet. And they knew they would get killed if they didn't keep walking or go to work. They either had to do that or die. That's what his life was like from May 10, 1942, until June 6, 1944, a little over two years later. Then on the morning of June 6, 1944, Dr. Torrance and the remaining 600 of his men were marched on board a Japanese ship. In Davia, in the Philippines, to be taken to Japan. They were all jammed tightly into it. He said, small, dark hold of the ship. Then a cover was put over that, hauled and sealed, and closed and locked. And there was a very small place for 600 men. There wasn't even a place to lie down. They were just kind of jammed in there like sardines. There was no light, no windows, no toilet facilities, no food. No water.

He said the heat was terrific, and that within a few minutes they were all soaking wet with sweat, because I was very humid.

He said his thirst became maddening. Just give me a drop of water. He then realized that extreme thirst was far worse than extreme hunger, which he'd been suffering for two years. He says, hotter would be hungry, but it's even worse to not have any water, to be thirsty. Just want a drop of water.

The city realized that something else was worse than not having food and not having water. Crammed there with 600 men in that small hold of the ship, he said a desperate struggle became part of their life. A great desperate struggle to just have one breath of air. Because all of a sudden it's so bad in there that you can't even hardly get a breath of air.

Dr. Dornes then discovered how much worse it was to be without air than it was to be without food or water. He said without air life begins to ebb away, and panic sets in. He then related how this became a turning point in his life. He hadn't been a praying man, didn't really have that much belief in God, but he now knew his life was right there in the balance. He said for the first time in his life he prayed. He prayed, and he wrote this down, and I'm quoting it. He said, oh God, just let me get back to the United States alive, or I can take a breath of fresh air, and I will never, never again ever complain about anything. Never.

Finally, after some of the men began dying down there in the hold of that ship, they opened the hatch door and gave them a little bit of air.

The boat trip from the Philippines to Japan took 90 days. So 90 days are in the hold of that ship. Just barely given them enough little food to survive.

So as a prisoner of war in Japan, they were then forced to work seven days a week in a steel mill, in Toyama, Japan. It was about that 90 days and they were deported in Japan. In July 1945, just prior to dropping the first atom bomb on Hiroshima, the United States dropped leaflets on Toyama, Japan, stating that U.S. bombers were going to bomb Toyama and warned all citizens to evacuate the city. The U.S. warned the Japanese that the U.S. air raid would begin at 11.30 p.m. on August 9th. That was right after the bombing of Nagasaki and would end at 2.30 a.m. the next morning, which it did. That was immediately again after the second atom bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. And in that American air raid, the American bombers who dropped these bombs didn't know there were any American prisoners of war there. They didn't know that. But that American raid on Toyama, Japan, 99% of the city, he said, was completely destroyed.

But the compound that Dr. Torrance was in with the other Americans was on the eastern edge of the city. And it contained the only buildings that were not damaged or destroyed. And not a single American prisoner was even injured in that compound. Again, the American bombers did not know there were Japanese prisoners of war, American prisoners of war there, housed there at that steel mill. But here's the thing. You know, God did know. And God is sovereign over all things. Then the U.S. dropped a leaflet saying that the steel mill area, that area of Toyama, Japan, was going to be the next target of the Anadim Bomb. They were going to drop a third atom bomb there. Then Dr. Torrance told us that the war ended the very day the third atom bomb was scheduled to be dropped. So he then asked himself later, he said, Did God look down on me and protect me even when I was a sinner and I didn't acknowledge him, knowing he was going to call me to become a member of his church? You have to ask yourself that question. When did God first recognize me and say, I'm going to call this person for reasons we don't understand? And maybe as you can look back on your life and say some events in your life may have been different had God decided from time back to call us. It's a certain point. Anyway, on September 6, 1945, he was released from the Japanese prison camp and returned to the United States. Reflecting back to when he arrived back in the United States, he said this, I was now able to obtain all the food, water, and air that anyone could desire. He said, yet somehow that didn't satisfy me. There was still something missing in my life.

My life was still empty. It wasn't satisfying. I kept looking for something, but I didn't know what I was looking for. So I said, well, I need to go to college and get an education. So he went to college to get a secular education. But even after he gained that and got a doctor's degree, he said something's still missing. That didn't bring him satisfaction either. A short after that, God called him, and he went to Ambassador College in Pasadena, California. Then after graduation, he became a teacher at Ambassador College in Big Sandy, where Evan and I attended.

But his experience as a prisoner of war was so traumatic. He said it took him 16 years before he could even talk about it or write about it.

Finally, he wrote an article titled, What Will the Tribulation Really Be Like?, which was published in The Good News magazine. The Good News used to be the magazine that went out to members at that time. It was published in The Good News magazine in August of 1961. It's still available online, in much of what I related is from that article. It also has an article he wrote for the Plain Truth magazine, which was published in the January 1965 issue, which is also available online.

Where is it? Oh, it's right here. But you can go online and just Google L.E. Torrance and you can get this article. What will the tribulation really be like that he wrote for The Good News magazine back in 1961? Everyone went down to her mother's house, so she had all of her old Plain Truths. Let's see, where's the front part of it here?

Plain Truth magazine. This is January 1965, the miracle of Pearl Harbor. That's available online as well. You can find your whatever your Armstrong in Plain Truth magazine, and find this particular issue again, which is January 1965.

The title of that article is again the miracle of Pearl Harbor, which is where I derived the title for my sermon today. So that thing is what I learned long ago, whatever I learned long ago, from that student body forum given to us by Dr. Torrance and Big Sandy. But how might all this relate to us? So let's look at what God's Word says. I'm going to take a little bit of time here, but I think it's important to go back and just get the perspective from God's Word. Because I want to start by looking at the special blessing that God placed on Jacob's two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Let's go back to Genesis 48. I'm going to begin there. Genesis 48, verse 1, leading up to this special blessing placed on Ephraim and Manasseh. It came to pass after these things that Joseph was told, Indeed, your father is sick, your father Jacob is sick. And he took with him two sons, his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Verse 8, then he's beside Joseph's sons, and he said, Well, who are these? And Joseph said to his father, These are my sons whom God has given me in this place. And he said, Bless, please bring them to me. And he said, I will bless him. He's getting very old. His old Jacob was about to die. And he said, Bring them to me, and I will bless them. Verse 14, Then he was stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim's head, who was the younger, His left hand on Manasseh's head, guiding his hands normally from Manasseh was the firstborn. And he blessed Joseph and said, God, before my father Abraham and Isaac and Jacob walked, The God who has fed me all my life long to this day, The angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, let my name be upon them, And the name of my father Abraham and Isaac, and let them go into a multitude in the midst of the earth. But when Joseph saw that his father laid his hand on the head of Ephraim, first it displeased him. So he took the toll of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. And Joseph said to his father, Not so my son, for this one, Manasseh, is the firstborn. He said, Put your right hand on his head. But his father, Jacob, refused and said, I know my son, I know he also should become a people, And he also should become great. But his younger brother, his younger brother Ephraim, shall be greater than he, And his descent shall become a multitude of nations. So he blessed him that day, saying, By you Israel will bless, saying, May God make you as Ephraim and Manasseh, And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh. Of course, in the sense of Ephraim became, as prophesied here in verse 19, a multitude of nations.

They became the British Empire, which reached around the whole globe, And became the greatest empire in the history of the world at one time. Not too long ago. He used to say, the sun never set on the British Empire. That's not true today, however. That empire is now only a shadow of what it once was. Of course, the sense of an asymptothetically became the United States of America, The greatest single nation in the history of the world, Especially in regards to military and economic strength, In regards to its prosperity for the average citizen. Much of that being due to being a capitalist nation rather than a socialist nation. But Jacob of Israel then prophesied what would befall his sons in the last days, Chapter 49, verse 1. He called his sons and said, Gather together that I may tell you what you will fall you in the last days. What would befall them? Let's go down to verse 22. Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well. His branches run over the wall. The archers have bitterly grieved him and shot at him and hated him. But his bow remained in strength, And the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. By the God of your Father who will help you, By the Almighty who will bless you, With blessings of heaven above, And blessings of the deep that lies beneath, Blessings of the breast and of the womb. The blessings of your Father have exceeded the blessings of my ancestors, Up to the upmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph, And on the crown of the head of him, Who was separate from his brothers.

All that came to pass, Because of God's blessing. And great bidden in the history of America have exhaled the blessings of their ancestors, Up to the upmost bound of the everlasting hills, as prophesied here. But what does God say would happen if those nations, those peoples, If they turned, as a nation, if they turned away from God?

Deuteronomy 28 gives us the answer. Deuteronomy 28, verse 1, God will sit you high above all the nations of the earth. That's come to pass. Verse 2, And all these blessings will come upon you and overtake you. You'll be blessed in the city and in the country. You'll be blessed by the fruit of your body, By the produce of your ground, And the increase of your herds, And cattle, and offspring. Blessed be your basket of your land, And your land, and your land, And your land, and your land, And your land, and your land, Blessed be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed be you when you come in, And blessed be you when you go out. But what did God say would happen if we turned away from God? Verse 15, But if you come to pass, If you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, Observe carefully all His commandments and statutes, Which I give you this day. That also has now come to pass, unfortunately, as we look around it's sad to see what's happened.

Which brings us back to Matthew 24, to a time of great tribulation, and to Dr. Lynn Torrance's question, what will the tribulation really be like? Well, that depends on who we are and on our personal relationship with God. Let's go back real quickly to Matthew 24. Just read verses 21 and 22. Matthew 24, verse 21. Then will be great tribulation, which has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, known ever shall be.

That was the verse that caused my talk. I want to say, is this going to be worse than what I experienced as a prisoner of war? In fact, it says in verse 22, unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened. What will the tribulation really be like? Well, it depends on whether or not we are part of God's elect.

Because for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened. I'm just going to quote this, but Revelation 12, verse 12, prophesies that the devil will come down to the heavens of the earth having great wrath because he knows his time is short.

Revelation 12, 14 then adds that the woman that God's elect might fly into the wilderness to her place where she is nourished for a time and a half a time from the presence of the serpent from Satan. And that the dragon would then become enraged and go to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Revelation 12, verse 17. Time is going to tell how that's going to play out.

I'm not going to go into that. But I'd now like to deepen our understanding of all this by going to the book of Psalms. A very brief summary of a few verses. Some of you who probably remember this, you're back here in 2002-2003. Back in 2002 and 2003, I gave a series of 11 90-minute Bible studies on the book of Psalms right here. But when reading the book of Psalms, there are three overall points to keep in mind. Number one, the entire book of Psalms is prophetic. It's not just nice little sayings to read. It's prophetic.

All the Psalms have to do with prophecy and have to do with prophetic events leading up to the return of Christ. Number two, the book of Psalms is not one book. It's five books. Almost every Bible shows its five books and divides them up into the five different books. Book one is Psalms 1 through 41.

Book two is 42 through 72. Book three is Psalms 73 through 89. Book four is Psalms 90 through 106. And book five is Psalms 107 through 150. Why is that? Why is it divided up into five books? Why isn't it just one book? Is there a reason for that? The third thing to keep in mind is each of these five books have their own prophetic theme and prophetic time and prophetic place setting. This all ties into what the tribulation will be like and to the miracle of Pearl Harbor.

We're just going to look very briefly at a few verses from books two, three, and four of the Psalms, and a few verses which reveal the theme of each of those books. I'm going to tell you the theme first, and then I'll read a few verses that substantiate that is the theme of that book. Before I say it, what about book one? I'll just read it quickly. I've mentioned that if you read Psalm verse one, it contrasts the way of the righteous with the way of the ungodly.

And the theme of book one is about the struggles of the righteous living in an ungodly world. So, one of the most like living in an ungodly world from the time of Adam and Eve to now, over the last six thousand years, and what it was going to be like. For the righteous person struggling in an ungodly world reads book one of Psalms. It goes through that and describes it. It's like...so we can all relate to that. Book two of Psalm 42 through 72. And the theme of book two is the deliverance of God's people during a time of great tribulation, or just prior to a time of great tribulation.

It's a very encouraging book, especially for us to read when we're going through a time of trouble, as it shows that God will deliver those who are anchored to Him that are close to God and following God, and following His way of life. Again, tying directly to Revelation 12-14. But notice how it is headed and how it begins. Let's go to book two of Psalm, which is Psalm 42. And over Psalm 42 says, book two, Psalm 42 through 72. Let's read verse one.

So basically the person here is saying, well, God, look around the world. Look at all the trouble the world is in. How I long for Your kingdom to be here. Have we all said that? You look around the world we live in? Say, wow, when is Your kingdom going to come? My soul thirsts for You, for Your kingdom. My soul thirsts for the time when You will return so I can be in Your kingdom and appear before You. It says here, when will that time come? When will it come? Verse 4, when I remember these things, I pour My soul within Me. For I used to go with the multitude. The person is reflecting back, saying, you know, I used to go to service with hundreds of God's brethren, the multitude of Your people. I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with the multitude of thousands that keep Your frieza tabernacles. I remember these things. I poured My soul within Me. For I used to go with the multitude. I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with the multitude that kept a pilgrim feast, that kept the feast of tabernacles in God's holy days. But what's happened? Well, a lot's happened. God allowed it all to happen. God is sovereign over all things, and He wants to deliver His people. Notice the theme of deliverance here in Book 2 of Psalms. Psalm 43, just going to read a few verses here. Psalm 43, verse 1. Vindicate me, O God, and plead My cause against an ungodly nation. O, deliver Me from the Deceple, an unjust man. We kind of crowd to God today about that. Please deliver Me from things that are happening all around Me. Chapter 50, verse 15. Call upon Me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver you, and you shall go before Me. I will deliver you. Again, the theme of deliverance. Psalm 54, verse 7. He has delivered Me out of all trouble, in My eye a scene's desire upon My enemy. He has delivered Me. Again, the theme of deliverance being mentioned over and over again here in Book 2. Psalm 56, verse 13. For you have delivered My soul from death, and you have kept My feet from falling, that I may have walked before God in the light of the living. You have delivered My soul from death. Psalm 69, verse 1. Save me, O God, deliver Me, O God, for the waters have come up to My neck. I sink in deep mire. Verse 14. O, deliver Me out of the mire, and let Me not sink. Let Me be delivered from those who hate Me and out of the deep waters. Again, save Me, deliver Me, let Me be delivered. Psalm 70, verse 1. Make haste, O God, to deliver Me. Make haste to help Me, O Lord. Psalm 71, verse 4. Deliver Me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked. Deliver Me out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. Again, emphasizing the theme of deliverance. Psalm 72, beginning in verse 12. He will deliver the needy when He cries. He will also deliver the poor also to whom who has no helper. He will spare the poor and needy. He will save and deliver the souls of the needy. He will redeem their life from oppression and violence. And precious shall be their blood in His sight. Again, He will deliver the needy when He cries. So it's obvious that the theme of Book 2 of Psalms is the deliverance of God's people during a time of trouble, during a time of tribulation. What's the time setting? Is it time just prior to the time of the Great Tribulation, but it comes around the whole world? Because of Satan. What's the place setting? So the place setting, let's go back to Psalm 57 to give us the place setting. Psalm 57, verse 1.

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for my soul thirsts for you, and in the shadow of your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by. So what's the place setting? The place setting will be under the shadow of God's wings, whoever that might be, and ever God will work that out. The place setting will be under God's protection from the wrath of Satan, and Satan's going to pour out on the world to begin the tribulation.

What about Book 3? Book 3 begins immediately following Book 2. Book 3 is Psalm 73 through Psalm 89. And the theme of Book 3 ties directly to Revelation 12, 17, where the dragon goes to make war with the rest of her offspring. Before giving the theme of Book 3, let's go back and read Revelation 12, 17 again. Revelation 12, verse 17, The dragon was enraged with a woman, with a church, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Now, this may seem negative when you read this verse, but there's actually three very positive things stated here. Number 1, they are her offspring. They are true members of God's church. Number 2, these are those who keep the commandments of God. That's a positive statement. And number 3, they have the testimony of Jesus Christ. So why then? You've got to ask them the question. Why then would they not be productive in the great tribulation as those in Revelation 12, verse 14? The answer to that is in Book 3 of Psalms. The prophetic time setting of Book 3 is the same as Book 2. The time setting is the time just prior to the time of great tribulation, the time leading up to Satan's wrath.

But Book 3 has a far different place setting than Book 2. The place setting of Book 3 is the world. It's living on into the world at the beginning of the great tribulation. So the place setting of Book 3, I should say, is the world, and most people in the world at this time will be under the shadow of... Book 2, I should say, will be under the shadow of God's wings. But Book 3 is what the rest of her offspring will learn during the great tribulation they are living into.

They're going to learn some very valuable lessons. It's actually a positive book, because it shows that those who are going to live into the beginning of that tribulation and won't be under the shadow of God's wings at that time, will learn some very, very positive lessons and valuable lessons, and they'll become deeply converted as a result of that, what they learn and experience.

What is the first thing they're going to learn? Well, let's go back to the beginning of Book 3, Psalm 73, verse 1. The very first thing it tells us, they're going to look, it says, truly God is good. They're going to learn that God and God's ways are good. There's nothing negative about them. Even though you might go through all the trials and difficulties, they're good.

To who will they be good? As a lot of part of the verse says, to such as are of a pure heart, to those whose hearts are right, to sincerely come to understand God and who truly come to want to follow God and trust in God. What had happened to cause this remnant of a rospering to go into great tribulation? Why? Then they're going to come to tribulation.

Verse 2, Psalm 73, verse 2. But as for me, you know, my feet had almost stumbled, and my steps had nearly slipped. What happened to cause this remnant of a rospering to go into great tribulation? Well, these individuals now find themselves in situations they never expected to be in, and they're reflecting back on the tremendous value of their calling and asking themselves, you know, what happened?

Why am I in this situation? What happened to cause me to almost stumble? What happened for my steps, for my walk with God to nearly slip away? Verse 3 gives the answer. Psalm 73, verse 3. I was envious of the boastful when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. That's not really the best translation. The Hebrew word translated wicked literally means morally wrong. So it's referring to people outside of God's church who have not yet been called, but who may be very prosperous. You know, you look around the world, you look at other people and see, well, you know, how come I'm struggling?

I follow God, I've made God, and yet I can barely make my payments in my house. I barely make my bills up. And look at my neighbor over here. He's not following God. And then he's got a $500,000 house. He makes huge amount of money. He has three cars. You can look at that and view that way. Many in God's church who sacrifice to follow God are not as prosperous as some in the world who do not follow God, which can make them envious of those in the world who can then boast of their success.

You know, here's the lesson. Never become envious of others. What God has given to us is far more available than earthly possessions, as was pointed out by Mr. Holiday and his sermonette. Great treasures God has given us. But the entirety of book three shows the very positive lessons the remnant of God's people will learn. Learn from living into a time of great tribulation.

They will learn to really cry out to God. Psalm 77, verse 1. They're going to learn to cry out to God and be earnest. I cried out to God with my voice, to God with my voice, and He gave ear to me. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. So the great tribulation is going to cause these people now to really cry out to God in earnest and to sincerely see God in earnest.

Psalm 77, verse 2. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing. My soul refused to be covered. I remember God and I was troubled. I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed. Verse 7. Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more? He has His mercy ceased forever. Has His promise failed forevermore? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in His anger shut up His tender mercies? People living in the church are going to wonder this.

Has God still noticed my problems? He's still going to be merciful to me. They will then reflect back and come to realize they brought this upon themselves. Verse 10. And I said, well, this is really is my anguish. But I don't remember the past. I remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. I remember the works of the Lord. And surely I will remember your wonders of old.

I will meditate on all your work and talk of your deeds. I'll talk of your way, O God, in the sanctuary. I remember God's church and all these services and sermons I heard. And I realized who is so great a God as our God? You are the God who does wonders. You have declared your strength among the peoples. You have with your arm redeemed your people, sons of Jacob and Joseph. Please redeem me back to you now, like you redeemed Jacob and Joseph.

What else are they going to learn? Psalm 84. Again, this book here showing what they're going to learn. And it's very positive. Psalm 84, verse 1. They're going to learn how lovely is your tabernacle, Lord of hosts. My soul longs and even faints for the courts of the Lord to being with God's people, as he used to be.

My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Verse 10. Or verse 4, I should say. Blessed are those who dwell in your house. They will still be praising you. Blessed is the man whose strength is in you, whose heart is set on pilgrimage, set on keeping your feasts in your holy days. Verse 10. For a day in your courts are going to learn.

A day in your courts among your people is better than a thousand other days. You know, God, I so much want to be a part of your kingdom and your family. I'd rather just be a doorkeeper. Better to be a doorkeeper in the house of God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness in the world. They're going to learn that they become very deeply converted from all of this.

Verse 12. The Lord of hosts blesses the man who trusts in you. I want to just totally trust in you from now on. Psalm 88, verse 1. O Lord, God of my salvation, I have cried out day and night before you. Let my prayer come before you, and climb your ear to my cry. Look at my situation, hear my cry. For my soul is full of troubles in the world, all this tribulation all around me that's taking place. And my life draws near to the grave.

I'm like I could die at any time because of all the trouble that's going on in the world. I'm counted with those who go down to the pit, and I'm like a man who has no strength. I drift among the dead. So they're in real trouble, and they're crying out to God because of that. So the great tribulation is going to cause them to cry out to God day and night, and God will incline his ear to their cry, which will cause them to then say this, recorded in the very last verse of Book 3, which is Psalm 89, verse 52.

Blessed be the Lord forevermore, Amen and Amen. So the tribulation is going to cause them to become very deeply converted. It's a very positive message. They're going to learn some extremely valuable lessons. Hopefully we can learn those lessons now so we don't have to go into that. But we now come to Book 4. Book 4 is just Psalms 90 through Psalm 106.

The time sending of Book 2 and 3 is the time of the great tribulation, or the time leading right up to that, which will last for three and a half years, for a time and times and a half a time. What happens next? What comes after the great tribulation? And even prior to that, what happens during the last year of the great tribulation? The last year of the great tribulation is called the Day of the Lord.

That's the day when God directly intervenes in the affairs of mankind to bring it all to a climactic conclusion. It's the day God directly intervenes. Those who live into the great tribulation as God's people then come to repentance and then be spared from the Day of the Lord. As we just read there, they're going to come to repentance. They're going to be then spared from the Day of the Lord. As indicated by prayer of Moses, the man of God, which begins Book 4, Psalm 90, verse 1, Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you have formed the earth and the world.

From everlasting to everlasting, you are God. And you turn man to destruction, but then say, as they go on this, is return, O children of men. God's people will return to destruction in the great tribulation, will then return to God, and will then be spared from the Day of the Lord. And will then abide under the shadow of God, to be protected from God's wrath. Psalm 91, verse 1, He who draws the secret place of the Most High shall abide, now again, under the shadow of the Almighty.

So, let's live in the tribulation and learn their lesson, but then get to that, after two and a half years of tribulation, you get to the Day of the Lord, then God is going to put them under the shadow of His wings. They won't have to go through all those plagues that come along the earth during the Day of the Lord.

He who draws the secret place of the Most High shall abide, then, under the shadow of the Almighty. And I will say to the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I will trust. Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the perilous pestilence that is going to come upon the world during the Day of the Lord. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge.

His truth shall be your shield and your buckler. So you shall not then be afraid any more of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noon day. Those will be protected during that time of the Day of the Lord when all these plagues and things are going to come upon the earth. What happens following the Day of the Lord? Next, we'll come to the return of Christ after the Day of the Lord. After the Day of the Lord, we'll come to the return of Christ in the center of God's kingdom on the earth to establish God's kingdom.

Now, you have to ask, is that the theme of Book 4 of Psalms? Is the reign of Christ, which comes immediately after the Day of the Lord, is that then the theme of Book 4? Psalm 93, verse 1.

The Lord reigns. Let's talk about a time now when Christ is going to be reigning on the earth. The Lord reigns. He is clothed with majesty. The Lord is clothed and is good at himself with strength. Surely the world is established so it cannot be moved anymore by what happens in the affairs of mankind.

Let's go to Psalm 96, verse 10. Psalm 96, verse 10. Say among the nations, the Lord reigns. Again, I'm selfish enough to be here, but time of Christ reigning on the earth. The Lord reigns. The world is firmly established. It shall not be moved anymore by what man does. He shall judge the peoples righteously. This is how I'm talking about what's taking place when God is going to be reigning on the earth, as King of kings and Lord of lords. Let the heavens rejoice. Let the earth be glad. Let the seas roar in all its fullness. Let the field be joyful in all that is in it. Let all the trees and woods rejoice before the Lord. For he is coming to judge the earth. He should judge the world with righteousness with his people, with his truth. Psalm 97, verse 1. The Lord reigns. So let the earth rejoice. Let the multitudes be glad. Clouds and darkness surround him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. A fire goes before him and burns his enemies round about. His lightening is like the world. The earth sees. They're going to see all this when Christ is reigning on the earth. The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. The heavens declare his righteousness and all the people see his glory. They're going to see it. They're going to know Christ is reigning from Jerusalem.

Psalm 99, verse 1. The Lord reigns. Let the peoples tremble. He dwells between the caribim. Let the earth be moved. The Lord is great in Zion. He is high above all the peoples. Let them praise your great and awesome name. He is holy.

All of you like with Christ reigning on the earth as King of kings and Lord of lords. Psalm 103, verse 1, is what it's going to be like. Blessed! Bless the Lord, O my soul. And all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, for getting out all of his benefits that he's going to bring to the earth when he comes. He forgives all your iniquities. What Christ is going to do is going to forgive everybody's iniquities. Give him a new start. He will heal all your diseases. He will redeem your life from destruction. He will crown you with loving kindness and tender emergencies and satisfy your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. Verse 10, For he has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punishes according to our iniquities. He isn't going to do that. He's going to extend mercy. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward those who fear him. Verse 14, For he knows our frame, he remembers that we are just dust. Which will cause many to say this. Psalm 106, verse 48.

Psalm 106, verse 48, they will say, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting, let all the people say, Amen. Praise the Lord. Or Amen. Hallelujah. So that then is what the Word of God says in regards to what the Tribulation will be like and to what it's going to lead to. Very positive messages. But in conclusion then, what was the real miracle of Pearl Harbor? Up until the bombing of Pearl Harbor, American military aviation was very primitive and haphazard. All of our power was in ships. American thought that the military superiority of the world depended on built battleships and cruisers and destroyers, not airplanes. But when about one-third of the entire fleet was destroyed at Pearl Harbor by Japanese bombers and airplanes, America became convinced that the airplane was a formidable weapon of war. And America put their resources in into building military aircraft. It's an amazing statistic. You can look it up. But during World War II, the United States produced over 200,000 military warplanes, bombers. Even my father quit his job. I remember back there that time, in the 1940s, early 40s, when I was a young boy. My father quit his job to go to work for Boeing in Seattle. Because Boeing was building military aircraft. A lot of those 200,000 planes were built by Boeing in Seattle. And my dad went to work for Boeing to help. He quit his job and went to work for Boeing to help build military aircraft during the war. He put the radios in the airplanes, communication devices. He worked in the air and the bomb, and all the radios and communication devices. But that then, building all those planes, burned the tide of the war and saved the United States from being defeated by Japan and Germany. But there was another even greater factor involved. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese did not follow through by veying the west coast of America as they had planned originally, which gave America time to arm and train the most powerful military airplanes and weapons the world has ever known. So a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor aroused America to action to go into building the aircraft, which they amazingly, 200,000 within about two or three years. Why didn't the Japanese attack the west coast after the bombing of Pearl Harbor as they had originally planned? I think it's because God inspired their blunders, and God was not going to allow Japan to win World War II. Matthew 24, verse 14. One last verse. Matthew 24, verse 14. Because this gospel, the kingdom of God, will first have to be preached in all the worlds of the wilderness to all the nations before the end can come. And if God hadn't intervened, the end would have come back in the 1940s as far as being able to do any work of God in America. So God intervened in the affairs of man. So if Matthew 24, verse 14 could be fulfilled, this little work of God to preach the gospel world could be fulfilled. And the only nation through which that could be fulfilled was the United States at that time. And you and I are still a part of that work today. Today, the true gospel, the kingdom of God, is being preached to the whole world in ways that we never imagined before through the Internet. You can now communicate to anybody, any place in the world, instantaneously through the Internet in different means. Never previously possible. But should Japan had been successful, and should the United States have fallen, God's work would have been stopped back then, way back in the 40s. But God intervened, and He was not about that to let that happen. Because Matthew 24, in books 2, 3, and 4 Psalms, had to be fulfilled first. And that is the real miracle of Pearl Harbor.