We are currently running a series of articles in The Trumpet, “Winston S. Churchill: the Watchman.” But he could just as easily be called a prophet. All he did was simply remember history, and learn from it.
After entering the demilitarized Rhineland zone in 1936, a clear violation of the Versailles Treaty, Hitler and the Nazi machine gobbled up Austria in 1938. The West stood by and watched as more catastrophes followed. “Negotiations between the Czechs and the Sudeten Germans continued. ‘Our latest information from Prague is rather more encouraging,’ Chamberlain wrote to Churchill on August 26. But Churchill did not share Chamberlain’s optimism. ‘The fabricated stories of a Marxist plot in Czechoslovakia,’ Churchill told his constituents at Theydon Bois on August 27, ‘and the orders to the Sudeten Deutsch to arm and defend themselves, were disquieting signs, similar to those which preceded the seizure of Austria’” (Martin Gilbert, Winston Churchill, vol. 5).
Churchill saw “disquieting signs,” but they were not signs to Prime Minister Chamberlain. That is because he refused to learn from the recent history of Hitler’s Austrian invasion.
Today, we refuse to learn from the signs of history. And some of those signs are happening inside that very same nation—Germany! Our peoples are again refusing to see what is really happening. Germany is prophesied to rise one last time, again to be the enemy of America and Britain (Isa. 10:5-7; “Assyria” is the ancient name of Germany). God helped us in World War II. But God has prophesied that He will oppose us in World War III, unless we repent. (Write for our free booklet, The History and Prophecy of Germany.)
Any good watchman looks for disquieting signs and warns his people. God has given me a watchtower from which to warn our people today. If they don’t heed, their blood will be on their own heads. If I don’t warn them, that blood will be on my head! (Ezek. 33:7-9). Either way, there is going to be much bloodshed, unless our people repent.
“In an anonymous paragraph which Churchill had written for the Evening Standard Londoner’s Diary on September 1, he warned of the dangers of ‘a marked decline of the will to live, and still more of the will to rule.’”
Churchill said there was a “marked decline” in Britain’s will to live and will to rule. He wondered if his people would just surrender to the Nazis without even a war—did they no longer have the will to truly live?
The Times of London was purposely vague in its stance on Czechoslovakia, but Churchill was quick to clarify it. The Times had written, “If the Sudetens now ask for more than the Czech Government are ready to give in their latest set of proposals, it can only be inferred that the Germans are going beyond the mere removal of disabilities for those who do not find themselves at ease within the Czechoslovak Republic. In that case it might be worthwhile for the Czechoslovak Government to consider whether they should exclude altogether the project, which has found favor in some quarters, of making Czechoslovakia a more homogeneous state by the cession of that fringe of alien populations who are contiguous to the nation to which they are united by race.”
Martin Gilbert sums up Churchill’s position: “In this single paragraph The Times gave its support to the most extreme of the Nazi demands, the complete cession of the Sudetenland, a demand which, if met, would have condemned Czechoslovakia to disintegration, and placed a majority of the Sudeten Germans under the grim rigors of Nazi rule. That same day, the Foreign Office publicly disassociated itself from the leader, but the damage had been done. Throughout Europe it was believed that The Times, in advocating a German annexation of the Sudetenland, spoke for the British Government, and that, as a result, Britain clearly would not fight to protect the Czech frontiers against German attack. On September 8 [1938] Churchill drafted a
‘letter to a correspondent’ in which he set out his views. But the letter was never made public” (ibid.). The leaders certainly no longer had the will to rule as past British empires ruled. They weren’t willing to challenge Hitler and demonstrate that will to rule! If there was a “marked decline” of their will then, how about now? It’s far worse—and what’s more, it was prophesied!
The Law of Moses
“But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased…. And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end” (Dan. 12:4, 9). This is an end-time book. It is only for us today.
Daniel prophesied what would happen to us today. “As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth. Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice” (Dan. 9:13-14).
Moses, the man who wrote the first five books of the Bible, also prophesied that this evil would come upon us! Unless we repent, the problems are going to get worse. God is bringing this evil upon us. It has been prophesied from man’s very beginning!
Here is one of Moses’ prophecies: “And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass” (Lev. 26:19). I have said many times that we did not win the Persian Gulf war. Some people disagree. But how could they, when you see what Saddam Hussein is doing today?
We simply lack the will to deal with tyrants and finish the job. We have a pathetic lack of will in a very dangerous world. It always gets back to the will to lead and the will to follow a strong leader.
That weak will was afflicting us badly in World War II. But the good news is, we could change that weakness if we turn to God.
Media Bias
The Times newspaper now had a shameful history to remember—and perhaps try to forget! Not only did they distort the available facts, they refused to print Churchill’s view! And his view had been amazingly accurate for years. They had a blatant bias visible to the whole world. This was no small crime by the prestigious Times. Their supposed purpose was, and is, to print the truth—and the spirit of the truth. What great lessons we all have to learn.
Many readers were deceived because they failed to “prove all things” (I Thes. 5:17). We simply cannot escape our individual responsibility. Sooner or later we must face the truth.
But again, have the press learned lessons from their own lack of will? The evidence I see shows they have grown even worse today. Since this matter involves our survival, surely each person needs to be concerned!
Our lack of will before World War II almost caused the Western world to be destroyed. Are we making the same mistake—before a nuclear World War III?
The Times thought it was proper to give Austria and a part of Czechoslovakia to the Nazi demons!
Would they have thought the same about their own nation? Certainly not. But this is why we lack the will to fight for righteousness anywhere: We are too selfish to be strong!
The Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia was given to Hitler without any real resistance. When Churchill returned to England on September 21, he immediately issued this statement to the press denouncing Chamberlain’s policy: “The partition of Czechoslovakia under pressure from England and France amounts to the complete surrender of the Western democracies to the Nazi threat of force. Such a collapse will bring peace or security neither to England nor to France. On the contrary, it will place these two nations in an ever weaker and more dangerous situation. The mere neutralization of Czechoslovakia means the liberation of 25 German divisions, which will threaten the Western front; in addition to which it will open up for the triumphant Nazis the road to the Black Sea.
“It is not Czechoslovakia alone which is menaced, but also the freedom and the democracy of all nations. The belief that security can be obtained by throwing a small State to the wolves is a fatal delusion. The war potential of Germany will increase in a short time more rapidly than it will be possible for France and Great Britain to complete the measures necessary for their defense” (ibid.).
That is blunt language. But it’s true! Churchill knew that the issue was far more than just Czechoslovakia. It was “the freedom and democracies of all nations” who desired it.
If we truly believe in freedom then we must support other nations and perhaps even fight for their freedom.