NEVER GIVE IN
Donald R. Fox
One of my personal historic heroes is Sir Winston Churchill. I learned much
about him during World War Two by weekly movie world news, the daily
newspapers and the radio. A weekly visual update was viewed at the local movie
theater. The well-respected Lowell Thomas was a favorite newscaster at the
nearby movie house. Televisions as we now know it did not come into being until
after WW2. TV was introduced to the masses during the 1939 New York World
Fair. If one did not know Winston Churchill during this era, he/she had their
heads in the sand. As school-age youngsters, it was part of our life to have
knowledge of current world events. Our daily education inside and outside of the
classroom was a home front participating in a terrible worldwide war. Sir Winston
Churchill had a “bull-dog” look and projected great inward strength during this
global war.
Some time ago, I found quotations of a speech presented by Sir Churchill in
1941. This was during the very early war years as Great Britain was bombed by
Nazi Germany daily.
Note a brief portion of the speech as follows, “Never give in–never, never,
never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except
to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield
to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.” Reference: Sir Winston
Churchill, Speech, 1941, Harrow School, British politician (1874 – 1965)
CHRISTIANS MUST NEVER YIELD TO SECULAR PHILOSOPHY
When the secular world demands that Christians yield and give up their faith in
God Almighty, our response must always be, never, never, never. Note the
demands placed on the Apostles, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this
name: and behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and intend to
bring this man's blood upon us.” (Acts 5:28) Never give in is their response, “But
Peter and the apostles answered and said, We must obey God rather than men.”
(Acts 5:29)
“There was no device by which the powerful priestly enemies of the Lord
and his apostles could intimidate the witnesses of his resurrection. They
were here bluntly told by the apostles that they were subject to God's
orders, rather than to the Sanhedrin's prejudice. A new age had dawned,
and the religious leaders could not prevent it” (Reference: Coffman’s
Commentaries on the Bible).
End Note: When I was a school-age boy, WW2 was raging. My Father was a
WW1 combat veteran. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941,
like many men of that era, he enlisted in the U. S. Army to serve his country
during this terrible period in our history. I observed during this period high
patriotism. When I joined the US Army in 1951 at age eighteen, I perceived that
we Americans basically had the same moral values. In the passing of time, I
observed a great change in the general ethical standards of right/wrong in the
USA. This is a sad reality. We are reminded of what Sir Winston Churchill said,
“in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of
honour and good sense.” It can be said another way “We must obey God rather
than men.”
NOTE: Winston Churchill: https://www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/speeches/speeches-ofwinston-churchill/103-never-give-in
Lowell Thomas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowell_Thomas Early TV and the 1939
Worlds Fair: http://www.earlytelevision.org/worlds_fair.html