Following the July 7 terror bombings in London, many evoked memories
of the blitz in World War II. Regrettably, that's not the only analogy
with the Second World War that is appropriate.
by Melvin Rhodes
After the first terror bombings on three London Underground (subway)
trains and one of the city's famous double-decker buses, Western leaders
were quick to evoke memories of the resolve of Londoners during the World
War II blitz on the city by the German Luftwaffe.
The blitz isn't the only comparison one can draw with the Second
World War.
Appeasement is another.
For much of the decade preceding the September 1939 German invasion
of Poland that precipitated World War II, Winston Churchill was warning of
impending calamity. He was largely ignored, criticized as a warmonger and
kept out of government. This period came to be known as the famous statesman's
"wilderness years."
But he was right.
Just one year before the outbreak
of war, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sat down and talked with
Adolf Hitler in Munich, purportedly receiving his assurances that he would
stop his aggression. Returning to Britain, waving a piece of paper in his
hand as he came down the steps of his airplane, he proclaimed "peace in our
time."
Chamberlain had appeased Hitler by giving him Czechoslovakia.
All he did was buy time.
The apostle Paul warned of such delusion: "For when they say,
'Peace and safety!' then sudden destruction comes upon them ..."
(1 Thessalonians 5:3). While this prophecy specifically applies to the global
state of deception just preceding the coming Day of the Lord, the principle
is always at work: The subtle spirit of appeasement blinds people to the truth,
leading to serious, often fatal, misjudgments.
For some time now too many
Western leaders have been making similar mistakes in the war on terrorism.
As the threat to Western civilization mounts, they have often been in the
dark, blinded by political correctness, unable to see the stark threat that
faces us all.
