Christians have lost the 'Battle of France'. Only the 'Battle of Britain' remains.

Christians have lost the 'Battle of France'. Only the 'Battle of Britain' remains.

On June 18, 1940, Winston Churchill addressed the British House of Commons on the matter of the French capitulating to the Germans. I quote from Erik Larson’s The Splendid and the Vile, pages 92 and 93:

The “Battle of France” was over, he said, adding, “I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin.” At stake was not only the British Empire but all of Christian civilization. “The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war.”

He marched towards his climax: “If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free, and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands; but if we fail then the whole world, including the United States, and all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister, and perhaps more prolonged, by the lights of a perverted science.”

He issued an appeal to the greater spirit of Britons everywhere. “Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty and so bear ourselves that if the British Commonwealth and Empire lasts for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’”

I read those words and moved on to read another page, maybe two. My mind kept going back to those three paragraphs. I went back and read them again, trying to decipher any possible lesson therein for us as conservatives and Christians today. Nothing. Any analogy drawn would have been too complex and it would have contained many gaps or holes. I went back to the point where I had stopped reading and continued. Somewhere in the next chapter, I was drawn back once again to the three paragraphs. And then it hit me.

For the Christian, the “Battle of France” is indeed over. The ‘dark side’ – the side opposed to God, conservative values, and Christian morals – has won.  Countries that once claimed to be Christian and included scripture in their edifices have capitulated to the dark side. Governments that claimed to represent our conservative views – both financial and social – lied to us, and in efforts to either maintain their power or regain it, they have opted to pursue more liberal agendas in pursuit of the all-mighty ‘vote’. So-called Christian denominations noticing their dwindling numbers have chosen to alter their stance on a host of issues in a desperate attempt to maintain members (even if they attend only twice a year) and somehow stem their ever-decreasing revenues from parishioners. Many in our own families, facing various difficulties in their own lives, are finding it too hard to maintain their Christian behavior and practices. The “Battle of France” is over. What remains to be fought by each true Christian is the “Battle of Britain”.

Churchill had tried to help France but she wasn’t interested, finding it easier to consider carving out a peace treaty with the enemy.  He was then left with only Britain to worry about – that is he was left with his own country, and in essence, the task of saving his own people, his own family, and ultimately himself. In fact, history tells us that a number of his key personnel and perhaps he himself, were relieved at France’s fall.  Trying to save her was too onerous.  Now they could focus on their efforts on saving the British Empire.

I do not pretend to speak for all Christians, but only for myself when I say, “I believe we are now at that point – that we would do well to help save our friends, our loved ones, ourselves” and worry less about the spiritual ‘French’ in our analogy.  It is possible that Jesus had such folks in mind in Matthew chapters 7 and 15 when he talked about dogs and swine.

Churchill knew that what was at stake was all of Christian civilization at the time. I believe the same is the case today. But somehow, we Christians have failed to know that, to see it, or if we did, to believe it enough to do anything about it. Perhaps that is because some of us have never valued Christian civilization and all that it entails enough to worry about it disappearing. If that is the case, then there is not much that can be done about it. We never really bought into the Gospel in a genuine way. It was primarily an insurance card in case of fire.

Many others of us, however, have bought into it with our whole ‘hearts’ as Christ intended for us to do, and we are greatly alarmed at what we see happening, if not for ourselves, for others, especially our loved ones.

Churchill realized that having defeated France, Germany was now about to turn on England. There was no way Hitler could win WW2 without taking Britain. And so it is with God’s arch enemy, Satan. He cannot win the war of the world and humankind without defeating each one of us Christians that are still fighting the fight. Churchill knew, through his intelligence operations, where Germany would likely strike first, and when, and how.  But Satan doesn’t leave clues as Hitler did. Thankfully, we have the Word of God which clearly describes all the land mines to be avoided, the actions to take, and the relationship with our Lord that is needed for us to defeat God’s Enemy and ours.

Churchill could say to fellow citizens, “If we can stand up to him [the enemy],” freedom will ring throughout the world for a long time. “But if we fail then,” all would be lost, and “a new dark age would become even more sinister.”

Thankfully, we have it better than the British did. God has ensured that He and His true followers will indeed win the war in the end. Our job is to win the various battles until then so that more will have an opportunity to accept God’s Son as Lord and Savior.

Interesting that Churchill alluded to the cause of the prolonged sinister darkness that was about to come if Germany won, would have been due to “the lights of a perverted science”. Today, we are all, doctors, educators, scientists, etc., included, forced to simply accept the various sciences the powers that be promote, without question, without true research, etc. That is the case in the areas of medicine, health, psychology, climate, economy, politics, and in many others.

The best Winston Churchill could do was to appeal to the greater spirit of Britons everywhere. He said “Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty” in such a way that the world would be able to say “This was their finest hour.”

In our case, God has already appealed to us. He gave His only begotten Son to die for us that whosoever believed in Him would not perish but have eternal life. What remains is for each of us to brace ourselves to our duty of service to the King of Kings in such a way that at the end of our lives or at the end of world system as we know it today, it could be said about us individually, and collectively, “This was their finest hour.”

Ken B. Godevenos, Murrells Inlet, August 11, 2022.

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