General News
26 April, 2026
In good faith
IN GOOD FAITH: On December 7, 1941, aircraft from the Japanese Imperial Fleet, under the command of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, launched a surprise attack on the US naval facilities at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, resulting in America declaring war against Japan, and shortly after, Germany and Italy, effectively plunging the US headlong into World War II.
This followed months of negotiations during which, essentially, Japan was demanding that the US cease sanctions impeding Japan’s military, expansionist intentions for the conquest of the South Pacific.
It was not long after that, on the 19th of February, 1942, that the first bombing raid took place over Darwin, then only a small Northern frontier town of about 1000 people.
This raid, the first of many, was conducted by the same fleet that conducted the raid over Pearl Harbour.
Today, there is a monument on the Darwin wharf marking the spot where the first Japanese bomb hit.
Between those attacks, in January 1942, Japan launched an invasion of the Philippines, known today as the Battle of Bataan, again beginning with bombing raids which destroyed most of the US Philippine air force.
The Philippines had been a colonial possession of Spain from 1521 until 1898, when the Americans won the Spanish-American war.
The colony of the Philippines then became US territory as part of the war settlements.
As it was now an American territory, the US became responsible for their military protection and, as such, had formed the “US Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE)”, consisting possibly of around 80,000 soldiers, then under the command of General Douglas MacArthur.
However, they were hugely hampered by sickness and a lack of rations and equipment, which the American government was unable to provide in time for the attack by the Japanese.
When the invasion came, the defenders held out for some 3 months against a force of around 75,000 Japanese attackers who were much better equipped than they were.
The conditions heavily favoured the Japanese invaders, and hence the Philippines surrendered on April 9,1942.
In the midst of the chaos, the US defence department decided to evacuate General MacArthur, considering him much too valuable to lose.
On March 12, 1942, under cover of darkness, he travelled by patrol PT boat from Corregidor to Mindanao, from where he was flown to Australia to continue administering the South Pacific war effort from an office in the AMP building in Brisbane.
When in Australia, he made the declaration, "I came through and I shall return".
He would eventually come good on that promise when, on the morning of October 20, 1944, the US fleet appeared off the coast of Leyte Island. MacArthur was there, and as part of a radio broadcast to the Philippine people he declared, “People of the Philippines: I have returned. …”.
The liberation of the Philippines was completed after much heavy fighting in early 1945.
As vital as this work was, it pales into insignificance compared to another much anticipated return, one which MacArthur, being openly Christian and having come from the Anglican-Episcopal tradition, would have undoubtedly been aware of.
In the Gospel of John (14:1-4) Jesus said “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going".
The Bible teaches unmistakably in many places that the time will come when Jesus will return to this planet.In the Gospel of Matthew, (24) He gives signs to watch out for before the time of His return.
They include deception, increase in wars and reports of wars, famine, disease and earthquakes across the world, among others. Do any of these sound familiar? They should. Yet the Bible says that these are just the beginning of the signs that lead to His return.
When Jesus returns, it will mark the end of the age of man’s pitiful attempts to govern this planet, and the beginning of the time of Jesus’s kingship. You ask, “when will that be?”
Well, the Bible doesn’t explicitly say, only that it gives the signs to watch for. But when He does come, He will bring to an end all of the evils of this world, and establish a kingdom of peace for all who have accepted His offer of life, to enjoy forever.
By David Young