These Are Great Days!
During a fiery trial, it’s not easy to be filled with hope. Had you lived in London during 1940, for example, how easy it would have been to slip into the depths of despair and discouragement. Yet, even as London was bombarded by German bombs, Winston Churchill grasped the significance of the moment for the British—indeed, for all defenders of freedom and democracy.
“Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war,” Churchill told the House of Commons on June 18, 1940. This harsh reality, Churchill went on to say, actually presented Britain with a magnificent opportunity. “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.”
With the prospect of survival for the West fast sinking into the abyss, Winston Churchill was the lone voice of hope for a brighter tomorrow.
After Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain as prime minister in May 1940, Chamberlain stayed on as a member of Churchill’s war cabinet. But because of his poor health, Chamberlain had to leave the cabinet later that same year. Upon learning about Chamberlain’s decision to resign, Churchill encouraged the former prime minister to return to his post as soon as his health improved.
“Let us go on together through the storm,” he told Chamberlain. “These are great days.”
Indeed. As Churchill predicted, it was Britain’s finest hour.
Today, storm clouds are again gathering around Britain and the United States—two nations that have long been on course for decline. And numerous Bible prophecies tell us that our peoples are about to be thrust into the worst time of suffering ever experienced by human beings (Matthew 24:21-22).
The fact that we’re entering this world crisis without a Winston Churchill-type leader on the scene is, in so many ways, terrifying.
But at the same time, these are great days!
With Britain and the Western world teetering on the brink of annihilation during World War ii, “the people of the land” set Winston Churchill to be “their watchman,” and he rallied the West to stand up to the fascist bully in Germany (see Ezekiel 33:1-6).
This time around, however, no political watchman can save the United States and Britain from the destruction and captivity.Only God can! And so, in these latter days, God has raised up His watchman—not to marshal military forces against the enemies of freedom—but to proclaim an end-time warning message.
It’s God’s way of pleading for our peoples to repent of their many sins. “Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11).
What great love and hope there is in this advancewarning—delivered just before disaster strikes. Request our free booklets Ezekiel: The End-Time Prophet and Winston S. Churchill: The Watchman to get the full impact of this watchman warning being delivered to a dying world.
Another free booklet of ours, Daniel—Unsealed at Last!, thoroughly examines the four world-ruling empires described in Daniel 2. These four kingdoms, the Chaldean, Medo-Persian, Greco-Macedonian and Roman empires, were prophesied to continue in succession right up to the establishment of another worldwide kingdom—to be set up in our day.
Notice Daniel 2:44: “And in the days of these kings [the group of European nations that will soon become the world’s next superpower] shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed ….” In the days of these kings, God’s Kingdom—the fifthkingdom—will be established over all the Earth!
Could there be any other days as great as these in which we are now living? There will never be another opportunity like this for those who lend their support for God’s watchman warning. As my father has often exclaimed, “What a momentous time to be alive!”
That doesn’t mean the road ahead will be easy. But if we stay the course and weather the storms, God’s Word assures us a bright tomorrow.
During his often-repeated speech at Harrow School in October 1941, a year after he encouraged Neville Chamberlain to continue on through the storm, Winston Churchill elaborated on the “great days” theme he used to uplift the former prime minister. Before the speech, the students at Harrow sang the school song for Churchill, who had attended Harrow when he was a boy, adding this extra verse in his honor: Not less we praise in darker days / The leader of our nation, / And Churchill’s name shall win acclaim / From each new generation. / For you have power in danger’s hour / Our freedom to defend, Sir! / Though long the fight, we know that right / Will triumph in the end, Sir!
Having heard the additional verse during a Harrow visit the year before, Churchill had arranged in advance with the school headmaster to make one slight alteration to the lyrics: changing the word darker to sterner.
“Do not let us speak of darker days,” Churchill said near the end of his speech, “let us speak rather of sterner days. These are not dark days; these are great days—the greatest days our country has ever lived; and we must all thank God that we have been allowed, each of us according to our stations, to play a part in making these days memorable in the history of our race.”
In light of Ezekiel 33, those same words, with another minor adjustment, could just as easily apply to today. These are not dark days. These are great days—the greatest days God’s people have ever lived!
