1Corinthians 15:57 “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“To the Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force: You are about to embark on the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you.

The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. With our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped, and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely. But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-1941.

I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full VICTORY! Let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.”

This is America’s Commander-in-Chief Dwight Eisenhower ordering our troops to prepare for battle just before the June 6, 1944 D-Day invasion of Normandy. His message of the keys to victory? The courage, discipline, and skill of our soldiers to destroy evil under the blessing of the God of the Bible.

Nearly 3,000,000 Allied troops assembled in southern England. Over 4,000 ships and 1,200 planes stood by. It took one year. On May 8, 1945, Ike delivered the victory speech. Evil Nazi Germany was destroyed.

“As we celebrate VICTORY, let us remind ourselves of comrades who could not live to see this day. The route you have travelled through hundreds of miles is marked by the graves of former comrades. From them has been exacted the ultimate sacrifice; blood of many nations – American, British, Canadian, French, Polish and others – has help to gain the VICTORY.

Your accomplishments at sea, in the air, on the ground and in the field of supply, have astonished the world. Even before the final week of the conflict, you had put 5,000,000 of the enemy permanently out of the war. You have taken in stride military tasks so difficult as to be classed by many doubters as impossible. On the road to victory, you have endured every discomfort and privation and have surmounted every obstacle ingenuity and desperation could throw in your path. Full VICTORY has been attained.”

While celebrating their victory, Ike recounted the horrific cost to eliminate evil: over 300,000 American, 500,000 British and 7,500,000 Soviet soldiers died in combat.

What was the ultimate key to fully destroy Hitler’s Nazism? The sacrificial death of righteous, courageous, disciplined, and skilled soldiers willing to confront evil head-on. Conquering evil requires sacrificial death of the righteous. This is also the great theme of the Bible, and especially the Gospel. Read for yourselves.

1) Destroying Evil requires the Death of the Righteous

Revelation 12:11 “They CONQUERED Satan by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”

Hebrews 2:14 “Jesus partook of flesh and blood, that through death He might DESTROY the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.”

2) Only Christ – God’s Righteous One – Defeated Evil

Colossians 2:15 “Christ disarmed rulers and powers, put them to open shame, VICTORIOUS over them.”

Revelation 19:15 “Out of Christ’s mouth goes a sharp sword. With it He strikes the nations. He will RULE them with a rod of iron. He has on His robe and His thigh a name: ‘King of Kings and Lord of Lords.’”

3) Followers of Jesus Christ Ultimately Win the War Against Evil

2Corinthians 2:14 “Thanks be to God, who always leads us in VICTORY in Christ…”

Romans 8:37 “In all these things we are more than CONQUERORS through Christ who loved us.”

Remembering the 80th Anniversary of D-Day reminds us of the need for courage and sacrifice in the war with evil today in our culture. Victory only comes if Christians stand together with our Leader, Jesus Christ.
“The Evidence of Faith’s Substance” _ Article #608