Percival Should Not Have Surrendered!

We can all learn a lot of from history.  I recently watched “The Battle of Singapore” episode of Generals At War, which analyzed the decision making of Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita and British General Arthur Percival.¹

Under Yamashita, the Japanese drove down the Malay Peninsula and, with the British surrender, captured Singapore. The reason Percival decided to surrender was that the British were running out of supplies, including water. However, as they discussed surrender terms, Yamashita was careful not to let Percival know the Japanese were almost out of bullets. The truth was not on his side, but Yamashita pulled off his bluff and demanded unconditional surrender. Percival gave in.

Fighting for Truth

I cannot help but to see comparisons in the fight for biblical truth. The Darwinists and philosophical materialists are “almost out of bullets.”

What they have are nice stories, assumptions, attractive illustrations built on those assumptions, computer graphics, equivocation, and extrapolation. All of their “proofs” for Darwinian evolution fall apart under scrutiny. “Evolution: The Grand Experiment” by emergency room physician Carl Werner does an excellent job in bringing this out.² Like General Yamashita, Darwinists do not want people to know the truth about how weak their position actually is.

A Real World Example

In the same spirit as General Yamashita, Darwinists claim that evolution is “settled science.”³ That is what the Dover trial was about.

The Dover school board had wanted a modest statement read to students that in effect said that Darwinian evolution was not settled science. Darwinian evolution “is a theory.” And the statement said that the book Of Pandas and People was available in the library as an alternative viewpoint.

Fortunately for the plaintiffs complaining this was unfair (and unfortunately for seekers of truth), the plaintiffs got a very sympathetic judge that was eager to be honored by siding with the Darwinists. And that is exactly what happened.⁴

The fact that the plaintiffs in the case were so panicked about such a modest statement shows how desperate the Darwinists are to not have school children be presented with both sides of the debate. They know that Darwinian evolution does not hold up under scrutiny. The Darwinists want school children to be thoroughly indoctrinated before they are adults who might start asking questions that challenge their teachers.

Even as young adults in college, students have to be concerned about their grades and do not want to get on the bad side of a teacher. And in postgrad, if someone working in academia challenges Darwinism, there is a price to be paid.

For example, Mark Armitage was fired from California State University Northridge for simply showing and publishing soft dinosaur tissue from a triceratops horn.⁵ Mark Armitage won his lawsuit.

We do not hear about this in the news like we hear about the Dover trial. The Public Broadcasting System (PBS) in the USA made a very biased Nova documentary about Dover, but did not utter a word about Mark Armitage’s case.⁶

If You Don’t Hear About It, Did it Happen?

This is a tactic used by a side when they are in the wrong: just do whatever they can to keep the other side from being heard.

• Before the American Civil War, in the House of Representatives, former President John Quincy Adams fought against the “gag rule” that kept anti-slavery petitions from even being heard.⁷
• Even now, abortion providers oppose laws that require women seeking abortions to view sonograms of their babies first. The abortion providers argue for “choice”—but not informed choice.⁸

When Peter and John were preaching about the resurrected Jesus, they were called in by the Jewish Council which commanded Peter and John to stop: “So they called the apostles back in and commanded them never again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus” (Acts 4:18 NLT). What was Peter and John’s response? “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than Him?  We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19 NLT).

This is why we must not surrender like Percival did.

Unlike Percival, we know the truth. And we know that our opposition is afraid for people to know the truth.

We need to get the word out that people can believe the Bible. This could be expedited by churches and other civic organizations partnering with biblical creation organizations. They have the freedom and the platform to teach people that they can believe the Bible rather than Charles Darwin.

But many in the church are self-censoring this topic. If you are reading this, please talk to your kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, etc. about this. But please also look for opportunities to talk to people in your church and people in any church related group or civic group you may belong to about this.

Our marching orders need to be from Jeremiah: “You must influence them; do not let them influence you!” (Jeremiah 15:19 NLT).

Footnotes:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbszSQaIGz8
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nf1XThX8VQ&list=PLrCQerz2L0Ifpe9QdbWBZ1ACbEa3kMO2g
3. https://evolutionnews.org/2012/04/on_the_settled_/
4. https://thecreationclub.com/platos-republic-here/
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We_XIq-k66c&t=301s
6. http://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/judgment-day-intelligent-design-on-trial
7. https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/treasures_of_congress/text/page10_text.html
8. https://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/15/opponents-abortion-sonogram-law-considering-legal-/