Men of Valor
Winston Churchill’s first radio broadcast as prime minister came on May 19, 1940, the day the German advance in France reached the English Channel. The military situation in Europe was deteriorating rapidly. Fear and uncertainty were growing at home. Churchill spoke to the British people and adapted a quotation from 1 Maccabees 3:58–60, a book of the Protestant Apocrypha.
Winston Churchill making a radio broadcast. (Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library)
Today is Trinity Sunday. Centuries ago words were written to be a call and a spur to the faithful servants of Truth and Justice: “Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar. As the will of God is in Heaven, even so let it be.”10
With a biblical reference Churchill called his people to be courageous in the face of great danger. Throughout the Bible we find examples of men and women who faced danger and found their ultimate source of courage in God. Peter and John were arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin for openly proclaiming the message of Jesus Christ. They refused to recant their public witness and told their accusers, “It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed” (Acts 4:10).
When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus… Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.”
—Acts 4:13, 18–19