The ten horns that you saw, and the beast, these will come to hate the prostitute, and she will be made desolate and naked, and they will eat her flesh and burn her up with fire. For God has placed it in their hearts to do His purpose, and to be of one purpose themselves, and to give their domain and power to the beast until the words of God are brought to completion. Rev. 17:16, 17.
God retains sovereignty over the choices that His enemies make. While evil is self-destructive in nature, God's guiding hand limits the harm that evil powers can do. In the end, not only the beast but even Satan will do God's bidding (2 Thess. 2:11).
In 1935 Karl Doenitz (born 1891) became the commander of the reconstituted German submarine command under Adolf Hitler. Derisively referred to as "Admiral Doughnuts" by the Allies, he considered the problem of defeating Great Britain in war. The fact that Great Britain was an island nation was both an advantage and a vulnerability. It was an advantage in the same sense that an enemy could not attack it unless it had overwhelming air and sea superiority. On the other hand, it was a vulnerability in the sense that the shipping lanes needed to remain open for Britain to survive a war.
Doenitz had an idea and presented it to Hitler. With careful planning and focused resources, he could have factories producing 40 submarines a month by the year 1938 (well in advance of the war that eventually broke out). If Germany targeted merchant shipping instead of military vessels, it might strangle Britain's military and economy in a matter of months. Hitler considered the plan but rejected it. He did not see the brilliance in a tactic that would surprise the enemy. Instead, enamored with "the big stuff," he wanted to match the British in the ego-boosting arena of naval warfare--battleships and aircraft carriers.
Hitler authorized a construction level of one or two subs a month in 1936. Then he placed massive resources into battleships such as the Bismarck and Tirpitz and aircraft carriers that would not have come on line until 1950! When war broke out in 1939, Doenitz's handful of subs sank 3 million gross tons of British shipping in the first year. Imagine the havoc 500-800 subs around Britain might have wrought! It is very possible that Britain would have found itself forced to surrender within a year after Dunkirk.
Hitler belatedly authorized Doenitz's plan. By 1944 the Nazis reached a production level of 40 submarines a month. But by then the Allies had discovered radar and broken the Nazi Enigma code, so they destroyed the submarines as fast as they came from the shipyards. While His hand is often invisible at the time, history reveals that God is always in control. It is sometimes the smallest deviations from plan that lead the enemies of God to disaster.
Lord, help me live in the assurance that You are in control of my life today.
God retains sovereignty over the choices that His enemies make. While evil is self-destructive in nature, God's guiding hand limits the harm that evil powers can do. In the end, not only the beast but even Satan will do God's bidding (2 Thess. 2:11).
In 1935 Karl Doenitz (born 1891) became the commander of the reconstituted German submarine command under Adolf Hitler. Derisively referred to as "Admiral Doughnuts" by the Allies, he considered the problem of defeating Great Britain in war. The fact that Great Britain was an island nation was both an advantage and a vulnerability. It was an advantage in the same sense that an enemy could not attack it unless it had overwhelming air and sea superiority. On the other hand, it was a vulnerability in the sense that the shipping lanes needed to remain open for Britain to survive a war.
Doenitz had an idea and presented it to Hitler. With careful planning and focused resources, he could have factories producing 40 submarines a month by the year 1938 (well in advance of the war that eventually broke out). If Germany targeted merchant shipping instead of military vessels, it might strangle Britain's military and economy in a matter of months. Hitler considered the plan but rejected it. He did not see the brilliance in a tactic that would surprise the enemy. Instead, enamored with "the big stuff," he wanted to match the British in the ego-boosting arena of naval warfare--battleships and aircraft carriers.
Hitler authorized a construction level of one or two subs a month in 1936. Then he placed massive resources into battleships such as the Bismarck and Tirpitz and aircraft carriers that would not have come on line until 1950! When war broke out in 1939, Doenitz's handful of subs sank 3 million gross tons of British shipping in the first year. Imagine the havoc 500-800 subs around Britain might have wrought! It is very possible that Britain would have found itself forced to surrender within a year after Dunkirk.
Hitler belatedly authorized Doenitz's plan. By 1944 the Nazis reached a production level of 40 submarines a month. But by then the Allies had discovered radar and broken the Nazi Enigma code, so they destroyed the submarines as fast as they came from the shipyards. While His hand is often invisible at the time, history reveals that God is always in control. It is sometimes the smallest deviations from plan that lead the enemies of God to disaster.
Lord, help me live in the assurance that You are in control of my life today.
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