It Is Written

I Shall Return

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: IIW

Program Code: IIW018176A


00:09 ♪[Theme music]♪
00:20 [Wind blowing]
00:22 ♪[Ominous music]♪
00:24 >>Franklin D. Roosevelt: Yesterday, December 7th, 1941,
00:32 a date which will live in infamy,
00:38 the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately
00:42 attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.
00:52 >>John Bradshaw: December the 7th, 1941,
00:55 a day which then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
00:59 predicted, correctly, would live in infamy.
01:04 On that day, 350 aircraft of the Empire of Japan attacked
01:09 the United States at Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu,
01:13 which was then part of the territory of Hawaii.
01:18 All eight US Navy battleships in Pearl Harbor were damaged.
01:23 Four of them were sunk,
01:24 although three were raised and returned to the war.
01:28 Still other ships were sunk; 188 US aircraft were destroyed.
01:33 And more than 2,400 Americans were killed
01:37 and almost 1,200 wounded.
01:40 But it could've been worse.
01:42 A couple of weeks after the attack,
01:44 Admiral Chester Nimitz observed that if Japan had attacked
01:48 Pearl Harbor on a weekday rather than on a Sunday,
01:52 casualties would've been as much as 10 times higher.
01:56 If the repair stations in Pearl Harbor had been hit,
01:59 then damaged US warships would've had to have been taken
02:03 back to the mainland.
02:05 And if the massive fuel reserves just five miles
02:08 out of Pearl Harbor had been taken out,
02:11 Nimitz said the war would've dragged on
02:13 for at least another year.
02:16 So as bad as the attack on Pearl Harbor was,
02:19 it could've been much worse.
02:22 ♪[Tense music]♪
02:23 Japan's burning desire to become a great empire
02:27 drove it to try to grab control of the Pacific.
02:30 Just hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor,
02:33 Japan attacked the Philippines 5,000 miles away.
02:39 But while the United States had a military presence
02:41 in the Philippines,
02:43 it wasn't enough to counter a Japanese onslaught.
02:46 US forces in the Philippines were under the command
02:48 of General Douglas MacArthur.
02:51 He'd retired from the United States military in 1937.
02:55 He became a field marshal in the Philippines army
02:58 and a military advisory to the Philippines government.
03:01 MacArthur came out of retirement to be the commander
03:05 of the United States Army forces in the Far East,
03:08 but it became very clear that not even MacArthur's experience
03:12 and military expertise, along with the combined
03:16 US-Filipino forces in the Philippines,
03:19 were any sort of match for the Japanese.
03:22 ♪[Soft music]♪
03:25 The American and Filipino troops retreated
03:27 in the face of attack by Japan.
03:30 Eventually, 70,000 men--
03:32 12,000 Americans and 58,000 Filipinos--
03:37 withdrew to the Bataan Peninsula,
03:39 leaving them essentially helpless
03:41 against the Japanese onslaught.
03:43 The surrender of American forces on the Bataan Peninsula
03:46 took place in April of 1942.
03:49 The only American stronghold left in the Philippines
03:53 was Corregidor.
03:55 The Island of Corregidor at the entrance to Manila Bay
03:59 covers just two square miles.
04:02 For perspective,
04:03 Manhattan Island in New York City is 11 times larger.
04:09 Corregidor was often referred to as "the Rock"
04:13 because that's essentially what it is.
04:15 As small as it was, the Rock was the scene
04:19 of some of the most intense bombing of World War II,
04:23 most of it confined to a tiny area.
04:26 Millions of dollars had been spent fortifying Corregidor,
04:30 which had been controlled by the United States since 1898.
04:34 But the advent of air attack meant that those defenses
04:37 became obsolete.
04:38 In May of 1942, the thousands of US troops on Corregidor
04:43 couldn't hold out any longer.
04:45 Manila had proved to be indefensible.
04:48 Bataan fell.
04:49 Corregidor fell.
04:52 American POWs were taken to Manila
04:54 or sent on the catastrophic Bataan Death March.
04:59 The Philippines, as far as the United States was concerned,
05:03 was lost to Japan.
05:06 Except for one thing.
05:08 ♪[Soft music]♪
05:10 On March the 12th, 1942, MacArthur, along with members
05:15 of his staff and family, was evacuated from the Philippines.
05:19 A B-17 transported him to Darwin
05:22 in Australia's Northern Territory.
05:24 And from there, he took a train to Melbourne
05:27 in the state of Victoria.
05:29 As he was changing trains at a railway station in a little town
05:33 called Terowie, 120 miles north of Adelaide in South Australia,
05:38 MacArthur faced the assembled media.
05:41 He said, "The President of the United States ordered me
05:45 to break through the Japanese lines and proceed
05:48 from Corregidor to Australia for the purpose, as I understand it,
05:53 of organizing an American offensive against Japan,
05:56 the primary purpose of which is the relief of the Philippines.
06:01 I came through and I shall return."
06:06 Two thousand years ago,
06:08 as the battle for control of planet earth was raging,
06:11 Jesus left a group of His closest followers,
06:14 His best friends, deep in the heart of enemy territory,
06:18 and He said to them,
06:19 "I go to prepare a place for you.
06:22 And if I go and prepare a place for you,
06:24 I will come again, and receive you unto myself;
06:27 that where I am, there ye may be also."
06:32 "I shall return."
06:36 History tells us that MacArthur did return,
06:39 but not immediately,
06:41 and not before a long, costly, bloody, drawn-out struggle.
06:48 Jesus will return. He's promised.
06:51 It's been two millennia since He made that promise,
06:54 and those 2,000 years have been marked by loss
06:57 and desperation and death.
06:59 So what does the promise of Jesus' return mean for us?
07:03 I'll have more in just a moment.
07:05 ♪[Music]♪
07:14 >>John: The greatest event in all of history--
07:17 the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
07:19 What does the Bible say that will be like?
07:22 Find out by getting today's free offer,
07:24 "The Second Coming of Jesus."
07:26 To receive this free DVD, call 800-253-3000
07:30 or visit us online at iiwoffer.com.
07:34 Find out what the Bible says
07:36 about the Second Coming of Jesus.
07:38 Get the free DVD: 800-253-3000,
07:41 iiwoffer.com.
07:45 [Birds twittering]
07:47 >>John Bradshaw: Thank you for joining me on It Is Written.
07:50 After General Douglas MacArthur was evacuated
07:53 from the Philippines in 1942,
07:56 he made a promise that was heard all around the world.
07:59 MacArthur said, "I shall return."
08:03 Two thousand years ago, standing in the shadow of the cross,
08:07 knowing that virtually everyone in Israel would've judged
08:10 His campaign a spectacular failure,
08:13 Jesus said virtually the same thing.
08:16 He said, "I will come again."
08:20 The Bible speaks about the Second Coming of Jesus
08:23 again and again.
08:25 The Apostle Paul referred to the return of Jesus
08:27 to the world as the "blessed hope."
08:30 But the New Testament isn't alone in forecasting
08:33 the greatest event since the creation of the world.
08:36 Even the book of Job,
08:38 considered to be the first book of the Bible written,
08:41 speaks about Jesus' return to the earth.
08:44 Job 19:25-26--
08:48 "For I know that my Redeemer lives,
08:50 and He shall stand at last on the earth;
08:53 and after my skin is destroyed, this I know,
08:57 that in my flesh I shall see God."
09:01 He's referring directly to the hope of the Resurrection,
09:04 which takes place after Jesus returns to the world.
09:09 Virtually all of Matthew chapter 24,
09:12 which was spoken by Jesus, deals with the Second Coming of Jesus,
09:17 with Jesus saying in verse 36,
09:20 "But of that day and hour no one knows,
09:23 not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only."
09:26 Which raises an important point.
09:29 Jesus went out of His way to tell us that while we can know
09:33 when His coming is near,
09:35 there's no one who can accurately forecast
09:38 the day of Jesus' return.
09:40 People who say,
09:41 "Jesus is coming back on this day or on that day"...
09:44 No. The Bible says we cannot know.
09:48 We don't know, and we won't know.
09:52 And while Jesus waits, planet earth descends ever deeper
09:56 into secularism and post-modernism and atheism,
10:01 God allowing us to see that our -isms are not the way forward.
10:08 ♪[Music]♪
10:09 You can get a sense of the want of the world
10:12 for the Second Coming of Jesus by thinking about what went on
10:15 here at Corregidor in Manila Bay in the Philippines.
10:19 It was held by the United States between 1898 and 1942,
10:24 and was taken by Japan as part of Japan's quest
10:27 to take the Pacific.
10:29 It was a desperate struggle.
10:33 The Philippines suffered immensely
10:35 under Japanese occupation.
10:37 Thousands of servicemen, Filipino and American,
10:40 were killed.
10:42 Servicemen suffered from diseases
10:43 like beriberi and scurvy.
10:45 Hundreds of thousands of civilians perished.
10:48 Manila was destroyed.
10:50 MacArthur's biographer wrote that only Warsaw suffered more
10:54 among Allied cities in World War II.
10:57 Seventy-five percent of Manila's factories were destroyed,
11:00 80 percent of the southern residential district,
11:03 100 percent of the business district.
11:06 And after American troops retreated
11:08 to the Bataan Peninsula,
11:09 they were marched to what's known today as Camp O'Donnell
11:13 on what's now referred to as the Bataan Death March.
11:17 Thousands of men died.
11:19 The cruelty they experienced is almost impossible to believe.
11:23 But there was something that gave them hope:
11:26 General MacArthur had made them a promise,
11:29 and the people here in the Philippines,
11:31 the POWs, the Filipinos who wanted their country back,
11:35 American POWs who'd been taken from here to Japan
11:39 to toil as slaves--
11:41 they didn't think that MacArthur was one to break his promise.
11:45 He said he'd return, and they hung on to those words.
11:48 He would return.
11:52 On October the 20th, 1944, MacArthur returned
11:56 to the Philippines, coming ashore on the island of Leyte,
11:59 350 miles away.
12:02 And that's when things really started to heat up
12:05 on Corregidor.
12:09 You look at Corregidor today,
12:11 and you know that the fighting here was intense.
12:15 One of the main landmarks on the island is what was known
12:17 as the Mile-Long Barracks.
12:19 In reality, they were 1,500 feet long,
12:22 not quite a third of a mile.
12:24 But a good name goes a long way in the service.
12:28 Looking at the ruins here,
12:29 you can only imagine how fierce the fighting was.
12:34 Corregidor was an ideal sort of a place once upon a time.
12:37 There used to be the island headquarters,
12:39 a theater, a nine-hole golf course, a parade ground.
12:44 The vast majority of what's here today
12:46 testifies to the destruction of war.
12:49 And as bad as it was that the buildings were destroyed,
12:53 the loss of life is what really mattered.
12:57 In the 1920s, US Army engineers had carved out
13:01 a labyrinth of tunnels on Corregidor.
13:04 The Malinta Tunnels were a maze of tunnels that burrowed
13:08 as far as 1,450 feet back into the hillside.
13:12 There was a main tunnel and then a network of tunnels
13:16 that spread out from the main tunnel.
13:18 The tunnels were originally designed for storing supplies,
13:22 ammunition, and equipment.
13:24 They were a bomb-proof bunker.
13:27 MacArthur and the Philippines president, Quezon,
13:29 lived here in 1942.
13:32 But as the war overtook Corregidor,
13:34 the Malinta Tunnels became a defensive fortification
13:38 and the home of a 1,000-bed hospital.
13:42 One general remembers these tunnels being a scene
13:45 of unbelievable disorder, congestion, and confusion.
13:51 ♪[Tense music]♪
13:53 On May the 2nd, 1942, the Japanese bombing
13:58 was so intense that in one 5-hour period,
14:01 3,600 240-millimeter shells blasted the islands,
14:06 mainly in just two locations.
14:08 That's more than 720 an hour,
14:10 more than one every five seconds.
14:14 One day in May, more than 16,000 shells hit Corregidor.
14:19 An American general recalled that "life on Corregidor
14:22 could be compared to sitting in the middle of a bull's-eye
14:25 during rapid-fire target practice."
14:27 But still, men hoped.
14:29 MacArthur said he'd return.
14:32 What other hope did they have?
14:34 I wonder what other hope we have.
14:38 Those -isms I referred to earlier--
14:41 today the world is assailed by secularism, postmodernism,
14:45 atheism, agnosticism, capitalism, Communism,
14:49 polytheism, spiritualism.
14:52 What's it all achieved?
14:54 Have our developments and our enlightenment brought peace
14:57 and security to the planet?
14:59 No, far from it.
15:01 Life can be so challenging that you can feel
15:03 like you're in your own personal war with life
15:06 or with circumstances or with destiny or the future.
15:11 What hope, really, does a person have beyond this world?
15:17 When you're looking into the eyes of death or loss
15:21 or despair, what hope do you have?
15:26 Well, there is hope because 2,000 years ago,
15:30 Jesus said, "I will come again."
15:35 More in just a moment.
15:37 ♪[Music]♪
15:45 >>John: Thank you for remembering
15:47 that It Is Written exists
15:48 because of the kindness of people just like you.
15:51 To support this international life-changing ministry,
15:55 please call us now at 800-253-3000.
15:58 You can send your tax-deductible gift
16:00 to the address on your screen,
16:02 or you can visit us online at itiswritten.com.
16:05 Thank you for your prayers and for your financial support.
16:08 Our number again is 800-253-3000,
16:12 or you can visit us online at itiswritten.com.
16:16 >>John: In Guatemala, Central America,
16:19 a volcano had been erupting on and off for many years.
16:23 In June of 2018, everything changed for the people
16:27 living beneath it.
16:28 "Danger on the Doorstep" from It Is Written takes you
16:31 to Volcán de Fuego, the "Volcano of Fire," in Guatemala.
16:35 We speak to survivors of the devastating eruption
16:38 and join heartbroken people looking for their families
16:40 in the aftermath.
16:42 Join It Is Written on location in Guatemala
16:44 for "Danger on the Doorstep" as we visit those rebuilding
16:48 their lives after they'd lost their homes, possessions,
16:51 and even their families.
16:53 And could it be that you are living
16:54 with danger on your doorstep?
16:56 The Bible speaks of the spiritual danger confronting
16:59 our world and helps us to take concrete steps
17:01 to be spiritually safe.
17:03 "Danger on the Doorstep," brought to you by It Is Written.
17:07 Watch now on It Is Written TV.
17:09 Go to www.itiswritten.tv.
17:13 That's itiswritten.tv.
17:17 ♪[Soft music]♪
17:19 >>John Bradshaw: General Douglas MacArthur led the United States
17:22 and Filipino troops early in World War II from here
17:25 on Corregidor Island in Manila Bay in the Philippines.
17:29 In October of 1944, MacArthur put his feet
17:33 on Philippines soil once more, and in February of 1945,
17:38 Corregidor was retaken.
17:41 Of course, historians differ in their estimation
17:43 of General MacArthur.
17:45 But he said, "I shall return," and return he did.
17:50 And not long after his return,
17:52 America took the Philippines back.
17:55 But it took almost two weeks of ferocious fighting
17:59 to win back Corregidor.
18:01 ♪[Music]♪
18:06 When American soldiers returned to wrest the Rock
18:09 from the control of the Japanese,
18:11 Japanese soldiers holed up here in the Malinta Tunnels.
18:15 Of course, they didn't have a chance.
18:17 Those that emerged ran directly into the path
18:20 of waiting American guns.
18:22 Rather than surrender, 2,000 or so Japanese soldiers chose
18:28 to commit suicide here in the tunnels.
18:30 They detonated explosives and brought down enormous amounts
18:35 of rock upon themselves, burying themselves beneath.
18:39 The bodies are still there,
18:42 behind or beneath all of that rock.
18:45 Their remains have never been brought out.
18:49 Makes you wonder, doesn't it?
18:50 Two thousand men gave their lives for their emperor,
18:53 a man who claimed to be-- and who they believed to be--
18:56 a living god.
18:58 They could've given their lives for a Man
19:00 who actually was God in the flesh.
19:03 We still have the opportunity to do that today.
19:07 To do otherwise, it's all a bit like this, really.
19:11 Although trees and vegetation have pretty much swallowed up
19:14 this island over the years,
19:16 graphic reminders of the war on Corregidor are still visible
19:20 just about everywhere you turn--
19:22 huge guns, craters in the ground produced by massive explosions,
19:27 damage from artillery.
19:30 The Pacific War Memorial stands in honor of the American
19:33 and Filipino troops who gave their lives here on Corregidor.
19:38 And beneath the memorial's dome is a circular altar,
19:42 upon which are inscribed the words,
19:45 "Sleep, my sons, your duty done ...for freedom's light has come.
19:51 Sleep in the silent depths of the sea,
19:54 or in your bed of hallowed sod,
19:56 until you hear at dawn the low, clear reveille of God."
20:03 Which is the thought expressed by the Apostle Paul
20:07 in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4:
20:16 "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven
20:19 with a shout, with the voice of an archangel,
20:21 and with the trumpet of God.
20:23 And the dead in Christ will rise first.
20:27 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together
20:30 with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
20:34 And thus we shall always be with the Lord."
20:38 First Thessalonians 4:16-17.
20:41 About 210 Americans died in the battle to retake Corregidor,
20:47 790 were wounded, and 5 were reported missing.
20:52 Of the Japanese, almost 6,000 died,
20:57 20 were captured, and 30 escaped.
21:01 Atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
21:04 on August the 6th and August 9th.
21:08 Japan's emperor, Hirohito, surrendered on August 15,
21:11 and the instrument of surrender was signed on board
21:14 the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September the 2nd.
21:19 When Jesus comes back to the earth,
21:21 there'll be no more war.
21:24 In fact, Revelation 21:4 says,
21:27 "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes;
21:31 and there shall be no more death,
21:34 neither sorrow, nor crying,
21:36 neither shall there be any more pain:
21:39 for the former things are passed away."
21:43 The return of Jesus to this earth is going to be
21:45 the greatest event in all of human history.
21:48 Unless, of course, it isn't.
21:52 You get to decide.
21:53 For those who've chosen Jesus as their Lord and Savior,
21:56 for those who've surrendered their hearts to Him,
22:00 for those who've chosen to believe that God is love,
22:04 well, the prophet Isaiah puts it this way in Isaiah 25:9--
22:08 "And it shall be said in that day,
22:11 'Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him,
22:15 and He will save us:
22:17 this is the Lord;
22:18 we have waited for Him,
22:20 we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation."
22:24 But in every war, there's a defeated side.
22:28 Revelation 6:14-17 looks at it from the opposite point of view.
22:33 "And the heaven departed as a scroll
22:35 when it is rolled together;
22:37 and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
22:40 And the kings of the earth, and the great men,
22:44 and the rich men, and the chief captains,
22:46 and the mighty men, and every bondman,
22:49 and every free man,
22:51 hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
22:55 and said to the mountains and rocks,
22:57 'Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him
23:00 that sitteth on the throne,
23:02 and from the wrath of the Lamb:
23:04 for the great day of His wrath is come;
23:07 and who shall be able to stand?'"
23:11 So who shall be able to stand?
23:14 Well, it's all incredibly simple.
23:17 Back in Matthew chapter 24, there's an emphasis
23:20 on responding to the signs of the times and being ready
23:25 for the return of Jesus.
23:26 Jesus said, "Watch therefore,
23:30 for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming."
23:33 Two verses later: "Therefore you also be ready,
23:38 for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."
23:44 Other than the sound of the surf,
23:47 the beaches of Corregidor are quiet now.
23:50 No more American soldiers waiting here to welcome
23:54 the barges bringing Japanese soldiers ashore.
23:57 The sounds of artillery are no longer heard.
24:00 Corregidor is a peaceful place.
24:04 One day soon, the battle raging here on planet earth
24:06 is going to come to an end.
24:08 What, then, for you?
24:11 You know, there's no reason that you should be lost.
24:13 There's no reason anybody should be left out of heaven.
24:17 There's no reason that this earth is all
24:19 that you should have to look forward to.
24:21 God wants you to have everlasting life.
24:24 Matthew 11:28--
24:27 "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden,
24:30 and I will give you rest."
24:32 John 6:35--
24:35 "I am the bread of life.
24:37 He who comes to me shall never hunger,
24:40 and he who believes in me shall never thirst."
24:44 The last invitation in the Bible is found just five verses
24:47 from the end of the Bible--
24:49 Revelation 22:17.
24:52 "And the Spirit and the bride say, 'Come!'
24:55 And let him who hears say, 'Come!'
24:58 And let him who thirsts come.
25:00 Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely."
25:05 Jesus invites you to come to Him in faith.
25:09 If you've already done that,
25:10 then rededicate your life to God now.
25:13 Tell Him that you want Him to keep you and save you.
25:16 If you've never done so,
25:17 if you've never accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior,
25:20 if you've never accepted God into your life...
25:24 You know, the Bible says that Jesus is coming back soon.
25:28 You don't wanna miss that.
25:29 Can you open up your heart to God now?
25:33 Tell God you want Him to keep you close.
25:35 Tell God that you want His perfect will
25:39 to be done in your life.
25:41 General Douglas MacArthur once said, "I shall return."
25:47 Jesus once said, "I will come again."
25:52 And if you'll allow it to be so, then when Jesus comes back,
25:57 He'll come back for you.
26:01 >>John: The greatest event in all of history--
26:04 the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
26:06 What does the Bible say that will be like?
26:09 Find out by getting today's free offer,
26:11 "The Second Coming of Jesus."
26:13 To receive this free DVD, call 800-253-3000
26:17 or visit us online at iiwoffer.com.
26:22 Find out what the Bible says
26:23 about the Second Coming of Jesus.
26:25 Get the free DVD: 800-253-3000,
26:28 iiwoffer.com.
26:32 >>John Bradshaw: Let's pray together now.
26:34 Our Father in heaven, we thank You for the promise,
26:36 for the certainty, the assurance that Jesus is coming back
26:41 to this world.
26:43 We thank You for those wonderful words:
26:44 "I will come again and receive you unto myself."
26:49 So, inherent in the promise of the Second Coming of Jesus
26:52 is Your desire to receive us to Yourself,
26:56 so that we can be with You throughout the ceaseless ages
26:59 of eternity.
27:00 Friend, are you waiting? Are you resisting?
27:02 Don't wait; don't resist.
27:05 Can you offer God your heart now?
27:07 Can you ask Jesus to forgive you and cleanse you
27:10 and make you His?
27:11 He will do it, gladly so.
27:15 Lord, we wait in hope.
27:17 Thank You for the great promise,
27:19 the reality that Jesus is coming back soon.
27:23 Make us ready for that day, now and always.
27:28 We pray and thank You in Jesus' name.
27:32 Amen.
27:34 Thanks so much for joining me.
27:36 I'm looking forward to seeing you again next time.
27:39 Until then, remember:
27:41 "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone,
27:46 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"
27:51 ♪[Theme music]♪
28:02 ♪[Theme music]♪


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Revised 2019-01-12