fort canning hill is located right inthe very heart of downtown singapore and you travel back in time as you walkthrough the fort gate and along the adjoining wall and the sally port,all part of the fortress that occupied this hill. this iconic hilltop landmarkhas witnessed many of singapore's historical milestones, it was from herethat malay royalty ruled in medieval
The Battle Box, times nearby, was the forbidden springwhere the women of the rulers household used to bathe, on its slopes is thesacred place where the kings of ancient singapore were laid to rest. here you cantrace the rise and fall of great empires, you can hear stories of rulers andgovernors who commanded from this hill
and the empire builders who were buriedhere. the british built a colonial fort here and then in world war two, hiddenaway underneath this hill, they built their secret underground command centre, and it was here, deep underground in thebattle box, that the momentous decision was made to surrender singapore to thejapanese, a decision that marked the beginning of the end of the mightybritish empire. the battle for singapore providesinsights into the universal battle, the great controversy, that involves all ofus, yes, even you and me. so stay tuned to hear all about it in our new program: the battlebox.
singapore is a modern-day wonder, it's awealthy city-state in southeast asia, sometimes referred to as the lion city.once it was just a simple british colonial trading post, but today it'smorphed into a thriving global finance, commerce and transport hub, it'sdescribed as one of asia's economic tigers, in just over 50 years sincegaining independence from britain, in 1963, singapore has become one of themost prosperous countries in the world, no wonder it's all action here and sucha bustling metropolis, but amongst all the hustle and bustle, this green oasis,fort canning hill, is found right in the very heart of singapore. this green parkarea offers residents and visitors a
moment of calm as well as an insightinto singapore's rich past, here it's possible to escape much of the busy cityand journey back 700 years into the past to the era of the five kings and thegolden age of 14th century singapore. here you can replace the sounds of thecity with the sounds of nature. in ancient times fort canning hill wasknown as bukit larangan or the forbidden hill, this is wherethe malay kings built their palace and only the royal family and theirattendants were allowed in this area, for everyone else this was a forbidden hill.archaeologists have excavated here and found javanese artifacts dating from the14th century
when singapore was part of the malayempire, further along the pathway, this small bridge used to overlook afreshwater stream, the stream is now completely disappeared, according toancient malay and chinese sources singapore had a moat and a wall, it ranalong this stream that was probably the parit singapura or the moat of singapore.the british arrived in singapore in 1819, at the time they were extending theirdominion in india and expanding their trade with china and they needed a portof call in this region to refit, revitalise and protect their merchantships that were sailing the india-china sea route, they also wanted to forestallany advance and competition by the dutch
in this region. so they sent sir stamfordraffles to establish a british presence here. when he arrived to develop colonialsingapore as the trading post of the east india company, he quickly recognisedthe strategic significance of the forbidden hill and took advantage of itsresources and location and it was here, on this hilltop, that raffles built hisfirst government mansion, subsequent governors enlarged the house and itbecame known as government house, while the hill was known as government hillbut government house was demolished in 1859 and the hill was converted into afort and renamed fort canning. the fort protected singapore from attack by seaand gave the european population a
refuge in the event of local disturbances. there was even a sally port, a secretsmall door, leading in and out of the fort. originally there were three ofthese doors that allowed people to slip unnoticed in and out of the fort. aroundthe 1920s and 30s the hill was transformed into an artillery fortoverlooking the town and harbour that would have been bustling with horses andcarriages, carts and trishores and people plying their wares along theshoreline. now with such a long and fascinating history, reaching back morethan seven hundred years, it shouldn't come as a surprise to find that fortcanning hill, the forbidden hill, has its
share of hidden secrets and one of thebiggest is right here, hidden away behind this door is a secret undergroundcommand centre called the battlebox. as world war two became more of a reality,the british decided to construct this bomb-proof shelter, nine meters belowfort canning hill it was started in 1936 and was the largest military operationscomplex in singapore. it was used by the british military as a nerve center fortheir operations in southeast asia and was the combined operations headquartersduring the malayan campaign and the battle for singapore. it's got one meterthick reinforced concrete walls that were constructed to withstand directhits from bombs and shells. the battlebox
is made up of 29 rooms;there's a telephone exchange that connected all military and most civilianswitchboards in malaya and singapore, then further along there's a signal roomand the signal control room where messages were picked up or sent off, itwas linked to bases in malaya, hong kong, india, indonesia and london. the cipherroom was where all these messages were decoded and encoded using the variousmilitary code books and inciphering equipment. then in the gun operationsroom is where the air attacks and details were plotted from data providedby signals and via telephone leaks. here commanders bunkered in the battleboxfound out what was happening on the
battlefield and passed out orders tounits in the field and the most important room of all, the conferenceroom or commander anti-aircraft defence room, this is where the leading militarypersonnel met to make the most important decisions and it was here, deepunderground in the battle box, that a momentous decision was made in world war twothat marked the beginning of the end of the mighty british empire. here's whathappened in the years leading up to the second world war,singapore was considered an impregnable island fortress,it was a strategic stronghold in the eastern part of the mighty britishempire, in fact winston churchill,
britain's wartime prime minister, calledsingapore the gibraltar of the east, singapore was considered well protectedand safe, it had an impressive naval defence system consisting of huge gunsfacing south out to sea and in the north lay hundreds of kilometers of densejungle that the british considered impenetrable, also stationed on theisland were almost 100,000 british, canadian,australian and indian troops and the situation seemed even more secure withtwo british warships, the hms prince of wales and repulse along with fourdestroyers berthed in singapore's harbour, but in reality singapore was farfrom secure. on the 8th of december 1941
just hours before the japanese air forceattacked the american fleet in pearl harbour the japanese invaded the malaypeninsula, they moved troops south through thailand, then known as siam, aswell as making landings on the northeast coast of malaya. on the 8th of february1942, under cover of darkness, japanese troops crossed the straits of johor andinvaded singapore, they were supported by an intense ground and air bombardment. by morning thousands more troops had landed. the well-trained and battle-hardenedjapanese forces moved swiftly across the island, soon singapore was under constantaerial bomb attacks resulting in shocking civilian casualties. alliedtroops were retreating and the lack of
food, water, petrol, ammunition and otheressential supplies was causing insurmountable problems. on the 15th offebruary 1942 lieutenant general arthur percival, commander of the britishcommonwealth forces in malaya, called a meeting of senior officers here in thecommander anti-aircraft defence room, in the battlebox. they met here to decidethe fate of singapore and of 100,000 british and commonwealth troopsstationed here. percival advised the officers that there were no viableoptions for launching a counter-attack, they had limited ammunition, little fueland the japanese now controlled the city's water supply, a counter-attackjust wasn't possible. so that left
only two options; fight to the death orsurrender. it took just 15 minutes for the british officers to make themomentous decision to surrender singapore to the japanese, here in thisroom the pain of defeat became a reality. percival and his senior militaryofficers hunkered around the table as they planned their nextgrim move, later that day a four-man delegation left the battlebox at fortcanning hill to meet the japanese at the ford factory in bukit timah. thedelegation was led by percival and he was accompanied by captain cyril wildcarrying the huge white surrender flag and brigadier newbigging carrying theunion jack and brigadier torrence.
the ford factory was built in 1941 andbecame ford's first motorcar assembly plant in southeast asia, however at thestart of the war the factory's modern assembly equipment was used by the royalair force to assemble fighter planes, but after the japanese crossed the straitsand entered singapore lieutenant general yamashita and his staff officersestablished their military headquarters right here at the ford motor factory.when lieutenant general percival and the british delegation arrived here theywere met by japanese propaganda units who filmed and photographed them. captainwild was still carrying the large white flag and brigadier newbigginghad the union jack. captain wild was so
incensed by the japanese filming theirhumiliation that he threw down the white flag. the delegation was met on thedriveway by colonel sugita and ushered towards the fordfactory. the surrender party was led to the factory's conference room, herelieutenant general arthur percival commander of the british forces metlieutenant general tomoyuki yamashita commander of the japanese forces. theyset here to negotiate the surrender terms, the boardroom remains intact andis preserved to provide an insight into how the meeting unfolded, it contains thefour original chairs and a replica of the original table,the original is now with the australian
war memorial. the clock set at the exacttime of the surrender and a map of malaya, copies of the surrender documentsare also on display. percival tried to stall for time but yamashitademanded an immediate unconditional surrender and pressed insistently for aceasefire. percival wanted to wait until the nextmorning before giving an answer but yamashita threatened to launch a massiveattack on the city that very night, this would have been disastrous for singaporeand the civilian population. faced with no alternativepercival signed the unconditional surrender terms at 6:20 p.m. on the 15thof february 1942. the battle for
singapore was over, it had lasted justseven days, it was britain's greatest military defeat and the largestsurrender of troops in british history, 140,000 troops and civilians insingapore were captured, wounded or killed. around 80,000 british, indian andaustralian troops based in singapore became prisoners of war, the surrender ofsingapore marked the beginning of the end of the mighty british empire.britain lost its foothold in the east and the idea of the invincible europeansoldier was gone forever. after the surrender the japanese wanted the unionjack as a war trophy, but wild wouldn't give them that satisfaction, at the riskof his life he hid the flag and took it
with him when he was imprisoned in thenotorious changi prisoner of war camp. wild and other prisoners courageouslymanaged to conceal the flag from the guards throughout the period ofcaptivity, they only brought it out of hiding during the funerals of britishand empire soldiers who died as a result of japanese brutality, only a handful ofmen knew the flag's history. the british surrender to japan marked the start ofone of the darkest chapters in singapore's history, the island enduredthree and a half years of brutal japanese occupation which included amassacre of the chinese population, a massacre that was to claim up to 70,000lives, lieutenant general arthur percival
was briefly held prisoner here in changiprison, along with 55,000 allied prisoners and civilians, then along withother senior british captives he was removed from singapore in august 1942,first he was imprisoned in formosa now known as taiwan and then sent tomanchuria where he was held in a high-security prisoner of war camp forvip captives including the american general jonathan wainwright. after the fall of singapore, the japaneseadvance continued on through the pacific to the philippines and was only finallyhalted when all four of its aircraft carriers were destroyed by the us inthe battle of midway. japan eventually
agreed to surrender after the americansdropped atomic bombs on hiroshima and nagasaki, the signing of the japanesesurrender took place aboard the uss missouri, intokyo bay on the 2nd of september 1945. before confirming the terms of thejapanese surrender, general douglas macarthur requested that two men bepresent, the two freed prisoners from manchuria, percival and wainwright. andlieutenant general percival and general wainwright stood immediately behindgeneral macarthur for the signing of the japanese surrender.afterwards macarthur gave percival a pen he had used to sign the treaty. percivaland wainwright then returned together to
the philippines to witness the fourthsurrender of the japanese army, there at the surrender ceremony in thephilippines, when the japanese commander arrived to sign the surrender treaty, ina strange twist of fate and to general percival's utter amazement, he was noneother than general yamashita, the very same man who accepted the britishsurrender at the ford factory in singapore. now the tables had turned, theroles were reversed, the victor had become the vanquished and the vanquishedthe victor. now lieutenant general percival acceptedthe surrender documents from general yamashita, and even more astonishing, whenlord mountbatten accepted the formal
japanese surrender in singapore the flag,the union jack carried by percival's delegation to the surrender meeting atthe ford motor factory, also witnessed a reversal of fortunes, this same flag hiddenby colonel wild at changi prison was now hoisted by colonel wild over thesurrender of the japanese in singapore. the surrender of singapore in 1942 wasthe british army's greatest defeat, but three and a half years later it was theturn of the japanese to surrender the city. yes the war had come full circle, and it reminds me of another war, theuniversal war, the war behind all wars, it's a cosmic conflict between right andwrong, between light and darkness, between
god and a rebel angel lucifer,surprisingly this war started in heaven of all places. you can read about it inthe bible book of revelation: "and war broke out in heaven. michael and hisangels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought. but theydid not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. so thegreat dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and satan, whodeceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast outwith him." lucifer, who became satan through prideand jealousy, wanted to take the place of god, he wanted to take over, so he starteda rebellion, a war in heaven, the
universal war, but satan lost the battleagainst god and he and his army of rebel angels were cast to this world and soplanet earth became the arena of the universal war, the war between good andevil, god and satan. now god had created a perfect world for our first parents, adamand eve, but satan deceived them into joining his rebellion against god, sinentered the world and it seemed that satan had won the battle for planetearth in the great universal war. in this universal war the war between good andevil, between god and satan, the entire human race has sinned and rebelledagainst god, sin, rebellion separates us from god and life, "but your iniquitieshave separated you from your god; and
your sins have hidden his face from you..."men and women were made for fellowship with god, to be in harmony with theirmaker, when humans sinned they turned away from god, they rejected god, they rebelledagainst god, and there are consequences associated with rebelling against god.listen to what the bible says in romans chapter 6 and verse 23: "for the wages ofsin is death..." so because we've all sinned and rebelled against god we're doomed.but there's good news in this universal battle between god and satan, god has asolution, god sent his son jesus to pay the penalty for our sins, to die in ourplace. he's our substitute, yes he died in ourplace. on a hill called golgotha, the
critical battle in the great universalwar took place and when jesus died on the cross,it appeared that satan had defeated god and won the war, all the forces of theevil one watched with glee as jesus breathed his last, but then, as the lightbroke on the resurrection morning, jesus overcame death and emerged victoriousfrom the grave, he's our saviour and if we accept him and believe in him our sinsare forgiven and we have eternal life. "for god so loved the world that he gavehis only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish buthave eternal life." the same jesus who died on the cross issoon to return as king of kings and lord
of lords, the great controversy betweengood and evil will be over forever, sin and evil will be destroyed and thisearth will be restored to its original, perfect condition. "now i saw a new heavenand a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away..." "and godwill wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, norsorrow, nor crying. there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passedaway." that's the kind of world i'm looking forward to, how about you? doesthe idea of living in perfect peace and harmony appeal to you? if it does, whynot decide right now as we pray to be ready to meet jesus when he comes. dear heavenly father, we're all soldiers in
the battle of life, we are living behindenemy lines, please give us strength to endure the struggles and challenges ofthe universal war. lord we know the outcome of this great controversy and wewant to be on the winning side, we know that jesus will be victoriousand that he is coming to make all things new, may we be ready to meet jesus whenhe comes, we pray in jesus' name. amen. if you're battling with the trials andtemptations of life and are looking for support in your journey through life andwould like god to guide you, then i'd like to recommend the free gift we havefor all our viewers today, it's the inspiring book the great hope. this bookis our gift to you and is absolutely
free, there are no costs or obligationswhatsoever. thousands have been blessed and inspiredby this book the great hope, so please don't miss this wonderful opportunity toreceive the gift we have for you today. here's the information you need: phone us now on 0481 315 101 or text us on 0491 222 999 or visit our website theincrediblejourney.tv torequest today's free offer. so don't delay, contact us right now. if you'veenjoyed today's journey to singapore and
our reflections on the universal war,be sure to join us again next week when we will share another of life's journeystogether and experience another new and thought-provoking perspective on thepeace, insight, understanding and hope that only the bible can give us. the incrediblejourney truly is television that changes lives. until next week remember theultimate destination of life's journey, "now i saw a new heaven and a new earth,and god will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there shall be no moredeath, nor sorrow, nor crime, there shall be no more pain, for the former thingshave passed away."
fort canning hill is located right inthe very heart of downtown singapore and you travel back in time as you walkthrough the fort gate and along the adjoining wall and the sally port,all part of the fortress that occupied this hill. this iconic hilltop landmarkhas witnessed many of singapore's historical milestones, it was from herethat malay royalty ruled in medieval
The Battle Box, times nearby, was the forbidden springwhere the women of the rulers household used to bathe, on its slopes is thesacred place where the kings of ancient singapore were laid to rest. here you cantrace the rise and fall of great empires, you can hear stories of rulers andgovernors who commanded from this hill
and the empire builders who were buriedhere. the british built a colonial fort here and then in world war two, hiddenaway underneath this hill, they built their secret underground command centre, and it was here, deep underground in thebattle box, that the momentous decision was made to surrender singapore to thejapanese, a decision that marked the beginning of the end of the mightybritish empire. the battle for singapore providesinsights into the universal battle, the great controversy, that involves all ofus, yes, even you and me. so stay tuned to hear all about it in our new program: the battlebox.
singapore is a modern-day wonder, it's awealthy city-state in southeast asia, sometimes referred to as the lion city.once it was just a simple british colonial trading post, but today it'smorphed into a thriving global finance, commerce and transport hub, it'sdescribed as one of asia's economic tigers, in just over 50 years sincegaining independence from britain, in 1963, singapore has become one of themost prosperous countries in the world, no wonder it's all action here and sucha bustling metropolis, but amongst all the hustle and bustle, this green oasis,fort canning hill, is found right in the very heart of singapore. this green parkarea offers residents and visitors a
moment of calm as well as an insightinto singapore's rich past, here it's possible to escape much of the busy cityand journey back 700 years into the past to the era of the five kings and thegolden age of 14th century singapore. here you can replace the sounds of thecity with the sounds of nature. in ancient times fort canning hill wasknown as bukit larangan or the forbidden hill, this is wherethe malay kings built their palace and only the royal family and theirattendants were allowed in this area, for everyone else this was a forbidden hill.archaeologists have excavated here and found javanese artifacts dating from the14th century
when singapore was part of the malayempire, further along the pathway, this small bridge used to overlook afreshwater stream, the stream is now completely disappeared, according toancient malay and chinese sources singapore had a moat and a wall, it ranalong this stream that was probably the parit singapura or the moat of singapore.the british arrived in singapore in 1819, at the time they were extending theirdominion in india and expanding their trade with china and they needed a portof call in this region to refit, revitalise and protect their merchantships that were sailing the india-china sea route, they also wanted to forestallany advance and competition by the dutch
in this region. so they sent sir stamfordraffles to establish a british presence here. when he arrived to develop colonialsingapore as the trading post of the east india company, he quickly recognisedthe strategic significance of the forbidden hill and took advantage of itsresources and location and it was here, on this hilltop, that raffles built hisfirst government mansion, subsequent governors enlarged the house and itbecame known as government house, while the hill was known as government hillbut government house was demolished in 1859 and the hill was converted into afort and renamed fort canning. the fort protected singapore from attack by seaand gave the european population a
refuge in the event of local disturbances. there was even a sally port, a secretsmall door, leading in and out of the fort. originally there were three ofthese doors that allowed people to slip unnoticed in and out of the fort. aroundthe 1920s and 30s the hill was transformed into an artillery fortoverlooking the town and harbour that would have been bustling with horses andcarriages, carts and trishores and people plying their wares along theshoreline. now with such a long and fascinating history, reaching back morethan seven hundred years, it shouldn't come as a surprise to find that fortcanning hill, the forbidden hill, has its
share of hidden secrets and one of thebiggest is right here, hidden away behind this door is a secret undergroundcommand centre called the battlebox. as world war two became more of a reality,the british decided to construct this bomb-proof shelter, nine meters belowfort canning hill it was started in 1936 and was the largest military operationscomplex in singapore. it was used by the british military as a nerve center fortheir operations in southeast asia and was the combined operations headquartersduring the malayan campaign and the battle for singapore. it's got one meterthick reinforced concrete walls that were constructed to withstand directhits from bombs and shells. the battlebox
is made up of 29 rooms;there's a telephone exchange that connected all military and most civilianswitchboards in malaya and singapore, then further along there's a signal roomand the signal control room where messages were picked up or sent off, itwas linked to bases in malaya, hong kong, india, indonesia and london. the cipherroom was where all these messages were decoded and encoded using the variousmilitary code books and inciphering equipment. then in the gun operationsroom is where the air attacks and details were plotted from data providedby signals and via telephone leaks. here commanders bunkered in the battleboxfound out what was happening on the
battlefield and passed out orders tounits in the field and the most important room of all, the conferenceroom or commander anti-aircraft defence room, this is where the leading militarypersonnel met to make the most important decisions and it was here, deepunderground in the battle box, that a momentous decision was made in world war twothat marked the beginning of the end of the mighty british empire. here's whathappened in the years leading up to the second world war,singapore was considered an impregnable island fortress,it was a strategic stronghold in the eastern part of the mighty britishempire, in fact winston churchill,
britain's wartime prime minister, calledsingapore the gibraltar of the east, singapore was considered well protectedand safe, it had an impressive naval defence system consisting of huge gunsfacing south out to sea and in the north lay hundreds of kilometers of densejungle that the british considered impenetrable, also stationed on theisland were almost 100,000 british, canadian,australian and indian troops and the situation seemed even more secure withtwo british warships, the hms prince of wales and repulse along with fourdestroyers berthed in singapore's harbour, but in reality singapore was farfrom secure. on the 8th of december 1941
just hours before the japanese air forceattacked the american fleet in pearl harbour the japanese invaded the malaypeninsula, they moved troops south through thailand, then known as siam, aswell as making landings on the northeast coast of malaya. on the 8th of february1942, under cover of darkness, japanese troops crossed the straits of johor andinvaded singapore, they were supported by an intense ground and air bombardment. by morning thousands more troops had landed. the well-trained and battle-hardenedjapanese forces moved swiftly across the island, soon singapore was under constantaerial bomb attacks resulting in shocking civilian casualties. alliedtroops were retreating and the lack of
food, water, petrol, ammunition and otheressential supplies was causing insurmountable problems. on the 15th offebruary 1942 lieutenant general arthur percival, commander of the britishcommonwealth forces in malaya, called a meeting of senior officers here in thecommander anti-aircraft defence room, in the battlebox. they met here to decidethe fate of singapore and of 100,000 british and commonwealth troopsstationed here. percival advised the officers that there were no viableoptions for launching a counter-attack, they had limited ammunition, little fueland the japanese now controlled the city's water supply, a counter-attackjust wasn't possible. so that left
only two options; fight to the death orsurrender. it took just 15 minutes for the british officers to make themomentous decision to surrender singapore to the japanese, here in thisroom the pain of defeat became a reality. percival and his senior militaryofficers hunkered around the table as they planned their nextgrim move, later that day a four-man delegation left the battlebox at fortcanning hill to meet the japanese at the ford factory in bukit timah. thedelegation was led by percival and he was accompanied by captain cyril wildcarrying the huge white surrender flag and brigadier newbigging carrying theunion jack and brigadier torrence.
the ford factory was built in 1941 andbecame ford's first motorcar assembly plant in southeast asia, however at thestart of the war the factory's modern assembly equipment was used by the royalair force to assemble fighter planes, but after the japanese crossed the straitsand entered singapore lieutenant general yamashita and his staff officersestablished their military headquarters right here at the ford motor factory.when lieutenant general percival and the british delegation arrived here theywere met by japanese propaganda units who filmed and photographed them. captainwild was still carrying the large white flag and brigadier newbigginghad the union jack. captain wild was so
incensed by the japanese filming theirhumiliation that he threw down the white flag. the delegation was met on thedriveway by colonel sugita and ushered towards the fordfactory. the surrender party was led to the factory's conference room, herelieutenant general arthur percival commander of the british forces metlieutenant general tomoyuki yamashita commander of the japanese forces. theyset here to negotiate the surrender terms, the boardroom remains intact andis preserved to provide an insight into how the meeting unfolded, it contains thefour original chairs and a replica of the original table,the original is now with the australian
war memorial. the clock set at the exacttime of the surrender and a map of malaya, copies of the surrender documentsare also on display. percival tried to stall for time but yamashitademanded an immediate unconditional surrender and pressed insistently for aceasefire. percival wanted to wait until the nextmorning before giving an answer but yamashita threatened to launch a massiveattack on the city that very night, this would have been disastrous for singaporeand the civilian population. faced with no alternativepercival signed the unconditional surrender terms at 6:20 p.m. on the 15thof february 1942. the battle for
singapore was over, it had lasted justseven days, it was britain's greatest military defeat and the largestsurrender of troops in british history, 140,000 troops and civilians insingapore were captured, wounded or killed. around 80,000 british, indian andaustralian troops based in singapore became prisoners of war, the surrender ofsingapore marked the beginning of the end of the mighty british empire.britain lost its foothold in the east and the idea of the invincible europeansoldier was gone forever. after the surrender the japanese wanted the unionjack as a war trophy, but wild wouldn't give them that satisfaction, at the riskof his life he hid the flag and took it
with him when he was imprisoned in thenotorious changi prisoner of war camp. wild and other prisoners courageouslymanaged to conceal the flag from the guards throughout the period ofcaptivity, they only brought it out of hiding during the funerals of britishand empire soldiers who died as a result of japanese brutality, only a handful ofmen knew the flag's history. the british surrender to japan marked the start ofone of the darkest chapters in singapore's history, the island enduredthree and a half years of brutal japanese occupation which included amassacre of the chinese population, a massacre that was to claim up to 70,000lives, lieutenant general arthur percival
was briefly held prisoner here in changiprison, along with 55,000 allied prisoners and civilians, then along withother senior british captives he was removed from singapore in august 1942,first he was imprisoned in formosa now known as taiwan and then sent tomanchuria where he was held in a high-security prisoner of war camp forvip captives including the american general jonathan wainwright. after the fall of singapore, the japaneseadvance continued on through the pacific to the philippines and was only finallyhalted when all four of its aircraft carriers were destroyed by the us inthe battle of midway. japan eventually
agreed to surrender after the americansdropped atomic bombs on hiroshima and nagasaki, the signing of the japanesesurrender took place aboard the uss missouri, intokyo bay on the 2nd of september 1945. before confirming the terms of thejapanese surrender, general douglas macarthur requested that two men bepresent, the two freed prisoners from manchuria, percival and wainwright. andlieutenant general percival and general wainwright stood immediately behindgeneral macarthur for the signing of the japanese surrender.afterwards macarthur gave percival a pen he had used to sign the treaty. percivaland wainwright then returned together to
the philippines to witness the fourthsurrender of the japanese army, there at the surrender ceremony in thephilippines, when the japanese commander arrived to sign the surrender treaty, ina strange twist of fate and to general percival's utter amazement, he was noneother than general yamashita, the very same man who accepted the britishsurrender at the ford factory in singapore. now the tables had turned, theroles were reversed, the victor had become the vanquished and the vanquishedthe victor. now lieutenant general percival acceptedthe surrender documents from general yamashita, and even more astonishing, whenlord mountbatten accepted the formal
japanese surrender in singapore the flag,the union jack carried by percival's delegation to the surrender meeting atthe ford motor factory, also witnessed a reversal of fortunes, this same flag hiddenby colonel wild at changi prison was now hoisted by colonel wild over thesurrender of the japanese in singapore. the surrender of singapore in 1942 wasthe british army's greatest defeat, but three and a half years later it was theturn of the japanese to surrender the city. yes the war had come full circle, and it reminds me of another war, theuniversal war, the war behind all wars, it's a cosmic conflict between right andwrong, between light and darkness, between
god and a rebel angel lucifer,surprisingly this war started in heaven of all places. you can read about it inthe bible book of revelation: "and war broke out in heaven. michael and hisangels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought. but theydid not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. so thegreat dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and satan, whodeceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast outwith him." lucifer, who became satan through prideand jealousy, wanted to take the place of god, he wanted to take over, so he starteda rebellion, a war in heaven, the
universal war, but satan lost the battleagainst god and he and his army of rebel angels were cast to this world and soplanet earth became the arena of the universal war, the war between good andevil, god and satan. now god had created a perfect world for our first parents, adamand eve, but satan deceived them into joining his rebellion against god, sinentered the world and it seemed that satan had won the battle for planetearth in the great universal war. in this universal war the war between good andevil, between god and satan, the entire human race has sinned and rebelledagainst god, sin, rebellion separates us from god and life, "but your iniquitieshave separated you from your god; and
your sins have hidden his face from you..."men and women were made for fellowship with god, to be in harmony with theirmaker, when humans sinned they turned away from god, they rejected god, they rebelledagainst god, and there are consequences associated with rebelling against god.listen to what the bible says in romans chapter 6 and verse 23: "for the wages ofsin is death..." so because we've all sinned and rebelled against god we're doomed.but there's good news in this universal battle between god and satan, god has asolution, god sent his son jesus to pay the penalty for our sins, to die in ourplace. he's our substitute, yes he died in ourplace. on a hill called golgotha, the
critical battle in the great universalwar took place and when jesus died on the cross,it appeared that satan had defeated god and won the war, all the forces of theevil one watched with glee as jesus breathed his last, but then, as the lightbroke on the resurrection morning, jesus overcame death and emerged victoriousfrom the grave, he's our saviour and if we accept him and believe in him our sinsare forgiven and we have eternal life. "for god so loved the world that he gavehis only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish buthave eternal life." the same jesus who died on the cross issoon to return as king of kings and lord
of lords, the great controversy betweengood and evil will be over forever, sin and evil will be destroyed and thisearth will be restored to its original, perfect condition. "now i saw a new heavenand a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away..." "and godwill wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, norsorrow, nor crying. there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passedaway." that's the kind of world i'm looking forward to, how about you? doesthe idea of living in perfect peace and harmony appeal to you? if it does, whynot decide right now as we pray to be ready to meet jesus when he comes. dear heavenly father, we're all soldiers in
the battle of life, we are living behindenemy lines, please give us strength to endure the struggles and challenges ofthe universal war. lord we know the outcome of this great controversy and wewant to be on the winning side, we know that jesus will be victoriousand that he is coming to make all things new, may we be ready to meet jesus whenhe comes, we pray in jesus' name. amen. if you're battling with the trials andtemptations of life and are looking for support in your journey through life andwould like god to guide you, then i'd like to recommend the free gift we havefor all our viewers today, it's the inspiring book the great hope. this bookis our gift to you and is absolutely
free, there are no costs or obligationswhatsoever. thousands have been blessed and inspiredby this book the great hope, so please don't miss this wonderful opportunity toreceive the gift we have for you today. here's the information you need: phone us now on 0481 315 101 or text us on 0491 222 999 or visit our website theincrediblejourney.tv torequest today's free offer. so don't delay, contact us right now. if you'veenjoyed today's journey to singapore and
our reflections on the universal war,be sure to join us again next week when we will share another of life's journeystogether and experience another new and thought-provoking perspective on thepeace, insight, understanding and hope that only the bible can give us. the incrediblejourney truly is television that changes lives. until next week remember theultimate destination of life's journey, "now i saw a new heaven and a new earth,and god will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there shall be no moredeath, nor sorrow, nor crime, there shall be no more pain, for the former thingshave passed away."