Before you pick a fight you ought to be sure you can win the war. President Roosevelt appeared before a joint session of Congress the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, and declared, “Yesterday, December 7, 1941–a date which will live in infamy–the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”
The Japanese began the war with America just before 8:00a.m. Hawaii time; a swarm of 360 warplanes bearing the red symbol of Japan’s Rising Sun on their wings attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor. The surprise attack struck a critical blow against the U.S. Pacific fleet. Five of eight battleships, three destroyers, and seven other ships were sunk or severely damaged; more than 200 aircraft were destroyed; 2,400 Americans were killed, and 1,200 were wounded in the attack. Japan’s losses that day were minimal: only 30 planes, five midget submarines, and fewer than 100 men.
The war however had only just begun who would stand as the victor when the fighting stopped? Six months after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor the three giant aircraft carriers of the Pacific fleet, which had fortunately been out at sea on training maneuvers, reversed the tide of the war with a spectacular victory against Japan at the Battle of Midway. Then nearly four years after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the U.S. dropped two atomic bombs on the island of Japan. The first was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and then three days later a second was dropped on Nagasaki. More than 100,000 Japanese were killed by these powerful atomic bombs and Japan soon surrendered. The United States of America endured the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor and nearly four years of war standing victorious when the fighting stopped.
Satan attacked Jesus in the wilderness. For forty days and nights the devil hit Jesus with all of hell’s furry, but Jesus would not falter.