I want you all to see this

[Tyburn]

"A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee." Pslam 91






This is Saint Paul's Cathedral, London, England, taken 71 years ago tommorow morning. The day after the Great Blitz of London. The Germans decided they would raze the British Capital to the Ground, and over night, they did...they then continued to pound the ruins, daily, for about 6 months.
Their main target in London was the Dome of the Cathedral.

They Never got it. Infact over the entire war, only two Bombs touched the Cathedral, both inflicted only minor damage. Again, each in themselves Miracles. The first bomb to hit the Cathedral went into the Roof of the North Transept. It detonated mid air in the Cathedral itself...it was incendury...and thus more of a flash then a bang. the debris went through church floor and into the undercroft. Remarkably, Saint Paul's Watch (a group dedicated to stopping little fires on the roof, had moved their camp away from their the previous week, so noone was hurt. The second bomb to hit Saint Paul's Cathedral was a true bomb. It went through the roof of the East End, smashed into the High Altar, and went through the church floor and landed in the crypt.

For reasons unknown, the Bomb failed to detonate. It just, sorta, sat there. Now had the device gone off, the entire east end along with the Dome and Transepts would probably have gone. There is not a chance that mere statistics saved this building. Not a chance.

People say the GOD himself must have saved this building from destruction. They say it was as if an invisible umbrella was put up over the Cathedral, because despite the HUNDREDS of Bombers, despite the fact the Cathedral was lit up by a city wide blaze, every single Bomber missed the target. The Biggest building in the entire city. They destroyed everything else. within yards all around the Cathedral. But the House of GOD itself they could not touch.






To put it into perspective...you can see almost nothing is left of the city except for the Cathedral. Incase your wondering. around 20 thousand civilians were killed during the bombardments against London...and a further equal in other cities blitzed as well.

Now...almost noone left alive will remember this. There has been no moments silence, there has been no ceremony of memorial...but that does not deny what GOD did for England on this night 71 years ago.

Not all Cathedrals were so Blessed. Later in the year we shall see the 71st Commemoration of the Blitzing of another British City...in which the Cathedral was demolished. The next day the citizens gathered around the broken Ruins of Coventry Cathedral....and when they got to the sanctuary they discovered out of the rubble on the Altar a large cross had somehow fused itself together.

The Ruin still exists today, with the Rubble Cross on the Altar and the words "Father Forgive"

I thought that was worth sharing...and worth considering on a spiritual level.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw8BpcWgET8

[Tyburn]

You might like to know, in nearby Westminster...not the true site of the blitz but on the outskirts...Buckingham Palace was hit Nine Times.

[flo]

Isn't that amazing? I think God did save the building, Dave.

[Tyburn]

Originally Posted by flo

Isn't that amazing? I think God did save the building, Dave.

So do I Flo.

The Germans wanted to distroy Morale in England...but their inability to strike Saint Paul's for reasons inexplicable had the opposite effect.

My Nan Actually lived in London at the time of the War (well..in Greater London) She said that We can never understand the impact the infamous Photograph I posted above had on the English.

This was the worst the Germans could offer, and they had failed to destroy the only landmark within the city boundaries that was core to the British Identity at that time. This was, to the people, GOD showing them that Adolf Hitler would never be victorious in this land.

Its funny, because half way through the night, after the second wave of bombings, The Prime Minister told the fire brigades to abandon the City...He told them to let London Burn..."But at all costs, Saint Paul's Cathedral MUST be saved" He allowed our entire capital to be burned to the ground...Imagaine, the entireity of Washington DC burned...Washington National gone, the Pentagon gone, the National Mall, Gone...but The Congress Building completely untouched...

It was a moment like that for the English...everything gone...but GOD let it be known that he was still amoung us, and had not left us.

Another amazing fact is the third and final wave of the blitz, the one that would arrive before dawn when ONLY Saint Paul's was left...was called off last moment due to bad weather Now...had that wave reached London...im afraid its impossible to think that with only one building left intact in the city, a whole wave, a whole division of the German Airforce, would fail to hit Saint Paul's....

...but those planes...that pre planned wave...never made it across the channel.

....and the subsequent 60 days of bombardment...only managed to hit the building twice...both mere flesh wounds.

You might like to know that the High Altar was destroyed...and the East End was refurnished, they bought the Altar forwards, so there was room for a Chapel behind...that Chapel is known as "The American Memorial Chapel" in it is a Gigantic Book, under glass, with the names of all the American Dead (IF they were stationed in England at the time they fell) one of my duties each day at the Cathedral was to open that glass box...put on my white gloves...and turn over the page!!

[Bonnie]

Thanks for sharing that Dave and the video. It's quite different watching movies about these events in history than from seeing real pictures and film footage of them. I think it's great that your Nan can tell you first-hand about some of these times.

[Tyburn]

Originally Posted by Bonnie

Thanks for sharing that Dave and the video. It's quite different watching movies about these events in history than from seeing real pictures and film footage of them. I think it's great that your Nan can tell you first-hand about some of these times.

oooooo yes...my favourite story of hers...one day she was late leaving the city of London...and she could hear planes comming over...she was petrified, and so she did what she had been taught, she lay down in the road with her hands over her head and waited for the bombs.

...a few mins passed and one of the city wardens came up to her, and lifted her up and said

"dont worry love...those are ours"

: laugh:

[Bonnie]

Originally Posted by Tyburn

oooooo yes...my favourite story of hers...one day she was late leaving the city of London...and she could hear planes comming over...she was petrified, and so she did what she had been taught, she lay down in the road with her hands over her head and waited for the bombs.

...a few mins passed and one of the city wardens came up to her, and lifted her up and said

"dont worry love...those are ours"

: laugh:

Poor thing, how was she supposed to know.

[Tyburn]

Originally Posted by Bonnie

Poor thing, how was she supposed to know.

EXACTLY