Bill Brown discusses in this audio clip the airplane that he flew during World War II, the P-51 Mustang. While discussing his experiences during the war, he encourages fathers to take their sons to the Word of God for Scripture will be his most powerful weapon.

2 Chronicles 20:10 (NKJV) - "And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s."

Every son needs to hear his father say, son, arm yourself with the right weapons. Ephesians 6, 11 through 13, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, in having done all to stand." Ephesians 6-11. Chapter 6, the P-51D Mustang. The P-51 Mustang was my father's weapon of war on Iwo Jima.

Helping sons choose the best weapons for the battles they will face is one of the most important things a father will ever do. My appreciation for this plane is why I have a large imposing picture of one in my office. When people see it, the most common comment they make is, that is a beautiful plane. And one of my friends calls this airplane industrial art. The P-51 is one of the most collectible airplanes in the history of aviation.

Collectors are willing to part with big dollars to find and restore them. The Mustang was one of the most important planes in World War II. The Senate War Investigating Committee in 1944 said that the Mustang was the most aerodynamically perfect pursuit plane in existence. General H.H. Half-Arnold said, "'One of the great miracles of war was the fact that the long-range Mustang fighter escort did appear over Germany at just the saving moment.

Major General Orville Anderson, deputy commanding officer of the 8th Air Force said quote is my considered opinion that the P-51 played a decisive role in the air war over Western Europe. Quote, that's the plane I want, said General Karl Spatz, commanding officer of the 8th Air Force, seeing the Mustang production line. Perhaps the most telling statement of all is this one by Hermann Goering on March the 4th, 1944. Quote, when I saw Mustang fighters escorting the bombers over Berlin, I knew the jig was up. Unquote.

Of the various iterations of the P-51 Mustang, the P-51D is generally accepted as the definitive Mustang. That was a plane my dad flew. 9, 603 of them rolled off the assembly line and they were without question the finest fighter planes in World War II. In 1945, nearly the entire United States Air Force stable of fighter pilots flew 51Ds. Correction, the stable of fighter pilots flew P-51Ds.

They were used in the Korean War and the Israelis used them in the 1956 to protect themselves during the Suez Crisis. They considered the P-51 the most superior plane of their conflict. It was a high performance aircraft in a class of its own. It could climb fast and it gave the pilot superior acceleration during dogfights. A gun camera operated when the guns discharged.

I've always been captivated by the Mustang. Its monster horsepower made it one of the fastest fighter planes in the air and it was high on maneuverability and performance. Its beautiful form is unmatched. My dad says that compared to other planes, it was easy to fly, but you had to be careful how fast you allowed it to go. He told me, quote, If you dive too fast, the rivets pop out and the wings come off.

When diving, you have to pull out gradually. In a P-47, you can dive it steep, but not the P-51, as the plane will dismember in the air. The first time my father flew P-51s was at Bellows Field in Hawaii. He tells me that on Bellows Field there was a guy in training who flew the plane too fast and made too violent a maneuver causing the plane to fly apart. An important lesson for young Bucks ready to take on the world.

He tells about how it also happened to another flyer in his squadron. One of the better pilots in the 15th Fighter Group was on a mission east of Tokyo. He spotted a fake fighter on the ground and dove in. His wingman dove with him and he saw the flight leader's plane coming apart. The wingman eased off but when he landed back on Ewell he found that most of his rivets had popped out.

He was dangerously close to flying apart as well. My dad really liked flying the P-51. He said that a flight of the P-47 was like trying to fly a wrench, while the P-51 was like an arrow. He called the P-47 a bucket of bolts. My plane was better than your plane.

When we visited Iwo Jima we were sitting in a troop truck with some other men when I heard a starling comment past the lips of my father. He was sitting next to another fly boy who had flown p-47 Thunderbolts on Iwo Jima. My dad turned to him and said quote my plane was better than your plane, unquote. We all cracked up with laughter. Why do boys love swords and guns and fires?

The good news is that Most fathers get a jump start on communicating this because, for some strange reason, most boys love weapons. Hand a five-year-old a banana and it becomes a revolver. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich is intuitively chewed into the shape of a pistol. Any stick becomes a knife or sword. Perhaps the fact that weapons matter, even to little boys, comes from an innate understanding that having the right weapon for the right moment is critical for success in life.

The kind of weapon you have matters. For example, it would be silly to engage in aerial dogfights using swords and it would be equally silly to do hand-to-hand combat with squirt guns. These are overblown analogies but they do help us think about using the right weapon for the right kind of battle. The right weapons are critical for the success of any battle. For example, the P-51 Mustang was exactly what the war effort needed.

Wars are won and lost on the choices that follow the command. Quote, gentlemen, choose your weapons, unquote. World War II, my father's weapon was a P-51 Mustang. What is yours? What will be your son's?

A father must, number one, show that the best weapons are not made of steel. It is not physical weapons that boys need the most. For God has promised that he is the defining factor in warfare. I will not save them by bow, nor by sword or battle, by horses or horsemen, Hosea 1.7. Second Samuel 1.27 records an incident where there was a failure of physical weapons.

Quote, how the mighty have fallen and the weapons of war perished. Unquote. Scripture emphasizes dependence upon God rather than our own strength. No king is saved by multitude of an army. A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.

Psalm 33.1 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 2 Corinthians 10 four. The Lord has opened his armory and has brought out the weapons of his indignation for this is the work of the Lord God of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans." Jeremiah 50 25. Then David said to the Philistines, quote, You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword or spear for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hands 1st Samuel 17 45 take your son to the Word of God the best weapon of all in John Bunyan's pilgrims progress valiant of for truth headed for the Celestial City and was attacked by three men, wild head, inconsiderate, and pragmatic. After hearing Valiant Fortruth's story, Great Heart, Pilgrim's guide, asks about the weapon he used to withstand his enemies.

Every boy needs to know what kind of weapon to use when Wildhead shows up, when Inconsiderate appears, and when Pragmatic speaks to him. What will a boy do when these personalities rise up? In the story, Valiant used the Word of God, that right Jerusalem blade that gets sharper and sharper with use. Here Bunyan helps us to understand how important it is to choose holy weapons. Boys will be attacked by various kinds of personalities all their lives long, just like pilgrim.

His best weapon, his most trusted weapon is the Word of God. Hebrews 4-12, For the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Number two, teach their sons how to select the right weapons for the battle. A wise and godly man does not grab any old weapon at hand. He does not find his weapon in his own heart or out of his own words or out of his own established family culture.

There's a right way and a wrong way to respond. Some weapons are demonic and others are divine. The temptation with which we are always faced is the inclination to come up with our own weapons. When you're faced with a hot head or a wild head, The temptation is to use a wild, hot-headed weapon. When we are faced by inconsiderate people, we are tempted to use a weapon in kind.

But no matter how creative we might become in conceiving how we might fight our battles, we must always return to the principle that guidance by the Word of God is the only way for victory. Fathers need to help their sons have faith in the weapons God gives. Not fleshly weapons against the hotheads or the unwise of the day, but heavenly weapons, they're the weapons of God's selection. Boys need to know their weapons, sharpen the right ones, and trust that God has given us all we need to wage the great wars of our time. Number three, prioritize the weapons that are available.

Ecclesiastes 9 18, When Solomon was a boy, God gave him the opportunity of a lifetime to get whatever he asked of the Lord. He did not ask for earthly riches or worldly weapons of war or armies. He did not desire steel. He asked for wisdom, and that choice made all the difference. The years passed, and after a long life, the Queen of Sheba came to see the riches of Solomon.

She left saying, quote, they did not tell me the half of his riches, unquote. After living a long life of unparalleled abundance, Solomon wrote, "'Wisdom is better than weapons of war.'" Even as a boy, Solomon understood how choosing the right weapon makes all the difference in the world. Second Chronicles 1.7. Every boy understands how important weapons are. Perhaps that is why they love to carry them wherever they go.

The most effective way a father can give his son the best weapons is to carry them himself, display them, and use them in daily life. Deuteronomy 6-7 says that a father must quote, talk of them when he sits in his house, when he walks by the way, when he lies down and when he rises up. In doing so, a father fortifies the soul of his son with armaments that he will take with him wherever he goes. Son, arm yourself with the right weapons.