Basic HTML Version
members of the nuclear club. And
others are on their way to full
membership!
Many experts agree that nuclear
war probably will
not
start between
the two present superpowers, but
by
smal/er
nations or groups of
nations attempting to settle person–
al vendettas!
The Bible foretold that even small
Third World nations would arm
thcmselves with awesome destruc–
tive power in the last days of this
world's civilization: " Beat your
plowshares into swords, and your
pruninghooks into spears: Jet the
weak
say,
1 am strong"
(Joel 3:10).
lt is not our purpose here to list
for our readers all the horrors of
nuclear war. What follows is suffi–
cient to prove that
no other
form of
warfare would have as devastating
an impact on all strata of society
and the environment.
In the first milliseconds after
detonation of a one megaton
nuclear weapon, gamma radiation
would kili everything within six
miles. An electromagnetic pulse
created by the nuclear blast would
fuse all unprotected circuitry with–
in severa! hundred miles, knocking
out communication. A fir eball
would consume everything within
280 square miles in 10 seconds, fol–
lowed by a blast wave that would
fl atten remaining structures within
4.5 miles, and severely damage
other buildings dozens of miles
away. l f the device exploded above
the ground, hundreds of tons of
debri s, now high ly rad ioactive,
would be thrown into the air,
returning and settling for days
afterward as fine, deadly ash.
And the long-term effects are as
devastating as the initial blast.
If
the device exploded at ground level,
the surrounding area would be
uninhabitable for decades. The
high radiation would kili most, if
not all, of the bird population ,
allowing the
exponential
growth of
radiation-resistant insects.
Radi oactive particles would
cause "beta burns" and kili plant
life. Radioactive fallout would be
carried into water supplies and
aquifers through streams and lakes,
rendering drinking water unfit in
many areas.
Burn victims and the injured
20
would find the hospitals obliterated
by the blast or clogged with other
victims.
In short, society as we know it
today would be taxed to its limits
by a
single
blast, and unable to
function in the event of a major
nuclear attack.
The time when the earth will
experience nuclear warfare defies
description. " In
al/
your dwelling–
places the cities shall be laid waste
[by nuclear warfare], and the high
places shall be desolate" (Ezek. 6:6).
After the warfare begins, "then
there will be great distress [KJV:
"great tribulation"],
unequaled
from the beginning of the world
until now- and
never
to be equaled
again" (Matt. 24:21, NIV) .
Why
God Must lnte r vene
Could a God of love ( 1 John 4:8)
stand idly by while millions of
humans are incinerated in a nuclear
fireball?
J onathan Schnell in his widely
read book
The Fate of the Earth
touches on the answer while raising
this question. This "extinction by
nuclear arms," says Mr. Schnell,
" ... would be the utterly mean–
ingless and completely unjust
destruction of mankind by meo. To
imagine that God is guiding our
hand in this action would quite lit–
erally be the ultimate evasion of
our responsibility as human be–
ings- a responsibility that is ours
because ... we possess a free will
that was implanted in us by God."
God does not wish this coming
nuclear holocaust on mankind: "As
llive, saith the Lord God, l have no
pleasure in the death of the wicked;
but that the wicked turn from his
way and live: turn ye, turn ye from
your evil ways; for why will ye
die ...?" (Ezek. 33: 11 ).
Few understand that God has
allowed a period of 6,000 years for
humans to experiment with thei r
own
governments, their own reli–
gious institutions and family life
apart
from God. And, further, that
God only intervenes now as it suits
his divine purpose.
Few understand that the first
humans rejected God and his
way-the way that would have led
to peace and prosperity. Man
instead embraced ways of life
embodied in the verb "get," reject–
ing God's way that embodies
"give"- a way of outflowing love
and concero.
When the first humans rejected
God's way of life, God set apart a
6,000-year period of time that would
allow man to
see for himself
that
God's way is indeed the only way
that produces happiness, prosperity
and peace of mind.
God, as the absolute ruler of the
universe, allows man this "responsi–
bility"- spoken of by Mr. Schnell.
Many scoff at God's intentions.
But allowing nuclear warfare to
almost obliterate mankind is the
only way God can get man's full
attention!
"But mark this," wrote the apos–
tle Paul to the evangelist Timothy,
"There will be terrible times in the
last days
[the time we are in
now].
People will be lovers of themselves
[note that the 1970s were called
the "Me" decade], lovers of money,
boastful, proud, abusive, disobe–
dient to their parents, ungrateful,
unholy, without love, unforgiving,
slanderous, withou t sel f-control,
brutal, not lovers of the good, t rea–
cherous, rash, conceited,
lovers of
pleasure rather than lovers of
God' '
(Il Tim. 3:1-4, NIV).
Astonishingly, even during the
coming holocaust meo will refuse
to acknowledge God's right to
intervene in human affai rs. After
God begins his direct intervention
through the forces of nature to
bring man to his senses, "Men
gnawed thei r tongues in agony and
cursed
the God of heaven because
of their pains and their sores, but
they
refused
to repent of what they
had done" (Rev. 16:10-11, N IV).
·Now this brings us to the crux
point. Why must men repent ?
Repentance, remember, means to
have a total change of mind. And
what must they repent of?
They must repent of
sin-the
breaking of God's law (l John 3:4).
"The earth is
defiled
by its people;
they have
disobeyed the laws,
vio–
lated [KJV: "changed"] the stat–
utes and
broken
the everlasting
covenant" ( lsa. 24:5, NIV).
The laws of God-expressed in
the summary ten points called the
Ten Commandments-are
LIVING
laws.
If
you tried to break the phys-
The
PLAIN TRUTH