Nuclear Risk

It never fails to amaze me how people generally end up experiencing the very thing they are trying to avoid when they leave God out of their effort. That is the thought which occurs to me when I hear about President Obama's efforts at nuclear non-proliferation.

President Obama recently watered down our policy for using nuclear weapons and signed an arms reduction treaty with Russia. These developments were followed closely by a nuclear summit of world leaders where Obama declared that, "We've made real progress in building a safer world." So why do I get the sense that the President's rhetoric is really far from the truth? It might be because so much of what this president says has been found to be deceptive. Or that history has shown appeasement to have a poor track record of success (remember Chamberlain and WW II). Or it could be because of the age we are in, "for when they say, 'Peace and safety!' then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape" (1 Thessalonians 5:3, NKJ).

The Bible certainly makes it clear that nuclear weapons will be used. Zechariah 14:12 says, "this shall be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem: their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet, their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets, and their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths." Now this could be supernatural but since God most often works through natural means this certainly could be a description of nuclear weapon effects.

And consider this passage which describes an aspect of God's wrath during the Tribulation: "He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place" (Revelation 6:12-14). The blast effects of nuclear weapons are like an earthquake; the sun and moon being obscured could be from dust in the atmosphere thrown up by nuclear ground bursts; ICBM warheads re-entering the earth's atmosphere at night will look like falling stars; the sky receding like a scroll could describe a mushroom cloud; and thermonuclear weapons even have the power to displace mountains and islands.

The situation today is significantly more dangerous than during the Cold War when the use of a nuclear weapon was unthinkable because it would clearly result in a massive response. We no longer have this balance of Mutually Assured Destruction. We have rogue nations like North Korea and Iran with, or about to have nukes. We have a potentially unstable government with nukes in Pakistan. The turmoil and corruption of a rapid transition to a market economy has resulted in some nukes going missing in Russia. We have the rapid growth of Islamic Jihadists who believe they have a mandate from god to kill as many infidels as they can. The world is backing Israel into a corner daring them to use their nukes preemptively against Iran. And God is removing His restraint of evil in the world.

I believe that a likely time for the Rapture would be during a nuclear exchange. Who would miss a few million Christians when the world is busy dealing with a crisis where millions more have died from war. 2 Thessalonians 2:11 says "God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie" explaining away the Rapture. People will be significantly more receptive to a superficial apologetic when they have other concerns on their minds.

In these perilous times, it helps to remember the promises of God... "For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:9).