July 10
Turning Plowshares into Swords
Last week, top Pentagon commanders told the Bush administration that bombing Iran's nuclear facilities would likely fail to destroy that country's nuclear program. They also said any that any attack would have "serious economic, political, and military consequences for the United States."
A crucial reason for the military's dissent is the inability of American and European intelligence agencies to locate Iran nuclear sites. The Iranians have hidden them so well, war planners are not sure what to target.
The article, by Seymour Hersh, points to Iran’s using civilians as a means of protecting some of the nuclear sites. "Intelligence has also shown that for the past two years, the Iranians have been shifting their most sensitive nuclear-related materials and production facilities, moving some into urban areas, in anticipation of a bombing raid."
The U.S. military's experience in Iraq is another factor. No weapons of mass destruction were found and we are now involved with an ongoing conflict. As one unidentified general was quoted as saying, "We built this big monster with Iraq, and there was nothing there. This is the son of Iraq."
There are two main economic and political consequences. Iran is a major oil producer, and has the capability of disrupting the flow of oil from other Arab nations. Any strike against Iran would trigger a backlash in the broader Muslim world and in Europe.
America's so-called allies, Russia and China, are not helping with the conflict. Russia is actively involved in building Iran’s nuclear plants, and China refuses to consider allowing UN sanctions to go forward.
The domino effect is the greatest danger posed by nations that develop nuclear capability. Once North Korea is able to deploy missiles that can threaten its neighbors, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan will likely feel compelled to go nuclear to gain a deterrence against attack. Another factor that sets the dominos tumbling is the special status that nations get once they join the nuclear club.
Another sign of the lack of nuclear vigilance has been a shift in the potential use of such weapons. What was once considered a device only to be used on doomsday is now being seen as a weapon of practical use. In January of this year, Jacques Chirac of France indicated that an incident of state-sponsored terrorism on France could trigger a small-scale nuclear retaliation aimed at destroying the "rogue state's" power centers. There have been several reports that Israeli leaders are considering a nuclear strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. Some U.S. officials have also pondered the possibility of American atomic bombs being used against Iran.
At United Nations headquarters in New York City there is a sculpture called "Let Us Beat Swords Into Plowshares." Ironically, it was donated by the Soviet Union in 1959. It must have been an April Fool's Day gift. At the time, the USSR I remember from history was busy creating thousands of nuclear bombs.
The Bible passage that inspired the sculpture was intended to symbolizes man’s desire to put an end to war. It reads: "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4).
During the millennial rule of Christ, mankind will turn all weapons of warfare to peaceful uses. Before that day comes, another prophetic verse will need to be fulfilled. It is very similar, but has a few key differences: "Proclaim this among the nations: 'Prepare for war!" Stir up the mighty men. Let all the warriors draw near. Let them come. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, 'I am strong'" (Joel 3:9-10).
Prophecy does paint a rather gloomy future for planet Earth. However, we are not without options. People who place their trust in this current world system will share its fate. The people who place their trust in God will likely escape the coming calamity, but more importantly they will have a stake in the world that rises from the ashes of the tribulation.
"Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man" (Luk 21:36).
--- Todd
War and Peace from Here to Eternity: Part I
Even after the devastating September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., by Middle Eastern terrorists, people today continue to be lulled to sleep, especially in America. For the most part, Americans are well-fed and have plenty of material things, like houses, cars and clothes. Everyday life goes on, and we are fairly comfortable with it.
When we look at the world situation today through Bible prophecy, however, it becomes clear that this Earth Age is quickly approaching its end. Even non-religious experts who watch world conditions see that the end might be near for mankind.
One of the most highly respected of these earth-watcher organizations is made up of the world’s top atomic scientists. They have a unique way of pointing out where they think we are on history’s timeline.
Some of the world’s top scientists have, since 1947, been setting the imaginary “Doomsday Clock” to warn the world how near man might be to atomic destruction. These scientists put out a publication known as “The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.” The first issue in June 1947 had on its cover a large clock. The small hand (hour hand) was set on 12 and the big hand (minute hand) was set on 7 minutes to 12. In other words, the clock was set at seven minutes until the midnight hour. The atomic scientists believe that when the hour and minute hand both reach 12 midnight, man will have completely destroyed himself through atomic warfare.
Scientists still watch world conditions carefully. They particularly keep an eye on nuclear arms developments and treaties that promise to eliminate such weapons. Whenever things look favorable for eliminating nuclear weaponry, the scientist move the minute hand farther from the 12 on the Doomsday Clock. Whenever things heat up in the arms race, they move it forward toward the 12.
Since the Doomsday Clock was first created, its hands have seldom been out of the fourth quadrant (the last 15 minutes on the clock’s face.) The minute hand has come very near the midnight hour. For example, the hand moved to 3 minutes until midnight in 1949, when the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb. The minute hand of the Doomsday Clock was moved to 2 minutes until midnight in 1953 following America’s late 1952 explosion of the first hydrogen bomb, with the Soviets quickly matching the feat.
The clock’s minute hand has been moved back somewhat on occasion. For example, when the US and the Soviet Union signed a partial test ban treaty in 1963, the scientists of the Atomic Bulletin moved the hand back to 12 minutes until midnight.
The Doomsday Clock has continued to be manipulated farther or closer to midnight throughout the decades since the atomic age was born with the first bomb’s explosion in 1945. It is very apparent that those who should know believe this world sits upon a nuclear powder keg. All-out war could be right around the next corner.
Jesus, as recorded in Matthew 24:21 forewarns, “ For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.” The Doomsday Clock’s minute hand has been warning of nuclear threats to the world for some time. But that imaginary clock’s second hand, if it had one, would indeed be smoking from the heat of the many prophetic signals today. Movement of that symbolic indicator of the last time grows more frightening with each tick.
Todd and I have covered these end-time tribulation-type issues and events many times in past Nearing Midnight commentaries. But, it is good to remind ourselves here of these things of major prophetic importance.
Again, these are:
Many wars and rumors of wars around the world
Israel at center stage and in a peace process, yet threatened with annihilation by its Islamic neighbors, and viewed as a “cup of trembling” by the international community of nations
Rome reviving in the form of the EC and the international community
Movement toward one-world order
Development of technology that can make it possible to control the masses
The coming together of all religions, and Christ being blasphemed
Existence of a global economic structure
Occurrences of strange weather patterns and weird sightings, such as UFOs, apparitions, and stigmata of various sorts
People having the last days characteristics outlined by the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy, chapter 3
Daniel the prophet said many end-time issues and events will come upon the world like a flood until all things prophesied are fulfilled. Jesus indicated that all of these things will be happening at the same time in the days just before His return to earth.
People have for centuries been witness to a few, scattered, similar issues or events during their time on earth. But ours is the only generation to see all of these major prophetic signals happening at the same time.
And, the chief signal is: Israel, God’s timepiece, is again a nation in the land of promise.
War is on the way –unprecedented war, during which Israel will be at its center. God’s Word says of that time: “That day [is] a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick Darkness…” (Zep. 1:15).
This describes the tribulation era, leading toward the final battle of Armageddon. The greatest of all wars must come to Planet Earth before there can be true peace. Make peace with the Prince of Peace now. Ask Him to save you from sin and make you worthy to escape the terrors that await. Jesus Christ is the only Savior, who can secure you for all eternity.
--Terry
