As man has progressed through the Industrial Revolutions, the method of warfare has become increasingly lethal. Mankind reached the pinnacle of his lethality in the middle of the twentieth century with the Manhattan Project. However, as mankind has entered both the information and now cyber age, the potential for existential threats has grown, not lessened. In the digital age, traditional warfare (nuclear weapons, armies, ballistic missiles, etc.) is no longer the greatest threat to American sovereignty. The greatest threat would be a coordinated, multi-domain attack that never fired a single bullet—but managed to destroy a significant portion of the American infrastructure.
Zero-day exploits represent one of the most formidable challenges in cybersecurity due to their inherent “black swan” nature (we don’t know what we don’t know). These vulnerabilities, unknown to software vendors and developers at the time of creation, offer no time for mitigation once discovered and can bypass even the most robust security measures. Their potential to cause widespread disruption is exemplified by incidents like the Stuxnet worm, which leveraged multiple zero-day exploits to disrupt Iran’s nuclear facilities, and the WannaCry ransomware attack, which exploited an undisclosed flaw in Microsoft Windows to inflict global damage.
(See also: All That’s Interesting, LightsCameraProgress, Unidentified Phenomena). Two of the most well-known Zero-day exploits are Stuxnet and Nitro Zeus.
Stuxnet Summary
Stuxnet was a highly advanced computer worm discovered in 2010, believed to be created by the U.S. and Israel as part of Operation Olympic Games. It targeted Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility by exploiting zero-day Windows vulnerabilities to sabotage uranium-enriching centrifuges, all while masking its activity. Its discovery marked a turning point in cyber warfare, showcasing the potential to inflict physical damage via digital means and sparking global debate about the ethics of cyberweapons.
Nitro Zeus Summary
Nitro Zeus was a covert U.S. cyber warfare program developed under the Obama administration as a contingency against Iran. It aimed to disable Iran’s air defenses and critical infrastructure through pre-installed malware, offering a non-lethal alternative to traditional warfare. An extension of the strategies used in Stuxnet, the program involved thousands of operatives and significant funding, and its 2016 disclosure highlighted growing concerns about cyberwarfare’s legality and ethical boundaries.
The unpredictable and highly valuable nature of zero-day exploits makes them a prized asset in cyber warfare and espionage. This will only be exacerbated with the rapid developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and quantum computing. Security researchers and hackers who discover these vulnerabilities face ethical decisions regarding their disclosure, balancing the need for responsible reporting to vendors against the lucrative and sometimes secretive market for such information.
Governments and intelligence agencies often acquire zero-day vulnerabilities to use in national security operations, reflecting their significant impact on modern cybersecurity strategies. This dynamic underscores the critical need for continuous monitoring, advanced threat protection, and effective patch management to safeguard against these unseen threats.
A recent example of what this might look like is Netflix’s “Leave the World Behind.” This show began highlighting a series of seemingly unrelated yet disturbingly applicable ‘zero day’ scenarios in this story. Essentially, it shows the United States being effectively conquered in a matter of days, where loss of communication is the most troubling. It shows a series of events exploiting a convergence of modern vulnerabilities: cyber warfare, financial sabotage, EMP disruption, and sleeper cell activation.
The scary part isn’t how fantastical it appears—it’s scary because it’s a real and present danger based on documented capabilities, known weaknesses, and existing geopolitical tensions.
Thus, our hypothetical operation—code-named “Zero Day”—should unfold in four distinct but interdependent phases:
- Cyberwarfare Breach
The attack begins with a sophisticated, multi-vector cyber assault on critical infrastructure. Chances are 90% of the American public would have zero knowledge that this part has begun. Malware embedded in firmware—possibly years earlier via supply chain infiltration—targets power grids, hospitals, airports, water systems, and military comms. Within minutes, vital systems begin to shut down. False signals and spoofed traffic cause mass confusion. City and county officials began to report to state officials about the emerging crisis.
Key vulnerabilities exploited:
- Industrial Control Systems (ICS) like SCADA
- Cloud service providers
- Software updates from compromised vendors (e.g., SolarWinds-type breach)
- Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices in public utilities
- Financial Collapse via Short-Selling and Market Exploits
Simultaneously, hostile financial actors execute a global economic attack. Using AI and high-frequency trading, they initiate mass short-selling of key American stocks and commodities, targeting companies tied to national security and public trust. They create cascading failures in automated trading systems, freezing markets, and emptying retirement accounts. I say simultaneous, too, but this could actually happen prior to the massive cyber-attack.
Tactics used:
- Naked short-selling of systemically important financial institutions
- Manipulating cryptocurrency markets to de-peg stablecoins
- Sabotaging SWIFT transactions to block or delay liquidity
- Coordinated media manipulation and deepfake news to trigger panic
- EMP Strikes Over Strategic Regions
Should this be a coordinated attack by state actors (i.e., Russia or China as opposed to cyberterrorists), the aforementioned should be accompanied by one or two high-altitude EMP (electromagnetic pulse) devices being detonated over the East and West Coasts, frying electronics and backup systems across major urban centers. This cripples civilian communication, GPS, transportation, and most non-shielded military infrastructure. The EMP would be necessary to provide the requisite cover and concealment for the ‘boots on the ground’ forces that would most certainly already have been put in place before the attack.
EMP delivery methods:
- Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites
- Suborbital ballistic missiles launched from offshore subs or container ships
- High-altitude weather balloon detonation (anyone remember China flying one recently?)
- Sleeper Cell Insurgency and Domestic Destabilization
As the nation reels in darkness and confusion, an unknown number of embedded sleeper agents—radicalized over decades or positioned by hostile state actors—initiate sabotage campaigns across multiple cities. These include assassinations of key leaders, disruption of emergency services, and the occupation of strategic chokepoints like ports, key highways, bridges, dams, nuclear reactors, rail hubs, and fuel depots.
Covert objectives:
- Fragment public trust and pit communities against one another
- Overwhelm local law enforcement
- Introduce competing narratives via social media to blame internal factions (civil war psyop)
- Force federal response into paralysis or overreach
The Outcome: A Nation Paralyzed
By sundown, America is offline, economically gutted, politically fractured, and unable to mount a unified response. Foreign powers seize the momentum to make aggressive moves globally while domestic chaos erupts. This example explores the “Zero Day” scenario, not as a prophecy but as a warning: the United States’ greatest vulnerabilities are no longer physical but systemic, digital, and ideological.
Recommendations for Prevention:
- Mandatory cyber hygiene and supply chain auditing
- Requiring air-gapped backups for critical infrastructure
- EMP shielding and hardening of power grids
- Counterintelligence focuses on ideological infiltration
- Decentralized financial safeguards and human oversight in trading systems
- Civic and cultural education to resist psychological warfare
Conclusion
Now, if this were the end of the story, I’d be cruel, simply giving you all the bad news and none of the good. The “Good News” of this story is that Jesus Christ is still in control. The good news is that this scenario, as realistic as it may be, is not a foregone conclusion despite how easily it could play out. The very real possibility is that the United States isn’t in the picture, not from a pre-70th Week global collapse but because of the Rapture of the Church.
When asked about the last days, Jesus had this to say about the scenario:
“And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed” (Luke 17:26-30). (emphasis added)
Note that, in both instances, life “seemed” normal until it wasn’t. Granted, that level of wickedness might have shocked another age or generation, but it was normal for them, and the deliverance was on the day the judgment came.
If the US were to collapse before the Rapture (due to any of the aforementioned reasons), you would be talking days, weeks, months, and possibly longer. Could the collapse from attack precede the Rapture? Sure, but then you have to make sense of the above passage because it surely cannot be talking about the Second Coming. So the only option you have left is the Rapture of the Church. How do we make sense of this one?
“But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 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. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief” (1 Thess. 5:1-4). (emphasis added)
My position is if the US collapsed before the Rapture (for whatever reason), the ramifications for that would be globally catastrophic. It would take a decade or more for the world to recover economically, politically, and militarily, and that’s considering no global wars break out in the interim. However, if my understanding of where we are in the last days is correct, then we don’t have that kind of time left.
That said, if the “Leave the World Behind” scenario were going to happen (again, my opinion), this would have already happened. I suspect it would have occurred during either of Obama’s terms as president. Could it happen simultaneously to the Rapture?
Absolutely.
It may be that the system we see being built before our eyes is getting prepared for that very thing. They (the powers that be) may “flip the switch,” so to speak, the moment the Rapture does happen because it will minimize the time they have to deal with the fallout from the global conversion. Or, the Rapture may serve as some kind of built-in “tripwire” that sets these systems in motion. In other words, Satan is going to piggyback off the crisis of the Rapture to cut down on the time he has remaining. If this is how it happens, the Internet switch could be flipped sooner rather than later, meaning everything we leave online will be lost.
I’ve read enough United Nations, World Economic Forum, and National Security Council (NSC) threat analyses to know they don’t mention the Rapture at all as any kind of possibility. For them, the Rapture of the Church will truly be a ‘Zero Day’ event.
So how could these organizations not see this coming if Satan is currently calling the shots in this world? (Luke 4:5-6, 2 Cor 4:4, Eph. 2:2, 1 John 5:19).
What is most likely is that he is having them prepare the world for some cataclysmic threat (they think aliens or climate change), but in reality, it will be the Rapture. He’s had to shore up his “aliens” threat since Israel became a nation again so that he can have some kind of plausible reason why millions of people just went missing. Satan knows what’s coming.
Everything that is happening now is in preparation for what immediately follows the Rapture.
“Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning— lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!” (Mark 13:36-37).
P.S. It might be a good time to shore up your physical copies, books, thumb drives, etc., for your left-behind letters and packages.