ANALYSIS
Here are some of the latest headlines:
- “Biden Warns of Nuclear Armageddon”
- “Putin isolated in a bunker”
- “US Stockpiles Anti-Radiation Drugs”
As a little boy at school during the “Cuban Missile Crisis,” I remember crawling under the table for another bomb drill in preparation for a potential atomic bomb threat. I seriously doubt our desks would be any good.
Now, 60 years later, AP News reported that President Biden said: “The risk of nuclear ‘Armageddon’ is at its highest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, as Russian officials talk about the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons after suffering massive setbacks in their eight-month invasion of Ukraine.”
Whenever a world leader, let alone an American president, uses the word “Armageddon,” we take notice.
President Biden continued, “We haven’t faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis.” He suggested that the threat from Putin is real “because his military is – you could say – significantly below average”.
The likelihood of nuclear war is growing rapidly
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 9, 2022
Add to that the US just spent $290 million on anti-radiation drugs. The threat is not denied.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, is reported to have single-handedly set this nightmare scenario in motion. isolated in a bunkerhe becomes increasingly paranoid and nervous as his army suffers defeat after defeat in the war against Ukraine.
World leaders are taking it seriously. So we should. But is it potentially Armageddon?
Short answer: no.
For most Christians, “Armageddon” is often used to describe the final apocalyptic battle that humanity will one day face. The word ultimately comes from the Hebrew word “Har-Magedone” meaning “Mount Megiddo”, the supposed site of the battle.
Christians should understand that this cannot be the biblical Armageddon, whatever Putin’s threats become. It is a specific series of battles fought at the end of what the Bible calls the “great tribulation period” that will last seven years. It begins with the coming of the Antichrist and ends with the return of Jesus Christ.
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But what if Russia and the United States enter this high-stakes conflict? Let’s all pray together that something like this never happens. But what if you knew a nuclear missile was coming and you only had seconds to live?
It actually happened at 8:07 a.m. on Saturday, January 13, 2018, to people on Oahu. Their phones buzzed with this ominous warning:
BALLISTIC THREAT IN HAWAII. SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY.
THIS IS NOT A DRILL.
People in Hawaii waited with bated breath for 37 very long minutes before being told it was a false alarm. The official explanation is that the wrong button was pressed during the shift change.
Shelly, our friend who was on Oahu at the time of this emergency warning, responded calmly because of her deep faith in Jesus Christ. After the all clear was given, she texted us. After the emergency call, her neighbors ran to her home on Oahu’s North Shore and asked her what to do. Shelly writes, “I prayed with them and said the first thing we need to do is make sure we know where we’re going when we leave this Earth!”
One day a real threat will come to you – nuclear or personal. It could be a heart attack or a car accident. One thing is for sure: no one is getting out of here alive.
Like Shelly, we should all know where we are going. Only those who are ready to die are ready to live.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ, the very Son of God, came to our planet and died on the cross for all our sins. There, hanging on that cross, He bore all the sins of the world, including yours, and died in your place. Then, three days later, Jesus rose again. Death died when Christ rose.
If we turn from our sins and believe in Him, we can know that we will spend the afterlife in heaven. With this knowledge, we are ready to give the same answer of hope to someone else.
The reality of life and death cannot be escaped even in a place as beautiful as Hawaii. One day it won’t be a false alarm. There is nothing more important than being prepared for any emergency. I pray that our leaders, from the White House on down, will do everything they can to de-escalate this conflict immediately.
But for the rest of us, it is vitally important that we know where we will spend eternity.
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