Time Is Running Out!

This world’s civilization is ending. A new civilization is coming. Here is what is about to happen and why!

When Ronald Reagan was President of the United States he made a dire prediction; he warned that unless the world’s two superpowers reduce the number of nuclear warheads pointed at each other, it will be “the end of the line for all of us.”

Here is what he said in detail: “I can’t believe that this world can go on beyond our generation and on down to succeeding generations with this kind of weaponry on both sides, poised at each other, without someday, some fool, or some maniac, or some accident triggering the kind of war that is the end of the line for all of us.”

In 1983 six nations clearly had nuclear capability, today there could be as many as 30 nations with nuclear capability, not counting rogue nations such as Iran and North Korea. The reality is that with each added nuclear club member, the World War III fuse shortens!

Military leaders have even moved into outer space. . Space-based weapons will add a new dimension to our military capabilities.

There was a time the outbreak of a nuclear war would be between the United States and the Soviet Union, but these two nations are not the only ones today with nuclear capabilities.

There will be another world power block, another powerful force that will soon emerge to change the course of history. That power block is forming now but more about this later.

Why is it, in the merely 6,000 years of recorded history, that mankind has never been able to end war and have lasting peace? Why is it that the only thing it seems we’ve ever learned from war is how to make war more devastating the next time? Why wars in the first place?

There are obvious reasons why nations go to war and why war exists. War is big business. Some go so far as to say privately we could use another limited war to get the economy moving. Such statements, though irresponsible, do make a point. Manufacturing and selling military hardware involves big money, in the West and other countries.

Entire industries exist and flourish for this very reason. Thousands of jobs hinge on weapons manufacturing and supply. You can watch the Military Channel and see a lot of the new weapons that are already made and the new ones on the drawing board.

The Apache helicopter is a modern, sophisticated, technological marvel by any military standard. It’s advertised as “a total system for battle.” Survivability and firepower are maximized. It is lethal, able and reliable, day or night and under adverse weather conditions.

The Apache helicopter is loaded with firepower, its missile systems, says its makers, defeat all known armor threats, reduce engagement time, permit launch from hidden positions and provide direct/indirect firing capabilities, allowing multiple-target engagements. It has optimized first-round kill, say military experts, and couples with that maximum survivability to enhance any nation’s weaponry.

This is also a world that feeds children on a mental diet of shoot-‘em-ups on television and in the movies. Fighting is pervasive from childhood on television and in the movies. Little boys, also get the latest in toy weaponry, jet fighter planes, warships, tanks, space vehicles and other military paraphernalia almost as soon as they take their first step.

Is it any wonder why we live in a world of violence? It shouldn’t be. It’s taught, learned and accepted from youth!

Wars are caused primarily by one nation infringing on the sovereignty and integrity of another nation. Revolutions spring up over questions of poverty and loss of freedom. Racial misunderstanding, religious differences, political disagreements explode into violence.

Still, social scientists and professionals in international relations find it difficult to really pinpoint the underlying reason why peoples can’t get along with one another and solve their differences so the world can have genuine peace. The solution to civil strife and war still remains elusive.

But there is a solution to civil strife and war. There is an underlying reason why troubles exist. If only nations and individuals would listen and heed. The truth is that the solution to war is not past finding out. There is a way to peace. This information has been available to mankind throughout history. But humans have not been willing to listen or heed it. We call the source of this vital knowledge the Bible.

In it is revealed knowledge, revealed to man by the Creator God: spiritual knowledge that man could never attain or discover any other way. It is all a matter of attitude of mind. Notice what Jesus Christ said: “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man” (Mark 7:21-23).

These thoughts and attitudes are what cause hostilities, bloody revolutions and wars!

True, people and nations say they want peace, but they want peace their way, not God’s way, and not someone else’s or some other nation’s way.

God’s way of life, the way of peace is based on outgoing consideration for others. That attitude has been left out of human teaching and learning for the most part. It is not a part of the thinking at the nuclear disarmament talks. It has not become part of human thought process. Human greed and lust have prevailed worldwide. Taking, instead of giving. Hate, not love. War is the natural result. Fighting in the family, among neighbors and in the nations and among nations.

The Bible makes it plain in the New Testament. Read it for yourself! “From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet he have not, because ye ask not” (James. 4:1-2).

Individuals and nations fight and kill, desiring to have. Is it any wonder they don’t’ have peace? And if God is sought, his way of life isn’t wholeheartedly tried. “You ask,” James is inspired to say, “you receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts” (James 4:3). Each is looking for his own selfish interests.

But where does the attitude of self-centeredness and greed come from? Now understand a vital truth. It is not fashionable today to acknowledge a devil. But there is a real devil who influences human behavior to be what it is .Satan the devil has deceived the nations into believing that self-preservation at the expense of others is the only way to survive. “That old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole (not just some) world” (Rev. 12:9).

Read that again! He, Satan, “deceives the whole world.” And it is this influence that causes hatreds and wars! Just how this ancient archangel, the former Lucifer accomplishes his deceptions is explained in our two articles, Did God Create a Devil, and Satan’s Great Deceptions.

The first human family, under Satan’s influence, rejected God and God’s way. Their children reaped the consequences. Cain, greedily, hateful and jealous, sought revenge and killed his own brother Abel. ”And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him” (Gen. 4:8). And brothers have been killing brothers ever since!

Attitudes are the same now as then! Hate reigns. Vengeance rules. A spirit of revenge predominates. Mistrust and selfishness override. Now we’re on the brink of human annihilation.

It is time for national and individual repentance and a renewed acknowledge of God and his power to protect those who trust him.

The apostle Paul said: “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:19-21).

God has all might and all power. If even one nation were to turn to God and follow His way to peace, God would protect that nation against its enemies. Or if even one nation’s ways pleased God, he’d make that nation’s enemies to be at peace (Prov. 16:7).

The solution to fighting and war is to put God’s way of giving, of concern for others, to the test. It may sound simplistic in a world filled with complicated peace initiatives and selfish territorial claims. But this is the only real way to peace in the family, among neighbors and between nations!

What nation is willing to heed this message today?

But even if the nations do not heed the way to peace, world peace is coming and it will be imposed on mankind by the Great Almighty God for our own good.

Jesus Christ, the second Adam (I Cor. 15:45), unlike the first Adam, overcame Satan’s every temptation (Matt 4:4; Luke 4:4). He qualified to become this earth’s ruler. He promised to return to this earth as “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Rev. 19:16) to bring this world peace by restoring the government and the laws of God to this earth (Acts 3:19-21).

When Jesus Christ returns he will take charge, putting down and eliminating all opposition to God and God’s way of life (Rev. 19).Satan will be then bound for 1,000 years so that he can’t continue deceiving the world (Rev. 20:2).

Hate and violence will subside. Stockpiling and making of military weapons will become a thing of the past. Weapons will be converted into peaceful, productive implements. “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks” (Isa. 2:4).

Methods of warfare will no longer be taught. Says God, “neither shall they learn war any more.” Instead, God’s way of life will be taught from childhood. “And he will teach us of his ways” (Isa. 2:3). Knowledge about God and God’s way of life will prevail worldwide. Peace in the home and among nations will reign.

What wonderful good news – the very good news or gospel (gospel means good news) that Jesus Christ brought nearly 2,000 years ago. The world has rejected that message. But the Church of God New World Ministries is announcing that message in our sermons and the articles that you are now reading. Are you listening?

 
The Church of God, New World Ministries P.O. Box 5536 Sevierville, TN 37864