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Back to 1The Bible’s Greatest Prophecies Unlocked!
The twenty-first century has seen the rise of a new kind of warfare. This form transcends all national borders. Its battlefields are moveable and know no limits. Its combatants often look just like ordinary citizens, wearing no uniform and carrying no visible weapons. And it has no qualms about civilian casualties—in fact, they are usually the intended targets. This describes the scourge of terrorism.
The events of September 11, 2001, changed forever the thinking of all Americans. Prior to this attack, it was common thought that the mainland of the United States was secure. America’s strong military and missile defence system was felt to be adequate protection against invasion—war had always been thought of as something that happened somewhere else—to someone else. It stunned the nation to realize what just a handful of terrorists could do. In a moment, Americans in New York City, Washington, D.C., and rural Pennsylvania faced the horror that has been experienced daily by citizens in the Middle East and elsewhere.
A new term was introduced to the American mindset—“Homeland Security,” with budget-busting safety measures introduced across the country. For the first time since the Civil War, the front lines were in every state in America, not just faraway locales.
In the wake of this whole-world-changing trend, other attacks, smaller in scale but still devastating in effect, hit Spain, the United Kingdom and other countries.
Many nations are learning to live “on alert” to terrorist “cells,” which can strike anywhere without notice. Enemies once kept outside a nation’s borders are now living among the populace. Citizens who sympathize with the cause of extremists can evolve into home-grown terrorists. Often, they train themselves via the Internet, but many sympathizers also train abroad with groups such as the Taliban or al-Qaeda. It has become impossible to keep track of these groups as they form independent covert cells both in cities and rural areas.
The lengths to which terrorists will go are limitless. British intelligence has reported that terrorists have now devised explosive breast implants designed to bypass airport scanners! The new modern world!
The EU observer reported that the number of arrests connected to terrorism doubled in the European Union in 2007. The EU Anti-terrorism chief Gilles de Kerchove said, “Al-Qaida is still and will continue to dominate international terrorism for years to come.” The news site further stated, “Out of the total 1044 arrested last year, the vast majority was EU citizens suspected of membership in a militant organization. In cases of Islamic extremism, the would-be attackers appear to increasingly have been born in the union’s territory and having EU citizenship.”
Speaking about the failed attack on a Detroit-bound plane in December 2009, Andrew Thomas, aviation expert at the University of Akron in Ohio, told The Christian Science Monitor, “The terrorists are constantly developing more sophisticated attacks. They are hyper-motivated, they’re not going to stop.” The paper continued, “Meanwhile, the range of explosive devices that terrorists are developing is outstripping the ability of screening systems to catch them. Last August, an alleged suicide bomber who had explosives implanted in his body injured Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Nayef. Even controversial full body scans don’t pick up such hidden devices.”
Recognize that terrorism is also financial and psychological warfare. On September 11, with 19 people, a terror network in a single attack took $1 trillion out of the American economy, and for weeks after the attack, Manhattan offices were frequently evacuated and society brought to a standstill as a result of false alarms.
Drug cartels in Mexico have introduced the concept of “narco-terror.” What is happening in Mexico and on America’s southern border is a form of war—and one in which the stated goal of the narco-terrorist combatants is to bring chaos through the slaughter of Mexican officials and civilians.
In the coming years, terrorism on a much larger and horrific scale will be experienced by Westerners. Leviticus 26:14-16 states, “But if you [the nations of modern Israel in context] will not hearken unto Me, and will not do all these commandments; and if you shall despise My statutes, or if your soul abhor My judgments, so that you will not do all My commandments, but that you break My covenant: I [God] also will do this unto you; I [God] will even appoint over you terror…”
Why War?
We can now ask: What does God’s Word say about the reasons that nations continually go to war? You will be shocked at its simplicity! But will you accept it?
First, recognize that no war can be fought unless there is an aggressor! Someone has to initiate or begin it. Like a football game, one team has to be on offense while the other plays defence. Yet, almost all nations speak in terms of their “Department of Defense” or of their “Defence Budget.” Theoretically, if all nations merely defended themselves, there would be no wars because there would be no aggressors. While someone must “start it,” combatants invariably see themselves as defending their interests, territory or rights.
Speaking from the human, worldly approach, military preparation is an absolute prerequisite for existence in a hostile world. The citizens of all nations pay a huge price to maintain their national sovereignty. Without a ready military, there is the constant threat from a plundering, destructive invading force, seeking to secure land, wealth or power.
The Bible reveals the true cause of war: “From where come wars and fighting's among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts...You lust, and have not: you kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: you fight and war, yet you have not, because you ask not. You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts” (James. 4:1-3). God says war comes when people lust for what belongs to others. When all else fails, men scheme to obtain what they want by brute force.
After a life of revolutionizing both science and war, Albert Einstein wrote, “…it is a problem not of physics but of ethics…it is easier to denature plutonium than it is to denature the evil spirit of man…the real problem is in the minds and hearts of men” (The New York Times).
Abraham Lincoln saw it this way: “Human action can be modified to some extent, but human nature cannot be changed” (The Lincoln Encyclopedia).
After examining Vietnam-era U.S. Secretary of State Robert McNamara’s life lessons in the documentary Fog of War, filmmaker Errol Morris concluded: “You can’t change human nature. It tells you that all of the other lessons are valueless, that the human situation is indeed hopeless.”
Long ago the Bible outlined man’s true nature: “The WAY OF PEACE they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goes there shall not know peace” (Isa. 59:8).
Exercise in Futility
Despite this, man continues to profess a yearning for peace in the era of world war. Two international organizations have been inaugurated to help promote peace and settle disputes. They represent man’s best attempt to bring world peace—and the extent to which he has miserably failed to reach this goal.
After the Armistice of 1918, the League of Nations was instituted in an international effort to prevent, through arbitration, the outbreak of war in the future. The establishment of this organization became part of the treaty that ended WWI. One of its weaknesses from the outset was the refusal of the U.S. and various other key nations to join the league. The League of Nations was able to head off only a tiny few of the dozens of outbreaks of smaller wars between WWI and the outset of WWII. It was completely unable to defuse the inevitable developments that later resulted in the next round of total war! The League collapsed.
The end of WWII brought another attempt by mankind to establish “peace on Earth.” The United Nations was formed to be a more perfect instrument to ensure such peace. Hundreds of smaller wars, fought around the world since the UN’s inception, testify to its utter failure as a “guardian of peace.” It is essentially a toothless bureaucracy, issuing condemnations that are ignored and sanctions that are rarely enforced.
Peace Will Remain Elusive
Today the world is fast approaching 7 billion people. Though global leaders strive to find “peace” through international conferences and meetings, war and its aftermath continue to be felt the world over.
Man, in his rebellion against God, likes to present his own versions of civilization in the best possible light, often ignoring harsh reality. In like manner, the false prophets of Israel, as Jeremiah foretold of our time, will soon declare, “Peace, peace; when there is no peace” (Jer 6:14).
God shows that peace will be elusive to those who forsake His ways. Ezekiel 7:23-25 foretells the coming tumult to engulf Israel: “The land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled. Destruction comes; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be NONE.”
This cycle of war is destined to grow much worse!
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