Nuclear Holocaust​—How Real the Threat?

I WANT TO GROW UP, NOT BLOW UP

THESE are the poignant and thought-provoking words that an unknown author has scribbled on a wall in downtown Frankfurt, Germany. Do you blame this young man​—or woman—​for feeling that way?

Probably not, particularly if you are among the millions of persons throughout the world whose fear goes beyond the fear of a limited atomic war​—however terrible even this would be. The threat, as they see it, is that of an all-out nuclear war that would annihilate all mankind. It would leave the earth uninhabitable.

A word often used to describe such a nuclear holocaust, particularly in English-speaking countries, is one borrowed from the Bible. It is “Armageddon.” For example, in 1961 former U.S. President Eisenhower said that the growing nuclear threat put Chicago “but thirty minutes from Armageddon.” And of the early 1970’s, Henry Kissinger, former U.S. secretary of state, wrote: “No previous generation of statesmen has had to conduct policy in so unknown an environment at the border line of Armageddon.”

In the meantime we have reached the 1980’s. Years of political discussions and negotiations have not yet succeeded in defusing the nuclear bomb upon which the world seems to have been sitting for almost four decades. Despite increased pressure from their citizens for a nuclear freeze, the superpowers continue to stockpile nuclear weapons.

Threat Still Growing

Giving yet another reason for the increasing threat of a nuclear holocaust, scientist Joseph Weizenbaum of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said: “The danger has become greater, because many more countries now have atomic weapons.” Since their number will no doubt continue to grow, the outlook for the future is not bright. “In most likelihood we will not survive the next 20 years,” warns Weizenbaum. “We are moving ever more rapidly toward the abyss. And I am afraid there is no one to stop us. Perhaps we are already hopelessly lost.”

Meanwhile, modern technology continues to perfect missile guidance systems. Long-range missiles can already travel thousands of kilometers and strike within less than 180 meters (197 yd) of their target. That is like throwing a ball at a target a mile away​—if a person could throw that far—​and missing the bull’s-eye by less than one inch!

How Do You React?

Perhaps you are trying to prevent a nuclear holocaust. True, you are probably not a politician or a disarmament negotiator. But by engaging in peace movements or anti-nuclear demonstrations of one kind or another, you may feel that you are doing your part. There are hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens who share that view.

On the other hand, you may feel little motivation for getting involved. You may be simply trying to ignore the threat, blotting it out of your mind by filling your life with other interests. Subconsciously you are hoping for the best.

Or do you consider a nuclear war inevitable? If so, you are perhaps seeking means for personal survival. You may have made certain survival plans already. Possibly, you have even joined a “survival group”​—any number of which have sprung up recently in all parts of the world.

Whether a person fits into one of these three categories or not, none of us can sidestep the fact that the threat of a nuclear war is real. Like it or not, we must face up to questions with far-reaching consequences. Will mankind’s worst fears be realized? Is an “Armageddon” nuclear war inevitable? Are our young people doomed to blow up before they grow up?

No Nuclear Armageddon!

SINCE the threat of a nuclear war is real, it is only logical that mankind’s prayer be that this threat may never be realized. Interestingly, Francis Cardinal Spellman at the beginning of the 1960’s called “for prayers to spare the world from ‘thermonuclear Armageddon.’”

The word “Armageddon” appears only once in the Bible, although many other scriptures speak of it in other terms. Do these scriptures show Armageddon possibly to be a nuclear holocaust, which, it is hoped, can be avoided? Is Armageddon a war man can start?

ARMAGEDDON IS GOD’S WAR

The Bible says: “Expressions inspired by demons . . . go forth to the kings of the entire inhabited earth, to gather them together to the war of the great day of God the Almighty . . . to the place that is called in Hebrew Har–Magedon [or, Armageddon].”​—Revelation 16:14, 16.

However: How could a nuclear holocaust, brought about by human governments for the furtherance of political goals, rightfully be designated God’s war? Would not such a holocaust more correctly be man’s war?

ARMAGEDDON IS TO BE A RIGHTEOUS WAR

The Bible says: “I saw the heaven opened, and, look! a white horse. And the one seated upon it is called Faithful and True, and he judges and carries on war in righteousness.”​—Revelation 19:11.

“With righteousness he must judge the lowly ones, and with uprightness he must give reproof in behalf of the meek ones of the earth. . . . With the spirit of his lips he will put the wicked one to death. And righteousness must prove to be the belt of his hips, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.”​—Isaiah 11:4, 5.

However: What would be righteous or moral about a nuclear war that would kill indiscriminately both good and bad? In fact, a committee of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in the United States recently said that they “judged immoral even the threat to use such [nuclear] weapons.” Now, if even the threat of a nuclear war is considered immoral, with what logic could we consider the real thing a righteous war?

AT ARMAGEDDON ALL NATIONS WILL BE ALLIES

The Bible says: “I saw the wild beast and the kings of the earth [“with all the kings of the earth,” “The Jerusalem Bible”] and their armies gathered together to wage the war with the one seated on the horse and with his army.”​—Revelation 19:19.

However: Would not a nuclear holocaust be the consequence of a conflict between opposing nations, rather than nations united on the same side?

AT ARMAGEDDON ONLY THE WICKED WILL BE DESTROYED

The Bible says: “There is a controversy that Jehovah has with the nations. He must personally put himself in judgment with all flesh. As regards the wicked ones, he must give them to the sword.”​—Jeremiah 25:31.

“For the upright are the ones that will reside in the earth . . . As regards the wicked, they will be cut off from the very earth; and as for the treacherous, they will be torn away from it.”​—Proverbs 2:21, 22.

However: Would only the guilty, “the wicked ones,” perish in a nuclear holocaust? What happened during the nuclear holocaust in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945? Among the tens of thousands of men, women and children who perished were a large number of Catholic nuns, many foreigners who had gone to Japan to study and had become trapped there by the war, thousands of Koreans brought to Japan to serve as forced laborers and even a handful of American prisoners of war. Were all of these the guilty ones, “the wicked ones”?

ARMAGEDDON SURVIVAL IS ASSURED FOR SOME

The Bible says: In “the great and fear-inspiring day of Jehovah . . . it must occur that everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will get away safe; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will prove to be the escaped ones, just as Jehovah has said, and in among the survivors, whom Jehovah is calling.”​—Joel 2:31, 32.

However: From a human standpoint, would anyone survive a man-made nuclear war? Not likely. Only a small percentage of the people would have access to radiation-proof bunkers. And even their possibility of survival would be slim. Thirteen international experts were asked by the Swedish Royal Academy of Science to predict what would happen should 15,000 nuclear bombs be exploded in the northern hemisphere within the space of a few days. They answered: “No one would survive the inferno.”

ARMAGEDDON WILL NOT RUIN THE EARTH

The Bible says: “The nations became wrathful, and [God’s] own wrath came, and the appointed time . . . to bring to ruin those ruining the earth.”​—Revelation 11:18.

However: From a human standpoint, there is little doubt that a nuclear holocaust could bring about the end of all human life. Jonathan Schell in his best-seller, The Fate of the Earth, warns: “It would be not merely a human but a planetary end​—the death of the earth.”

What do we learn from the above scriptures? We learn that God’s war at Armageddon will be quite different from what a man-made nuclear holocaust would be. Armageddon is not designed to destroy the earth. It is designed to destroy those who are threatening to ruin the earth. To speak of a possible nuclear holocaust as being Armageddon, therefore, is a misapplication of the term. But regardless of what we call it, we still want to know: Will there be a nuclear holocaust or not? Once again we can turn to the Bible, confident that it will give us a reliable answer.

At Isaiah 45:18 we read: “For this is what Jehovah has said, the Creator of the heavens, He the true God, the Former of the earth and the Maker of it, He the One who firmly established it, who did not create it simply for nothing, who formed it even to be inhabited.” Since the “Former of the earth” has not created it “simply for nothing,” he will never permit a nuclear holocaust to turn it into a radioactive wasteland, uninhabitable by man or beast. This would be contrary to His purpose as expressed at Psalm 37:29: “The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.”

‘But does not 2 Peter 3:7, 10 at least allude to a nuclear holocaust?’ someone may ask. There we read, according to the Authorized Version: “But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”

Obviously, however, this is symbolic speech and does not refer to a literal nuclear holocaust, which, while destroying the earth and man upon it, could not cause the literal heavens to “pass away with a great noise.” Actually it is this wicked system of things, the “ungodly” human society and its governmental “heavens,” that will suffer complete destruction, as if by fire. The worldly factors, in all their elemental parts will be dissolved in the heat of God’s anger, along with the materialistic “works” of this human society, the symbolic “earth.” This will pave the way for “new heavens and a new earth” of which Peter next spoke​—a new earthly society of redeemed mankind under the new governmental “heavens” of Christ’s Messianic Kingdom, in which righteousness will dwell. (2 Peter 3:13) Gone will be the Satanic influence that has led men away from God. A nuclear holocaust would not rid man of the Devil and his demons. Armageddon will open the way for Christ Jesus, at the direction of his Father, to do this.​—See Revelation 20:1-3.

World events indicate that the expression of God’s judgment is due at any time. Thus the following prophecy must also shortly undergo fulfillment: “Whenever it is that they are saying: ‘Peace and security!’ then sudden destruction is to be instantly upon them.” (1 Thessalonians 5:3) While not ruling out conventional wars or even a possible limited atomic war, this scripture does rule out a nuclear holocaust. How so? Well, ask yourself: After a nuclear holocaust, who would be left to cry out “peace”? And if there were survivors, just how much reason would they have to cry out “security,” living as they would be upon a radioactive, polluted earth?

Now you may wonder of what benefit it is to be relieved of the fear of nuclear holocaust only to be faced with the new fear of “sudden destruction” at Armageddon? Let our next article explain.

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ARMAGEDDON WILL BE

​—God’s war

​—A righteous war

​—A war to destroy only the wicked

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A NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST WOULD BE

​—A human war

​—An unrighteous war

​—A war that destroys both good and bad

Armageddon Clears the Way for a New Start!

WHEREAS a nuclear holocaust would clearly be a cause for fear, the war of Armageddon does not have to be. Respond to the Bible’s message about it in the right way and it can mean for you an entirely new start in life.

Just as people respond to the threat of a nuclear holocaust in various ways, so it is with Armageddon. Some try to prevent it, others to ignore it, and a minority, believing it to be inevitable, seek means for personal survival. How will you respond?

Armageddon Cannot Be Prevented

Since Armageddon means “the war of the great day of God the Almighty,” no one can prevent it. (Revelation 16:14) But some foolishly try. How? In the sense that they deny that it will ever come and they oppose those who sound a warning. They thereby place themselves in the company of persecutors of Christians in the first century who scoffed at the warning of Jerusalem’s pending destruction. But when the city was destroyed in 70 C.E., some of those scoffers may have remembered the warning that wise Gamaliel had given them earlier: “Let them [the Christians] alone; . . . otherwise, you may perhaps be found fighters actually against God.”​—Acts 5:34-39.

Included among “fighters actually against God” today are religious clergymen who deny the real Armageddon message of the Bible. They lead people to believe that Armageddon is a man-made nuclear holocaust that political negotiations and peace movements can prevent.

Jonathan Schell points this out in his book The Fate of the Earth, writing: “A closely related, and more serious, perversion of religion is the suggestion, made by some Christian fundamentalists, that the nuclear holocaust we threaten to unleash is the Armageddon threatened by God in the Bible.” Then he correctly argues that “extinction by nuclear arms would not be the Day of Judgment, in which God destroys the world . . . [but] would be the utterly meaningless and completely unjust destruction of mankind by men.”

The clergy that thus confuse the two are overlooking the far greater danger of Armageddon. By becoming involved in movements to prevent a “thermonuclear Armageddon,” as they mistakenly call it, they are actually fighting to preserve a wicked system of things that God has purposed, with good reason, to destroy. Their attempt to prevent Armageddon is ill-advised and futile.

The Archbishop of York recently as much as said so. Speaking about the proper stand the Church of England should take on nuclear weapons, he said: “This debate is about the end of the world and about how we may best delay it.” But why should Christians want to delay the “end of the world” about which the Bible speaks? Why should they want to pray for the world to be spared an Armageddon that God considers necessary?

Do Not Ignore Armageddon

Equally dangerous is any attempt to ignore the Bible’s message about Armageddon. This is how many people in Noah’s day reacted to the message of the Flood. During his earthly ministry Jesus referred to this, saying: “Just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be. For as they were in those days before the flood, eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark; and they took no note until the flood came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be.”​—Matthew 24:37-39.

Those pre-Flood earthlings who took no note ignored Noah’s message about the Flood. But once the Flood came, they could not ignore its catastrophic consequences. It will be the same with those today who ignore the Bible’s warning about Armageddon. When “sudden destruction” is “instantly upon them . . . they will by no means escape.”​—1 Thessalonians 5:3; compare 2 Peter 3:3-10.

Those few, comparatively speaking, who seek to follow God’s instructions for surviving Armageddon do not view that war as a cause for fear. Confident of divine protection they view it as the opportunity for a new start. Would you like to do this also? Please read on.

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First-century scoffers could not prevent their own destruction

Scoffers in Noah’s day could not escape the Flood

Prepare Now to Survive Armageddon

IN VIEW of world conditions and the fulfillment of Bible prophecies, it is urgent that no time be lost in making plans for survival. But plans for surviving what?

Not plans for surviving a nuclear holocaust

​—that will never come,

​—that would offer you no opportunity for survival if it did come, and

​—that you might not even want to survive, since it would hold no promise of a better life afterward.

But preparations for surviving Armageddon, a conflict

​—that is sure to come,

​—that offers you opportunity for survival if you act promptly and

​—that you should want to survive because it holds promise of a better life afterward.

How to Prepare

Since Armageddon is the time and place for God’s action against his opposers, he is the one to determine the requirements for survival. Note what some of them are:

“Before there comes upon you the day of Jehovah’s anger, seek Jehovah, all you meek ones of the earth, who have practiced His own judicial decision. Seek righteousness, seek meekness. Probably you may be concealed in the day of Jehovah’s anger.”​—Zephaniah 2:2, 3.

Yes, “seek Jehovah” by studying his Word, the Bible, by yourself and with others. Get acquainted with God. Gain his friendship by meeting the requirements he sets down for those who will be his friends and by refraining from doing the things that merit his displeasure. (Contrast Psalm 15 with Galatians 5:19-21.) “Seek righteousness” by replacing imperfect human standards of acceptable conduct with the Creator’s perfect standards. “Seek meekness” by being humble enough to accept divine direction.

In “the great and fear-inspiring day of Jehovah . . . it must occur that everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will get away safe.”​—Joel 2:31, 32.

We can call “on the name of Jehovah” by knowing it, respecting it and totally relying on the God who bears it. Six thousand years of human experience should have taught us that humans or human agencies can never ensure protection or salvation. Psalm 146:3 warns: “Do not put your trust in nobles, nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs.”

“Go, my people, enter into your interior rooms, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for but a moment until the denunciation passes over.”​—Isaiah 26:20.

The commands “go,” “enter,” “shut” and “hide” show that action is required. All of God’s instructions​—as he progressively reveals them to us—​must be followed closely, thus allowing him to maneuver us into the place of safety that he himself has prepared. “For he will hide me in his covert in the day of calamity,” said King David. “He will conceal me in the secret place of his tent.”​—Psalm 27:5.

This certainly does not mean withdrawing from society and making survival plans of our own initiative as did one American “survival group” several years ago. Their survival preparations are clearly not the kind that will ensure protection at Armageddon. For example, they purchased membership in a secret mountain hideaway for $12,500 plus annual dues of $300. Jehovah, however, puts no price tag on Armageddon survival, nor does he charge rent for being concealed “in the secret place of his tent.”

Blessings of Armageddon Survival

The battle of Armageddon will clear the way for the restoration of righteous conditions on the earth. Both man and his environment will, under the direction of God’s Messianic Kingdom through Christ Jesus, progressively be brought back to the perfect, sinless condition God purposed at the beginning. (Revelation 21:1-5; Genesis 1:28) Millions of the dead will be resurrected and given an opportunity to conform their life to God’s requirements. Happily, this will even include many of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic-bomb victims. (Acts 24:15) Would you enjoy welcoming them back to a world where nuclear war​—in fact war of every kind—​will be unknown?​—Psalm 46:9.

If you would enjoy living in such a world, we encourage you to learn more about the requirements for Armageddon survival. Jehovah’s Witnesses stand ready to assist you in learning about these from your own Bible. Prepare now, so that you, too, can live forever in Paradise on earth.

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What a blessing to survive Armageddon!