Will any such “deliverance” come by means of the nuclear freeze movement? Many people think so. But what is a nuclear freeze rally like? And does it offer hope for “deliverance”?

A Freeze Rally​—What It’s Like

One, Two, Three, Four

We don’t want a nuclear war

Five, Six, Seven, Eight

We don’t want to radiate

Sounds of chanting, rock music, slogan shouting and hymn singing compete for your ears’ attention against a background din of thousands of voices. Your eyes meet a kaleidoscope of images: banners with brightly colored slogans​—many clichés, a few original in their humor or horror; demonstrators in bizarre garb with frightening masks; papier-mâché effigies; men dressed in business suits; ministers with clerical collars, Christendom’s monks robed in brown, Buddhist monks saffron-robed, the youth, the elderly, mothers cradling infants, and a dog with a one-word sign hanging from its neck​—Peace.

Seven hundred thousand on the streets of New York City, all with one purpose​—to prevent a nuclear war from ever happening.

That was the largest disarmament rally the United States has ever seen. The rally’s organizers picked June 12 to coincide with the United Nations Second Special Session on Disarmament, thereby providing a dramatic opportunity to force the nuclear freeze issue on the UN.

A carnival-like atmosphere dominated the day. Yet the pall of nuclear devastation kept reappearing in the sights and sounds of the crowd. It was a peaceful demonstration. And although the vast majority were Americans, a number of other countries were represented. One sight that added an international flavor to the rally was a Japanese delegation of young and old putting multicolored paper peace-dove leis around the necks of all they met, while handing out colored cards with personal messages of peace written in Japanese characters.

“Why are you ladies here?” One woman in her 60’s replies: “We want to make the world safe for our grandchildren.” Another answers: “We want to leave a world for our grandchildren.”

A nuclear scientist from the Argonne National Laboratory operated for the U.S. Department of Energy near Chicago tells why he came to the rally. “For the same reason as everybody else, because of the arms race. I feel that there is a very real threat of an accidental nuclear war and I would be killed. I don’t like to see human beings being killed whether they are Russians or Americans.”

Here is the head of nuclear medicine for a major New York City hospital. Why is he demonstrating? He answers in one word: “Scared!” He wants nuclear energy to be used peacefully in medicine, not war.

The pastor for a Kentucky college is marching because he thinks nuclear freeze demonstrations “will force the government leaders to bring about peace.”

The common citizen is​—surprisingly—​marching alongside organized groups of professional people and trade union members. Conspicuous everywhere are the clergy. Religious groups pepper the long throng of demonstrators. At first glance, a united body. But a closer inspection reveals fragmented support underneath. Comparing banner slogans and listening to their ideologies, one notes a difference of opinion as to what final shape the nuclear freeze should take. Also, a sizable number of demonstrators promote their personal peeves or pet political causes via the nuclear freeze issue.

Huge and white, the motorized cleaning machines wait for the demonstrators to end their march. As the ralliers leave, close on their heels come batteries of these mechanical mammoths devouring the littering literature and sweeping the streets clean. Whether the nuclear freeze movement will fizzle out and be swept away from politicians’ minds and whether such demonstrations will have any effect, such as increasing pressure on governments to make proclamations of peace, remains to be seen.

True Peace and Security​—By Nuclear Freeze or by God’s Kingdom?

FREEZING nuclear arsenals at their present levels is like halting the temperature of a feverish patient at 104 degrees (40 degrees Celsius). It is not enough! Weapons and fevers are only symptomatic of a deeper ailment. Eliminating the source of the problem results in the cure. For example, today the world’s nuclear stockpile contains the explosive power equal to more than three tons of TNT for each man, woman and child on earth​—13,000,000,000 tons! Do you feel secure living with this threat?

Since a freeze of nuclear arms is not sufficient, what about removal of all nuclear weapons? Global disarmament is not a new idea. The famous physicist Albert Einstein advocated this. And since 1945 the sound of a host of other dignitaries pleading for global nuclear disarmament has been heard. Yet in the last 10 years the combined nuclear warheads of the U.S. and the Soviet Union have more than doubled in number. Do you really believe we are any closer to nuclear disarmament now than we were 37 years ago?

Ridding the earth of nuclear arms will not stop wars. Since the last use of the atomic bomb three decades ago, over 130 wars have been fought. So, would you experience genuine peace and security if all war weapons vanished?

Eliminating all war instruments is a giant step toward peace and security but does not go far enough. People’s hearts must be reached, educated and changed. No human movement can do this. But God can. The Almighty God Jehovah can read and heal hearts. (Jeremiah 17:10; Psalm 51:10) But he will do more than that. God’s Kingdom, the long-prayed-for heavenly government, will bring about peace and security on the earth. (Matthew 6:10) Do you feel that this solution is realistic?

The antinuclear-war book The Fate of the Earth sees a worldwide government as the only sure means of preventing a nuclear holocaust, and further proposes: “In sum, the task is nothing less than to reinvent politics: to reinvent the world.” And that is just what Jehovah purposes to do. Do you honestly believe nations will voluntarily give up their sovereignty?

For those against righteous rule, God will use his Kingdom power in a controlled manner, destroying all nations opposed to his peace movement. (Daniel 2:44) In addition, the educational system of God’s Kingdom will instruct every sincere peace lover in true ways of disarmament so that ‘swords become plowshares.’​—Isaiah 2:4; Psalm 46:8, 9.

Therefore, do not be fooled into thinking that human movements can bring salvation, for the Bible warns: “Whenever it is that they are saying: ‘Peace and security!’ then sudden destruction is to be instantly upon them just as the pang of distress upon a pregnant woman; and they will by no means escape.” (1 Thessalonians 5:3) But for those of honest heart there is a sure hope. They are confident​—and you too can be confident—​that soon God will usher in true peace and security, which will be everlasting.​—Psalm 72:7, 8; Isaiah 9:6, 7.

[Graph/​Picture on page 12]

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World arsenals of nuclear warheads predicted to increase during this decade

75,000 WARHEADS IN 1990

50,000 WARHEADS IN 1972

[Picture on page 12]

WE SHALL BEAT OUR SWORDS [MISSILES] INTO PLOWSHARES

Disarmament or Delusion?

“Removing the threat of a world war​—a nuclear war—​is the most acute and urgent task of the present day. Mankind is confronted with a choice: we must halt the arms race and proceed to disarmament or face annihilation.”​—Final Document of the United Nations First Special Session on Disarmament, 1978.

Has progress been made in ‘removing the threat of a nuclear war’? To answer that question and to take a step toward global disarmament The Second Special Session on Disarmament met June 7 to July 9, 1982. Note the remarks made by heads of state and world leaders at that Special Second Session:

● Prime Minister of Japan, Mr. Zenko Suzuki: “During these four years the arms race has exacerbated the threat to peace, heightening the anxieties of peoples and imposing heavier burdens on each nation at the expense of its economic and social development.”

● Papal message delivered by Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, Secretary of State of the Holy See: “There seems to be very little improvement. Some in fact think that there has been a deterioration, at least in the sense that hopes born of that period could now be described as mere illusions.”

● Prime Minister of the Republic of Finland, Mr. Kalevi Sorsa: “Statesmen of dedication and sincerity, many of them in this hall, have done their utmost to arrest this development. Yet the arms race goes on. It is as if the arms race had escaped rational human control.”

● Prime Minister of the Republic of Uganda, Mr. M. Otema Allimadi: “The picture is indeed grim. . . . Over the last four years, the hopes that were once raised . . . have been eroded almost to the point of despair.”

● President of the United States, Mr. Ronald Reagan: “The United Nations is dedicated to world peace and its Charter clearly prohibits the international use of force. Yet the tide of belligerence continues to rise. The Charter’s influence has weakened even in the four years since the first special session on disarmament.”

● Prime Minister of Canada, Mr. Pierre Elliot Trudeau: “I believe that we must accept the fact that total security has become for all countries an unattainable objective in today’s world.”

● Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Mrs. Margaret Thatcher: “We must look for a better system of preventing war than nuclear deterrence. But to suggest that between East and West there is such a system within reach at the present time would be a perilous pretence.”

Was the Second Special Session any more successful than the First? Mr. Kittani, President of the UN General Assembly, answers: “Despite all our preparations and efforts, this session has not been a success. Our hopes and aspirations, together with those of countless millions, remain far from fulfillment.”