Nuclear Threat & Endwar

Author: Pastor Timothy Tin
Translator: Mandy Kwan

As the world witnesses the outbreak of Russia-Ukraine conflict, tragedies occur on a daily basis. The Polish vice prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said during an interview with the German press that Poland is armed and prepared with American nuclear weapons. (https://www.worldjournal.com/wj/story/121468/6213036) In Asia, Japan seemed to have forgotten the nuclear bombs that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki seventy-seven years ago. It has been established in the free world that nuclear weapons should not be in possession, nor in production, or to be transported. However, Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party member Takaichi Sanae suggests that this unprecedented exception can be made for the transport of nuclear energy between nations. She seems to suggest that Japan should get nuclear arms from the U.S.  Why are these two nations suddenly discussing this? On February 27, Ladmir Putin of Russia flexed its military muscle in response to NATO’s stance in the west. Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project, states that as Russia ramps up its military prowess, Ukraine will in response step up in its military preparations. As the stakes rise on both sides, will a nuclear conflict be inescapable?

According to the UN’s Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty that was established on July 1, 1968, ratified on March 5, 1970,  it states that “Considering the devastation that would be visited upon all mankind by a nuclear war and the consequent need to make every effort to avert the danger of such a war and to take measures to safeguard the security of peoples, believing that the proliferation of nuclear weapons would seriously enhance the danger of nuclear war…recalling the determination expressed by the Parties to the 1963 Treaty banning nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere, in outer space and under water in its Preamble to seek to achieve the discontinuance of all test explosions of nuclear weapons for all

time and to continue negotiations to this end”. This treaty requires all countries who signed to agree to stop the nuclear arms race, and not to share them with other countries who do not have nuclear arms. As stated in the treaty’s first article, “Each nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty undertakes not to transfer to any recipient whatsoever nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices or control over such weapons or explosive devices directly, or indirectly; and not in any way to assist, encourage, or induce any non-nuclear-weapon state to manufacture or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, or control over such weapons or explosive devices.” 176 nations around the world had signed this, with the exception of India, Pakistan, and Israel. However, that has not deterred different nations around the world from doing nuclear tests. In the twenty years since the treaty was signed, the number of nuclear tests are as follows: U.S. 1054 times ( prior to 1992), Russia 715 times (1990), France 210 times (1996), Britain (1991), China 45 times (1996), among the nations that did not sign: India 6 times (1998), Pakistan 6 times (1998), South Korea 6 times (2017), which brings the total to 2087 times. This is indicative of how the human race is moving towards self-destruction.

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres stated in the tenth meeting of the Nuclear Nonproliferation treaty in January 2022, “Through a combination of luck and judgement, nuclear weapons have not been used since they incinerated Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. But with more than 13,000 nuclear weapons held in arsenals around the world, how long can our luck hold? The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a new awareness of the catastrophic impact of a low-probability event…Relationships between some countries that possess nuclear weapons are defined today by distrust and competition. Dialogues are largely absent. Transparency is waning and nuclear weapons are assuming greater importance as national security strategies find new contexts for their use.  Meanwhile, technology advances and the emergence of new arenas of competition in cyber space and outer space have exposed vulnerabilities and increased the risk of nuclear escalation. We lack international frameworks and tools that can deal with these developments. And today’s multipolar global order means that regional crises with nuclear overtones threaten to draw in other nuclear-armed countries.  The nuclear landscape is a tinderbox. One accident or miscalculation could set it alight.” https://www.un.org/sg/zh/node/26139) Back in Feb 11, 1955, a philosopher named Bertrand Russell corresponded with Albert Einstein to discuss and draft a document titled “Scientists petition an end to wars”, which later became the Russell-Einstein Manifesto. Published on July 9th of the same year in London, it was signed by 11 world renowned scientists, among them 10 were Nobel prize winners. Even the voices of scientists and intellectuals cannot turn the world away from hatred and conflict, because the power of darkness is beckoning and seeking to destroy God’s creation.

The Bible had already predicted the ultimate outcome of the human race two thousand years ago.  “They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.”  (Revelation 16:14) At the end of human history, “His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” (John 2:17) “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people would you choose to be? You need to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.” (2 Peter 3:10-13) No matter how this world ends, we will stand before the God for His judgment, only Jesus the prince of peace can save our souls and give us eternal life. Are you willing to believe in God’s salvation during these tumultuous times?

Author: Pastor of Christian Alliance Bible Church in Los Angeles, CA

Tin, Timothy (translated by Mandy Kwan). “Nuclear Threat & Endwar.” NYSTM Truth Monthly, May, 2022.
https://nystm.org/nuclear-threat-endwar/