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Friday, October 9, 2015

Will Humanity Perish in a New Nuclear Age?

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Will Humanity Perish in a New Nuclear Age?

Illustration of burning large city. — Many biblical prophecies attest—unless there is massive and widespread change in humanity’s rejection of God, we’ll see global nuclear devastation.

How dangerous is our world today? Global security, warned U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey in mid-2015, “is as uncertain as I’ve seen in 40 years.” Drawing from direct experience gained from the Vietnam War and on through two Gulf Wars, the general summed it up: 21st-century American military might has fallen to “the bottom edge of our manageable risk.”

The Bible—a remarkable collection of ancient and authoritative writings—reveals actionable knowledge that explains why we’re in this present position and how we got here.

Can we expect to survive under such global uncertainty in a world bristling with weapons of mass destruction? The answer, perhaps surprisingly, is a confident yes. But before we explore the underlying reason for this confidence, let us first see what we face.

A world under dire threats

The bewildering risks referred to by Gen. Dempsey include emerging Armageddon-style threats all over the planet. Here’s a short summary:
• A nuclear saber-rattling Russia today parks a new generation of mobile atomic battlefield weapons on Europe’s borders.
• China blasts American inaction as North Korea builds a fully functional nuclear arsenal and tests submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
• As Iran single-mindedly pursues nuclear-weapons technology and missiles to deliver such weaponry, a nervous Saudi Arabia threatens to weaponize its civil nuclear technology platform.
• Mistrust and paranoia govern nuclear policy in India and Pakistan—foes who have already fought several wars in recent decades.
• A Russian newscaster boasts that the former Soviet Rodina (or Motherland) is readily capable of pounding its long-time Yankee foe into “radioactive ash.”
Ominously, there’s more. State and non-state terrorists have come into thermonuclear play. Maddeningly, global officials are “unsure” as to the degree that Nuclear Material Unaccounted For (MUF) exists—including fissionable uranium and plutonium unaccounted for or outright lost. With more than 400 known incidents of theft or loss of nuclear material since 1993, some estimates claim that the world is literally awash in bomb-grade MUF available to terrorists for “small” weapon construction or “dirty bomb” contamination!

A devastating new Dark Age?

Experts solemnly warn that small-scale nuclear weapons detonated in the atmosphere high above unprepared American, Russian or European populations could trigger a new, fearsome and near-instantaneous Dark Age with a paralyzing nuclear-generated electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack.
Various scenarios include a surprise attack launched by small ships in commercial harbors or through illicit drug trade routes, or simply from an ordinary-looking freighter in international waters several miles off the coast. Such a devastating detonation could instantaneously knock out entire electrical power grids across vast areas for a year or more.
Except for some specially protected military and government equipment and installations, anything connected to the electrical grid might be internally “fried” by a high-energy pulse and become useless.
It could mean that virtually all trucks, trains, cars and planes would be instantly immobile and inoperable, severing critical food-supply chains. A disabled electrical system means that irreplaceable fresh water supplies would be cut to zero across whole regions. Anything run by or relying on computers would cease to function, including the Internet. Radios and televisions would be useless.
With electricity nonexistent and food supplies cut off, millions would quickly starve, and millions more would freeze with the onset of winter. Vulnerable elderly and those dependent on medications would die swiftly, cut off from critical aid. With the disappearance of medical supplies and modern sanitation and health care, diseases would make a deadly comeback.
One federal report darkly notes that a successful widespread EMP attack against the continental United States could result in more than 280 million deaths— 90 percent of the present U.S. population— in just the first year. Ironically, there would be no direct blast damage. Society, bereft of modern and necessary support, would simply rip itself to pieces as survivors desperately tried to fend for themselves.
The upshot? “Nuclear terrorism is the most serious danger the world is facing,” states Mohamed El Baradei, former International Atomic Energy Agency director and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Robert Gates, former Secretary of Defense for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, adds: “Every senior leader, when you’re asked what keeps you awake at night, it’s the thought of a terrorist ending up with a weapon of mass destruction, especially nuclear.”
Is it little wonder that South Korea, one of the most technologically advanced nations on earth, moved to a state of high alert in 2015, urging its citizens to “be ready to go to war tonight” ?
All of this, plus other potential catastrophic global issues, led the editors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists to reset the famous Doomsday Clock earlier this year to a symbolic “three minutes to midnight”—midnight symbolizing global catastrophe that could end civilization.

Is there a way out?

Despite the hope-sapping reality of this nuclear age, we can have confidence that humanity will indeed survive its manmade atomic fate. Perhaps surprisingly, one ancient source has consistently warned of the cumulative march toward global destruction, with the first such account recorded more than 3,000 years ago.
And the same source delivers incredibly good news! Beyond that prophesied dark future comes a time of unparalleled peace, cutting short the insanity of a power-addicted mankind. Humanity is headed toward radioactive catastrophe for a reason, as we shall shortly see.
Nearly 2,000 years ago, sitting across the Kidron Valley from the Jerusalem temple, Jesus Christ had much to say to His disciples about our present time. Here on the Mount of Olives He gave His longest recorded prophecy, outlining the sequence of events that would lead up to a cataclysmic era, an amazing time wherein tumultuous, mind-razing upheaval would dissolve into the spectacular establishment of the long-awaited Kingdom of God.
This Kingdom, the ultimate hope of all mankind, will be ushered in with Jesus Christ’s open triumphal return to the very mountain from which He was then speaking.
But before that marvelous day, a deceived and nearly mad society would froth up to engulf the world in what Jesus described as a demonically driven “great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be”(Matthew 24:21, emphasis added throughout). The New International Version makes the level of prophesied devastation even plainer: This time is “never to be equaled again.”
The scale of this prophesied “great tribulation” defies the capacity of the human mind to comprehend. It transcends the expressive ability of human language, requiring biblical writers to use simple similes and metaphors of “like” and “as” to describe its staggering magnitude.
The apostle John may have found it a challenge as he attempted to faithfully record the prophesied sequence of this terrible time: “The sun became as dark as black cloth, and the moon became as red as blood. Then the stars of the sky fell to the earth like green figs falling from a tree shaken by a strong wind. The sky was rolled up like a scroll …” (Revelation 6:12-14, New Living Translation).
Even costly computer-generated special effects and movie digital animation cannot adequately express the prophesied devastation that awaits a deceived and rebellious world!
But here again is good news! These same prophecies promise astonishing deliverance and redemption. As Jesus related the sequence of end-time events on the Mount of Olives, He calmly assured His disciples: “If those days [of great tribulation] had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect [His spiritually called-out true disciples] those days will be shortened”(Matthew 24:22, NIV).
So we have the unbreakable promise of Jesus Christ Himself that humanity will not end in a nuclear holocaust. The simple earthly presence of the very children of God—those who’ve humbly accepted the calling to be heirs and recipients of God’s amazing promises—will prevent global human extinction. Through many authoritative statements, the Bible clearly shows that at the last moment, when a crazed humanity totters on the brink of gruesome annihilation, God will send Jesus as King of Kings to forcibly intervene. The human race will not be utterly vaporized in an atomic furnace.

Pulling the nuclear trigger

But prior to that intervention, the Bible employs powerful language and imagery that indicates that mankind will pull the nuclear trigger in what the Bible calls “this present evil age” (Galatians 1:4).
Ezekiel 6:6 warns the end-time nations of Israel, which includes the United States and Britain, “In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste” (see our free study guide The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy ). Revelation 9:15 mentions a third of mankind being killed, and nuclear war seems a likely reason. And there could well be smaller nuclear strikes or terrorist incidents before this global conflagration.
As current news analysts presently debate, experts don’t fear that a nuclear exchange will commence with the United States and Russia first hurling unspeakable thermonuclear devastation at each other. Far more likely is for small terrorist groups or smaller nations—without the complex safeguards possessed by larger nations—to launch a volley of atomic death. As is well known, before his death al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden ordered his followers to secure a tactical nuclear weapon to use against the West.
So what do we have? Speaking before the assembled Congress of the United States on March 3, 2015, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thundered: “The greatest danger facing our world is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons.” He further warned that current events could “spark a nuclear arms race in the most dangerous part of the planet … And the Middle East would soon be crisscrossed by nuclear tripwires. A region where small skirmishes can trigger big wars would turn into a nuclear tinderbox.”
This echoes critical biblical prophecies, where previously small and militarily inconsequential nations unexpectedly arm themselves with devastating power. The prophet Joel foretold this: “Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong”(Joel 3:10).
What would be the effect of a “small” exchange? As the nuclear disasters of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Chernobyl and the recent Fukushima Daiichi meltdown in Japan eloquently demonstrate, the world remains woefully unprepared to deal with even a single nuclear catastrophe.
On the Internet you can find the heartrending film clips of the World War II atomic aftermaths—burned and suffering Japanese children and other civilians. The radioactive fallout from the melted Soviet reactor core at Chernobyl bloomed thousands of miles across Europe and Asia, boosting a plume of cesium-137, strontium- 90 and other radioactive particulates over multiple nations. Floating radioactive slag presently drifts across the Pacific from the Fukushima nuclear plant, destroyed by a tsunami caused by an earthquake.
The 1954 Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb test in the Pacific soberly illustrated the long-range potential trauma from radioactive fallout, lethally contaminating a Japanese fishing boat, the Lucky Dragon (Daigo Fukuryu Maru) , nearly 100 miles away from the test blast. The entire crew suffered from severe radiation sickness. Aikichi Kuboyama, the radio operator, died. The first to die from a hydrogen thermonuclear blast, he left these words: “I pray that I am the last victim of an atomic or hydrogen bomb.”
Yet the nuclear stage is expanding. National security agencies of many nations worry about unprotected ports. At any given moment thousands of ocean-going container ships crisscross the seas carrying hundreds of thousands of large freight containers, most large enough to carry a nuclear device. Various formal studies and scenarios point to upwards of $1 trillion in devastating economic impact and severe disruption from a single terrorist nuclear incident.

The roots of coming destruction

Of course, these facts leave us with some serious questions. How did humanity get to this point in the first place? Why does God allow such evil potential to even exist? And why would God, who is defined by love
(1 John 4:8), allow the mind-numbing deaths of multiple millions of people in the future?
An incinerating radioactive fireball is certainly not God’s desire for humanity eternal future!
So what does God intend?
The late Jonathan Schnell, a respected journalist and analyst, provided remarkable insight during the first Cold War in his then-highly popular book The Fate of the Earth. During the early 1980s, many feared that nuclear war between the Soviet Union and America was not only possible but probable. Schnell captured this important thought:
The possible “extinction by nuclear arms,” he wrote, “… would be the utterly meaningless and completely unjust destruction of mankind by men. To imagine that God is guiding our hand in this action would quite literally be the ultimate evasion of our responsibility as human beings—a responsibility that is ours because … we possess a free will that was implanted in us by God”(emphasis added).
That points up the root cause of the coming “great tribulation” that will be fueled in part by deranged nuclear conflict. It also carries the core of the solution. Let’s briefly take a look at this background.
The Bible—a remarkable collection of ancient and authoritative writings—reveals actionable knowledge that explains why we’re in this present position and how we got here. Thankfully, it shows the way out, a way to a marvelous and breathtaking future. These ancient writings authoritatively reveal an all-powerful God who acts deliberately.
According to His plan, nearly 6,000 years ago God presented His creation with a choice. As the book of Genesis records, God created human beings with the capacity for free will. He gave them then—as He continues to do today—the capacity to make decisions for themselves. Back then, again as He does today, He provides critical instruction and literal commands that lead directly to peace, prosperity and an abundant life.
As most are familiar, the first human beings Adam and Eve misused this capacity for freedom of choice. They made terrible decisions that have had far-reaching consequences. Consider this critical fact: The Bible reveals that while God is all-powerful, He also presently allows a powerful evil spirit being to influence global events. As John, an eyewitness of the life of Jesus Christ, solemnly warned at the close of the first century: “The whole world is under the control of the evil one” (1 John 5:19, NIV).
The statement means exactly what it states. As part of His incredible plan, God allows a great fallen archangel, now known as Satan, to exert a powerful influence over humanity. God allows people the free will to make a choice—to choose God’s way of abundant life or to choose a path of darkness that is alluring but full of broken promises.
Human beings make and reaffirm that choice many times a day. Satan’s way of darkness is easy. It offers a slippery notion of moral relativism, giving people opportunity to make up their own standards of right and wrong apart from God’s revealed directives.
That’s essentially what Adam and Eve did. As the biblical account records, they rejected God’s way of life through allowing themselves to be deceived and turning to disobedience. They exercised their free will and made a very bad choice. That bad choice reverberates down to us today.

The right way vs. destroying each other

So what represents the right choice, the right exercise of free will? The Bible explains how we are to conduct ourselves, how we should treat others and how we should have a direct relationship with God. That direct relationship, made possible by the astonishing sacrifice of Jesus Christ, is broadly laid out in the first four directives of the great moral law—what we commonly know today as the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17). And the remaining six commandments broadly—but firmly—outline how we should treat each other.
The Ten Commandments are summarized in what Jesus described as the two greatest commandments: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:30-31, NIV).
So what do these ancient laws have to do with hideous modern megatons of potential nuclear destruction? How could they have any bearing on the possible fearful atomic devastation described earlier?
Consider what James, the younger half-brother of Jesus Christ, wrote in the early part of the first century: “What causes fights and quarrels among you?”
Continuing, James laid out the answer: “You want something but you don’t get it. You kill and covet , but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God” (James 4:1-2, NIV).
As this deadly lust spirals up—breaking specifically the Eighth and Tenth Commandments—human beings collectively lay plans on larger and larger scales.
Have you ever heard of the Third Reich—a barbaric vision that was to “liberate” the German-speaking peoples and restore the German-based Holy Roman Empire? What about the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere that Japan aimed to conquer in the 1940s to “free” Asians and Oceania from Western influence? What about today’s Russian hegemony in Ukraine? There are, of course, many others.
These are all historical facts. And the blood of these collective covetous and lawless acts—made possible and promoted by unrestrained human free will—covers millennia of human history.

Lethal global deception

Note this critical fact: The lethal deceit that produces devastating diplomatic catastrophe and warfare is first spawned by harmful mental and spiritual influence. As the apostle Paul wrote some 2,000 years ago: “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers”(2 Corinthians 4:4, NIV).
The god of this world—whom the Bible reveals as Satan the devil—does everything in his power to prevent people from reaching their incredible human potential, a potential that involves God “bringing many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10, NIV). That’s why the apostle Peter warns us to “be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
When it was noted earlier that the vast majority of humanity is deceived, it wasn’t intended as an insult. As we saw, the Bible reveals that the entire world is controlled by the devil. Continuing the terrible cycle begun millennia ago, humanity in large measure continues to reject what James described as “the perfect law that gives freedom” (James 1:25, NIV).
And consider that Jesus noted this principal trend of the time of the end: “Lawlessness will abound”(Matthew 24:12). People will declare the law of God to be done away and embrace tenets that try to justify what the Bible plainly defines as sin! It’s important to remember that the Bible further defines sin as lawlessness—the willful breaking of God’s commandments (1 John 4:3). And it states that “the wages of sin is death”(Romans 6:23).
Clearly the attitude of covetousness that leads to lawlessness and death is not what God desires. He wants us to apply our free will in a different direction. Note what God says to us today through the prophet Ezekiel: “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die … ?”(Ezekiel 33:11, NIV).

Turning to God

How can God foretell the future? We must understand that much of prophecy and its often terrifying events simply reflect the collective and accumulated consequences of the breaking of God’s laws and commandments.
Ironically, humanity could bypass all of this prophesied destruction by turning to God. Ample biblical precedent exists (see Jeremiah 18:7-8; Jonah 3:1-10). God makes available a distinct choice to all nations, as He does to you and me. If you have read this far, it is likely that God is opening that choice to you. What is it?
“This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses … I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19, NIV).
The promises of God’s Word are unbreakable. What’s the right choice to receive them? We must surrender our own free will, becoming like little children in adopting and embracing an attitude of teachable and grateful humility, to find God.
But time is advancing. As many biblical prophecies attest, unless we see a massive and widespread change in humanity’s present rejection of God, deceived governments and leaders will bring about global war and nuclear devastation.
On the day God presented the gift of the Holy Spirit to humanity, the apostle Peter delivered possibly the most important relevant advice for us today:
“Be saved from this perverse generation”(Acts 2:40).
No advice is more timely!

Bible prophecy

Michael Snyder

Serving as an advisor to the Council of Elders and the President of the United Church of God on occasion since 1998, Michael Snyder graduated from Ambassador College in 1982 with an honors degree in theology. He has contributed to a variety of Church of God publications and media since the late 1970s.

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Thursday, September 24, 2015

Current Events & Trends: Nation-states struggle with immigration

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Current Events & Trends

Nation-states struggle with immigration

Posted on Jul 01, 2013 by Jerold Aust, John Ross Schroeder Estimated reading time: 1 minute

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As in Paris, the perpetrators are usually Muslim immigrants. The scale and the intensity of the rioting has caused some observers to question the common belief that Sweden has treated immigrants much better than most other European countries.
Turkey has also experienced major riots in a number of cities, although immigration is not necessarily a major causal factor. Apparently there is widespread dissatisfaction with the government in power and the prime minister in particular. It's hard to be both a Western-style democracy and an Islamist state at the same time. The two don't fit together well.
Most nations have their share of disaffected immigrants, including the United States. The drophead of a London Times article by BBC Radio 4 presenter Justin Webb states, “Immigration will change the US in ways its politicians are only just beginning to grasp” (June 4). The article is titled, “America's Future Is Latino, Asian and Liberal.” Future North American demographics are slated to lean much more toward Central and South America.
The Anglo-Saxon vote is no longer expected to be a deciding factor in future U.S. presidential elections. Immigrants who have or will obtain citizenship and voting rights may well impact future elections in a big way. If and when the funds run out and the government can no longer print money legally (see “In danger: the status of the U.S. dollar”), we could possibly see massive rioting in major American cities on a scale and intensity that will shock the world and perhaps bring the nation to its knees. (Source: The Times [London].)

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Christianity and Capitalism: Do They Go Together?

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Christianity and Capitalism

Do They Go Together?

by Michael Kelley 7 comments

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Stacks of gold coins. — Christianity and Capitalism: Do They Go Together?

Last November, after barely eight months in office, the Catholic Church's Pope Francis launched a firestorm of controversy with his recent dictum, Evangelii Gaudium, or “The Joy of the Gospel.”
Probably no religious writing in recent history has raised the eyebrows—and ire—of so many for its controversial views on economics and balance of economic power in society. While Catholics do not consider it commanded teaching from the Vatican, the papal exhortation nonetheless spells out the views of the current pope and thus commands respect from Catholics worldwide.
Evangelii Gaudium begins with Francis comparing the joy of receiving the Christian faith and the joy of missionary activity. He calls for reforms in the Catholic Church's missionary outreach—among them a greater emphasis on evangelizing efforts and a renewed call to help the poor.
But the exhortation does not stop there. Francis goes on to call for greater income equality, redistribution of wealth, and fundamental changes to the economic order. This statement from section 204 underscores his concern: “We can no longer trust in the unseen forces and the invisible hand of the market.” And he calls for action “beyond a simple welfare mentality” that “attacks the structural causes of inequality.”
He goes on to call for a redistribution of wealth and reform of economic structures that would ensure greater equality of income and opportunity. The rich, he says, should share their wealth and calls for a new commandment: “Today we also have to say 'thou shalt not' to an economy of exclusion and inequality.”

Pros and cons weigh in

Economists, politicians and pundits from both the left and right have lauded or attacked the pope's exhortation. Some called parts of the document “pure Marxism” and suggested that someone else may have written the papal document for him.
Writing for the conservative Townhall magazine, John Goodman commented that a search of almost any introductory economics textbook would fail to turn up the terms “survival of the fittest,” “trickle down theories,” or “powerful feeding on the powerless,” which he termed “slurs used by the left to cast aspersions on free markets and pro-growth markets” (“Papal Economics,” Dec. 21, 2013). He went on to maintain that free-market economics, far from being a detriment to society, are the single greatest cause of the prosperity millions enjoy today.
Those on the left, predictably enough, lauded the document. In the Guardian, a popular liberal newspaper, Jonathan Freedland said, “Francis could replace Obama as the pin-up on every liberal and leftist wall” (“Why Even Atheists Should Be Praying for Pope Francis,” Nov. 15, 2013). The New Republic praised Francis' stance on economic issues, while attacking his—and the Catholic Church's—views on abortion and homosexuality.
Even prominent Catholics differed in their reaction, some wondering if the pope has gone too far. Robert Sirico, a Catholic priest who cofounded the liberty-oriented Acton Institute and authored the book Defending the Free Market, says in a YouTube video response that while Francis is not motivated by political beliefs, he fails to note that economic prosperity over the past century is largely the result of free market economics.
“How are we to respond to his warnings about mere temporary responses to poverty … with the demonstrable benefits that we see accruing to the poorest of the poor … which were made possible by markets globalizing?” (Acton.org, Nov. 27, 2013). How, he asked, can the pope ignore the reality that millions have greater access to jobs and health care, and have risen out of poverty because of the globalization of markets?
To Francis' concern about the dangers of “markets that are unhampered,” Sirico asks, “Where are these unhampered markets?”—pointing out that markets everywhere are bounded with regulations of every sort.
All of this raises very important questions about Christianity and economics. Is it God's will that poverty be eradicated in this present age? If not, what is Christianity's responsibility to the poor? Does the Bible espouse any one economic system?

Why has God not eliminated poverty?

Poverty and income inequality are as old as mankind. It may surprise you to learn that the Bible has much to say about poverty, the distribution of wealth, and other economic matters.
“The poor will never cease from the land,” Moses was inspired to write in Deuteronomy 15:11. Jesus Christ Himself seemed to echo that reality when the subject of His anointing for burial came up shortly before His trial and death. Asked by His disciples why He approved the use of expensive oil for His anointing rather than having it sold and the money given to the poor, Christ may have shocked the disciples with His answer: “The poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always” (John 12:8).
We know that a powerful and loving God could eradicate poverty at any time. Yet He has not chosen to do so thus far. Is there a reason? The surprising answer is that a time is coming when God will eradicate poverty—but more about that later. The fact is that our Creator has not chosen to do so in this present world.
Yet the Bible is replete with instructions on how to properly treat those less well off. Students of the Bible know that more than 3,000 years ago God began dealing with one nation, ancient Israel. That nation of 12 tribes that descended from Abraham was an agricultural society, and it was given one of the most fertile areas of the Middle East as a result of promises God made to Abraham (Genesis 12:7; Genesis 13:14-15).
Those with large landholdings tended to be better off, while many small farmers eked out a modest living. Those without land or marketable skills often found themselves in poverty. But God did not forget the poor of the land and in His laws made provision for them.
For example, God provided a food supply for the poor to gather, telling landowners: “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them to the poor” (Leviticus 19:9). It's noteworthy that the poor had to put forth the effort to gather the food for themselves. They couldn't just go to a warehouse and claim it or have it delivered to them.
It was also widely understood that family members took care of other family members. And if a woman lost her husband, her children were responsible for taking her in and caring for her.

Jesus' teaching and examples

Jesus Christ lived and taught in an area that was under crushing Roman oppression. During His ministry, He taught and showed by His personal example the right attitude toward those less well off.
Matthew's gospel records a time early in Christ's ministry when more than 5,000 men, plus thousands of women and children, flocked to Him to hear the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Many came from considerable distances, and at the end of the day, rather than send them away hungry, Jesus miraculously fed them from five small loaves of bread and two fish. Read about it in Matthew 14:13-21. Not long afterward He repeated the miracle, this time with a slightly smaller group of 4,000 men, plus women and children.
Each of the Gospel accounts relates dozens of miraculous healings that Christ performed, mostly of poor people. Matthew alone relates many of these acts of compassion. Jesus cleansed lepers (Matthew 8:1-4), healed a paralyzed man (Matthew 9:1-6), gave sight to two blind men (Matthew 9:27-31), and even cast demons out of the daughter of a Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:21-28).
Christ certainly showed compassion for the poor, a compassion He taught to His disciples and by extension to us, both by word and example. Just before His betrayal and death, He summed up what our attitude should be toward those suffering from sickness, isolation and poverty: “In as much as you did it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you did it unto Me” (Matthew 25:40).
Christ's disciples didn't forget those examples, and carried on His example of mercy and compassion. Notice Acts 3:2-9. The apostle Peter didn't have gold and silver to give to a lame man who asked for alms. But he was able to give the man something of far greater worth, telling him, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6).
The New Testament teaching is clear. Today God is not performing such dramatic miracles before the public through His people (though He still does miraculously heal, and we should pray for that). But when we see needs and have the ability to do something to help, it is our duty to respond. That's what our Savior commanded.
Does this mean we literally sell all that we have and distribute it to poor people around us? Many will point to Christ's encounter with a rich young ruler as proof that income redistribution is the duty of all Christians. But let's take a close look at Matthew 19:16-23. Christ told the rich young ruler to “sell what you have and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Matthew 19:21).
When the young man went away sorrowful “because he had great possessions,” Christ used it to illustrate the point that it is often difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. He didn't tell His disciples to proclaim a gospel of income equality, but to understand that devotion to material wealth can be a major hindrance to spiritual growth.
Indeed, the young man here was placing his wealth before God, which is precisely why Jesus told Him to give it away. This wasn't a rule for every person, for some are able to possess wealth while maintaining proper perspective and living by love toward God and neighbor.
The early Church was characterized by wide spreads of income. Some Christians were wealthy and powerful, as was the case with Philemon, to whom the apostle Paul wrote. Others, such as Philemon's slave Onesimus, were certainly much poorer. Yet Paul never condemns wealth. His concern was for people's spiritual, not physical, wealth.

Does the Bible reveal a proper economy?

The Bible reveals that God has much to say about money and wealth. Many of the most famous personalities of the Bible were clearly quite wealthy. Genesis 13:1 tells us that “Abraham was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.” His son Isaac inherited much of his father's wealth and increased it. Genesis 30 relates how Isaac's son Jacob was blessed with vast herds of cattle, sheep and camels, so many that he had to come up with a method for distinguishing his large herds from those of his uncle, Laban.
Centuries later, King David became wealthy during the time of peace he was able to bring to Israel. But it was his son Solomon who became one of the richest men of all time. We find a detailed account of Solomon's wealth and power in 1 Kings 4.
When God gave Israel the Promised Land, it was to be divided up so families received property portions relative to their size (Numbers 26:54, Numbers 33:50-54). Even if land ownership changed hands due to economic or other hardship, title to the land reverted to the original families every 50 years (Leviticus 25:10, Leviticus 25:13-17). This provided for a generally even playing field economically, and prevented individuals from permanently amassing huge amounts of land at the expense of others.
It's clear that God does not condemn wealth or the acquisition of wealth. The fact of wealth means inequality of income. Many today accept that fact but attack the methods used to attain wealth. Throughout history, much wealth has been attained through trade, business and investing. Are these activities wrong? Notice what Jesus Himself taught about the value of increasing wealth through proper investments.
Shortly before His death, Christ gave some final teachings to His disciples. In the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30, He tells of a man taking a trip to a distant country. Before he leaves, he apportions his goods to each of three servants, with the understanding that they will try to increase what they are given.
Those who received five talents and two talents (a talent was about 6,000 denarii, probably ten years' average wages at the time) went out and through various business dealings managed to double their money. A third servant, who received only one talent, dug a hole in the ground and hid it.
What did the wealthy man do on his return? He praised the actions of the two servants who had doubled their money. But his reaction to the lack of return of the third servant was far different. “You wicked and lazy servant … you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my return I would have received back my own with interest” (Matthew 25:27).
It's difficult to make a case that Jesus condemned wealth or legally acquiring it. He did teach on several occasions, however, that wealth and the pursuit of wealth can be a snare that distracts us from the pursuit of righteousness. What this parable teaches is that we should exercise and build on our spiritual talents, skills and abilities, which to God is infinitely more important than our material wealth.
The Bible does make a case for a liberty-oriented economy—what we would today call true capitalism or, perhaps better put, private property and free exchange.
What then are we to make of the time when the early New Testament Church practiced a communal economy? Notice this in Acts 2:44-45: “Now all who believed were together and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.”
Does this teach that Christians should practice a communal economy and way of life? First of all, we must understand that this was a completely voluntary sharing of resources (see Acts 4:32;5:4)—not to be confused with a communist system wherein shared ownership is mandatory, amounting to theft of private property.
Secondly, this was a temporary circumstance during a time of persecution and of thousands of new converts in Jerusalem, many from foreign lands who were remaining for a while to learn from the apostles. Sharing took care of an immediate need. The account in Acts shows that these disciples were soon scattered to other regions (Acts 8:1, Acts 8:4). Later writings give us no indication that this short-term experience with communal living lasted very long.

Universal prosperity will come

For centuries, mankind has tried various systems to arrive at prosperity for all and the elimination of poverty. Monarchies, socialism, Marxism, fascism—all have failed. So-called capitalism, too, despite some free-market benefits, has left millions in its economic wake—being a system of government overregulation and cronyism in which government colludes with business.
What has not been tried is true economic liberty through the government of God and God's economic system. While on earth, Christ's mission was to preach the gospel (good news) of the Kingdom of God. This gospel foretold a time when Christ would return to earth to set up His Kingdom. Longtime readers of The Good News know this has always been the major focus of this magazine.
The good news is that the universal prosperity, greater equality of income, and lives free from want that Pope Francis writes about will come. But it won't come through man's political parties, papal encyclicals, the churches of today's world or other human organizations. It won't come through political movements calling for redistribution of wealth, for “taxing the rich” or a higher minimum wage.
Your Bible makes hundreds of references to that coming time of peace and prosperity unparalleled in human history. Bible prophecy foretells a time when Christ Himself will return to the earth to rule.
God's Word gives us a few hints about the economy of this future Kingdom. It will be an economy that values and preserves private property rights, a hallmark of a capitalistic economic order: “Everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid” (Micah 4:4).
Those privately owned farms will produce abundant harvests: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it” (Amos 9:13).
This economic order will allow those who work and profit to enjoy the fruits of their labors, but it will also ensure a level economic playing field that gives everyone a just opportunity to prosper.
God will then pour out His Spirit on the nations, and people the world over will receive the loving character of God, meaning that the way of the world will then be to help others in need. This will be accomplished not through government taking from some to give to others, but through an internal change in the hearts of people everywhere to motivate them to generosity and showing true concern for their neighbors. Best of all, God invites you to be part of this exciting future!

United Church of God El Paso

Friday, October 9, 2015

Will Humanity Perish in a New Nuclear Age?