Truth In Prophecy - the Beginning of Sorrows series

Presents

The Beginning Of Sorrows Part 1

"And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars;
and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the
waves roaring. . .the Beginning of Sorrows"..Luke 21:25, Mt 24:8 ..KJV

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Immutability Of God's Word, 'Beginning Of Sorrows', The Four Horsemen, A Century Of Wars, Wartime Death Toll Tables, None Would Survive, Nuclear Accidents, Indian-Pakistani Conflict, Russian And Chinese Relations, NATO's Expansionist Policies

Two Bombs America Dropped On Japan

Trinity Bomb Test

After faithfully studying God's Word for so many years, if there is one thing of which I am absolutely certain, it is that God is not a man that He should lie. If the Lord says that He is going to do something, then He will do it; when He wants to, and however He wants to; regardless of what we mere humans may think, say or do. He is the One who is in charge, and not us. Consider the following verses which clearly describe the immutability of God's Word:
"God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" (Numbers 23:19)
"I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past." (Ecclesiastes 3:14-15)

"Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:" (Isaiah 46:9-10)
"God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged." (Romans 3:4)

"In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;" (Titus 1:2)
Based upon the inerrancy of God's Holy Word, it has become clear to quite a few Christians, myself included, that we are now living in the apocalyptic times plainly prophesied by Jesus, Paul, John, Peter and many of the other Holy Men and Prophets of the Bible. At this current time, it is still a bit difficult to pinpoint exactly how far we have advanced into the final years of the Last Days. If one takes into consideration current world events, I would speculate that we are still in the time period which Jesus referred to as the 'Beginning of Sorrows' in His Endtime sermon found in Matthew chapter twenty-four:

"And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All theseare the beginning of sorrows." Matthew 24:6-8, KJV
We have but to look at this current century of the world's history, in order to see that the Lord's words have indeed come to pass; and that they are continuing to be fulfilled to this very day; exactly as Jesus had prophesied. It is interesting to note that the previous verses go hand in hand with John's vision of the Four Horsemen found in the Book of Revelation:

"And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a greatsword. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth." Revelation 6:1-8, KJV
If we first consider our Lord's reference to 'wars andrumours of wars', not only have they indeed been many, butthe collective death toll from these wars is nothing short of astounding. These deadly wars have included, but are not limited to, the Mexican Revolution, World War I, the Russian Civil War, the Spanish Civil War, World War II, the Chinese Civil War, the French Indo-China War, the Korean War, the French-Algerian War, the Viet Nam-Southeast Asian War, the Six-Day War, followed by another Israeli war in 1973, the war in Bangladesh, the Biafran revolt in Nigeria, the Angolan Civil War, the Mozambique Civil War, the Iran-Iraq war, the war in Afghanistan, the Gulf War, civil wars in Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia, the recent U.S.-led aerial bombardment of Baghdad, the 1995 war in Chechnya and the renewed war in the same, and the various wars in the Balkans involving Bosnia, and even more recently, Yugoslavia. For a more in-depth look at my views concerning the aerial attack on Belgrade, please refer to the article 'The Battle of Gog And Magog, And War In Yugoslavia'.

Exactly how deadly have these wars been? As I said a moment ago, the numbers I discovered while conducting my research are nothing short of astounding. The following figures are provided to you courtesy of Matthew White's 'Historical Atlas of the 20th Century' web page. In sharing this data with you, please understand that, as Mr. White explains at his site, it is virtually impossible to provide one hundred per cent accurate data. This is due to a variety of reasons, primary of which is the fact that in dealing with numberswhich are associated with death tolls from war, there is always a certain degree of manipulation involved, due to either political or personal reasons. In some cases, the numbers are purposely underestimated, while in others they are exaggerated. As the saying goes, history is written by the victor. Not only that, but during times of war, large numbers of people can be destroyed from off the face of the Earth without ever being accounted for. In such cases, one must rely upon a certain degree of educated guesswork, basedupon the facts that are known.

Having said that, Mr. White assures us that he has consulted a wide variety of sources, and that he has tried to be as fair, accurate, and conservative as possible in his data. In the following table are listed what he considers as the top twenty wars of the twentieth century, and the approximate death tolls associated with each. Please note that these numbers only represent military death tolls. They do not include civilian deaths due to primary or secondary causes such as war-induced famine :

�Est. Death Toll	�War	�Dates
�	�	�
�20,000,000	�Second World War	�1937-1945
�8,500,00	�First World War	�1914-1918
�1,700,000	�Korean War	�1950-1953
�1,200,000	�Chinese Civil War	�1945-1949
�1,200,000	�Viet Nam War	�1965-1973
�750,000	�Iran-Iraq War	�1980-1988
�700,000	�Russian Civil War	�1918-1921
�400,000	�Chinese Civil War	�1927-1937
�400,000	�French Indo-China War	�1945-1954
�200,000	�Mexican Revolution	�1911-1920
�200,000	�Spanish Civil War	�1936-1939
�160,000	�French-Algerian War	�1954-1962
�150,000	�Afghanistan War	�1980-1989
�130,000	�Russo-Japanese War	�1904-1905
�100,000	�Riffian War	�1921-1926
�100,000	�First Sudanese Civil War	�1956-1972
�100,000	�Russo-Polish War	�1919-1920
�100,000	�Biafran War	�1967-1970
�90,000	�Chaco War	�1932-1935
�85,000	�Abyssinian War	�1935-1936
�	�	�
�36,265,000	�Estimated total military deaths	�

To add some balance to this picture, I will now provide you with a second table with some data from Mr. White's site which shows some of the same wars, but with civilian death tolls included, as well as other human atrocities which have been either directly or indirectly associated with war and/or political and social struggle. Between these figures and the previous ones, we should obtain a general idea of how many lives have been lost due to man's inhumane treatment of man in the events listed, during the past century. Pleae note that I have added footnotes to six of the listings :

�Est. Death Toll	�Event	�Dates
�	�	�
�50,000,000	�Second World War (a)	�1937-1945
�48,250,000	�China: Mao Zedong's Regime (b)	�1949-1976
�20,000,000	�Russia: Stalin's Regime (c)	�1924-1953
�15,000,000	�First World War (d)	�1914-1918
�7,000,000	�Russian Civil War	�1918-1921
�4,000,000	�Chinese Civil War	�1945-1949
�4,000,000	�China: Warlord/Nationalist era	�1917-1937
�3,000,000	�Korean War	�1950-1953
�2,400,000	�Viet Nam War (e)	�1965-1973
�2,100,000	�German expulsions after WW II	�1945-1947
�2,000,000	�Congo Free State	�1900-1908
�1,900,000	�2nd Sudanese Civil War	�1983-
�1,671,000	�Cambodia: Khmer Rouge Regime	�1975-1979
�1,500,000	�Armenian Massacres (f)	�1915-1923
�1,500,000	�Afghanistan: Civil War	�1980-
�1,400,000	�Ethiopian Civil Wars	�1962-1992
�1,250,000	�Mexican Revolution	�1910-1920
�1,250,000	�Bangladesh	�1971
�1,000,000	�Iran-Iraq War	�1980-1988
�1,000,000	�Nigeria: Biafran Revolt	�1967-1970
�800,000	�Mozambique: Civil War	�1976-1992
�800,000	�Rwandan Massacres	�1994
�600,000	�French Indo-China War	�1945-1954
�500,000	�India-Pakistan Partition	�1947
�500,000	�Indonesia: Communists massacred	�1965-1967
�500,000	�Angolan Civil War	�1975-1994
�500,000	�1st Sudanese Civil War	�1955-1972
�365,000	�Spanish Civil War	�1936-1939
�350,000	�Somalia: Civil War	�1991-
�320,000	�French-Algerian War	�1954-1962
�	�	�
�175,456,000	�Estimated total deaths	�

Footnotes:

a - Some overlap with Stalin. Includes Sino-Japanese War, but does not include post-war German expulsions.

b - Includes famine.

c - Includes World War II era atrocities.

d - Some overlap with Russian Civil War and Armenian massacres.

e - Includes Laos and Cambodia.

f - Some overlap with World War I.

Isn't that absolutely amazing? If we accept these figures as being close to accurate, between 36,265,000 and 175,456,000 people have lost their lives in this century alone due to wars, and the atrocities and side effects associated with war. In all of the research I conducted for this series, no other death toll figures for any of the other Endtime signs came even close to these! That is like twice the current population of Australia, or about eighty per cent of the current population of the United States of America! Man's wars and oppression against his fellow man have clearly been the most destructive force upon the face of this planet!

Perhaps now you the reader will begin to understand why it is imperative that the production and storage of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons be completely halted! If evil men are able to wreak this much carnage and destruction from conventional weapons, only God knows what he would do if Nagasaki and Hiroshima were repeated on a grand scale by many nations simultaneously, and with much more powerful weapons!

While I would truly like to be optimistic regarding this issue, the Lord's own words seem to indicate that the future of the world is not bright; at least not for the nation of Israel. In describing the Great Tribulation of the Endtime, which I personally believe will center in Israel, Jesus said in part:

"And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." Matthew 24:22, KJV

In other words, the Red Horse and the Pale Horse are going to ride hard in these final years of the Endtime; and if God Himself did not intervene and shorten, or limit, the days of the Great Tribulation to just three and a half years through the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, foolish, destructive man would absolutely annihilate himself! Nuclear, chemical and biological weapons have brought our planet nearer to the brink of destruction than ever before; and unless the evil rulers of this world are stopped, they will eventually play again with their toys of mass destruction, just as they did with Hiroshima and Nagasaki! In fact, they have been playing with their toys for a while now; and due to the foolishness of some, a number of serious accidents have occurred. Most are never even made public; however, a few have found their way into the mass media of the world. Need I remind you of Three-Mile Island, Chernobyl, and the latest incident which occurred in October of this year in Japan?

�Three-Mile Island

�Chernobyl

Being scanned for radiation contamination in Japan following the Tokaimura nuclear reactor accident.

Following are some excerpts from an AsianWeek news report concerning this latest nuclear accident which occurred at a fuel processing plant located in Tokaimura, Japan:

----- Begin Quotes -----

'We're Scared for Our Baby'

Japan Suffers Its Worst-Ever Nuclear Accident

Expressways were blocked, and trains stopped. Schools and stores emptied. The townspeople and those in surrounding villages were told to stay indoors with their windows tightly shut. For most of the weekend, Tokaimura, 140 km north of Tokyo, looked like a scene from On the Beach, the movie about a world depopulated by radiation from an atomic war. The residents shut inside their homes knew that something had gone dreadfully wrong at the nearby nuclear fuel processing plant, but for a long time they could only guess what it was and how dangerous it might be.

The nation's leaders were almost as much in the dark. Prime Minister Obuchi Keizo, concentrating on forming his new cabinet, was only informed a few hours after the accident began. He delayed the appointments and convened an emergency task force. But at 10 p.m. on Sept. 30, twelve hours into the accident, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nonaka Hiromu, could only say: "We believe that it is a severe situation, and there are concerns about high radiation levels."

Probably the last thing plant operator Ouchi Hisashi saw before he passed out was a blue flash in the concentration of uranium he was mixing in a steel vat. In an instant he and two co-workers were hit by a wave of intense radiation. Ouchi is believed to have absorbed about twice the amount of radiation that is usually considered fatal though he may survive. His colleagues suffered lesser though substantial doses. Put another way, they took in as much as somebody standing within a kilometer of the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

Ouchi and his colleagues had just set off the one thing that nuclear workers fear most - a spontaneous, uncontained nuclear chain reaction. That happens when fissionable nuclear materials, such as uranium or plutonium, are brought together in sufficient quantities and under the right conditions so that a chain reaction begins. Such accidents do not usually spew out large amount of contaminated particles, as happened at Chernobyl, but they do give off intensive radiation. Levels around the plant were at times 20,000 times higher than normal. The accident measured 4 on an international scale of 7, making it Japan's worst nuclear disaster.

The uncontrolled chain reaction ran on for nearly 20 hours before it was finally stopped. Relays of power plant workers finally brought it under control by draining the mixing vat basin of water (which helps keep the chain reaction going) and by dumping the chemical boron into the tank (which absorbs neutrons and thus dampens the chain reaction). Each worker could spend only a couple of minutes inside the plant before absorbing the maximum radiation and still remain healthy.

Some of the people evacuated from the immediate vicinity of the plant returned home two days later, considerably more skeptical of Tokaimura's main industry. "We never knew that we were living next to such a dangerous facility," said one farmer among those evacuated. "We were scared for our baby," said a young mother. "As I understand it, babies are the most vulnerable to radiation." For the next few days, hundreds of people lined up for free radiation checks, some of them bringing their drying laundry to be scanned too.

Sloppy plant operation and lax safety precautions were clearly to blame for an accident unprecedented in Japan. Ouchi and the two other plant operators were dumping the uranium into the vat from a steel bucket by hand. In other countries such operations are automated and calibrated. They seemed unaware that they were mixing highly enriched uranium, more susceptible to spontaneous fission than normal power plant fuel, and they put in 16 kg instead of 2. Plant officials admitted that they may have used an unauthorized manual detailing ways to cut corners.

----- End Quotes -----

Imagine; due to sloppiness, laziness, and a desire to cut corners, the lives of many Japanese citizens were placed in extreme danger. Of course, the Japanese government quickly implemented damage control, in order to pacify the nervous public, and quell the voice of the anti-nuclear protesters. Japan relies upon its fifty-one nuclear reactors to supply roughly one third of its electrical energy needs;thusthegovernment has always defended the need for the industry, in spite of the hazards it presents, and the accidents whichoccur. In order to show how safe the situation had become shortly after the accident had occurred, the Japanese mass media displayed photographs of Prime Minister Obuchi Keizo in Tokaimura, eating a meal consisting of fresh vegetables and fruits harvested from farmlands very near the site of the accident; at least so the newspapers claimed.

If you are one who doubts my words concerning the threat of nuclear war, consider the fact that only a few months ago, the newest nuclear powers of Pakistan and India were flexing their military and rhetorical muscles with each other; and even went so far as to threaten to retaliate with the deadly neutron bomb, if the other chose to launch a pre-emptive strike. Despite warnings from other nations of the world, neither of the two sides showed any willingness to exercise restraint, by withdrawing from their belligerent and very provocative posturing. The recent underground nuclear tests conducted by both are a clear sign of how dangerous and how unstable the situation has become in that area of the world.

As if the situation weren't already aggravated enough, the hawkish United States of America, which formerly lent its support to Pakistan, has been quietly shifting its support to India; which it views as a strategic partner in keeping Communist China and Russia in check. China already views India as one of its most serious threats in that area of the world. Currently, it appears that hostilities between India and Pakistan may be temporarily defused. This is the result of a bloodless military coup on October the 12th, in which the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was toppled by Pakistani General Pervez Musharraf. Whether or not this is simply political rhetoric remains to be seen, but General Musharraf is currently claiming that the military will only remain in power, until full democracy has been restored to Pakistan. General Musharraf also appears to be making peace overtures towards India, by withdrawing Pakistani troops from the Pakistan-India border, as we see by these recent CNN news reports:

----- Begin Quotes -----

Pakistani Army Leader Declares Himself Chief Executive

Pakistan's army chief declared a state of emergency early Friday, suspending the country's constitution and naming himself chief executive, two days after the military toppled elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. CNN's Nic Robertson reported from Islamabad that military leaders had issued a "presidential proclamation" announcing the state of emergency, which suspended Pakistan's National Assembly and officially removed Sharif and his ministers from office.

...
Pakistani Coup Leader Vows Return To Democracy

Pakistani Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who took over the government in a bloodless coup October 12, pledged to form a National Security Council to restore "true" democracy, in a televised speech Sunday. He also announced a unilateral pullback of forces from the Pakistan-India border and said the military would not remain in power indefinitely.

----- End Of Quotes -----

At this current time, ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is standing trial, along with some of his associates, due to crimes against the state, according to the new military government. His fate will be determined soon.

Despite the current, and undoubtedly temporary, calm between India and Pakistan, the move by the American administration to align itself with India is not being welcomed by Russia or by China; both of which had already become alarmed due to the recent, merciless seventy-eight day aerial bombardment of the sovereign nation of Yugoslavia by American-led NATO forces; a bombardment which really has resolved absolutely nothing. The Russian bear is being forced more and more into the corner as American and NATO expansion continues to move ever eastward towards the Russian borders; but it will only be permitted to move so far before the Russians decide that enough is enough. May I suggest that you read 'Communism: Is The Dead Beast Really Dead?' and 'Communism: The Raging Bear Out Of Control' for a more in-depth look at this situation.

As a result of American and NATO expansionist policies, and the current trend to augment the number of nations included in the economic bloc of the European Union, as is witnessed by Turkey's current consideration for the powerful group, as of late, Russia and China have been warming up to each other; and have been emphasizing the idea of a multi-polar world; and not one which is dominated only by the United States of America. Consider the following two news reports. The first one was issued during the third week of August, 1999, by CNN, the American Cable News Network, and the latter report appeared in the South China Morning Post on August 26, 1999:

----- Begin Quotes -----

Yeltsin To Hold Summit With Leaders Of China, Central Asia

A re-energized President Boris Yeltsin is looking to further strengthen Russia's ties to China at a summit this week with the leaders of four Asian nations. Yeltsin heads to the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday for a summit aimed at building stability along China's 7,000-kilometer (4,340-mile) border with Russia and three Central Asian nations.

<...
President Jiang Zemin and his Russian counterpart, Boris Yeltsin, yesterday discussed expanding their 'strategic partnership', and regional security issues. Diplomats traveling with the leaders said that during bilateral talks the pair expressed support for a multi-polar world and mutual opposition to Nato expansion. The diplomats added that opposition was also voiced against 'world domination' by the United States. The talks were conducted over breakfast ahead of a five-nation 'Shanghai Five' summit, grouping Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, on regional security and economic co-operation. Presidents Yeltsin and Jiang 'discussed further practical steps in the development of a strategic partnership between Russia and China in the international arena', Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said..."

----- End Of Quotes -----

In addition to this recent warming up of relations between Russia and China, Russia and Belarus are also involved in the process of completing their union, as it existed prior to the post-Soviet days. While there have been some snags in the process, it will undoubtedly become a reality sooner or later. This is clearly evidenced by the following report from the London Times released the third week of October, 1999:

----- Begin Quote -----

To loud applause from Russia's Communists, Aleksandr Lukashenko, the hardline Soviet-style leader of Belarus, denounced the International Monetary Fund yesterday as a "pack of swindlers" and urged Russia to sell its missiles instead of seeking foreign loans. Mr Lukashenko, who has long advocated a reunion of Russia and Belarus, earned a warm reception from the Duma's Communist faction during a 45-minute speech in which he appeared to try to force Moscow's hand on the question of reunion and offered a novel way out of Russia's financial troubles.

'Why should Russia be on its knees before the IMF, begging for $600 million,' he demanded, 'when one Russian S-300 strategic missile system is worth $550 million? Why not just sell two of them?'

Mr Lukashenko is thought to be familiar with the challenges of selling off Soviet-era arms, having spent much of last year in the Middle East attempting to offload weaponry left in Belarus by retreating Soviet forces in 1991, according to human rights activists. He is also fond of demonizing the IMF, the World Bank and Madeleine Albright, the US Secretary of State who is among those most concerned by the idea of a reunion of the old core of the Soviet Union.

Yesterday, as protesters waved 'Hail Lukashenko' placards outside the Duma building, Mr Lukashenko said such a reunion with Belarus was imminent. 'From my talks with President Yeltsin I am convinced that he is fully committed to the idea of a union,' he said, adding that a treaty would be signed in the first half of December.

----- End Of Quote -----

In light of the Belgade bombardment, it also seems quite possible that, with some work, Ukraine may also rejoin this union sometime in the future. This would effectively block the United States as well as NATO from expanding any further eastward. While the Russians are greatly concerned about the recent NATO incursion into Yugoslavia, EU expansion, and the American doublecross on Pakistan, due to their own political and economic problems, at this current time, besides forging closer ties with China, Belarus, Ukraine, and other of her neighbors, there doesn't appear to be much more that Russia can do concerning the situation, short of outright military conflict with the United States of America, and other NATO nations; and that doesn't appear to be possible for the time being, although Mr. Yeltsin would have the West to believe otherwise.

In part two of this series, we will continue our discussion by taking a look at the situation in Chechnya. In addition, we will discuss the recent so-called Russian terrorist bomb blasts, government psychological manipulation, trouble in the two Koreas, the current explosive situation between Beijing and Taiwan, and the fork-tongued hagglers of the on-again-off-again Middle East peace process.

Go To Part Two...

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