#671

The Edge Of World War Three

A Dangerous Precedent

That’s what some are saying about Ukraine being allowed to shoot US missiles into Russia. We read about the missile attack in a report from foxnews.com:

Moscow says Ukrainian forces have taken advantage of President Biden's green light and launched 6 U.S.-made ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems) into Russian territory Tuesday.

Allowing the missiles to be used directly against Russia is more of a problem than the actual missiles themselves since they are no threat of Russia:

Russia says it shot down five of the missiles and damaged the sixth. It added that debris landed in the area of a Russian military facility, but that no casualties or damage beyond a small fire. A U.S. official confirmed the overnight strike to Fox News.

Russian President Putin drew a line in the sand about such an attack:

The attack came just two days after President Biden approved Ukraine to use American long-range missiles on Russian soil, an escalation that Russian President Putin previously indicated would be an act of war.

If Putin follows through on his assessment of this being an act of war, well we could be in troubled water. But the US feels justified because North Korea in now in the mix:

According to a senior U.S. official, Biden's decision was spurred by the Russian decision to invite 10,000 North Korean soldiers into the fight against Ukraine in Kursk. A second official told Fox that it is unclear if Biden plans to approve the use of the missiles outside the Kursk region.

There were other concerns as well:

The White House National Security Council reacted to Putin's decision to update Russia's nuclear doctrine on Tuesday as well.

NATO Problems

The report went on to say that Russia sees these moves as threats, but the US is pointing the finger right back at Russia:

"As we said earlier this month, we were not surprised by Russia’s announcement that it would update its nuclear doctrine; Russia had been signaling its intent to update its doctrine for several weeks. Observing no changes to Russia’s nuclear posture, we have not seen any reason to adjust our own nuclear posture or doctrine in response to Russia’s statements today," an NSC spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

The US statement went on to tell us that an escalation is possible:

"This is more of the same irresponsible rhetoric from Russia, which we have seen for the past two years. As we said to Russia weeks ago, Russia’s use of DPRK soldiers in combat operations against Ukraine presents a significant escalation of its war of choice against Ukraine and we warned that the United States would respond," the statement continued.

It’s not just the US that Russian is looking at and could mean Putin is thinking about taking actions against NATO, too:

The announcement came after Great Britain and France authorized Ukraine to launch SCALP/Storm Shadow missile strikes, according to French outlet Le Figaro.

The Russian President keeps using the word war a lot which could be all smoke and mirrors or could mean substantially more:

Putin has previously said that giving Ukraine the green light on missile use would effectively mean that the U.S. and NATO are "in the war."

"Flight assignments for these missile systems can, in fact, only be entered by military personnel from NATO countries. Ukrainian servicemen cannot do this. And therefore, it is not a question of allowing the Ukrainian regime to strike Russia with these weapons or not. It is a question of making a decision whether NATO countries directly participate in the military conflict or not," Putin said in September.

He ended his statement by saying this:

"If this decision is made, it will mean nothing less than the direct participation of NATO countries, the United States, and European countries, in the war in Ukraine," he added.

Does this give Putin the logic to then strike NATO countries since he sees them as all coming against him? We don’t know, but our hope is that this is all saber rattling and political posturing. If not, could a third World War be in our near future?

Can Trump Stop This?

It sure sounds like people are wanting these potential escalations to simmer down until January 20th of 2025 when Donald Trump takes office. And that may be exactly what happens since Trump has conversed with both Zelensky and Putin about ending the war and even floated a plan to do so. But why is Biden not taking a backseat since he is the lamest of lame ducks in this skirmish? What could possibly be gained by raising the temperature in the Ukrainian war? If it’s purely political maybe Trump has already told both leaders they can talk all they want as long as they hold off until the first hours of his next presidency. It would be a tense 61 days, however these current events do beg for a Biblical perspective, one I have given more than few thoughts about. The Bible does tell us that the last of the last days will see talk of wars and even actual wars:

And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. 7 Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. 8 But all this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come. (Matt 24:6-8, NLT)

Jesus didn’t tell us who will fighting or talking about fighting, He was just setting the table for what the people thousands of years later would understand. So does Scripture predict another world war in our time?

WWIII Is Not Mentioned

At least not specifically other than the verses in Matthew 24. It doesn’t mean it can’t happen, though. It just doesn’t say it will happen. But there are at least three future wars prophesied with only one given a specific timeframe, that being the war of Armageddon which is slated to happen at the end of the Tribulation. The other two, the Psalm 83 war and the war of Gog and Magog seen in Ezekiel 38 don’t have any kind of times or dates attached to them. But getting back to the talk of a world war we also don’t see them in the Bible, either. Generically, yes. Specifically, no. I turn to an article found in gotquestions.org to help explain things:

To be more specific, the future does hold at least one more world war. There is nothing in Scripture that says there will be only a certain number of world wars. World Wars I and II are not explicitly mentioned in Scripture, nor is a possible third World War. It is only the last war that is mentioned in detail, which allows the interpretation that there may be others before the final conflict.

The author does point to wars happening in the Tribulation:

John the Apostle was shown what the end times would be like, specifically the last seven years prior to Christ’s return. Beginning in Revelation 6, he recorded what he saw concerning the future. War is found in this chapter, and continues to be a part of the unfolding events until Christ returns in chapter 19 (Revelation 6:2; 4; 11:7; 12:7; 13:4, 7; 16:14; 17:14; 19:11; 19:19).

The good news is that the last war before the Millenium points to a predictable end for those with Jesus:

Revelation 19:11 says, ". . . in righteousness He [Christ] judges and wages war." Revelation 19:19 says John "saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to make war against Him (Christ) who sat upon the horse, and against His army." Take special notice that it says the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Christ. This clearly describes a world war. It also should be noted that the victor in this war is clearly Christ, who seizes the beast/antichrist and the false prophet and casts them into the lake of fire, and the armies that followed them are destroyed (Revelation 19:20-21). So, although there will be at least one more world war, there is no doubt of the outcome—righteousness will prevail as Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, defeats all who oppose Him.