Am I Wrong to Prepare for a Nuclear Doomsday?
00:00:00.000 | [Music]
00:00:04.000 | [Korean Newsreel]
00:00:09.000 | A jubilant newsreader on state TV announced that the bomb test had been a complete success.
00:00:14.000 | The test reported as a success on North Korean state television,
00:00:18.000 | this time involving what they say is a hydrogen bomb that could be mounted onto an ICBM
00:00:24.000 | more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped by the U.S. in World War II.
00:00:28.000 | Saber rattling between international leaders is a military tactic probably as old as saber swords themselves.
00:00:35.000 | But when those sabers are nuclear warheads, the threats come with a very sharp edge to them.
00:00:41.000 | Over the past several months, our president here in the States and the leader of North Korea
00:00:44.000 | have exchanged threats via state media and mass media and social media.
00:00:49.000 | North Korea has been testing nuclear bombs and perfecting its long-range missile program.
00:00:54.000 | In response, our president has said about future threats this.
00:00:58.000 | They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.
00:01:05.000 | And in a speech he went so far as to say this.
00:01:09.000 | The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies,
00:01:15.000 | we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.
00:01:22.000 | Those are strong words and they are backed with movement as we speak.
00:01:27.000 | The U.S. has three aircraft carrier strike groups in the Western Pacific,
00:01:31.000 | a significant military buildup meant to get North Korea's attention.
00:01:36.000 | And with international attention so high, we get this question from Amber in Virginia.
00:01:41.000 | Hello, Pastor John. I love your podcast and your overall ministry has deeply impacted me.
00:01:45.000 | North Korea has been in the news a lot lately with threats of a nuclear attack.
00:01:50.000 | Christians around me are starting to fear.
00:01:52.000 | I know many Christians who talk of stocking food, water and supplies,
00:01:56.000 | and even a few considering buying and installing an underground bomb shelter in the event of such an attack.
00:02:03.000 | When it comes to this new Cold War era, new to a lot of us, how should Christians plan wisely?
00:02:10.000 | Well, I need to make a confession right off the bat here.
00:02:15.000 | That 18 years ago, as Y2K approached, does anybody even remember?
00:02:23.000 | There was all this hysteria about how the computers would not know how to handle the switch from the 1900s to the 2000s.
00:02:34.000 | And so there would be major infrastructure breakdowns and electricity would go off.
00:02:41.000 | Water would go off. Everybody would be forced off the grid.
00:02:45.000 | And there would be rioting in the streets and no food available for weeks.
00:02:50.000 | As I watched this hysteria work its way into the church, I frankly was disgusted.
00:02:57.000 | Sorry, this is a confession.
00:03:00.000 | I watched Christians justify their own fear and self-protection
00:03:06.000 | by saying they would use their generator and their extra food for ministry purposes.
00:03:13.000 | Really? I wonder if the watching world saw it that way.
00:03:20.000 | Well, I didn't see it that way.
00:03:22.000 | To me, that very bent towards self-preservation and hoarding was a bad ministry in itself.
00:03:33.000 | It all made me angry, and I preached that this was not the mindset of the church in the New Testament.
00:03:43.000 | And when I say, "Let me confess this," I do mean that there probably was sin on my part in some of what I felt about the preppers during Y2K.
00:03:58.000 | But I still feel most of what I felt.
00:04:03.000 | So I may have to confess again. May God help me.
00:04:07.000 | So if you're one of those folks, you're just not going to get a lot of sympathy from me.
00:04:14.000 | And I'll try to explain why in the next few minutes.
00:04:17.000 | So here we go. I've got, what, I don't know, one, two, three, four, five notes jotted here as to why.
00:04:25.000 | Number one, danger and risk are normal for the Christian life, not exceptional.
00:04:32.000 | And the dominant New Testament approach to this fact is not self-protection, but self-sacrifice, the sacrifices of love.
00:04:42.000 | That's the flavor. That's the tone that we should see and experience.
00:04:50.000 | For example, Paul describes his life like this, "Countless beatings, often near death.
00:04:55.000 | Five times I received at the hands of Jews forty lashes, less one.
00:05:00.000 | Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked.
00:05:05.000 | A night and a day I was adrift at sea on frequent journeys in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people,
00:05:15.000 | danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea,
00:05:21.000 | danger from false brothers in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night in hunger and thirst,
00:05:27.000 | often without food, in cold and exposure."
00:05:31.000 | Jesus had promised that's the way it would be.
00:05:35.000 | "You will be delivered up, even by parents, brothers, relatives, friends.
00:05:40.000 | Some of you they will put to death. You'll be hated by all for my namesake.
00:05:43.000 | Not a hair of your head will perish when they cut your head off.
00:05:47.000 | By your endurance you will gain your life."
00:05:49.000 | Now, how in the world did Paul press on? What was his bomb shelter?
00:05:54.000 | "At my first defense, no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me.
00:05:59.000 | May it not be charged against them, but the Lord stood by me and strengthened me,
00:06:06.000 | so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed to the Gentiles.
00:06:09.000 | So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed
00:06:14.000 | and bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom."
00:06:17.000 | So you can see what he means there. "Evil deeds will not destroy my faith.
00:06:21.000 | I may die, but I'll make it to the heavenly kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever."
00:06:26.000 | So that's number one. Number two.
00:06:29.000 | "Major efforts at self-preservation are inevitably going to obscure to the world
00:06:37.000 | the basic message of Jesus, namely Matthew 16, 24.
00:06:42.000 | "If any one would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
00:06:47.000 | For whoever would save his life will lose it.
00:06:52.000 | But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."
00:06:57.000 | Number three.
00:06:59.000 | "If you are known as a person who devotes lots of money and effort and focus on creating a refuge,
00:07:07.000 | it is going to make the Psalms sound hollow in your mouth.
00:07:13.000 | You are my rock and my fortress, and for your sake you lead me and guide me.
00:07:21.000 | You are my refuge." Or Psalm 61, 3.
00:07:26.000 | "For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy." Or Psalm 62, 7.
00:07:33.000 | "On God rests my glory, my rock, my refuge is God.
00:07:38.000 | Trust in him at all times, O peoples, pour out your heart before him.
00:07:42.000 | God is a refuge for us."
00:07:45.000 | The text of the five missionaries who went to the Warani tribe in 1956
00:07:52.000 | and were all killed by the spears, here's their text.
00:07:57.000 | "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
00:08:02.000 | I will say to the Lord, 'My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.'
00:08:08.000 | For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.
00:08:13.000 | He will cover you with his pinions and under his wings you will find refuge.
00:08:18.000 | His faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
00:08:22.000 | You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
00:08:26.000 | nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor destruction that wastes at noonday."
00:08:34.000 | Number four, it is allowed in Scripture when danger comes to flee or to stand and suffer.
00:08:44.000 | John Bunyan, who spent 12 years in prison for standing,
00:08:49.000 | wrote to defend both possible paths of obedience as biblical, to flee or to stand.
00:08:57.000 | So when it comes to what I want to emphasize, what I'm doing right now, what I preach,
00:09:02.000 | I just don't think Americans need more encouragement to flee.
00:09:06.000 | Pastorally and prophetically, that's just not the need of the hour.
00:09:10.000 | To encourage Americans, 'Oh, you really should stop being so risky.
00:09:14.000 | You really should stop suffering so much. You really should stop so much self-sacrifice.
00:09:18.000 | Let's all be more self-protective in our bunkers.'
00:09:21.000 | I just don't think pastorally and prophetically the need is almost entirely in the other direction.
00:09:29.000 | And finally, number five, it misrepresents the value of Christ and heaven
00:09:36.000 | to give the impression that death is the worst thing that could happen.
00:09:41.000 | If we are really doing all our self-preservation out of love,
00:09:48.000 | what about the people who are going to die eternally for lack of the gospel?
00:09:55.000 | Are we taking the same steps as serious to preserve them for eternity?
00:10:02.000 | Bottom line, how can we make Christ look like he really is the supreme treasure of our lives?
00:10:12.000 | How can we say to the world, Psalm 63, 3, "The steadfast love of the Lord is better than life."
00:10:23.000 | Thank you, Pastor John, for pushing back against this dominant self-protective impulse that we feel.
00:10:29.000 | Thank you for listening and making the podcast a part of your week.
00:10:33.000 | Three times a week we publish and you can subscribe to our audio feeds
00:10:36.000 | and search our past episodes in our archive and even reach us by email with a question you may be facing on your own.
00:10:42.000 | Even questions as they relate to the place where your Christian faith and hope and trust intersect with headlines in the news.
00:10:49.000 | You can do all that through our online home at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.
00:10:54.000 | You'll see a button there. Click the button and you can send us an email.
00:10:58.000 | While gossip is no small problem, even for Christians, spreading damaging reports about others comes so naturally to all of us.
00:11:06.000 | But why? Why does gossiping about others feel so good?
00:11:10.000 | And what can be done to confront this tendency inside of us?
00:11:13.000 | That's the question on Monday.
00:11:15.000 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke. Have a great weekend and we will see you back here on Monday.
00:11:20.000 | (end)
00:11:22.000 | (music)
00:11:24.000 | (end)
00:11:26.000 | [BLANK_AUDIO]