A jubilant newsreader on state TV announced that the bomb test had been a complete success. The test reported as a success on North Korean state television, this time involving what they say is a hydrogen bomb that could be mounted onto an ICBM more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped by the U.S.

in World War II. Saber rattling between international leaders is a military tactic probably as old as saber swords themselves. But when those sabers are nuclear warheads, the threats come with a very sharp edge to them. Over the past several months, our president here in the States and the leader of North Korea have exchanged threats via state media and mass media and social media.

North Korea has been testing nuclear bombs and perfecting its long-range missile program. In response, our president has said about future threats this. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. And in a speech he went so far as to say this. The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.

Those are strong words and they are backed with movement as we speak. The U.S. has three aircraft carrier strike groups in the Western Pacific, a significant military buildup meant to get North Korea's attention. And with international attention so high, we get this question from Amber in Virginia. Hello, Pastor John.

I love your podcast and your overall ministry has deeply impacted me. North Korea has been in the news a lot lately with threats of a nuclear attack. Christians around me are starting to fear. I know many Christians who talk of stocking food, water and supplies, and even a few considering buying and installing an underground bomb shelter in the event of such an attack.

When it comes to this new Cold War era, new to a lot of us, how should Christians plan wisely? Well, I need to make a confession right off the bat here. That 18 years ago, as Y2K approached, does anybody even remember? There was all this hysteria about how the computers would not know how to handle the switch from the 1900s to the 2000s.

And so there would be major infrastructure breakdowns and electricity would go off. Water would go off. Everybody would be forced off the grid. And there would be rioting in the streets and no food available for weeks. As I watched this hysteria work its way into the church, I frankly was disgusted.

Sorry, this is a confession. I watched Christians justify their own fear and self-protection by saying they would use their generator and their extra food for ministry purposes. Really? I wonder if the watching world saw it that way. Well, I didn't see it that way. To me, that very bent towards self-preservation and hoarding was a bad ministry in itself.

It all made me angry, and I preached that this was not the mindset of the church in the New Testament. 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.

But I still feel most of what I felt. So I may have to confess again. May God help me. So if you're one of those folks, you're just not going to get a lot of sympathy from me. And I'll try to explain why in the next few minutes. So here we go.

I've got, what, I don't know, one, two, three, four, five notes jotted here as to why. Number one, danger and risk are normal for the Christian life, not exceptional. And the dominant New Testament approach to this fact is not self-protection, but self-sacrifice, the sacrifices of love. That's the flavor.

That's the tone that we should see and experience. For example, Paul describes his life like this, "Countless beatings, often near death. Five times I received at the hands of Jews forty lashes, less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked.

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, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure." Jesus had promised that's the way it would be.

"You will be delivered up, even by parents, brothers, relatives, friends. Some of you they will put to death. You'll be hated by all for my namesake. Not a hair of your head will perish when they cut your head off. By your endurance you will gain your life." Now, how in the world did Paul press on?

What was his bomb shelter? "At my first defense, no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them, but the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed to the Gentiles. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth.

The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom." So you can see what he means there. "Evil deeds will not destroy my faith. I may die, but I'll make it to the heavenly kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever." So that's number one.

Number two. "Major efforts at self-preservation are inevitably going to obscure to the world the basic message of Jesus, namely Matthew 16, 24. "If any one would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it.

But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Number three. "If you are known as a person who devotes lots of money and effort and focus on creating a refuge, it is going to make the Psalms sound hollow in your mouth. You are my rock and my fortress, and for your sake you lead me and guide me.

You are my refuge." Or Psalm 61, 3. "For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy." Or Psalm 62, 7. "On God rests my glory, my rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O peoples, pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us." The text of the five missionaries who went to the Warani tribe in 1956 and were all killed by the spears, here's their text.

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, 'My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.' For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.

He will cover you with his pinions and under his wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor destruction that wastes at noonday." Number four, it is allowed in Scripture when danger comes to flee or to stand and suffer.

John Bunyan, who spent 12 years in prison for standing, wrote to defend both possible paths of obedience as biblical, to flee or to stand. So when it comes to what I want to emphasize, what I'm doing right now, what I preach, I just don't think Americans need more encouragement to flee.

Pastorally and prophetically, that's just not the need of the hour. To encourage Americans, 'Oh, you really should stop being so risky. You really should stop suffering so much. You really should stop so much self-sacrifice. Let's all be more self-protective in our bunkers.' I just don't think pastorally and prophetically the need is almost entirely in the other direction.

And finally, number five, it misrepresents the value of Christ and heaven to give the impression that death is the worst thing that could happen. If we are really doing all our self-preservation out of love, what about the people who are going to die eternally for lack of the gospel?

Are we taking the same steps as serious to preserve them for eternity? Bottom line, how can we make Christ look like he really is the supreme treasure of our lives? How can we say to the world, Psalm 63, 3, "The steadfast love of the Lord is better than life." Thank you, Pastor John, for pushing back against this dominant self-protective impulse that we feel.

Thank you for listening and making the podcast a part of your week. Three times a week we publish and you can subscribe to our audio feeds and search our past episodes in our archive and even reach us by email with a question you may be facing on your own.

Even questions as they relate to the place where your Christian faith and hope and trust intersect with headlines in the news. You can do all that through our online home at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn. You'll see a button there. Click the button and you can send us an email. While gossip is no small problem, even for Christians, spreading damaging reports about others comes so naturally to all of us.

But why? Why does gossiping about others feel so good? And what can be done to confront this tendency inside of us? That's the question on Monday. I'm your host, Tony Reinke. Have a great weekend and we will see you back here on Monday. (end) (music) (end)