Questions persist about the reported North Korean nuclear test. This morning's USA Today states that it may be days before we know if the North Koreans actually detonated a nuclear device, and if so, how large and what kind it was. But such questions are not preventing global response to this threat. In today's New York Times we learn that China's ambassador to the United Nations has told reporters, "there has to be some punitive actions, but also I think that these actions have to be appropriate." China has been unwilling to take such steps against North Korea in the past.

If China and Japan join in efforts to punish North Korea, will the struggling Communist regime respond with regional or even global war? The North Korean army numbers more than a million troops, with thousands of tanks and other tools of conventional warfare. Could such a conflict be the beginning of the end? Is it possible that the North Korean crisis, coupled with recent conflict between Israel and Lebanon, may lead to a cataclysmic war which would end human history? Could it be that the international war on terror will play a part in this "end times" scenario? Could the threat of Iranian nuclear weapons be a significant part of this threat?

The answer is simple: maybe.

When Jesus' disciples asked him about the end of history, he responded: "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains" (Matthew 24:6-8).

Peter added this description of the end: "the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare…That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat" (2 Peter 3:10, 12).

Until the nuclear age, there was no manmade or natural way for Peter's prediction to be fulfilled. But today's weapons of mass destruction can produce results frighteningly similar to Peter's description. For the first time in history, it is possible to see how the biblical "end of history" prediction could be fulfilled.

Or is it? Let's continue this disconcerting but important discussion tomorrow.

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