Wallace G. Smith

[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

Hiroshima and the Beginning of the Atomic Age

August 6, 2020, marked the 75th anniversary of one of the most dramatic events in human history: The dropping of the atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. That tragedy signified not only the coming end of a terrible and destructive war, but also a new phase in the fulfillment of Bible prophecies.

Join us now on Tomorrow’s World as we look at Hiroshima, 75 years later.

Astonishing Destructive Power to Destroy Mankind

Greetings, and welcome to another edition of Tomorrow’s World. I’m glad you’re here.

Today we are going back to the bombing of Hiroshima, three-quarters of a century ago. We’re going to examine the implications of that event in Bible prophecy--and we’re going to look at how developments since Hiroshima contribute to the picture.

We will pause occasionally to give you the opportunity to request today’s free DVD, “Escape the Great Tribulation.” Be sure to note the contact information on your screen so you can get your free copy.

The years since World War II continue to fly by, and few remember its details. But the details are important. If you were there in September of 1939, you’d see Germany’s invasion of Poland. And you’d see Poland resisting, with soldiers on horseback--commanding multiple cavalries in their nation’s defense. Fast forward to the FINAL military actions of the war, and you would see the mushroom clouds of atomic explosions over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

In only SIX YEARS, mankind progressed from warring on horseback, as it had done for millennia, to unleashing the power of the atom in a single, horrific weapon, capable of desolating entire cities in an instant. It’s hard to think of a more astonishing example of humanity’s capacity to grow in wreaking death, havoc, and destruction on itself.

Hiroshima represented a terrible turning point.

Of course, as long as man has explored science, he has used his discoveries to invent new ways to kill his fellow man--and the atomic bomb that devastated Hiroshima was a weapon unlike any other that man had ever unleashed. Code-named “Little Boy” by its creators, the atomic bomb took advantage of Einstein’s discovery of the equivalence of matter and energy. That is, matter can be converted into energy and energy can be converted into matter. In the case of Little Boy, the bomb contained 64 kilograms of uranium-235--a radioactive element the bomb mechanism could use to create a chain reaction, causing some of the atoms to split into smaller atoms in a matter of milliseconds. The splitting of these atoms converted some of the matter into energy, releasing the same destructive power as 16,000 TONS of TNT.

Surprisingly, the amount of converted matter needed to produce such a blast was equivalent to less than a single paperclip.

But what a blast it was. Almost all city structures within a mile radius of ground zero were completely destroyed--many by the initial blast, and others by the resulting firestorm that covered more than four square miles.

For various reasons, the numbers are hard to fix. But estimates of the number killed instantly in Hiroshima lie in the neighborhood of 70 to 80,000 people, with tens of thousands more dying in the weeks to come from radiation, burns, and injuries.

After the Hiroshima bombing, President Harry Truman addressed the American people, explaining, concerning the Japanese, “If they do not now accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth”

When no surrender came, another bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki three days later, and another 40 to 80,000 deaths were added to the toll. Five days afterward, the Japanese surrendered unconditionally.

Mankind had tapped into some of the most primal forces of nature and unleashed them in the most destructive of ways.

The two attacks themselves do not figure into prophecy beyond how the events of World War II reconfigured world powers. However, the events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki do have prophetic significance that should not be overlooked.

In Matthew 24, Jesus Christ tells of a time still ahead of us, but not TOO far ahead of us, in which civilization takes a dark turn. After warning Christians to pray for God’s help in the time to come, He says,

“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.” [vv. 21–22]

Note that. Jesus said that there would come a time unique in all of human history, involving “great tribulation.” How bad would things get? Again, He says in verse 22 that “…unless those days were shortened, NO FLESH WOULD BE SAVED….”

Until August 6, 1945, it might have been hard for the public to imagine conflict, warfare, and weapons so devastating that they would have the potential to wipe out ALL LIVING THINGS, such that “NO FLESH WOULD BE SAVED.” But after the bombing of Hiroshima, that verse--and that prophecy--began to take on new possibilities.

Human self-annihilation suddenly seemed not so hard to imagine.

But the story does not stop there. Now that the powers of the atom were unleashed, they would not be caged again. Soon, the largest and deadliest weapons ever wielded in warfare would become relative child’s play.

Nuclear Proliferation and the Race to Annihilation

In creating atomic weapons, man had learned to direct some of the most fundamental forces of nature toward destroying his fellow man.

But even then, mankind was not satisfied with the level of destruction it had attained. The 75 years that have followed the destruction of those cities saw an escalation of destructive power that boggles the mind--and makes prophetic fulfillment that much easier to believe.

Not content to allow the United States sole possession of the most devastating weapon in existence, four years after Hiroshima the Soviet Union tested its own atomic weapon, named “First Lightning”--though called “Joe-1” by the U.S., after Joseph Stalin. Soon afterward the race was on, as the United States and the Soviet Union superpowers sought to create increasingly powerful weapons over the course of the Cold War to ensure that their enemy did not get the upper hand.

While atomic weapons generated their destructive power through fission, splitting atoms into smaller atoms, even greater power was available through FUSION--combining two atoms into one. This is the very process that powers the sun above our heads! A fusion-based nuclear weapon--called a thermonuclear bomb, or “hydrogen bomb”--carried the capacity to be far more powerful than its simpler progenitors. And both the U.S. and the Soviet Union raced to develop the most plentiful stockpile of the most powerful bombs.

Consider the scale of these evolving weapons.

The atomic bomb the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 had the power of about 16 kilotons of TNT, generating a mushroom cloud that extended a little more than 11 miles upward. In 1952, the U.S. tested Ivy Mike--its first fusion-based thermonuclear, hydrogen bomb. Ivy Mike yielded an explosion of around 10 MEGAtons of TNT. That would be 10 Million tons of TNT. It was followed in 1954 by a test of Castle Bravo, which yielded an explosion equal to 15 megatons of TNT. That’s almost 1,000 TIMES STRONGER than the weapon dropped on Hiroshima! The Castle Bravo mushroom cloud reached about 25 miles, or 40 kilometers into the air.

Not to be outdone, in October 1961, the Soviet Union tested a thermonuclear weapon they dubbed Ivan, or Vanya, though in the West it has been referred to simply as Tsar Bomba. The source of the largest man-made explosion in human history, Tsar Bomba yielded an explosive force of 50 megatons of TNT! That’s more than 3,000 times stronger than the bomb that obliterated Hiroshima! In fact, the DESIGN of Tsar Bomba was intended for a 100-megaton blast, and it was only detonated at half of its power.

The mushroom cloud formed by Tsar Bomba reached more than 40 MILES into the atmosphere--a testimony to the forces man was learning to unleash.

At their peaks, the United States commanded an arsenal of about 31,255 nuclear warheads, and the Soviet Union, about 45,000.

And each side was prepared to use them. Gerald Weston, Executive Producer of Tomorrow’s World, wrote a fascinating article for the March-April 2020 Tomorrow’s World magazine in which he detailed just how close the Cold War came to an all-out nuclear exchange of nightmare proportions. In that article, he provides details about the United States’ Single Integrated Operational Plan, or SIOP, in which, responding to a nuclear attack from the Soviets, the U. S. would fire EVERY weapon at its disposal, in an effort to destroy the Soviet Union, China, and certain other Communist nations in one, single strike. His article can be read online at TomorrowsWorld.org, and it is a thrilling read.

But our journey from Hiroshima hardly stops there. See, the laws of physics don’t just work in two competing nations. They work everywhere. And once how to unleash the atom’s destructive power was clear, MANY nations wanted in on the game.

In July 2019, the Arms Control Association reported on the estimated nuclear arsenal of nine nations:

• (The) United States: 6,185 (warheads)
• (The) United Kingdom: 200
• France: 300
• Israel: 90
• Pakistan: 160
• India: 140
• Russia: 6,490
• China: 290
• (and) North Korea: 30

(“Nuclear weapons: Who Has What At A Glance,” Arms Control Association, ArmsControl.org/factsheets, July, 2019).

This list does not include nations such as Iran and others who have either expressed interest in nuclear weapons programs or who are suspected of having such programs.

These weapons, so horrific in their ability to destroy human life, are now in the hands of multiple governments with multiple motives. The more nations possess them, the higher the risk that they WILL be used--whether purposefully or accidentally.

AND the higher the risk that OTHER factions will get their hands on them. Some of these nations are suspected of dealing with terrorist organizations, who only need material and opportunity to develop their own weapons.

With the ability of rogue agents to create a nuclear device and set it off in a major metropolitan area--or even a so-called “dirty bomb” that does not destroy buildings, but spreads deadly radiation--the odds of a future nuclear event seem only to increase.

One would think that the ability to devastate entire cities in a single attack, let alone the ability to launch hundreds, or even thousands of such attacks at once, would satisfy humanity’s desire to be capable of causing damage, but it does not. And prophecy offers some insight into what sorts of attacks we may see in the future. We will look at that in our next segment.

War and Devastation on a Prophetic Scale

In our last segment we talked about the massive proliferation of nuclear weapons in the world and the raw destructive power they represent. And someone reading Bible prophecy would have to admit that the devastation wrought by nuclear weapons such as those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki correspond well to biblical descriptions of prophesied destruction.

Consider God’s warning to various nations today, such as Great Britain, the United States, and other British-descended nations, recorded in Ezekiel 6 and verse 6:

“In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate, so that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, your idols may be broken and made to cease, your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.”

He says similarly in chapter 12 and verse 20,

“Then the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall become desolate; and you shall know that I am the LORD.”

It is noteworthy that nuclear strikes have the capacity to not only lay waste to entire cities, but also to render areas uninhabitable for a time due to radioactivity. And Revelation chapter 9 speaks of an exchange between two armies involving fire, smoke, and brimstone that will contribute to the killing of one-third of mankind. [vv. 17–18] One cannot help but note similarities between elements of these descriptions and an exchange of nuclear weaponry.

Still, why limit our consideration to nuclear weaponry? Far from being SATISFIED with “nuking” each other back to the stone age, mankind has continued to invent ever more terrible ways to kill during the 75 years since Hiroshima. When it comes to the desire to destroy his fellow man, man’s imagination knows virtually no limits.

Consider CHEMICAL weapons. The use of chemicals in warfare has a long history, but as man advances scientifically and technologically, so does his ability to create and disseminate these terrible weapons. Nerve agents can kill or permanently damage by attacking individuals’ nervous systems in horrific and painful ways. Other chemicals have the ability to blind, maim, burn the lungs, or horribly disfigure the body.

Consider BIOLOGICAL weapons, as well.The bacteria responsible for anthrax--capable of causing terrible blisters, fever, and pain--has been used in conflicts before, including terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001 that killed five people. Now, with the ability to manipulate organisms at the level of DNA, biological weapons look poised to be a formidable source of death and suffering.

And compare these, too, to prophecies of the days ahead of us. In Revelation 9, Jesus inspires John to write of weapons that will torment men, but not necessarily kill them:

“And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.” [vv. 5–6]

And the fourth of the famous Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, described in Revelation 6, symbolizes disease and pestilence, which contribute to the death of one-fourth of mankind during events that include the Great Tribulation. [Revelation 6:8]

Could chemical or biological weaponry play a role in these future plagues and sufferings? Only time will tell.

What we DO know is serious enough. Let’s return to Jesus’ statement about the Great Tribulation in Matthew 24. There, He says, “For then there will be great tribulation, SUCH AS HAS NOT BEEN SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD UNTIL THIS TIME, NO, NOR EVER SHALL BE.” [v. 21]

We MUST pay attention to this! Jesus Christ, the Savior, the Son of God, is GUARANTEEING TO US that there is a time of suffering coming that is so deadly and destructive there has NEVER BEEN A TIME LIKE IT, nor will there EVER BE ONE AGAIN!

Do we understand what that means? That means worse than the Holocaust of World War II. Worse than Hiroshima. Worse than Nagasaki. Worse than the Killing Fields of the Khmer Rouge. Worse than the purges, mass murders, and forced starvation under Joseph Stalin. Man will inflict on himself suffering, pain, and warfare that will dwarf these other circumstances.

Yes, it is easy to imagine that we have become more civilized in the 75 years since Hiroshima. But truth be told, we are no more civilized now than we were then. And mankind is poised to do to the entire world what it once did to two Japanese cities in 1945.

But, if this is, indeed, prophesied to happen, is there anything we can DO about it? Am I, are you, just fated to have to endure these things? Or can we save our lives--our children’s lives? Can we escape from what’s coming?

YES WE CAN! And we will discuss HOW in the last, brief segment of our program.

Mankind’s Savior Saves us from OURSELVES

We began our discussion today with the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, just over 75 years ago now. Civilization still debates whether the bombing of those two cities was justified or not. Yet there is NO debate that our capacity to cause death and destruction has only grown over those 75 years, to the point that Hiroshima and Nagasaki look small and tame by comparison to the suffering we can cause now.

And prophecy guarantees us that a time is coming when the suffering mankind inflicts upon itself--through warfare, violence, destruction, pestilence, and disease--will be the worst it has ever been in the entirety of human history--a time when, unless God intervenes, Jesus says NO FLESH shall be saved alive.

What can we do as such events rush toward us, full tilt, with the winds of prophecy at their backs?

Thankfully, Jesus didn’t simply foretell the future. He also taught us what to do about it.

In Luke 21, Jesus tells us to watch the times in which we live--and to watch ourselves--and to act:

“Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” [v. 36]

He describes those who fall short of being worthy in many passages, such as Luke 6:46, asking us,

“Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?”

And His apostle John elaborates, telling us in 1 John 2:4 that

“He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

The answer isn’t a bomb shelter or moving away from civilization, physically prepping for “doomsday.” The way to prepare for the times ahead, and be counted worthy by God to escape these things, is simply to repent. To watch the times we are in, watch ourselves, and commit our lives to obeying God and His commandments under Jesus Christ. And to whatever extent you want to do those things, we here at Tomorrow’s World are ready to help.

That includes sending you today’s free DVD, “Escape the Great Tribulation,” so don’t forget to order your copy!

And don’t forget to join us again next week. Gerald Weston, Richard Ames, Rod McNair, and I will be right here, ready to share with you the Good News of God’s coming Kingdom, the teachings of Jesus Christ, and the vital prophecies of Tomorrow’s World. See you here next time.

[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

Never Too Big to Fail

The United States of America is currently the single most powerful, most prosperous nation in the world. Yet Bible prophecy says plainly that the United States’ days on the world stage are coming to a close.

Join us right now on Tomorrow’s World as we explain the coming end of America.

God’s Judgment on the Sins of America

Greetings, and welcome to Tomorrow’s World.

Our program today concerns the future of the United States of America. But, by extension, it concerns the future of the whole world. While the events predicted by Bible prophecy will strike the United States and certain other nations in a powerful way, prophecy ALSO says that those events will eventually grow to encompass the entire earth. Every human being in every country on every continent in the world will feel the impact of the things to come—and life on planet Earth will never be the same.

During today’s program, we’ll also offer you our free DVD “The Rise and Fall of Britain and America.” This DVD contains a three part series by evangelist Gerald Weston, as he explains the divine plan behind the rise of the English-speaking peoples of the world and what is guaranteed to be the source of their downfall. It ISN’T what many people think.

For today, we will focus on the United States. And depending on your perspective, the U.S. may or may not seem like a nation on the brink of destruction and desolation. Consider… By most measures, the U.S. still possesses the most powerful economy in the world, with a Gross Domestic Product of approximately 22 TRILLION DOLLARS at the end of 2019—a level far beyond even the closest national competitors. And its military might, too, is also unsurpassed.

Of course, the U.S. is also a nation experiencing quite a bit of turmoil of late. It’s politics—and its politicians—are as nasty and contentious as they have ever been—a rage matched by many of its citizens. News casts regularly show scenes of riotous Antifa members, extreme alt-right mobs, and protesting college students seeking to silence opposing viewpoints with anger, fury, and even violence.

Yet the REAL problems of the United States of America are NOT political or economic in nature, and there will NOT be a political or economic solution to fix them! Such problems are only the SYMPTOMS!

Fundamentally, America’s problems are SPIRITUAL IN NATURE! The United States is staring at a future of GUARANTEED DESTRUCTION, not because of political or economic policy, but because of the pervasiveness of NATIONAL SINS! And until those SPIRITUAL PROBLEMS ARE CURED—until those SINS ARE REPENTED OF—there can be NO HOPE FOR THE NATION!

“Now, what national sins?,” you may ask. Frankly, there are far too many to list on this short program! Our free DVD today, “The Rise and Fall of Britain and America,” adds additional detail, but let us take a brief survey…

Consider America’s current obsession with ABORTION. According to the Guttmacher Institute—an organization that is generally POSITIVE about abortion—more than 2,300 children were aborted in the United States every day in 2017—about one every 38 seconds. Not counting miscarriages, EIGHTEEN PERCENT of pregnancies in America end in an abortion. Turns out that, in the United States, one of the most dangerous places for a child to be is in his mother’s womb (“Induced Abortion in the United States,” September 2019 Fact sheet, Guttmacher.org).

Or consider pornography. According to FightTheNewDrug.org, the United States, alone, produces 60% of the world’s pornographic websites—around 428 MILLION web pages (“Porn Stats: Which Country Produces And Hosts The Most Porn?,” FightTheNewDrug.org, November 22, 2017). That’s more than one unique pornographic webpage for every human being in the country, regardless of age or gender.

Then there’s the state of marriage. Once understood to be a sacred and life-long commitment between a man and a woman, and the proper place for sexual relations and the rearing of children, marriage is now barely even a social contract. At the end of 2019, the Pew Research Center reported that more than 85% of American adults say that it is perfectly acceptable if a man and woman live together outside of marriage—in fact, 69% of American adults said that this is acceptable even if the couple NEVER plans to marry (“Marriage and Cohabitation in the U.S.,” PewSocialTrends.org, November 6, 2019).

But how can we expect marriage to remain sacred when America is confused on every related front? From gender roles to gender identity itself, the United States is in a growing state of utter confusion.

And while the United States may be able to boast about being the nation with the largest population of self-proclaimed Christians in the world, that “Christian” population and those “Christian” institutions are doing little to help. Weakened by unbiblical doctrines and approaches to the Bible that make God’s word of no effect, American Christianity too often fits the end-time description given by the Apostle Paul, “…having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:5), as well as the accusation Jesus made to the Pharisees, when He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition” (Mark 7:9).

As hard as it may be for some to believe, as a result of these sins, and many others, SEVEN SPECIFIC CURSES will fall upon the United States of America, resulting ultimately in its total and utter destruction.

We’ll begin to list those seven curses in the next portion of our program.

Is America Cursed Already?

We ended the last segment with a somber statement: Seven curses are coming upon the United States, according to Bible prophecy. Now we plan to tell you exactly what those curses are.

The key to understanding why they are coming and how we can know with such certainty is understanding how to identify America and other modern nations in Bible prophecy. Today’s free DVD, “The Rise and Fall of Britain and America” is designed to help you do that—to give you the knowledge you need to begin reading these prophecies in your Bible for yourself and to apply what you learn to the modern world around us today.

It is the understanding explained on that DVD that allowed this ministry to proclaim confidently that East and West Germany would reunite—37 years before the fall of the Berlin Wall. It’s how we understood—and proclaimed—that terrorism was coming to Western nations, long before Septmeber 11th. And it is what allows us to proclaim to you the biblical truth about the destruction of the United States BEFORE it happens. Anyone who wants more information will want today’s DVD, “The Rise and Fall of Britain and America,” so you can begin understanding these things for yourself.

Until then, let’s look at what the Bible says is coming on the United States unless the nation turns and repents of its sins. Here are seven curses the U.S. will ABSOLUTELY FACE in its future, unless it turns back to the God who gave it such prominence and power in the world. While they will not necessarily happen in this order, they WILL happen according to God’s sure word!

The first curse we’ll discuss today is TERRORISM.

In prophetic words recorded as warnings to ancient Israel, yet applicable to the United States and certain other nations today, God spoke of what would occur should the nation turn against Him, against His ways, and against His laws. We see in Leviticus 26 and verse 16 that God says,

“I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you….”

The events of September 11, 2001, grabbed the attention of the entire world, as around 3,000 people lost their lives in a coordinated terrorist attack against the most powerful nation on earth.

And while America and other nations have since increased their preparedness for future terrorist attacks, God’s word promises that, apart from national repentance, we have not seen the end. For if it is God who has appointed terror for a people, then it is only a RETURN to God that will bring that terror to an end.

Now, we stopped short in that verse in Leviticus, which also mentions the next curse on our list that is coming upon the United States in the days ahead. That curse is DISEASE.

Let’s return to Leviticus 26 and verse 16.

“I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart….”

While America may have one of the most advanced medical industries on the planet, God’s word prophesies that, unless there is large scale national repentance of her sins, rampant and unstoppable disease is on her doorstep.

Now of course, recent days have brought us the scourge of the coronavirus, joining a long list of new diseases to appear on the world scene and grab the attention of a worried public.

But if we think this is as bad as things will get, Bible prophecy warns us that we are sadly mistaken. In Deuteronomy 28 and verse 22, God tells a sinning nation through the mouth of Moses, “The LORD will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever….”

When God sends such things to a land due to the nation’s unwillingness to repent and change, then don’t expect any cure, vaccine, or quarantine to stop it.

A third national curse for disobedience described in prophecy is FAMINE AND HUNGER. We see God declare in Leviticus 26, verses 19 and 20,

“I will break the pride of your power; I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.”

It is hard to imagine, isn’t it? A nation  filled to the brim with food as the United States is—a nation whose surplus of food has been used to feed the hungry of OTHER nations—will be brought to a state of utter famine and hunger.

I believe that there would be panic in the streets of America if its mega-supermarkets were stocked with only HALF of the bread they normally hold. But imagine the panic if ALL the bread were gone! Your Bible says those days are coming for the U.S. unless it turns to God and repents of its sins.

The next four curses prophesied to come upon America are even more devastating than those we’ve discussed so far. You need to know what they are, and you need to know what you can do about them.

Military Defeat, Economic Collapse, and Slavery

It has been a solemn program today to be sure, but God Almighty will hold us accountable if we do not sound a warning. And the coming destruction of the United States is not a matter of guesswork or speculation. It is a matter of sin, repentance, and prophecy.

Let’s continue. So far, we’ve discussed three curses to come upon the U.S. in the days just ahead of us:

1. Terrorism
2. Disease
3. Famine and Hunger

A fourth curse on America described in prophecy is crushing national DEBT.

Of course, you may say that curse is already upon the U.S.! No nation in the world holds more debt than the United States. At the time this program was being created, the national debt, as reported by USDebtClock.org, was sitting at more than 23 TRILLION DOLLARS. That is enough U.S. one-dollar bills to stretch to the moon AND BACK more than 850 times!

Yet the U.S. currently has the confidence of the world, and its many foreign creditors don’t seem to mind the huge borrowing America is doing to make good on all of its promises. But the Bible promises that this confidence will one day crumble. As Deuteronomy 28 says in verses 43 and 44,

“The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.”

The U.S., used to being one of the wealthiest nations on earth, will learn what it is to be on the opposite end of that scale, as it discovers poverty and indebtedness. It will learn the ancient wisdom of Proverbs 22 and verse 7:

“The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.”

But the national downfall of the U.S. doesn’t end in the financial realm. Prophecies make plain that the United States will also experience COMPLETE MILITARY DEFEAT.

I know this is hard to fathom! Currently the United States of America possesses the most powerful, most well-equipped, and most technologically advanced military force in the history of the world. But Bible prophecy is clear about what will occur should America fail to repent and seek its Creator and Benefactor…

“The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth” (Deuteronomy 28:25).

We see a similar warning in Leviticus 26:17.

“I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you.”

I hope you understand at this point in our program that I don’t WANT these things to happen. I’m an American myself, and I love my country. I pray that, like ancient Nineveh did at the warning of the prophet Jonah, the U.S. will repent and change—will seek its God and come under the guiding hand of Jesus Christ, future King of kings and Lord of lords! But if it does not, then these things are assured—including the next curse on our list: America’s cities will be devastated. 

When the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, the world learned just how much destruction can be wrought by a single, powerful weapon. Yet, prophecy speaks of a time when an unrepentant America will feel the brunt of such urban destruction multiplied many times over. We read in Ezekiel 6 and verse 6,

“In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate, your idols may be broken and made to cease, and your works may be abolished.”

God says further in Leviticus 26,

“I will lay your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not smell the fragrance of your sweet aromas. I will bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it” (vv. 31–32).

As desolate as such conditions may sound, perhaps the most devastating of the curses to come unless the nation repents is the seventh on our list: SLAVERY among the nations of the world.

We see this reflected in many places, but consider this passage in Deuteronomy 28:

“Then the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other…. And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul” (vv. 64–65).

Passages such as verse 32 of the same chapter speak of men and women being parted from their children, never to see them again, much as what happened to so many Jews during the Holocaust of World War 2.

It gives me no pleasure to say these things. If anything, we say these things as a WARNING—as an attempt to wake the United States up to its spiritual condition! 

What can you do, if anything, about the days to come? Is this all there is to say about the future of the United States?

There are actions you can take, and there IS a silver lining to this cloud of doom and gloom! We will address those questions in the final segment of our program today.

The Return of Jesus Christ: Ultimate Hope for America, and the World
Today we’ve discussed seven curses that will come upon the United States of America unless its people repent of their national sins:

1. Terrorism
2. Disease
3. Famine and Hunger
4. Debt
5. Military Defeat
6. Devastated Cities
7. Slavery

While it may be hard to imagine some of these calamities coming upon the most powerful single nation in the world, we here at Tomorrow’s World need you to realize that, unless the nation repents, they are as sure as the setting of the sun.

But even in the face of such difficult news, there is hope—because God loves the people of the world, and that includes those in America. Such punishment is never inflicted by Him out of callousness or pettiness, but always to produce a restoration in the end. As we read in Hebrews,

“For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives” (12:6).

Humbled by their experiences, and ready to embrace the Eternal God they had rejected, the return of Jesus Christ and the beginning of His reign will result in a restoration for the people of America, and those of the other nations who felt the brunt of His fury due to their disobedience.

For all of these curses and trials, God’s purpose is one of love and mercy. He tells the United States, and other nations, very plainly how He feels toward them:

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

But you and I do not have to wait for Christ’s return to seek our God. Even if our nation—whatever country that may be—will not repent, there’s no reason that you and I cannot. Jesus warns all of us to be mindful of our own spiritual state, knowing that He has an eye on those who are willing to go against the crowd to seek Him and His ways:

“Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36).

We here at Tomorrow’s World are warning the United States—and all the nations of the world. Whether or not our nation repents may not be something we can control. But whether or not we, as individuals, repent is ENTIRELY up to us.

May all of us take heed. I know that we are praying that you will.

And I pray, too, that you will join us again next week. Gerald Weston, Richard Ames, and I, along with our guest presenter Rod McNair, will be right here, ready to explain the teachings of Jesus Christ, the prophecies of His coming and the Kingdom of God, and the good news of your future in Tomorrow’s World. See you right here, next week.

[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

What Is The Meaning Of Life?

It is one of the most profound questions of human existence, and virtually no one knows the answer—or if an answer even exists at all: “What is the meaning of life?”

On this episode of Tomorrow’s World, you will learn the answer to that question—and that answer will transform your life forever! Get ready, because it all starts right now!

Can Mankind Find The Truth On Its Own?

Greetings, and welcome to Tomorrow’s World!

In his popular book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, humorist Douglas Adams described a race of hyper-intelligent beings who felt burdened to finally answer the question of life, the universe, and everything.

After building a massive computer that spent 7 and a half million years calculating, the computer concluded that the answer was simply, “42.” As you can imagine, that answer brought little comfort.

But the meaning of life isn’t just a question for fictional philosophers.

Even King David, the poet-warrior of ancient Israel, famously asked in the Psalms,

“When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, WHAT IS MAN that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?” (Psalm 8:3–4).

What is the meaning of life? Do our lives have purpose?

Philosophers have sought the answer, only to come up empty.

For instance, Albert Camus, the famed French philosopher and Nobel Prize laureate, examined this question. In his book The Myth of Sisyphus, he notes that life clearly seems to have no purpose at all and wrestles with how then to justify living day by day.

“There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide.” (The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays, p. 3).

Philosopher Loyal Rue decided that we must somehow “invent” a meaning (what he called a “noble lie”) to DECEIVE OURSELVES into thinking that life is worth living.

“That which we have most deeply feared (that is, being deceived) is now presented as the ultimate source of our salvation from psychological and social chaos. The paradox of the human condition is that we are both damned and saved by deception…. The universe just is. [That is, it has no meaning.] The challenge of a noble lie is to reenchant the universe by getting us to perceive, in spite of ourselves, that its significance is objective.” (By the Grace of Guile: The Role of Deception in Natural History and Human Affairs, p. 279).

But if we leave the ivory towers of the philosophers and head into the world of hard science, we find little comfort there, either.

The late William Provine, popular evolutionist and biology professor, stated the conclusion of many of his fellow scientists very plainly:

“There are no gods, no purposes, and no goal-directed forces of any kind. There is no life after death. When I die, I am absolutely certain that I am going to be dead. That’s the end of me. There is no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning in life, and no free will for humans, either.” (“Darwinism: Science or Naturalistic Philosophy?—A debate between William B. Provine and Phillip E. Johnson at Stanford University, April 30, 1994,” Access Research Network, accessed November 1, 2018).

His views match those of Nobel Laureate in physics Steven Weinberg, who famously stated,

“The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless.” (The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origins of the Universe).

Such scientists often argue that one can simply make his or her OWN “meaning in life,” but what makes that “meaning” any different than the “Noble Lie” recommended by Loyal Rue? We aren’t just talking about what makes us temporarily happy or feel good about ourselves. We want to know the REAL MEANING of LIFE! We need to know that we’re fulfilling our purpose for being alive—that our place in the world has significance that lasts, that is rooted in those things that are real, eternal, and true. We need to know the meaning of life!

Philosophy and science give us nothing but cause to think that there is none. But they are wrong. In our next segment, we’ll begin to reveal and examine life’s very real meaning—a meaning that will change your life!

But first, let me give you an opportunity to get a copy of today’s free resource, Your Ultimate Destiny. This free guide allows you to explore the meaning of your life and to prove that meaning beyond the shadow of a doubt.

Your life is NOT meaningless! You DO have a purpose—a purpose that transcends life as you know it and is grounded in those things that are eternal and true. YOU WERE CREATED BY GOD TO HAVE AN IMPACT ON ETERNITY FAR GREATER THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE! Don’t let this opportunity pass by when you have the chance to learn so much. Just reach out to us by phone, email, or our website and get your own copy of Your Ultimate Destiny. There is no cost, no strings attached, and your information will not be given or sold to anyone. There’s nothing to lose and literally everything to gain.

The Bible Holds The Secret To Life’s Purpose

Welcome back! In the first part of our program we saw that philosophy and science, alone, cannot reveal the real meaning of life. While many great thinkers recognized that we need to believe life has meaning, the best most of them offer is that we should lie to ourselves about what that meaning is!

But hope built on lies is a lie, itself. Is there a real meaning to life?

YES! There IS a purpose for human life—yours and mine! That meaning is revealed to us by the CREATOR of life. Philosophers and scientists who will not recognize that they have a CREATOR are blind to the PURPOSE of their creation, and that meaning of life eludes them!

Yet the meaning of life ALSO eludes many who believe in a Creator! Most religious teachers can sometimes provide helpful insights into some aspects of life, but, frankly, the MEANING of life escapes the vast majority of them, too! Those who believe in God will often speak of going to heaven, or simply existing in God’s glorious presence forever.

Yet the true meaning of life, as revealed in their Bibles and yours, they fail to see. And those who do see it often reject it and declare it heresy—proclaiming it too great and glorious for God to allow!

In doing so, they reject the very purpose for which they, too, were created, and rob themselves and their followers of the greatest source of hope they could ever know!

Although the meaning of life is only truly understood by putting together Scriptures throughout God’s word, we get a glimpse of it in particular passages. The free resource that we’re offering today, Your Ultimate Destiny, will walk you through all the relevant passages, step-by-step, in a way that will make the meaning of your life undeniable! But today, let’s begin with baby steps.

Consider statements such as that of Ecclesiastes 12:13. King Solomon declared,

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.”

The Bible contains many similar statements. For instance, Deuteronomy proclaims,

“…what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good?” (10:12–13).

Jesus Christ mirrored these statements when He identified God’s greatest command to mankind:

“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment.” (Matthew 22:37–38).

Those who believe that Jesus came to ABOLISH God’s commandments TOTALLY MISUNDERSTAND the purpose of God!

Rather, Jesus’ teachings were consistent with the Ten Commandments, and He emphasized passionate devotion to them.

But how do they tie into the meaning of life? Is our purpose simply to obey God’s commands so that this life goes well for us? It can’t be. The Bible and human history are filled with faithful men and women, utterly devoted to God and His way, who were tortured and martyred for that devotion. How did God’s commands bring meaning and purpose to their suffering? When you or your loved ones are going through times of anguish, how is keeping God’s commands supposed to add purpose to your heartache or meaning to your suffering?

We must dig deeper. Jesus commands us not simply to keep God’s laws with our bodies, but with our minds and hearts.

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment…. You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:21–22, 27–28).

Jesus elevated the Ten Commandments such that we must strive to keep them with our minds and hearts! But why?

Because God’s goal is not to simply control our bodies, but to TRANSFORM OUR MINDS! Paul makes this PLAIN when he admonishes all of us in Philippians 2:5,

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…”

God longs to RADICALLY and FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE WHO WE ARE over the course of our lives!

But why? What is His purpose in doing so?

THAT is the question few ask! And yet that is the key to unlocking life’s purpose and meaning! Understanding why God seeks to make us more like Him in our hearts and minds lies at the very heart of life’s meaning! In our next segment, we will explain why that is and how that knowledge can provide us hope in even the most devastating trials.

First, I want to give you another opportunity to request your own copy of today’s free resource, Your Ultimate Destiny. This free guide will show you IN DETAIL, exactly what the purpose of life is. Order your own free copy of Your Ultimate Destiny today, and I will be right back to show how obeying God ties into the very meaning of life itself!

Your Destiny Is To Be Born Into The Family Of God

Welcome back! In the last segment, we discussed how we are to develop the very mind of Christ in our lives and how obeying God’s commands transforms us from the inside. Indeed, King David once wrote:

“The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul….” (Psalm 19:7).

But what is God seeking to accomplish in this transformation?

Even most Christians have no clue! Yet it is the very word of God.

GOD’S PURPOSE FOR YOUR LIFE AND MINE IS TO REPRODUCE HIMSELF—to ADD us to His glorious and eternal family! The Father and the Son are working now to create new Sons and Daughters of God, and THAT is the meaning of life! God made you and me to one day be GLORIFIED, living life on the same plane of existence that the Father and Son now inhabit, being granted power, glory, and honor forever, and inheriting the universe as His children!

Don’t let that idea fly by you. Regrettably, a lot of religious pablum gets shouted aloud today, and, as a result, some of the Bible’s most amazing things, these truths, are written off as religious mumbo-jumbo. Many speak of being a “child of God,” but those who throw those words around so easily almost NEVER FULLY GRASP what the Bible ACTUALLY SAYS!

If you have children, aren’t they growing up to be human beings, just like you are? Not something lesser, like chickens or dogs. But human beings! You know sometimes people tell my sons that they look like me—which mortifies them, since I think they hoped to be better looking!

REAL LIFE tells us that our children grow up to be LIKE US.

Then WHY would we think that when the Bible says we are to become CHILDREN OF GOD it means anything LESS than we are to become LIKE GOD HIMSELF! Existing in glory—possessing power and might—experiencing life at a completely different level, as a FULL CHILD OF GOD!

THAT is the plain teaching of your Bible, the meaning and purpose of life! Yet it is resisted by many who claim to believe the Bible.

How could they miss it? Often because they will not read the Scriptures AND accept what they plainly say, in the manner a child would. Consider these passages.

In 2 Thessalonians, Paul says we were chosen for salvation, quote, “to which He called you by our gospel, for the OBTAINING of the GLORY of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

(2:14).

Paul follows what it means to be children of God to its logical conclusion—noting in Romans 8, verses 16 and 17, that God’s Holy Spirit “…bears witness with our spirit that we are CHILDREN OF GOD, and if children, then HEIRS—HEIRS of God and JOINT HEIRS WITH CHRIST, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be GLORIFIED TOGETHER.”

Notice: What Jesus Christ inherited, WE will inherit—and notice, too, that God wants to GLORIFY us together with Jesus Christ.

Allow yourself to accept what that means. Jesus Christ is now glorified, sitting at the right hand of His Father. The book of Revelation says that His eyes now burn like fire and His voice sounds like the sound of many waters. Yet as Jesus Christ now is, the Bible says the faithful are destined to become! Paul explained this in 1 Corinthians 15, noting that “…as we have borne the image of the man of dust [that is, Adam], we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man [that is, Christ]” (v. 49). This is why he says in the very next verse that “…flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” (v. 50).

The Apostle John makes this understanding plain. In 1 John, chapter 3, beginning in verse 1, he writes,

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (vv. 1–2).

The picture is absolutely plain! A child in the womb IS YOUR CHILD, but it’s not until BIRTH that your child finally sees you! The child is finally free to begin the life he was meant to live and he sees you for the first time: the parents the child was created to resemble.

So, too, according to John, do Christians not see what THEY are destined to be until the return of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the saints. Then, like children emerging from the womb, we will FINALLY see our destiny! As John says, “…when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”

The biblical passages that paint this picture are far too many for today’s program! You need to get a copy of today’s free booklet, Your Ultimate Destiny, and take the opportunity to go through all the verses yourself! Seeing is believing!

But let’s summarize, my friends, noting that—if the purpose of our lives is to SHARE CHRIST’S GLORY, HIS INHERITANCE, HIS RULERSHIP UNDER HIM, HIS IMAGE, HIS APPEARANCE, HIS FORM, AND HIS FATHER—isn’t the Bible making our purpose plain?

The meaning of your life, your purpose for drawing breath, is to one day become a LITERAL, FULL CHILD OF ALMIGHTY GOD. Not a “metaphorical” child of God, not an “in name only” child of God, not some watered-down “religious talk” child of God. A FULL-FLEDGED CHILD OF GOD, sharing the same divine, dynamic, powerful life and plane of existence as your Father and Jesus Christ!

THIS is life’s meaning, and when we understand the full implications of it, it transforms EVERY ASPECT OF OUR LIVES. We’ll discuss that next.

But first, let me give you one last opportunity to request your own free copy of this life-altering free resource, Your Ultimate Destiny. This free guide will show you in detail exactly what the purpose of life is. You need to know YOUR meaning. Don’t let this opportunity pass. So call the number and get your copy right now, and I’ll be right back to explain how this understanding revolutionizes life.

Our Greatest Hope: Joint Heirs With Jesus Christ

When you understand that the meaning of life is to become a LITERAL child of God for all eternity, experiencing life like He does, the answer to King David’s question about why God cares for man begins to be clear. That question and its implications, are discussed in the book of Hebrews, in chapter 2:

“For [God] has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. But one testified in a certain place, saying: “What is MAN that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You take care of him? You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of Your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in that He put ALL in subjection under him, He left NOTHING that is not put under him. BUT NOW WE DO NOT YET SEE ALL THINGS PUT UNDER HIM.” (Hebrews 2:5–8).

Many scholars recognize that this is speaking of the entire UNIVERSE—that God will give the entire universe to us. But they do not understand the REASON WHY.

God DOES intend for humanity, for YOU, to take dominion of all things, the entire universe, under Him and under Jesus Christ, who is King OF KINGS.

Let’s read further:

“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him… BRINGING MANY SONS TO GLORY, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them BRETHREN…” (Hebrews 2:9–11).

Though many will not see it, the Bible makes the meaning of life very plain to those who will trust its words like a child.

Understanding the meaning of life provides hope, purpose, and perspective. The Apostle Paul commented on this perspective in Romans, chapter 8:

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the GLORY which shall be revealed in us.” (v. 18).

In fact, he says that the glory God intends to reveal in YOU is actually the hope of the entire universe:

“For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the REVEALING of the SONS of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the GLORIOUS LIBERTY of the CHILDREN of God.” (vv. 19–21).

Understanding this destiny gives meaning to our struggles in life. When your burdens feel as though they may crush the life right out of you, when temptations grow so strong that they begin to feel as though they cannot be resisted, when sickness, despair, or heartache seems to be all you will ever know…

Understanding that God has destined you for so much more—that there is MEANING in your life, and that seeking the mind of Jesus Christ in those troubles, seeking to face them as He would and to grow through them to reflect Him ever more perfectly in your patience, your character, and your love for others… That will stir your determination, solidify your devotion, and strengthen you to stand up again and FACE your challenges, knowing that Your Father is working WITHIN those very circumstances, lovingly creating something remarkable within you…something that is destined to change the entirety of Creation, itself.

There IS a meaning to life. YOU HAVE MEANING AND PURPOSE. And I pray that you will come to see it, believe it, and embrace it. Because once you do, you will never be the same again.

We’ve barely scratched the surface. Please don’t forget to request today’s free offer, Your Ultimate Destiny.

And please don’t forget to come back next week. Gerald Weston, Richard Ames, and I, as well as our guest presenter Rod McNair, will be here waiting for you, ready to share the end-time prophecies of the Bible, the true teachings of Jesus Christ, and the good news of Tomorrow’s World. Take care.