Gerald E. Weston | Page 26 | Tomorrow's World

Gerald E. Weston

Will God Forget Your Children?

Current Air Date 6th October 2021
Gerald E. Weston

What is happening to our children? A great transformation is occurring right before our eyes, as emerging adults abandon traditional values, and move into a brave new world, a world that portends great dangers for our future. How can parents protect their children against ideas and values so different from their own, ideas they recognize as dangerous, to their children and society as a whole? There are answers!

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

A Changing World, and Not for the Better

What is happening to our children? A great transformation is occurring right before our eyes, as emerging adults abandon traditional values, and move into a brave new world—a world that portends great dangers for our future.

I don’t have to tell you that times are changing, and at lightning speed. Many are concerned at what they see. Our world has always had its challenges, but something radical is occurring, especially among so-called Millennials and Generation Z.

What does the future hold for our children and grandchildren? Where is it leading, and WHY is it happening? How can parents protect their children against ideas and values so different from their own, ideas they recognize as dangerous to their children and society as a whole? There are answers! Stay tuned.

Values and Virtues Without God?

A very warm welcome to all of you from those of us here at Tomorrow’s World.

On today’s program, we’re asking the question, “Will God forget your children?” And we’ll find the answers in the pages of your bible.

Ominous trends ought to be a concern to every parent and grandparent.

Consider the socialist trends emerging among Americans classified as Millennials and Generation Z. One may argue for more socialist ideas, such as universal health care, but what is troubling is that many individuals promoting this progressive socialist agenda are also totalitarians who want to shut down free speech and all opposition; and that combination is very troubling.

Anyone who refuses to toe the politically correct line is bullied and shouted down. And this is not unique to America. It’s happening in Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. Meetings are disrupted and sometimes riots ensue. Some professors openly dock grades of those who refuse to give in to their progressive ideas. And a panoply of pronouns must be used to describe one’s classmates. Pronouns such as Ze, Zir, Xem, and per are adding to and even replacing gender specific pronouns, such as he, she, her, and him. How ironic that the same people calling for tolerance, diversity, and stemming bullying, have become intolerant bullies that exclude anyone who thinks differently from them.

However, not every emerging adult is giving in to these assaults on the English language and forced political correctness, and some are using absurdity to demonstrate absurdity. For example, in protest to these policies popping up all over university campuses, this headline appeared in the Washington Free Beacon:

University of Michigan Student Now Officially Referred to as “His Majesty” (Graham Piro, November 24, 2019).

University life is not what it once was. Today we hear of campus “free speech zones,” “trigger warnings,” “microaggressions” and for those suffering defeat at the ballot box, days off, complete with stuffed animals. So how did we get to where we are?

It’s easy to view our changes only in terms of mere politics, but they go much deeper than that. Our politics is the result of our values, and values do not arise from empty space. Our world is descending into chaos, to a greater degree than we might imagine, because we no longer have consensus on the source of moral values. It’s not that mankind has not tried to come up with consensus, but apart from a power higher than man, at the end of it all, it’s nothing more than personal opinion.

Some years ago, having recognized that many would not accept biblical authority, there was an attempt on the part of some to come together on values for which everyone could agree. One such effort came from former United States Secretary of Education William Bennett, and his Book of Virtues. I’ve used it many times, reading from it at our Living Church of God summer camps. In it, Mr. Bennett compiled short stories on the following ten virtues:

Self-Discipline

Compassion

Responsibility

Friendship

Work

Courage

Perseverance

Honesty

Loyalty

And,

Faith

This was an admirable attempt to promote positive values, but when examined carefully, not everyone agrees with them. For example, let’s look at “Honesty.”

How honest is the proverbial used car salesman? What about our politically elected leaders? And let’s not let the news media off the hook! But let’s not stop with car salesmen, politicians, and the media. Much closer to home, how many parents lie to their own children about Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny? Think about it! Do we all agree that honesty is a virtue? Apparently not!

Then there is the virtue of “Work.” Does everyone agree that honest labor is a virtue? Again, apparently not. Today we hear calls for a guaranteed wage for everyone, even for those able-bodied who choose not to work. There have always been freeloaders, but here we have political leaders desiring to enact into law a right to be lazy. This is in direct contrast to the so-called Judeo/Christian work ethic, a hallmark of Western culture. A promise of guaranteed income for those who refuse to work contradicts a biblical injunction. Notice it in 2 Thessalonians 3:10:

“If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10).

So, once you take God out of the picture, there IS no agreement!

I’ll explain HOW it is that we find ourselves in such a mess as we see about us.

The Dangerous Impact of False Christian Values

According to Pew Research, Millennials are classified as those born between 1981 and 1996, and Gen Z are those born after 1997. It’s easy to look at each group as monolithic, everyone walking in lockstep, all conforming to the same set of values, but this is inaccurate and it’s unfair. While there are certain stereotypes, each group is made up of individuals. At the same time, each group was, and is, heavily influenced by their upbringing and their peers.

My parents’ generation, for example, was heavily influenced by the Great Depression and World War 2, my generation by the Vietnam War and introduction of recreational drugs into a large body of youths. But not everyone in my parent’s generation learned the same lessons from the depression, and not everyone in my generation despised the military and used drugs.

So it is with Millennials and Gen Z. Nevertheless, we see a generalized radicalization among the young, as they cast off the wisdom of previous generations. Why? Here is some wisdom being cast aside to the peril of those who do so:

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption…” (Galatians 6:7–8).

And the biblical book of Hosea gives us this warning in chapter 8 and verse 7:

“They sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind” (Hosea 8:7).

Simply put, we are bringing many sorrows upon ourselves, and it’s going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better.

Christianity for far too long has been reduced to fairy tales, such as the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. Many churches today focus on entertainment and require little of their followers. Music, while important, has become the main event. And don’t expect people to dress up for God—come just as you are. Other churches focus on repetitious ritual. The true gospel has been replaced by gospels promoting cheap grace, health, and wealth.

False Christianity has robbed mankind of his true purpose. The gospel that Jesus preached for 3½ years prior to His death, burial, and resurrection is no longer part of the message. People were held in check for centuries by the fear of burning forever in hell fire, something people can no longer reconcile with a loving God—and something, by the way, that the Bible does NOT teach. And, predatory priests have destroyed faith and left many disillusioned.

Having cast God aside, where are we now? The Bible gives surprising answers. Paul’s second letter to Timothy gives a prediction of the end of the age, our day today.

“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come” (2 Timothy 3:1).

Now we’ve read this many times on Tomorrow’s World, but let’s do so again as it accurately describes these last days of mankind’s misrule. Here it is in 2 Timothy chapter 3:

“For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:2–5).

The bottom line is that far too many are rejecting God, and the Bible predicts a specific consequence as a result.

Reject Those Who Reject God

Why is it that many children reject the values of their parents? Why is it that for many the joy of having children turns into conflict and estrangement, a nightmare of drugs, and grandchildren conceived out of wedlock? Even small children openly defy parents and adult authority in general. It was not always this way, but what we see today was predicted long ago by the prophet Isaiah.

“As for My people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O My people! Those who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths” (Isaiah 3:12).

The majority of our Western world does not take God seriously. Even many professing Christians reject His commandments, claiming they were done away at the crucifixion, and instead replace them with man-made rules. Days founded in paganism and heathen practices are substituted for days God set aside for worship and special instruction.

Our leaders fight and squabble like children. How often we hear the question, “Where is the adult in the room?” And consider the endless sexual scandals that rock the corridors of government, industry, and the media. And when it comes to celebrities, there seems to be no shame. Is this not an accurate description in Jeremiah 5 of our time?

“Your children [adults acting as children] have forsaken Me... When I had fed them to the full, then they committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses. They were like well-fed lusty stallions; every one neighed after his neighbor’s wife” (Jeremiah 5:7–8).

Does God take this lightly? Not at all. Notice verse 9:

“‘Shall I not punish them for these things?’ says the LORD. ‘And shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?’” (Jeremiah 5:9).

Someone might wrongly suggest that this applied only to the Jews of that day, but even if that were so, we see the mind of God in this. God does not take this kind of behavior lightly. And does not this passage in the fourth chapter of Jeremiah describe us as well?

“For My people are foolish, they have not known Me. They are silly children, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge” (Jeremiah 4:22).

When adults act as silly children, what can we expect of their children? Here’s the answer to the title of today’s program, “Will God forget your children?” Here’s the answer, straight from your Bible. Hosea 4, verse 6:

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…. Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children” (Hosea 4:6).

How ironic in the age of knowledge, when knowledge is exploding as never before, God says His people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. Yes, we are wise to do evil, but have no knowledge to do good. The knowledge we have rejected and forgotten is the law of God, and God tells us that because of this, He will forget our children!

Today our children are manipulated and mis-educated, led about by leftist professors and a compliant media. What we see today are mixed up children, not knowing whether they are boys or girls. Even to suggest what was almost universally accepted even a few years ago, that there are only two genders, is now enough to be censored. Free speech is dying.

Damage to our children starts early. As if raising children was not difficult enough during normal times, kindergartners today are being indoctrinated with ideas they are too young to comprehend. Social engineers have been at work for decades, as seen from the 1989 book Heather Has Two Mommies. It’s advertised as age appropriate for 3-year olds and up, and it’s far from the only early influence on children. Such attempts to confuse our children have only become worse.

You’ve likely seen reports regarding “Drag Queen Story Hour,” (DQSH). This is where drag queens, dressed in their finest, read stories to small children. According to DQSH, this is done in:

“…libraries, schools, bookstores, museums, summer camps, afterschool programs, and other community spaces” (“Drag Queen Story Hour,” 2018).

Their official website goes on to explain:

“DQSH captures the imagination and play of the gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models. In spaces like this, kids are able to see people who defy rigid gender restrictions and imagine a world where people can present as they wish, where dress up is real” (ibid.).

It is difficult to imagine why any responsible parent would bring his or her child to such events, but DQSH has chapters scattered across the United States, Puerto Rico, Sweden, and Japan.

While you personally would not likely take your child, other parents do! The point is that if you want your child to be compassionate, yet not indoctrinated in this “brave new world,” you must be vigilant, and you must begin counteracting these influences at the earliest ages.

The Deception of Religious Syncretism

A growing number of parents are taking their children out of government schools to teach them at home. This avoids that outlet for politically correct indoctrination, but is this the total answer?

Not every parent is equipped with or able to homeschool his child, and formal education is far from the sole source of error in our current world. Many homeschooled children spend hours each week on Social Networking Sites, and these carry with them a variety of hazards. Conspiracy theories and misinformation abound on the Internet, such as promotion of the idea that the earth is flat.

Children are easily manipulated, as seen when a group of them barged into the office of United States Senator Dianne Feinstein demanding her support for the Green New Deal. They had been misled to believe that the world has only twelve years left due to climate change. Senator Feinstein was neither persuaded nor amused.

Here is another evil regarding the Internet. Dr. Paul McClure of the University of Lynchburg discusses the danger of religious syncretism, that is, the blending of doctrines and practices between various religions. In effect, each person develops his own religion. Now that may seem good to some in our postmodern world, but isn’t truth more important than individual beliefs? And don’t fall for that nonsense that there are “no objective truths.” He explains the problem in his treatise titled, “Faith and Facebook in a Pluralistic Age: The Effects of Social Networking Sites [SNS] on the Religious Beliefs of Emerging Adults.”

Dr. McClure, using data from the National Study of Youth and Religion, writes:

“…[R]ecent changes in technology have accelerated the growth of the pornography and gambling industries. Other studies have shown that Internet use may underwrite antisocial behaviors for adolescents (Wang et al. 2012) and that SNS are cited as contributing factors in divorce proceedings (Valenzuela, Halpern, and Katz 2014). Parents especially fret about the latent effects of modern technologies (Dill 2012). According to these concerned parents, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter not only expose adolescents to a plurality of worldviews that may be at odds with what they have learned at home…. [But] As a result, new social technologies often pose a threat to parents who wish to impart specific moral or religious teachings to their children” (“Faith and Facebook in a Pluralistic Age: The Effects of Social Networking Sites [SNS] on the Religious Beliefs of Emerging Adults.” Paul McClure, Sociological Perspectives, 2018, p. 819).

McClure then goes on to explain this unintended consequence of Social Networking Sites:

“I find that emerging adults who use SNS are more likely to think it is acceptable to pick and choose their religious beliefs, and practice multiple religions independent of what their religious tradition teaches…. These findings suggest that exposure to broader networks through social media leads to increased acceptance of syncretistic beliefs and practices” (McClure p. 818).

Equally troubling is that changing immigration laws and patterns have

“…contributed to the influx of Eastern religions…” (McClure p. 819).

Due to the influence of these Eastern religions, we see an increase in America and other Western nations in astrology, vegetarianism, transcendental meditation, and transmigration of souls—all ideas contrary to biblical doctrines.

The Bible tells us that if we forget God and His values, He would forget our children, but the Bible also gives good news. We read these comforting words from the prophet Isaiah concerning the future, after we have learned a most painful lesson:

“All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children” (Isaiah 54:13).

On today’s Tomorrow’s World program, we have briefly explored the problem. We’ve seen that our rejection of God has brought about an increasing rejection by God of our children. However, there are strategies you can employ to protect your children. It IS possible to “Raise Good Kids in a Bad World.” Our specially prepared DVD gives practical and workable advice. You need this DVD, and it’s yours free for the asking. So pick up the phone and ask for today’s special offer. Do so before you forget it.

Richard Ames, Wallace Smith, and I, along with guest presenter Rod McNair, will continue to share with you the teachings of Jesus Christ, the good news of the coming Kingdom of God, and the exciting end-time prophecies and their meaning. So, be sure to subscribe to our channel so you don’t miss another Tomorrow’s World video!

Will America Have a Second Civil War?

2020 September-October
Gerald E. Weston


Tattered American flag second civil war

What do the current unrest and economic turmoil portend for the United States and the future of its people? Does the Bible really mention America in prophecy, and—if so—what does it foretell?

The Prince of Peace

2020 September-October
Gerald E. Weston


Gerald Weston

It was over at last! The Japanese surrendered on August 15, 1945, and the world was at peace for the first time since Adolf Hitler launched his invasion of Poland nearly six years earlier. Not every nation entered the war at the same time, and the European and Pacific theaters of military action ended some months apart, but in August 1945 the “world” war was over. Since that day, 75 years have passed.

Jeremiah's Amazing Commission

Current Air Date 12th August 2020
Gerald E. Weston

The Biblical prophet Jeremiah has an amazing message for our world, especially the English-speaking world.  Why is it that so few know about this man when 52 chapters in the Bible cover some forty years of his life?  What do you personally know about him? Do you know to whom his prophecies were directed?  Do you know the time of their fulfillment?  And do you know Jeremiah's warnings for us today?

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

Bible Prophecies Being Fulfilled

The Biblical prophet Jeremiah has an amazing message for our world, especially the English-speaking world. Why is it that so few know about this man when 52 chapters in the Bible cover some forty years of his life? What do you personally know about him? Do you know to whom his prophecies were directed? Do you know the time of their fulfillment? And do you know Jeremiah’s warnings for us today?

Stay with me here at Tomorrow’s World, because I’ll be explaining one of the most amazing prophecies ever given through a human being. It’s a shocking and fascinating story that explains much of what we see in today’s world. This is news that you need to hear. So, stay with me as I’ll be back in a moment!

Jeremiah the Prophet

Welcome to Tomorrow’s World, where today I’m going to give you fascinating information from the Bible that I’m sure most of you have never heard. And it’s important information that is affecting your life right now.

If you were to ask many young people today who Jeremiah was, they would likely think of a silly song and reply “a bullfrog.” But the prophet Jeremiah was no bullfrog, and he didn’t proclaim a silly song. His message came from God, and we will see those predictions being fulfilled right before our very eyes.

God called Jeremiah while he was young, probably in his teen years. He describes himself as “a youth,” and he prophesied about 40 years.

In Jeremiah chapter 1 and verse 5, we read of how important this man was to God.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).

Then comes God’s commission to Jeremiah. This is something, my friends, that people read right over and never think twice. For that matter, they probably never stop to consider, even once, what these words mean:

“Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant” (Jeremiah 1:9–10).

Jeremiah wasn’t a man spewing personal opinion. He had a commission from God. And it would be God’s words in his mouth. But,

What does it mean to be set over nations and Kingdoms?

What does it mean to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down?

What was meant by, to build and to plant?

The first point is understandable. While Jeremiah’s messages were clearly for the Jews and the city of Jerusalem for the time in which he lived, his messages go far beyond that. He prophesied against Egypt and Babylon, Moab, Damascus, and more. We read these prophecies in chapters 46 through 51, and the timing of some of them was for a long time into the future, as seen from these statements:

“But it shall come to pass in the latter days…” (Jeremiah 49:39)

“‘Yet I will bring back the captives of Moab in the latter days,’ says the LORD…” (Jeremiah 48:47).

Perhaps the most famous passage that applied to the future is that of the promised New Covenant. Paul speaks of this is Hebrews 8, but he quotes directly from Jeremiah 31. I’ll only read a portion of this for the sake of time:

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah…. I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts… I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:31, 33, 34).

Clearly, Jeremiah’s prophecies were for far more than his nation or for his time, but what does it mean in the commission that he would, “root out and pull down, destroy and throw down, build and plant?”

The Children of Israel Still Exist!

We are looking today at Jeremiah’s amazing commission. So far, we’ve seen that he was a prophet for more than his own people and for more than his time. Let’s review God’s commission to Jeremiah as given in the first chapter of the book by his name and in verse 10:

“See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the Kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant” (Jeremiah 1:10).

Jeremiah was to prophesy the destruction of his own nation, how it was going to be pulled down, destroyed, and thrown down. This also applied to other nations, but what was meant by,

“…to build and to plant”?

It’s impossible to understand this without knowing something that few people are ever taught in their churches today. Only those who read the Bible, and in this case, what is called the Old Testament, can understand. Yes, it’s impossible to really understand Biblical prophecy, and the full message of the Bible, without this knowledge. And yet it’s right there in front of us, and as John Ogywn titles the Preface to his booklet on The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy,

The Lost Master Key – Found!

So let’s go back to Jeremiah’s prophecy regarding the New Covenant and look at the obvious. This time I’ll read from the Apostle Paul in the book of Hebrews, chapter 8:

“…Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah…” (Hebrew 8:8).

What is the obvious in this passage of scripture? Simply put: We are reading here of two separate nations—the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Now why is this important? The beginning book of the Bible known as Genesis clearly shows that God was working through one man and his family and gave great and wonderful promises to that family. Here is the beginning of those promises as given to Abram, if he left his country and his father’s house:

“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2–3).

Perhaps this chart will clarify what I am describing. Abram’s name was later changed to Abraham, and he had two sons of significance: Ishmael and Isaac. The descendants of these two sons have been at war in the Middle East for centuries. According to the Bible, the promises to Abraham were expanded and made more specific through Isaac and his descendants.

Abraham’s son Isaac had two sons: Jacob and Esau. Their descendants are also part of the problem in the Middle East. And Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, had twelve sons. The firstborn was Reuben. Judah and Joseph were two other sons among the twelve. Judah is the father of the Jews. God’s spiritual and physical blessings were divided between Judah and Joseph. Note this clear and amazing statement in 1 Chronicles 5 and verses 1 and 2:

“Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel—he was indeed the firstborn, but because he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel, so that the genealogy is not listed according to the birthright; yet Judah prevailed over his brothers, and from him came a ruler, although the birthright was Joseph’s…” (1 Chronicles 5:1–2).

Why is this important? Most church going people have no idea that the terms Israelite and Jew are not synonymous. People think the terms are entirely the same, but as we are seeing, one promise went to the Jews while another promise went to an entirely different tribe of Israel. Also, again, church goers are often ignorant of the fact that the promises to Israel are only partially fulfilled in Christ. Now that is the most important promise, of course, but not the only one.

Most professing Christians are aware of the spiritual promise of grace through Jesus Christ, but after a short break, we’ll look at some of the physical promises made to the children of Israel, and knowing what they are, brings our modern world to life.

A Scepter of Promise

As we’ve seen, Judah was given the promise of a ruler that we understand to be that of the Messiah, Jesus the Christ. But it was more than a single king. It was a dynasty of kings that would continue throughout time. In the 49th chapter of Genesis, we see Israel predicting what would become of his sons at the end of the age. Notice the time setting in verse 1:

“And Jacob [Israel] called his sons and said, ‘Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days’” (Genesis 49:1).

As part of Judah’s blessing we read the following in verse 10:

“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people” (Genesis 49:10).

The marginal reference says that a scepter is, quote: “a symbol of kingship.” Shiloh is a reference to the Messiah. Great emphasis in the Bible is put on the dynasty of David, but many casual readers and scholars believe that his dynasty ended when the house of Judah fell and went into Babylonish captivity. And here is where the prophet Jeremiah comes in, but first let’s notice this dynastic promise made to David in 2 Samuel 7:

“When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Samuel 7:12–13).

Now some people think that this promise was conditional on obedience of the kings to follow, but this is not the case. Neither was this promise of establishing his throne forever referring to the Messiah. Yes, the Messiah, Jesus Christ is the ultimate fulfillment, but the promise as stated here refers to physical kings ruling from generation to generation. How can we be so sure of this? Well, notice these strong words that follow in verses 14–16:

“…If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:14–16).

Did Christ commit iniquity or sin? Not hardly, or He could not be our Savior! So this was talking about David’s dynasty, that it would be established forever. This promise is also recorded in the 89th Psalm.

“Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before Me; it shall be established forever like the moon, even like the faithful witness in the sky” (Psalm 89:35–37).

Do you see that, my friends? God swore by His holiness; He would not lie to David. As sure as the sun and the moon, His seed would have an everlasting throne. So why do people think it ceased to exist from around 586 B.C. until the coming of Christ some 600 years later? And did Jesus come as a king sitting on the throne of David at that time?

Now we come back to Jeremiah’s amazing commission. After about 40 years of warning the Jews that destruction was on the way unless they repented, the end finally came. In the 9th year of king Zedekiah, Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar besieged the city of Jerusalem and, two-and-a-half years later, breached the walls. Seeing the inevitable, King Zedekiah and the men of war attempted to escape by night, but were captured. What happened next we read in Jeremiah 39:6–7:

“Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes in Riblah; the king of Babylon also killed all the nobles of Judah. Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with bronze fetters to carry him off to Babylon” (Jeremiah 39:6–7).

Thus ended David’s dynasty…or so people think. But now we come to one of the most amazing truths of scripture that is almost universally overlooked. If you can stop the sun or moon from coming up, then the covenant God made with David can be broken—so say the scriptures! But before we get to the most interesting part of this story, let me give you another part that anyone who reads his Bible should know.

After the twelve tribes of Israel came out of Egypt, they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years before entering the promised land. They were ruled as a theocracy, until the people demanded a king like all the nations around them and a man by the name of Saul was chosen. But Saul disobeyed God, and when he died, David became king. David’s son Solomon followed him, but in his later years Solomon turned away from obedience to God and God fulfilled what we read earlier would happen if David’s son disobeyed. Ten of the twelve tribes of Israel rebelled against Solomon’s son, King Rehoboam. Thus the nation was divided into two—the house of Judah and the ten-tribe house of Israel. They never again were united. What people call Israel today is made up of Jews, along with the tribe of Benjamin and some from the tribe of Levi.

In the course of time, the house of Israel went into captivity to the Assyrians. One hundred years later the house of Judah (the Jews) went into Babylonian captivity. And that brings us to how Jeremiah’s strange commission was fulfilled, just as God said it would be.

But before giving you the details of this absolutely fascinating story, I want to remind you again of today’s offer: The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy. It’s given absolutely free of charge as others have already paid for it. Even the shipping and handling is without cost to you, so you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

The Throne of Judah: Moved, But NOT Lost!

I left you with the explanation that the Israelite nation was divided in two. The ten tribes that broke off from king David’s grandson formed a new nation known as the house of Israel. They went into captivity around 720 B.C. and never returned to the land now called Israel. The Jews and Benjamites, along with some from the tribe of Levi, were known as the nation or the house of Judah, and went into captivity to Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon. Now we pick up the story from Jeremiah.

About a year and a half before the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., Jeremiah gave a prophecy from prison. He spoke of a time when both houses would return.

“And I will cause the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel to return, and will rebuild those places as at the first” (Jeremiah 33:7).

The entire 33rd chapter is filled with good news.

“‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the LORD, ‘that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah’” (Jeremiah 33:14).

And then he gave a remarkable prophecy. If a prophet of God was ever wrong, Jeremiah must have been, for notice what he predicted less than a year from what appeared to be the end of David’s dynasty.

“For thus says the LORD: ‘David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel’…. ‘Thus says the LORD: ‘If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season, then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, My ministers’” (Jeremiah 33:17, 19–21).

And if that were not clear enough, he went on to say:

“If My covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, then I will cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (Jeremiah 33:25–26).

Again, these bold predictions were made a year or less before David’s dynasty, in the minds of most scholars, ceased to exist. Never again did the Jews have a Jewish king ruling over them, except for Christ who was born to be king and will return to take over David’s throne in the future, for as we are told in Zechariah 14:9:

“And the LORD shall be King over all the earth…” (Zechariah 14:9)

The context is clear. It is talking about a time yet to come. Don’t believe me just because I say this. Read the whole of Zechariah 14 for yourself.

Were God’s predictions through Jeremiah wrong? Or are we missing something? As we have seen, Zedekiah was taken into captivity and all his sons, heirs to the throne, were killed. But, notice this little known detail! Those who were not taken captive to Babylon were taken to Egypt. You can read of this in Jeremiah chapters 41 through 43. We are told specifically that among those who were taken to Egypt, were:

“…the king’s daughters…and Jeremiah the prophet and [Jeremiah’s scribe] Baruch…” (Jeremiah 43:6).

Now let’s go back to God’s predictions through Jeremiah. Notice carefully where He says David’s throne would be—no longer over the house of Judah (the Jews), but over the house of Israel! That is the northern ten-tribed nation!

“For thus says the LORD: ‘David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel’…. ‘If My covenant is not with day and night…then I will cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’” (Jeremiah 33:17, 25–26).

Remember that Jeremiah’s commission was:

To root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down

And also,

To build and to plant

David’s throne was pulled down and planted in another nation and the evidence is with us today. Sadly, I’m out of time, but the story of how God, through Jeremiah the prophet, fulfilled His prediction is found in our publication, The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy. Truly truth is stranger than fiction.

Be sure to come back next week at this same time when Richard Ames, Wallace Smith, Rod McNair, and I will continue to share with you the teachings of Jesus Christ, the good news of the coming Kingdom of God, and the exciting end-time prophecies and their meaning. See you then.

Cold War Secrets Revealed!

Current Air Date 7th July 2021
Gerald E. Weston

When elephants clash, smaller animals do well to get out of the way, but who can hide when planet earth is left in rubble? The Cuban missile crisis of 1962 nearly brought the world to the unthinkable, a nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union—in popular parlance, Armageddon. Although it was understood during those thirteen tense days of October that it was a close call, what we know today is enough to send chills through the spine of the most calloused individual.

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

Nuclear War and Beyond

When elephants clash, smaller animals do well to get out of the way, but who can hide when planet earth is left in rubble? The Cuban missile crisis of 1962 nearly brought the world to the unthinkable, a nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union—in popular parlance, Armageddon. Although it was understood during those thirteen tense days of October that it was a close call, what we know today is enough to send chills through the spine of the most calloused individual.

Now, decades later, we know the truth about just how close we came to the end of the world as we know it. On today’s Tomorrow’s World program, I’ll reveal to many of you for the first time, just how close we came, and it was a whole lot closer than we knew at the time. In addition, we’ll see that there have been far more Cold War nuclear near misses than are generally known. And I’ll be offering a free resource, Armageddon and Beyond, that shows a nuclear holocaust is not fiction, but also, that there is good news for our future. I’ll be right back with shocking details, so don’t go away!

The Truth About the Cold War Now Understood

Welcome to Tomorrow’s World where we hold out a real hope for a better world. But we also don’t shy away from reality, and the facts are, that there are far more dangers than many realize.

The Cuban Missile Crisis is ancient history to most people alive today. After all, October 1962 was nearly six decades ago, and anyone under the age of 70 probably only has vague memories of it, if any at all. That frightening time is ancient history to younger generations, when two superpowers with weapons of massive destructive power came to the brink of war. Even for those of us who lived through those perilous days, and are old enough to remember, details have faded, and even we did not know the whole story.

We might also add that the subject of history has been de-emphasized in public education in the West and replaced by Social Studies. That substitution for history seemed innocuous enough when I was in school in the late 50’s and early 60’s, but the replacement of history by social studies continues to evolve. In fact, it was a clever sleight of hand. Words have meaning and social studies is not the same as history! Today’s secondary schools and universities, and even primary schools, pump leftist propaganda into young minds in an attempt to transform society and re-write history.

So how can we blame younger generations for lacking understanding of events for which they were never taught and have no context? Even their parents may not know. If they learn anything about the Cuban Missile Crisis it is likely that the Soviet Union and Cuba were victims of Western imperialism. This does not imply that all are in the dark. Not all schools are alike. Some have strong courses in both ancient and modern history; and many very bright young people study on their own and are well-informed. But sadly, this is far from the norm.

Following World War 2, feature films in theaters (at least in the United States) were often preceded by cartoons and newsreels. I still remember how Fidel Castro and his Cuban revolutionaries were praised in these newsreels, but following his successful overthrow of the Batista regime, to the dismay of America and its Western allies, Castro declared his allegiance to communism and the Soviet Union. A potential enemy only 90 miles away created a problem for the United States and Canada. And what affected America would have consequences for the rest of the world.

The reality of the problem became apparent when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev secretly moved more than 41,000 troops into Cuba between July and October 1962. But more troubling was the discovery that Khrushchev had also ordered medium and intermediate range missiles, capable of carrying nuclear weapons that could reach Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit, New York, and Toronto. That was a bridge too far for the North American alliance, and was a direct challenge to John F. Kennedy, the young American president.

Kennedy consulted with top military brass and advisors and chose what history shows was the wise response—to quarantine Cuba. That was a word used to avoid the word blockade—which would amount to a declaration of war. Most of this was known to anyone keeping up with the news at the time, but there was far more going on under the surface that we would have to wait decades to learn, after formerly “Top Secret” documents came to light. Only then would we know how close a call it was. Even today, most people are completely unaware of what has been revealed.

As the crisis unfolded, the Soviet Union sent four submarines to the waters around Cuba. One of them, submarine B-59, was intercepted by the American navy on October 27. It was surrounded and small depth charges like hand grenades, not designed to destroy a sub, but to give a warning, were dropped to force it to the surface. Those on the receiving end of these charges had a very different view from that which was intended. But what the United States did not know at the time was that B-59 was carrying two nuclear tipped torpedoes, each of which carried about two-thirds the explosive power of the Hiroshima A-bomb, enough to take out much of the nearby U.S. fleet.

Conditions aboard the diesel-powered submarine were already uncomfortable, with temperatures hovering around 100 degrees F, (that’s about 38 Celsius). And carbon dioxide build-up contributed to foggy thinking. Further, being below the surface and out of communication with Moscow for so long, those aboard B-59 had no idea what was going on above them. Officers wondered, “Had war begun between the superpowers already?” This was a real possibility. What happened next is bone chilling in retrospect. According to AtomicHeritage.org:

“Vadim Orlov, an intelligence officer aboard the submarine, recalled how the American ships “surrounded us and started to tighten the circle, practicing attacks and dropping depth charges. They exploded right next to the hull. It felt like you were sitting in a metal barrel, which somebody is constantly blasting with a sledgehammer.” ... Orlov remembered Captain Valentin Savitsky shouting, “We’re going to blast them now! We will die, but we will sink them all—we will not disgrace our Navy!” Political officer Ivan Semonovich Maslennikov agreed that they should launch the torpedo” (“Nuclear Close Calls: The Cuban Missile Crisis,” Atomic Heritage Foundation, June 15, 2018).

Had they launched that torpedo, our world would be vastly different than it is today. How different? That’s the rest of the story that has been kept secret.

Armageddon at the Door?

It was October 27, 1962 during the two-week standoff between the two superpowers when the Soviets moved medium and intermediate range missiles into Cuba. A Soviet submarine had been detected trying to get through the American quarantine of Cuba, and the captain of Sub B-59 and a second high ranking official were ready to launch a nuclear tipped torpedo into the U.S. naval fleet. What prevented them? Before the break I said I would reveal the rest of the story. But first, I want to explain what the results would have been if they followed through with that decision.

What is generally unknown, and only revealed with the release of top secret documents decades later, was the planned American response, had that torpedo been launched. The American public and their counterparts in their Western allies in Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, France, and Germany, were deliberately kept in the dark during those years about America’s overwhelming superiority in nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them. We learn from AtomicHeritage.org, that:

Soviet bombers at the time ‘could deliver about 270 nuclear weapons to U.S. territory.’ By contrast, the United States had thousands of warheads that it could deliver via 1,576 Strategic Air Command bombers as well as 183 Atlas and Titan intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), 144 Polaris missiles via nine nuclear submarines, and ten newly-built Minuteman ICBMs” (“Nuclear Close Calls: The Cuban Missile Crisis,” Atomic Heritage Foundation, June 15, 2018).

President Kennedy’s predecessor, Dwight Eisenhower understood war only too well and tried during his presidency to hold the line on the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Nevertheless, the U.S. nuclear arsenal grew massively during his eight years as the leader of the free world. He also believed that there could never be a limited nuclear exchange. Once one bomb went off, it would quickly escalate. Therefore, Eisenhower commissioned his generals to put together a “Single Integrated Operational Plan” (SIOP). This would ultimately reflect the doctrinal thinking of the Air Force’s Strategic Air Command (SAC), as created under the leadership of General Curtis LeMay and his successor General Thomas Powell.

“General Curtis LeMay’s SAC had one war plan, as a naval officer described it in 1954: to leave the Soviet Union ‘a smoking, radioactive ruin in two hours’” (Ike’s Bluff, Thomas, p. 397).

Few Americans, much less others, knew anything about the kind of response a nuclear attack by the Soviet Union, no matter how limited, would bring from the United States. As explained in Evan Thomas’ book, Ike’s Bluff: President Eisenhower’s Secret Battle to Save the World, an overwhelming retaliation would descend upon:

“...the Soviet Union, Red China and the Soviet satellite states in a single cataclysmic blow if the United States were attacked. Under the SIOP, the United States would shoot the works, firing off its entire strategic arsenal of 3,500 weapons. The plan was an exercise in ‘overkill,’ said [George] Kistiakowsky. It would, the science adviser said, ‘kill four or five times over somebody who is already dead.’ Coming back from the briefing for his noon nap, Eisenhower told his naval aide, Captain Pete Aurand, that the SIOP “frightens the devil out of me”” (Ike’s Bluff, Thomas, p. 394).

Overkill was considered necessary since it was unlikely that all bombers would get through to deliver their destructive cargos. The incoming newly elected President Kennedy was briefed on SIOP in December 1960, but he may not have fully comprehended it the first time. As Thomas explains:

“Sometime later, after another SIOP run-through, the young president-elect would remark to his secretary of state, Dean Rusk, with a mixture of wonder and disgust, ‘And they call us human beings.’ But Kennedy and the presidents who followed him throughout the Cold War and beyond did not trim back the SIOP. It in fact grew more complex and fantastically apocalyptic” (Ike’s Bluff, Thomas, p. 399).

A Top Secret report was declassified in 2011 regarding SIOP as it existed in 1962. Estimates of those killed by such a massive response were 212,000,000 people in the USSR and communist China, with an additional 4.4 million in Poland and other Eastern European countries who were under the rule of the USSR (“U.S. War Plans Would Kill an Estimated 108 Million Soviets, 104 Million Chinese, and 2.6 Million Poles: More Evidence on SIOP-62 and the Origins of Overkill,” Unredacted.com, November 8, 2011).

Radioactivity would no doubt take multiple millions of lives in the aftermath, perhaps the reason one report estimated a figure as high as 600,000,000. And this does not include millions of casualties inflicted on the free world, and although perhaps a less overwhelming response, anyone who thinks the Soviet planners were any more civilized is naïve.

So what was it that prevented nuclear Armageddon nearly six decades ago?

Nuclear Safety NOT Guaranteed...

As we saw in the previous portions of this program, those aboard Soviet submarine B-59 were in the dark as to the state of the world above them. This was October 27, 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the U.S. Navy was signaling with small depth charges for the Russians to surface. But Soviet Captain Savitsky and political officer Maslennikov, thinking they were under attack and war may have already begun between the superpowers, agreed to launch a nuclear tipped torpedo. What stopped them?

The Soviet Union was as worried as the United States about an accidental nuclear war. Therefore, their protocol required assenting voices from the three top officers aboard the sub. As explained on AtomicHeritage.org:

The last remaining officer, Second Captain Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov, dissented. They did not know for sure that the ship was under attack, he argued. Why not surface and then await orders from Moscow? In the end, Arkhipov’s view prevailed. (“Nuclear Close Calls: The Cuban Missile Crisis,” Atomic Heritage Foundation, June 15, 2018).

That is how close we came to Armageddon—a single dissenting voice!

But do you realize this was only one Cold War near miss involving nuclear weapons? We live in a far more dangerous world than most realize. Other classified documents released in recent years fill in details of other near catastrophes. “Broken Arrow” is a military code used for an accidental event that involves nuclear weapons or components thereof. An April 6, 2019 report revealed the United States and Soviet Union have had at least 32 admitted broken arrow incidents. In six of them, weapons were lost and never found, or deliberately left undisturbed. Most of these involved U.S. weapons, but since the Soviet Union is much more secretive about such things, it is almost certain that there were more.

“The first broken arrow occurred on February 14, 1950, when a U.S. Convair B-36… crashed in northern British Columbia after jettisoning a Mark 4 nuclear bomb into the Pacific Ocean. The bomb was never found…” (“‘Broken Arrows’ - The World’s Lost Nuclear Weapons,” Marcia Wendorf, InterestingEngineering.com, April 6, 2019).

Another broken arrow incident took place at an air base in England.

“On July 27, 1956, a U.S. B-47 bomber was on a training exercise when it crashed into a nuclear weapons storage facility at the Lakenheath Air Base in Suffolk, England. The entire crew of the aircraft was killed. Known as an ‘igloo’, the storage facility contained three Mark 6 nuclear bombs, one of whose detonators had been sheared off in the accident. Investigators concluded that it was a miracle that the bomb hadn’t exploded” (ibid.).

But that wasn’t the only miracle. Here is another incident where “luck” was on our side.

“On January 24, 1961, a B-52 carrying two three- or four-megaton nuclear bombs was over Goldsboro, North Carolina when it suffered the structural failure of its right wing. The aircraft broke apart and the two nuclear weapons were released. On one bomb, three of its four arming mechanisms had activated.

In 2013, a Freedom of Information Act request confirmed that only a single switch out of four had prevented the bomb’s detonation. One of the recovery team recalled, ‘Until my death, I will never forget hearing my sergeant say, “Lieutenant, we found the arm/safe switch.” And I said, “Great.” He said, “Not great. It’s on arm.”’” (ibid.).

What if a broken arrow detonates by accident near enemy territory? What if a nation or rouge state uses one of these weapons against a foe? Will it start a chain reaction that could imperil human life?

The Way of Escape From Armageddon

So far on Tomorrow’s World, we’ve looked at a few close calls for mankind. Nuclear disasters are not so remote as we might have thought. But now, let’s look ahead to the future. According to the Bible, and according to Jesus Christ, there is a crisis coming such as the world has never known. As it tells us in Matthew 24:22:

“And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened” (Matthew 24:22).

Will “Armageddon” involve nuclear weapons? Probably, but what other weapons are out there that we don’t know about? The Biblical book of Revelation describes some kind of weapon that will not kill, but for a period of five months will:

“…torment… 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” (Revelation 9:5-6).

We cannot deny that there are difficult days ahead, but the fact is that most of us have far greater concerns than fearing an immediate nuclear Armageddon. As with all my generation and those on either side of it, we lived in the shadow of the mushroom cloud. Some of us more than others. My friends and I grew up on Strategic Air Command bases where we understood that in case of war, we were sitting at ground zero, and we had our personal nightmares, but rarely shared them.

It might surprise you, but Bible prophecy was a comfort to me and remains so for many who understand it. During the Cuban Missile Crisis I understood there was nothing to worry about, and despite Soviet sub B-59, that assessment was correct. Yes, it was a tense and critical time when one mistake could have blown the world apart, but according to the Bible, it wasn’t God’s time or place. Now how can I say such a thing?

Some people bring up Jesus statement in Matthew 24:36 that says:

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only” (Matthew 24:36).

That is certainly true. We cannot even predict the year, but this passage in no way negates literally dozens of scriptures that show certain events must first take place. In fact, this very scripture that they quote is taken out of context where it shows that we CAN know the approximate time. Notice what it says a few verses earlier.

“Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things [as given before], know that it is near—at the doors!” (Matthew 24:32-33).

Knowing what is ahead, both the bad news and the good news, gives peace of mind. Without regard for some awful things on the horizon, those who understand Biblical prophecy can have peace and comfort. There IS a way of escape from Armageddon. Even more importantly, there is the realization that although we will all die, eternal life is offered to us, as Jesus promised:

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:25-26).

Then He asked the woman that He was speaking to a question that equally applies to you and me:

“Do you believe this?” (John 11:26).

It behooves each of us to know why we were born. Life is precious and precarious—far more resilient than we think at times, but far more fragile in the overall picture. We’re temporary and life is short. There is a God and He gives us the opportunity to live forever. He is evaluating the decisions we make, whether we love Him with all our heart, mind, and being; or whether we follow the crowd and fear man more than God. How amazing it is that so few spend any time searching to prove that God is real, that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, and what His purpose is for mankind. It seems that most are more interested in what is on television tonight, or whether “my team” will win this weekend.

Now if you want to understand more of what is prophesied for the last days, call, write, or go to our website to order Armageddon and Beyond. Everything we have to offer is, of course, sent free of charge, and we don’t sell your contact information to anyone—we never have, and we never will. To learn more about future events that will affect you and your family, continue to watch Tomorrow’s World, where Richard Ames, Wallace Smith, and I, along with guest presenter Rod McNair, will bring you more information about today’s issues and the glorious hope of tomorrow’s world.

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