Fire, Smoke, and Brimstone

The Battle of Armageddon is predicted to be the last and greatest conflict of mankind. Even the non-believing world has adopted this Biblical term to describe the ultimate world war. Today, most people including the media closely associates Armageddon with the modern view of World War III, including massive armies doing battle on a global scale and a fiery nuclear holocaust that ends up destroying the entire world. Do you think it is just a coincidence that a similar picture of worldwide destruction by fire is described in the Bible whenever the final battles of the end times are predicted? The Bible calls this period The Great Tribulation, because there will be no other time like it.  In this section, we will see just how incredibly precise the Bible is when it comes to the prophecies of the final wars and the eerie correlation these predictions have to our current view of World War III and the known effects of nuclear explosions.

Fire Associated with Russia’s Attack

When Ezekiel predicted the descent of Magog (or Russia) through the Middle East (see The Attack of Russia), the Lord clearly said that there would be fire associated with their attack:

“And I will enter into judgment against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his hordes, and upon the many peoples that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.

Ezek. 38:22

“And I will send a fire on Magog, and among those who dwell securely in the coastlands; and they shall know that I am the Lord.”

Ezek. 39:6

In past generations, most people probably believed that the fire mentioned in these passages would be completely supernatural in origin; coming directly from God. After all Ezekiel does quote God as saying that He will cause this fire to be sent upon Magog and the other nations. Certainly it is possible that the fire and brimstone will be miraculously created and directed upon the countries which attack Israel as a judgment; however, with the development of nuclear weapons in our time, I am now convinced that the fire won’t be supernaturally created, but will be preternaturally produced from man’s predisposition for applying scientific knowledge for evil intent. Given the military technology of our day, it is more likely—in fact almost certain—that these prophecies are describing the start of a devastating nuclear exchange, which will be initiated out of a desperate conflict in the Middle East as Russia attacks Israel in the last days and the forces of the Antichrist respond. This doesn’t mean that God is not involved with these events. In fact, God’s Spirit will be the primary controlling force that will bring the nations to the point of Armageddon, because the people of the world have refused to repent of their sins.

The Bible actually indicates that there will be both supernatural forces engaged in the final battles as well as man-made forces that will come into play. When Russia attacks Israel, Ezekiel quotes the Lord as saying, “I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains” (Ezek. 38:21). At the same time he also says, “…every man’s sword shall be against his brother”. What these passages (and others) are saying is that on the one hand the battle will be supernaturally planned and orchestrated by God to gather the nations to the Valley of Megiddo for judgment, but on the other hand the battles will also be propagated by man’s own evil nature, which will cause the war to rapidly spiral out of control. As the Bible says, it is definitely in God’s heart to gather the nations to do battle at Armageddon (Zeph. 3:8) and he is planning and controlling the course of events to make this happen; however, it will also be the war-like nature of sinful men that will quickly escalate the final battles to the point of global destruction.  The Great Tribulation thus begins through a massive Middle East war as Russia attacks Israel and is countered by the forces of the West…[read entire article]