When Jesus was describing conditions just previous to the end of this Age, He said “you will hear of wars and rumors of war.” (Matthew 24:6) In a broad sense, that’s true of all years. But 2017 was different. It was rife with rumors of warfare at a level perhaps never seen on earth before.
Two nations figured prominently in those threats. One or both of them may one day make up part of an alliance known in Biblical prophecy as the “kings from the east.” (Revelation 16:12)
Of course, I’m speaking of China and North Korea.
The Eurasia Group says that China leads all geopolitical risks in the coming year. To begin with, their war production is off-the-charts. Their state of the art factories are working round the clock producing futuristic weapons specifically designed to defeat the strengths of the United States military.
And some of them, such as the DF-17 missile that utilizes hypersonic glide technology, have western military leaders worried.
China is even working feverishly to engineer genetically-modified super-soldiers.
Just how serious is China? Recently, China’s president Xi Jinping gave a three hour speech outlining China’s plans for world domination within 30 years. And that was just what he was willing to reveal in public!
It goes without saying that 2017’s poster boy for rumors and threats of war was North Korea’s maniacal dictator Kim Jong-un. During the year, North Korea tested a series of ICBMs that eventually yielded a missile potentially capable of striking any target in the United States — or the world, for that matter.
Kim also boasted that North Korea had tested its first hydrogen bomb. Seismic data from that region suggests that he may have been telling the truth.
What’s more worrisome is that in December, Kim’s regime announced that it will continue preparing “pre-emptive attacks with nuclear force.” “Pre-emptive” means they’re getting ready to fire the first shot.
As a result, nations across the Pacific region began seriously preparing their responses to a nuclear conflict.
And just as 2017 was fading into the sunset, reports came from Japan that North Korea is already loading anthrax into ICBMs. The presence of anthrax in the blood of a recent defector seems to confirm that North Korea is engaged in a serious bioweapons program.
How’s that for “rumors of war?”