contents - Description: Description: Description: Description ...

identified: “And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue
Armageddon.” Armageddon is a combination of the two Hebrew words ‘har’ and ‘magedon,’
which roughly translated, means the ‘mount of Megiddo.’ It is located on a 300 square mile area
on the south side of the valley of Megiddo, or the Plain of Esdraelon (Jezreel), southeast of Mt.
Carmel, which extends to the Jordan Valley. Megiddo, which stood at the entrance of a pass
across the Carmel mountain range, was the capital of the area of Canaan when it was attacked by
Joshua. The port city of Haifa is located at the Valley’s western entrance, and no doubt will be
utilized as the drop-off point for troops who are transported by naval vessels. While this area is
identified as the area where the armies of the world gather, Joel 3:2, 12, 14, pinpoints the battle
area as the valley of Jehoshaphat, which was known as the “valley of decision” and according to
tradition is believed to be located near Jerusalem, in the Kidron valley.
It seems obvious that the military might of the Antichrist will use any means at their disposal
to do battle against an invincible adversary, and the extent of our present weapons technology is
our nuclear capability.
On August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. The heat from
this blast was 127,200,000 degrees Fahrenheit, or three times hotter than the center of the sun.
Although the 20 kiloton explosion affected only a four square mile area, its intensity killed
50,000 people, and wounded another 55,000, On August 9, 1945, the second bomb, was dropped
on Nagasaki, and people ten miles away were paralyzed, and even those with only slight wounds,
eventually died. President Harry Truman said: “The force from which the sun draws its power
has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East.” In 1953, a movie was produced
which recorded the results of “Operation Ivy,” a military test of a hydrogen bomb detonation in
the Pacific which took place in November, 1952. The blast caused an entire island to disappear,
turning it into deadly vapor and radioactive ash.
The concentration of the use of nuclear weapons in such a small area could possibly throw
the Earth off of its axis– producing disastrous results. An article in the September, 1975 edition
of Smithsonian magazine said: “Astronomical theories that attribute climate changes to shifts in
the Earth’s orbit or rotation on its axis; solar theories that propose that the Earth’s climate varies
in response to changed in the activity of the sun; and geophysical theories that link climatic
changes to events and interactions within the land-ocean-atmosphere...” These theories seem to
be corroborated by events described in the book of Genesis.
When the Earth was created, the weather was always clear and sunny. There was never any
rain. The vegetation was watered by the morning dew, which was why the people scoffed when
Noah warned of an impending flood– because they didn’t know what rain was. The pre-Flood
calendar was a perfect year of 12 months, with 30 days in each month. Now we have 365 a days
in a year. According to scientists, the reason for this is that the Earth has been moved away from
the sun by a million miles, resulting in 2% less heat; and the tilt of the axis is now 23-1/2
degrees, which accounts for the harshness of the seasons. The magnetic field was also changed.
This upsetting of the delicate balances of nature has been blamed for the reduction of the human
life span. Methuselah lived to be 969 years old, while Moses lived only to be 120.
The movement of the Earth off of its axis would initiate earthquakes, and volcanic activity;
affecting the topography of the Earth, and the poisoning of the waters. In addition, the volcanic
activity, because its ash, smoke and dust tend to stay in the air for long periods of time, will
screen out the light of the sun, as well as the moon and stars. Radioactive particles and the
igniting of sulfur deposits (brimstone) will poison the air. Will God allow the possibility of such
a devastation to take place– apparently not. It appears that there will be a preemptive first strike.