USA - Doomsday Clock 90 Seconds to Midnight
The Doomsday Clock—which shows how symbolically close the world is to nuclear Armageddon—is to remain at 90 seconds to midnight.
Scientists have listed reasons for keeping its hands the closest they have ever been to “Doomsday”—but stopped short of nudging it further forward.
The threat of a new nuclear arms race, the Ukraine war and climate change concerns were all factors, they said.
The clock is set annually by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
The Doomsday Clock was created in 1947 by J Robert Oppenheimer and fellow US scientists who had developed the atomic bomb.
Bulletin president Rachel Bronson told the BBC that “every major country, including the UK, is investing in their nuclear arsenal as if nuclear weapons are usable for a very long time. This is a very dangerous time… leaders are not acting responsibly.”
In 2021, the UK increased the cap on its warheads from 225 to 260, potentially 35 more warheads, and the country’s nuclear force is on high alert. Since the war in Ukraine began, there has been rhetoric from senior Russian figures suggesting Moscow’s nuclear weapons could be used against the UK.
Former Bulletin of Atomic Scientists member and Doomsday Clock adviser, Sig Hecker, has visited North Korea’s nuclear facilities seven times as part of a scientific research program and estimates it could have 50 to 60 nuclear warheads by now.
-www.bbc.com, 23 January 2024
Arno's Commentary
The Doomsday Clock originated in 1947 with a group of atomic scientists in Chicago. In 2024, the war in Ukraine and the development of AI kept the clock at 90 seconds to midnight. At the end of the so-called Cold War in 1991, the clock showed 17 minutes to midnight.
The world is concerned, and rightly so, considering the developments in some African countries, in Haiti, Russia’s war against Ukraine, and the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack, upon which Israel subsequently declared war on Hamas. But when we go back in history, we find that there is much less chance for wars today than several centuries ago. When doing research, one finds not hundreds, but thousands of different wars listed, particularly on the European continent.
Today, it’s all but impossible to imagine war within the European Union; these nations are so deeply interconnected that there is no return to individual nationalism that could result in war. That can be said for the American continent as well. While there are flareups and military actions within the 35 sovereign nations on the continent (North and South), a full-fledged war is out of the question.
We notice the headline that speaks about nuclear Armageddon. Quite obviously, there will be none. Armageddon is associated with supernatural, diabolical forces, as recorded in Revelation 16:14: “For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” The unity of the world is for a very specific purpose: “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them” (Revelation 17:14a). These are spiritual events taking place in the invisible world.
Later in Revelation, we read: “And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army” (Revelation 19:19). There is no geopolitical power on planet earth that can “make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.”
The world’s population will fully realize that Armageddon has come upon them, and is issued by God the Creator. We read in Revelation 6:16: “And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.”
Chapter 9 ends: “Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts” (v. 21). People know the origin of Armageddon: “And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds” (Revelation 16:11).
How the battle of Armageddon ends is documented in Revelation 19:20, the fulfillment of 2 Thessalonians 2:8: “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” No need for nuclear bombs, fighter jets, tanks, guns, etc.
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
