Shadows of Conflict: Beyond the Battlefield

It’s my mama’s birthday today. My mom was born about a year after World War II started. She would be not yet 5 years old when Germany surrendered, and that war came to an end.

I was born during the Vietnam War and still have images of the sights and sounds I heard on the evening news when I was a very young girl.

On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in an escalation of a war that started back in 2014. The invasion was the largest attack on a European country since World War II. It is estimated to have caused tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilian casualties and hundreds of thousands of military casualties.

Israel is at war with Hamas — a conflict following a horrific rampage on October 7, 2023, in which militants from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another extremist group, launched attacks that killed more than 1,400 Israelis and took more than 240 hostage. - (vox dot com)

Currently there are 32 ongoing conflicts in the world right now, ranging from drug wars, terrorist insurgencies, ethnic conflicts and civil wars. – (wisevoter dot com)

What is a war?

Oxford says it is “a state of armed conflict between different nations or states or different groups within a nation or state.

War is also defined as an active conflict that has claimed more than 1,000 lives.

Has the world ever been at peace?

According to an article I found on the New York Times website, of the past 3,400 years, humans have been entirely at peace for 268 of them, or just 8 percent of recorded history. Estimates for the total number killed in wars throughout all of human history are as high as 1 billion.

But before all of this there was a war that resulted not in deaths, but in a “casting-out”.

“Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him…Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” Revelation 12:7-12 ESV

Satan knows his time is short; he knows. 1 Peter 5:8 says, your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

His goal? Seek and destroy. Why? He knows his time is just about up. The war to end all wars is just on the horizon and he knows his time of tormenting human beings is almost done.

But we are not left to our own devices and our own strength. 1 Peter goes on, “Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 5:9-11 ESV

Resist him and after a little while God will restore you; confirm you; strengthen you; establish you.

I love the word ‘confirm’. “To establish the truth or correctness of something previously believed, suspected, or feared.”

Who among us does not want a little confirmation? I sure do!

I have to be honest, I long for the day when Jesus defends me and sets straight those who made fun of my beliefs or my religion. I long for the day when Jesus will restore and strengthen me. It’s coming friend, but there must first come some very dark days. War is not over yet. But here is the amazing thing, the Bible tells us about the last war.

The Bible talks about a final conflict. It is depicted as a great battle between the forces of good and evil in Revelation 16:16. It mentions a place called Armageddon where they gather for battle. I promise you, you want to be marked with the Seal of God, not the mark of the beast, by the time these events begin to unfold; these events being the Seven Last Plagues. There are no second chances after the plagues begin to fall.

“Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”

“So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.

“The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea.

“The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say,

“Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was,

    for you brought these judgments.

For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,

    and you have given them blood to drink.

It is what they deserve!”

And I heard the altar saying,

“Yes, Lord God the Almighty,

    true and just are your judgments!”

“The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.

“The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.

“The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east. And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. (“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.” Revelation 16:1-16 ESV

The 7th and final plague to fall on human beings who chose not to accept the gift of eternal life from Jesus Christ, will be hail.

Have you ever been in a hail storm? I have picked up pieces of frozen ice that were about the size of a pencil eraser. I have seen videos of people caught on the freeway in some crazy hail storms that shattered windows and smashed cars and kids and adults alike screaming with fear.

The current record for largest hailstone belongs to an almost 8 inch stone (pictured) that fell in July 2010 in Vivian, South Dakota, weighing in at almost 2 pounds!

On October 5, 2010 in Phoenix, Arizona, hailstones - some exceeding 2 inches in diameter - pounded cars, smashed windows and blasted apart roof tiles and shingles. The storm caused more than $2.7 billion in property damage, putting Arizona atop the 2010 list of states with the most insured-property losses.

A quick online search will show you event after event of hailstorms and the massive amount of damage they do.

The most recent event, according to Wikipedia, was on June 21 of this year in Morrison Colorado. An evening severe thunderstorm produced several inches of hail, some stones measuring up to the size of golf balls and tennis balls. Over 90 people attending a Louis Tomlinson concert at Red Rocks Amphitheater were treated on-site as a result of hail related injuries. Seven people were hospitalized.

Friend, the hail that is coming as the 7th and final plague to ever fall on humanity makes all of that other hail, look harmless, perhaps even inviting.

“The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake…And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.” Revelation 16:17-21 ESV

Jesus invites us to let Him in. If you have not done so already, accept Jesus as your personal Savior. He did to save you from the agony of the 7 last plagues. He died and rose again so that you too can have power over the grave, should you die before He comes a 2nd time. He died and rose again and now sits at the right hand of His Father interceding for you and for me. Accept that intercession. Accept His gift of eternal life. This war is almost over. Jesus is coming soon to get His people and take them back to heaven to live for 1,000 years. What happens after that is truly something you do not want to miss out on. Life with Jesus on earth made new.

The prophet Isaiah penned a description of the new earth that I have loved for many years.  It is a promise and a sneak peek at our future, after heaven.

“For behold, I create new heavens

    and a new earth,

and the former things shall not be remembered

    or come into mind.

But be glad and rejoice forever

    in that which I create;

for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy,

    and her people to be a gladness.

I will rejoice in Jerusalem

    and be glad in my people;

no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping

    and the cry of distress.

No more shall there be in it

    an infant who lives but a few days,

    or an old man who does not fill out his days,

for the young man shall die a hundred years old,

    and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.

They shall build houses and inhabit them;

    they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

They shall not build and another inhabit;

    they shall not plant and another eat;

for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,

    and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

They shall not labor in vain

    or bear children for calamity,

for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord,

    and their descendants with them.

Before they call I will answer;

    while they are yet speaking I will hear.

The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;

    the lion shall eat straw like the ox,

    and dust shall be the serpent's food.

They shall not hurt or destroy

    in all my holy mountain,”

says the Lord.” Isaiah 65:17-25 ESV

by Jeanette Stark – Tuesday, November 21, 2023.