Wallace G. Smith

[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

Monster or Miracle?

Whales are among the most magnificent of earth’s creatures. Massive and majestic, they rule the oceans and inspire us to consider the wonder of life. Yet, many evolutionists claim that whales also provide powerful evidence for evolution—celebrated as clear examples of how life was not created by God, but rather evolved slowly over millions of years.

Is this claim true? Join us now on Tomorrow’s World, where we’ll take a close look at this whale of a tale.

Where Did Whales Come From?

Welcome to Tomorrow’s World! On behalf of myself and the crew behind the scenes, we’re delighted you’re here.

On today’s program, we’ll zoom in on one of the most popular icons of Darwinian evolution. We’ll also offer you the opportunity to request a free copy of one of our most thorough resources, Evolution and Creation: What Both Sides Miss. Be sure to watch for the information you need to get your free copy.

Some of the most famous words ever written are, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

The theory of evolution offers a different tale, of course. According to Neo-Darwinian evolution, life began as a microscopic organism—much like the simplest bacteria we find today. (It’s best not to ask where the bacteria came from.) This bacterium would experience small, random, genetic mutations as it reproduced itself. Most mutations would harm its offspring, but a small percentage would benefit it, so that it survived longer or reproduced more successfully. In this process, Charles Darwin suggested that nature rewards some random changes and punishes others. The theory of evolution proposes that these unguided processes accumulated changes over a few billion years that turned that initial bacterium into the vast variety of lifeforms we see today…millions of species of every shape, color, and size. Life, in ALL of its MARVELOUS COMPLEXITY, all from one simple organism, due to nothing but random, undirected processes—no intelligent Creator necessary.

Certainly, it is quite a tale! Frankly, given life’s complexity, it seems quite a leap of faith.

Does the evidence justify the leap?

Darwinists CLAIM much evidence, and today’s free offer dives deeply into many of those claims. But for today’s brief program, we’ll examine one considered a crown jewel in evolution’s case—a masterpiece thought to be an undeniable example of God-less evolution in action.

Enter, the whale! These magnificent creatures stir imaginations with their majestic appearance, their graceful motion beneath the waves, and their sheer power. Whales exist in wonderful variety in our oceans, and, as the largest animals on earth, they are a sight to behold.

AND evolutionists present WHALES as some of their best evidence that life has evolved. Here’s why.

According to evolution, as animals evolve over millions of years into NEW and DIFFERENT animals, they leave numerous TRANSITIONAL FOSSILS demonstrating that change. Embarrassingly, the potential transitional fossils that HAVE BEEN found are FAR FEWER than what SHOULD BE FOUND if evolution is TRUE.

But evolutionists believe WHALES are exceptions. Fossils appearing to illustrate whale evolution parade through textbooks and popular writings. As evolutionist and author Jerry Coyne writes,

“But we don’t have to imagine how whales evolved…. Whales happen to have an excellent fossil record, courtesy of their aquatic habits and robust, easily fossilized bones. And how they evolved has emerged within only the last twenty years. This is one of our BEST examples of an evolutionary transition, since we have a chronologically ordered series of fossils, perhaps a lineage of ancestors and descendants, showing their movement from land to water” (Jerry Coyne, Why Evolution Is True, 2009, p. 52).

Let’s look at this supposed evolutionary lineage. While some depictions include additional species, this diagram gives a good representative idea. Using the general timeline evolutionists claim,

• Around 52 to 48 million years ago, we see Pakicetus. Complete skeletons are rare, but fossils suggest Pakicetus was a four-legged land mammal a bit like a wolf, only one to two meters long.
• Next stop, 48 to 41 million years ago—a creature labeled Ambulocetus, which means “walking whale.” Ambulocetus was larger than its supposed ancestor Pakicetus, but still mostly land-based.
• Next, we see Rodhocetus 47 to 40 million years ago, showing features that would have benefitted the creature in moving through water.
• Finally, arriving at 40 [to 34] million years ago, we find remains of 50-foot long Basilosaurus and smaller Dorudon—fully aquatic animals like today’s whales, spending no time on land.

This fossil sequence—elongating bodies, limbs becoming flippers, nostrils moving around on the skull—is considered some of evolution’s best evidence—taking us from wolf-sized, land-dwelling Pakicetus, to whale-sized, sea-loving Basilosaurus. In fact, paleontologist and evolutionist Stephen Jay Gould once wrote,

“This sequential discovery of picture-perfect intermediacy in the evolution of whales stands as a TRIUMPH in the history of paleontology. I CANNOT IMAGINE a BETTER TALE for popular presentation of science, or a more satisfying, and intellectually based, political victory over lingering creationist opposition” (Stephen Jay Gould, “Hooking Leviathan by its past,” Natural History, May 1994, pp. 8–14).

It IS quite a tale! But is it true? Is this collection of creatures really the pristine example of evolution many claim it as? Or do problems swim beneath the surface? We’ll dive into details in a moment.

A Fictional Journey

We’ve discussed the celebrated sequence of fossils that evolutionists point to as “picture-perfect” evidence for whale evolution.

But is it? Is the tale created using these fossils true, or just a fish story?

As explained more deeply in today’s free resource, part of the challenge is that evolution tends to be ASSUMED FROM THE BEGINNING, and then that ASSUMPTION is used to INTERPRET the evidence.

Let’s look more closely at this fossil sequence.

First, we should understand that the creatures depicted in these diagrams are often partially reconstructed with artistic license. Complete skeletons are rare. Often, the evidence consists of skull fragments, a pelvis here, most of a leg there, and skeletons are made from multiple creatures—with MISSING bones simply guessed at.

As paleobiologist Nicholas Pyenson wrote concerning studying fossils to determine how whales’ supposed ancestors moved from land to water,

“…most early stem cetaceans [that is, presumed whale-ancestors] are known from FAR LESS COMPLETE SKELETONS than many ARTISTIC INTERPRETATIONS would indicate…. The INCOMPLETENESS OF THESE FOSSIL TAXA, especially for early quadrupedal [or four-legged] forms such as Pakicetus, underscores the challenges of reconstructing their ecology” (“The Ecological Rise of Whales Chronicled by the Fossil Record,” Current Biology, vol. 27, iss. 11, June 5, 2017).

When diagrams show a beautiful, complete, transitional collection of creatures, often you are looking at far more “artistic interpretation” than you might realize.

How do scientists and artists “fill in” missing parts and other features? Often by relying on evolution-based assumptions, tainting the “evidence” from the beginning.

Still, for the sake of argument, let’s ignore that. There are larger fish to fry. Let’s assume that scientists and artist’s imaginations are “spot on” and the creatures looked exactly as they appear to look in their impressive charts. And let’s assume that they existed at the very times they are claimed to have existed, 40 to 50 million years ago.

Part of what makes this tale so convincing is the chronological order of the sequence.

As Jerry Coyne explains, this ordering of fossils is crucial to their ability to serve as evidence of the transition:

“We see ancestral whales spanning the gap between their own landlubber ancestors and fully modern whales. If evolution were not true, fossils would not occur in an order that makes evolutionary sense” (Coyne, p. 57).

Dr. Coyne says that we see fossils in the order evolution tells us they should exist. If you found a fossil of a creature that was OLDER than a fossil of its supposed ancestor, evolution would be in trouble. Descendants have to come AFTER ancestors—if evolution is correct, the fossils have to be in order.

Frankly, a number of exceptions can be found that contradict this expectation, but today we’re focusing on WHALES. Is it true that we’ve NEVER found ANY whale fossils OUT of sequence?

No, it is NOT true. In 2011, researchers did JUST THAT. As the Associated Press reported,

“The jawbone of an ancient whale found in Antarctica may be the oldest fully aquatic whale yet discovered….

“A scientist not involved in the find said it could suggest that whales evolved MUCH MORE QUICKLY from their amphibian precursors than previously thought.

“Argentine paleontologist Marcelo Reguero, who led a joint Argentine-Swedish team, said the fossilized archaeocete [or, ancient whale] jawbone found in February dates back 49 MILLION YEARS” (Michael Warren, “Ancient whale jawbone found in Antarctica,” Associated Press, October 11, 2011).

According to these scientists, this was a FULLY AQUATIC WHALE, which poses a SERIOUS problem. This places fully aquatic whales BACK at least TEN MILLION YEARS or so—LONG BEFORE some of their supposed ANCESTORS. This is like discovering that your family tree only works if you were born BEFORE your great-great grandfather!

If FULLY AQUATIC whales ALREADY EXISTED alongside some of their most ancient SUPPOSED ANCESTORS—IN FACT, when whales were still supposedly LAND creatures—then something smells fishy. Either our “picture-perfect” story is falling apart, or we have a time-traveling whale on our hands.

Yet problems with our whale tale don’t stop there. We’ll look at a bigger problem in a moment.

Created for the Sea

It is one thing to talk about a land-creature slowly adapting to become a sea creature, but we should consider what ACTUAL changes are involved with such a transformation. How long would it take evolution to produce them?

Whale DNA analysis suggests that some changes could arise through LOSS of biological function. This is a legitimately proven way Darwinian processes can work, as described in today’s free resource. But creating BRAND NEW bodily structures and biological functions is entirely different.

And when you examine the whale’s features that are specialized for aquatic life, the list of adaptations is LONG. Let’s dip our toes in and look at a few features evolution would need to create to change a wolf-like creature to a whale. In his book Zombie Science: More Icons of Evolution, researcher and writer Jonathan Wells details many:

• The whale’s tail, or fluke, is remarkably complex, working through a specialized and coordinated system of tendons and muscles that land-based ancestors would not need.
• The fluke’s shape resembles airplane foils, serving a similar purpose in creating lift, though demonstrating BETTER engineering.
• Whales’ famous blowholes demonstrate a great deal of specified design. They are naturally CLOSED by default, not open, even above water. A system of specialized muscles anchored to the skull open a tissue around the blowhole whenever the whale needs to breathe—a system that would be foreign to land-based ancestors.
• Collapsible lungs and rib cages, with diaphragms oriented completely unlike those of land mammals, allow whales to achieve deep dives that would crush other creatures.
• The interior linings of the whale’s lungs contain fluids that allow them to repeatedly collapse and re-expand. The lungs of whales’ supposed land-based ancestors had no reason to produce these liquids.
• Can you hold your breath for one hour? A sperm whale can, and beaked whales can stay underwater for TWO hours. This is only possible with a far more efficient metabolism shift than land mammals are capable of, redirecting blood to the brain and slowing the heart.
• A male cetacean’s reproductive organs are inside the body to streamline the creature in water. Their location poses a problem, because reproductive organs must be protected from the body heat mammals generate, in order to prevent sterility. In whales and dolphins, this is accomplished by a system in which blood from the dorsal fin on their backs, cooled by being close to the water, is carried directly to the reproductive organs, absorbing the excess heat and carrying it back to the dorsal fin. Without these coordinated systems, the animal could not reproduce.
• Finally, how whales nurse their young is highly specialized, involving organs that emerge from slits in the mother’s body and deliver milk to the calf through a pressurized system, which is important because whale calves cannot suck the milk as land-based mammalian young do.

(Jonathan Wells, Zombie Science: More Icons of Evolution, 2017, pp. 104–109).

Truly, whales are a wonder of our world, beautifully designed to rule in their watery domain.

This is only a small sampling of the changes needed to convert a land-dwelling mammal into an ocean-dominating whale. Even if these hundreds of innovations WERE possible through Darwinian means, how long might such a series of changes take? Jonathan Wells notes in his book that the accepted time frame gives land-lubbing Pakicetus around eight million years to “evolve” into a true whale. Is that enough time?

To answer the question, Wells looks at studies on the rates of genetic mutation in creatures such as fruit flies and human beings, and reports on the work of population geneticist Richard Sternberg, who applied these rates to whale evolution. Noting that a study suggested that fixing only TWO coordinated mutations would take 100 MILLION YEARS for humans, Wells reports on the obvious conclusion:

“Assuming a generation time of twenty-five years for humans and five years for the ancestors of cetaceans [including whales], Sternberg pointed out that fixing just TWO mutations in the latter would take MILLIONS OF YEARS LONGER than the time available in the fossil record. So there isn’t enough time to fix even TWO mutations, yet we need HUNDREDS or even THOUSANDS of new mutations. Obviously, eight million years is not long enough to accumulate enough accidental mutations to turn a “walking whale” into a real whale—even if neo-Darwinian theory were right about the power of mutations (which it isn’t)” (Wells, p. 113).

Yet, as we’ve seen, the problem is WORSE than that, because the discovery of a FULLY AQUATIC whale that existed around the same time as land-lubbing Pakicetus means that all of these changes would have had to happen within only ONE TO THREE million years!

If these changes could not have happened in eight million years, they DEFINITELY could not have happened in three—let alone ONE.

We’ll put everything together in the next segment and replace this fish story with facts and truth.

The Answers in Genesis

My friends, the more one dives into the details of the supposedly “picture perfect” tale of whale evolution, the less it seems like a masterpiece and the more it seems like a low budget monster movie fit for Mystery Science Theater 3000—the sort that people watch not because it’s good but because it’s so much fun to poke holes in it and laugh at the bad special effects. Today, we’ve seen that the plot has chapters that happen in the wrong order, poorly developed characters, some of which show up in scenes they don’t belong in, and everything happening in a ridiculously impossible length of time that is way too short—like in bad soap operas, where a character has a baby one day, and by the end of the season, the “baby” is already old enough for high school!

If this “picture-perfect” illustration of evolution is this problematic, then what of supposedly lesser evidence? Though claimed to be “scientific fact,” evolution simply is not so.

So, where DID modern whales come from? Genesis 1 and verses 20 and 21 has had something to say about that for more than 3,000 years:

“Then God said, ‘Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.’ So God created GREAT SEA CREATURES and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.”

These magnificent creatures have a Creator! And HE is responsible for their remarkable design and engineering, their astonishing abilities, and their beautiful variety!

We should note, however, that it is wrong to assume the creatures God created cannot change at all, or that a great capacity for variety does NOT exist in living creatures. For instance, the whales of today may have changed somewhat from the original “sea creatures” of Day Five in the Genesis “Creation Week.”

Consider, when God created dogs on Day Six, do we imagine that meant He created every variety of dog EXACTLY as we see them today? Did Adam and Eve see VAST HERDS OF CHIHUAHUAS running across the plains? Or Great Danes, or Dachshunds, or St. Bernards?

No—apparently, He began with something much like a wolf, and from such magnificent beginnings, mankind has been able to tease out details, eliminate unwanted characteristics, and breed different varieties. Life’s design, including the REMARKABLE DNA molecule and its incredible programming language, is a tribute to a Creator of great forethought—something discussed and illustrated in today’s free offer. Yes, we can begin with a wolf-like dog and intelligently produce NEW dogs over time, like Chihuahuas and Great Danes. Yet, the idea of taking a wolf-like creature and producing a BLUE WHALE? As we’ve seen today, THAT is a different claim, entirely.

Yet, if THAT tale isn’t truly supported by the evidence, then what of the larger, grander tale of evolution in general? Not that a wolf-like creature can eventually become a blue whale—but that a BACTERIA can one day become a blue whale?

THAT fairy tale is one we’ll save for another day. But you can address it NOW with today’s free offer, Evolution and Creation: What Both Sides Miss. I hope you will order your free copy.

And I hope we will see you here at Tomorrow’s World next week, where Gerald Weston, Richard Ames, Rod McNair, and I will be waiting for you, ready to share the clear teachings of God’s word, what prophecy declares is coming in the days ahead of us, and Jesus Christ’s Gospel of His coming Kingdom. Until we’re together again, take care.

Thanks for watching all the way to the end! We hope today’s video was helpful for you, AND don’t forget to click here for today’s free offer. And also, don’t forget to subscribe, and to be notified when we put out future videos, just click on the bell.

[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

Trouble in the Streets and Around the World

The scenes are gripping. Streets filled with protestors. Buildings burning. Clashes with law enforcement. Masks and pandemic warnings. Racial tensions. Experts at odds. And the leaders we expect to bring order, balance, and solutions doing little more than tweeting, blaming, and posturing--inadequate, ineffectual, and focused on internal divisions and discord.

It seems as though civilization itself is going up in flames.

On our program today, we will review the state of the world right now, and we will seek to do what others won’t: We’ll look at the causes of this chaos--causes that most are unwilling to admit.

Join us for this episode of Tomorrow’s World, where we examine a world on fire.

Why is There No Peace?

Greetings, and welcome to Tomorrow’s World.

I know that some among our hundreds of thousands of weekly viewers all over the world have had the horrifying experience of waking up to discover your house is on fire. You’ve gone to bed in otherwise peaceful surroundings, only to be shocked awake by the sounds of home fire alarms, the scent of smoke burning in your nostrils, and the terrifying sight of flames beginning to engulf the walls around you. Few experiences can be as frightening.

In a collective sense, we are experiencing such a moment today. The world we lived in only months ago is no longer the world we inhabit. That previous world is on fire all around us. What is happening? And why?

Today we will identify some KEY CAUSES for the fires of violent self-destruction raging throughout the world--causes that few in ANY political party have the wisdom to discover or the will to admit!

We will also give you several opportunities to request our free DVD resource, “A Culture in Crisis.” This DVD is already paid for and completely free to all who request it. Be sure to watch for the information you need to order your free copy.

If it seems to you that unrest and chaos are increasing in society, you are not crazy. They are.

In May of 2020, international news resource EURACTIV noted the results of a survey of civil unrest across the globe. These results match what most of us already believe:

“Civil unrest has doubled in the past decade as citizens protest against issues ranging from economic hardship and police brutality to political instability, according to this year’s Global Peace Index.”

The Global Peace Index is published annually by the Institute for Economics and Peace, headquartered in Sydney, Australia. The Institute notes that over the last decade

• …riots across the globe had increased by 282%
• …and general strikes had increased by 821%.
• And in 2019 alone, 58% of countries around the world had experienced violent protests.

Institute founder, Steve Killilea stated, “It’s likely that the economic impact of COVID-19 will magnify tensions by increasing unemployment, widening inequality and worsening labour conditions--creating alienation from the political system and increasing civil unrest. We therefore find ourselves at a critical juncture.”

But when we speak of a world on fire, few need an international think tank to send us a report. We see the flames on our own television screens and social media feeds. In fact, some of us see them in the streets of our own cities, outside our own windows, and even within our own homes and workplaces.

In a world already burdened by concern, depression, unemployment, and fear, stirred by the COVID-19 pandemic and government restrictions, came the shocking, video-recorded death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The resulting protests that began in the United States were soon joined by others in London, Rome, Paris, Madrid, Sydney, Rio de Janeiro--cities all over the world. While crowds initially seemed focused on addressing questions of policing measures and concerns of racial prejudice in law enforcement, protests rapidly began to expand to include multiple actors from multiple walks of life with diverse purposes and motives. Some targeted capitalism and economic change. Others wanted to see police forces completely abolished. Others, still, inserted their own social cause, such as the transgender movement and bringing down cultural and historical institutions. And, sadly, more than a few seemed interested in little more than causing destruction and generating anarchy.

Businesses in many urban areas were looted, demolished, and burned, destroying livelihoods and upending lives. Portions of Seattle were seized by protestors and declared “independent” of the United States. Many of us will never forget the images we have seen of individuals assaulted, beaten, and killed in the streets of our own cities by lawless individuals who seem freed from the bounds of human conscience.

Meanwhile many politicians and news anchors merely pointed fingers and attached blame. While accusations flew, no one provided the answers that suffering families needed.

As the world burns around us, the most important question we must ask is WHY? Why does the world seem to be engulfed in flames? What are the real causes of the tragedies that we see unfolding?

Those questions have answers! They are not popular, to be sure, but they are the TRUTH. And the day is long past when we could afford to indulge in the lies, ignorance, and pretense we see coming from politicians seeking to win elections and news channels seeking higher ratings. We will dare to give you those answers, beginning in the next portion of our program.

Hating What Was Made in the Image of God

Yes, the world appears to be engulfed in the flames of violence, chaos, confusion, disorder, and destruction. The flames die down for a season, only to return hotter, hungrier, and more widespread.

Many factors play into the problems we see today, and many temporary solutions could be offered. But any REAL, PERMANENT SOLUTION must address the CAUSES and not just the SYMPTOMS! Let us look at three of the deeper causes behind the flames that are engulfing our world. Any solution that does not address THESE THREE ISSUES may work for a short while, but will ultimately be DOOMED TO FAILURE.

First, Humanity has abandoned the truth that we are created in God’s image.

The Bible declares this fundamental truth in its opening pages:

“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Genesis 1:26–27.

Every single one of us has been created in the very image of God. This fact sets mankind apart as the pinnacle of creation and endows humans with a dignity and value far above anything possessed by the animals.

Yet this marvelous truth has been cast aside in favor of the baseless and untenable idea that life “just happened”--that there is no Creator and nothing truly special about mankind.

We increasingly experience the consequences of that terrible lie.

When you see people as individuals bearing the image of God, you cannot commit the sort of atrocities against your fellow man that we have seen in cellphone footage from riots and violent protests. You can’t drag someone out of his car and beat him to death with a skateboard. You can’t loot his business and burn down his livelihood. You recognize that he, too, is a potential child of God, just like you are--a human being whose life has value in the eyes of His Creator.

When you know each and every member of the human race is made in the image of God, there is no room for seeing someone as somehow “less” than you are just because of the color of his skin. Rather, you see him as someone whose standing before God reflects your own--as both of you reflect the image of the One who made you. As Paul told Christians in his letter to the Galatians, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Yet when we only see each other as animals, we begin to behave like animals and treat each other as nothing more. And it goes beyond what we see in our streets.

Consider the curse of abortion. What happens when we forget that all human beings--even those in the womb--are created by God in His image?

Out of every 1,000 children in the womb, the Guttmacher Institute estimates that 35 children are aborted. Compare that to the World Health Organization’s estimate that only 29 children out of 1,000 die within a year after they are born. That means we now live in a world where a child is in MORE danger of being killed in his own mother’s womb--what should be the safest place of all--than dying outside it!

In the free DVD we are offering today, Gerald Weston covers that topic thoroughly--with both fairness and compassion--in his program “Tiny Fingers and Toes!”

But the confusion doesn’t end there. For instance, why is there such chaos in society over concepts such as sex, gender, family, and marriage? Because we have abandoned the truth that humanity is created in GOD’S image and see ourselves as completely free to RECREATE OURSELVES in WHATEVER IMAGE WE FANCY!

But there are profound consequences to abandoning the divine design of humanity. Consider the impact of dissolving biblical marriage and redefining family. The National Center for Fathering gathered research on the impact of fatherless families on children, and the results were staggering. As they noted, “… children from fatherless homes are more likely to be poor, become involved in drug and alcohol abuse, drop out of school, and suffer from health and emotional problems. Boys are more likely to become involved in crime, and girls are more likely to become pregnant as teens.”

Think about that. To what extent does the growing epidemic of fatherlessness, alone, contribute to what we see in the burning world outside our windows?

Abandoning the truth that humanity is created in the image of God has PROFOUND consequences.

Forgetting the Ten Commandments

Let’s look at another reason--one that involves a source of wisdom more than 3,000 years old, which modern man has cast aside to its own self-destruction.

Humanity has abandoned the Ten Commandments.

More than three millennia ago, God delivered to the ancient Israelite people a collection of Ten Commandments that would provide the core of an approach to life and worship that would guide their entire civilization.

Listed in Exodus, chapter 20, these ten rules represented divine, God-given laws that superseded all human law--an objective moral guide against which our own ideas of right and wrong could be measured and tested.

God’s commands that…

• We should have no other God but Him,
• We should not make idols,
• We should not use His name in vain,
• We should remember and keep His seventh-day Sabbath,
• We should honor our parents,
• We should not murder,
• We should not commit adultery,
• We should not steal,
• We should not bear false witness,
• And we should not covet…

…have formed the basis of legal codes in Western civilization for centuries.

However, mankind has abandoned the Ten Commandments as a divine code--thrown out the idea that God commands us anything at ALL concerning right and wrong, deciding that we OURSELVES, should have the right to decide what is good and evil. After all, why should the modern world owe any allegiance to a set of rules and morals listed in some dusty old book written tens of centuries ago?

Yet, after throwing out God’s definitions of what’s right and what’s wrong, what do we use to replace them?

Some would claim that SCIENCE is the answer, as if morality can be discovered through the microscope or the test tube. The perverted experiments performed by Nazi scientists during the Holocaust should give us pause before turning morality over to the scientific realm. Some appoint GOVERNMENT as the moral authority and LEGISLATURE AND COURTS as the deciding factors in what is good and evil. Yet, again, how many wicked governments have sprung up among men, even in democracies, and on what basis do we judge such governments? Was slavery in the American South a MORAL GOOD just because it was legal? Of course not!

The end result of casting aside God’s divine authority is a world in which every individual decides for HIMSELF what is good and evil--a world of moral chaos. Or, as we see today, a world on fire.

The Bible describes a brutal period in the history of ancient Israel, before there was a monarchy, as just such a time. It was violent--even barbaric--and God’s summary of WHY such brutality existed should get our attention. We see it at the end of the book of Judges, in chapter 21 and verse 25:

“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

In a society where every individual independently decides right and wrong as he or she sees fit, the result is CHAOS--exactly what we see flickering in the flames of civil unrest that are breaking out with increasing frequency in our world today.

In fact, the consequences are far larger than many realize. Abandoning the Ten Commandments involves abandoning the idea that God is the ultimate lawgiver, whose laws and commands must be obeyed. So, for example, His laws listed in Leviticus 11 concerning clean and unclean animals are cast aside--yet the causes of many of the flus and contagions that have devastated the health and economies of nations around the world in recent decades, such as the recent coronavirus and COVID-19 pandemic--are directly related to abandoning these laws and eating unclean animals! Tomorrow’s World presenter Gerald Weston has detailed this connection in multiple programs for our viewers. The laws of God are more than a mere academic philosophy about ethics and morality--as the coronavirus pandemic has made abundantly clear, obeying His laws is a matter of life and death.

At the heart of the confusion and mayhem we see in the world today is a REJECTION OF GOD’S AUTHORITY IN OUR LIVES. Humanity has rejected the Ten Commandments--and with them, we have rejected any hope of understanding right and wrong.

Losing the True Teachings of Jesus Christ

Yet, even if mankind were to embrace these causes, it would be insufficient. After all, ancient Israel understood they were made in God’s image, and they were given the Ten Commandments. Yet they could not stay the course, and their own civilization experienced the same self-destruction we see happening to us today. We need something more, and that something more is the rulership of the Savior of the world.

The third reason the world around us is on fire is that Humanity refuses to submit to Jesus Christ.

Now, some of you might disagree, saying, “What a minute--isn’t Christianity the largest religion in the world?” And you’d have a point. The Pew Research Center noted in 2017 that 31 percent--almost one-third of all humanity--claims to be Christian.

But true Christianity is more than a label.

Does one-third of humanity truly embrace the actual teachings, faith, and message of Christ? The message He brought to this earth 2,000 years ago and commanded to be preached today? NOT AT ALL! In fact, most of what the world calls “Christianity” today would be unrecognizable to Jesus Christ, running exactly counter to His teachings! In fact, the teachings of modern Christianity are often a SOURCE for the sort of problems and confusion we see in the world, not the SOLUTIONS!

For example, much of modern Christianity has embraced the idea that Jesus wants us to come “Just as we are,” as the old hymn proclaims--that all that matters is that you “love the Lord” and accept salvation, regardless of your way of life. My friends nothing could be further from the truth! In fact, in Luke 14:33 Jesus explicitly says that those who are not willing to forsake ALL THEY HAVE literally CANNOT be His disciples! His Apostle John wrote in 1 John 2:4 that those who claim to know Jesus but who do not KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS are liars and the truth is not in them! And BOTH Peter and Paul explained that the TRUE Gospel, not the false “Gospel” of this world, is not only a message which must be believed, but a message which must be OBEYED. 2 Thessalonians 1:8; 1 Peter 4:17

The apostate forms of Christianity that have provided the basis of Western culture are all essentially bankrupt of the deepest foundations of the truth and life that Jesus Christ intended His Church to carry into the world--foundations that you hear every week on this program.

Jesus gives us a way of life to LIVE--a way of life that is the exact opposite of the brazen arrogance we see in our culture today. It is a way of life filled with humility, obedience to God, and seeking peace, even in the face of oppression. It is a way of life in which, even in persecution, we look to the coming of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom for our solutions, not in what we can accomplish ourselves with our fists, our rage, and our anger.

And it is a way of life, love, and peace that Christ will bring to the whole world--not through political power or protests--but through reigning over the earth in power and majesty upon His return as King of kings and Lord of lords. May that day come quickly!

But we do not have to wait on the world to change--and that is truly Good News. We can come under the reign of Jesus Christ in our lives TODAY and put out the fires of our own inner rebellion and turmoil. God is calling a small group of people to do just that--those willing to live His way of life under the authority of Jesus in their lives in today’s world, so that they can help Him rule the earth in His way of peace in tomorrow’s world. Perhaps some of you are among those He is calling right now. That’s a question only you can answer.

Thanks for watching. We hope today’s program meant something to you. Be sure to click subscribe, and click on the bell for notifications whenever new videos come out. And, if you’re interested in the DVD related to today’s program, just click the link below the description. Again, thanks for watching!

[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

Hiroshima and the Beginning of the Atomic Age

August 6, 2020, marked the 75th anniversary of one of the most dramatic events in human history: The dropping of the atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. That tragedy signified not only the coming end of a terrible and destructive war, but also a new phase in the fulfillment of Bible prophecies.

Join us now on Tomorrow’s World as we look at Hiroshima, 75 years later.

Astonishing Destructive Power to Destroy Mankind

Greetings, and welcome to another edition of Tomorrow’s World. I’m glad you’re here.

Today we are going back to the bombing of Hiroshima, three-quarters of a century ago. We’re going to examine the implications of that event in Bible prophecy--and we’re going to look at how developments since Hiroshima contribute to the picture.

We will pause occasionally to give you the opportunity to request today’s free DVD, “Escape the Great Tribulation.” Be sure to note the contact information on your screen so you can get your free copy.

The years since World War II continue to fly by, and few remember its details. But the details are important. If you were there in September of 1939, you’d see Germany’s invasion of Poland. And you’d see Poland resisting, with soldiers on horseback--commanding multiple cavalries in their nation’s defense. Fast forward to the FINAL military actions of the war, and you would see the mushroom clouds of atomic explosions over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

In only SIX YEARS, mankind progressed from warring on horseback, as it had done for millennia, to unleashing the power of the atom in a single, horrific weapon, capable of desolating entire cities in an instant. It’s hard to think of a more astonishing example of humanity’s capacity to grow in wreaking death, havoc, and destruction on itself.

Hiroshima represented a terrible turning point.

Of course, as long as man has explored science, he has used his discoveries to invent new ways to kill his fellow man--and the atomic bomb that devastated Hiroshima was a weapon unlike any other that man had ever unleashed. Code-named “Little Boy” by its creators, the atomic bomb took advantage of Einstein’s discovery of the equivalence of matter and energy. That is, matter can be converted into energy and energy can be converted into matter. In the case of Little Boy, the bomb contained 64 kilograms of uranium-235--a radioactive element the bomb mechanism could use to create a chain reaction, causing some of the atoms to split into smaller atoms in a matter of milliseconds. The splitting of these atoms converted some of the matter into energy, releasing the same destructive power as 16,000 TONS of TNT.

Surprisingly, the amount of converted matter needed to produce such a blast was equivalent to less than a single paperclip.

But what a blast it was. Almost all city structures within a mile radius of ground zero were completely destroyed--many by the initial blast, and others by the resulting firestorm that covered more than four square miles.

For various reasons, the numbers are hard to fix. But estimates of the number killed instantly in Hiroshima lie in the neighborhood of 70 to 80,000 people, with tens of thousands more dying in the weeks to come from radiation, burns, and injuries.

After the Hiroshima bombing, President Harry Truman addressed the American people, explaining, concerning the Japanese, “If they do not now accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth”

When no surrender came, another bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki three days later, and another 40 to 80,000 deaths were added to the toll. Five days afterward, the Japanese surrendered unconditionally.

Mankind had tapped into some of the most primal forces of nature and unleashed them in the most destructive of ways.

The two attacks themselves do not figure into prophecy beyond how the events of World War II reconfigured world powers. However, the events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki do have prophetic significance that should not be overlooked.

In Matthew 24, Jesus Christ tells of a time still ahead of us, but not TOO far ahead of us, in which civilization takes a dark turn. After warning Christians to pray for God’s help in the time to come, He says,

“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.” [vv. 21–22]

Note that. Jesus said that there would come a time unique in all of human history, involving “great tribulation.” How bad would things get? Again, He says in verse 22 that “…unless those days were shortened, NO FLESH WOULD BE SAVED….”

Until August 6, 1945, it might have been hard for the public to imagine conflict, warfare, and weapons so devastating that they would have the potential to wipe out ALL LIVING THINGS, such that “NO FLESH WOULD BE SAVED.” But after the bombing of Hiroshima, that verse--and that prophecy--began to take on new possibilities.

Human self-annihilation suddenly seemed not so hard to imagine.

But the story does not stop there. Now that the powers of the atom were unleashed, they would not be caged again. Soon, the largest and deadliest weapons ever wielded in warfare would become relative child’s play.

Nuclear Proliferation and the Race to Annihilation

In creating atomic weapons, man had learned to direct some of the most fundamental forces of nature toward destroying his fellow man.

But even then, mankind was not satisfied with the level of destruction it had attained. The 75 years that have followed the destruction of those cities saw an escalation of destructive power that boggles the mind--and makes prophetic fulfillment that much easier to believe.

Not content to allow the United States sole possession of the most devastating weapon in existence, four years after Hiroshima the Soviet Union tested its own atomic weapon, named “First Lightning”--though called “Joe-1” by the U.S., after Joseph Stalin. Soon afterward the race was on, as the United States and the Soviet Union superpowers sought to create increasingly powerful weapons over the course of the Cold War to ensure that their enemy did not get the upper hand.

While atomic weapons generated their destructive power through fission, splitting atoms into smaller atoms, even greater power was available through FUSION--combining two atoms into one. This is the very process that powers the sun above our heads! A fusion-based nuclear weapon--called a thermonuclear bomb, or “hydrogen bomb”--carried the capacity to be far more powerful than its simpler progenitors. And both the U.S. and the Soviet Union raced to develop the most plentiful stockpile of the most powerful bombs.

Consider the scale of these evolving weapons.

The atomic bomb the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 had the power of about 16 kilotons of TNT, generating a mushroom cloud that extended a little more than 11 miles upward. In 1952, the U.S. tested Ivy Mike--its first fusion-based thermonuclear, hydrogen bomb. Ivy Mike yielded an explosion of around 10 MEGAtons of TNT. That would be 10 Million tons of TNT. It was followed in 1954 by a test of Castle Bravo, which yielded an explosion equal to 15 megatons of TNT. That’s almost 1,000 TIMES STRONGER than the weapon dropped on Hiroshima! The Castle Bravo mushroom cloud reached about 25 miles, or 40 kilometers into the air.

Not to be outdone, in October 1961, the Soviet Union tested a thermonuclear weapon they dubbed Ivan, or Vanya, though in the West it has been referred to simply as Tsar Bomba. The source of the largest man-made explosion in human history, Tsar Bomba yielded an explosive force of 50 megatons of TNT! That’s more than 3,000 times stronger than the bomb that obliterated Hiroshima! In fact, the DESIGN of Tsar Bomba was intended for a 100-megaton blast, and it was only detonated at half of its power.

The mushroom cloud formed by Tsar Bomba reached more than 40 MILES into the atmosphere--a testimony to the forces man was learning to unleash.

At their peaks, the United States commanded an arsenal of about 31,255 nuclear warheads, and the Soviet Union, about 45,000.

And each side was prepared to use them. Gerald Weston, Executive Producer of Tomorrow’s World, wrote a fascinating article for the March-April 2020 Tomorrow’s World magazine in which he detailed just how close the Cold War came to an all-out nuclear exchange of nightmare proportions. In that article, he provides details about the United States’ Single Integrated Operational Plan, or SIOP, in which, responding to a nuclear attack from the Soviets, the U. S. would fire EVERY weapon at its disposal, in an effort to destroy the Soviet Union, China, and certain other Communist nations in one, single strike. His article can be read online at TomorrowsWorld.org, and it is a thrilling read.

But our journey from Hiroshima hardly stops there. See, the laws of physics don’t just work in two competing nations. They work everywhere. And once how to unleash the atom’s destructive power was clear, MANY nations wanted in on the game.

In July 2019, the Arms Control Association reported on the estimated nuclear arsenal of nine nations:

• (The) United States: 6,185 (warheads)
• (The) United Kingdom: 200
• France: 300
• Israel: 90
• Pakistan: 160
• India: 140
• Russia: 6,490
• China: 290
• (and) North Korea: 30

(“Nuclear weapons: Who Has What At A Glance,” Arms Control Association, ArmsControl.org/factsheets, July, 2019).

This list does not include nations such as Iran and others who have either expressed interest in nuclear weapons programs or who are suspected of having such programs.

These weapons, so horrific in their ability to destroy human life, are now in the hands of multiple governments with multiple motives. The more nations possess them, the higher the risk that they WILL be used--whether purposefully or accidentally.

AND the higher the risk that OTHER factions will get their hands on them. Some of these nations are suspected of dealing with terrorist organizations, who only need material and opportunity to develop their own weapons.

With the ability of rogue agents to create a nuclear device and set it off in a major metropolitan area--or even a so-called “dirty bomb” that does not destroy buildings, but spreads deadly radiation--the odds of a future nuclear event seem only to increase.

One would think that the ability to devastate entire cities in a single attack, let alone the ability to launch hundreds, or even thousands of such attacks at once, would satisfy humanity’s desire to be capable of causing damage, but it does not. And prophecy offers some insight into what sorts of attacks we may see in the future. We will look at that in our next segment.

War and Devastation on a Prophetic Scale

In our last segment we talked about the massive proliferation of nuclear weapons in the world and the raw destructive power they represent. And someone reading Bible prophecy would have to admit that the devastation wrought by nuclear weapons such as those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki correspond well to biblical descriptions of prophesied destruction.

Consider God’s warning to various nations today, such as Great Britain, the United States, and other British-descended nations, recorded in Ezekiel 6 and verse 6:

“In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate, so that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, your idols may be broken and made to cease, your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.”

He says similarly in chapter 12 and verse 20,

“Then the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall become desolate; and you shall know that I am the LORD.”

It is noteworthy that nuclear strikes have the capacity to not only lay waste to entire cities, but also to render areas uninhabitable for a time due to radioactivity. And Revelation chapter 9 speaks of an exchange between two armies involving fire, smoke, and brimstone that will contribute to the killing of one-third of mankind. [vv. 17–18] One cannot help but note similarities between elements of these descriptions and an exchange of nuclear weaponry.

Still, why limit our consideration to nuclear weaponry? Far from being SATISFIED with “nuking” each other back to the stone age, mankind has continued to invent ever more terrible ways to kill during the 75 years since Hiroshima. When it comes to the desire to destroy his fellow man, man’s imagination knows virtually no limits.

Consider CHEMICAL weapons. The use of chemicals in warfare has a long history, but as man advances scientifically and technologically, so does his ability to create and disseminate these terrible weapons. Nerve agents can kill or permanently damage by attacking individuals’ nervous systems in horrific and painful ways. Other chemicals have the ability to blind, maim, burn the lungs, or horribly disfigure the body.

Consider BIOLOGICAL weapons, as well.The bacteria responsible for anthrax--capable of causing terrible blisters, fever, and pain--has been used in conflicts before, including terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001 that killed five people. Now, with the ability to manipulate organisms at the level of DNA, biological weapons look poised to be a formidable source of death and suffering.

And compare these, too, to prophecies of the days ahead of us. In Revelation 9, Jesus inspires John to write of weapons that will torment men, but not necessarily kill them:

“And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.” [vv. 5–6]

And the fourth of the famous Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, described in Revelation 6, symbolizes disease and pestilence, which contribute to the death of one-fourth of mankind during events that include the Great Tribulation. [Revelation 6:8]

Could chemical or biological weaponry play a role in these future plagues and sufferings? Only time will tell.

What we DO know is serious enough. Let’s return to Jesus’ statement about the Great Tribulation in Matthew 24. There, He says, “For then there will be great tribulation, SUCH AS HAS NOT BEEN SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD UNTIL THIS TIME, NO, NOR EVER SHALL BE.” [v. 21]

We MUST pay attention to this! Jesus Christ, the Savior, the Son of God, is GUARANTEEING TO US that there is a time of suffering coming that is so deadly and destructive there has NEVER BEEN A TIME LIKE IT, nor will there EVER BE ONE AGAIN!

Do we understand what that means? That means worse than the Holocaust of World War II. Worse than Hiroshima. Worse than Nagasaki. Worse than the Killing Fields of the Khmer Rouge. Worse than the purges, mass murders, and forced starvation under Joseph Stalin. Man will inflict on himself suffering, pain, and warfare that will dwarf these other circumstances.

Yes, it is easy to imagine that we have become more civilized in the 75 years since Hiroshima. But truth be told, we are no more civilized now than we were then. And mankind is poised to do to the entire world what it once did to two Japanese cities in 1945.

But, if this is, indeed, prophesied to happen, is there anything we can DO about it? Am I, are you, just fated to have to endure these things? Or can we save our lives--our children’s lives? Can we escape from what’s coming?

YES WE CAN! And we will discuss HOW in the last, brief segment of our program.

Mankind’s Savior Saves us from OURSELVES

We began our discussion today with the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, just over 75 years ago now. Civilization still debates whether the bombing of those two cities was justified or not. Yet there is NO debate that our capacity to cause death and destruction has only grown over those 75 years, to the point that Hiroshima and Nagasaki look small and tame by comparison to the suffering we can cause now.

And prophecy guarantees us that a time is coming when the suffering mankind inflicts upon itself--through warfare, violence, destruction, pestilence, and disease--will be the worst it has ever been in the entirety of human history--a time when, unless God intervenes, Jesus says NO FLESH shall be saved alive.

What can we do as such events rush toward us, full tilt, with the winds of prophecy at their backs?

Thankfully, Jesus didn’t simply foretell the future. He also taught us what to do about it.

In Luke 21, Jesus tells us to watch the times in which we live--and to watch ourselves--and to act:

“Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” [v. 36]

He describes those who fall short of being worthy in many passages, such as Luke 6:46, asking us,

“Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?”

And His apostle John elaborates, telling us in 1 John 2:4 that

“He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

The answer isn’t a bomb shelter or moving away from civilization, physically prepping for “doomsday.” The way to prepare for the times ahead, and be counted worthy by God to escape these things, is simply to repent. To watch the times we are in, watch ourselves, and commit our lives to obeying God and His commandments under Jesus Christ. And to whatever extent you want to do those things, we here at Tomorrow’s World are ready to help.

That includes sending you today’s free DVD, “Escape the Great Tribulation,” so don’t forget to order your copy!

And don’t forget to join us again next week. Gerald Weston, Richard Ames, Rod McNair, and I will be right here, ready to share with you the Good News of God’s coming Kingdom, the teachings of Jesus Christ, and the vital prophecies of Tomorrow’s World. See you here next time.