America’s Achilles’ Heel: Electromagnetic Pulse Weapons

America is the greatest superpower in world history. Achilles was the greatest mythical warrior in the Trojan War. But even he had a fatal vulnerability.

Editor in chief Gerald Flurry emphasized in the January 1995 Philadelphia Trumpet that the Achilles’ heel of the United States military is its dependence on information technology. If an enemy of the U.S. could sabotage this technology, it could conquer the nation. One of the main ways to sabotage information systems is cyberwarfare. But there are others.

The U.S. Air Force released an Electromagnetic Defense Task Force report on November 28. It concluded that an electromagnetic pulse generated by solar flare or a nuclear weapon could cripple communication systems that the military desperately needs. Such an eventuality would fulfill a major Bible prophecy.

Electromagnetic Pulse

Radiation from solar flares sometimes affects radio communications and power-line transmissions. In 1859, a powerful solar storm knocked out telegraph systems all over Europe and North America. If a similar high-energy storm occurred today, it would cause widespread blackouts and long-term damage to the electrical grid.

After nuclear weapons were developed, the U.S. government decided to test whether a nuclear explosion could create a burst of electromagnetic radiation similar to a solar flare. In 1962, the U.S. detonated a 1.4-megaton bomb 250 miles above the Pacific Ocean. The high-altitude explosion blew out streetlights and caused phone outages 900 miles away in Hawaii. The blast also damaged several American, British and Russian satellites.

The electronics of the 1960s were more resilient to electromagnetic pulses than today’s smartphones, computers, nuclear power facilities and other technologies. The high-altitude detonation of a nuclear weapon over North America would theoretically incapacitate power grids for months, bringing chaos to major cities. The U.S. military is ill prepared to respond to such chaos, as it is dependent upon the very advanced electronics that would be destroyed. Communication between military bases would be cut off. Many weapons systems would be rendered useless.

“Based on the totality of available data,” the Air Force report states, “an electromagnetic spectrum attack may be a threat to the United States, democracy and the world order.”

None Goes to War

In his 1995 article, Mr. Flurry described a sobering end-time Bible prophecy that could be fulfilled by a cyberattack or electromagnetic pulse. Ezekiel 7:14 says, “They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.”

This verse says the trumpet of war will be blown in the nations descended from ancient Israel (mainly America and Britain). It seems people are expecting the military to mobilize, but nobody goes to battle. Will this occur because of computer terrorism? Or an electromagnetic pulse attack? Or a solar flare?

Intoxicated with success, Americans have forgotten God and rejected His law. They trust in their military to save them from calamity, but Bible prophecy says the military will not respond when calamity comes. All it would take is a strategic cyberattack, an electromagnetic detonation or high-radiation solar storm to cripple America’s high-tech fortifications.

The one and only path toward true safety and security is repentance toward God.

To understand more about what the Bible says concerning America’s misplaced trust in military technology, read Gerald Flurry’s updated article “America’s Achilles’ Heel—and Germany.”