Disarmament is a noble aspiration. But it can never be “attained by mush, slush and gush,” Winston Churchill exhorted in 1932.

Throughout the 1930s the warning howl of Britain’s lone bulldog was ignored, marginalized to obscurity by a government enamored with the virtues of disarmament. That changed in 1939. On September 1, German bombers began razing Polish cities and Hitler’s impeccably organized, well-trained and heavily rearmed army marched into Poland. Meanwhile, Britain was unprepared and grossly under-armed. Disarmament’s shortcomings were painfully obvious.

Britain’s policy of disarmament had dressed the aggressor and stripped the victims. By doing so, it made conflict inevitable.

The lesson is prescient. Speaking before a live audience of 20,000 in Prague on Sunday, United States President Barack Obama gushed about the “future of nuclear weapons in the 21st century” and America’s “moral responsibility” to “seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.” It was more than mere rhetoric; he articulated a comprehensive strategy for global nuclear disarmament.

Unsurprisingly, the strategy begins with America relinquishing some, but not all, of its nukes: “First, the United States will take concrete steps toward a world without nuclear weapons. To put an end to Cold War thinking, we will reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy, and urge others to do the same.”

The strategy includes negotiating a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia, “immediately and aggressively pursuing America’s ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty,” and writing a new treaty to end the production of fissile material for use in nuclear weapons. And that’s just the first step. The second involves remodeling and strengthening the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty—the valiant, albeit emaciated 1970 agreement to pursue global nuclear disarmament.

“Clearly, the ‘no nukes’ policy is one close to the president’s heart,” Anne Applebaum observed this week. Advancing the nuclear nonproliferation movement was actually one of the few foreign-policy initiatives Barack Obama got firmly behind as a senator, and it was a central tenet of his foreign-policy platform while campaigning for the presidency. As Applebaum notes, Mr. Obama’s address in Prague Sunday was no run-of-the-mill speech. He announced to the world that global nuclear disarmament will be a primary pillar of his foreign policy, and that America will blaze the path toward nuclear disarmament.

As an aspiration, the cause of nuclear disarmament is noble and praiseworthy. But as Winston Churchill warned, a disarmament strategy cannot be one of “mush, slush and gush.” Obama’s plan grossly underestimates human nature, especially the savage ideological ambitions of America’s enemies. And like Britain relative to Germany during the 1930s, it weakens the strategic position of those countries prepared to subscribe to the strategy while empowering the rogue nuclear powers unwilling to embrace nuclear disarmament.

In the same way Britain’s policy of disarmament fostered temporary peace by giving Germany time to build its military arsenal, America’s nuclear disarmament strategy may foster temporary peace by providing the likes of Iran, North Korea and terrorist organizations time to develop and hone their nuclear arsenals.

In this sense, disarmament makes the detonation of a nuclear bomb inevitable!

Matthew 24

In addition to history, the “more sure word” of Bible prophecy tells how successful America’s strategy for nuclear disarmament will be. As Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry came to a close, He was asked by His disciples, “[W]hat shall be the sign of thy [second] coming, and of the end of the world?” Sitting on the Mount of Olives, surrounded by His disciples, Jesus answered that question in what is today commonly referred to as the Olivet prophecy, found in Matthew 24. (If you’re interested in Christ’s entire explanation and to prove that Christ is discussing the times we live in today, request our Matthew 24 reprint article.)

Notice what Jesus says in verses 21-22: “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved ….” Christ tells the disciples that His Second Coming will occur at a time when mankind has the ability to destroy all living creatures. It will be a time of tribulation exceedingly worse than any other in history.

Consider more deeply the wording of verse 22: “[E]xcept those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved ….” This time of tribulation will be so terrible that, without intervention from a higher power, no flesh will escape death. Mankind has never experienced such a time. Wars have killed tens of millions, famines have wiped out regions, disease epidemics like the Black Death have inflicted catastrophic destruction. But this scripture is speaking of a global catastrophe that threatens all flesh, both animal and human!

Widespread detonation of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction is the only explanation of how mankind can and will reach this point!

Christ warns that if there were no divine intervention, mankind would wipe itself off the face of the Earth!

Barack Obama’s goal of global nuclear disarmament may be noble, but Jesus Christ says it will fail. As our booklet The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse states, “The scale of war Christ prophesied in Matthew 24 and Revelation 6 simply could not have been fulfilled at any other time in man’s history! Humanity has never built or designed weapons that he did not eventually use. Man will find a use for the deadly nuclear weapons and other destructive devices created since World War ii” (emphasis mine). Other accounts in the Bible tell us a future nuclear holocaust is inevitable. Notice Habakkuk 3; Jeremiah 2:14-15; Amos 5:1-3 and Revelation 6 as a start.

Don’t take these events lightly. If you haven’t ever done so, study Christ’s message in Matthew 24 in depth. The events described in that prophecy, written nearly 2,000 years ago, stunningly match events currently unfolding in the chaotic world around us.

Most importantly, the fulfillment of these events points toward the imminent return of Jesus Christ—the unseen hand that will lovingly intervene to rescue mankind from total nuclear annihilation.

After saving mankind from extinction, Christ will then implement on Earth a comprehensive strategy that will eradicate human nature, thereby guaranteeing global nuclear disarmament forever!