SABBATH

God's Gift to Us

Commentary: Melting with Fervent Heat

The Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe
#1039c

Given 02-Apr-11; 11 minutes

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description: As a result of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, there will be far-reaching consequences to the environment, as well as the immediate site. Water must be flushed on the hot reactor continually, creating a supply of radioactive water. The plant cannot be repaired, but must be abandoned. The reactors seem to be melting with fervent heat, anticipating the ultimate fate of our planet, melting into its component parts. Scripture is replete with images of melting and destruction of individuals and the earth itself (II Peter 3:10).


transcript:

The Fukushima nuclear catastrophe is still up in the air, and no one can say for sure where it's headed at this point. As we watch the meltdown of the reactors in Japan—one even has plutonium leaking from it, which is the most toxic element known to man—we can't help but notice the sheer helplessness of the people trying to stop the disaster from getting worse, and the dismal helplessness of the people working and living in the area that it happened, and also how helpless we are as the radioactive clouds pass over the U.S. like a death angel. I'm not saying there is anything to get overly worried about, but there is definitely radiation headed our way.

Locally, Duke Energy has detected elevated radiation levels in the air at two of their nuclear power plants here in South Carolina. The latest reports are that milk here in the U.S.—more specifically in Washington State—is showing signs of low levels of the same radiation that is being released from the Japanese reactors. They know exactly which it is; they are able to designate right down to the specific, not only type, but specific the origin of the radiation.

As the Wall Street Journal reports, the U.S. government has now admitted that radiation is being found in milk from Washington state, and they say it's safe to drink, of course. That's the U.S. Government for you: Irradiated milk is safe, but raw milk is dangerous. (As you know, they are trying to stop people from selling raw milk.)

The Japanese nuclear experts now admit it will require 20 years to decommission the Fukushima nuclear reactors. A nuclear expert is now warning that it will take 50 to 100 years before the spent nuclear rods at Fukushima will cool enough to be removed from the site. In the meantime, Japan must keep pouring water on the fuel rods, and that creates highly radioactive water. And that's being flushed directly into the ocean. So now we are looking at possibly a century-long radiation leak.

As reported by The New York Times, their level of radioactive iodine-131 (which is specifically from that reactor) in the waters off the Daiichi plant continued to increase on Thursday, rising 4385 times the statutory limit. The increases raise the possibility that contaminates from the plant or continuously leaking into the sea—not that they are just dumping it there, but it is continually going in. Fears about radioactive seafood are growing as Japan's ocean waters are increasingly contaminated with very high levels of radiation. The ground water underneath the Fukushima nuclear power plant is now showing 10,000 times the level of radiation normally allowed by government authorities.

The battle to save Fukushima is now over, as Japanese officials admit the nuclear power complex must now be abandoned and entombed in millions of tons of concrete. Many scientists are saying it has reached the point of being worse than the Chernobyl accident. The world's largest concrete pumping truck is headed to Japan as part of a plan that can only be the beginning of the total surrender of the Fukushima plant.

But we have the government's dishonest assurance there is nothing to worry about. "Don't be concerned about radiation." At least that's the message we are hearing from many official sources. The FDA laughably thinks that drinking radioactive milk in the U.S. is just fine for you, but drinking raw milk, as I mentioned, is extremely dangerous. (They're even dumping dye into the raw milk with people's farms to try to keep them from selling it and even using it themselves. The FDA has become another ruthless arm of our government.) That's how twisted things have become in our world today. The stuff that actually is good for you is outlawed, criticized and suppressed, but the things that are really dangerous for your health—ionized radiation, vaccines, GMOs, chemotherapy, and pesticides are all promoted as solutions for the world.

God is allowing this to give us a small but vivid warning of man's sin-ridden failures under his rule, and we are learning that everyone is vulnerable to catastrophic events such as we have seen with the earthquakes, the tsunamis, the nuclear disasters, the weather tampering, poor agricultural methods, and many other missteps by mankind. God is allowing this so that we may see this as a shot across the bow, warning that mankind better shape up or judgment will be severe. We do not know how bad this nuclear disaster will get, but only God can save us from such potential cataclysmic events.

We should not take what we are seeing lightly; right now those nuclear reactors are "melting with fervent heat." It's interesting to notice the imagery of melting that God inspired and described in His written word, in Scripture. Melting is a destruction and a purifying more final than the Flood. The ultimate fate of the created order is that even heaven will be dissolved and the elements will melt with fervent heat. This creation will be re-forged. That the elements in the world consistently retained their familiar form at all is due to the sustaining power of God against the destructive forces of chaos and evil. And in Christ, all things hold together. We read that in Colossians 1:15-17:

Colossians 1:15-17 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

He keeps the world going; He keeps all of the ecology in somewhat of a ordered state, at least ordered as far as where a man hasn't yet disrupted it.

"Melting" describes any weakening and the characteristic properties of a substance. If things made from the earth, plants and metals and other parts of creation could melt, so also can human beings. Even today, we say in English that people "fall apart," or they "dissolve into tears." The "weak knees" and "limp limbs" serve as additional proof that the body of the individual is melting into its component parts.

Water, one of the essential compositional elements of the body, along with Earth, blood and spirit, is leaking out. The heat of the sun, capable of melting wax, also melts people until they leak water. So the psalmist speaks of sorrow, melting away the soul.

Psalm 119:28 My soul melts from heaviness; strengthen me according to Your word.

Isaiah observed that everyone wails and melts in tears. This melting of the soul often coincides with a loss of courage.

When David felt abandonment by God, he wept and he said,

Psalm 22:14 I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; it has melted within Me.

This aptly describes the wasting away that is typical of profound physical and physiological stress, which we're going to see a lot of in the future, especially those who will go through the Tribulation and the Day of the Lord. In other passages, melting signifies God's power to dismantle in judgment:

Amos 9:5 The Lord GOD of hosts, He who touches the earth and it melts [speaking of the Lord God Almighty], and all who dwell there mourn; all of it shall swell like the River, and subside like the River of Egypt.

God's punishment of Israel for her sins is described this way:

Micah 1:4-5 The mountains will melt under Him, and the valleys will split like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place. All this is for the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem?

You see that warning to our people today. Mountains function as places and symbols of religious and political power in the ancient near East. The image reminds us of the powerlessness of human institutions.

The dreadful disasters we are seeing now will pale into insignificance compared with the tumultuous events coming during the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord—the Great Tribulation being a time of Satan's wrath, the Day of the Lord being a time of God's wrath against the sinning world.

II Peter 3:10-13 speaks of the Day of the Lord:

II Peter 3:10-13 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Only God can protect and save us from the melting with fervent heat and from the day of God's wrath. And since all of these earthly things will eventually dissolve, what type of person should we? One of holy behavior and righteousness, of course. So we should ask ourselves in light of these disasters, what type of person should I be? How can I be more like Jesus Christ?

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