Wars and Rumors of War

Yet another sign of the times.

http://www.worthynews.com/news/abcnews-go-com-print-id-3232007/

"Mr 13:7 And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows."

However:

"Ps 46:9 He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire."

Jordan

I think the article made the situation sound more "dire" than it indeed is.

One of the opening comments is that the current situation with Iraqi kurds and Turkey is "creating headaches for US policy makers". The fact is that we're not talking about a full-blown war here. Rather, it's more like the Lebanon-Israel conflict that happened last year.

Basically, fundamental Kurds have repeatedly been attacking Turkey. Most recently the mentioned suicide bombing. Turkey is getting tired of it, and now they're willing to step in and do something about it. Just like Israel was. We'll see what it turns in to...

Not refuting that it could be a "sign of the times", though. Definitely plenty of war to go around...

With modern news media I think the phrase "rumors of wars" takes on a decidedly cynical twist. Tonight I tried to take the family out to one of those cheap family pizza joints...the place was packed with people, and the only seating they had was a booth right under a television showing CNN. The story showing was about communist nuclear buildup...felt like a thirty year old re-run. I asked the waitress to turn the channel with the reminder that CNN is probably the last channel the mangement of the resturaunt should have on if they want their customers to enjoy their food.

The moral of this story is that when Jesus warned us about "rumors of wars", I don't think he was telling us to become overly obsessed with being informed. On the contrary, I think he was warning us that the rumors will be business as usual...and don't miss any irreplacable, precious time with family from watching CNN. ;-)

Blessings,

MC

Amen! :) But I think there are two extremes. Here in Australia we only get extremely sanitized commercial news with very little/almost no mention of what is really going on in the world - leaving people ignorant and blissful in their little bubbles. At least CNN and other channels provide a wider, more comprehensive version of "truth" (however distorted that may be).

However, yes, we mustn't become obsessed and overwhelmed with world events (I think if one actually kept up with every conflict & atrocity happening on the earth, one would go mad! That's God's job!). So it's good to be informed & aware of global events, but realizing that this is just the beginning of something MUCH bigger.

God Bless,
Ruth :-D