August 6, 2018 (Monday)
On this day in 1945, at 8:16 a.m. Japanese time, an American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, drops the world’s first atom bomb, over the city of Hiroshima. Approximately 80,000 people are killed as a direct result of the blast, and another 35,000 are injured.
Most of us, I believe, have been unaware of the existence of weapons over 3000 times as powerful as the one that exploded over Hiroshima, as the graphic below illustrates.
We have added a new phrase to our vocabulary: “weapons of mass destruction.”
The major powers of the world have agreed to reduce the inventories of nuclear weapons, and many have been destroyed. But, as the illustration above shows, research and development of even more powerful nuclear weapons is still taking place. The purpose of this storehouse of incredible power to destroy is to deter its use, because we know that weapons are in place now that are aimed and ready for war. The first nation that uses these weapons is not only destroying the other, but is committing national suicide because the mechanisms are in place to stage a counter attack that will occur before the original missiles reach their target. This would be the shortest war on record and the most devastating, reducing civilization to ashes. It is our hope that this realization will prohibit use of the weapons by any country.
We all hope that none of these weapons will ever be used. And what is the source of our hope? Belief in a sovereign God who hears and answers prayers.