Geneva.
Conditions haven’t changed much since last month when the June issue of the Tidings went to press, as far as peace talks in Geneva are concerned. Deadlocked almost from its beginning, there seems little chance that anything of a momentous nature will be achieved by the time they adjourn. Alternately, each side blasted the other for its unreasonable approach to the Berlin question. Each was repeatedly accused of unprovoked belligerency, and endeavoring to further the war crisis. From the tenor of the talks it was difficult indeed to detect any spirit of trust or even reserved confidence in each other, a quality that surely must prevail before any measure of success can be expected. After four weeks of stating and re-stating each other’s plan for settlement, Andrei Gromyko flatly declared that Russia would not discuss the question of access until the Western powers agreed that Berlin become a free city ; until the West removed their occupation rights. This plunged the conference right back to where it began when Khrushchev first announced the Berlin ultimatum.
The suggestion of Gromyko, that there be a one year limit set on control of Berlin cooled things down even more, if it were possible. The West interpreted this to be an ultimatum and warned Russia that if such proposals were persisted in they would walk out. It would also make a summit meeting out of the question, for President Eisenhower made it clear that he would not attend under duress.
When secret sessions finally got under way at Geneva, it was felt by observers that this was an indication that an agreement was near. But, this too, proved to be futile, for after several such sessions, the only things that could truly be agreed upon were the state of the weather and the excellent view to be had from their place of meeting.
As another deterrent to peace talks at Geneva, report has just reached us that an American Bomber has been fired upon and crippled by some Russian-made MIGs. This incident serves to further complicate negotiations and lessen the possibility of a summit meeting.
Fallout.
Is nuclear fallout paving the way for the Lord’s return ? This might sound like a rather strange question, but it is entirely possible that many sufferers from nuclear fallout will be living in the kingdom age. If conditions continue to proceed as swiftly as they are now, the children of this generation will most assuredly receive their education during the millennium age.
Unfortunately, it is the child that is the most susceptible to Strontium 90, the most dreaded component of atomic fall-out. Strontium 90 tends to concentrate in the bones, and can be the cause of bone cancer and leukemia. A recent study indicates that this particular component of fall-out in the bones of children under 4 more than doubled between 1955 and 1957. Providing that no more tests are held, it is estimated that this amount of Strontium 90 will triple in the bones of young children by 1966.
Public alarm to this threat became so intense over the increase of Nuclear fall-out over North America that the Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Enerheld several meetings to determine 1. How much of fission’s by products, especially Strontium 90, which enters the body in food and accumulates in the bones, can the body safely absorb ?, and 2. How much has already been ejected into the earth’s atmosphere and how swiftly is it descending?
Mr. Chas. L. Dunham, Medical Director of A. E. C. said that the total amount of Strontium 90 released to date might result in 150 to 300 cases of bone cancer or leukemia each year until 2029. Other witnesses felt that the present rate of fall-out is relatively ineffective in producing these diseases. At the close of the meetings, there was a small group who felt that at the present rate of nuclear tests, there was serious trouble ahead.
It is apparent that the real danger from fall-out is not to be realised immediately. It is the future generation that are to be the real victims, in the nature of deformatives, mental illness, physical weaknesses and other ailments resulting from over-exposure to radio-active particles. This is possible if the nations merely continue their present rate of tests. In the event of an all out war between the major powers, and the employment of nuclear weapons, the terrible damage to the human body cannot even be estimated It is little wonder that God’s wrath is to be poured out into the “air”, that its polluting effect might be abolished.
As we look about us and observe just how many of the prophecies dealing with conditions just prior to the return of Christ have already been fulfilled, we doubt not that He is at the door. This means that many of the innocent victims of today’s nuclear fall-out will be born in the kingdom age, which will provide a vast field for the demonstration of God’s power. In the days of the apostles, it must have brought genuine joy to their hearts to be able to say to one who was lame, “Arise, take up thy bed and walk”. Or to one blind from his birth, “Receive thy sight”. Surely Christ must have derived great satisfaction from restoring life to one who had died. He must certainly have shared in the overwhelming joy that would fill the heart of a mother, who has just received her child from the dead.
This wonderful demonstration of God’s power in the apostolic age was only a foretaste of the glorious powers to be revealed in the kingdom age. (Ephes. 1 :13-14) Those, into whose hands the Spirit was committed, were said to have “tasted of the heavenly gift” and “the powers of the world to come”.(Heb. 6:4-5). The use of the Holy Spirit to heal the physical and mental infirmities of the multitudes will be restored a hundredfold in the Kingdom-age, when the saints of the Most High will supplement their preaching of the cross with practical demonstrations of healing. The pathetic victims of man’s terrible venture into the unknown will be the recipients of God’s immeasurable grace in that glorious age to come, in which the prophet declares, “then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the dumb sing; for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.” (Isa. 35 :- 5 :6).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One