In the Bible, in the book of Revelation written two thousand years ago, we are told that leaders of 10 nations will get together shortly before Christ’s return and be led by one individual. They will take on their roles suddenly. But the exact date and how it will happen are not given.
However implausible that might sound, given the kind of conditions we have in the world, these days its fulfillment is plainly within the realm of possibility.
For one thing, the threat of terrorism lives with all of us now. On February 5, 2018, the US TV show, CBS This Morning, reported that pre-event security drills for the 2018 Olympics in South Korea had tried to anticipate everything conceivable. They ranged from terrorists taking athletes hostage on a bus and then trying to ram a stadium, to a chemical bomb exploding in a trashcan or an overhead drone carrying explosives, plus other threats not specifically mentioned.
Who can deny that the world has changed much since September 11, 2001. A recent movie and a TV show further help demonstrate the times in which we live.
European Scenario
The London Has Fallen movie was released in 2016.
In it, UK Prime Minister James Wilson dies suddenly, so arrangements are hastily made for the Western world leaders to attend his funeral in London.
As the US President arrives at St Paul’s Cathedral, a series of coordinated attacks by terrorists disguised as the Queen’s Guardsmen, London Metropolitan Police, and other first responders kill the other Western leaders, damage or destroy well-known landmarks, and cause widespread panic.
American Plot
The same year, the American TV series titled Designated Survivor began.
According to an October 5, 2016 ABC News post, What It’s Like to Be Part of a Real-Life ‘Designated Survivor’ Plan,
“It’s the unthinkable doomsday scenario: a catastrophic attack on U.S. soil that wipes out the president, Congress and the upper levels of government, and leaves behind the “designated survivor” to run the country.”
As the first episode unfolds, viewers learn the night of the annual State of the Union Address an explosion in the capital building has claimed the lives of the President and everyone else in the line of succession — except for the individual tapped to be the Designated Survivor.
ABC News wrote,
“It’s the stuff of dark thrillers, but the writers of ABC’s most talked-about new show, “Designated Survivor,” are working off real-life protocols.”
ABC News added,
2001 US Pentagon Attacked
“When Clarke activated the continuity of government system during the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, President George W. Bush was in the air on Air Force One, Vice President Dick Cheney was rushed to an underground bunker and then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert was asked to leave Washington, D.C.”
Other governments undoubtedly have similar plans in place to guarantee some sort of national continuity in such a crisis.
Take Away Message
From February 16 to 18, 2018 an International security conference, attended by many world leaders, was held in Europe. The US Embassy in Germany posted the following,
“From Friday until Sunday, more than 30 heads of state and government and over 100 cabinet ministers from across the globe came together at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) for discussions on major international security challenges.”
The conference title was “To the Brink and Back?”, according to DW TV. At the end of the final day at the conference, chief DW correspondent, Melinda Crane, was asked by a DW TV news anchor, “What is the overall feeling; what has been achieved?
Crane cited some of the numerous topics discussed and informed viewers that it wasn’t at all clear that we’d come to the brink and back.
The world is every bit as dangerous as it was.
Yes, the movie, London Has Fallen, and the TV series, Designated Survivor, are both fictional. But numerous news headlines of the past few years already provide stark evidence that a horrific event of this kind can, indeed, happen in today’s world.
Photo Credits: Blansky art photo by Chris Devers, cropped, License: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0; London Fallen Poster photo by junaidrao, License: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0; Pentagon Attack, USCG photo by Telfair H. Brown, License: CC BY 2.0
