IT’S 1939 AGAIN!
During the 1930s, Germany prepared for the Second World War. America slept, and Britain dozed. A defeated superpower nursing legitimate grievances rearmed. That power was Germany. The war of 1914–1918 had been a disaster. The German economy was bankrupt. The mighty Deutsche Mark had collapsed. If it took a wheelbarrow load of the paper money to buy breakfast, a truck load was needed to buy dinner. Inflation was out of control. Germany had been badly treated by the victorious allies (Britain, America, and France), who imposed onerous reparations upon the bankrupt nation. Hitler watched, waited, planned, and stirred the masses with his Nazi propaganda that seethed resentment.
Russia was defeated in 1991. The mighty Ruble collapsed. The shops were empty. The great USSR fell apart. Eastern Europe, once a buffer against the West, became a part of the West, exposing Russia to Western influence and exploitation. (Russia has long feared invasion from the West.) Allied assurances that NATO would never expand to Russia’s borders were ignored. A young KGB officer in East Berlin declared that the collapse of his USSR was the greatest disaster of the Twentieth Century. His fears seemed justified when Ukraine, once part of his Communist empire, became an ally of the West and sought membership in the camp of the enemy, NATO. The enemy was no longer a distant threat; it was next door. The young officer was Vladimir Putin.
Conditions that preceded the Second World War look very much like what’s happening now. Russia, like Germany, is angry and resentful. Russia, like Germany, has rearmed and is intent on restoring her lost empire. She has already invaded Ukraine. Putin threatens to use nuclear weapons. America is divided. Congress is impotent. Putin sees America and the West as corrupt and weak. China, North Korea, and Iran are standing with Russia. Even India and South Africa are supporting Putin. The Middle East is in turmoil. Israel and Hamas are locked in a fight to the death.
Old hatreds, long-held grudges, perceived injustices, broken promises, and dreams of national glory are coming to a boiling point. In fact, the pot is about to boil over. It appears that we have entered the times described by the prophets of the Bible. The Great Tribulation that Jesus described may well be upon us. It’s 1939 again.
“Therefore, be ready, for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man comes.”
— John Carter
