Midwest Chapter Fellowship of Christian Paramedics

Steve Porter EMT-P writes a monthly devotional and I asked him if he would consider letting our website use his devotional and I am happy to say that he agreed.   Please look for each edition of the Porter. 

Issue 28                        The Porter      February, 2009

“Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not” (Luke 12:40).

Watching for the soon return of our Great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

The Porter Newsletter is by Steve Porter- P.O. Box 792 Warsaw, MO 65355.  porter75@embarqmail.com

The “Little Boy” and the “Fat Man.” (atomicmuseum.com, vce.com)

In the history of warfare, the United States is the only nation in the world to utilize the atomic bomb, at the end of the World War II. The U.S. and the Allied forces were fighting against Japan. President Harry S. Truman issued a declaration which called for them to surrender, listing peace terms.

The Japanese were warned of the consequences of their continued resistance of the declaration. They were to surrender or face “prompt and utter destruction.”

When Japan rejected the ultimatum, President Truman authorized the use of “the bomb.” And on August 6^th, 1945 a B-29 bomber, named the “Enola Gay” piloted by Tibbets, dropped a uranium atomic bomb, code named “Little Boy,” on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. The 15 kiloton blast caused thousands to die instantly. According to U.S. estimates 70,000 to 130,000 people were killed or missing. The city of Hiroshima was unbelievably devastated.

Three days later, the B-29 bomber “Bockscar” piloted by Sweeney reached the sky over Kokura, Japan, for the second atomic bomb drop. But due to smoke cover, the course was changed to the secondary target- Nagasaki, Japan. It was there that the second atomic bomb, code named “Fat Man” was deployed.  This plutonium based 20 kiloton blast caused approximately 45,000 deaths instantly. Six days later, the Japanese government, which had seemed ready to fight to the death, surrendered.

To describe the blast of an atomic bomb would be like describing Hell being unleashed on Earth. The explosion produces a radioactive firestorm that is many times hotter than the sun and produces a wide variety of deaths.  The Bible may be describing what happens to a person when overexposed to radiation: “Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet…”(Zechariah 14:12).

By today’s standards the bombs that dropped on Japan in 1945 are relatively small.  Modern technology has allowed many nations to be ready to deploy even bigger atomic weapons against their enemies.

FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) has an in-depth guide for citizen preparedness in case of a nuclear attack on the United States. This guide is called: Are You Ready?  In it is information on how to be prepared for the deadly effects of radioactive fallout from a nuclear bomb. (fema.gov/areyouready)

More important is the guide that God gives us.  In it is information on how to be ready and prepared for His return.

Jesus says: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Mt 10:28).  God’s guide (the Bible) tells us that soon Heaven will open and Jesus Christ our Lord will be revealed. He comes to judge the people of the earth and make war with unrepentant sinners (Rev 19:11, Isa 11:4-5, Jude 14-15, Acts17:31). 

We must watch and be ready at all times because no one knows the day or hour that King Jesus will come; it will be very unexpected (Mt 24:42-44, Luke 12:40).

We are made ready to be in His presence by listening and obeying the Holy Spirit. He tells us to receive Jesus; to repent of our sins and be baptized; to trust that His shed blood on the cross purifies us from all sin (Jh 1:12, Acts 2:38, 1Jh 1:7). Then we are protected from death by His power (1Peter 1:3-5, John 11:25-26).

We are to watch for Him because He will come and bring salvation to those who are looking for Him (Hebrews 9:28).