“There will be . . . on the earth anguish of nations, not knowing the way out because of the roaring of the sea and its agitation,

Luke 21:25, 26.

10. (a) How has the sea become ‘agitated’? (b) How have ‘the powers of the heavens been shaken’?

¹⁰ With the stockpiling of armaments racing beyond the control of the nations, the literal sea itself is filled with war equipment in the form of ships and submarines capable of carrying deadly nuclear warheads that can wipe out millions of people with a single missile. Indeed, the sea is roaring and ‘agitated.’

11. How do the news media testify that the nations ‘do not know the way out’?

¹¹ The news media testify powerfully to the fulfillment of the prophecy that the nations ‘do not know the way out’ of their problems. For example, note the following comments in a 300-page report to the United Nations by a commission headed by a former West German chancellor, Willy Brandt, as reported in the Toronto Star of May 31, 1980: “In essence, it [the report] says the world economy is breaking down and a continuation of current trends will lead to global chaos. . . . Double locks, armed guards and the fear of kidnapping and assassination are the new rewards for achievement almost everywhere.” And, in a personal introduction to the report, Brandt says: “War is often thought of in terms of military conflict or even annihilation. But there is a growing awareness that an equal danger might be chaos​—as a result of mass hunger, economic disaster, environmental catastrophies and terrorism.”

12. How do Jeremiah’s words have application today?

¹² Where, then, is the enlightened thinking and planning that should be forthcoming from political and industrial leaders in these critical times? As God’s prophet indicated about the leaders in the seventh century B.C.E., so it is in our time: “Look! They have rejected the very word of Jehovah, and what wisdom do they have?” (Jeremiah 8:9) Very little!