Survivalists Prepare for “Armageddon”

“Survivalists Get Set for Armageddon” was a recent headline in the Los Angeles “Times.” The article described a rapidly growing movement in America that seeks to prepare for coming disaster. “Survivalists subscribe to a variety of scenarios about how Armageddon will arrive,” explains the “Times.” “It may be caused by earthquake, plague, famine or revolution.” The specter of nuclear war, economic collapse or urban warfare also haunts survivalists. “The people will turn to mob rule,” says one group’s literature, and “civilization will be destroyed.”
To get ready, survivalists stockpile gold, food, tools, medical supplies and weapons. Once again, nuclear fallout shelters sell briskly. Training camps for survival techniques—especially the handling of firearms—are springing up. “You should teach your children how to handle guns,” declared one survival instructor. “My youngest is 11 years old, and we’re training her to shoot.”
Will such preparations protect the “survivalists” from Armageddon? No. Armageddon is not something brought about by acts of men or natural disasters—not according to the Bible, where the term originated. Instead, it is “the war of the great day of God the Almighty,” fought to remove “those ruining the earth.” (Rev. 11:18; 16:14, 16) Hence, survival will depend, not on how much food is stored, or how straight one can shoot, but, rather, on heeding the charge: “Seek Jehovah, all you meek ones of the earth . . . Seek righteousness, seek meekness.” Those who do, says the prophet, “may be concealed in the day of Jehovah’s anger.”—Zeph. 2:3.