[Darris McNeely] I've been reading recently a book about World War I and how it began and of course how it developed. How it began was over a very seemingly insignificant event: an assassination of an Archduke in a little unknown nation of Serbia. Drew in all the great powers of Europe, the United States, and Japan and ignited World War I. That was nearly 100 years ago. Fast forward to today and the world hasn't changed very much.

An interesting article in today's Financial Times (February 5, 2013) with this cartoon that's showing the dust up that is continuing between China and Japan over some islands in the Pacific known by Japan as the Senkaku Islands. China calls them the Diaoyu Islands. They've been fighting over these islands and the possession of them for a number of years. There's some oil, petroleum that's involved in that and other natural resources that both want to claim. And what's interesting about this as well is that the United States is bound by a treaty obligation with Japan to protect them or to come in with them in the event of a conflict over these islands with China, which again is very much like what happened in World War I, drawing in all of those great powers.

You have to look at this and you have to wonder why in the world and how something like that could happen. Well, there's a number of events that are coming together in this. China is on the rise. Some say that by 2016 they will overtake the United States as the dominant economic power in the world. Whether or not that happens and the impact of it is yet to be seen. In Japan, the current Prime Minister is not quite as apologetic over Japan's part in World War II like Japan has been in the past. And so there's a little bit more belligerency and hesitancy about apologizing for its past, which is creating again the tension and the conflict here. America is there. Other powers could be drawn into it.

Very interesting situation that could actually result in a high cost of miscalculation just like World War I, but this is 2013. This is the world today, and yes, things like that can happen once again.

It reminds me of what Jesus said in Matthew 24:6 to the question put to Him by His disciples, what would be the signs of Your coming and the end of the age? And He mentioned wars and rumors of wars. We've always lived with that, but we see the potential for major conflicts happening over events that teach us lessons from history. And we need to be aware and watching and understanding what's taking place in this part of the world and on our global scene.

That's Beyond Today Daily. Join us next time.