A feature article in USA Today stated: "With President Obama presiding over an historic session, the UN Security Council unanimously approved a U.S. sponsored resolution ... committing all nations to work for a nuclear weapons-free world. Russia, China and developing nations supported the measure, giving it global clout and strong political backing" (Associated Press, "UN Aim: Nuclear-Free World," Sept. 25-27, 2009).

Dealing with the specifics of his Sept. 23 speech to the UN General Assembly in New York City, President Obama stated that "a new era of engagement" was needed to deal with the world's problems (The Daily Telegraph, "America Alone Cannot Solve World Problems, Insists Obama," Sept. 24, 2009).

The president also spoke of building a new world order: "The time has come for the world to move in a new direction. We must embrace a new era of engagement based on mutual interest and mutual respect, and our work must begin now." If only our human nature would allow us to truly work together this way! God lamented about ancient Israel: "O that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!" (Deuteronomy 5:29).

Nuclear disarmament remains one of the chief pillars of the president's program. Although the Russian arsenal is numerically larger than America's, Moscow's weaponry is steadily deteriorating and in terms of operational nuclear missiles remains on a par with the United States. Clearly Russia needs a disarmament agreement far more than America.

The dangerous age we live in will not become less so with unilateral U.S. disarmament while a few nations manage to cleverly hold on to their own atomic weapons and rogue nations like Iran and North Korea join the nuclear club. We must ask why the nations are being propelled on a path that can only lead to a world crisis far worse than the two world wars that blighted the 20th century.

A future world with ever-weakening American power and influence will find itself in far more trouble than it currently faces. The reality is that "the US, of course, remains the world's sole superpower, stronger than its rivals in every dimension. If Washington cannot always get its way, no other nation is anywhere near ready to replace it as guarantor of global security" (Philip Stephens, "Four Things You Must Know About the Global Puzzle," Financial Times, Sept. 25, 2009). Whether they realize it or not, it is not in the interests of civilized nations to rejoice over the continuing decline of the United States.

To obtain a much-needed overall perspective as to which direction this troubled world is taking and where it will ultimately end, request or download our free booklets You Can Understand Bible Prophecy and Are We Living in the Time of the End? (Sources: The Daily Telegraph, Financial Times [both London], USA Today.)