Is the Fukushima Nuclear Crisis a Sign of the End?

Did Jesus specifically predict the Fukushima nuclear crisis and tsunami? Answer: probably not.

"...the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of HEAVEN [Greek: ουράνιο - ouránio] shall be shaken..." (Luke 21:25,26).

Some Bible-teachers are pointing-out that the Greek word which means "heaven" (ουράνιο - pronounced ouránio) is the same word used in Greek for uranium. Therefore it is claimed the real meaning of the above Scripture is that in the end-times a nuclear powerplant will meltdown as a result of a tsunami (the sea and waves roaring); and it is claimed this was specifically fulfilled at Fukushima in March 2011, and therefore ours must be the final generation that shall see the return of the Lord.

1. The Greek word used for "heavens" in the above Scripture is ουράνιο - pronounced ouránio.

2. The same Greek word pronounced ouránio is indeed the word for "uranium". Ouránio is the Greek form of the English word uranium (first published in English in 1797) - an Anglicized form of the Latin word which derived from a Greek word.

3. The same Greek word is also the name in Greek for the planet Uranus.

4. So in modern times the same Greek word now has three or four meanings: "heaven" or "heavens"; "uranium" and "uranus". Therefore, when interpreting the above Scripture, we need to choose between one of those meanings, and state why it should be chosen over the others.

5. If someone is going to base an end-times doctrine on their choice of "uranium" as the intended meaning of the Greek word in the above Scripture instead of its other meanings, then they also ought to state why they know "heaven" or "uranus" were not the intended meanings.

6. When Jesus spoke that Greek word, the word meant "heaven" or "heavens" - it didn't mean uranium or Uranus. "Heavens" is the meaning the apostles would have understood by the word, at the time they wrote it.

7. A literary rule of interpretation is that the obvious meaning of a word is always to be taken, especially if it fits the context nicely - unless something written in the text itself instructs us not to take the obvious meaning.

8. Therefore it is most likely that Jesus and the apostles intended the word ουράνιο - pronounced ouránio, to mean "heavens" not uranium or Uranus.

9. But even if it can be proven that the intended meaning is "uranium" - it still needs to be proven why the recent Fukushima nuclear crisis and tsunami fulfills it. Why not some other future nuclear crisis? or why not the Chernobyl nuclear crisis? why specifically Fukushima? Admittedly, the Chernobyl crisis wasn't caused by a tsunami (the sea and waves roaring) - but some future crisis might!

10. But even if there will never be another nuclear crisis caused by a tsunami, we still can't prove that the Fukushima crisis fulfills this Scripture specifically, because the above Scripture doesn't explicitly state that the powers of the heavens (or, nuclear powerplant) shall be shaken by a tsunami - it lists the two phenomena without stating that there shall be cause and effect between the two.

11. But even if the above Scripture did intend to mean that there shall be cause and effect between a tsunami and a nuclear crisis, the Fukushima crisis loses its status as a sign of the end - unless the crisis is ongoing. If the crisis comes to and end, and time continues to march on, then it wasn't the specific crisis referred to in this Scripture.

12. Therefore it doesn't appear to have been proven that the Fukushima nuclear crisis and tsunami uniquely fulfills the above Scripture, or that the crisis indicates ours must be the final generation before Jesus returns.

13. Nuclear crises may be part of the many signs of the end - but Jesus probably didn't intend to refer specifically to nuclear crises - He probably intended the meaning "heavens".

14. So, the Fukushima crisis probably isn't a certain indication that ours must be the final generation that shall see the return of the Lord.

15. Nevertheless, it is probably valid to include the Fukushima nuclear crisis and tsunami among other signs of the times which have existed in every generation since the early church.

16. Jesus can return at any time - if the Father wills. He is coming soon!