Mediation: Going Up the Nuclear Mountain

Some trust in Chariots and some in horses but we will remember the name of the lord our God. They have bowed down and fallen; But we have risen and stand upright. Save, lord! … Psalm 20:7-9

The expansive late summer sky seemed to swallow me up the steep ascent. My destination was not far from the summit and promised illumination and insight.

The entrance of the sanctuary was quiet this Thursday afternoon. I timidly pulled open the massive doors and stepped inside. Quiet reverence, dim lighting and the soft gentle voice of a women welcomed me. Is this your first visit?” I admitted “it is.”

Old men stood close together and spoke in low reverent tones as they remembered sacred moments. Young students stood in wonderment and others were reading text with thoughtful expressions. Now and then I saw an eye glisten with a held back tear.

This was my first visit to the Bradbury Science Museum of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. It is a dark shiny edifice honoring the god of America; the Atomic Bomb. I saw “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” the first nuclear bombs. Signs flashed above theater doors with a “countdown” until the next praise and worship to the powers of destruction “The Lab Today”. The “Stockpile Stewardship Program“ presentation demonstrates how our nation’s physicist/priests care for our nuclear weapons. A well modulated voice explains each weapon in clinical detail.

The shiny capsule which holds the plutonium core is given a special place of honor; an ark of a dark covenant of destruction. They have killed children, mothers, fathers and grandparents. I was in the presence of worshipers of fear, death and destruction.

I asked the greeter where the Nuclear Disarmament Museum is located. She didn’t know. I stood stunned next to a shiny bomb mounted in a large Lucite box. She came to me suggesting that the “Public Forum” in the back might have something on my "topic“. (Perhaps the word “disarmament” is forbidden.) A tiny dark cubical and some photos of the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were pasted together by members of the public who demanded a voice. One was of a mass grave with a sea of skulls (too many to count). It was far beyond any found in Iraq.

The text explained that the war was over before the US dropped the bomb. It was needless! I saw the suffering, the wounded, the orphaned, the homeless, the traumatized; a nursing mother with radiation sores seared into her breasts, eyes pleading for her baby’s future. I read again on the pamphlet given to me that the goal of LANL is to “reduce the global threat of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.” What irony!

Two veterans of WWII lingered along the wall chronicling the history of the Manhattan project. They seemed to stand a little taller their voices a little stronger as they remembered Groves and Oppenheimer and the others. It was a great war to remember, a war which defineed them and continues to give meaning and purpose to many.

I’ve heard of people who practice demonic crafts in secret and worship death, destruction and suffering. But, I came face to face with the enemy of Love who openly honors destruction. The atomic city set on a hill continues to strive for equality with God. This is the technology which has created the thousands of unexploded bomblets which are littering Lebanon. There is no pornography greater than the image of the little Lebanese boy who reports in agony that his “insides fell out” so he “picked them up and went for help.” Let this be the Satanic power and pornography we stand against. Perhaps this is “why they hate us.”

The descent from the mountain was slow. There was thunder and lightening . The Father Son and Holy Ghost was not the power at the Trinity test site. The prophetic message on the bumper in front of me read. “It started here lets end it here.” A-men

Some trust in F-16’s and some in nuclear warheads but I will trust in the name of the Lord my God! (Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace) Psalm 20: 7-9 (paraphrased)

Prayer: Holy Prince of Peace, may I have no other gods before me! Forgive me for ever feeling proud of or secure in my county’s weapon’s technology. I renounce idolatry! I will openly resist the proliferation of these weapons at home and round the world. Have mercy upon us and forgive us for what we have unleashed. Teach us to be bold in bringing Christ’s love to our earth as we stand against demonic powers of human judgment which brings death and destruction to your children around the world. We remember Christ’s message that what we have sewn we shall also reap. Forgive us and have mercy!

Action: Watch the video about the proposed nuclear “bunker buster “ the administration has discussed for use against Iran.

http://www.ucsusa.org/global_security/nuclear_weapons/nuclear-bunker-buster-rnep-animation.html Learn more about what you can do at http://www.peace-action.org/abt/abtpa.html