Prophetic Nuclear War By The Numbers

The recent talk and increasing risk of nuclear world war is not a coincidence. [Video: Nuke Talk And WW3]. As it reads in Dan. 12,  "... and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation." And in Mark 13, "And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved ...." It is prophecy primarily directed at the House of Israel by our LORD [Dan. 4:17] as related through the prophets Zechariah, Ezekiel, Amos and others.

In Eze. 6:11-14."Thus says the Lord GOD: 'Pound your fists and stamp your feet [Ezekiel], and say, 'Alas, for all the evil abominations of the House of Israel! For they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.' He who is far off shall die by the pestilence, he who is near shall fall by the sword, and he who remains and is besieged shall die by the famine. Thus will I spend My fury upon them. Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when their slain are among their idols all around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, under every green tree, and under every thick oak [for example, World Leaders and the Occult], wherever they offered sweet incense to all their idols. So I will stretch out My hand against them and make the land desolate, yes, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblah [the Arabian Desert] in all their dwelling places. Then they shall know that I am, the LORD.'" This certainly is a great tribulation or as it is in the Old Testament, the time of Jacob's trouble. [See Jer. 30:7]. This refers to all 12 tribes/nations of Israel, about a billion people today; see Rev. 7:1-8; also the Sneakers article, Who Is The Savior Of All Men? 

And in Zechariah, "But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they had not known. Thus the land became desolate after them, so that no one passed through or returned; for they made the pleasant land desolate." This is prior to the return of Christ. [Zec. 7:14; see Eze. 7, "thus says the Lord GOD to the land (Heb. אֲדָמָה, 'ăḏāmâ, the ground, land), of Israel"]. Bear in mind, in these latter days the House of Israel comprises the land of the US, UK, Canada, Australia, NZ, and Western Europe. The current nation state of Israel's land primarily is that of the House of Judah. After the captivity of the House of Israel by the Assyrians, and the House of Judah by the Babylonians, people of both Houses had returned to the land in the Middle East by the first century CE as the land was not made desolate in their absence. 

In a nuclear explosion, the first to die, or vaporize as the case may be, do so by "the sword." It is estimated that the initial burst of gamma rays, X-rays, and intense thermal radiation, preceding the first air blast shockwave, travels at the speed of light. This would instantly vaporize a person in a nanosecond to a millionth of a second. Those farther off, outside the blast kill zone, suffer radiation poisoning which leads to pestilence, cancers, blood disorders, 3rd degree burns, etc. Death in this case could take hours, days or longer. Those who remain and are beseiged, [Heb. נָצַר, nāṣar, to preserve, guard from dangers], such as those in bomb shelters or other sheltered areas shall die by famine, when food supplies become irradiated, inedible, or are destroyed. [Video: results of nuclear bomb detonation explained, blast zone effects, etc.].

Multiple modern powerful nuclear bombs can make the land desolate, leaving the land stark, and highly radioactive not unlike Chernobyl, which is located in Ukraine, making it so no one would return to that land or even pass through it. As noted, the wilderness toward Diblah is a reference to the Arabian Desert. The massive sand dunes there definitely would be considered desolate and barren, a wasteland. This is an apropos description in the aftermath of a place hit by modern nuclear warheads, perhaps hundreds or more of them, each a thousand times [15 megatons] or more powerful than Hiroshima or Nagasaki.

The former Soviet Union detonated the world's most powerful nuclear bomb at 57 megatons. The single bomb, Tsar Bomba, as it was called, was ten times more powerful than all of the combined munitions used during World War 2, or about 4000 times more powerful than Hiroshima. It's reported that Russia has nuclear submarines that can carry missiles with 100 megaton capability. Combine this sort of potential power with hypersonic, maneuverable, multiple nuclear warheads [allegedly up to 36 with the latest nuclear capable Oreshnik Russian intermediate ballistic missile]  on a single missile, desolate seems like an understatement, especially when coupled with the fact there are more than 200 nuclear power plants in Europe and the US that face Chernobyl-like destruction as well.

To provide some idea of the seriousness of what is being prophesied, here are AI search results, quoted in their entirety, for just one 50 megaton nuclear bomb detonated over London, England. Russia has the largest nuclear bomb arsenal estimated to be about 5500 warheads. Bombs delivered from Russia's multi-warhead hypersonic missiles would destroy the UK. The UK has no missile defense against hypersonic missiles according to retired British military officers.

The Russian super-heavy hypersonic Sarmat-28 missile, about 10 feet in diameter and more than 115 feet high, can deliver up to 16 nuclear warheads. At speeds of up to 25,000 km/h [Mach 20.6], it could reach London in 6 minutes or so from launch in Russia. Do the math. The distance from Moscow to London is about 2500 km. This is one-tenth the 25,000 km/h speed of the Sarmat. A tenth of an hour is 6 minutes. A similar hypersonic warhead launched from a submarine off the coast of the UK would be much quicker, about 30 seconds, give or take ten seconds, not that it would matter.

"One 50 megaton nuclear detonation over London, such as the Soviet Tsar Bomba, would be catastrophic, resulting in an estimated 5.7 to 5.9 million fatalities [this is 6X the total fatalities for the UK and US in WW2] and over 3 million injuries. The blast would effectively vaporize central London, with a fireball spanning 3.2 to 4.4 kilometers that would consume landmarks including Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, and Buckingham Palace. 

The destruction would extend far beyond the city center through several distinct zones:

• Total Annihilation Zone: Within a 4.75 to 8.91 km radius (20psi) [2880psf, initial air blast shockwave moving at 750 mph], heavily built concrete structures in areas like Chelsea, Kensington, Isle of Dogs, and Camden Town would be demolished, with a near-100% fatality rate. 
• Widespread Collapse Zone: Extending to 10–20.7 km, the shockwave would cause all residential buildings to collapse in areas ranging from East Finchley and Stratford to Dagenham and Hounslow, leading to universal injuries and widespread fatalities. 
• Thermal Radiation Zone: Third-degree burns would occur up to 29–60 km away, affecting towns such as Watford, Croydon, Southend, and Luton, potentially causing severe scarring, disablement, and amputations. 
• Radiation Effects: Without immediate medical treatment, the radiation radius would cause 50–90% mortality from acute effects within hours to weeks, with symptoms including hair loss, internal bleeding, and organ failure. 

Beyond the immediate blast, the long-term consequences would include the complete collapse of grid power, water, and fuel systems, leading to mass starvation and societal breakdown. The explosion would also trigger a nuclear winter, significantly reducing global temperatures and crop yields, which could result in billions of deaths worldwide from famine. 

Immediate Physical Effects (Air Burst, ~4 km altitude)

Casualty Estimates

• Estimated fatalities: ~5.7–5.9 million
• Estimated injuries: ~3.4 million
• Most people within Transport Zone 1 die from radiation exposure alone within a week. 

Broader UK-Wide Effects

The thermal and blast radii extend far beyond the capital. Tens of thousands of people in Leeds and Liverpool would suffer severe burns and injuries. Third-degree burns would reach as far as Leicester, Nottingham, and Stoke-on-Trent. The flash of the detonation would be visible across the entire UK and into France, Belgium, and Northern Germany. 

Infrastructure & Societal Collapse

• Total grid failure: The 5 psi blast zone (~20.7 km) destroys most power substations, transmission lines, and gas mains within the M25 orbital motorway. 
• Water & sanitation: Treatment plants and pumping stations within the blast zone are destroyed. Surviving infrastructure cannot be maintained without power.
• Transport: All rail, road, and air links through the capital are severed. Heathrow, Stansted, and Luton airports are destroyed or inoperable.
• Medical system: Every hospital in central and inner London is destroyed. Survivors with injuries have no access to treatment. 
• Food & fuel: Distribution hubs are destroyed. Within days, surviving populations beyond the blast zone face starvation and exposure with no supply chains. 

Radioactive Fallout

An air burst at ~4 km altitude produces significantly less local fallout than a surface burst, but the sheer yield (50 Mt) still generates substantial radioactive debris. Fallout patterns depend on wind direction but could contaminate areas well beyond the thermal burn zone, with dangerous radiation levels persisting for weeks to months. The original 100 Mt design of the Tsar Bomba was specifically reduced to 50 Mt to limit fallout, yet even the reduced version produced measurable contamination 2–3 km from ground zero. 

Nuclear Winter & Global Climate Effects

A single 50 Mt detonation over a major city like London would ignite massive urban firestorms. The resulting soot and smoke injected into the stratosphere would:

• Block sunlight over the Northern Hemisphere for weeks to months
• Reduce surface temperatures by an estimated 1–4 °C globally (continental interiors could see drops of 10–20 °C)
• Shorten growing seasons by 10–40 days, reducing global crop yields
• Deplete the ozone layer by up to 50%, dramatically increasing UV radiation at the surface 

While a single 50 Mt weapon is unlikely to trigger the full "nuclear winter" scenario modeled for exchanges of thousands of warheads, it would still cause significant global climate disruption. The 1983 TTAPS study (Turco, Toon, Ackerman, Pollack, Sagan) showed that even ~100 megatons detonated over major urban centers could create average hemispheric smoke optical depths greater than 2 for weeks, producing subfreezing land temperatures for months. A single 50 Mt burst over London would be roughly half that threshold, but the urban fuel load of London (petroleum, plastics, timber) would maximize soot production. 

Comparison to the 1961 Tsar Bomba Test

The actual Tsar Bomba test over Novaya Zemlya in 1961 provides a reference point:

• The mushroom cloud reached 60 km (37 miles) in altitude [the thermosphere]
• The flash was visible from 1,000 km (600 miles) away
• All buildings in the village of Severny, 55 km (34 miles) from ground zero, were destroyed (both wooden and brick)
• Wooden houses were destroyed and stone buildings lost roofs, windows, and doors hundreds of kilometres away
• A shock wave was detected at Dikson settlement, 700 km away
• Window panes were partially broken up to 900 km away
• Atmospheric focusing broke windows in Norway and Finland
• The seismic shock was measurable on its third passage around the Earth 

In a London detonation, those same effects would translate to: total destruction out to ~35 km [21 miles out in every direction from detonation point], severe structural damage well beyond the M25, and broken windows across southern England, potentially into France and Belgium. 

Summary

One 50 Mt airburst over the City of London would not merely destroy a city — it would annihilate the capital as a functioning entity, kill or injure nearly 9 million people, render much of southern England uninhabitable, and trigger global climate effects that could reduce food production worldwide. The UK government, military, and financial infrastructure — concentrated in London — would be destroyed in a single strike, effectively ending the state as it exists."

Those few who manage to escape this time are scattered into foreign lands. "I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they had not known." "'Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth; yet I will not utterly destroy the House of Jacob [all Israel, the Houses of Judah and Israel],' says the LORD. For surely I will command, and will sift the House of Israel among all nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve; yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground [that is, no one remaining of the House of Israel shall escape this judgement, but our Lord will not cause them to be destroyed]. All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword, who say, 'This evil shall not overtake nor confront us.'" [Amos 9:8-10; see the Feature article, And Now, A Word From Our Sponsor].

However, our LORD and Savior will recover the remnant of His people as he did with those who left Egypt. "In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to bring back the remnant of his people—those who remain in Assyria and northern Egypt; in southern Egypt, Ethiopia, and Elam; in Babylonia, Hamath, and all the distant coastlands. He will raise a flag [Heb. נֵס, nēs, a standard, a rallying point] among the nations [of Israel] and assemble the exiles of [the House of] Israel. He will gather the scattered people of [the House of] Judah from the ends of the earth. Then at last the jealousy between Israel and Judah will end. They will not be rivals anymore." This is witnessed in all Israel's annual holy day of Yom Kippur, the day of Atonement, whose prophetic fulfillment occurs just after the return of Christ on the day of Trumpets. [NLT, Isa. 11:11-13; see Eze. 37:15-28].

Italics, underline, bold, except in AI quote, and [ ] are the author’s.

This article is from footnote 1 in the Feature article, Paul Was An Apostle To The House Of Israel, Not The Gentiles. though with minor edits and additions. As there is so much talk of late by government leaders concerning the use of nuclear weapons, we decided to make it a stand alone article.

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