Francisco and Jacinta Marto

When I was growing up during the 1960s and 1970s, every so often there would be a news report about a head-on collision between two cars that were driven by teenage boys who had been playing a game of chicken. The way the game was played was that the boys would get in their cars and drive at a high rate of speed toward each other. If one of the boys swerved to avoid an accident, he was branded as a chicken. There were actual head-on collisions that occurred because of boys who would rather die than be called a chicken.

There is a game of chicken that is taking place right now on the world stage — a game that could result in the death of millions of innocent people. The two men who are playing the game are President Donald Trump and the tyrannical ruler of North Korea, Kim Jong-un.

Last month, President Trump sent a message to Kim Jong-un that notified him that there would be grave consequences if he did not stop testing missiles and nuclear weapons. Kim Jong-un immediately responded by threatening to wipe out the United States with nuclear weapons.

While the North Korean military does not yet have the capability to reach the United States with its intercontinental ballistic missiles, it has the ability to kill millions of innocent people in South Korea, a country that shares a border with North Korea. Kim Jong-un believes South Korea belongs to North Korea.

The North Korean military has the fourth largest army in the world, with more than 1.2 million men. The military is equipped with 70 submarines, 1,000 missiles, 20,000 artillery pieces, 400 patrol and missile boats, and more than 550 combat aircraft.

The capital of South Korea is Seoul, which is only 30 miles from the border that separates North and South Korea. With a population of more than 25 million, Seoul is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. It is estimated that North Korea could strike Seoul within six minutes of launching an offensive.

The United States has more than 38,000 troops who are stationed in South Korea. If a war were to break out between North and South Korea, there’s a strong likelihood that most of our troops would be killed. Prior to the election, Trump said that our troops are “sitting ducks” and that they should be removed from South Korea. Now that the game of chicken has begun, our troops will not be brought home.

In my opinion, the United States cannot allow Kim Jong-un to develop nuclear-tipped, intercontinental ballistic missiles that can reach the United States. The problem that we have is that Kim Jong-un is an evil madman who wouldn’t have any problem sacrificing millions of lives to prove to the world that he is not a chicken.

An additional problem that we have is that China and Russia don’t want the U.S. interfering in that area of the world. It’s hard to tell how China and Russia would respond to a war between North and South Korea — a war that would involve U.S. troops.

Is there anything that can be done to minimize or remove the chance of a war between North and South Korea? The only thing I can think of is to get tens of millions of people to pray for a peaceful solution.

On May 13, 2017, Pope Francis and millions of other Catholics from around the world will celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the first appearance of the Mother of God to three children in Fatima, Portugal. The three children that she appeared to were Lucia dos Santos (10), Francisco Marto (9), and Jacinta Marto (7).

Our Lady appeared to the three children on six different occasions between May and October 1917. One of the primary reasons for her appearances was to ask the children to pass on a message from her to the world that we must stop offending God, amend our lives, and pray the rosary every day.

In one of her appearances, the Blessed Mother told the children, “Certain fashions will be introduced that will offend our Lord very much.” She later told them, “More souls go to hell because of sins of the flesh than for any other reason.”

Keep in mind that our Lady’s warning that more souls were going to hell because of the sins of the flesh occurred 100 years ago, before there were movies, television, or the internet, and before there was widespread acceptance of birth control, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, pornography, premarital sex, same-sex marriage, and abortion.

In one of her appearances, the Blessed Mother told the children that war is a punishment from God for the sins of mankind. She warned that if her requests for prayer and sacrifice were not heeded, “good people will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, [and] various nations will be annihilated.”

The definition of “annihilate” is “to destroy completely or to reduce to nonexistence.” Only a nuclear weapon can annihilate a nation.

It is Satan’s goal to sweep millions of souls into Hell in one fell swoop through the “annihilation” of one or more nations. If a nuclear bomb were to be detonated in a large city, millions of people would die before having a chance to ask God for forgiveness.

In 1930, after investigating the Fatima apparitions, the Catholic Church declared them “worthy of credence.” On May 13, 2000, the 83rd anniversary of the first Fatima apparition, Pope John Paul II, traveled to Fatima to announce the beatification of Francisco and Jacinta Marto. Jacinta was (and still is) the youngest non-martyred child ever to be beatified.

On May 13, 2017, Pope Francis will be in Fatima to celebrate the 100-year anniversary, and to canonize Francisco and Jacinta as saints.

God has given us 100 years to do what His mother asked us to do — cease offending God, sacrifice, and pray the rosary every day. I fear that we’re running out of time to do what she asked us to do.

As a nation, we need to stop relying on our leaders to win at the game of chicken and follow through on what the Mother of God asked us to do.

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