War is vicious and deadly—and not just to the armies and not just while it is going on. The inhuman inventiveness of man has produced many cruel devices that are the gravest risk for innocent children and can keep killing and maiming for years after any peace treaty is signed. It is estimated there are 110 million land mines deployed in more than 70 countries around the world. The United Nations estimates someone is killed by a land mine every 20 minutes. Over 80 percent of the 15,000 to 20,000 victims are civilians and at least one in five is a child. In Cambodia, for example, one out of every 250 people is an amputee because of land mines. Many people are trying to do something today to get rid of this scourge. Actually, 100,000 land mines are being removed each year! The problem is 20 times that are being placed each year. Consider that land mines only cost $3 to $15 to produce, but at least $1,000 to remove! One estimate is it would take $33 billion and 1,100 years to clear all of the land mines in the world. Thankfully, the Bible foretells a time when all implements of war, including these evil land mines, will be removed. Perhaps some of you reading this will be involved in getting rid of this scourge from the earth. Ancient tools of terror Land mines aren’t mentioned in the Bible per se, but there are many mentions of stealthy and fearful forerunners—snares and traps. Lamentations 3:47 talks about “fear and a snare have come upon us, desolation and destruction.” Those descriptions definitely apply to the effects of land mines today. The New International Version uses the word terror in this verse, and that certainly applies, as well. In Psalm 141:9, David prayed that God would keep him “from the snares they have laid for me, and from the traps of the workers of iniquity.” Land mines, like snares and traps, are designed to be hidden, deceptive and insidious. The enemy you can’t see is more terrifying and demoralizing than the enemy and the weapon you can see. The Bible tells us that all this terror, all these weapons of war and destruction, will be removed. “He makes wars cease” A number of prophecies predict the time when God will take charge and end man’s binge of self-destruction. “He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the fire” (Psalm 46:9). A God like that will be a real refuge to those who seek Him (verse 11). I’m sure one of the first orders of business in every place, as His Kingdom expands, will be the removal of land mines. How will this be done? God, of course, could just miraculously remove them or explode them safely. However, so many times in the Bible and in prophecy, God gives His people a part in the work He is doing. Will you be a part of the bomb squad to go out and remove these land mines? Will one of you invent a new process for detecting land mines? Right now the clean-up process is very expensive and dangerous. We don’t want to lose any lives in the clean-up, and we certainly don’t want it to take 1,100 years, as some predict! Micah also describes the time when Jesus Christ will return and bring real peace: “He shall judge between many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Micah 4:3). The end result will be peace and God’s way of life—the way of give—being taught and lived. This is described in the next verse: “But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken” (Micah 4:4). Today land mines are a frightening and destructive evil. Hundreds of children are being killed every year. But in God’s Kingdom, they will be cleaned up. Then there will be nothing to fear! God speed that day! Recommended reading To learn more about the prophesied future, request or download our full-color brochure You Can Understand Bible Prophecy.