Rumors of War

1 Nephi 12:2

And it came to pass that I beheld multitudes gathered together to battle, one against the other; and I beheld wars, and rumors of wars, and great slaughters with the sword among my people.

The phrase "rumours of wars" appears many times in the scriptures. War is certainly a curse, but why are rumors of war a parallel problem? Because even when we may be experiencing local peace, reports of wars elsewhere remind us that our immediate peace is fragile. 

The reports of war became prominent in the 1960's when the nightly news brought images of the Vietnam War into our living rooms. War was no longer a distant event about which we heard only delayed summaries. War in all its gory details was now in our homes on a regular basis. 

And that trend continues as reporters with cameras and satellite links bring the horrors of war in real time to our television screens every day. The scenes of suffering and destruction shatter our illusions of proximate peace. We are at war all the time, whether we are being attacked directly or indirectly through the media. Our brains can't tell the difference.

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