NORAD, also known as the North American Aerospace Defense Command is based out of Peterson Space Force Base just outside of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Previously known as Peterson Air Force Base, this location serves as the hub for American and Canadian air sovereignty and protection. Set away from the hustle and bustle of the country, Peterson and the nearby heavily fortified bunker facility of Cheyenne Mountain serve as NORAD’s base of operation. Telecommunication tendrils twist from every corner of the North American coastline back to the brain of NORAD with one primary goal – detect, as early as possible, an incoming nuclear strike… and on November 9, 1979, the alarms of Cheyenne Mountain were blaring.
I’m Scott Beyer and this is the Love Better podcast where we explore the truths and lies about love and more importantly how to turn love into a skill – something we can get better at and hone along the way.
This year, we are learning to love better by exploring the greatest commandment – Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. We’ve searched our hearts and plumbed the depths of our soul for how to love the Lord better, and halfway through the year it is time to investigate our minds. How do we love God with all our mind? What does that even mean? This week is the fourth in a ten-part series on learning to love better with our minds… and today, we must talk about two men. One that almost destroyed the world, and another that saved it. An American that almost killed us all, and a Russian that saved the planet. 1979 and 1983 the years that almost burned the world down.
First, let’s look at the U.S. Early on the morning of November 9th, 1979, alarms were clanging at NORAD HQ, Cheyenne Mountain, Maryland’s Fort Richie, and in fact, at installations all over the country connected to the Worldwide Military Command and Control System.
Now defunct, the Worldwide Military Command and Control System was more affectionately known as W(h)imex. W(h)imex was the military’s data miner during the cold war. Implemented after the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, W(h)imex functioned like an electronic brain for NORAD. It connected outposts all over the continent and beyond, providing seismic, radar, and satellite data as an early warning system for, amongst other things, nuclear attacks from Russia and its allies. W(h)imex was highly sophisticated for its time. It could process defense information quickly and even had authority to automatically and unilaterally order preparations for war. W(h)imex could raise the DefCon levels, trigger alarms that would scramble jets and put bombers in the air, and even prepare nuclear forces without waiting for human intervention. So, when Jimmy Carter’s national security advisorreceived a phone call in the wee hours of the morning of November 9th… bombers were already prepared for deployment, ICBM crews were on high alert for a retaliatory strike, and the president’s Doomsday plane was active and prepared to become the Command Center for a nuclear war between world powers.
NORAD was informed by its sophisticated brainchild, W(h)imex, that there were 2,000 inbound Soviet missiles headed for the United States. It was the pre-emptive Cold War strike the U.S. military had always feared. As one scientist later said, “[W(h)imex] was going to war.”
The only problem was – it was all fake. It was later determined that an unnamed lieutenant colonel at NORAD headquarters had accidentally plugged a war games training simulation tape into an active component of W(h)imex… and it turns out sophisticated as it was, the W(h)imex system couldn’t tell the difference between a simulation and reality. Bad data in meant the jets were scrambled and the ICBMs were primed for launch. False data lead to false conclusions.
Thankfully, humans caught the mistake in time, but only just, and the events of November 1979 became a reminder of how close mankind can come to self-destruction. We are never more than one bad input away from annihilation.
So, what does this have to do with loving better? Your whole life runs on data. Jesus tells us that:
“The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness. "Then watch out that the light in you is not darkness. "If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it will be wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays." (Luke 11:34-36 NASB95)
Bad data has lead to some pretty horrible events in the history of the world. Even Peter recognized that the enemies of Jesus only killed him because they didn’t have the right information.
In Acts 3, here are Peter’s exact words:
“But you denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses... And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. (Act 3:14-15, 17)
And Jesus agreed with the impact of ignorance and bad data being part of His crucifixion. While hanging upon the cross, Jesus plead to God for lost souls because, in His own words, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)
Why did people kill the Son of God – bad data. Ignorance. Eyes that couldn’t see the light, and so their actions were filled with darkness.
Now – don’t mistake me, that doesn’t exonerate mankind for crucifying Jesus. It explains the problem, but it doesn’t excuse it.
Ignorance isn’t acceptable. Just because you missed the sign saying “One Way” on the road doesn’t mean it is okay to drive the wrong way into traffic, and just because you only know part of the story or hadn’t considered their side of things doesn’t mean you have a right to mistreat someone because you didn’t understand their point of view. Bad or missing data has led to a lot of unloving choices in the history of the world, and if we examine ourselves and our decisions – a lot of our personal failures can be tracked back to not having all the information before we jumped to conclusions.
Which is why, if we are going to love well, we need to be people who seek good and complete data. Jesus describes His followers as those who actively seek truth,
In Luke 11 He says, “And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Luk 11:9-10 ESV)
God rewards seekers. Proverbs says, “Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.” (Pro 23:23 ESV)
And Psalm 119 says that “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:103-105)
There is an expectation that we would seek truth, seek to understand God’s Word, and seek God Himself. However, that’s easier said than done because the whole truth is much more difficult to acquire than half-truths.
Most of us peddle our lives in half-truths. We may dwell on the parts of the Bible comfortable to us, but shy away from harder, more convicting passages. We believe the half-truths about others, judging them by their worst moments and not seeing the whole picture of a person’s efforts and life. It is much easier to vilify those we disagree with than to humanize them, and it is a thousand times more convenient to read the parts of the Bible that align with who I am, then the ones that remind me of who I ought to be.
But here’s the problem – your brain is really no different than NORAD’s. Infinitely more complex, but still the same principles apply – you are only as good as your data.
If you plug in bad information, you get bad results. In 1 Kings 12, young King Rehoboam listened to the advice of his peers, ignored the advice of the older, wiser counselors and ended up making decisions that led to civil war. He took in bad data and made bad decisions accordingly.
Another example is when Joshua and the Israelites make a truce with the Gibeonites in Joshua 9. The Gibeonites lied to them and said they were from far away, but the truth was they were one of the nations that was a clear threat to their invasion of the Promised Land. The covenant with the Gibeonites complicated life for Israel for generations… all because of bad information.
Which is a good reminder to all of us – how many times are we making bad decisions, unloving decisions, because of bad information?
Have you ever assumed someone is lazy when in reality, they have a health struggle holding them back? We judge the worst of someone when God warns us to judge with righteous judgment.
Or have you heard one understanding of a passage, but didn’t take the time to investigate other views which may do a better job of keeping the Scriptures in context? Echo chamber faith isn’t working your own salvation out with fear and trembling.
Or how about accepting one person’s story of events and not hearing the other side of the disagreement? Sometimes, we take sides before knowing the full picture and end up perpetuating gossip and slander instead of preserving reputations… tearing down instead of building up.
Or have you ever made a fear-based decision instead of a faith-based one? We make fear-based decisions because the first thought we have is often times the worst and without taking the time to calm down, consult the text, gain wise counsel, and make a measured approach we jump to action with only our worst fears to be our compass.
Bad data destroys faith, it destroys relationships, and it leads to sinful behavior instead of acts of love. Never forget that Paul was killing Christians because he thought Jesus was a false teacher – ignorance made him the enemy of Jesus, truth made him a champion of the faith.
Which brings us to 1983. On September 26th, 1983 – Russia faced its own false alarm moment. The Soviet version of W(h)imex was called Oko. Like NORAD, the Soviet Air Defense Force used Oko to monitor and detect incoming missile attacks. In the early hours of September 26, the Oko system suddenly reported that the United States had launched five nuclear missiles towards the Soviet Union. The system’s alarms blared, and the screen showed what appeared to be a genuine attack. At the time, Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov was stationed at the Serpukhov-15 bunker near Moscow, and he was at the helm of monitoring Oko. When the alarms went off, protocol dictated that Petrov should immediately report the launch to his superiors, which could have led to a retaliatory nuclear strike. According to Oko, the U.S. had fired first, but Russia would make sure they fired last.
Except something happened. Lt. Colonel Petrov was skeptical of the data. He believed that if the U.S. were to launch a strike on Russia, it would be MASSIVE, not just five missiles. He also considered that the system was new and a malfunction was possible. So, he trusted his instincts and reported the alert as a false alarm, despite having no confirmation. In later years when asked about it – Petrov would admit he was only “50/50” sure that the alert was a false alarm. In the face of nuclear war and at personal risk (Petrov was actually reprimanded and demoted for his actions), the Lieutenant chose to trust his gut and with a 50/50 chance of true or false scenario – Petrov believed the best in his enemy.
And somehow… I feel like there is a lesson there. If you don’t have all the data – assume the best in others, even your enemies.
In Paul’s definition of love in 1st Corinthians chapter 13, the Holy Spirit describes love as “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
And when helping strengthen unity and bring Christians together during a time of doctrinal dispute, Paul will tell the Romans in chapter 14:
“Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.”
And before Corinthians and Romans, Jesus spoke saying, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
Everybody wants others to assume the best of them. I don’t want to be judged by my worst day, my dumbest statements, or my most thoughtless action. I’d like to think the worst version of me isn’t a fair representation of the true me… and I believe that is true of you, too.
If we want to love better, we need to choose better data, which starts with the Scriptures, and also wait for the rest of the data to come in. As James says, “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”
So, next time you are going to make a decision, make sure you’ve got all the information because if NORAD can get it wrong, it might just be possible you did, too.
Learn to love better. Learn to think, listen, and have an eye for truth.
As always, thank you for listening and hopefully we've done something to help make your life a little bit better. If you have a chance to rate, review or share the podcast it would be a blessing. By sharing with others or leaving a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify, you help us reach more people.
Or maybe you have a fun history fact, a feel good news story, or a riveting scientific fact you think could help us love better, I’d love to hear it! Feel free to email me at scott@biblegrad.com
And if you are ever in the Louisville, KY area, I’d like to invite you to worship with us at the Eastland congregation. We meet for worship every Sunday and have Bible classes for all ages Wednesday’s, too. If you want more information about Eastland, visit us at eastlandchristians.org. Or if you are looking for more tools to enrich your Bible study, visit my personal Bible site, Biblegrad.com, where you can sign up for daily Bible devotionals called Biblebites and receive them in your email each morning, take online Bible classes, or find videos that will help you study through the Bible throughout the year.
And until next time, “Remember, you are loved, so go… love better.”
