He saved the world and lost his job. It's September 26, 1983, and deep inside the Serpukhov-15 bunker at a secret military base near Moscow, the Oko nuclear early warning system signals the United States has just launched an intercontinental nuclear ballistic missile at Russia, followed by four more. War has begun.
Lieutenant Colonel Stanislov Petrov of the Soviet Air Defence Forces was the commander on duty. Just days earlier, Soviet MIGS had shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 007 with air-to-air missiles, killing all 269 people on board. The world was on edge. Militaries worldwide were readied for battle. This was the ultimate tension in the Soviet/American Cold War.
Anticipation of an American retaliation was expected. Then came the warning of an impending nuclear strike. Soviet military protocol dictated that Russia would launch hundreds of nuclear warheads at key targets across the U.S. The world was about to be consumed in a nuclear catastrophe. Perhaps the end of the world.
But Petrov stopped. He didn't report it. He thought about it.
A man who mentors me through his writings and his life is Dr. R.T. Kendall. He emphasizes that the Holy Spirit is constantly active, sensitive, and sovereignly at work in the world, teaching that the Spirit awakens, convicts, and reveals Christ both before and after a person comes to faith. The Holy Spirit is never silent or inactive, beginning in Genesis and continuing through supernatural work today.
Colonel Petrov judged the alert to be a false alarm because a real U.S. first strike would have involved hundreds of missiles, not just five. Common sense? Or the Lord's active presence in our world?
As a follower of Christ, the Holy Spirit is fully activated in you. What do you need to stop and think about this week? What do you need to stop and pray into? What do you need to lay before the Lord? Then ... do that now.
Back on Petrov, it was later judged that the system had misinterpreted sunlight glinting off high-altitude clouds as missile launches. At first, Petrov was commended. Then, to save face, his superiors demoted him, and finally, they got rid of him. It took thirty years for the world to recognize what he had done.
One man made the difference.
In your world, you're that man. You make the difference.
