On the 24th of January, the Science & Security Board of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists set the doomsday clock 10 seconds closer to midnight – the closest it has ever been. At 90 seconds (or a minute and a half) to midnight, we are well into the 11th hour. This looming symbolic midnight does not portray Cinderella being turned back into a servant girl, but rather a foreboding reality of the earth and its population being turned into cinders.
Firstly, the Russian war with Ukraine has challenged the nuclear order, said Steve Fetter, who sits on the Bulletin Science & Security Board. By uttering indirect and direct nuclear threats, the Russian superpower has catapulted the world back to a state of danger, not seen since the Cold War. And the occupation of Chernobyl – made famous following the catastrophic meltdown of its nuclear reactor in 1986 – only confirms this perilous situation.
Secondly, the past decade has seen a three-fold increase in zoonotic diseases (diseases which spread from animals to humans). And more than three years after the outbreak of Covid-19, there is no clear end in sight for the virus – and further pandemics are expected within our lifetime!
Thirdly, climate change has also contributed to a move closer to ‘the end’! The increase in destruction and suffering affecting countless lives, is repeatedly witnessed in the press, and on social media. While scientists have been warning for decades about the effects of global warming and environmental degradation, leaders around the world are finally openly acknowledging the escalating problems facing mankind. Wars, environment issues, and disease epidemics are yearly discussed at various conferences, which see new agreements made, but hardly kept.
However, none of the above is new. Did you know that Jesus Christ Himself also warned about these things, around 2000 years ago?
Matthew 24:21 For then shall be great distress, the kind that hasn’t taken place from the beginning of the world until now and never will again.
This unprecedented time ahead was also mentioned by the prophets Daniel and Jeremiah!
Daniel 12:1 ‘’…and there shall be a time of distress, such as never has occurred since nations came into being…
Jeremiah 30:7 How awful that day will be! There will be no other like it.
As there can only be one ‘time’ worse than all others, these three verses speak of the same frightening time just ahead of us, now. The rewards of our collective selfishness and greed are being reaped, bringing the world and its inhabitants to absolute disaster, unless mankind drastically changes course.
But what does changing course mean? It means turning from inward-thinking to outward-thinking; from getting to giving; from hating to loving.
Bible-reading Christians gradually come to realise that someone greater - and with a lot more power – needs to help us turn things around. He who currently upholds the whole universe with the power of His Word - Jesus Christ – IS that Someone.
Time is running out, said Mary Robinson, the former President of Ireland, as she appealed to the leaders of the world to wake up!
Let’s not ignore what messengers of God, and now also scientists have been warning about!
Keep on watching,
And don’t forget to pray.
VFNM Co-ordinator