Is the world headed for total destruction? Will it come to a sudden end in our time? I think you will agree that these are serious, thought-provoking questions.

For many the future looks dark and without hope.  Military leaders often see blackness sweeping across the western sky. Their prediction is the final battle of Armageddon and the annihilation of the human race. Environmentalists are forecasting the strangulation of our sick and fragile planet. Little hope is offered to cure the cancer that has seeped into our air, water and land masses. There appear to be no solutions for the earth’s troubles.

The gigantic and unsolvable problems of Mother Nature are running wild, and no one seems to be able to control the natural disasters. Every year thousands of people lose their lives in earthquakes, tornadoes, floods and hurricanes. Then there are the toxic waste problems, acid rain, the greenhouse effect (the rise in temperature that the Earth experiences because certain gases in the atmosphere trap energy from the sun) weakening the ozone layer, the pollution of our oceans, lakes and rivers. Furthermore, there are problems and hot spots that plague the world. Africa explodes with AIDS and famines; Asia burns with overpopulation and a low standard of living. The Middle East boils with constant eruptions of strife and bloodshed. North America battles a steady, rising tide of lawlessness and immorality.

What a dreadful world–out of control and ready to split at the seams! World conditions have never been grimmer. The storm clouds are here to stay. They shower their lethal dosage of pain, sorrow and death. Things are bad. In fact, it will get worse before it gets better. Yes, it will get better! There is a definite promise of better things to come. There is hope for you and me.

The answer and solution to all the world’s multitude of problems is Jesus Christ!

Jesus said that this sin-filled world must run its course at full-throttle and then He will come again to clean up the man-made mess. The Bible gives us the comforting assurance of a complete restoration–everything will become brand new. But you ask, when? Read carefully the following, “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.” Luke 21:25-28.

The second coming of Jesus is a definite promise that Christians can rest upon. Some predict that the world will come to an end in the year 2011 A.D. But does anyone really know the exact time?

Jesus speaks to us today in Matthew 24:36, 42: “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.”

 

In the same chapter Jesus tells us some intriguing facts about His second coming and the end of civilization. Now let’s continue to search the sacred pages of the Word of God to find out more about this prophecy. Let us personally examine particular areas that clearly indicate the time inwhich we are living.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Jesus said emphatically that one outstanding sign of the times would be

WARS
We read the following in Matthew, chapter 24, verses 6 and 7: “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.”

The prophet Joel writes about the preparations for last day conflicts. Here are his words: “…Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: Beat your plowshares into swords…. let the weak say I am strong.”  Joel 3, 9, 10.

The super powers, wealthy nations, and even some of the third world countries are arming themselves for an all-out conflict. Weaker nations have developed nuclear weapons and are now saying, “I am strong.”

The prospect of a nuclear holocaust seems to be balancing on a tightrope. Most statesmen, military leaders, historians and scientists think that we are inches away from an all-out catastrophe. In recent times there have been international border violations, planes shot down, ships fired on, diplomatic ultimatums, and undeclared or limited wars fought.

What is it all leading up to?
Does the possibility exist for terrorists to obtain and use nuclear weapons? Of course, no one can with certainty rule this out. A mad terrorist could accidentally or willfully push the button, turn the key, and launch a missile with a nuclear warhead. Does this sound frightening to you? Could such an insane act trigger World War III? And what would be our chances of surviving?
And consider for a moment all the sophisticated weaponry that America has and its potential to kill!

Besides these terrifying conventional means of destroying life, there “are even uglier ways to kill–chemical and biological warfare. Here is a description of the various methods and horrors of these weapons: “The next generation of terror weapons could come from the laboratories of biologists. Souped up by genetic engineering, bacteria, viruses and toxins could be used to spread cure-resistant forms of such diseases as anthrax or cholera, or to mass-produce the killing effects of botulism or the bite of a rattlesnake.”  Newsweek, January 16, 1989.

In addition to biological weapons, there is the threat of poison gases (chemical warfare):  tear gas, vomit gas, mustard gas, blood gas, and nerve gas.

The potential effects of these ugly weapons are just too terrible to contemplate. Man’s inhumanity to man is almost incomprehensible. 
History is again repeating itself, especially the days of Noah. Genesis 6:5 and 11 describes the conditions of the earth just before the world-wide flood. “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.”
Are we not repeating the sins of Noah’s time? What does all this mean to you, dear reader? To me, it means that Jesus Christ will soon be coming back to this earth. But before this great event takes place, our loving God will warn this world to repent and turn to Him.

God’s Word says that there is not much time left for the inhabitants of the world to return to Him. The Doomsday Clock, symbolizing the threat of nuclear doom, is quickly approaching midnight.

Are you fearful of a nuclear holocaust that will annihilate every man, woman and child? Don’t be afraid, dear friend. This will never happen. According to the Bible it will be Jesus Christ who will destroy this world, and not man. This takes place when He comes back to this earth. Consider these words found in 2 Thess. 1:7-9. “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” What a blessed hope for the Christian and what a fearful end for the unbeliever!

EARTHQUAKES

“…And there shall be…… earthquakes, in divers places.” Matt. 24:7.

Earthquakes are a direct fulfillment of our Savior’s prophecy. We may expect that they will become more frequent and more destructive as we near the end. History tells us that such has been the case as shown by the following statements of facts.

In the Sixteenth Century, there were 253 earthquakes; in the Eighteenth Century–640 earthquakes, and in the Nineteenth Century–2119 earthquakes. In our century we constantly hear of the destructive nature of earthquakes. They have become so severe and so frequent that they have killed more than a million people since World War II alone.

“In the last 15 years, nearly 500,000 people have died in earthquakes–more than in any other type of natural disaster.”  Life magazine, February 1989, p. 40.
In 1985 more than 10,000 people died in the Mexican devastation. Then in December 1988 in Armenia, “As many as 100,000 of Leninakan’s 290,000 residents were dead, by unofficial estimates. At least 20,000 more died in Spitak and other Armenian towns.”  Newsweek, December 26, 1988, p. 32. “Atleast 500,000 people were said to be homeless….“  Newsweek, December 19, 1988, p. 19. A 7.9-magnitude earthquake devastated central China, with the death toll exceeding 65,000 and 5 million left homeless, as of May 26, 2008. This was the country’s worst earthquake in three decades.

Scientists predict major catastrophic quakes to hit along the San Andreas Fault in California. Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Area are likely places to be shaken violently.  It is just a matter of time.

The sure word of prophecy informs us that just before the coming of our Lord, there will be an earthquake more awful than any that has ever been experienced on this planet. In this calamity the whole earth will be involved.  “… for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage.” Isaiah 24:18-20.

John the Revelator writes of this tremendous world-wide earthquake: “…and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And every island fled away and the mountains were not found.” Revelation 16:18, 20.

One Christian author writes, “The whole earth heaves and swells like the waves of the sea. Its very foundations seem to be giving way. Mountain chains are sinking. Inhabited islands disappear.” Great Controversy, p. 637.

This event is not very far away. May we have made our peace with God so that we will be saved from destruction. The Lord has given us a wonderful promise: “A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee.” Psalm 91:7.

ECOLOGY–Air, Soil and Water Pollution

As population and industrialization grow, the air, water and soil are becoming contaminated more and more. Our environment is in a bad shape and getting worse. In some areas of the southern hemisphere such as New Zealand and Australia, the ozone layer which filters out the harmful rays of the sun is slowly being eroded. This depletion of the ozone has negative effects on man’s health leading to a sharp increase in the incidence of skin cancer.

Cities such as Beijing, Athens, Mexico City, and London are coughing and choking themselves to death. The factories, cars, trucks, and buses are continuously discharging their deadly fumes into the atmosphere. No wonder people contract cancer and other respiratory diseases.  The pollutants obscure the beautiful mountains and blue sky. Everything appears enveloped in a dense, gray fog.  

What can we do to obtain heaven’s gift of fresh, pure air? One solution may be to move out of the cities into a rural area.

Besides the air pollution, the soil and underground streams are becoming contaminated with toxic waste products. The barrels containing toxic chemicals eventually rust out and begin to leak. This chemical leakage sometimes seeps through the soil and then on into water sources. Who will drink the water? It may be YOU. Yes, your water may no longer be as safe as it once was.
Scientists are racing to study the Amazon before it vanishes.  “The Amazon forests are being destroyed at near record levels, according to new figures released by the Brazilian government.” BBC News, May 19, 2005. Others are studying how the foliage acts as the lungs of the earth, soaking up carbon dioxide that might otherwise add to global warming. “To anyone concerned about life on this planet,” says Bruce Rich of the Environment Defense Fund, “destruction of the Amazon should be the No.1 issue. Newsweek,Feb. 20, 1989.

Revelation 22:1 offers us hope for the future, “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.”

OCEANS IN TROUBLE

In Time magazine of August 1, 1988, an article appeared that dealt with our vast bodies of water. In big print it declared “THE DIRTY SEAS–threatened by rising pollution, the oceans are sending out an S.O.S.”  Then it goes on to say, “The heightened interest comes not a moment too soon, since marine biologists and environmentalists are convinced that oceanic pollution is reaching epidemic proportions. The blight is global, from the murky red tides that periodically afflict Japan’s Inland Sea to the untreated sewage that befouls the fabled Mediterranean. Pollution threatens the rich, teeming life of the ocean and renders the waters off once famed beaches about as safe to bathe in as an unflushed toilet.”

Marine explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau fears the complete end of marine life. What has man been doing to destroy the oceans? Again a quote from Time, pp. 46-47.

“Conveyed to the oceans through rivers, drainage ditches and the water table, such pollutants include fertilizers and herbicides washed from farms and lawns, motor oil from highways and parking lots, animal droppings from city streets and other untreated garbage that backs up in sewer systems and spills into the seas. Says biologist Albert Manville of Defenders of Wildlife, a Washington based environmental group: ‘We’re running out of time. We cannot continue to use the oceans as a giant garbage dump.’ Since June 1987 at least 750 dolphins have died mysteriously along the Atlantic Coast. Remote beaches on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula are littered with plastics and tires. Fish and birds are being choked out of Guanabara Bay, the entryway to Rio de Janeiro, by sewage and industrial fallout. Japan’s Inland Sea is plagued by 200 red tides annually; one last year killed more than 1 million yellowtail with a potential market value of $15 million.”

In the North Sea, chemical pollutants are believed to have been a factor in the deaths of 1,500 harbor seals this year. When Jesus comes, He will “destroy them which destroy the earth.”  Revelation 11:18. Then He will make everything brand new.

GOSPEL TO THE WHOLE WORLD

“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Matt. 24:14.

Before the coming of Christ and the end of the world, the gospel (the Christian doctrine of the redemption of man through Christ) is to go to all the nations of the world. Everyone must at least hear this message of hope.

Today the Bible has been translated into more than 1500 different languages. It is the bestseller among all books in print.
The churches are sending their missionaries all around the globe. Through television, radio, the printed word and by personal evangelism the good news is being proclaimed. Russia has opened its doors to the word of God. Focus on the Family magazine, January 1989 issue, writes, “This month, Christians in Russia will receive a long-awaited shipment of precious cargo–something they have longed for but nearly lost all hope of receiving. When Soviet customs officials crack open the crates, they won’t find valuable food stuffs or designer jeans–they will find Bibles.

“The first 100,000 New Testaments (with Psalms) of the project ‘Target: One Million’ will be delivered to the Russian Orthodox Church this Christmas season (they celebrate the holiday on January 9).

“‘The consent of the Soviet government to allow this large shipment represents a historic and unprecedented opportunity to bring more Bibles into Russia in the next 15 months than were smuggled in during the last 70 years,’ said Robert Hawley, U.S. director of Open Doors.”

Matthew 24:14 does not state or imply that the whole world will be converted. The Scriptures clearly show that but few will accept the message; but all will have the opportunity of hearing it, and preparing to meet their Lord if they desire to do so. In the great judgment day, the unprepared will stand without excuse.

CRIME AND LAWLESSNESS

“As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man.” Luke 17:26.

“We are living in the midst of an ‘epidemic of crime,’ at which thoughtful, God-fearing men everywhere stand aghast. The corruption that prevails, it is beyond the power of the human pen to describe. Every day brings fresh revelations of political strife, bribery, and fraud. Every day brings its heart-sickening record of violence and lawlessness, of indifference to human suffering, of brutal, fiendish destruction of human life. Every day testifies to the increase of insanity, murder, and suicide.” Ministry of Healing, pp. 142-143.

In the San Francisco Chronicle of January 13, 1988, there appeared some startling news in regard to crime in the state of California. Attorney General John Vande Kamp had some figures for 1986. He states, “the numbers over the last 5 years reflect a dramatic increase in drug-and gang-related homicides.”  He said murders related to drugs and gangs accounted for 17.2 percent of all homicides in 1986–more than double their share in 1982. The homicide rate increased by 0.9 percent between 1977 and 1986, forcible rape declined by 6.3 percent, robbery was up 23.2 percent and aggravated assault rose by 50.5 percent.

Here are several examples of the terrible crimes committed:
Newsweek, January 30, 1989, wrote “Death on the Playground–Why do mass murderers kill children? Shortly after children spilled onto the Cleveland Elementary School playground in Stockton, California, for midday recess, a man dressed in combat fatigues stepped out of his 1977 station wagon, parked nearby. Patrick Purdy, 24, left a Molotov cocktail behind to blow up the car and walked over to the schoolyard where he had played as a child. Hoisting to his shoulder a Chinese-made AK-47 assault rifle he bought in an Oregon gun store for $350, Purdy opened fire on 450 students. The casualties: 5 children dead, 30 others and a teacher wounded. After the two-minute volley was over, Purdy pulled out a pistol and killed himself.”

“Death at the Rooming House–In the yard of a rooming house for low-income pensioners, police uncovered seven shallow graves of elderly people they believe are murdered tenants. The chief suspect: the gray-haired landlady. He alleged motive: their monthly social-security checks.” Newsweek: November 28, 1988.

At least 33 people were killed on the campus of Virginia Tech April 16, 2007, in what appears to be the deadliest shooting rampage in US history.

DRUGS AND CRIME

“Drug crimes have filled America’s prisons. Forty-two state systems are operating above capacity.”
“Drug cases have inundated the justice system. Last year agents made 352,612 busts, an annual increase of 24 percent.”

“As recently as June 1985, New York police had not made a single crack arrest. In the first 10 months of 1988, they made 19,074.” Newsweek, Nov. 28, 1988. pp. 65, 67.

“Cocaine, crack and drug-related crime pose a devastating threat to U.S. society. And as in Vietnam, America is slowly losing the war.” Ibid, p.76.
These terrible times in which we live tell us that the Holy Spirit is even now being withdrawn from the world. This means Jesus will soon come again. Then men will again live without fear and in peace.

ABORTION

“The situation is startling, to say the very least: one in four pregnancies today ends in abortion. Approximately two million abortions are performed annually in the United States; worldwide, the figure soars to fifty to seventy-five million.” Paul B. Fowler, Abortion– Toward an Evangelical Consensus, p. 11.

The methods of abortion are physically violent.
“Most everyone has seen or heard about the new ultrasound film showing an actual abortion. The victim was an eleven-week-old fetus, a little girl fully formed, even down to her fingerprints. It was a suction abortion, and the abortionist filmed it out of curiosity.

“At the beginning of the film, the child can be seen playing, turning around, sucking her thumb; her heart was beating at the normal rate of 120. When the instrument touched the uterine wall, the baby immediately recoiled, and the heart rate rose considerably. The fetus had not yet been touched, but she knew something was happening.

“Then the suction began. The child was literally drawn apart piece by piece; and while this was happening, the child was thrashing around, trying to escape the inevitable. Her head was thrown back and her mouth was open wide in what one doctor called her ‘silent scream.’ Her heart rate was over 200, and you could see the tiny heart beating rapidly. Finally, the forceps came in and crushed the head in order to remove it. The whole process took twelve to fifteen minutes.

“When the abortionist saw the ultrasound, he left the clinic and never returned! This is a barbaric and painful way to die.” Ibid, p.193.
“And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Matthew 24:12.

Abortion is one of the gross sins committed by our generation. Murder of innocent and helpless infants is legalized by our judicial system. No matter what the courts rule, it is a sinful act to take human life. Exodus 20:13 clearly states “Thou shalt not kill.”

Very soon the Lord will put an end to all murders committed. He will not tolerate this violent behavior forever.                                                            
Here is the promise from Revelation 21:4, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death…”