A living faith for a dying world! 

How long does it take to react to mortal danger? Certainly a car speeding towards you on the wrong side of the road would make you get out of the way quickly!   But not all danger is quite so obvious. Many years ago scientists came up with the parable of a boiling frog. The premise is that if a frog is put suddenly into boiling water, it will jump out, but if the frog is put in tepid water which is then brought to the boil slowly, it won’t realise the danger until it’s too late and will be cooked to death. The story is a metaphor for our inability or unwillingness to react to, or be aware of, threats that arise gradually.

The Doomsday Clock

Scientists say that planet earth is almost at boiling point.   Back in 1947 a group of researchers, the Chicago Atomic Scientists, came up with the Doomsday Clock, a symbol which represents the likelihood of a man-made global catastrophe.  Originally, it addressed the threat of global nuclear war, but since 2007 it has also reflected climate change and new developments in life sciences and technology that could inflict irrevocable harm to humanity.

When the Doomsday Clock gets to midnight global catastrophe will strike. The original setting in 1947 was seven minutes to midnight. But as of January 2017, the Clock is set at just two and a half minutes to midnight. This dramatic change is due to the rise in nationalism worldwide together with President Trump’s aggressive comments over North Korea, and his opposition to measures to address climate change. It’s frightening to reflect that the 120 kiloton hydrogen bomb tested by Kim Jong-un’s North Korea early in September is eight times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. It’s frightening too that President Trump has retaliated by threatening “fire and fury like the world has never seen.”

In the words of one commentator: “We’re busy sawing off the branch we’re sitting on!”

A message of hope!

Bleak though the future may seem at times, the Bible contains a message of hope. It spells out clearly that God will not allow the earth to be destroyed: He formed it to be inhabited, and ultimately to be filled with His glory:  “For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth and made it, who has established it, who did not create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord and there is no other. (Isaiah 45:18) In another place God promises to intervene in the affairs of men before we press the self-destruct button:  “The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints and

those who fear Your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth.” (Revelation 11:18)

The return of Jesus Christ to the earth

The good news of the Bible is that God will send His Son back to the earth to set up a worldwide kingdom of peace and righteousness. This was promised by the angels at the time of his ascension into heaven:  

“…Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11) 

 Many people will dismiss this as pie in the sky: the Bible even prophesies that this will be the case:  “…scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.’” (2 Peter 3:3-4)

Remember the parable of the frog!

But if we’re wise we’ll remember the parable of the frog. It’s plain for all to see that the world is in a bad place. The threat of nuclear war looms; climate change is causing ever more violent extremes, such as hurricane Irma. In other parts of the world millions are on the brink of starvation or at risk of diseases such as cholera brought on by drought and civil war. We can’t take the risk that somehow it’ll come right in the end. Come right it will – but only when God intervenes to send His Son back to the earth. So let us heed the message of the Gospel and repent and be baptised before it’s too late!