This blog page is a digest of our thoughts on world events as they relate to the coming of the Kingdom of God. We try to update it regularly, particularly when things happen that seem significant in the light of Bible prophecy.
The words in the title of this little article appeared in The Daily Telegraph as a headline on Thursday July 25th 2002, and introduced an article about an asteroid whose orbit could coincide with that of the earth. The asteroid, named 2002NT7, is estimated to be between 0.6 and 2.5 miles (0.96 and 4.0 kilometres) across, and travelling at 18 miles (28km) per second. Astronomers have been plotting the orbit, calculating its future path, and have predicted a collision, if it does take place, at 11.47am on Friday February 1st 2019. Although there is such precision in the calculated impact time, there is less certainty about whether it will actually take place, as each set of observations improves the accuracy of predictions about the orbit.
The consequences of such a collision would be catastrophic for many, causing great destruction, changes to the atmosphere, climatic changes, shock waves throughout the earth. Does this worry you? Do you fear the end of civilisation as we know it? Are you uneasy about the uncertainty of the astronomers’ predictions?
In view of the desperate and dangerous state of the world, we need to consider an alternative to what appear to be intractable situations world-wide. Who yet in all the many negotiations, contacts or policy implementations over the years of conflict, not just in the Middle East, but world-wide, has shown that he or she has the wisdom to present and implement lasting beneficial peace?
Every civilised society needs a system of law and justice to protect its members from antisocial behaviour. Many regard the British criminal justice system as one of the best in the world but even here in recent years there have been examples of people being wrongly imprisoned. Two such cases were featured on television a few weeks ago. One concerned a man currently serving a two and a half year long prison sentence who had been convicted solely on the basis of a finger print which experts say could not have come from the surface of the incriminating evidence. Two other proven cases of mistaken fingerprint analysis were mentioned in the same programme. The other case was that of a man who spent 23 years in prison for a murder that had not been committed.
From time immemorial the ownership of land has been bitterly contested. In the past, in continental Europe, frontiers changed many times, sometimes with bewildering frequency, and the colonial powers wrestled over territories in the New World. On a more parochial level, next-door neighbours have become locked in bitter feuds, sometimes involving costly court action, over a few inches in the line of a boundary fence. The Bible gives us God’s perspective on the bitter dispute in the land of Israel today.
The teaching of Creation in school is a thorny subject, not only amongst those directly involved in education but also amongst others whose concerns have been expressed very publicly. An eminent professional religious leader has stated that the teaching of Creation brings the Bible into disrepute. A prominent scientist has described the teaching of Creation as pure poison. The current government has threatened to withdraw funding from schools that do it. Where should a Bible believer stand in this debate?