“HERE WE ARE IN A BRAND NEW YEAR, AND IF MOST ARE HONEST THERE IS A UNIVERSAL FEELING OR SENSE THAT SOMETHING CALAMITOUS AND WORLDWIDE IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO OUR WORLD IN THE NEAR FUTURE.”

 I’m Dennis Finnan, host and speaker on the World, the Word & You! Broadcast and in a moment we’ll talk about this foreboding feeling and what it means according to the Bible…

…Have you noticed the slew of Hollywood blockbuster planetary disaster movies that have been circulating about in the past decade? Have you notice the even greater increase in the last few year? Movies like “THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW,” and Steven Spielberg’s $75 million dollar blockbuster “DEEP IMPACT.” All of that, and a host of others show our world coming to a disastrous end as we know it from asteroids strikes, worldwide earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, deadly plagues, and even alien invasions. Hollywood has a knack for getting hold of the collective fears of the people of our nation and then proceeds to find a storyline to twang that cord in our hearts. That cord is indeed ‘fear of tomorrow,’ fear of there not being a tomorrow and the fact that our world is somehow coming to an end as we know and enjoy it.

Well in a very real sense, one does not have to go the bookstore or movie theater to find the latest best selling suspense and disaster novel to know what’s ahead for us. All one needs to do is read the Bible, which has for centuries made predictions of the future of mankind. In fact, of every prediction made in the Bible, do you know that 100% of them have come true and have been fulfilled exactly as they were written? Now, that’s not only amazing in human terms, but uncanny at the least. However, my friend, since the Creator Himself is the complete source of the Bible, the Judeo-Christian Scriptures, it is not surprising that the God who created us, who lives in eternity not time, can tell us everything that will happen in our future, especially the “creation” of the space-mass-time continuum we live in. So after another musical moment, I’ll return with a look at what the Bible says is ahead for us not only as a nation, but as the whole wide world we live in…

… Hollywood and its filmmakers today gross millions if not billions of dollars by exciting the common fears American’s have that there will be no tomorrow as we know it. Our comfortable lives and living we enjoy in these United States , seems so fragile. We worry about the ecosystems disruption, the destruction of the tropical rain forests, the global warming of the earth, the volcanic instability of it, and worse the belief that our planet may be struck by a disaster comet or asteroid and destroy life and living as we know it. In addition, many fear an invasion of extra-terrestrial life one day will simply come upon us enslaving the planet or destroying it all together such as the blockbuster movie – INDEPENDENCE DAY.

As such, have you ever wondered why we collectively have such common fears? Well I can answer in the simplicity of one sentence. The answer is – “We are all guilt ridden, and fear judgment is coming as a result!” This fear may be a hidden inner fear, yet almost all of us cannot explain it, nor assuage it when it surfaces in differing and various ways in us. To dull these fears and feelings of guilt, some turn to drink and substance abuse, others turn to sexual promiscuity; still others turn to excessive materialism – all in the hopes that such terrible feelings inside us of our life and lives coming to an end will not come true.

However, my friend these feelings although deep within us and often disguised by our own psychic is what the Bible calls ‘the guilt of sin!’ Yes, a guilt that cries out to us that we are not right with the Creator who gave life to us all. Of course, it all began in the Garden of Eden when our very first parents, Adam and Eve, chose to walk away from the God who created them, and strike out in living on their own. Well the truth is, these first human beings were created to live in the presence of God the Creator, and to love Him and serve Him for their true satisfaction and happiness of life and existence. But for God to receive their love, it has to come from their hearts by their own free will, not like some talking doll or robot.

Yes, the Bible tell us God created mankind in His ‘own image,’ having a free will and ability to think and reason. Now as the Bible tells us God is an Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent God, this means He knows the end from the beginning.  So in planning to create us, God knew man would reject His love and care, as energized by a previously created, free will creature called Lucifer the Devil. However, God in His wisdom saw this as the only plan and way for man to become His loving companion by his own choice. So, mankind had to fall from God’s love and grace by choice, and find out that living apart from God, would never bring him happiness, nor inner fulfillment, and of course all the experiential joys of God’s very nature and existence.

Well, this is the story of the Bible and the story of life itself. We as a human race are living in rebellion to God’s perfect will, and by choice all humanity has said to God in effect, “We do not want you in our lives. We do not want you to rule us, or guide us. We want to live as king of our own lives doing our own will. So get out and leave us alone!” Isn’t that the summation of all our hearts and thoughts if we are honest? From a little baby who learns his or her first word, it is usually the word “NO!” Well we’ve all said ‘no’ to God too! Now God permits that, but saying no to God in heart, life and living has consequences.

The first and greatest consequence is “guilt.” Even Adam when he sinned felt guilt. Normally we discover in the Word of God that Adam and Eve had daily communion with God as they walked together in the cool of the day in the afternoon and conversed. But when they both disobeyed God by eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they fell from God’s perfect will and sinned by such rebellion of exercising their own will contrary to God’s. Quite quickly they found out a shocking truth. They did not get the power and knowledge of God in good and evil by partaking of this forbidden fruit. You see, God knows evil and can by His power forever resist it fully and exist apart from it. Also, God knows good and by His unlimited power can live by it and even sustain it indefinitely. Ah, but man now having a portion of God’s power and knowledge can do good, but we cannot sustain it, and worse we cannot avoid evil, nor consistently resist it. Thus, we live in such a world don’t we? Indeed, there are many good things we can do, but much more none of us can consistently resist evil and sin. So the Bible describes for us who we really are, in the light of God’s goodness and perfection. Isaiah the prophet writes,

Isa 1:2-6 (NLT) “ Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! This is what the LORD says: "The children I raised and cared for have turned against me. 3 Even the animals--the donkey and the ox--know their owner and appreciate his care, but not my people Israel . No matter what I do for them, they still do not understand." 4 Oh, what a sinful nation they are! They are loaded down with a burden of guilt. They are evil and corrupt children who have turned away from the LORD. They have despised the Holy One of Israel , cutting themselves off from his help. 5 Why do you continue to invite punishment? Must you rebel forever? Your head is injured, and your heart is sick. 6 You are sick from head to foot--covered with bruises, welts, and infected wounds--without any ointments or bandages.”

Here God describes the elect nation of Israel, His children by faith, who were living in rebellion to God, being loaded down with guilt and suffering tremendously from a life of living without God at the helm of life and missing His blessings. This is our world today, since we are all sinners. The Bible tells us of the serious problem we all face. It says in,

Eccl 7:20 (NLT)  “There is not a single person in all the earth who is always good and never sins.”

Rom 3:23 (NLT)  “For all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious standard.”

Rom 6:23 (NLT)  “For the wages of sin is death…”

James 2:10 (NLT)  And the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as the person who has broken all of God's laws.

Here God explicitly tells us that we are ‘all’ guilty of sin and rebellion to Him. As such there is a penalty and that penalty is death. God said to Adam and Eve that they would die for their sins,

Gen 3:17-19 (NLT)  And to Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate the fruit I told you not to eat, I have placed a curse on the ground. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. 18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. 19 All your life you will sweat to produce food, until your dying day. Then you will return to the ground from which you came. For you were made from dust, and to the dust you will return."

Since that very day, every child of Adam has death reigning over us. The pall bearers will one day come for you and me, and worse, once we die there is what Scripture calls the ‘second death.’ You see as sinners, our living soul and spirit being created eternal, will survive physical death and one day we will be cast out of the presence of God for eternity in a place called Hell. This then is the “guilt” written on our soul and spirit, etched deeply into our hearts and no amount of religion, good works, and acts of kindness can take it away.

Thus we all feel the impending judgment of God is coming upon us, and living together as sinners on His planet earth, we somehow feel God will strike us down by sending worldwide disasters and destruction to our rebellious planet. Now don’t kid yourself, this is the reason for all the guilt we suffer because our sins are great before a holy and perfect God. Why the Hollywood movies are just an expression of this fear of judgment, although incorrect to some extent in timing.

What do I mean by that? Well amazing enough all the disasters Hollywood depicts coming on the earth in today’s world of science fiction, are actually going to happen to some extent in man’s future. What you say? That’s right. Let me list what the Bible says is coming to this rebellious world. Scripture says because of mankind’s sins, God is one day going to bring disaster upon our planet and the life and living of every sinner who has refused to turn from their sins and take Jesus Christ, God’s Son as their Lord and Savior.

This time period is what Hollywood has gotten wrong. God will not bring these disasters upon us until He deems it time. The time will come following the Rapture of the Church of Jesus Christ, which is for all those who have been forgiven of their sin by taking Christ as their God and Savior. Now following the Rapture event, God will then begin setting the world in which we live into the chaos mode. Jesus summed this up for us when He predicted what’s ahead for the last generation before God Himself breaks into our world to judge our sins,

Mat 24:21-22 (NLT)  For that will be a time of greater horror than anything the world has ever seen or will ever see again. 22 In fact, unless that time of calamity is shortened, the entire human race will be destroyed. But it will be shortened for the sake of God’s chosen ones.

For your consideration, here’s a list of what’s predicted to come upon our world in the future,

1.      Worldwide wars will break out. There will be no peace anywhere on earth. (Mat. 24:6)

2.      Pestilence and famines will strike all over the planet. (Mat 24:7; Isa. 13:4-5)

3.      Disastrous worldwide earthquakes and volcanic eruptions will occur. (Mat. 24:7)

4.      The economic collapse of nations will unfold rapidly. (Mat. 24:21-22; Mark 3:19 ; Dan 12:1; James 5:1-8)

5.      Fearful sights and great signs will occur in the heavens above us. (Mat. 24:29-30; Luke 21:11, 25; Rev. 6:12-14)

6.      A world dictator called the Antichrist will take over the nations of the world oppressing and killing anyone who does not obey him. (Dan. 7:24 -26; 2 Thess. 2:4,8-11; Rev. 13:1-18)

7.      Terrible worldwide disaster plagues will consume and destroy one third of all earth’s population in a short period of time. (Rev. 9:18-20)

8.      Extraterrestrial invasion of hoards of demons will attack earth’s population, and great pain and suffering will occur for all who have not repented and turned to Jesus Christ. (Rev. 9:2-5, 13-21)

9.      Meteorites, and asteroids, will bombard the earth destroying cites, and masses of people, and even the seas will be ecologically ruined in the process. (Mat. 24:29; Rev. 6:12-17; Rev. 8:8-11)

10.  It will be a time period of seven years, when God pours out His wrath against all who refused to acknowledge God’s right to rule His creation through Jesus Christ! ( Rom 1:18 ; Rev 16:1)

So you can see Hollywood ’s screenwriters are not far off in their predictions, nor is mankind’s insatiable quest for getting rid of the guilt that lies deep inside us all. The future of our world is indeed in peril. In fact, as the world exists today there is no future --  for God will not allow it to continue in its sinful rebellious path. Now as to the timing of these great disasters that will befall the earth and its population, we cannot tell, but the HOUR DRAW NEAR!

Jesus foretold what conditions, events and happenings would precede these worldwide disasters to come upon the earth. In examining the Bible we discover that they are:

1.   The world would turn to organized atheism which would garner control of the nations, while Christianity would be mocked and removed from all societal life. We see this happening in America as secularism is removing every vestige of Christianity from societal life (Psa. 2:2-3; Jude 1:18).

2.   A rising apostasy wILL envelop THE FAITH OF Christianity. Today we see the fundamentals of the faith being passed over and forgotten in favor of religion and entertainment. Doctrine is no longer a required part of the Christian life. A religion of goodness now has replaced it (2 Thess. 2:3).

3.   Anti-Semitism will again rise to worldwide proportions. We see today that Jews are being hated as never before. We now see almost the entire continent of Europe rising in hatred for the Jews which culminate in the Great Tribulation (Jer. 30:7; Rev. 12:1-6).

4.  Nations WILL MOVE to an alignment position where easily four great world powers will emerge. The Bible predicts there will be a Western, Northern, Southern and Eastern Confederacy of nations which will arise in the Tribulation period. This already seems to be in the early embryo stages. Europe will move to the forefront, with the United States joining them to form the WESTERN Confederacy. The ARAB or SOUTHERN Confederacy will form out of the Muslim nations surrounding Israel . In the east, will come an EASTERN Confederacy of nation, probably including, China , Japan and others in an economic and political alliance. Finally, there will be the NORTHERN Confederacy of nations composed out of the Old Russian Empire.

All these things are showing signs of possible formation in our lifetime, further showing us and giving warning that the “HOUR DRAWS NEAR!” of God’s coming judgments. Friends, we are now moving rapidly toward the future that on one hand seems to show great promise, but we are also moving fast and furiously towards what many feel may bring terrible disaster upon us.

The answer to remove these foreboding feelings of guilt and trouble ahead,  is to insure your future, and that can only come by making peace with God, the one true God of the Bible revealed in the Person and work of Jesus Christ.

Have you acknowledged His rightful place in your life? Have you allowed Him to restore your relationship with God? It can only come by a personal acknowledgement of our sins, confessing them directly to Jesus Christ by prayer, and seeking His promised forgiveness that He purchased for us all on the cross by death at Calvary long years ago. Yes, the Bible promises us our deep seated guilt can be gone, but only if we turn in repentance to Jesus Christ. Listen to God’s Word to you today,

Acts 13:39 (NLT)  Everyone who believes in him is freed from all guilt and declared right with God—something the Jewish law could never do.

All those who receive Jesus Christ into their lives, by restoring His rightful rule and our worship of Him as our Creator God – will be saved from the perils and chaos to come. All who do not will suffer the wrath of God’s Lamb who was slain on that cross for their sins.

Well there you have it, the answer to man’s dilemma and fears, and the way to be saved from it all. Friend, I truly believe the HOUR DRAWS NEAR when all these disasters and plagues, and suffering will fall upon the earth, but because I’ve taken Christ as my God and Savior, I will be spared them all when the RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH takes us all away and leaves this planet to the godless who so desperately want us to leave it to them. It is my prayer you too will be saved from these judgments that lie ahead. May God give you open eyes to see Jesus clearly, and to turn your heart and life back to the God who created you for this very thing. When you do, the real joy, and cleansing guilt will be gone, and life will be worth living now and for eternity.