The Greatest Disaster

A few short years ago a film, The Day After Tomorrow, provided viewers a glance into what would happen if global warming were to result in the migration of immense polar ice packs southward, creating another tremendous ice age.

No doubt you've heard the hype surrounding the recent movie, 2012, and perhaps have seen its graphic trailers. An underlying theme was that soon-to-occur great cataclysmic disasters on a global scale were long ago prophesied by the ancient Mayans of Central America.

Many concerned people stress the seriousness of global warming, believing that it is an indisputable fact. They further believe the cause of global warming to be the byproduct of industrialization.

Hence, the climate change in the one film stemmed from man's careless use of technology. The more recent movie portrayed the disintegration of the earth's tectonic plates, as a result of a massive solar flare that caused the earth's inner core to super-heat; destroying the planet's surface.

Both films depict unimaginable catastrophic events, but there is a subtle difference in the two films. That difference is reflected in the term "anthropogenic" – meaning, caused by man. The events in the one film were the result of man's implied abuse of nature. The events in the other movie were caused by chance, or, as some may see it, an act of God.

Disaster scenarios make good box office draw and sizable studio profits, as they reflect people's curiosity about a supposed end-time apocalypse.

Man has expected an end-time culmination of human events from the very beginning. But is an end-of-the-age maelstrom merely supposed? The Apostle Jude recounts an ancient prophecy about the end time: "Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, 'Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints'" (Jude 14).

Why will God send Jesus Christ to this earth again, this time in awesome power and glory? Does man have anything to do with His coming, that is, is God's coming anthropogenic?

The balance of this verse and the next make the answer plain – He is coming "to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him'" (Jude 15). To paraphrase Shakespeare: "The fault lies not in our stars, dear Brutus, but in ourselves."

The unwillingness of man to conduct himself in an ethical and moral manner, along with the deliberate abuse of modern technology, will result in incredible disasters. So man will play a part in end-time events and God will permit those events to unfold. It will be described as a time like no other, "And unless those days were shortened there would no flesh be saved [alive]" (Matthew 24: 22, Moffat).

God's intervention will have been made necessary by the stubborn refusal of His creation to respond to a proper way of life (summarized in the Ten Commandments) that would bring health, prosperity, joy and satisfaction.

The Ever-living God will again step from history into the present age to offer a bright future for all of mankind. A loving God has arranged for a different outcome beyond the short-term troubles ahead. We call it the wonderful world tomorrow, or "tomorrow's world".

Isaiah wrote of that time saying, "'They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, and My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth children for trouble … It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,' says the Lord" (Isaiah 65: 21-25).

The greatest disaster for you is not the coming apocalyptic events, but is instead missing out on the exciting and fulfilling future that God has planned and will soon bring about. To find out more about your future and how to get there, write for the booklet, The World Ahead – What Will It Be Like, at the address nearest you or you may order it online at www.tomorrowsworld.org.