"Things to Come" John 16:13

Climate Report Predicts Ecological Disasters

A draft of a "global climate" change report by the "Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC]" claims that by the end of the 21^st century, climate changes "will bring water scarcity to between 1.2 and 3.2 billion people." The report also stated between 200-600 million people could face severe food shortages in the next 70 years, and that "coastal flooding could hit another 7 million homes with severe results."

The writer does not know about the verity of these predicted adverse environmental disasters, but he does know about the accuracy of similar type ecological catastrophes that will occur during the seven year tribulation period on the earth following the rapture. The three type calamities mentioned (water scarcity, hunger, flooding) above will be far more devastating in their impact than the adverse conditions predicted by the IPCC.

Rev. 11:6 declares that the two witnesses will have the power to shut the heavens so that there will be no rain for 3½ years on the earth and that they will have similar abilities to turn the earth’s waters to blood, thus eliminating water supplies. Luke 21:25 indicates that immediately prior to the revelation of Christ on earth, the seas and the waves of the oceans would be "roaring" with apparent tsunami effects, while Rev. 6:5-8 notes that one-fourth of the earth’s population will be killed either by violent means or by hunger.

"A trans-Atlantic group of prominent scientists" has warned that "the world has nudged closer to a nuclear apocalypse and environmental disaster," pushing "the hand of the symbolic Doomsday Clock two minutes closer to midnight." This is the fourth time since the end of the cold war that the clock has been moved forward, this time from 11:53 to11:55. The 12:00 A.M. hour is projected as the time when human civilization could destroy itself via the annihilation of global nuclear war.

When the monolithic communistic Soviet system was dismantled, many politicians, scientists and apostate theologians naively believed that world peace was a distinct possibility within reach, but adverse events have once again proved them wrong.

For the Christ rejecting world’s populace, the world’s doomsday clock is either at death (Heb. 9:27) or when the rapture trumpet sounds, an echo that only believers in Christ will hear (I Thess. 4:13-18), sealing the doom of all those who have spurned God’s offer of salvation (II Thess. 2:10-12). For the ecological physical world system itself, that doomsday clock will strike in the "day of God," when the "heavens being fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat" (II Peter 3:12).

The Temple Mount in Jerusalem is a 38 acre plot that is sacred to three religions. Nominal Christianity, Jews and Muslims all have vested interests in this small piece of property. Muslims, who have built two mosques there, believe this area is the location from which Mohammed supposedly ascended to heaven, while devout Jews accept it as the site of Solomon’s Temple and Herod’s Temple and the ground on which their anticipated Messiah will soon come.

In 1967, when the Jews conquered eastern Jerusalem, the Israeli government retained ownership of the Temple Mount, but turned its permanent operation over to the Muslims. In recent years, there has been fierce squabbling between Arabs and Jews over this property. Arabs have been excavating dirt under the mount removing it for another mosque erection, while orthodox Jews consider it sacred earth, since they believe sacred antiquities from the former temples could be located there.

The squabble heated up again recently when government authorities indicated that "the ramp leading up to the Mugrabi gate—the main entrance to the Temple Mount—" was in danger of collapse. This ramp actually has not been used since 2004 when it collapsed, and a temporary bridge was built above it to accommodate visitors and security forces.

However, this makeshift wooden bridge is beginning to wobble after daily use by "thousands of people for almost three years." Plans for a new bridge have been stalled for more than two years by bureaucratic "red tape." Israeli archeologists began an exploratory dig to insure that no historical remains are destroyed during the projected new bridge’s construction. In the meantime, the "Islamic’s Northern Branch" has reversed the argument warning against any excavations in the collapsed hill of the Mugrabi ramp which they claim is an attempt to damage the Dome of the Rock shrine and the al Aqsa Mosque.

All of this is prophetically significant, since according to Scripture in II Thess. 2:3-4, Dan.9: 27-28, Matt. 24:15, there will be a temple during the tribulation period where Jews will worship from which the anti-christ will commit his "abomination of desolation." The rebuilding of a temple upon this mount after the rapture is therefore crucial to prophetic history.

A cornerstone for this temple now sits on land adjacent to the Temple Mount, but secular Israeli authorities adamantly refuse to allow it to be placed on the temple mount, knowing that a potential world war could erupt if they permitted such an action.

All the above events should surely remind believers that the coming of the Lord is close at hand. These incidents are truly "prophetic shadows" of "things to come." They should incite saints to be daily actively involved in evangelistic soul-winning endeavors (II Cor. chapter five) and in support of Great Commission missionary endeavors (Matt. 28:18-20). D.J.

"And that knowing the time , that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." (Rom. 13:11)