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But since the sunny summer of 2001, the dark clouds of terror have been filling our skies. Only by looking back at what has happened since then does the full impact of the world’s perilous condition become obvious. In a recent article in The Guardian newspaper ( September 11 th 2006) a ‘Timeline of Terror’ served to emphasize just how much has happened in five years. Since the September 11 th terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon, The Guardian listed:
Similarly, an article in the Daily Mail ( July 22, 2006) headed ‘A World in Peril’ emphasized the fundamental changes that have happened to the world in just five years. The writer, Max Hastings, concluded that “international order, always imperfect, has seldom looked more threatened”.
Looking for reasons for the world’s growing instability, The Guardian’s ‘Comment & Debate’ column (July 20, 2006) welcomed us to “the world’s new multipolar disorder”!! Considering the changes that have taken place to the balance of power in just five years, the article drew attention to “the emergence of new powers, elbowing for position” which inevitably increase the chances of violence. Quoting from that article:
The article concluded that “the unipolar moment of American supremacy has passed. But the new multipolarity may prove to be very nasty indeed.” Bible students have long expected the world to become more unstable at a time the Bible calls “the latter days”. One prediction – recorded by the prophet Daniel – warned of a time that would come when the relative stability afforded by a succession of world empires would be replaced by a mixture of strong and week powers, ‘elbowing for position’ in a power struggle centered on the Middle East:
Daniel’s description closely matches the world we live in today! According to Daniel, this unequal struggle would continue for a while, but would eventually lead to the total collapse of ‘the kingdoms of men’:
But Daniel’s prophecy was not all ‘doom and gloom’. As you can read for yourself in Daniel chapter 2, God revealed to Daniel the meaning of a peculiar dream. This dream was a prediction about a succession of empires that would rule over the Middle East. God revealed through Daniel that there was a time coming when world order would totally collapse and be replaced by a world-wide kingdom that God himself would establish, with his Son (Jesus) as its king. This kingdom would be vastly different from any empire or kingdom that had gone before and would bring about dramatic improvements throughout the world. Which is what everyone wants – a strong, unified world government that brings peace and stability, halting the ‘timeline of terror’ that now seems to be unstoppable. Quoting again from The Guardian article:
It seems that such a dream will not be long coming!! Anyone reading the Bible soon discovers that it contains numerous ‘signs’ to look out for in the news, that point to the start of God’s kingdom being very close indeed – a world order that will be even better than The Guardian writer's wildest dreams. The psalmist David was also inspired to see into the future and he wrote about this kingdom God plans to set up soon:
This is not just wishful thinking. It’s the logical conclusion that we can all reach for ourselves if we give the Bible a chance to ‘speak for itself’ – like Daniel 2 and Psalm 72. With such a depressing outlook facing the world at the moment, why not take a look at the clear and hopeful promises God has put on record about a far better future for the world? After all, what is there to lose – apart from having a reassuring and certain hope for the future!? More information |
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If you look back, just a few years, to the summer of 2001, what a hopeful place the world seemed! The Cold War was just a memory, most of us had never heard of Osama bin Laden, the Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein in Iraq were no problems of ours. Democracy in Russia was precarious, but the country was too poor to pose much danger abroad. China was only just starting to rise and the Middle East was no better or worse than it had been for half a century.
These are of widely differing kinds. They range from movements like Hamas, Hizbullah, and al-Qaida, to non-governmental organizations like Greenpeace, from big energy corporations and drug companies to regions and religions. A third trend involves changes in the very currency of power. Developments in technologies with violent potential mean that very small groups of people can challenge powerful established states, whether by piloting an aeroplane into the World Trade Centre in New York, targeting a missile at Haifa, ...bombing the London underground, or squirting sarin gas into a Tokyo subway. Developments in information technology and globalised media mean that the most powerful military in the history of the world can lose a war, not on the battlefield of dust and blood, but on the battlefield of world opinion.”