November 27, 2000.
As man’s knowledge increases, so does his ability to inflict pain and death. This is not to say that scientific learning should be curtailed. However, scientific advancement without corresponding moral advancement puts the human race in grave danger.
Is the day soon coming when someone will “push the button” and civilization be destroyed? Must we use all our energies to thwart such a scenario? Or is man headed for inevitable self-destruction, regardless of how we try to stop it?
Not on your life! Man did not create himself; nor will he destroy himself. No third world war nor any human affair will bring this world to an end. Not even overpopulation or global warming. The end of this world will not be “the day of man.” It will be “the day of the Lord”! It will not be when man messes it all up. It will be when the Creator of the universe is ready to bring it all to a close.
“The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10). “The day of the Lord.” That’s the only future we should “worry” about. Lest one thinks this sounds like a man-made nuclear war, note that the heavens will also pass away.
That’s why Jesus told us: “Fear not them which kill the body” (Matthew 10:28), whether by pistol, germ warfare or whatever. To be caught up in these concerns is to get side-tracked from the real concern. The Judge of all is going to end this world by His own power when He is ready to do it. He does not require our “help.” What He requires is that we be ready to meet Him.