“Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come
    and the years approach when you will say, ‘I find no pleasure in them’—before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain;when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop; when the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows grow dim; when the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades;
when people rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint; when people are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets; when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags itself along and desire no longer is stirred.  Then people go to their eternal home and mourners go about the streets.”

Ecclesiastes 12:1-5

PLEASE NOTE:  Because Bible versions sometimes differ from each other in crucial ways, the version quoted here will be the one that best clarifies the point being made.  For a quick comparison between versions, please go to: www.biblehub.com.

   All bracketed material may be authorial comments, attempts at proper syntax, or minimal rewordings of Scripture for the sake of clarity and continuity.  These emendations will not be italicized.

   The “/” will be used to signify “and/or.”  The symbol “↔” is used to connect verses corroborating each other and so establishing doctrinal truths (Matthew 18:16↔2Corinthians 13:1).

   In differentiating between Yahweh Son [Jesus] and Yahweh Father [the Most High God], lower case letters have been used when discussing the former; upper case letters are reserved for the Only Sovereign Deity.  Since Jesus was at pains to differentiate himself from Father, we have followed his lead here.

   The term neo-Christians will be used to differentiate between false Christians and Jesus’ true followers.

   The Doomsday Clock is a metaphor for threats to humanity, where midnight represents a hypothetical global catastrophe from either nuclear warfare, climate change, artificial intelligence/new technologies or combinations thereof.  Though it does not measure actual time, the Doomsday Clock currently stands at 90 seconds to midnight.

   The Bible has its own End Times Clock, though it does not use time as precisely or as dramatically as the Doomsday Clock.  For the most part, most Biblical prophecies are indeterminate in the sense no one can accurately pinpoint the day and hour they start/end [↔Daniel 8:26; Revelation 10:4,7].  A good example is Daniel 12:11-12:  Though one knows who the “abomination of desolation” probably is based on other Scriptures [↔Ezekiel 28:1-9; Daniel 7:21,24-25, 8:23-25; Revelation 13:3-7,18, 17:1-6,12-18], no date is given as to when exactly his reign of desolation started [↔Daniel 8:23; Matthew 24:15; 2Thessalonians 2:3-4↔Ezekiel 28:2].  The “mortal wound that healed” (Revelation 13:3) may have taken place between 1804-1809 CE [check your history]; but subsequent verses (Revelation 13:3-18, 17:16-18) chronicle a reign in cahoots with modern Western powers lasting until end-times.   

   This ‘open-endedness’ of prophecy alerts us to the fact that Father combines past and future events—irrespective of chronology—in a continuous narrative.¹  Thus we find that if Daniel and Revelation [↔Daniel 8:23-25; Revelation 13:3-7] predicted the synergy between the “the abomination of desolation” and European powers during the Holy Roman Empire (HRE), both Books also forecast the resurgence of the “abomination of desolation” and its destruction by the ‘descendants’ of those Europeans powers at a future time [↔Daniel 12:12; Revelation 17:12-18, 18:2-21]. ²

   The Bible does not sugarcoat the fact that what lies ahead for humanity is dire indeed; in Jesus’ words, “there will be great suffering, the kind that hasn’t happened from the beginning of the world until now and certainly won’t ever happen again” (Matthew 24:21).  This tells us that the greatest catastrophes of the past will be surpassed by ones to come; “on the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken” (Luke 21:25-26). ³

   Luke 21:27 tells us that these events precede the second coming of Christ, the resurrection of the righteous and their relocation along with those living at the time—in that order—to Heaven for the Millennium of Rest [↔1Thessalonians 4:16-17; Revelation 20:4].  In other words there is no ‘Rapture’ à la “Left Behind” scenarios which sell believers a false bill of goods.  Everyone remains on earth for the duration of the Great Tribulation; though as Ezekiel 9:6 and Revelation 7:13 attest, some worthier souls will be spared suffering due to personal merits [↔Ezekiel 9:4; Revelation 14:4-5].  The rest of us going about business as usual (Luke 17:26-30) will have to endure ordeals—to the extent we can bear and overcome them (1Corinthians 10:13)—for not having “prepared” enough (Luke 12:47-48).  The unrepentant will be burned out of existence (Revelation 9:20-21).

   The Israel/Jacob Paul talks about in Romans 11:26 [↔Romans 10:9-14] is the entire Judeo-Christian nation; an uncountable multitude which, during the Great Tribulation, will “have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9,13-14).  It does not differentiate between ethnic Jews and Gentiles of all nations (Acts 10:34-35); for in Jesus, as was Father’s conception [↔Ezekiel 37:17-22], the family of faith is devoid of nationality, race or gender distinctions (Galatians 3:28; Ephesians 1:10, 4:3-6).

   The whole point of Christianity is to stamp out the divisiveness and labeling by which Satan and his human minions keep people apart.

The Threat of Nuclear War

   Be that as it may, we need not worry about nuclear holocausts. The Bible is very clear on how the present order of things ends:  At Armageddon, Father will burn all His enemies from Satan and Cain down to every last one of the fallen angels and human minions resurrected/living at end-times (Revelation 20:7-10,13-15).  Amongst these there will modern heads of state currently threatening to ‘push the button’; but besides the fact that no ‘pushing’ is possible unless Father allows it, they will be melting along with their un-deployed, nuclear arsenals.  When Father says, “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay” (Deuteronomy 32:35↔Romans 12:19), He means to be evildoers’ fiery executioner (Hebrews 10:27,31, 12:29; 2Peter 2:4,6); simply because only He has the power to destroy both body and soul at that final global conflagration (Matthew 10:28).  Men can only kill bodies (Luke 12:4).

   Thus all these doomsday scenarios about nuclear winters and radioactive wastelands for decades to come are propaganda from him to hold mankind hostage through fear of death [↔Hebrews 2:15] and regurgitated by world leaders to keep their citizens in check.  Besides the fact that Father made the earth in order to endure for eternity (Psalms 37:29, 104:5; Isaiah 45:18; Matthew 25:34; 2Peter 3:13; Revelation 2:7, 21:1-3,9-27, 22:1-5), we are told specifically how—above the “foundations” that pre-existed time—a new creation made from scratch will emerge [Foundation: Genesis 1:2; Psalms 18:15↔Isaiah 24:18-23; Revelation 16:18-20 /Land: Psalms 46:6, 68:2, 97:5; Isaiah 54:10; Amos 9:5; Micah 1:4; Nahum 1:5; Zephaniah 1:2-3 / Skies: Isaiah 30:26, 65:17; Revelation 21:1).⁴

   We must account for Revelation 13:13: “[The two-horned beast] performs great signs, even making fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the sight of people.”  This “fire” is not the divine fire we read about in Genesis 19:24, 1Kings 18:38, or 2Kings 1:10,12.⁵  Those events were pre-nuclear age; therefore Revelation 13:13 implies future ‘fiery’ technology [space weaponry?], whether laser or custom-made to limit ‘collateral’ damage remains to be seen—which makes this particular prophecy pertinent to our times. We will discuss this beast in Part III.

The Threat of Global Warming

   While naysayers deny the reality of climate change due to global warming, its effects are being felt and recorded worldwide.  Sea levels are rising; polar caps are melting; bodies of water are evaporating or going down to unprecedented levels—taken together ranging from inundation of coastal regions to possible conflicts over the availability of land and drinking water.  The Gulf Stream is being disrupted, leading to possible harsher winters for European countries.  Thawing permafrost is not only releasing tons of methane gas into the atmosphere but landfills once in dry areas are leaking toxic materials into lagoons and rivers where inhabitants get their water and their fish.  Climate change will contribute to the spread of human pathogenic diseases.  Animal and plant habitats/species are quickly disappearing; natural resources are dwindling; crops are struggling or failing; and so on.

   Our planet is a closed system driven by heat; and more heat upsets the balance of things.  Human beings may do, boast of and hope for what they like, but nature strikes back in unstoppable ways—from earthquakes caused by fracking, to more devastating hurricanes, to the consequences of deforestation, to invasive species on the move from temperature changes in their normal habitats.  What seems like poetic license in Scripture [↔Leviticus 18:28 and 20:22] may be in fact taking place as we write:  Nature, with Father’s OK,  is in the process of “vomiting” its human contaminators and destroyers [↔Revelation 11:18].   Readers are free to believe political/partisan rhetoric; but let no one say Father did not give us plenty of fact-checked warnings.

   Global warming is a specific threat suggested in Revelation 16:8-9 via increased solar activity: “The fourth angel poured his bowl on the sun, which then was allowed to burn people with fire, and they were burned by the fierce heat. They cursed the name of God, Who has the authority over these plagues. They did not repent and give Him glory.”  Will skin burning be due to increased UV radiation?  Will things surpassing their kindling point auto-combust—massive forest fires, crops, and the like?

   Furthermore, solar storms damage infrastructure—meaning that electrical grids, radio/telegraph services, transmission lines, Internet service providers, systems dependent on the ionosphere to reflect radio signals over long distances [military detection/warning systems, GPS navigation and HF Communications—may be affected or put out of commission.  Satellites orbiting in areas where heat makes the upper atmosphere denser may slow down and change orbits which if not boosted to higher ones may collide with others, or fall and burn up.  As of December 4, 2024 a “sun battle zone” predicted to last until 2028, during which potentially dangerous geomagnetic storms could increase up to 50%, may impact adversely about 10,000 satellites now in low Earth orbits. Whatever scenarios play out, Scripture’s implication is quite clear:  Increased Sun activity during this time will not be a consequence of run-of-the-mill solar cycles:  It will be a divinely mandated, intentionally catastrophic global event [↔Revelation 15:5-7].

   This links us to another prophecy:  “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I will send a famine on the land, not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, but rather for hearing the words of the LORD.  People will stagger from sea to sea and from the north even to the east; they will go to and fro to seek the word of the LORD; but they will not find it” (Amos 8:11-12).  Barring the very real possibility that powers that be ban the Bible conflicting with their agendas—which has happened before [↔Ecclesiastes 1:9-10], how can this be unless the Scriptures are made inaccessible because the Internet, social media, and other forms of communication fail?

The Threat of Technology

   Let us not go into long-winded discussions about the advantages and ills of technology.  Atomic energy generates essential electric power; it is used to treat cancers; but also yields radioactive waste threatening natural habitats and human life wherever stored.  Genetics has many positive uses; but it can also be used to stockpile arsenals of biological weapons/incurable pathogens.  Artificial Intelligence (AI), let alone its environmental impacts on climate, promises bounties to humanity; but it is also able to distort/replace facts with truly Orwellian visuals.  Right before our eyes, AI is normalizing Pontius Pilate’s cynical remark [↔John 18:38].

   Revelation 13:13-17 must involve technology of some kind; for such control over spending habits of rich and poor could only be possible through computerized means.  China currently deploys similar technology to subjugate its population; and if digitalized currency ever supplants printed ones, or exists as computer code like in crypto-currencies, it does not require a quantum leap in imagination to conclude that those whose agendas rebellious citizens may oppose can erase the latter’s assets with a few keyboard strokes.  In point of fact “the sons of darkness” (John 8:44; 1Thessalonians 5:5) in positions of power are currently pushing toward digitalized currency with that objective in mind:  Purchasing power predicated on absolute obedience to their objectives.

  Or so Revelation 13:15 seems to suggest:  Ability to buy or not unless bowing down to the “beast” whose worship leads to damnation (Revelation 13:8).  Nothing unusual in this since all world governments are ruled by the Adversary (Luke 4:5-6; John 14:30; Ephesians 2:2; 1John 5:19) whose lust for power invariable results in the death of his minions (Isaiah 14:20; Revelation 20:7-9).  So if those in power force people to alienate Father, would that not be consistent with Satan’s objectives?  The “666” number (Revelation 13:18), by the way, is a dead giveaway to the identity of “the beast”/“the one who makes desolate.” ⁶

   Obviously this is not happening right now; so we must envision a not too distant time when the visionary agendas of world leaders fail to materialize:  The nexus at which human optimism will give way to catastrophe after catastrophe (1Thessalonians 5:3↔Ezekiel 7:26).  It is not without historical precedent that when such agendas run into trouble and people despair, one short-term strategy is to co-opt organized religion by way of narcotizing the masses [↔Isaiah 30:8-10; Jeremiah 6:13-14, 8:11, 23:16-17; Lamentations 2:14; Zechariah 10:2].  Another short-term strategy is to shift blame on despised social groups for societal ills—as did Nazis with Jews and the sons of darkness currently scapegoating undocumented aliens.

   In antiquity nations committed egregious acts in the belief that deities favored making their empires greater; today’s sons of darkness are itching to follow in their footsteps.  Even Jesus warned that similar efforts—whether, as has been the case, in the form of crusades, pogroms, inquisitions, ‘evangelizing’ heathen nations, or even killing the faithful—would be rationalized as services rendered to Father (John 16:2-3↔Psalms 79:2; Matthew 24:9; Mark 13:13; 2Timothy 3:12).  Add to these the horrors slated to befall mankind in Revelation 8, 9 and 16 to get an inkling of the chaos that will overwhelm the world when Father deploys His wrath against His and Jesus’ enemies (Psalms 110:1; Revelation 14:18-20, 19:15-18↔Jeremiah 25:33; Ezekiel 39:17-20)

   We are told that he “who makes desolate” and his enclave will get their long-deserved comeuppance [↔Ezekiel 28:6-10; Revelation 17:16-18, 18:5-24); but please note that though human powers will bring about Babylon the Great’s demise, they do so because Father planned it so (Revelation 17:16-17)—whether through Satan by empowering him with a sword to slay transgressors [↔Ezekiel 21:3-5,10-15, 28:9; Revelation 6:8], or His Son with a spiritual sword to battle against his enemies (Ephesians 6:17↔Zechariah 4:6; Matthew 10:34; Revelation 1:16, 19:15-16).  So though human armies will effect the desolation of Babylon the Great (Revelation 17:16), they will be fulfilling Father’s designs (Numbers 23:19; Isaiah 14:24, 45:7; Lamentations 3:37-38; Daniel 4:35).

   In a way we should find some consolation in these Scriptures; for they tell us that as bad as things will no doubt get, everything will remain under Father’s control in accordance to a  timetable conceived even before the world was (Hebrews 4:3↔Isaiah 37:26).  Those of us lacking/lukewarm in faith will be beset by unceasing fears and uncertainties until in utter desperation we turn from men toward Him (Jeremiah 29:13; Joel 2:32; Acts 2:21).  None of this in any way exempts us from the harsh discipline by which our faith and spiritual mettle will be tested (1Peter 1:6-7↔Zechariah 13:9; Hebrews 12:5-10); for it is in enduring whatever befalls us—even at the risk of losing our lives—that our salvation ultimately lies (Matthew 16:25; 1Peter 5:6-10↔Ezekiel 21:26; Revelation 13:10).

¹ Notable example: Daniel 7:8-14: v.8 = Papacy [Daniel 7:20-21,25, 8:23-25] / v.9-10 = Last Judgment / v.11-12 = destruction of Babylon the Great [Satan’s headquarters on earth] and suppression of secular powers until their destruction at Armageddon / v.13-14,18:  Jesus’ second coming, his empowering in Heaven post ascension, and his Kingship in Father’s Kingdom.

   Correct chronology and assorted links: Persecution and genocide of the saints (Revelation 13:5-7, 17:5-6,12-14) / Jesus’ empowerment in Heaven postascension (Revelation 5:1-7↔Matthew 28;18; Revelation 2:26-27) / Jesus’ second coming (Revelation 6:12-17↔Ezekiel 36:24; Matthew 24:29-31; 1Thessalonians 4:16-17) /  the Last Judgment (Revelation 20:11-13↔Yahweh Son/Jesus = Judge (Genesis 18:25; Ezekiel 34:11-12,17,20; Matthew 25:31-34,41; John 5:22; Acts 17:31); Yahweh Father = Ancient of Days sitting on the throne (Daniel 7:9↔Isaiah 45:22-23; Romans 14:10-12; Hebrews 4:13) / Jesus, of David’s lineage through Joseph, Father’s appointed King/High Priest over His eternal Kingdom (Lineage: Matthew 1:6,16; Luke 2:4; Hebrews 7:14) / King: 2Samuel 7:12-16; Isaiah 22:20-23↔Revelation 1:18, 3:7, 19:16, 22:16 / High Priest: Psalms 110:4; Hebrews 7:22-28, 8:1

² “The abomination of desolation” or the “one who makes desolate,” as suggested by Daniel 7:20-21,25, 8:23-25, 9:2↔Revelation 18:2,5,8,20 / Matthew 24:15 / and 2Thessalonians 2:3-5↔Ezekiel 28:2-9 has got to be the Roman Catholic Papacy.  Revelation 17 identifies not only the Vatican’s surrounding topography (v. 9) but the fact that she is the ‘mother’ of Christian denominations [“prostitutes”] jointly responsible for killing the saints (v. 5-6↔Revelation 13:7); as well as being Satan’s headquarters on earth wherein Ezekiel 28’s hierarchy between “King” and “Prince/High Priest” [↔Acts 23:5] is replicated.

   Jesus’ descriptor “holy place” in Matthew 24:15 refers to Christendom at large; for it is there where Father‘s Temple is to be found: In Jesus’ body, the conceptual Church (1Corinthians 11:3; Colossians 1:18, 2:9; Ephesians 5:23; Hebrews 10:19-22).  Jesus is telling us that Vatican Rome/Babylon the Great, as the enclave for Satan and his minions, will emerge where it should not be—i.e., Jesus’ domain, Christendom; for which reason the faithful within her are exhorted to “come out of her” (Revelation 18:4↔Isaiah 48:20) so as to not partake of her “plagues.”

 ³ We would not necessarily interpret “roaring and tossing of the sea” to mean the world’s oceans; but rather as a symbol for humanity at large in the sense Daniel 7:3 and Revelation 13:1 use it. “Waters” in Revelation 17:15 signify “peoples, multitudes, nations and languages” under the dominion of Babylon the Great and nations beholden to her—i.e., Christendom. Think of rivers draining into oceans; and how rivers identify the nations they course through; so that Volga = Russians; Mississippi = North Americans; Seine = French; Thames = British; Ganges = Hindus; Nile = Egyptians; etc.

   Please note the plague of hail in Revelation16:21, being substance to the shadow of the one that befell ancient Egypt before Israel’s entry into Canaan, takes place before the redeemed are taken to Heaven by Jesus for the Millennium of Rest (Revelation 20:4); so that this is an instance of Father using a prophesied, past event to tell us about a future one—another example being the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as precedent for Armageddon (2Peter 2:6; Revelation 20:9).

   As proof that the plague of hail has been prophesied before it happens, we have Job 38:22-23:  “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen where the hail is stored, which I’ve reserved for the tribulation to come, for the day of battle and war?”

   Luke 21:26 also confirms the disappearance of the cosmos overhead [↔Isaiah 34:4; Revelation 6:13-14] ushering in Jesus’ long-awaited return (Matthew 24:29-31↔Joel 2:10-11; Malachi 3:2; Revelation 1:7, 6:15-17). The “sign of the Son of Man,” by the way, is the rainbow (Genesis 9:12-16), exemplifying the substance behind with the shadow of the natural phenomenon.

⁴ Jesus was pithier:  “Heaven and earth will pass away” (Matthew 24:35). Peter highlighted major upgrades: “The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be burned up…the heavens will be destroyed by fire and the elements will melt in the heat…we are awaiting new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.” (2Peter 3:10,12-13).  But Paul summarized it best:  “The phrase ‘once more’ signifies the removal of created things, so that the unshakable [i.e., eternal] may remain” (Hebrews 12:27).

   The Heavenly Jerusalem will not be illuminated by heavenly bodies (Revelation 21:23↔Isaiah 24:23, 60:19).

⁵ Genesis 19:24 is one of those Scriptures differentiating between Yahweh Son proxy God and Yahweh Father Who is not personally involved with running the world.  Pay attention to the wording: “Then Yahweh [Son] rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from Yahweh [Father] out of the sky.”  While Father permitted the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Son, as in Kings 1 and 2, deployed the divine fire.  Father’s only act of destruction, since it involves destroying souls He alone creates, will be the bonfire at Armageddon (Revelation 20:9).

⁶ Vicar of the Son of God, rendered in Latin, the official language of the Roman Catholic Church, as Vicarius Filii Dei.  Latin’s numerical system derives from letters of its alphabet; so that V = 5, i = 1, c =100, a = 0, r = 0, i = 1, u =v = 5, s = 0 / F = 0, i = 1, l = 50, i = 1, i =1 / D = 500, e = 0, i = 1.  Adding values up as per Revelation 13:18: 5+1+100+1+5+1+50+1+1+500+1 = 666.

   Ignore the scholarly argument that this title first appeared on a medieval document thought to be a forgery; but consider the fact that this title and its numerical equivalent in Latin, the official language of the Roman Church, appeared in Revelation 13:18 centuries before popes and the Roman Church became historical realities.