All posts tagged: Apocalypse

What are the odds? 1 in 7,000 chance asteroid will hit earth in September, 2019

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I don’t like these odds. But the European Space Agency (ESA) is reporting that there is a one in 7,000 chance, an asteroid the size of the football field will hit earth on September 9, 2019. The ESA maintain a list of asteroids posing the greatest threat to earth, and this asteroid is fourth on ESA’s list of the most concerning asteroids. There was no mention of the odds of the top three asteroids slamming into the earth. The asteroid known as 2006 QV89, estimated to be 164 feet (49 meters) in diameter, was first discovered in August, 2006 and according to ESA’s computer model, it will pass within 4.2 million miles of earth in early September. There is of course a margin of error leading to the odds. Unfortunately, this list is only made up of the known asteroids. Though space agencies are tracking asteroids, they are not aware of all of them. The asteroid that exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in February, 2013 was a complete shock. In fact, space agencies …

St Paul's Cathedral, London, England during the Great Fire attack during World War II, December 29, 1941 Credit: National Archives/New Times Paris Bureau/Public Domain

Apocalypse 4: The Atheist Wars

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I don’t believe in Santa Claus. If Santa was God, I would be an atheist. When my children were little, I took them to the mall before Christmas, where other families brought their children to see Mall Santa. Those children had fun, and got coloring books and candy canes, all for free. So where were my children? In the line up with everyone else. With my Scottish name, it must be clear that I love not spending money, and free anything is attractive to me. I don’t believe in Santa Claus, and I told my children that he was not real, but fake Santa sure was fun. And my wallet stayed safe in my pocket. I have met one atheist who truly did not believe in God. I am a Christian and he was a friend of mine. I never saw him in church, but he probably would not object to a visit. He was an atheist, not a hater. Have you noticed that most people who call themselves atheists are angry at God? They …

Credit: L Geoffroy/Flickr/Creative Commons

Apocalypse 3: The Eco-Apocalypse

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Doomsday cults, and doomsday predictors are everywhere. Some are Christian, but the end of the world is a big thing in most religions. The tradition in Islam is that Jesus will return and rule the world, and the teachings of the Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses are built around preparing for the end. Secular scientists have a Doomsday Clock, and climate change activists have their warnings about the end and our extinction. RELATED: The Doomsday Clock It seems like we all believe, and that makes us targets for cult groups that can manipulate us and ruin our lives. One group from Korea recently moved to Fiji to escape the coming apocalypse and the leaders are accused of abusing their followers. RELATED: ‘I lost my entire family to a cult’: How one woman escaped Grace Road: BBC Note that the Korean group, like most doomsdayers, are concerned about en eco-apocalypse. They were hiding in Fiji, from a coming famine. I have a serious warning for you: we all believe and we are all …

Desert in Qatar Credit: Sam Agnew/Flickr/Creative Commons

Apocalypse 2: Really, It’s their Fault

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Have you ever thought about the future of war? The experts predict future combat that will be much worse than anything we have seen before. RELATED: Future war will result in destruction ‘beyond our comprehension’, says US General The Bible has been saying the same thing for thousands of years. Human beings have always been good at self destruction. We think we will succeed by conquering and stealing from the neighbors, and we always bring down destruction, in the end. The Christian Bible ends with the book of Revelation. Most people know about images from the book, but most people do not know the book. For example, if I mentioned the Antichrist, or the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, people everywhere would have some cultural knowledge, but it’s hard to find even a committed Christian who has read the whole book. Let’s change that. Revelation is one narrative, a story that progresses from a beginning to an end, and it is useful for us to read the whole big picture. Those images that we all …

Storm near Garden City, Kansas, US Credit: Dave Sills/Flickr/Creative Commons

Apocalypse 1: The Boring Part

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Is it possible for people call themselves Christians to fail? Can we be wrong? That’s not a serious question, and the answer is yes. The famous Pentecostal television preacher Jim Bakker went to prison. RELATED: Jim Bakker And the Roman Catholic Church is trying to recover from the scandal of sex abuse by priests. RELATED: Child sexual abuse and the Catholic Church: What you need to know Sometimes we fail, and our failure has two sides; if we do something wrong, we are prevented from doing good things. Damage control to recover from our failures doesn’t leave room for all the good that we should be doing in this world. I think that is a good starting point to understand the Apocalypse. Everyone should read the book of Revelation. In the Christian Bible, it’s the last book, and one that we often talk about. What we seldom do is read the whole book. For me, that is the best starting point to understand the last book in the Bible. “Revelation” gives us images like the …

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (L to R): Death, Famine, War and Conquest. by Victor Mikhailovich Vasnetsox (1848-1926) Credit: Wikipedia/Creative Commons/{{PD-US}}

Yemen and the First Horseman of the Apocalypse

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Did you know that the world has a huge war right now, involving millions of people? The best estimate is that twenty-two million people are directly affected by the war, and two million children are at risk from severe malnutrition. There is a real danger that the war could expand in the region, and there are reports of long-range missiles landing in wealthy countries in the Persian Gulf. RELATED: Yemeni Civil War I live far away from this civil war in Yemen, and the both sides are Arab Muslims, so I can’t criticize one faction or take sides. I know that the suffering is terrible and the UN sees no end in sight. Apparently no one is winning this “Vietnam War” of the Middle East. Did you know this war was happening? Many people in the world know nothing about it. The fighting started in March of 2015 and soon after that foreign powers intervened, or invaded. Saudi Arabia and Iran are powerful nations in the region and they are on opposite sides, with the …

Storm near Parana, Argentina Credit: Emilio Kuffer/Flickr/Creative Commons

Is the end really nigh?

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On Sunday I went to a picnic-barbecue for a place where I work. The afternoon was beautiful, and we sat around talking about things, like old friends. We agreed that we would not talk about work, and the made the time almost perfect. One friend spoiled the happy mood by saying “I think the apocalypse is going to happen soon.” I don’t think he’s a Christian, but he drives long distances with a truck, and he visits a lot of places. His summary is simple, we can’t continue like this. He was just saying what he feels, and he spoke sincerely. My friend was watching people and nature, and sometimes I think the whole world is one big argument. People are divided. Nations like Turkey, India, Brazil, and Argentina are struggling with debt and economic collapse. Apparently, the Yellowstone Caldera, a super volcano, is larger and more ready to erupt than we thought, and there are other super volcanoes. We had so much smoke last week from forest fires in the west, that we called …