CHAPTER EIGHT
IF THERE WERE NO PROPHECIES,
HOW LONG COULD THIS EARTH LAST?
Because God
operates on a 50 year cycle, if
1997 were not the year of the Rapture,
the next window in time for the last trump to sound would be 2047. The
issue I present here is whether or not
the earth can continue for
another 50 years under the stress to which man has subjected it.
When God delivered this earth into
the hands of Adam, the transfer was accompanied by a blessing and a charge of
responsibility.
"And God blessed them, and God
said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue
it..." Gen.l:28
The instructions to Adam
are clear. These
instructions have been misconstrued to
apply only to having children. While
that is included it is not the only thing Adam was to multiply. Every tree and plant and every living
creature was to be multiplied under
man's control. Every species of
animal and plant life was to be preserved as long as man existed on the earth. Man
has failed miserably in that
respect. Pollution and
extinction are the main topics whenever the earth is discussed today. Whatever man has not polluted he has exterminated.
When the pioneers of our nation
began moving west, historians report that buffalo herds were always in sight roaming the great
prairies. Today one can drive from
coast to coast and never see a single
buffalo. Their senseless slaughter was
the primary cause of the Indian's hostility against the white invader.
In India and Africa elephants were
massacred by the thousands just for
their ivory tusks.
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Were
it not for recent laws banning the ivory trade,
the world's elephants today would exist only in zoos.
Plankton is the beginning of the food chain for all marine life.
The increase in ultraviolet
radiation is destroying its
production. The disappearance of this vital food source is having a tremendous domino effect on all
marine life. Because so much of the
world's food comes directly from the ocean, human beings are especially vulnerable to any adverse reactions
in the sea.
Various species of whales have been
hunted to extinction and only the temporary passage of laws have saved those that are left.
Another casualty of the sea is
coral. In addition to increased exposure
to deadly ultraviolet rays, it is also a
victim of a decorating fad. Many coral reefs are in danger as well as the
marine life they support merely so someone can have a pretty artifact on
their mantle.
Data on the internet lists 31 fish
species in the United States alone that have become extinct since 1928. It also lists over 40
species of birds on this continent that have become extinct since the late nineteenth century. Those lists do not reflect worldwide
extinctions.
A notable scientist in the Amazon
who has observed fish harvests there since 1970 has noticed that
the fish being caught are much smaller.
He has determined that the smaller fish represent a large decline in actual numbers.
Along with the depletion of fish, the rain forest's food and inhabitants are suffering from mercury poisoning. The Amazon is currently being mined for gold. Mercury is used in the mining process to separate the gold from the
gravel. That mercury is now appearing in
the Amazon River and infecting its
fish. Because fish are a major part of the diet of the inhabitants of the forest (animals and humans alike)
they, too, are being poisoned by this liquid metal.
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The valuable Amazon Rain Forest is
disappearing at the rate of 20 football fields per minute. Most of the trees are being cleared for
farmland. Studies have long ago
proven that the land will yield a crop for about three years, afterwards it becomes a
desert. Most of the vegetation is being cleared by
burning. The trees capture and store
carbon dioxide but their burning is releasing large levels of carbon dioxide
into the atmosphere. Carbon Dioxide
is
a natural insulator and as such it holds the heat In our atmosphere that would
otherwise return back into space. The result is global warming.
The Amazon is not the only rain
forest on the planet being destroyed.
The same thing is happening in
New Guinea, Canada, and Africa. In areas where the forests are not being
burned with fire, they are being
destroyed with acid rain. The number of
unidentified bacteria, insects, herbs and viruses being destroyed in the rain
forests are larger than those that are known.
There are now over 2,000 viruses
loose on our planet, some more virulent
than the AIDS virus. The cures for many of these are being
destroyed along with the rain forests.
Our planet is under the constant
threat of nuclear war. While many nations
have signed a ban on nuclear testing, China and France conducted a nuclear test during the writing of this
book. Barring a nuclear war, necessity
has brought about the use of nuclear energy.
While it may indeed be the
cleanest source of energy, the failure of another nuclear power
plant such as the one in Chernobyl presents unimaginable
horrors.
The greatest danger facing our planet is the destruction of the atmosphere itself. The earth is protected by a layer of gas
called ozone. This band of gas shields the earth from the
sun's harmful ultraviolet rays. Measurements
of the ozone layer have been conducted
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since 1956.
The now infamous "hole"
in the ozone began forming
in the 1970's and no preventative
measures taken have been able to stop its growth. The ozone continues to be depleted at alarming
rates while the average temperature of the earth is slowly
rising.
We have come to realize that the
ozone hole above the Antarctic is the result of our releasing chlorofluorocarbons (CFC
's) into the air. This gas produces
a chemical effect which literally eats away at the ozone layer. We know that water boils at 212 degrees (F)
and freezes at 32 degrees
(F). We refer to those chemical changes
as either freezing or boiling points. As we continue to destroy our atmosphere we have no idea at
what point it will react violently and
destroy itself and us. As we
release hundreds of different gases into our own gaseous atmosphere we are arming a time bomb while having no knowledge of its overall destructive
effects, or at what final temperature the detonation will occur.
In his book Crises in the
Atmosphere, Ed Phillips says the
following: "Climatologists are predicting
that global temperatures could rise by as much as 9 degrees fahrenheit
during the next 50 years." He
goes on to say that the average global temperature has risen one
degree fahrenheit in the past 100
years. "It may not sound like much, but considering it took 2,000 years
for the earth to warm one degree fahrenheit before this, that's a significant
increase."
Jesus prophesied that there would be famines on the earth before
and during the Tribulation.
Because famines have occurred
regularly in various parts of the world throughout history, that prophecy has been played down. In these last days however, famines will begin to occur in epidemic proportions
and in areas never before affected by such tragedy. ,,
The United States is known as
the "world's breadbasket." During the latter part of the 1980's and
into the '90s the nation's leading crop producer, California,
was hit by
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severe drought.
The reduction in crops and the cost
of growing them caused produce prices to
skyrocket.
During the
same period the great southwest
and midwest areas of the nation have been repeatedly inundated with floods. The Mississippi River has overflowed its
banks twice within the last four years
resulting in vast areas of farmland
being covered with the river's silt and
sand. Thousands of acres of once fertile farmland are now unable to produce.
Scientists studying the sun and its phenomenon of sunspots
have noticed that their
occurrence, which is precisely every
11 years, produces rhythmic periods
of drought on the earth. The last time sunspots
reached their peak was in 1990.
The next 11-year cycle of
sunspots and droughts is due in the year 2001.
Comedian George Carlin performed a comedy skit about the "save the planet" mongers.
In his own inimitable style he explained how the earth has been around for billions of years and has survived every
disaster it has encountered, including man. He pointed
out that the earth simply evicts
its inhabitants and starts all over
again. He predicts that it will
continue to survive long after man is
gone and since the earth seems much more
capable of survival than its various
species of life, man should
concentrate on saving himself.
I have not even began to touch the surface
of the state of affairs on this earth.
Many books have
been written on that subject, alone. But I believe I have
said enough to give a clear
impression that this earth cannot
stand another 50 years of abuse from mankind.
We are already dying of the air we
breathe and there aren't any signs of improvement even though many changes have been
implemented and much legislation has been
passed.
Greed is the driving force behind the
destruction inflicted on the earth.
Until something
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can
be done to change the very nature of man and
deter his love for money and power
regardless of the consequences wreaked upon
the earth, there is no hope for either man or the
earth. One thing is certain though,
God made the earth to abide forever.
Revelation tells us that God will renovate this earth by fire and recreate it all over again.
Every trace of the works of man's
hands will be completely removed from the
earth:
"But 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.
Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved..."
II
Pet.3:10&11
Once
the earth is again restored to its original pristine condition it will
remain that way perpetually because all of those who destroyed the earth and
the greedy nature of sinful man
will have been confined to hell forever.
Isaiah wrote about a wonderful future
for the earth. I am uncertain if his
prophecy begins at the start of the
millennium in 2006, or if it is reserved
for the period after the renovation of the
earth but it is a day that I am anxiously awaiting. Let's see what Isaiah prophesied for the
earth:
"The wolf also shall dwell with the
lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the
young lion and the fatling together; and
a little child shall lead them.
And the cow and the bear shall feed;
and their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like
the ox.
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And the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child
shall put his hand on the cockatrice
den.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in
all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord,
as the waters cover the sea." Isa.
11:6-9
Satan will be forever confined
to hell as well as all sin
and evil and the
earth will enjoy an eternity of
peace and bliss dwelling in the presence of God.
It is unfortunate that there is not
more preaching about the wonderful future
that lies before us. Of course, there is only so much that can be
preached because we haven't an inkling of an idea of the great things that God
has prepared for those who love him.
"But as it is written, eye has not
seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man the things which
God hath prepared for them that love him." I Cor.2:9
We
serve a God who possesses unlimited creative ability. Just look at the things he has created and you'll get a small peek at his
imagination. Now consider yourself and
your dreams for your own children. If
I had the means, my children would be thoroughly spoiled because there is nothing that I
would not give them. I'm restricted
not only by money but I know that it would not be to their advantage if I gave them everything. But where
God's children are concerned, the
spoil factor is eliminated. God has an
eternity to fully display his love to
his children and the unlimited resources to do so.
The next verse lets us know that God
has revealed those future things to us and
that revelation comes when we meditate on God's word.
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"But God hath revealed them unto us by
his Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God.
For what man knoweth the things of a
man, save the spirit of man which is in him?
Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
Now we have received, not the spirit
of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things
that are freely given to us of God." I Cor. 2:10-12
I will look forward to meeting you
in the city of Heaven and seeing you throughout eternity.
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REFERENCES
An
Exposition of the Seven Church Ages,
William Marion Branham,
Branham Campaigns, 1970
Jeffersonville,lnd.
A
Commentary on the Book of Leviticus,
Andrew Bonar, Great Summit
Books/Baker Book House, 1852,1978 edition
Grand
Rapids, MI
The
Book of Leviticus, S.H. Kellogg, D.D. Klock&Klock Christian Publishers,
1899, 3rd Edition, 1978
Minneapolis, Minn.
Notes
on the Book of Leviticus, C.H.
Mckintosh, Fleming H. Revell
Company,- 1860
Number
in Scripture, E.W. Bullinger, Kregel Publications,1967 Grand Rapids, MI
Gospel
In The Stars, Joseph Seiss, Kregel Publications, 1992
edition,
Grand
Rapids, MI
Matthew
Henry's Commentary, Volumes
1-6, McDonald Publishing Co., 1708 Mclean, VA
Word
Studies in the Greek New Testament,
Kenneth Weust Volumes 1-3, Wm.B.
Erdmans Publishing Co., 1979 Edition,
Grand
Rapids, MI
The
Jewish Encyclopedia
Expositor's
Commentary
The
Pulpit Commentary
The
1995 World Almanac,
Funk &Wagnalls Corp.
Celestial
Delights: The Best Astronomical Events through 2001
Francis
Reddy & Greg Walz-Chojnacki, Celestial Arts Publishers, 1992 Berkeley,
CA
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Crisis
in the Atmosphere,
The Greenhouse Factor, Ed Phillips,
D.B Clark & Co. Publishing, Phoenix AZ
Eclipse, Bryan Brewer Earth View Inc. 1991 2nd
edition
Seattle,
WA
ARTICLES:
"Aviation Week & Space
Technology" Magazine, Jan 29, 1990
"Newsweek" Magazine 7-9-90
(Hubble Space Telescope)
"Heaven Can Wait," 1981m
"Delays & Dollars"
"News and World Report"
Magazine, July 9, 1990, March 26, 1990
"Science" Magazine, Sept. 9,
1988
"Time" Magazine, 7-9-90,
"Cloudy Vistas for Big Science," 7-23-90
"More Trouble for Hubble, "
April 16, 1990
"U.S. News" Magazine, 7-9-90,
"A Telescope Built by Mr. Magoo,"
3-26-90, "A Journey to the Beginning of
Time," 4-16-90,
"New Window on the Universe"
Copyright, August 1995 G.S. Benton
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