Doomsday: Are You Ready?

The Doomsday Clock conveys how close humanity is to catastrophic destruction - the figurative midnight - and monitors the means humankind could use to obliterate itself. First and foremost, these include nuclear weapons, but they also encompass climate-changing technologies and new developments in the life-sciences that could inflict irrevocable harm. According to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, the amount of time remaining before the total annihilation of humanity has varied over the past 60 years. They started keeping the Doomsday Clock in 1947 by declaring that we were 7 minutes from midnight. By 1953, as the United States was testing hydrogen bombs, the minute hand reached 2 minutes before midnight. In 1962, with the signing of the Partial Test Ban Treaty between the US and USSR, the hand moved backwards and we were 12 minutes from midnight. During the intervening years we have been as close as 3 minutes (1984) and as far away as 17 minutes (1991). Currently, according to the Doomsday Clock, we are 6 minutes from midnight. There is, however, another clock that sits on God's desk. Of course, this is figurative since we all doubt that God actually has a desk! But God's clock is His own and it is the only clock that really matters. His time is not our time, and we obviously can't conprehend time as He does. But His timeline has been moving slowly toward the return of His Son, Jesus Christ. Before the Lord Jesus returns there will be some severe manifestations of the wrath of God. Many believe before these judgments reach the climax in the complete destruction of the world, Christ will call His Bride, the Church, to Himself in the air and we will be with Him forever. No matter your eschatalogical views, there can be no doubt that we are not going to be here forever. Many people are thinking these days that it won't be long before Christians are called home or the Lord returns in majesty, glory and judgment. Of course, there is also the possibility that any of us could die tomorrow. Those who are in Christ will be ushered into the presence of God in heaven because of the righteousness of Christ. Those who stand before God without the wedding garments, who have not been cleansed by the blood of Christ and been made righteous, will be cast into hell for eternity. And despite what you may have heard or read in the news lately from other preachers, hell is a real place, and it is for eternity. The question remains: are you ready? If Jesus Christ were to return today, would He be your Blessed Hope or your holy terror? If you have never accepted Christ as your Savior, today is the day to act. Repent of your sins, confess His Name as the only nmae by which we can be saved, be baptized into Christ and accept His atonement. Then you will be able to live by His power at work in you by His Holy Spirit. If you are a Christian, the question applies to you, also. Are you living in expectation of the return of Christ? Have you committed your life to holiness so that you will be found well-pleasing in His sight? Are you praying for and witnessing to the lost? Are you longing for Christ's return or just passing time here on earth? Friends, doomsday is coming. This world will not last forever. We won't destroy it by pollution or carbon emissions. God will destroy it because of sin as He pours out His judgment on this planet. Only through Jesus Christ can you escape the coming doom. Only then can you have...... A STEADFAST HOPE!