As the world changes rapidly right in front of our eyes, one wonders what civilization will be like in ten, twenty, or thirty years down the road.
Just for fun, try to recall your world thirty years ago.
Cell phones hadn’t yet arrived, and “smart phones” (with access to the Internet) wouldn’t be common for another ten years. Amazon, which is currently the world’s largest retail company, didn’t exist. Back in 1990, only about ten percent of Americans identified themselves as “non-religious”, whereas today that number is approximately twenty-five percent. Terms we now see regularly at the supermarket (i.e. GMO, Free Range, Gluten Free, “organic”) didn’t appear at all thirty years ago. Way back then, newspapers and the “Evening News” on one of the three major TV networks updated us on the day’s events. Conveniences like Uber and GPS technology weren’t available, heavy industries and “bricks and mortar” retail commercial establishments were doing well in America, and there were very few black quarterbacks in the National Football League. In 1990, the Republican Party hated the Russians, loved NATO, and decried deficit spending.
Wow, how times have changed!
Who could have predicted in 1990 that voters would elect an African-American to be President of the United States within twenty years? Or that Donald Trump, whose businesses lost approximately $1 billion in the early 1990’s, would succeed Barack Obama as President just twenty years later?
Who knew?
It’s a tough thing predicting the future.
Back when I was young, there were a lot of folks running around prognosticating about things to come. I remember the “The Amazing Criswell’ who used to show up on the Johnny Carson Show, making preposterous predictions.
Criswell felt pretty strongly, for some reason, that a period of mass cannibalism and the end of civilization would come on Aug 18, 1999. He was wrong about that. However, he purportedly predicted, in 1963 on the “Jack Paar Program”, that President Kennedy would not run for re-election in 1964 due to something happening to him in November, 1963. And, by gosh, something did! How did he know this?
Some of our spiritual leaders have long felt a need to predict the demise of humanity. Among them are:
Jean Dixon, astrologer, who predicted the last day would be Feb 4, 1962.
Jim Jones, pastor of the People’s Temple, said that there would be a nuclear holocaust in 1967.
Charles Manson, homicidal killer, predicted an apocalyptic race war in 1969.
Herbert W. Armstrong, pastor of Worldwide Church of God, said the end would occur in 1936, 1943, 1972, and 1975.
Jehovah’s Witnesses claimed, for nine years running, that the world would end in 1975.
Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, predicted in 1991 that the Gulf War would be the “War of Armageddon”, which is the final war. (He may have been right; we’re still over there!)
Nostradamus, a 16th century astrologer, predicted a doomsday in July of 1999.
Jerry Falwell, famous Christian pastor and “Silent Majority” blowhard, foresaw God pouring out his judgment on Jan 1, 2000.
Pat Robertson, another Christian televangelist and would-be politician, in a 1990 book, predicted the Second Coming on Apr 29th, 2007.
Harold Camping, a Christian radio broadcaster and famous Doomsday Predicter, opined that the End Times would occur on Sept 6, 1994, then amended that to Sept 29, 1994, then to Oct 2, 1994, and then he foresaw the Second Coming on May 21, 2011, to be followed by the destruction of the world on Oct 21, 2011. (He never got it right.)
Rasputin, a Russian mystic who died in 1916, prophesied a firestorm on Aug 23, 2013, that would destroy most life on earth.
Jesus Christ, quoted in Matthew 16:28, predicted that “…there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom”. Even He was wrong about the Second Coming!
Jean Dixon, the astrologer who predicted Judgment Day would be Feb 4, 1962, later amended her prediction to the year 2020.
All of these spiritualists, who presumably speak directly to God, have inexplicably failed at predicting apocalyptic events. That is, except Mrs. Dixon, who’s latest prediction (2020) has yet to be tested. Maybe this is the year.
The prediction business is a tough one, and is getting tougher. There are so many variables, particularly now, when the whole world is interconnected. A domino can fall ten thousand miles away and have real impact on people totally unaware of the event.
The recent influenza epidemic that originated in China has spread to many other nations rather quickly, as has the economic fall-out. Many industries involved in aircraft production, travel, and consumer goods have declined because of the “coronavirus”, and disrupted supply chains have affected retailers around the globe. There has been political blowback as well, as countries have attempted to respond to the virus. All of this has happened in a matter of 30 days or so.
Without much effort things can spin out of control pretty quickly in today’s world.
Maybe this is the way the world as we know it will end someday, courtesy of a rapidly spreading disease. I suppose it’s possible, because hosts (i.e. travelers) move freely all over the world in a matter of hours, coughing, sneezing, and touching as they go.
The Spanish Flu epidemic in 1918 infected 500 million people, approximately one-third of the planet’s population, and killed 20 to 50 million people. And, that was before the advent of air travel!
It’s pretty scary to think that one diabolical rogue nation could very easily disseminate a deadly virus in a target nation to achieve its ends. Of course, that “weapon of mass destruction” could return home to bite the warmonger in his own ass, and then spread to all manner of unintended destinations.
Holy shit…it could be Armageddon! Maybe Jean Dixon was correct about 2020? Maybe the “coronavirus” is the Devil’s work!
A Holocaust that is actually predictable is the effect that global warming will have on civilization as we know it. Our environment is heating up, mountain glaciers and polar ice caps are melting rapidly, sea level is rising throughout the world, ocean currents are changing, and, as they do, the severe weather events on earth (like droughts, fires, hurricanes, tornadoes) are becoming more commonplace.
Head-in-the-sand politicians like our current President spend a lot of energy ignoring the obvious, while the economic, environmental and human costs pile up. This year, in Australia, super-hot conditions caused devastating fires that torched 72,000 square miles, killed an estimated one billion animals, destroyed 6,000 structures, and cost $4.4 billion in fire-fighting expenses.
Most people on earth live near oceans, and many metropolises are going to be physically affected by rising sea levels. Harbors will be impacted, as will commercial buildings, airports, roads, tunnels, and residential dwellings that have been erected on low ground. The economic impact alone will be staggering, as will be the need to relocate human beings.
According to climate scientists, this slow-motion, unfolding disaster will create some enormous problems in the next thirty years. At least, that’s what 97 percent of them predict.
Maybe it’s God’s will?
Where’s “The Amazing Criswell” when we need him?