Should We Be Afraid?

 

When I was a kid I remember my dad coming home from work every evening and watching the 6 pm news to see what was going on in the world at large as well as our little corner of rural America. Day in, day out nothing really changed life just went on like it always did, of course there was the occasional story of a tornado out in the plains states or a flood down south, maybe even a forest fire out west. They seemed rare, once or twice a year…. Maybe once a season at most but that kind of stuff never happened where we lived in the Mid-West, well almost never. I do remember learning in high school history class about “The Great Tornado of 50…. Something” but that was decades ago.

Fast forward 30 years and today every time you turn on the TV or go on the internet the majority of the news is dedicated to some natural or manmade disaster, ever growing government debt in the Trillions of dollars (17 trillion the last I checked). Terrorist attacks happening weekly all over the world, ongoing wars and the threat of war on several other fronts about to erupt. An economy that is just hanging on by a thread, coupled with a national infrastructure that should have been updated 20 years ago. As of the end of September (2013) we have already had 141 natural disasters in the US alone, it is enough to make your head spin thinking about it.

It brings to mind a question and Matthew 24:3-14.

³ As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

⁴ Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of birth pains.

⁹ “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. ¹⁰ At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, ¹¹ and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ¹² Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³ but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

The part that worries me is in verse 8 which states that it is only the beginning of birth pains. As the analogy suggests the longer it continues the more frequent and sever it will become. One evening news broadcast is enough to show that this worlds “contractions” are only minutes apart now. If it were a woman she would already be in the delivery room............

What happens next, and should we be afraid?

*Picture taken from the internet, photographer is unknown.