Last post I wrote that I’m convinced that history as we know it is coming to an end; a bad end. Mind-bending evil abounds in the world, and from my perspective it seems more pervasive than ever. The problem we face in the West is that the effects of this evil are not, for the moment, right at the doorpost.

Most of us aren't in the streets of Baghdad, or in the ravaged villages of Darfur where sudden, horrendous suffering and death is a very real prospect each and every day. This is not to say that no westerners suffer senseless violence, or are victims of inhuman, ideologically motivated hate crimes. Nor is it to pretend that similar widespread atrocities haven’t occurred in the past. But it is to say that the tenor of modern evil is very different from anything that has gone before.

First, current practitioners of institutionalized and individual mayhem have never received the kind of instant, global publicity that we see today. Until now, the technology didn’t exist.

Secondly, and perhaps because of that very publicity, never before has there been such comprehensive acceptance of that level of violence. Global shock tolerance is at an all-time high. As a species, we’ve been culturally desensitized through overexposure. That, added to the fact that multiple generations have now been propagandized to believe that underneath our thin veneer of civilization we are, at best, very clever animals, gives us the twisted perspective that we have no real reason to expect anything else.

I see and hear this attitude of practical indifference everywhere. We might give lip service to abhorrence and condemnation, but then, as a society, we turn around and go to that movie, buy that book, rent that DVD, or watch that television show that reinforces the very things we pretend to be shocked about.

There are prophecies in the New Testament of the Bible which guarantees that, as the culmination of world history approaches, love will grow cold, evil will be called good, families will dissolve, and faith will disappear.

“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self–control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power...” (2Ti 3:1-5 NKJV)

“"And then [near the end] many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another...And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” (Mt 24:10-12 NKJV)

I submit that these very things are happening today in ways profoundly different than ever before. Brutality, lack of self-control, betrayal, and hatefulness are rampant, and we now have the means and the will to disperse this vileness around the globe. Regions of the world heretofore bereft of technology now have cell phones, internet, satellite communications and ready access to world travel. Not to mention, ICBM's and nuclear capability.

“So great,” you say again. "You’ve convinced me. The world is ending. What do I do about it?”

The answer: make peace with your Maker.

How?

Simple: acknowledge your hopeless and helpless sinfulness. This takes a humble admission that while you may not be as evil and depraved as is humanly possible, and certainly not as bad as ten other people you know and maybe hang out with, you are, nonetheless, in active, unrepentant rebellion against God. (You’re probably bristling in indignation at this very moment, haughtily and self-righteously proclaiming, “Who the hell is this idiot passing moral judgment on me? Me! Crazy, religious fanatic!”)

Once you suck that bitter pill deep down into your black, encrusted heart, then you gratefully accept the only way to escape the condemnation you so richly deserve. You must receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior (boy, if you weren’t bristling or dismissive before, you’re near the boiling point now! “How dare this delusional imbecile impose some antiquated, psychotic religious fairy tale on me? Me! Doesn’t this brainless stooge understand that religion is the problem? Look at the Middle East, for God’s sake!”)

Receiving Jesus means that you believe, believe, that He was crucified because of your sin, dying in your place, so that you can live! Christ’s voluntary sacrificial death, the Sinless One becoming sin for you, enables you to be declared righteous and innocent in Him, and thereby escape eternal death! It’s a transaction that you must enter into through belief. He paid the price for you out of love and compassion. Your job: accept that fact and live.

Deny this fact, reject it for any reason, and when the world ends in misery and bloodshed, your personal suffering will just be beginning. And perhaps for you personally, your commencement into unthinkable torment may start a whole lot sooner, because you are just one heart beat away from death. For “...it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,” (Heb 9:27 NKJV)

There it is. Now you know what to do about the end of the world; and about your own eternal destiny.

In Part 3, I’ll give you information as to how it may be possible for you (yes, you!) to not only escape judgment at the time of death, but also how to avoid the coming Armageddon. Deep down you know it’s not far off. Admit it!

So tune in.