20060408
    Recently, Dr Eric Pianka theorized that a global pandemic was coming that would help protect the earth from the so-called ‘human population explosion’ by reducing our population to almost prehistoric levels. His claim is that such a pandemic is a natural, evolutionary response to the presumed damage that humanity has caused to the earth by its supposed rampant expansion and exploitation.
    From a Christian worldview, it is very easy to dismiss such rhetoric as the scientific nonsense that it is, except for the fact that it is also naturally prophetic of truths that we already know as Christians. There is a danger in these statements- both the scientific ones and the ones made here- but this is a line of thought that must be considered.
    God promises us throughout scripture that the end will come. The Word gives is clear insight into what that end will look like, and those prophecies tell us that part of the end will be massive sickness and death. From reading the various descriptions in the Book of Revelation and elsewhere describing death by plague in the last days before Christ’s return, it is clear that the very scenario that scientific humanists like Dr Pianka describe not only can happen but will happen.
    What does this reality mean to the faithful Christian? Consider that the words of Dr Pianka serve as their own kind of warning to Christians: “Behold, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.†It is far too easy for us as Christians to set aside our thinking about the end and to focus on the day to day, yet by doing so we reject the very thing we are working toward, and that is the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven.
    God promises us in Isaiah 55:11 that His word will not go out from Him without accomplishing what He intended for it to. He also tells us that His creation testifies to His word. Therefore, there can be little doubt, that even science detects the presence of the Lord of Creation, and in such a discovery, sees the very things that He has ordained to come to pass.
    What should we then do? We cannot ignore that the end is coming, whether it is in our lifetimes or in a thousand years. Whenever it comes, we are commanded to be faithful and to be ready. As the world groans the warnings of its creator ( Romans 8:18-26), we must heed those warnings by rededicating ourselves to the Word, to the Means of Grace, to prayer, and to the spreading of the Gospel to all of mankind. In doing so, we will be prepared for the end in a way that no worldly warnings can accomplish.
DLH
