The Doomsday Clock
Recently news channels and media reported that the Doomsday clock has ticked closer to the end of the world. The reports confirm that the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moves the hands of the Doomsday Clock forward, largely (though not exclusively) because of the mounting dangers of the war in Ukraine. The Clock now stands at 90 seconds to midnight—the
closest to global catastrophe it has ever been.
For most people who read this or hear it on the news – what would they be feeling….FEAR.
The first words Adam said following his rebellion…
‘I was afraid’ – these were the first words Adam spoke following the fall of man, and when sin came upon the earth through Adam and Eve’s rebellion. Fear. In a twenty-first century world, there is fear all around us.
Fear from speaking out in case others are take offence.
Fear of the threat from Russia.
Fear from violence and threats.
Fear is on every side. Meaning of fear – ‘a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid’.
There are so many types of fears in this modern age, that they have had to be all be given an identity. These are called phobia’s, and the list of phobias has increased each year. The word phobia means ‘an extreme or irrational fear’ or ‘anxiety disorder’. There’s over two thousand variety of phobias that people claim to have experienced. Some of these include…
Telephonophobia – The fear of talking on the phone.
Ombrophobia – The fear of rain.
Pogonophobia – The fear of beards
Glossophobia – The fear of public speaking.
Here is a reminder of what Jesus had to say about fear from the gospel of Matthew 6:25-33.
‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well’.
Don’t let fear rob you, or allow it to steal your peace. God is on the throne, He is in control, and His promises will never fail’. (Isaiah 41:10)