"Post-apocalyptic landscapes" during this, the pre-apocalypse

Do you know who said this?

"We are living at a time when mankind seems to sense that the end of all things is very near. Just about everyone has a theory as to how the world is threatened and when that end might come. The media and the Internet are full of doomsday speculations concerning the New Age "Mayan Calendar" and the year 2012. Some scientists predict that Global Warming could wipe out life on Planet Earth within a certain number of years. At the same time, politicians work to halt the proliferation of life-destroying nuclear weapons before it is "too late." High profile news reports of economic downturns, crime, wars, tsunamis, earthquakes, and disease outbreaks cause people to question whether God is bringing judgment on the world."

I agree with this statement. We ARE living at a time when mankind seems to sense the end of things is nearing. The person who said that is Harold Camping, from his website We Can Know. Though I disagree with Camping's setting a date for the rapture, of course, I agree that the times are dire enough that people sense an imminence to...something. Christians know that imminence is judgment on the world, after the removal of the faithful believers in Jesus.

This year in the US is the most expensive year ever for natural disaster recovery. As I've mentioned before, reporters and weather men are running out of superlatives to describe the weather systems and disasters they are covering. "Worst ever" dropped off a long time ago. "Historic" got worn out fast as new events outpaced prior events, because history was made monthly or even weekly. Recently we were reading about 'epic' floods/tornadoes/landslides/eruptions/earthquakes. Even 'epic' doesn't' describe what we see anymore. This week, a new term to describe the devastation has arrived: "Post-apocalyptic".

The Australian Broadcast Company wrote this of the damage in Joplin MO from this week's tornadoes:
"The twister hit the town of Joplin with only 20 minutes warning, turning whole neighbourhoods into a post-apocalyptic landscape."

The Book of Eli, movie

Time Magazine reporter observed:
"I saw a man sifting through the rubble of what used to be Affordable Mini Storage. He was going through the remains of his storage unit, searching for anything salvageable in the post-apocalyptic landscape of our home town. He picked up a toy from the debris."

At Fox News, we read-
After daybreak, survivors picked through the rubble of their homes, salvaging clothes, furniture, family photos and financial records, the air pungent with the smell of gas and smoking embers. Some neighborhoods were completely flattened and the leaves stripped from trees, giving the landscape an apocalyptic aura. In others where structures still stood, families found their belongings jumbled as if someone had picked up their homes and shaken them."

Joplin MO

Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road'

Unfortunately for those who are already at a loss for words, the apocalypse hasn't even begun. But the use of that term to describe in visual terms what we have never seen before is telling. All we have are movies to conjecture what a devastated world would look like, and many of us have seen those films or ones like them. Here is a scene from The Book of Eli, a film starring Denzel Washington that was released last Memorial Day weekend. The summary- "A post-apocalyptic tale, in which a lone man fights his way across America in order to protect a sacred book that holds the secrets to saving humankind."

The Book of Eli

Joplin MO

Japan tsunami damage:

Bloomberg News

From Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road'

Each of these following three links uses the same phrase, that [parts of] Tuscaloosa Ala, Joplin MO, Denning Ark were "wiped off the map."

Post-apocalyptic is a good descriptive term, and each of the real scenes and the movie scenes mirror each other in some way. However, the apocalypse has not begun. How will newscasters describe the real post-apocalyptic events when the real apocalypse happens, if they are already using up comprehensible terms that come short of offering understanding to the minds of viewers, stunned at devastation unlike anything we have seen before?

I am not making any hidden allusion that the movies mean something in today's world. There is no hidden message here. The message is actually about language and the ability of men to visualize total earthly destruction without humanity's extinction, which is what the Tribulation actually is. These movies did a good job of visualizing a post-apocalyptic world for movie-goers' entertainment, but now it unfortunately has come close to the truth. No longer entertaining, hundreds of thousands of people are living it as reality. Reporters are increasingly at a loss to describe it. Mike Bettes of The Weather Channel is a veteran of thousands of tornado coverage stories, but in reporting Joplin MO tornado damage, he simply cried.

Folks, we are still PRE-apocalyptic. If you sense (correctly) that the real apocalypse is coming, whether you are of the ilk that believes in Edgar Cayce, Nostradamus, Mayan Calendar, Global Warming, the Final Imam, or Jesus Christ, you are correct, something is coming. I know what it is, too.

"But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

That's the rapture! Though we do not know when that will be, we sense its nearness because our eyes are open and we see the signs the Lord said to look for appearing now with regularity and frequency. After the rapture, will be the Apocalypse. Here I quote Revelation 6-19, where the earth is devastated by earthquakes, 100 pound hail, disease, demonic attack on your physical person, torture, brutality, fires, and much more. Those two events will occur and you even have a choice as to which you would like to participate! If you sincerely believe you are a sinner rebelling against a just God, ask Jesus to forgive your sins and He will extend to you the pardon He bought for you in his own blood. You will be exempt from judgment and your sins will be wiped from the record. It will result in you being born again. You will enjoy a sweet and blissful time with Jesus in heaven while the apocalypse is happening down on earth.

Alternately, you can refuse to believe that you sin, that there is a Holy God who is judging you and will judge you, and you can choose to stay on earth for the apocalypse. If you like what you see in Japan, Joplin MO, Tuscaloosa, and Denning Arkansas, this option may appeal to you. If the reality of judgment begins to set in as it unfolds, you can appeal to the Holy Jesus and ask for forgiveness after the rapture, but do not wait until then. You may die, or you may have already been left with a hardened heart, Jesus having given you over to your desire to rebel and wallow in your sins. That is why we say now is the acceptable time of your salvation.

I plead with you to consider the reasons you are not saved but are reading this blog. The Spirit is pushing you, repeatedly, to understand the truths of His love, His justice, and His imminence. Do it today. He will not strive with man forever. (Genesis 6:3). You've seen the road ahead, and it is not pretty. You can traverse a road like Cormac McCarthy's, which is broad and leads to destruction, or you can tread the narrow way which leads to eternal life and a street of gold. Your choice!
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