The Doomsday Clock Updated
The Bulletin for Atomic Scientists, as every January since 1947, has revealed its 2023 “Doomsday Clock” prediction this morning, Tuesday, Jan. 24. The stated purpose is to warn the public about how close humanity is to the brink of worldwide destruction. It is given as a measure of man’s progress toward the end of time.
Doom is interpreted as ‘judgment’. It comes from the Hebrew word ‘dan’ which means ‘judge’. Doomsday then is the Day of the Last Judgment at the end of the world or age or ‘Judgment Day’. Who shall stand?
Today’s Headline: “Putin’s nuclear threats move Doomsday Clock closest ever to Armageddon, atomic scientists say:” But what or where is Armageddon?
“Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you in unawareness. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.”
Jesus Christ – Luke 21:34-35
Armageddon
A place of battle.
“…For they are the spirits of demons, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that Great Day of God Almighty.
Revelations of Jesus Christ 16:14-16
Behold, I come as a thief [in the night]. Blessed is he that watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.”
“Armageddon” is the place where they gather to battle against God in that Great Day of the LORD! In Ephesians 6:10-17, Paul instructs us to ‘Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Also referred to in the Apocalypse or Revelation verse 12.
“In reference to ‘Armageddon’, most traditions interpret this Bible prophecy to be symbolic of the progression of the world toward the ‘Great Day of God Almighty’, the ‘Day of Judgment’, in which God pours out His just and Holy Wrath against unrepentant sinners, led by Satan, in a literal end-of-the-world final confrontation. ‘Armageddon’ is the symbolic name given to this event based on Scripture references regarding divine obliteration/destruction of God’s enemies…”
Wikipedia
The word ‘satan’ means adversary or arch-enemy.
Doomsday Clock Updated
“Putin’s nuclear threats move Doomsday Clock closest ever to Armageddon, atomic scientists say” 1/24/23
WASHINGTON — The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced Tuesday that it has moved its metaphorical Doomsday Clock closer than ever to midnight, the hypothetical hour of Armageddon, reflecting experts’ assessment that humanity is confronting unprecedented threats to its existence.
The 2023 countdown time is now set at “90 seconds to midnight,” the group’s leaders announced in a press conference at the National Press Club. This new time is 10 seconds closer to “doomsday” than it was set to a year ago. This group has been measuring real and existential threats to humankind, from climate change to the prospects of nuclear war, for more than 70 years.
“…one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day…” The Apostle Peter
2 Peter 3:8
When we use the LORD’s time, 90 seconds would equal 1.0416 years or 375 days. Not much time!
“The point of the clock is to assess where humanity is, and whether we are safer or at greater risk. As we move the clock closer to midnight, we are sending a message that the situation is becoming more urgent.”
Dr. Rachel Bronson, president and chief executive of the bulletin
“The challenges outlined by today’s announcement by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists could not be more global in nature. No one country can tackle them on their own, no matter how large their population, how strong their economy, or how feared their military.”
Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland
“Wealth and riches cannot avail in the Day of Wrath.”
Abraham, The Book of Jasher 12:67
The Beginning of Sorrows
As Jesus sat upon the Mount of Olives the disciples came to him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the world/age?’ He answered and said to them, ‘Take heed that no man deceives you. For many shall come in my name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many. You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: but see that you’re not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in diverse places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, set up … then shall be Great Tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be again. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the Elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”
Jesus Christ – Matthew 24:3-8, 11-22
The Chief Cornerstone
“I called upon the LORD in distress: The LORD answered me! …It is better to put your trust in the LORD than to have confidence in man… The stone which the builders rejected is become the head cornerstone. This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the Day which the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”
Psalms 118
“Jesus said to the chief priests, ‘Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the LORD’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?’ Therefore, say I unto you, ‘The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spoke of them. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.”
Matthew 21:42-46
We shall Rejoice
“…When the Righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked bear rule, the people mourn.”
King Solomon – Proverbs 29:1-2
“The voice of rejoicing and Salvation is in the tabernacles/tents of the Righteous… The stone which the builders refused/rejected is become the head stone of the corner. This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the Day which the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Blessed is he that comes in the Name of the LORD.”
Psalms 118:15-29
“Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby: If so be that you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming, as unto a Living Stone, disallowed/rejected indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious. You also, as living stones, are built up a Spiritual House, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by way of Jesus Christ“.
It is also contained in the Scripture, ‘Behold, I lay in Sion/Zion a chief corner stone, Elect, precious: and he that believes on him shall not be confounded/confused. Unto you therefore which believe, he is precious, but unto them which are disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed/rejected, the same is made the head of the corner; And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the Word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.”
1 Peter 2:1-8
“This second epistle, Beloved, I now write unto you… That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the Holy Prophets, and of the Commandment of us, the Apostles of the Lord and Savior: Knowing this first, that in the last days there shall come scoffers, walking after their own lusts and saying, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.’ For this they are willingly ignorant of, that by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same Word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the Day of Judgment and perdition/destruction of ungodly men.
But, Beloved, don’t be ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
1 day = 1,000 years
1 hour = 41.666 years
1 minute = 2,499 seconds
90 seconds = 1.0416 years or 375 days
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering/very patient toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (“change the way you think”). But the Day of the Lord has come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the Day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for New Heavens and a New Earth, wherein righteousness dwells. Wherefore, Beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.”
2 Peter 3:1-14
A Psalm of King David. “The LORD hear you in the Day of Tribulation; the Name of the God of Jacob defend you… We will rejoice in Your Salvation, and in the Name of our God we will set up our banners… Now I know that the LORD saves His Anointed; He will hear him from His Holy Heaven with the saving strength of His Right Hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses: but we will remember the Name of the LORD our God. They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.”
Psalms 20:1-8
The Debt Ceiling
Congress has authorized trillions of dollars in spending over the last decade, causing the United States’ debt to nearly triple since 2009…
Created by Congress in 1917, the debt limit, or ceiling, sets the maximum amount of outstanding federal debt the U.S. government can incur. As of this month, January 2023, the total national debt and the debt ceiling both stand at $31.4 trillion. The U.S. government has run a deficit averaging nearly $1 trillion every year since 2001…
“The rich rule over the poor and the borrower is servant to the lender.”
King Solomon wrote in his Book of Proverbs 22:7
A ‘Bond Servant’ is one who is bound to service without wages
A Slave, a person held in forced servitude, a person who is completely subservient to a dominating influence.
Enslaved, held in or forced into servitude.
A History of Debt Incurred
William McKinley was the President of the United States from 1897 to 1901, the very beginning of the 20th century. During his reign the US National debt was just a little over $2 billion; debt per citizen, $27. It increased very gradually till Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) (WWI; Federal Reserve Act; debt ceiling, Federal Income Tax) took over the reins. Then it jumped from $2 billion to $27 billion; debt per citizen $261.
From there it actually went down until Franklin Roosevelt (1933-1945) (Depression; New Deal; Social Security, WWII) when it increased dramatically to $141 billion; per citizen, $1,030. It jumped again with Harry Truman (1945-1953) to $255 billion; per citizen $1,650.
Again, the debt increased gradually until the reign of Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) (Increased defense spending by 35%). During his time the National Debt jumped up to $2 trillion; per citizen $9,754. George Bush (1989-1993) (“Desert Storm”) brought it up to $3 trillion; per citizen, $14,379. Bill Clinton (1993-2001), $5 trillion; per citizen, $20,537. George W. Bush (2001-2009) (9-11; War on Terror; Afghanistan), $9 trillion; per citizen, $30,772, Barack Obama (2009-2013), $18 trillion; per citizen, $56,655. Donald Trump (2017-2021) (increased military budgets; COVID-19) $23 trillion; per citizen, $71,685. Joe Biden (2021-present) (pandemic; Ukraine Aid) $31 trillion; per citizen $94,245.
Projected to the year 2027, $44 trillion; per citizen $126,565. The year 2031, $54 trillion; per citizen, $151,922.
The Age of Disaster
The era we are now in the midst of might be defined, most notably, by the omnipresence of disaster. Plagues, droughts, floods, toxic air and water, wars, massacres, famines, earthquakes, heat waves, wildfires, recessions, dust storms, despotism — slow-motion nightmares are crashing into fast-moving catastrophes, each one amplifying the next. Just like Christ described! Great Tribulation!
“In California’s East Bay, disaster is a constant threat. In some cities, houses are succumbing to lengthening wildfire seasons, while people living in tents breathe air poisoned by the flames. Seasons of drought are starting to blur into one long era of aridification. Tectonic plates rumble frequently, reminding us that the Hayward fault underneath us is due to cause a major earthquake. Elsewhere, mere weeks after unprecedented heat waves scorched the country this spring, apocalyptic floods began engulfing Pakistan and are ongoing. Tropical hurricanes continue to reshape coastlines in the Gulf of Mexico, their names lingering like ghosts long after their winds have quieted: Katrina, Harvey, Maria. A virulent combination of governmental corruption and the debt traps of the global finance system have contributed heavily to starvation-level food shortages in Sri Lanka. Authoritarian leaders have unleashed mass state violence against protesters in Iran, while far-right extremists clamor violently against democracy in the United States. Disaster is so ubiquitous that the idea of an aftermath has started to lose its meaning. COVID’s brutal, blurry slide from pandemic to endemic is an example that underscores one defining truth of our reality: Our disasters don’t exactly end; they evolve.
The world we knew — where “100-year floods” happened roughly once a century — is ending.
“From our perspective, it was Harvey; and then from Harvey, there was a tropical storm two years after,” Barley reflected. “And from that, there was the pandemic; and then from the pandemic, there was social uprising. And then from social uprising, there was winter storm Uri. From winter storm Uri to now, we’re facing levels of inflation that our working-class communities haven’t seen, or their generation hasn’t seen, in years.” Ben Hirsch, West Street co-director, shares the group’s fundamental philosophy: “We’re trying to imagine the world that we want, and act and run our organization in that way.”
The stealthiest danger in a world shaken by ongoing calamities might be that calamity becomes ordinary…”
Matthew Thompson
“Americans are beginning 2023 with a steady barrage of mass slaughter after recent shootings in California claimed the lives of two dozen people.
“O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up? For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. Isn’t this laid up in store with Me and sealed up among My treasures? To Me belongs vengeance, and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time: for the Day of their Calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.”
Deuteronomy, 32:29-35
The Age of Perpetual Crisis
How will the last 10 years be remembered? Above all, as a time of crises. During the 2010s, there have been crises of democracy and the economy; of the climate and poverty; of international relations and national identity; of privacy and technology. There were crises at the start of the decade, and there are crises now. Some of them are the same crises, unsolved. Others are like nothing we have experienced before.
“Behold, the LORD makes the earth empty and makes it waste, and turns it upside down and scatters abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him.”
The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD has spoken this Word. The earth mourns and fades away, the world languishes and fades away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the Everlasting Covenant. Therefore has the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.”
Isaiah 24:1-6
“You shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If you afflict them in any way and they cry at all unto Me, I will surely hear their cry; And My wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless. If you lend money to any of My people that is poor by you, you shall not be to him as an usurer, neither shall you lay upon him usury.”
Exodus 22:22-25
It is the Beginning of Sorrows
“The earth trembles to its foundations, the sea is stirred to its depths, and its waves are thrown into confusion, and its fish also, at the presence of the LORD, and the Glory of His might. For His Right Arm that bends the bow is strong, His arrows that He shoots are sharp; they will not miss when they begin to be shot to the ends of the earth.
Behold, disasters are shot forth, and they will not return until they come upon the earth. A fire is lighted, and will not be put out, until it consumes the foundations of the earth. Just as an arrow shot by a strong archer cannot come back, so the disasters which shall be shot at the earth will not turn back.
Alas for me! Who will deliver me in those days? It is the beginning of sorrows, when there will be great mourning; the beginning of famine, when many will perish; the beginning of wars, when powers will fear; the beginning of disasters, when all will tremble. What will they do in these circumstances, when disasters come? Behold, famine and pestilence and distress and anguish are sent as scourges to correct men. But in spite of all these things they will not turn from their wickedness, nor ever remember the scourges.”
Behold, grain will be so cheap on the earth that they will think they are sure of peace, and then disasters will spring up on the earth – the sword, famine, and great disorder/chaos. But listen to these things, and understand them, you servants of the LORD! Behold, it is the Word of the LORD; receive it, do not disbelieve the things of which the LORD says, ‘Behold, disasters/calamities are approaching, and they will not be delayed.”
Just as a woman with child, in the ninth month, when the hour of her delivery draws near, two or three hours before it, is seized with agonizing pains about her womb, and when the child comes forth from the womb it will not delay for a moment, So these disasters will not delay in coming upon the earth, and the world will groan and pains will envelop it. Hear My words, My people, prepare for battle, and in the midst of these disasters/calamities be like strangers in the earth;”
2 Esdras 16:12-50 – The Apocrypha