Page 12 - Good News September 2006 paper

“The remarkable characteristic of the crises of today aspects of modern technology. He
is their continuity” – David Burnett King. wrote: "We have reached a point of
British author Anthony Sampson has written three historic crisis. The forces gene-
"anatomies of Britain" in recent decades. His latest rated by the techno-scientific
conveys a sense of urgency. Even the title tells us his economy are now great enough to
focus has shifted into a higher gear: a crisis mode. destroy the environment, that is to
The Essential Anatomy of Britain: Democracy in say the material foundations of
Crisis includes a chapter with an obvious warning to human life."
the British Government to get its house in order. No David King reminds us: "The
such chapter appeared in the first two editions. nature of crisis has changed. The
It was Britain's chief rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, who remarkable characteristic of the

wrote: "Today's prophets, I realized with some crises of today is their continuity –
sadness, are often not religious leaders but a small they have moved in, it seems, to
group of academics, who breaking free of stay" (The Crisis of Our Time). We
disciplinary specialisation, have surveyed our age could be headed for what
from the broadest of perspectives and brought back theologian James Moffatt called
a report of imminent danger" (Faith in the Future, "the Crisis at the Close" – the
1995, p. 65). great-granddaddy of all crises
Prophetic voices have sounded warnings for some culminating in the Second Coming
time, pointing to the ominous signs on the world of Jesus Christ (Daniel 12:9,
scene. Some foretell a crisis that will signal a massive Moffatt Translation).
change in our world. www.ucg.org
This is clearly reflected in the titles of several recent "There will be signs in the sun,
books. American author James Dale Davidson and moon and stars. On the earth,
his British counterpart, William Rees-Mogg, titled nations will be in anguish and
their book The Great Reckoning. Historian Eric perplexity at the roaring and
Hobsbawm used the title The Age of Extremes. tossing of the sea. Men will faint
American author and educator David Burnett King from terror, apprehensive of what
notes in The Crisis of Our Time that "there exists a is coming on the world, for the
profound feeling of unease... We are passing through heavenly bodies will be shaken. At
some sort of crisis, riding out a sea change that will that time, they will see the Son of
somehow make the future very different from our Man coming in a cloud with power
past" (1988, p. 17). and glory. When these things
The plain truth is that we may be fast approaching a begin to take place, stand up and
transition between two distinct ages, the age of man lift up your heads, because your
and the age to come of which Jesus Christ spoke redemption is drawing near"
(Matthew 12:32). (Luke 21:25-28 NIV).
Eric Hobsbawm shows in another book, The Age of
Revolution, that the earth cannot continue
indefinitely to bear the unwanted fruits of the darker