The Raging Signs of the Times

That the world is undergoing tremendous change there can be no doubt. Just take a look at the long list below:

Aerospace industry, air conditioner, aircraft carrier, artificial intelligence (AI), astronaut, Big Bang theory, biometric details, bionic limbs, bullet train, carbon trading, CCTV, cinematography, cloning, crypto-currency, Darwin's Theory of Evolution, Digital Age, drones, DVD, DNA profiling, eBook, electronic microscope, email, eye surgery, face recognition technology, fax machine, fluorescent lamp, flying car prototype, FM radio, gender parity index, genetic engineering, helicopter, hologram video call, Human Genome Project, hypersonic missile, In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), infrared photography, Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, International Criminal Court, International Monetary Fund (IMF), internet search engine, Interpol, jet airliner, laser beam, lunar landing, Mars rover lander, messaging app, microchip, microwave oven, Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), nanotechnology, neon lights, night vision goggles, Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Olympic Games, online shopping, orbiting space station, organ transplant, particle accelerator, plastic surgery, podcast, planned settlement of men on Mars, radio telescope, refrigerator, remote control, robotics, satellite communication, Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), smartphone, social media, radar-evading stealth bomber, submarine, supercomputer, surrogacy, 3D printing, Taser, television, test tube babies, Theory of Relativity, thermal imaging camera, thermonuclear bomb, United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, unmanned space explorer, video conference, video streaming service, vlogging, weapons of mass destruction, Wi-Fi, Women's World Cup, World Bank, World Health Organization, World Heritage sites, World Trade Organization, World War, World Wide Web, X-ray.

What do the items have in common? One obvious commonality is that they have all come to exist since the mid-19th century. In spite of all the amazing prophecies to be found in the Bible concerning the Last Day, a question that needs asking, though, is how come these very extraordinary inventions, processes and developments (extraordinary by the standards of pre-modern times, no doubt) have no mention whatsoever in these prophecies, while mundane, every-day scourges like wars, earthquakes, famine, and diseases are prominently foreshadowed?

Beyond that, what is the impulse behind these phenomenal technologies, events, and developments? What is the source of man's newfound energy, creativity, this unbridled burst of knowledge? Do these items presage the "end" of time (as long foreshadowed in scripture) or they rather signalize the "beginning" of a new day – an era of unprecedented change and renewal characterized by the explosion of knowledge, an ongoing technological revolution, and an ever-deepening globalizing process?

Why is the contemporary world showing unmistakable signs of disintegration and decay while also engaged in a far-reaching integration of new concepts, designs, discoveries, inventions, technologies, organizations, institutions, and endeavours? What is behind man's ability to travel to and from the moon, to easily connect to his kind no matter in which part of the world he lives, while also equipped with the wherewithal to instantly obliterate all life on the planet if he so chooses? Are these and other developments leading us to heaven on earth, or we are rather being driven along a blind alley, on the dreaded Day of Judgment, into the fire of hell?

Finally, the list speaks to a remarkable efflorescence, in the past century or two, in the realm of mind and thought; but does it offer the prospect of a revolution in the sphere of religion?

It is questions such as these that "The Raging Signs of the Times" attempts to answer.