The discovery of a previously unknown mass in deep space, whose long, erratic, elliptical orbit seemed all but certain to intersect earth’s own, triggered immediate and loud alarms.  Almost overnight it officially became an NEO (near earth object), tracked by astronomers, scientists, and governments around the world.  NASA (the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration) was monitoring it, as was the fledgling U.S. Space Force.  But what was it?

The profile and behavior of the phenomenon bore some resemblance to a comet, and some to an asteroid or meteorite.  Still other properties were of a type never before observed.  The object’s velocity was unusually high, as was its probability of not merely passing by the planet a little too closely for comfort, but of actually making impact.  Although not especially large, this unwelcome visitor seemed all but certain to survive its encounter with earth’s atmosphere, retaining enough of its original size to make it a truly existential threat.

Although global institutions for planetary defense against just such a threat were beginning to emerge, cooperation was spotty and the technology to destroy cosmic intruders or deflect them from earth’s lane of travel was still in its infancy.  In addition, militaries were leery of sharing their own capabilities, even while covetously eyeing rival programs devised by others.

Meanwhile, the projections made by sophisticated computer models grew more dire every day. The U.N. Security Council was convened in secret, as was the U.S. National Security Council.  In the White House situation room, a nerve center and crisis management hub that had calmly faced many emergencies of the most serious kind, a brainstorming session was underway, with a fervor and intensity rarely seen.

The mood was determined, but grim.  The search for a game plan for dealing with the onrushing menace had thus far been fruitless—yielding nothing even remotely promising.  The National Security Advisor fielded numerous questions, even as he grilled the cabinet, prominent astrophysicists, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Another update to the president was nearly due, adding to the urgency and the tension in the air.  Those present, regardless of rank, were being encouraged to toss out ideas in rapid fire, and uncharacteristically, talked over one another.

“Have you tried announcing that you don’t happen to believe a benevolent universe would allow catastrophic impacts?” asked one.  The answer was ‘yes.’  However, the latest tracking reports showed no effect on the object or its collision course with earth. 

“How about wishing that an extinction level impact won’t happen?” asked another.  Wishing had also been attempted, but unfortunately, had no discernible influence, either.

“What about pretending that if a cataclysmic strike does occur, it won’t affect us personally?  Have you tried pretending?” one questioner demanded.  Around the table, heads drooped and nodded.  The results of this experiment were in.  Disappointingly, pretending had not succeeded in altering the doomsday rock’s course and speed by a single increment.

“Maybe the strike will only annihilate bad people,” someone suggested.  “Not, you know, people like us, but really bad people—those who clearly deserve it.  Heaven knows nobody’s perfect, but there’s a BIG difference between us and them.  And at lease we mean well.”  While this theory was popular, forecasts of the damage and casualties expected, based on the latest calculations, soon dashed this hope.

“I think we’re overlooking something important here,” said one of the military brass.  “What about the power of the independent, self-reliant individual to protect himself (or herself)?  I mean, you can prepare, hide, evade, build a shelter—and if worse comes to worst, at least try to defend yourself.”  Sadly, new studies confirmed that all personal efforts to preserve one’s life from the celestial force involved were doomed to failure.  Its power was just too great.

Indeed, it was overwhelming—for all intents and purposes almighty, in fact.  Not only had all chance of self-defense been ruled out, but it came as no great surprise when the data showed that the next suggestion—collective action—would not work, either.  The whole mass of humanity, meditating, willing, and laboring together with all of its concentrated energy was no match for this threat.  It was like chaff before a hurricane.  The irresistible force would meet its immovable object at the predestined rendezvous point at the foreordained moment in time.  And all the while, that chunk of ice and rock, vapor and fume, just kept coming on, kept drawing nearer.

It was almost as if the thing had a mind of its own, leading to the next great inspiration— “Why not try to reason with it?  Has anyone made any effort at all to do that?” a senior staffer wanted to know.  “Surely we can come to some sort of an understanding, reach some sort of compromise.  We’ll have a give and take, negotiate a mutually satisfactory solution…”

The idea seemed plausible enough and after all, nothing else had worked.  Besides, the crisis team was running out of options.  So, signals were urgently beamed into interstellar space in every known medium of communication and by every known means.  Yet, despite the use of the most sensitive equipment (some of which was Top Secret), manned by the most highly skilled technicians, there had been no response to the offer of parley.  Time was slipping away, even as planetary disaster loomed larger and larger in all its terrifying magnitude.

“Wait!” shouted a white-haired woman from the president’s Council of Economic Advisors.  All eyes were trained on her as she asked, “Have we tried a gift of some sort?  Granted, it would have to involve enormous sums…”

“Are you suggesting” inquired the Treasury Secretary, “that we bargain with the unidentified object—offer it a bribe to go away and leave us alone?”  

“Yes, I guess I am, though I wouldn’t put it quite like that,” she said, her face flushing.  “It’s not a bribe, it’s a contribution—a financial incentive to spare us.” A short but spirited debate ensued, focused not on the merits or the odds of success, but on the implementation plan.  It would work. It had to work. Earth tremors and strange tides had begun.  They were out of time.

Application—What if the impending catastrophe just Imagined were not a fictional astral phenomenon, but the reality of divine judgment?  Would most people’s reactions be any different, any less delusional, any less absurd than those you have just read?  Aren’t the actual schemes and strategies employed by people today for coping with the prospect of judgment virtually identical?  Let’s compare:

• Telling others there’s no hell, because you choose to deny the clear teaching of scripture on the subject, and because, in your personal opinion, a loving God would not allow anyone to go there.  [Never mind that the same Bible that tells of the existence of a loving God, also declares Him to be just and holy.  And, it warns repeatedly that if you don’t repent and believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died for your sins and rose again, you will surely end up in the Lake of Fire for eternity.]
• Wishing God’s promised judgment were not on the horizon will somehow keep it away.  [Yeah, that’ll work.  This is magical thinking, folks.  Pure fantasy.]
• Pretending God’s judgment won’t happen or that if it does, you will somehow escape.  [Again, God’s word says just the opposite: “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27)] 
• Rationalizing (a.k.a. the unbeliever’s theory of relativity): I need not be concerned about the fact that I am a sinner, because there are plenty of worse ones out there, if I do say so myself.  [By the way, I look best when compared to humanity’s worst—just don’t judge me by God’s standard of perfect righteousness!  I mean, who am I—Jesus Christ?]
• Deluding yourself that you’ll be the only human being in history to save yourself, by your good deeds, flawless logic, reasonable excuses, and compelling arguments.  [And with your fellow sinners as character witnesses, you can’t lose.  You just need to convince God that He is wrong about you, is wrong to judge sin, and lacks the authority and power to hold you accountable…]
• Relying on the group—my family, my community, my state, my region, my nation, my coalition of countries, my planet.  What about my generation, my race, my culture, my heritage, my traditions, my house of worship, my religion?  I can always find a crowd large enough to hide in or ally with.  There’s strength in numbers, right?  [If only God didn’t insist on being fair, on seeing and treating you as an individual.  And if only He hadn’t caused this to be written in His word: 

“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed [Jesus], saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.  He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.  Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.  Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” (Psalm 2:1-6)]

• Reasoning/negotiating with God, in hopes of working out some sort of compromise.  [This approach assumes intellectual parity with the Creator, an obvious impossibility, if not to say a bad joke.  It also assumes that God is at least to some degree, corrupt.  Thanks to the Bible, we know better: “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity…”  (Habakkuk 1:13, bumping up against His holiness again.)]

• Bargaining with God: an offer or tender of your time, talent or treasure in exchange for His favor; a quid pro quo (“something for something”).  [Although this often works in earthly courts, the same cannot be said of heaven’s court.  The Bible crushes this hope: “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.” (Deuteronomy 32:4).  Too bad there’s no judge-shopping and no change of venue…]

The schemes for warding off our fictional meteor strike were ridiculous and certain to fail.  Unbelievers are using the same schemes for avoiding God’s wrath, and they will prove just as ridiculous and ineffective.  The problem is, God’s judgment is 100% real, and so are the consequences of ignoring it.

The signs given by Jesus and the prophets of the Bible are unmistakable and they’re converging.  They’re announcing that God is ready to miraculously intervene in human affairs once again, in dramatic earth-shaking ways.  Jesus’ return is imminent, which means that judgment is coming swiftly and soon.  If you don’t belong to Christ, you need to get prepared, and I mean immediately.  

The good news is that God loves you, and wants you to be safe with Him, before the Christ-rejecting world faces His judgment and wrath.  He is eager to forgive your sins and adopt you into His royal family.  You can’t earn this salvation.  It’s His gift to you.  Jesus purchased it on the cross with His own precious blood, paying the full penalty that you and I deserve.  Come to Jesus now.  Receive the pardon He died to give you.  Here’s how.

HOW TO BE SAVED:

• Admit to God that you are a sinner (that you have not kept His moral law to perfection; in your thoughts, words, and actions you have done what His law forbids and have failed to do what His love demands).  This is seeing yourself from God’s point of view and agreeing that He is right about you.  Be as specific as you can.
• Believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins and that God raised Him from the dead.
• Sincerely repent (turn away) from your sins, asking God to forgive you and to use His power to help you resist temptation, no matter how strong the pull of sin may be, at first.
• Acknowledge Jesus as the Lord of your life.  Invite Him to move into your heart and take up residence there, so that He can change you from the inside out.
• Trust His promise to save you and give you a new spiritual birth and a new nature (thoughts, desires, priorities, hopes, dreams, and character).

SOME KEY TRUTHS:

• “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  (Romans 3:23)
• “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.”  (Romans 3:10)
• “For the wages of sin is death: but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  (Romans 6:23)
• “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  (John 3:16)
• “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  (Romans 5:8)
• “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”  (I Corinthians 15:3,4)
• “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” (John 1:12)
• “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him…”  (Revelation 3:20)
• “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  (Romans 10:13)
• “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”  (Romans 10:9-10)
• “Verily, verily, I say unto you; He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life; and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”  (John 5:24)
• “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, ye might have life through his name.”  (John 20:31) 
• “These things I have written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”  (I John 5:13)