Jim Bramlett (21 Nov 2006)
"Progress?"


(Much of the below historic change has come about in my lifetime.  These are truly unprecedented times in which we live.)
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The world entered a new era through some earth-shattering events in 1917, and the return of Israel to her land in 1948 was a "sign" that only the spiritually blind refused to see. And there have been more "changes" in the last 100 years than in all of recorded history.

During the first 5,900+ years of recorded history man "advanced" from walking and riding a horse to an incredible 35 miles per hour overland by train, and sailing ships taking several weeks to cross the Ocean.

Communication advanced to the pony express, getting a letter completely across the country in just a few days…and then the telegraph delivering messages wherever the wires were strung.

100 years ago a contract was a handshake and a man’s word was his bond. Doctor’s actually "made house calls," and many times didn’t even get paid. Very few ever got rich.

Homosexuality was sin. Marriage was for life; the training of children was the parent’s responsibility. Schools taught ethics, morals, and integrity, and the parents of the children supported the teachers when discipline was necessary. Colleges were founded on Christian principles, and the Bible was used in classrooms. 100 years ago the average family had a Bible, a dictionary, and a half-dozen books.

People either raised their own food, or bought it fresh locally, and it contained vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, amino acids and enzymes.

The first case of heart disease was diagnosed in 1910.

Cancer was virtually unknown, (1 in 8,000 in the 1890’s.)

Hypertension, strokes, diabetes, Alzheimers, arthritis, allergies, chronic indigestion, and cardiovascular disease, were not even factors in figuring longevity.  Smallpox, diphtheria, bubonic plague, leprosy and tuberculosis were the killers in the first 6,000 years.

And just during the past 100 years we have "advanced" to:

Flying many times faster than the speed of sound. A man walking on the moon. Many people driving farther in one day than their grandparents ever went in their whole lifetime.

Picking up a telephone and talking to someone in Australia. Watching a war in the Middle East as it’s happening. Our children seeing murder, rape, mugging, and armed robberies right in our own living rooms, until it they grow numb to it.

A contract isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on, lying is okay even if you do get caught, perjury is now just a word, most doctors just "treat the pain of symptoms," and suing your brother or neighbor is just "natural."

Marriage isn’t necessary, divorce is normal, 6-week-old kids are dropped off at day care centers, and "it takes a village" to raise a child. Schools teach that homosexuality is natural. And they teach "situational ethics" (it’s okay if YOU think it is). Morality is scorned, integrity is non-existent, and if a teacher DARES to discipline a child, the parents come unglued, and the teacher is fired or jailed.

Colleges don’t allow even the mention of the Bible, much less use it in the classroom. The average family now has more information at their fingertips than was available to ANYONE 100 years ago.

The shelf life of foods has been "improved" from natural drying… to preserving by pasteurization, canning and bottling, which kills off the beneficial enzymes needed for the digestion of the food, for metabolic action to take place in the body, and to keep the immune system strong.

Most people now have no idea how to raise their own food, and the food that they buy from all around the world is devoid of nutrition and has been rendered virtually useless and even poisonous by the use of chemical fertilizer, pesticides, steroids, radiation, pasteurization, and preservatives. Instead of eating to live, we live to eat – and we eat all the wrong things. Instead of being nutritious, our food is killing us. But it "tastes good" and that’s all that seems to count.

And now cardiovascular disease is killing 1 out of 2. 1 out of 3 people will experience cancer during their lifetime, and hypertension, strokes, diabetes, Alzheimers, arthritis, allergies, chronic indigestion, and cardiovascular disease have become "normal." There are over 200 degenerative diseases that are caused by our "modern food" which is virtually devoid of minerals – the "building blocks" of the human body.

More people have been killed in violence and war in the last 100 years than in all of combined history.

But that’s just a start. Please remember that most of this "progress" has occurred in the last 50 or 60 years.

And during the past 40 years we have killed more innocent babies (over 40 million) than all the soldiers that were killed in all of America’s wars… on both sides.

There have been more earthquakes in the past 40 years than in all of history combined.

More Christians have been martyred in the past 40 years than in all of history combined.

More people have died of starvation and malnutrition in the last 40 years than in all of history combined.

Disease (pestilence) is an everyday occurrence, but "medical science" is making money on it, so it is accepted.

During the past 40 years, mind-altering drugs became available on the street corner, and pornography is in our living rooms.

Man now has the capability of destroying all life on earth with the push of a button.

The orchestra has already warmed up, the curtain is being raised, and the fat lady is walking out on stage. Can the return of Jesus for "His church" be very far away?

But the big question is, will we go in the rapture, or will we be here when things REALLY get bad?