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George McCaa, U.S. Bureau of Mines
The state of Colorado where I live is well known for its mining history. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, millions upon millions of dollars' worth of gold, silver and other precious metals and useful materials such as coal were mined in the state. Being a history buff, I've explored several of these old gold and silver mines.
Some miners struck it rich. Most didn't, but even so, they could make a good living wage at the time. Mining had its dangers. Mine collapses and cave-ins were perhaps the greatest. Occasionally mines flooded when an underground stream or pocket of water was accidentally breached. The explosives needed to shatter the rock were a continual hazard.
One danger was particularly menacing -- poisonous gas, such as methane or carbon monoxide. Because this danger was silent and invisible, it could overtake miners suddenly and without warning. One minute all was fine; the next they were unconscious or dead.
To deal with this hazard, miners devised an ingenious solution. They took caged canaries with them into the depths of the mine. Canaries, doing what canaries do, cheerfully chirped and sang as the miners toiled away.
Their singing no doubt improved the working conditions, but they also served as an early warning system. Because when their singing stopped, it was due to the canaries having passed out or died due to toxic gases or lack of oxygen. Being smaller, they were affected more quickly. And the miners knew that they had to immediately get out of the dangerous situation or they would soon die too.
This practice gave us the figure of speech of a "canary in the coal mine." It came to be a metaphor for a warning of danger -- a warning that, if ignored, would likely prove fatal to a person and those around him.
This particular metaphor has been on my mind a lot lately. Why? Because it seems that wherever I turn my attention, the canaries are no longer singing. The cheerful chirps and chatter are going silent. The silence is becoming ever more deafening.
People sense an ominous foreboding. As a longtime student of history, I've never seen a time quite like today. Current economic conditions seem like a combination of a return to the disastrous inflation and stagflation of the 1970s coupled with the days leading to the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The international scene, with Europe in chaos, the Russian invasion of Ukraine bringing global turmoil, and China's increasing aggression against Taiwan and other Pacific neighbors, is frighteningly reminiscent of the time just before the conflagration of World War II in which tens of millions died.
Growing food shortages bring to mind severe famines of several decades ago. The escalating energy crisis is like -- well, it's not like anything we've seen in recent memory where states, regions and nations are experiencing rolling power blackouts that could bring thousands of deaths from overheating and freezing.
What's behind this growing storm of trouble on so many fronts at once?
The name of this magazine, Beyond Today, is taken from a specific but largely ignored news source. That news source is the Bible -- specifically, Bible prophecy. Its tagline reads "A Magazine of Understanding," being based on an understanding of Bible prophecy that God gives to His servants (Amos 3:7).
Bible prophecy reveals a coming storm unlike anything in all of human history (Matthew 24:21-22). It will catch most people by surprise. As the apostle Paul foretold, "For when they say, 'Peace and safety!' then sudden destruction comes upon them . . . And they shall not escape" (1 Thessalonians 5:3).
Why is this storm coming? God tells us in Isaiah 30:12-14 (New Living Translation): "Because you despise what I tell you and trust instead in oppression and lies, calamity will come upon you suddenly -- like a bulging wall that bursts and falls. In an instant it will collapse and come crashing down. You will be smashed like a piece of pottery -- shattered so completely that there won't be a piece big enough to carry coals from a fireplace or a little water from the well."
The warning signs of the gathering storm are becoming more obvious by the day. But far too many people despise God's Word and trust in lies.
Listen closely -- are the canaries still singing, or are they falling silent one by one? Are you paying attention? Your life -- physical and eternal -- depends on it. Far too many will be caught unaware by what's coming. But that doesn't have to include you!
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