Modern-day disasters kill more and more people, not so much because they are worse, but because of there are more and more people concentrated in less and less space. More people are cramming into urban areas.

Just a couple of hundred years ago, the population along the U.S. Gulf coast and the New Orleans area and, in fact, in most of the world, was relatively sparse. Now, it is highly concentrated. As world population explodes, this growing urbanization is a worldwide phenomenon. Here are some historical population figures:

WORLD POPULATION:
AD 1: 300 million
AD 1750: 750 million
AD 1800: 1 billion
AD 1927: 2 billion (127 years later))
AD 1960: 3 billion (just 33 years later)
AD 1974: 4 billion (just 14 years later)
AD 1987: 5 billion (just 13 years later)
AD 1999: 6 billion (just 12 years later)
Today : 6+ billion

Sources: TIME Almanac and the Population Reference Bureau

Concerning population and available resources, J.R. Church has written:

"There is one irrefutable reason for believing that Christ is coming back very soon. In the past 40 years, the world population has doubled. Forty percent of the people alive today are under 15 years old. If the increase of the population were to stabilize at 40 years, then by 2040 there would be 12 billion mouths to feed. By 2080 the population will increase to 24 billion. By 2120 there will be 48 billion mouths to feed. Already every night, over half the people in our world go to bed hungry. If Jesus does not come -- if there is no end to the procreation of man, we are helpless to cope with what lies ahead in the twenty-first century."

Church goes on to say, "According to scientific estimates, the oil supply from Arab nations will be depleted within the next 30 years . Almost all of the gold, silver, tin, copper and other minerals that feed our industrial appetites have been located and mined. Their supply is also running out."

THE GOOD NEWS!

This does not catch God by surprise! After all, He was the One who who told Adam to multiply, which he surely did, as did Noah's kids! God has a purpose in all this.

In his book, "Touching the World Through Prayer," Wesley L. Duewel, famous missionary statesman, described this worldwide demographic phenomenon and its relevance to the Great Commission.

He says that throughout the world, the villages are static and dying, since the first to suffer in famine are the villagers. The prospects of enough to eat, education, health services, and job opportunities available in the cities are beckoning the young and ambitious. The exodus to the cities is a phenomenon that has accelerated. The greatest urban migration in the history of the world will occur during this decade (his book was written in the 1980s) and the next. It is estimated that one billion people from Third World countries will migrate to the cities during the 1980s alone.

The average world-class city doubles in population every fourteen years, and some in only ten years. Because of the intense concentration of people living within a smaller radius, we can reach far more in a city than in a village, and in a shorter period of time. Paul centered his evangelistic efforts in cities, and then the city churches reached out to the villages.

The ripest time ever is now, Duewel says. Why? Because in the first 10-15 years after new city dwellers arrive, they are more responsive than at any other time. While living in the villages under the scrutiny of family, members of the caste, friends, and village priests and religious leaders, it is difficult for individuals who hear the gospel to step out alone. Upon reaching the city, they are comparatively rootless and often restless and disillusioned in not finding the new home to be the longed-for utopia. Liberated from the surveillance of relatives and religious leaders, those individuals are vulnerable and ripe for the gospel message. It is crucial that we reach them now.

Now, since God is sovereign and knows all of this, is it any accident that the greatest gospel outreaches in the history of the world have taken place since the middle of the 20th century, since Israel was reestablished? God knows exactly what He is doing, and His plan is on schedule.

ISRAEL, ISHMAEL, AND OIL

Hal Lindsey says that U.S. dependency on foreign oil began in 1948, again, an interesting prophetic year. The year when Israel was reborn is the year Ishmael began to exercise control over the U.S. because of oil and greed. This reality is about to bring the nation to its knees, not just due to oil dependency, but also because the sons of Ishmael are plotting to destroy us with terrorists and WMDs.

CONCLUSION:

World population is exploding, is concentrating into urban areas, is more vulnerable to the birth pang judgements, but is also more available to be reached with the gospel. No doubt, the Great Commission is near fulfillment, at least as much as it will be before the Tribulation.

Jesus is coming!