Second Coming of Christ

Many of us go to extraordinary lengths to avoid learning the endings of films we haven't watched or books we haven't read. We get upset with friends who slip up and spill the surprise ending.

But a study from two researchers at the University of California, San Diego suggests that spoilers don't spoil stories. Instead, contrary to popular wisdom, they might even enhance our enjoyment of a story. The study ran experiments based on 12 short stories. The researchers found that the study participants preferred the "spoiled" versions of suspenseful stories. For example, in one case, participants were told before reading the story that a condemned man's daring escape is all just a fantasy before the noose snaps around his neck. That spoiler alert helped them enjoy the story even more.

Researchers have identified several reasons some of us like to find out what happens in a story before they’ve finished.

In an article for The Washington Post Olga Mecking says some people are happier knowing how the story ends. “After I became a mother, I developed a much lower tolerance for stress and tension. One way I deal with this is to embrace spoilers. If the action on the page or screen is too suspenseful, I go online to look up what happens next and release some of that tension.”

Researchers also explored tension in the 2011 study “Story Spoilers Don’t Spoil Stories.” When study participants were told the outcome of the short story they were about to read, they reported being more satisfied with the overall experience compared with when they read a story unspoiled.

When so much in the world feels uncertain, knowing how a film or a book will end can give audiences a sense of peace and a feeling of control. We don't know what will happen in real life, but at least we can find out what happens in this story.

Possible Preaching Angles:

As followers of Christ, the Bible has many "spoiler alerts" about how the story of our lives or the world will end. Does this diminish our enjoyment of the story? No, the Bible's spoiler alerts can help us "focus on a deeper understanding of the story" and give us peace inside of worry.

It took Noah Lyles 9.79 seconds to run 100 meters on August 4, 2024. It took 29.47 seconds for him to find out that he actually won. Once the closest, tensest men’s 100-meter final in modern Olympic history was over, the real drama was only beginning.

The race was so tight that the man who crossed the line first suspected that he’d finished second. Lyles put a hand on the shoulder of Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson to congratulate him. Thompson stared at the Stade de France scoreboard, willing the photo finish to go his way. “Come on, man!” he shouted.

Some 70,000 spectators held their breath. In the time it took to crown the winner, Lyles and Thompson could have run 100 meters three more times. That was when one of the most advanced scoring systems in any sport on the planet got to work.

To determine that Lyles had won by a margin of five thousandths of a second, it took three judges, three high-speed cameras—and a willingness to make the fastest men alive stand around and wait.

During those agonizing moments, the runners’ fates were in the hands of a team from Omega Timing, which has been responsible for tracking every fraction of a second at the Olympics for nearly a century.

Possible Preaching Angles:

1) Rapture; Second Coming of Christ – This incredibly small amount of time illustrates that important events can happen very quickly, such as: “a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor. 15:52); 2) Perseverance - Lyles' journey to Olympic gold demonstrates the importance of perseverance in the face of challenges. This reflects the biblical teaching to "run with perseverance the race marked out for us" (Heb. 12:1); 3) Humility - Lyles initially thought he had lost and congratulated Thompson, showing humility in what he believed was defeat (Phil. 2:3-5); 4) Patience - The 29.47-second wait for the results exemplifies the need for patience, echoing the biblical wisdom that "patience is better than pride" (Eccl. 7:8, Jam. 5:7-11); 5) Unity - The camaraderie between Lyles and Thompson, even in the midst of intense competition, reflects the biblical principle of loving one's neighbor (Mark 12:31).

In a recent segment on NPR’s Morning Edition, Rev. Cameron Partridge shared about an idea he developed during his years as a college chaplain. "You know, you've got the end of the semester. You've got finals. Preparation to leave for home. So, Advent barely got to be observed."

Traditionally, the season of Advent is observed in the Christian liturgical calendar during the four weeks preceding Christmas. But Partridge decided to start it a few weeks sooner, in order to draw attention to the necessary, urgent themes of the season. He says the shift gave students "an opportunity to actually really be present together and to observe it together, which could be grounding in a time of great intensity."

And this seems of upmost importance these days, especially given the current extended conflict in the Holy Land. "We can't pretend that everything is fine," he says. "There is tumult in the world, and it is real and it is hard and it is deeply affecting people."

The current move to begin marking the season earlier began in 2005, when the Rev. William Petersen got together a group of clergy, professors, and church musicians who formed something that came to be called the Advent Project.

Petersen believes that Advent for Christians is as much about hope for the Second Coming of Jesus—sometimes called the Second Advent—that will usher in the reign of God as much as it is about commemorating the first coming of God in the person of Jesus in first-century Palestine.

Petersen says that tension is where we all reside, which is why Advent is what we need. "In its dwelling in the already and the not-yet, Advent can ground and strengthen us in all of that uncertainty and help give us an ability to connect."

Possible Preaching Angle:

The good news is not just that God came to the earth as a baby, but that by doing so, he signaled hope for his Second Advent in which the heartache, injustice, and death of our fallen world will be overcome by goodness, truth, and life.

Nearly four-in-ten Americans say we're “living in the end times,” says a poll taken against a stark backdrop of climate change, the pandemic, nuclear brinkmanship, and doomsday cults.

A Pew Research Center survey of more than 10,000 adults, conducted in April of 2022, found that 39 percent called these the “end times,” while 58 percent were assured that humanity was not careening towards catastrophe.

Researchers linked the high number of doomsayers to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed 6.65 million lives globally, and fears about living on a warming planet with fiercer hurricanes and wildfires. They could also add the threat of a war using nuclear weapons and greater political division and unrest.

Researchers added: “Periods of catastrophe and anxiety, such as the coronavirus pandemic, have historically led some people to anticipate that the destruction of the world as we know it — the 'end times' — is near.” Those fears relate to present-day realities as well as looking back to “sacred scripture” and the expectation among Christians that “Jesus will return to Earth after or amid a time of great turmoil.”

While nearly half of Christians say Judgement Day is closing in, there are big differences within the faith—63 percent of evangelicals call these the end times, but only 27 percent of Catholics agree.

There's also a political tilt—45 percent of Republicans see doomsday coming, against just 33 percent of Democrats. College graduates were more skeptical of the looming apocalypse than were those with only high school certificates.

On August 27, 1883, the Earth let out a noise louder than any it has made since. It was 10:02 a.m. when the sound emerged from the island of Krakatoa, which sits between Java and Sumatra in Indonesia. It was heard 2,000 miles away in Western Australia and even 3,000 miles away in the Indian Ocean Island of Rodrigues. In all, it was heard in over 50 different geographical locations.

Think just how crazy this is. It’s like being in Boston and clearly hearing a noise coming from Dublin, Ireland. Travelling at the speed of sound it takes a noise about four hours to cover that distance. This is the most distant sound that has ever been heard in recorded history.

So, what could possibly create such an earth-shatteringly loud bang? A volcano on Krakatoa had just erupted with a force that tore the island apart, emitting a plume of smoke that reached 17 miles high. This explosion created a deadly tsunami with waves over a hundred feet in height. One hundred sixty-five coastal villages were entirely destroyed. In all, it is estimated the death toll was between 36,000 and 120,000 people.

The British ship Norham Castle was 40 miles from Krakatoa at the time of the explosion. The ship’s captain wrote in his log, “So violent are the explosions that the eardrums of over half my crew have been shattered. My last thoughts are with my dear wife. I am convinced that the Day of Judgement has come.”

A barometer at the Batavia gasworks (100 miles away from Krakatoa) registered 172 decibels of sound pressure, an unimaginably loud noise. A jackhammer emits about 100 decibels while standing near a jet engine the level is 150 decibels. The human threshold for pain is near 130 decibels. The Krakatoa explosion registered 172 decibels at 100 miles from the source.

Amazingly, for as many as five days after the explosion, weather stations around the globe observed this unprecedented spike in pressure recurring approximately every 34 hours. That is roughly how long it takes sound to travel around the entire planet. In all, the pressure waves from Krakatoa circled the globe three to four times in each direction.

Possible Preaching Angle:

When the Lord returns, the trumpet sound will be heard around the world. Everyone who has ever lived, both alive and dead, will hear and respond to the sound.

Rabbis in Israel have spent many years searching for a qualified red heifer. Finally in September of 2022, a Texas man has delivered five red heifers to four Israeli rabbis so the young cows can be slaughtered and burned to produce the ash necessary for a ritual purification prescribed in Numbers 19:2–3.

Some Jews believe the ritual is a step toward the reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Some Christians believe that “third temple” will set the stage for the Antichrist.

Editor’s Note: The red heifers must be monitored for defects by the rabbis until they are three-years-old. At that time, if unblemished, they would be suitable for use as sacrifices in the red heifer ritual. The Mishnah, which is a written embodiment of Jewish oral tradition, teaches that only nine red heifers were sacrificed from the time of Tabernacle worship until the Second Temple was destroyed in 70 AD.

Biblical prophecy mentions huge numbers of horses in end time battles. Is this just a figure of speech or is there something more to it? A secular video produced by Not What You Think describes the practicality of using mules/horses in modern warfare. The video says:

Supply lines are crucial in modern warfare. Armies must supply their soldiers with weapons, ammunition, fuel, water, medicine, and equipment. Before you dismiss the idea of pack animals being used in modern battlefields, consider this: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) spent $42 million dollars developing a robot packhorse known as Legged Squad Support System (LS3). The LS3 was supposed to help marines and soldiers carry up to 400 pounds of supplies. But it turned out to be a flop. Not only was its range limited by fuel, it would constantly break down, and worst of all it was (very) loud (making a loud noise like a motorcycle).

Mules are often called the AK-47s of logistics for their rugged utility. A mule costs only a few thousand dollars compared to ground tactical vehicles that can cost $350,000 dollars apiece. Pack animals can reliably carry hundreds of pounds of water, fuel, munitions, and equipment in terrain that is too difficult for motor vehicles to traverse. Compared to vehicles, mules are also harder to detect either optically, or with radar or infrared. Pack animals have been used for thousands of years. For example, during World War II, German logistics were supplied by more than 600,000 horses.

A big problem for ground vehicles is that they require fuel. And a lot of it. A defense science board estimates that by tonnage, as much as 70% of supplies needed to sustain army operations is fuel. And that’s a big problem. Modern weapons, such as drones and portable guided missile systems can destroy supply convoys in no time. The Russian experience in Ukraine is a perfect example of this. Pack animals don’t need fuel, as they can survive on water and forage for food in their environment. Relying on pack animals also reduces the need for spare parts and costly maintenance of ground vehicles.

The warfare of the future calls for simple, cheap, and portable platforms that do not need a decade to be designed and tested. The plan that is currently in the works is calling for the use of pack animals, such as mules and horses. Pack animals might be the best option for supply logistics in mountainous and wooded regions. Currently, the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center teaches marines and army special forces how to employ and care for pack animals. There are growing calls within the Pentagon to expand the use of pack animals in the future.

You can view the video here (time marker 4:23 to 7:56).

Possible Preaching Angle:

This interesting video supports the Bible prophecies that indicate that the battles of the end times will be carried out using horses (Rev. 19:18-19) and ancient weapons, such as bows and arrows and swords (Ezek. 38:4; 39:3, 9-10). Some Bible scholars believe that these references may simply be the best description the ancient prophet could give of modern warfare. But others say that these prophecies may indicate that due to the Antichrist’s peace treaty (Dan. 9:27, etc.) there will be universal disarmament (“unwalled, defenseless villages” Ezek. 38:11) and that the warfare of the last days will utilize non-tech weapon systems.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced that it had confirmed two new mind-blowing lightning “megaflash” records. These findings came after careful data-checking and rigorous certification processes.

On April 29, 2020, a sprawling mass of strong to severe thunderstorms produced a 477.2-mile-long lightning strike over the southern United States. It stretched from near Houston to southeast Mississippi. The record beats out a 440-mile-long megaflash that occurred over southern Brazil on Halloween of 2018.

Megaflashes dwarf ordinary lightning strikes. As Earth dwellers, we’re accustomed to seeing what’s going on near the ground, including conventional cloud to ground lightning bolts. Hundreds or thousands such strikes might accompany a run-of-the-mill thunderstorm on a summer’s afternoon.

Megaflashes are different. They’re enormous. They snake through regions of high electric field and can travel for hundreds of miles while lasting more than 10 seconds. Since most storm clouds are fewer than 10 miles high, lightning can’t grow terribly long in the vertical direction. But megaflashes have plenty of space to sprawl in the horizontal.

All megaflashes accompany clusters of thunderstorms that often rage overnight and can occupy an area the size of several states, last for hours, and stretch hundreds of miles or more end-to-end. They’re a staple of the spring and early summer across the southern and central United States, and are also common in South America.

Possible Preaching Angle:

This, and other, record-breaking lightning flashes will shrink into insignificance compared to the most significant lightning display seen by the whole world. It will happen on the Day of Judgment prophesied in Scripture. “For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day” (Matt. 24:27, Luke 17:24).

Many Jerusalem residents believe not only that the Messiah will return, but that his arrival is imminent--so imminent they have taken legal precautions to ensure they can return to Jerusalem immediately upon his return.

In apartment contracts around the city, there are clauses stipulating what will happen to the apartment if or when the Jewish Messiah comes. Using something called a “Messiah Clause,” the contracts stipulate that, in the event of the coming of the Moshiach, or Jewish redeemer, the lease “may be immediately terminated at the will of the landlord.” The owners, generally religious Jews living abroad, are concerned that he will arrive, build a third temple, and turn Israel into paradise--and they will be stuck waiting for their apartment tenants' contracts to run out before they can move back.

It is prophesied in the Jewish scriptures that there will be no more war, murder, or theft, the Jerusalem Temple will be rebuilt, and all the Jews will return to the land of Israel upon his arrival.

There is no count of how many leases in Jerusalem contain such a clause. But although not standard, the Messiah clause is requested enough that every Jerusalem property manager and real estate lawyer contacted by reporters had heard of it, and all except one had dealt with it firsthand.

The fact is, with only biblical prophecy and the conjecture of religious leaders upon which to rely for sketches of the next world, the level of zeal surrounding the associated legal and spiritual preparations is astonishing. Perhaps it’s all a safety net, just in case the scriptural forecast ends up being correct, but what a statement of faith, nonetheless.

The opinion among the property managers and real estate lawyers was unanimous that their clients would know the Messiah when they saw him. Sarah Eiferman, a real estate agent said, “When he comes, we’ll know. It’s in the Old Testament.”

At a United Nations gathering, delegates from both Ukraine and Russia disagreed fiercely on how the meeting should proceed. But the gathering was not simply about how or when the war should end, but how it should be fought.

Specifically, global delegates were in attendance to work on a treaty regarding Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems. More than smart guns or unmanned aerial vehicles, such systems are complex algorithms that use artificial intelligence to identify, select and kill human targets without specific human intervention. The Kargu-2 flying quad-copter is such a weapon, made by Turkish firm STM. Industry analysts believe that similar systems are already in development in China, Russia, and the US.

Proponents of such systems say that they are essential in reducing the body count of conventional warfare, but detractors say that the systems are error-prone, and the efficiency of its operational protocol has the potential for disastrous outcomes. Many antiwar demonstrators call them “killer robots” or “slaughterbots.” The U.N. requires a convention on Certain Conventional Weapons every five years or so to govern the technology of war, but analysts say that the pace of innovation is outracing the body’s ability to keep such technology in check.

Daan Kayser leads the autonomous weapons project for a Dutch group called Pax for Peace. He said, “I believe it’s just a matter of policy at this point, not technology. Any one of a number of countries could have computers killing without a single human anywhere near it. And that should frighten everyone.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Technology is constantly being used to enhance the ability of armies to kill and maim one another and innocent civilians. We desperately need to pray for the coming of the kingdom of the Prince of Peace who will cause weapons of war to be molded into farming implements (Isa. 2:4, Isa. 9:6-7).

In 2004, the shoreline of Sri Lanka, was devastated by a horrifying and massive tsunami. The destruction caused in just a few minutes was unimaginable, with close to 40,000 lives lost and thousands of homes wiped out. It took months to recover from the devastation.

As the rebuilding process began, one of the strange discoveries found out was that prior to the tsunami, animals in the wildlife reserves close to the sea, instinctively seemed to sense the danger that was approaching. As a result, they moved to higher ground or further inland and escaped the effects of the killer waves. After the tsunami, the people also are now wiser as to what they should do, if a similar disaster threatens to strike again.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Sadly, when it involves God's timing in the affairs of the world, most people seem to find it difficult to understand what’s happening! With all that is taking place around us today, it is time to look up, for “our redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28).

There once was a time people were awakened, not by a cell phone or even an alarm clock, but by a “knocker-upper.” For many workers in early 20th century Britain, the daily alarm clock was a service worker. Known as the “knocker-upper” these predawn risers would pass by working-class buildings, rapping on the windows of those who need to get up.

Rural laborers, used to keeping time with the seasons, had relocated to manufacturing cities. They not only had to adjust to dangerous, fast-paced industrial work, but to new schedules. There were alarm clocks at the time, but they were expensive and unreliable.

Some workers might only find out they’d been called in for a shift from the knocker-upper that morning. Conditions could be cutthroat. Author Paul Middleton writes, “Life for the employed was forever balanced on a knife edge. Being late for work could mean instant dismissal and a speedy spiral for those workers and their families into poverty, homelessness and destitution.”

The job went obsolete around a hundred years after it was invented, as alarm clocks became more affordable and reliable and working conditions improved.

Possible Preaching Angles:

1) Employee; Work & Career – We should value the members of our church who work hard to earn a living. It is easy to demand too much of them as volunteers if we do not understand their labor. 2) End Times; Second Coming – As we near the end of the age, there is even a greater need for people to be awakened before it is too late (Rom. 13:11; Eph. 5:14)

In the 1880s, if you wanted a good life with a good job, you moved to Johnstown, PA. The Pennsylvania Main Line Canal came through town, so that brought jobs. So did the Pennsylvania Railroad. And the Cambria Iron Works. Families were moving in from Wales. From Germany. Not to mention there are beautiful mountains, covered with forest, all around town. And right through the town runs the Conemaugh River.

In fact, the area is so beautiful, the country’s richest people—Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellon—would come out from Pittsburgh to hunt and fish at a private club up above town, where an old earth dam had been modified to make a fishing lake for them.

On May 30, 1889, a huge rainstorm came through and dropped six to 10 inches of rain. Despite that weather, the next day the town lined up along Main Street for the Memorial Day parade. The Methodist pastor, H. L. Chapman, said, “The morning was delightful, the city was in its gayest mood, with flags, banners and flowers everywhere ... The streets were more crowded than we had ever seen before.”

And then the old dam miles above town collapsed, releasing almost four billion gallons of water. When that wall of water and debris hit Johnstown 57 minutes later, it was 60 feet high and traveling at 40 miles an hour. People tried to escape by running toward high ground. But over 2,000 of the 30,000 people in town died. Some bodies were found as far away as Cincinnati, and some were not discovered until 20 years later.

The Johnstown Flood remains one of the greatest tragedies in American history, behind only the Galveston Hurricane and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. And in every one of those cases, life was fine. Until it wasn’t. In a moment, in a way that was unexpected and most people were not prepared for, something cataclysmic occurred, and people were swept away.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Jesus tells us when the end comes it will be like this: “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes (Matt. 24:37-39).

On a balmy January Saturday morning, an alert warning of nuclear doom was erroneously sent to millions of people across the state of Hawaii.

"BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL." Those were the words that flashed on cell phones and televisions screens across the state, the result of a gaffe by an employee of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency who selected the wrong option in a text-based dropdown menu.

Though the agency eventually issued a correction, residents and tourists, as well as Hawaiian natives tracking the impending disaster on the mainland, in real-time on social media, criticized the government for taking 38 minutes to issue the retraction.

"If it was a mistake and someone pushed a button they shouldn't have pushed, then why the 38 minute delay?" asked Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, D-Hawaii, in an interview with Fox News. "The next question is, why don't we have a better fail-safe?"

The employee who made the mistake has expressed profound regret for the mistake, but the blunder has since been overshadowed by the obvious, ominous hypothetical: what if the threat had been real?

In July of 2017, news reports confirmed Hawaii as the first U.S. state with an attack-warning system designed to detect nuclear threats. This latest development seems to have shaken the public's trust in its effectiveness.

Potential Preaching Angles: The end can come at any time; will you be ready? What would you do if you had just a few moments left? In times of calamity, to whom can we run?

High up in a tree in British Columbia's Shoal Harbour Migratory Bird Sanctuary, six birds are sharing a nest: specifically, two bald eagles, their three eaglets, and a baby red-tailed hawk.

Sure, birds of different species sharing the same nest may sound rather strange, but for those bird aficionados out there, this will sound especially strange—because most of the time, bald eagles and red-tailed hawks are enemies, "known to fight each other to the death."

Bird experts have been theorizing about how this "unexpected interspecies family" came to be. According to NPR, "[T]he two options essentially boil down to a timeless question—which came to the nest first: the chicken (ahem, hawk) or the egg?"

The Hancock Wildlife Foundation's David Hancock pointed out that "[t]his little red-tailed chick is sharing the nest with three fast-growing, usually aggressive siblings … Sibling rivalry and fratricide is not uncommon in eagles."

For now, however, Sanctuary caretaker Kerry Finley has described the eagles as attentive caregivers: "It's quite something to see the way [the red-tailed hawk] is treated. The parents are quite attentive."

Potential Preaching Angles: Our world is fraught with divisions and enemy lines—from the animal kingdom to our churches. But for now, in their own small way, these birds are modeling the kind of upside-down world that we long for, a day in which God "will judge between the nations / and will settle disputes for many peoples" (Isa. 2:4).

When America went to war after Pearl Harbor, many couples married rapidly as men were drafted into the armed services. In a typical scenario, a young woman at the time, became engaged to her beau who subsequently shipped out with the Navy before they could have a wedding. They weren't able to marry until they had enough leave to come home. She and her mother planned the wedding down to the last detail. They even printed the wedding invitations, but the left the date off. They didn't know when the bridegroom would be able to make it, so they waited at the ready. Finally, after eighteen long months, a telegram came that said, "You should get the white dress you've been wanting." The groom was on his way. They wrote by hand and send off the invitations.

We know who our bridegroom is; we just don't know when he's going to appear.

Incredible perseverance paid off for a team from the International Justice Mission in Cebu, Philippines. After an eight year legal struggle, two traffickers were finally brought to justice.

The difficult case began in 2008, when a teenage girl and two young women were recruited and ferried to work at a brothel on an island far from their home. When they arrived and realized they had been trapped and would be forced to provide sexual services to customers, they escaped.

International Justice Mission, a Christian organization founded on God's Word and the power of prayer, offered aftercare services to help the two girls settle back into the rhythms of life in freedom, and took up what would turn out to be nearly a decade-long battle for justice. As the case moved to trial, it highlighted what was broken in the justice system. Hearings were frequently cancelled when a key party—the judge, the defense counsel, a witness—failed to show up. The courts were backlogged, and hearings would be rescheduled three or four months apart.

The trial was painstakingly slow, but IJM social workers were encouraged by the progress they saw in the lives of the two young women. After spending time in aftercare homes for sex trafficking survivors, both young women moved back into supportive communities where they are now thriving. Finally in November 2016, IJM announced: "On November 14, 2016 two traffickers were sentenced to 20 years in prison. This conviction brings closure and affirms these survivors of their worth. It also sends a message to other brothel owners and traffickers across the Philippines—justice will be served, no matter how long it takes."

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) Justice; Injustice—This illustration shows how all followers of Jesus should fight for justice for the oppressed. (2) God's justice; God's wrath—But it also shows how imperfect human justice is. We long for the day when "justice will be served" not just by human courts but by the Living God.

Tim Keller writes:

Years ago, I read an ad in the New York Times that said, "The meaning of Christmas is that love will triumph and that we will be able to put together a world of unity and peace." In other words, we have the light within us, and so we are the ones who can dispel the darkness of the world. We can overcome poverty, injustice, violence, and evil. If we work together, we can create a "world of unity and peace."

Can we? One of the most thoughtful world leaders of the late 20th century was Vaclav Havel, the first president of the Czech Republic. He had a unique vantage point from which to peer deeply into both socialism and capitalism, and he was not optimistic that either would, by itself, solve the greatest human problems. He knew that science unguided by moral principles had given us the Holocaust. He concluded that neither technology not the state nor the market alone could save us from nuclear degradation. "Pursuit of the good life will not help humanity save itself, nor is democracy alone enough," Havel said. "A turning to and seeing of … God is needed." The human race constantly forgets, he added, that "he is not God."

Pedro Reyes, an artist from Mexico City, transforms weapons discarded by the Mexican army for his project called "Disarm." So far he has transformed 6,700 guns that were turned in or seized by the army and police into musical instruments. The guns came from Ciudad Juarez, a city of about 1.3 million people that averaged about 10 killings a day at the height of its drug violence. Reyes said that the guns he used are "just the tip of the iceberg of all the weapons that are seized every day and that the army has to destroy." But rather than succumb to the despair, Reyes took the very instruments used for violence and created instruments for music.

Reyes already was known for a 2008 project called "Palas por Pistolas," or "Pistols to Shovels," in which he melted down 1,527 weapons to make the same number of shovels to plant the same number of trees. Reyes stresses that his work "is not just a protest, but a proposal." "To me at least," Reyes says, "the concept is about taking weapons that are destructive in nature and chaotic and trying to make them for something else. So instead of objects of destruction, they become objects of creation." Art, for Reyes, is about transformation. He takes objects of destruction and transforms them into objects of creation. It is not by accident that Reyes' creative work hearkens back to the ancient vision of the prophet Isaiah when on the great day of the Lord "they will hammer their swords into plowshares."