Some 2500 years ago, a young Jewish prophet was taken from his home in Judah by the invading armies of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. He was taken back to Babylon where he was chosen to serve in the king's personal service because the king, Nebuchadnezzar, found him to be to an extraordinary young man, full of wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and able to understand all kinds of visions and dreams. The young man's name was Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar did not know it when first choosing Daniel, but he later learned, as the book of Daniel reveals, that Daniel's extraordinary abilities came from the Spirit of God. Daniel was a prophet of Yahweh God.

While in Babylon, God revealed to Daniel several major prophecies concerning the future of the Jewish people and of the world. Of the prophecies revealed to Daniel, one that carries great significance in our day is found in the last chapter of Daniel, chapter 12. There it is recorded in verse 4, that in the "end time", travel and knowledge would increase. We are definitely living in the days of the fulfillment of this prophecy! Let's look at some interesting statistics that show this.

Concerning travel, for 6,000 years of recorded history, man's only means of travel on land, was either by foot or by horseback or horse drawn carriage. There were some exceptions to this because of other beasts of burden, donkey, camel, etc., but basically the horse was used. As can be understood, this limited the distance one could travel. This condition did not change for almost 6,000 years! Travel under these conditions was limited to 1,000 miles per person per year. At the turn of this century, however, transportation aids such as the automobile, diesel powered locomotives, airplanes, and even rockets have increased the distance man can travel per year from 1,000 miles to 25,000 miles per person per year.

The recent inventions listed above have also increased the speed at which man can travel. By horseback and horse drawn carriage, the fastest man could travel was about 25 miles per hour or so. And this condition lasted for almost 6,000 years. Then, at the turn of this present century, because of the above listed inventions, man has increased the speed of his travel from 25 miles per hour to 25,000 miles per hour!

In the 1800's, Pony Express took nine days to travel from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California, about two thirds the distance across the United States. Today, from New York to San Francisco by automobile, the trip takes about 6 days, by rail about 3 days, and by Airplane about 5 hours.

Some famous recorded around-the-world trips indicate the increased speed by which man can travel, especially in the last one hundred years:

• In 1519, Ferdinand Magellan set sail in September and  completed the first voyage around the world three years later in  September, 1522.
• In 1890, Nellie Bly, an American newspaper reporter, completed  a record trip around the world in 72 days 6 hours 11 minutes.
• In 1924, two U.S. Army Airplanes flew around the earth in 363  hours 7 minutes (15.1 days.
• In 1933, Wiley Post  made the first solo flight around the  world in 7 days 18 hours 49 minutes.
• In 1949, Lucky Lady II, a U.S. Air Force bomber made the first  nonstop flight around the world in 94 hours (3.9 days), being  refueled in flight four times.
• In 1962, John Glenn, Jr., a U.S. astronaut, circled the earth  in 1 & 1/2 hours. That's 12,000 miles in 1 & 1/2 hours

Since this flight of John Glenn, Jr., we have built even faster, more efficient spacecraft and airplanes, including the Shuttle. I believe we can safely say that travel, both in terms of distance and in speed, have increased as Daniel predicted!

Daniel also predicted that knowledge would increase just as travel. The increase of knowledge has made the increase of travel possible, as it has many other facets of human existence. It is not in question that major technological advances have been made, but it is significant to note that most of these technological advances that we have become so accustomed to today have been accomplished just in this century, and then again, most have been accomplished just in the last 40 years. To name a few that most of us take for granted: color television, satellite television, cordless telephone, cellular telephone, fax machine, VCR's, computers, et cetera.

For many centuries, the only way that man could communicate from one remote place to another was by sending a handwritten letter. Just at the turn of this present century, it took a letter, in many cases, a whole month to arrive at its destination. Today, a letter can be sent by fax or computer across thousands of miles and arrive in minutes. Personal communication was possible in the centuries before us only by traveling to the person to whom one wanted to speak. Today, one can communicate with another from thousands of miles away, simply by dialing a telephone! We even have telephones today that we can communicate with while driving our cars! Incidentally, I have adopted as one of my favorite bumper stickers, "Hang Up And Drive!".

Advances are moving extremely fast in computer technology. I have heard it expressed that computer technology is doubling every 15 months. Any one that has recently bought a computer knows this is true because the computers sold as state of the art only a couple of years ago are not so state of the art today. One of the computers in my office, only 4 years old will not run much of the software that is on the market today.

Computers and a computer device, known as a bar code scanner have become commonplace at many stores for selling and controlling inventory. They will probably be used in some way in the near future to monitor every person who will receive a "mark" in their right hand or forehead by the order of a man God calls Antichrist. Without this "mark", no one will be able to buy or sell (see Revelation 13).

How much more can knowledge and travel increase? Based on the progress we have seen in the last 20 years, what will the next 5 or 7 years be like? Only God knows the answer to this question! The point is that it has been in this century that most of the advances in travel and knowledge have taken place. Man made very little progress in travel and knowledge for 6,000 years, but now, near the end of this century, they are increasing exponentially!

As we have pointed out in previous newsletters, for the first time in history many of the "signs" we are to look for that tell us we are in the last days are coming together. Now Daniel's two signs, the increase of knowledge and travel, can be added to that list. They, along with the other "signs" are saying, Jesus is coming soon! Are you ready?