"The odds are no better than fifty-fifty that our present civilization on Earth will survive to the end of the present century."

So wrote Sir Martin Rees, the royal astronomer of the United Kingdom and "one of the true wise men of science," according to U.S. News and World Report (Sept. 1, 2003, page 118). He titled his book Our Final Hour, but thankfully another book shows that in spite of the grave dangers, a positive outcome is guaranteed:

"For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened" (Matthew 24:21-22).

With Christ's return, the final hour can be transformed into the finest hour.