Earth-shaking events have caused horrors in Haiti and a chill in Chile. Of the last
days Jesus declared: "For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be food shortages
and earthquakes in one place after another." Curiously, these words are found at Matthew 24:7. And what the
apostle Matthew wrote has people in fear 24 hours a day 7 days a week that theirs will be the next place the earth will quake.
If Michael were here, he would yet again become the King of Philanthropy (a combination of two Greek words: philia,
meaning love, and anthropos, meaning mankind).
In the past, the Gloved One repeatedly told others about living
forever on a paradise earth (incidentally, just as the Artist Currently Known As Prince--The Purple One--does so today as
one of Jehovah's Witnesses). That the earth is going to be transformed into a Global Garden of Eden--with all ecological and
environmental concerns being eradicated--put a glimmer in the eyes of both the Moonwalker and the Purple Potentate of Pop.
Michael's concern for our beautiful Orb, as well as its animal life, is reflected in his thought-provoking Grammy-nominated
tune, Earth Song (1995). But how can this be with the earth bound on shaken ground?
Physical Earth
Forever: God purposed for Adam and Eve to live forever on earth. The perfect couple would die only if they willfully
disobeyed God, which they did. (Gen 2:15-17; 3:1-3) The Lord originally intended for them and their meek children to possess
and care for the earth. (Gen 1:26-28; Ps 37:10, 11, 29; Matt 5:5) He vowed never to destroy it, and certainly didn't intend
for them to do so either. (Ps 104:5; Prov 2:21, 22; Eccl 1:4; Isa 45:18; Matt 6:10) "If this is true," some may
ask, "why did he speak of creating a new heaven and earth?"
"Earth" Means "People":
According to the Bible the "earth" (meaning people) spoke one language, and some of the divided "earth"
(Gen 10:25) were bad. (Gen 11:1-9; see also Gen 10:8-10) Just as the wicked "earth" of Noah's day was destroyed,
so will be the wicked "earth" of our day. (2 Pet 2:5, 9; 3:5-7) The righteous new governmental "heavens"
ruling over the good "earth" will replace the old corrupted ones. (Isa 66:17; Rev 21:1; 2 Pet 3:13) Indeed, the
wicked "earth" will be all washed up.
Symbolic "Seas": The wicked
are also compared to turbulent waters. "‘But the wicked are like the sea that is being tossed, when it is unable
to calm down, the waters of which keep tossing up seaweed and mire. There is no peace,' my God has said, ‘for the wicked
ones.'" (Isa 57:20-21; Rev 21:1) Now compare this with what a university textbook says about the ungovernable wicked:
"There is a global trend toward ungovernability, that is, the declining ability of governments to govern, manage a modern
state, and provide adequate or effective services."
Jesus in the Jungle?: In spirit, Jesus promised
to be in the future paradise earth. As he was being illegally and mercilessly executed he told the evildoer next to him, ‘truly
I tell you today, you will be with me in paradise.' (Luke 23:43) Some lovers of the Bible are confused by these words. They
think the evildoer went to heaven with Jesus that day after they both died. But, is that really what happened?
The March
1, 1991, issue of The Watchtower, a religious journal that Michael enjoyed reading, and that his children are growing
to appreciate, says this about what Jesus meant when he spoke with the evildoer: "Professor Wilhelm Michaelis renders
the verse: ‘Truly, already today I give you the assurance: (one day) you will be together with me in paradise.' This
rendering is much more logical than that of The New English Bible. The dying criminal
could not have gone with Jesus to Paradise that same day. Jesus was not resurrected until the third day after his death. In
the meantime he was in Hades, mankind's common grave.--Acts 2:27, 31; 10:39, 40."
Surely, the Bible speaks
of a glorious paradise earth, complete with plush jungles, towering snow-capped mountains, cascading waterfalls, rolling green
hills, and other unimaginably breath-taking scenes. The question Michael asks is, Will You Be There?
