The Universe is unlikely. Very unlikely. Deeply, shockingly unlikely.

"It's quite fantastic," says Martin Rees, Britain's Astronomer Royal, waving a hand through the steam rising from his salmon-and-potato casserole.

A casual observer might think the gesture encompasses just this room, the dining hall at King's College in Cambridge, England. But Rees's wrist flick takes in the whole universe, this universe, the one that gave rise to Earth and supports life, from the bristle worms on the ocean's floor to the swallows soaring over the college spires to human beings--including astronomers royal.

In his newest book, Just Six Numbers, Rees argues that six numbers underlie the fundamental physical properties of the universe, and that each is the precise value needed to permit life to flourish. "These six numbers constitute a recipe for the universe." He adds that if any one of the numbers were different "even to the tiniest degree, there would be no stars, no complex elements, no life."

The six numbers lurk in the universe's smallest and largest structures. To select one from the small end: The nucleus of a helium atom weighs 99.3 percent as much as the two protons and the two neutrons that fuse to make it. The remaining .7 percent is released mainly as heat. So the fuel that powers the sun--the hydrogen gas at its core--converts .007 of its mass into energy when it fuses into helium.

So what? Consider this: If the number were only a mite smaller--.006 instead of .007--a proton could not bond to a neutron, and the universe would consist only of hydrogen. No chemistry, no life. And if it were slightly larger, just .008, fusion would be so ready and rapid that there'd be no solar systems, no life.

The requisite number perches, precariously, preciously, between .006 and .008. And that's just one of Rees's six numbers. If you toss in the other five, life and the structure of the universe as we know it become unlikely to an absurd degree. Astronomer Hugh Ross has compared the state of affairs to "the possibility of a Boeing 747 aircraft being completely assembled as a result of a tornado striking a junkyard."

The numbers' uncanny precision has driven some scientists, humbled, into the arms of the theologians. "The exquisite order displayed by our scientific understanding of the physical world calls for the divine," contends Vera Kistiakowsky, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

If each of the six numbers Rees has identified were dependent upon the others--in the same sense that, say, the number of arms and fingers in a family depends upon the number of family members--the fact that they allow for the existence of life would seem less of a shock. "At the moment, however," says Rees, "we cannot predict any of them from the value of the others." So each number compounds the unlikeliness of each of the other numbers.

"Why are we here?" is a big question, but Rees concedes that a bigger mystery probably resides outside the grasp of science altogether. "The fundamental question of 'Why is there something rather than nothing?' remains the province of philosophers," he concedes.

Last week, I went to see the opening of the newly released version of "The Exorcist." I prepared myself to be scared silly.

And guess what? The scariest thing in the movie is the very realistic depiction of arrogant, know-it-all doctors torturing their young patient with modern medical technology while in the end offering nothing better than a prescription for Ritalin. Now that's scary.

As usual, real life trumps fiction. In spades. Even the most imaginative movie makers can't come close to the terrors and wonders of reality.

How's this for a scenario? Virus in African monkeys gets transmitted across species to infect humans on a global scale--wiping out huge segments of the population in some countries? Or how about flesh-eating bacteria? Not to mention the everyday horrors like the millions of dust mites that share your bed every night; the microscopic monsters that live in your eyelashes.

Of course, horror is only one genre where Hollywood takes second place. When it comes to gee whiz special effects, it can't hold a candle to what's really out there: mysterious bursting objects in space that spew out more light in an instant than an entire galaxy. Black holes that gobble stars whole and bring time to a halt.

"The Matrix" was fun, but at most, its characters were oozing in and out of four dimensions of space. This is child's play for today's physicists, who routinely explore the tangled topologies of 10 or 11. Not to mention two or more of time.

Our entire universe, according to these physicists, may be like the scum on the surface of milk: a membrane floating on a much larger cosmos of many more dimensions.

And then there's the Alice-in-Wonderland world of particle physics, the realm so spooky that even Albert Einstein refused to believe it was real.

Particles communicate like ghosts--telepathically, you might say--across vast distances, even without contact. Particles can be here and there at the same time, exist and not exist simultaneously.

I could go on (and on). However you cut it, Hollywood isn't half as creative as good old Mother Nature. Truth is stranger than fiction. In the end, reality always writes the better script.

"The 20th century has witnessed the most profound and wide-reaching changes of any century in human history."--The Times Atlas of the 20th Century.

"Clearly there have been other lifetimes in which epochal upheavals occurred. But these shocks and upheavals were contained within the borders of one or a group of adjacent societies. It took generations, even centuries, for their impact to spread beyond these borders. … Today the network of social ties is so tightly woven that the consequences of contemporary events radiate instantaneously around the world."--Professor Alvin Toffler, author of Future Shock, 1970.

The difference in the way we are facing a new century now and the last time double 00s came up is stunning. On the brink of 1900, the dominant belief was progress, and only advance seemed possible. The Eiffel Tower celebrated the new triumphs to be achieved with iron and steel, and electricity promised a future of lights. Europe ran the world. Mankind was sure to move forward, thanks not only to the wonders of science but also to the improved understanding of society and the spread of goodwill. But the rosy dawn of the 20th century turned grim very quickly, followed by the darkest disaster of a world at war.

The Forum 2000 foundation recently completed its musing on what lies ahead in the next century. Ashis Nandy, a noted Indian scholar, was asked to give the view from the developing world, and said that it had no future. None. That is because it left its past to enter a present that is simply a copy of the past of the developed societies, and all that it can look forward to is what it sees in the present of advanced industrial countries, familiar and not at all reassuring.--By Flora Lewis, International Herald Tribune.

"I'm worried about [the future]," says Alan Lightman, a professor in both the humanities and physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. "We're on a speeding train with no engineer. Progress has come to mean more technology and doing things faster and faster. It's an end in itself. In the 19th century, progress was supposed to improve the quality of life, to support human values. I fear that original notion of progress has been lost."--The Sunday Times, London.

Despite a $30 trillion global economy, 600 million children live on less than a dollar a day. Child laborers number 250 million. And millions of people are targeted by military action that increasingly focuses on civilians.-- UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy, in an AP interview.

Ready or not, we are all in for a very wild ride in the near future.

Although I've wondered about the turn of the millennium for years, my two-year stint as editor of a monthly newsletter for late-night radio talk superstar Art Bell really brought it home for me. I had the opportunity to interview many people deeply involved with advanced technologies, earthquake prediction, drug-resistant super-microbes, supernatural phenomena, "near death experiences," extreme weather patterns, the New Age, UFOs, virtual reality, and other exotic, paranormal, or just plain weird stuff.

But here's the weirdest part. Although they represented every conceivable theory, virtually all of Art's guests were convinced of one thing. Drastic things—"earth changes" (earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes), pandemic plagues, convulsive social upheaval, and even an explosion of supernatural phenomena--were in store for around the year 2000 or shortly thereafter. Christian, New Age, scientist, and psychic--all pointed with appropriate fear and trembling toward the time we are now approaching as a giant vortex of unprecedented world transformation.

So where does Y2K fit in? Seems that even if we experience only minor "best-case-scenario"-type problems during the century rollover--we're still in for a wild ride.

Cyberterrorism has become a major threat capable of inflicting worst-case Y2K-type cyber mayhem--electrical power, transportation, communications, banking, the works. It's Y2K's evil twin, infrastructure destruction with a malevolent intent and an unknown detonation date. Osama Bin Laden and other foreign and domestic terrorist groups are known to be actively pursuing cyberterrorism. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, it would take only 30 people and a $10 million budget to wreck America's cyber-infrastructure and all that goes with it. And a great time to strike, obviously, would be on or shortly after Jan. 1, 2000.

These and many other events are tied specifically to the Year 2000 date change just a few months from now. Adding to the bumpiness of our ride, however, will be a multitude of other rapidly accelerating trends, such as:

The demonization of Christianity: If you haven't noticed the growing anti-Christian movement in America--well, as the bumper sticker says, "you're not paying attention." I'm talking about a direct assault on Christian values and institutions. The fact is, many of today's political and cultural "leaders" are increasingly hell-bent on discrediting, demonizing, or just plain shutting up anyone who dares to champion what they consider to be the outmoded, superstitious, life-denying, and repressive values of traditional Christians.

The resurgence of infectious disease: Now the world's third largest killer, infectious diseases are staging a spectacular comeback. Flagrant overuse of antibiotics and other factors have led to the emergence of new, drug-resistant strains of once-"conquered" bugs like TB, as well as brand-new lethal pathogens never before seen. Add to this the very real threat of biological terrorism featuring such lethal organisms as anthrax and even smallpox. And let's not forget AIDS, officially considered non-infectious, which is consuming the continent of Africa. Official estimates are that more people will die of AIDS in Africa in the next few years (about 34 million) than perished on all sides in World Wars I and II, and the Korean, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf wars combined.

There are so many other ominous trends--rampant government corruption and even treason at the highest levels, ever-increasing serious crime committed by children, including mass murder, the outrageously corrupting fare offered by today's entertainment industry--the list is seemingly without end.

The point is, friends, regardless of how bad Y2K is or is not, we are going for a ride. So get ready.

Back to Y2K. Will the lights stay on? Will I have a job? Will the stock market crash? Will I be allowed to withdraw money from my bank? Will my government check arrive? Will we have a recession or depression? Will there be riots and social disruption? Will Clinton impose martial law?

The century rollover could result in virtually any conceivable outcome, from mildly disruptive to apocalyptic. I don't have to describe the possible scenarios in detail; you've no doubt heard them all. Edward Yardeni, chief economist for one of the world's largest banks (Deutsche Morgan Grenfell) and a celebrated Wall Street analyst, gives a 30 percent chance that Y2K won't be too bad, a 25 percent chance for moderate recession, a 40 percent chance for major global recession, and a 5 percent chance for, and I quote, "Depression lasting two to five years, blackouts, social and political upheaval. Stock market ... you don't want to know." And Yardeni is mild compared to some Y2K experts.

The convergence of all these various trends promises a profound transformation of our world.

Each of our lives has a purpose--the perfection of our souls for God. He wants us to come to Him. To that end, the wake-up calls we get become more and more urgent. They are meant to bring each of us to a recognition of our individual and collective folly. If we don't heed the warning, we get another warning even higher on the Richter scale. Eventually, the wake-up call succeeds in waking us up--or it kills us.

I believe Y2K is an incredibly compassionate wake-up call from the Good Lord. I believe it is meant to get us to shake off the stupor we all wallow in for most of our lives, prod us to look around, and get prepared for whatever great and terrible things are to come. But the most important preparation is deeper still. Please don't neglect it, because it's the only thing that ultimately matters.

"Things fall apart; the center cannot hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, the blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned…."

Historians often quote these chilling lines from W.B. Yeats' poem, "The Second Coming," to describe the horrific wars and revolutions of the 20th century. A war-weary world wants to believe the "blood-dimmed tide" has receded. But once again blood is flowing in the heart of Europe. The 1914 assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo (now capital of Bosnia) touched off World War I. What will come of this decade's wars over Yugoslavia's corpse?

World chaos is more a threat now than during the U.S.-Soviet standoff. That's not millennium hysteria; it's a sober conclusion based on clear and present dangers.

Iraq and the collapse of greater Yugoslavia get the most attention from myopic U.S. media. But other hot spots abound:

-- Russia's economy and social structures are crumbling. Millions yearn for a "strong hand" like Stalin or Peter the Great to set things right--and restore the old empire.

-- Indonesia's fragile religious-ethnic fault lines have cracked open, threatening to plunge the world's largest Muslim nation into anarchy.

-- India barely contains its many religious and ethnic conflicts. Ditto for Pakistan, India's bitter enemy. Both have nuclear weapons.

-- North Korea is slowly starving and regularly threatens to attack South Korea and even Japan, destabilizing north Asia.

-- Up to 30 nations possess or are developing ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads, according to U.S. defense reports. Meanwhile, rogue nations sell weapons technology to the highest bidder--including freelance terrorists.

-- China, despite its vaunted economic progress, has millions of unemployed wandering the country in search of food and work. Tight news controls can't squelch reports of growing social unrest and violence.

-- Millions of Africans suffer staggering poverty and violence while living in anarchies that are "nations" in name only.

Harvard's Samuel Huntington predicts the coming of a titanic "clash of civilizations" pitting the West, Slavs, Muslims, China, Japan and Hindus against each other. Sociologist Robert Kaplan warns of "unprecedented upheaval, brought on by scarce resources … uncontrollable disease, brutal warfare, and the widespread collapse of nation-states and, indeed, of any semblance of government."

"Welcome," Kaplan says, "to the 21st century."

Such a potential future may sound bleak, but it isn't unprecedented. Empires rise and fall.

There's another historical constant, however: God reigns. "He is the God of history," writes John R.W. Stott. "History is not the random flow of events."

God used the Roman Empire, which savagely persecuted His children, to transmit the Gospel throughout much of the known world. He used marauding Vikings to spread the Good News throughout northern Europe via Christian prisoners.

"The conquerors became conquered by the faith of their captives," observes Ralph Winter. "In God's eyes, their redemption must have been more important than the harrowing tragedy … which fell upon God's Own people whom He loved. After all, He had not even spared His Own Son in order to redeem us!"

Chaos may come, but God will use it for His purposes. And He will use His children, whether or not we comprehend each seemingly random event. Paula Chaney understands that after mission assignments in the near-anarchy of Albania and Bosnia.

"God had to take me out of America and take every single thing I was comfortable with out from under me," she explains. "Here I was, stranded with me and God--surrounded by people who had never had the opportunity to know Him. But once they found Him, they begged Him not to leave."

"From 1997 onwards, the world will be torn apart by intense and fearful phenomena. Tokyo will be gulped down by the sea. The chosen will flee to the mountains, where they will escape the effects of chemical, biological and nuclear warfare. Just before the year 2000, a polar shift will cause the earth to 'slurp on its side.' Seasons will change abruptly, and the oceans will slosh about like a jostled bowl of water, engulfing California and England. The dead will have to be tipped into mass graves."

The above are the predictions of Damian Thompson, secular author of "The End of Time." One final prediction of Thompson bears quoting in full: "In the next few years, the old world order will disintegrate and a global government will be formed by a leader who, although handsome and charismatic, is the spokesman for forces of evil. His sinister machinations will lead to a Third World War in which half the world's population will perish and a new American or Russian nuclear device will plunge into the sea, killing a third of all sea creatures. A Chinese army of 200 million will do battle with the new world government, and dead bodies will be piled as high as mountains." The fact that Thompson is a secular writer makes his predictions all the more eerie, since they come so close to what the Bible tells us will actually happen during the time of the end.

Time is growing shorter with each coming day. Pay close attention to those individuals who continue to promote a one-world government; observe carefully the development of the EU (European Community) as it takes on unprecedented powers--authority that will have the economic clout eventually to send the U.S. economy into a tailspin; watch as the tensions in the already volatile Middle East approach historic proportions--but which will be child's play compared to the battles yet to come, when the Antichrist steps up his control midway in the Tribulation and abandons his peace treaty with Israel to live out his Satan-incarnated spirit as he does battle with the one true God.

But Jesus said in Luke 21:9, "When you shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified, for all these things must first come to pass." Our Lord then gives us the ultimate word of hope and encouragement when He says in verse 31, "When you see these things come to pass, know that the Kingdom of God is nigh at hand."