Societal Development and the Population Explosion

2.4 Societal Development and the Population Explosion

Population Explosion
The development of the entire human social structure has also occurred in phases.

First came the primitive hunter society.

Then followed thousands of years with a progressively developing agricultural society.

The industrial age began after the 1700's.

Currently, a portion of humanity is coming into the information/knowledge- and service age. Others remain completely or partially in one of the three earlier societal phases.

The predominant forces for change have been new technical and medical developments. As a result of the industrial revolution, the standard of living and healthcare have so greatly improved that the earth's population is now growing explosively.

Because of the developments of our information- and knowledge- based society, more people can now be reached in a short time with the Bible's message of salvation than have been reached in the last 2000 years.

Especially important for this purpose are the developments in the area of radio and TV, which allow even an illiterate population to receive the Gospel. As an example, in 1996 the world evangelist, Billy Graham, reached more people across the earth on a single day by satellite, than he had previously reached in his entire 46 years as a mass-meeting evangelist.