Does intelligent life exist on other planets?

Many scientists think that it is inevitable because of the fact that the universe is filled with trillions of planets. Over 100 “exoplanets” have been discovered lately just within 25 light years of the earth. It seems almost impossible that, in the entire Milky Way galaxy that there is not a planet with the same conditions as earth. The big question in Astronomy is “Why haven’t they contacted us?”

The answer is possibly a simple but very depressing, and fearful one.

Recently, a leading scientist speculated that if an intelligent form of life on other planets does develop, it is almost certain that soon after they discover atomic energy, they will eventually destroy their own civilization, and world. If that is true then there must be very few species of intelligent life in the entire universe that survive to be a more advanced civilization. It is possible that 99% of all intelligent civilizations eventually destroy themselves.

Is that our fate, and the ultimate fate of the earth? The Bible seems to describe that scenario.

I read a recent article about some “random flashes of light” in the heavens that are just now being noticed by astronomers. They are at a loss to explain what they are. It is possible that what they are seeing are the “death throes” of planets that are destroying themselves. A super-nuclear explosion large enough to destroy a planet would certainly be as bright, for a second, as the sun, and would be seen a great distance away as a sudden but brief "flash of light".

The entire book of Revelation predicts that the “End of Days” will be a time of devastation that has never existed before on the Earth. Rev. 6:14 says, “And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, …  and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.”

Revelation 11:18 is more specific. “And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, …and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

Since most of the book of Revelation deals with the destruction of the Earth, it is possible that it is a blueprint for what happens to all such advanced civilizations in the end, and could apply to all peoples and planets in the universe.

I remember a statement my history teacher in high school made to our class that has remained with me to this day. He said, “There has never been a weapon designed for war that was not used in war”. It is human nature for the strong to want to dominate the weak.

We have used the atomic bomb but we have never used a “thermonuclear bomb”. The difference between the two is a factor of a thousand. There is no limit to how large a thermonuclear (hydrogen) bomb can be made. It is not a matter of “if” one will ever be used, but “when”. When the first one falls, the world will be forever changed and few people if any will survive, or want to.

I believe that the rapture will come at that time.

Perhaps it is by design that God saves a certain “remnant” of each population to be part of “His Kingdom”. Revelation 7:9 says, “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, …” The angel describes them as, “These are they which came out of great tribulation,”

The idea of the complete destruction of the earth is supported by Revelation 21:1, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away”.

I wonder how many times this has happened before .