PLANET EARTH ON A PERILOUS JOURNEY; AS HUMANS LOSE OUR GOD GIVEN DOMINION OVER IT

God was very clear in His mind when he said to human beings in Genesis 1:28: ' Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.' So, He handed us dominion over the land, sea, and sky to mankind. We thank him for that.

For a very long time, mankind has managed to greatly fulfill this responsibility heaven thrust on us to a very large extent and even beyond. We have segmented the earth into various portions we call our countries, and insist that anyone who hails from outside must have our explicit permission in the form of 'visa' before entering. We have taken possession of the air spaces and called various sections our territories, destroying aircrafts that find their ways into our terrains without our approval. We have claimed ownership of the seas and drilled oil and other natural resources from them, battles for portions of which we are still fighting over.

As if that was not enough, we have sent men to the moon, shuttles to space and are even claiming ownership of territories there by planting our flags. In a world that has been shaped by the power of science and imagination, we have created artificial rivers, induced rain artificially, genetically modified food crops, artificially engineered the growing of human body parts. And lest I forget, doctors have succeeded in changing people from males to females and vice versa. How domineering? Congratulations to mankind. We've really taken charge of the planet.

And because of the amount of knowledge we have acquired, today, humans can hit our hands on our chests and say attributes of God such omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience refers to us too. After all, Barack Obama's stooges can sit in Washington and monitor Angela Merkel's calls in Germany. And trace the location of Osama Bin Laden in far away Pakistan from Pentagon, and send the Navy Seal to go snap his life out of him. Doesn't that make him omniscient and omnipresent to a certain extent? After all, President Yahya Jameh has the lives of all residents of Gambia in his hands; he has the unchecked and unbridled power to decide when it begins and when it ends. Doesn't that make him Omnipotent to a certain extent? We have really taken charge of our planet, haven't we?

The level of technological advancement that has shaped the 21st Century is obviously mind boggling, but so has been the evidence that after 20 Centuries of progress, we appear to have reached what looks like a tipping point, that is proving to us that we are not in charge of Planet Earth as we believe we are.

Let's start with what's recent. On 8th March 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 of about 63 meters in length and 18 meters in heights carrying 239 passengers travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared, like a needle dropped at a sandy seashore. An international search which at its peak involved about 15 countries, more than 40 ships, and about 50 aircrafts was launched using some of the most sophisticated technology ever created. But till date, not even debris from the plane has been located. How mysterious. With the internet, google maps, GPS technology, among others, the world seems so small in our hands when we sit behind the computer or hold our smart phones. But this missing plane saga has dawned on us the hard truth; that we don't know the nooks and cranny of our planet as much as we are supposed to. So we have been able to identify water sources on the moon, but we can't find a plane which has gone missing right under own noses here on earth. How strange?

Meanwhile, somewhere in Africa, a bunch of ferocious, vicious, and unscrupulous terrorists, Boko Haram, has also 'gone bananas', doing their own thing. Despite murdering thousands of Nigerians in their cruel and inhumane campaign since 'hell called them' over a decade ago, they are not satisfied. In April, they found reason to march to a school, kidnap over 200 girls, walk them into the forests, and send the whole world singing a BringBackOurGirls tune. More than a month after, despite the deployment of American, Chinese, Israeli, British and French personnel as well as technology including manned and unmanned surveillance aircrafts to Nigeria, we don't know where our girls are, we don't know what they are being fed with, we are unsure where they sleep, and we still think we are in control of our world?

Just days ago, an explosion in a mine in Soma, Turkey, released carbon monoxide gas into tunnels where mining activities were taking place, and snapped away over 300 lives; including fathers, husbands and brothers, in what was clearly an avoidable loss of human lives. In April, a South Korean ferry carrying mainly school children headed for a holiday destination capsized on the seas, killing almost 300 persons.

Disasters have always been with us. Earth quakes, Tsunamis, Volcano eruptions, as well as other human induced accidents on the roads, in the seas and in the air, are not new to this unsafe world of ours. Not forgetting the violence, conflicts and wars we have created ourselves to murder each other, and brought to an end ourselves, as if when we started them, we were not thinking straight.

But the advent of the 21st Century, despite having come with it some of the most sophisticated technological advancement, has also been a trigger for some of the most 'difficult to fathom' disasters. Remember the earthquake in Haiti in January 2010. We lost more than 230,000 human beings. Two years before that, you recall the earthquake that struck Sichuan, China. The earth opened and swallowed up more than 240,000 people. Then the earthquake in Kashmir, Pakistan which also claimed the lives of 80,000 people. And the list goes on and on.

Not forgetting the almost 3000 people who lost their lives in the September 11 2001 attack on Pentagon and the World Trade Center in America. And the about 300 passengers on board Air France Flight 447 travelling from France to Paris which vanished in 2009, and was two years later discovered to have crushed into the Atlanic ocean killing all passengers. This is minus the lives that fighting and warfare has claimed; from Afghanistan to Iraq to Sudan to Libya to Syria to Gaza. Most of which we are still grappling with to bring under control.

Technology may be putting more than necessary power and authority in the hands of humans with just the click of a button, but the evidence is clear; from land to seas to the air, we are losing the battle began since the universe came into being to hold onto our Heaven given dominion. Sometimes, due to our own actions and inactions. Even in this new 'knowledge world'; the level of ignorance displayed by experienced ship captains like Lee Joon-seok who was supposed to be in charge of the South Korean ferry that capsized is unthinkable. The evil that men like Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekaur does, appears to scare even the devil himself. And the bad luck that people with names like Goodluck brings to a nation he is voted to lead is unprecedented. The world is changing.

As US President Barack Obama puts it: 'Something is happening in our world. The way things have been, it's not the way that they would be.' Planet Earth is on a perilous journey, I think. The challenges we face would grow bigger in the decades ahead. More mysterious disasters would happen, both artificial and natural which we would struggle to comprehend; more evil folks, whose sole source of satisfaction is causing harm and destruction would emerge; and we can expect more adversities to strike our planet, shaking our world to the very core.

But in the midst of all of these, this is what gladdens my heart. In the years ahead, I for see technological innovation hitting topnotch beyond our wildest imaginations today. And I won't be surprised to see men land on the sun. I for see men live forever because of advancement in medicine, and I for see men gain the status of demi - gods in our own rights.

But the question which remains is whether these innovations would be able to match the catastrophic future that lies ahead of us, so humans can continue to claim victory in this battle to hold onto our dominion over our planet. We live to see.

I pray for peace, I pray for wisdom, I pray for grace and I pray for foresight, for all those who are making things happen to keep our dear planet earth going. May our hands be strengthened by the hands of the Almighty. God bless us all.

The author, Joseph Opoku Gakpo is a journalist and blogger at www.josephopokugakpo.wordpress.com

By Joseph Opoku Gakpo / www.josephopokugakpo.wordpress.com