Luke 21, Mark 13 and Matthew 24 all relay Jesus’ lecture to his disciples on the subject of His return and end-times rule of the world from Jerusalem. Each writer employs unique terminology, but all agree on the Master’s ultimate message. Matthew offers the most detailed of the three renditions:
Matthew 24: 3-14 (Summarized): As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples asked “… what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars… Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death… hated by all nations because of me. 10 … many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold… 14 and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Each of the renditions by the three apostles agree on seven specific events, postulates, and outcomes for which we should be aware.
THE SIGNS IN COMMON
- Wars and Rumors of War
- Earthquakes in Numerous Places
- Famine
- Pestilence
- Hatred
- Pretenders/False Prophets
- Gospel Preached to Whole World
A study of each category in our present era is very revealing. We no longer need ask: “Where are we today in fulfillment of the end-time prophecies of Jesus?”
- Wars and Rumors of War
Each of the following 20 nations experienced from significant war dead in the past year. Yemen, Ukraine, Turkey, Thailand, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Mexico, Libya, Iran, Israel/Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Congo, Columbia, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Afghanistan.
Other conflicts also aflame in 2020: namely Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Uganda, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Chad. In the Middle East we are also seeing armed combat in Yemen and Oman.
In total, in the past decade, we have also seen some 45 separate and deadly “religious” conflicts. Led notably by Malaysia, the Philippines, China, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Myanmar, some 35 countries are experiencing significant masses of people killed.
Year 2016 was one of the most violent years since the end of the Cold War. While violence levels decreased slightly from another high in 2017, non-state conflicts and internationalized intrastate conflicts continue to frustrate all attempts at global peace.
The gruesome total for armed conflicts resulting in significant numbers of deaths inflamed some 75 nations in the past decade. Other outbreaks are simmering in another 10 regions/countries yet lacking enough deaths to tip the statistical scales.
Enough said on wars: Jesus’ prophecies on the topic are occurring today in great number!
Conclusion: Fulfilled Prophecy
- Earthquakes in numerous places.
The statistics are staggering. The National Earthquake Information Center records an average of 20,000 earthquakes every year (about 50 a day). There are, however, millions of earthquakes occurring every year too weak to be recorded.
Unquestionably, the earth is seeing a ton of earthquake activity, and some environmental activist ‘scientists’ are predicting an increase in both frequency and intensity because of global warming for the near future.
Whatever the claims/statistics, we can safely and surely say this particular prophecy of Jesus is with us today in full force.
Conclusion: Fulfilled Prophecy
- Famine.
After nearly a decade of progress, the number of people suffering from hunger has slowly increased over the past three years, with about one in every nine people globally suffering from hunger today, according to a United Nations report released in late 2019. An estimated 820 million people do not have enough to eat, up from 811 million last year – third year in a row that the number has increased.
This gruesome statistic somewhat softens the hard fact that children suffer the most from this world-class malady simply because they are most vulnerable to the depredations of those older and larger than themselves. We see no need to dwell further on this very unhappy, obvious topic.
Conclusion: Fulfilled Prophecy
- Pestilence
Ironically, this writer had already formed the basic outline for this prophecy report before the current ‘Corona Flu’ epic made headlines in world newspapers. We probably don’t need to cover the topic further, but a few of the statistics we unearthed are interesting. So… here goes!
A pandemic is an outbreak of global proportions. It happens when a bacterium or mutated virus becomes capable of spreading rapidly. It causes serious illness and can spread easily from one person to the next. The Spanish flu pandemic, from 1918 to 1920, is estimated to have claimed betwen 50-100 million lives. It is considered the worst in history. The Black Death claimed the lives of over 75 million people in the 14th Century.
Other outbreaks of significant import include:
HIV/AIDS PANDEMIC
Death Toll: 34 million
HONG KONG FLU PANDEMIC (1968)
Death Toll: 1 million
ASIAN FLU (1956-1958)
Death Toll: 2 million
So, we see that pestilence can kill millions with very little warning. And such diseases as HIV, Ebola, dengue, malaria and so forth are also killing their millions even at this moment.
In totality, we can securely state that this prophecy of Jesus is being fulfilled even as we read these words. Simply watch the Five O-Clock News tonight.
Conclusion: Fulfilled Prophecy
- Hatred
The bells are tolling on this one. Unfortunately, this human trait is a two-way street in many instances. Jesus makes it clear that we are to hate the sin, not the sinner. I know too many Christians filled with hatred for people outside the mainstream Christian categories of desired behavioral valuation. In this regard, we will experience some hatred that we or others have brought upon ourselves.
But, I believe Jesus was referring only to the fact we are hated for the same reasons he was hated. God’s standards of intellectual morality and behavioral practices are absolute. The unsaved world prefers that these issues be addressed as situational.
Murder, for example, is generally unacceptable, but killing babies in the womb is okay. The Bible says drug addiction and witchcraft are unacceptable. Sexually deviant lifestyles are also frowned on, but most people now consider such trends to be normal and highly acceptable behavior.
How many pastors are hesitant to even push the concept of Hell and eternal punishment? It’s illegal hate speech in some circumstances according to Canadian and certain U.S. laws. Bottom line, our Bible-based positions on these and other belief paradigms are becoming so severely offensive in the minds of the majority that Jesus says they will justify killing us in droves.
We’re quickly reaching the point where the entire world mimics Sodom and Gomorrah (the practice of sodomy deriving its name from that latter city… the wickedness to which Jesus referred in Matt. 24:13). Indeed, we are now at that point!
Conclusion: Fulfilled Prophecy
- Pretenders/False Prophets
Few people fathom the enormous presence of false beliefs and metaphysical practices embedding our ‘modern’ world. Watchman Fellowship built a reference index listing over 1,200 distinct religious organizations and belief systems, not counting the major world religions (including Christianity).
Upon reading short statements defining a mere handful of these indexed belief systems, my head swirled. It was as though I had crashed into a condensed pool of swarming Hollywood-style cartoon mythologies… each crazier than the one before. Take a look for yourself and test my reaction.
In the book, Loving God’s Way!, Gary De Lashmutt and co-author Dennis McCallum list over 40 distinct cults and sects within Christianity itself. Given the prevalence and near-endless range of belief systems swirling about the world… what are young seekers to believe?. For many, it must seem a hopeless riddle… leaving them with sensualism and pursuit of personal purpose (humanism?) as the ‘natural’ response… simply living life as a feel-good matter of ‘anything goes.’
Could Christ’s warning of false belief systems get any more profound and imbedded than what we have today?
Conclusion: Fulfilled Prophecy
- Gospel Preached to Whole World
“And the end will come.” Christian television networks have played a major part in helping to ensure that the entire world is being reached with Christianity’s message via radio (including short wave), television towers, satellites and mobile recording and playing devices. The last decade has seen a rapid growth of Christian broadcast networks well beyond just the United States.
Most recently, the internet communications phenomenon has completed the paradigm of realized personal contact. It is impossible to imagine any further communications systems/devices/applications than those existing today in terms of reaching every last human being
We have more missionaries from more countries than at any time in prior human history daily using all of these informational tools.
What more is left to do in terms of carrying the Word to a waiting world? True, pockets of people, such as the Tarahumara (Raramuri) of the Sierra Madres, Mexico, have not yet heard the gospel. But, in all such cases, these groups have been identified and efforts are underway to bring them into Truth.
Jesus did not say everyone will be reached. He said The Gospel would be a testimony to all nations. If there are nations that legally reject the gospel (Muslim, Eastern Mysticism, etc.) and fail to expose their populace to the Christian belief system, that is on them, not on Jesus.
God has been quoted as saying it is not His will that any should perish. That is far different than saying none will perish. A hard truth.
Conclusion: Soon Fulfilled Prophecy
I see the minute hand ticking very near the High Noon deadline on God’s Pre-Ordained Clock of World Forebearance Time. Do we have but seconds remaining? Considering all of the above… what say you?
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