In God’s Word we find that God has given us a number of signs, some of them relative to the second coming of Jesus Christ to this earth. In Matthew 24 we find the Lord’s disciples asking Him about the sign that would warn mankind that He would soon end the world as man has known it. As stated earlier, His first words were a warning that men would claim to know when He was coming. Some would declare that He had already arrived and would claim to know where He was staying. From time to time such men have attracted followers who themselves spread the word of Christ’s imminent arrival, some going so far as to state the exact date. Some believers have sold or given away their property in anticipation of a long-awaited rapture that would supposedly snatch them up to heaven leaving non-believers (everyone not of their religious group) behind to face the Great Tribulation.

Following His warning to beware of false prognosticators, Jesus told His disciples (and us) that several signs would have to appear before He could return. One sign concerned WAR. It has been estimated that two world wars and a number of totalitarian dictatorships combined have resulted in the deaths of some 230 million people, many of them innocent civilians. Since World War II–the second “war to end all wars”–there have been hundreds of armed conflicts world-wide that have taken hundreds of thousands of lives. As I write this posting the world is fighting against radical Islam. At present this is a regional conflict, but it will soon evolve into World War III. The human slaughter that will take place in the near future will make what has happened in the past pale in significance. For the first time in human history there are enough nuclear armaments to destroy every man, woman and child many times over. MAN HAS NEVER INVENTED A WEAPON HE DID NOT USE. Man will use his stockpiles nuclear weapons on his fellow man. War is one of the inevitable outcomes of mankind’s propensity for sin.

As proven by history, FAMINE always accompanies war. As Jesus foretold, the world’s final war will be no exception. We are living in a time when the increase in the world’s population is outpacing her ability to feed the masses of people in what are called third and fourth world countries. Some 30,000 people starve to death each day, two-thirds of whom are children. Due to severe weather conditions–either drought or flooding–land that normally would feed many of these people cannot be used. Many of those who manage to survive the lack of food are unable to ward off common DISEASES (“pestilences”) that the body would be able to reject under normal conditions. However, first and second world countries are not immune to disease outbreaks, some of which are deadly. The likes of AIDS, Tuberculosis, Malaria, Influenza, the Bubonic Plague, etc. have claimed millions of lives over the decades. The Plague killed one third of the population of Europe several hundred years ago. “Pandemic”–a world-wide disease epidemic–is a word that is frequently used to warn about diseases that are carried from one area of the world to many other areas due to air and sea travel. Added to these problems is the fact that some of the diseases we have wiped out in the past are returning, having evolved to the point that medicines used to control or eradicate them no longer work. As if these terrors were not enough, Jesus said that EARTHQUAKES would increase in numbers and severity as the time of His return approached. To be continued. L.J.