Dear friends:There are many biblical signs that we are in the "last days" before the soon return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Billy Graham has said that while some signs have appeared in the past, "this is the first time in human history that all the signs are converging."
Below are just a few of the converging signs:
1. Israel's rebirth in 1948. It was necessary for Israel to be back in the land before the Lord returns.
2. Israel's capture of Jerusalem in 1967, also necessary. See Luke 21:24.
3. Decadence. In 2 Timothy 3:1-5, Paul describes the increased decadence of humanity in the "last days," something we are experiencing today. In the past several decades there has been an explosion of immorality, pregnancies out of wedlock, abortions, drug use, spouse and child abuse, and violent crime, which is up several hundred percentage points. Asked what he foresaw as the terminus of civilization, T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) envisioned people shooting each other at random, only a recent, now widespread phenomenon.
4. Cults, occult, hunger, wars, and crime. There is an explosion of cults and the occult, as well as false Christs (1 Timothy 4:1; Matthew 24:24). And Jesus said that at His return it would be "as in the days of Noah" (Matthew 24:37), when the earth was corrupt and filled with violence (Genesis 6:11). He warned of increased famines and ethnic wars, like birth pangs, with increasing intensity. Today, one of six people on earth suffer from hunger, and a study of wars since 500 B.C. shows a recent, dramatic increase. Of at least 82 world conflicts between 1990 and 1995, all but three were civil or ethnic. An Associated Press report on December 29, 1999 said, “The century is coming to a close with a third of the world's 193 nations embroiled in conflict, nearly twice the Cold War level.”
5. Earthquakes. Also like increasing birth pangs, Jesus also said there would be earthquakes in various places. From official records, scholars have researched the frequency of earthquakes and report an astonishing increase since -- yes, just the middle of the 20th century, when Israel was reborn and all the other signs began. A recent study shows that in the 1940s there were only 51 earthquakes worldwide above Richter 6.0; in the 1950s, 475; the 1980s, 1,085; and in the 1990s, 1,514 (Matthew 24:7). (Source: Prophecy in the News magazine, October 1996, and the National Earthquake Information Center.)
5. Globalism. The increased centralization of world financial and political power into a "New World Order" is a prelude to the soon-coming anti-Christ, who will deceive most of the world (Daniel 7-12; Matthew 24:15; Revelation 13).
6. Denying God's power. Paul also says that in the last days there will be those with "a form of godliness, but denying its power" (2 Timothy 3:5), a condition even in many otherwise Bible-believing churches today where the power of the Holy Spirit is not only denied, even His mention is rare and often discouraged, while anti-Christian practices are often encouraged, all in the name of "religion."
7. The Good News. God also says that in the last days, "I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh" (Joel 2:28). People are coming to faith in Jesus Christ all over the world in record numbers. Some individual evangelical organizations are seeing millions of conversions. There is a great outpouring in Africa, the former Soviet Union, in China and elsewhere. Joel's prophecy began to be fulfilled at Pentecost, nearly 2,000 years ago, but it will greatly intensify just before the return of the Lord. We are seeing it now. See http://www.choicesforliving.com/spirit/part4/revival.htm
8. The Great Commission Fulfilled. Jesus tells us: "This gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:14). We are near that time. Hundreds of missions organizations are rapidly closing on that goal. Just one of them, Campus Crusade for Christ, already has more 26,000 full-time staff and 550,000 trained volunteers in 191 countries in areas covering 99.5 percent of the world's population, plus they are working with thousands of churches and other organizations.
9. Angel Visits and Announcements. Confirming Scripture, there are verified angel visitations and supernatural revelations saying that Jesus is coming "very, very soon." (For report of actually documented encounters, click here.)
10. Internal Witness of the Spirit. God promised that His Spirit would indwell His people and would "guide you into all truth....and declare to you the things that are to come" (John 16:13). Millions of people worldwide who profess receiving Christ and the infilling of His Spirit report an inner witness and expectancy of the Lord's soon return. Of course, this factor must always be carefully weighed against Scripture -- but as we see, this is a test it passes.
Keep looking up. Jesus is coming!
Jim