Matthew 24:3-8 New American Standard Bible 1995 “3 As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”
4 And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. 6 You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. 8 But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.”
We have had many wars throughout history. But two major world wars. World War I occurred from July 1914 to November 1918. World War II ran from 1939 to 1945. Since then, there have been smaller wars.
Today the difference is that man has created weapons that can annihilate countries. “More than two dozen nations have nuclear power. Only nine possess actual nuclear weapons: Russia, the United States, China, India, Israel, France, North Korea, Pakistan and the United Kingdom.” https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?hspart=litmus&hsimp=yhs-3d&type=1453461-vsub-tm4&p=what%20countries%20have%20nuclear%20weapons
Some countries have created biological weapons.
Russia, China, and North Korea are forming alliances. These three countries are warmongering. All have recently threatened the United States or stated that we are foes.
There are many smaller wars that are internal to specific countries, especially in Africa.
There are earthquakes almost daily. They are tracked by the United States Geological Survey. Today, February 8, 2022, two earthquakes hit Naha, Japan.
1. 5.5 131 km WNW of Naha, Japan 2022-02-08 16:36:31 (UTC) 10.0 km
2. 4.3 122 km WNW of Naha, Japan 2022-02-08 16:03:56 (UTC) 10.0 km
There have been many more in recent years. We have seen volcanic eruptions and tsunamis.
Famine is an emerging issue. “WFP said 584,000 people are already experiencing famine-like conditions in Ethiopia, Madagascar, South Sudan and Yemen.
Nigeria and Burkina Faso are also of particular concern as they have pockets where famine-like conditions are present.” https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/06/1094472
“Afghanistan’s healthcare system on brink of collapse, as hunger hits 95 per cent of families” https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/09/1100652 “There are 22.8 million Afghans facing acute food insecurity. By March, 8.7 million of those are expected to slide into critical levels of food insecurity (IPC Phase 4), more than double the number from the same time last year and a record high for the country.” https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/01/1110742
Lebanon: “Lebanon crisis robbing young people of their futures …These are some of the disturbing statistics contained in a new report published on Friday by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), showing how the crisis is forcing young people to drop out of school and engage in ill-paid, irregular work just to survive and help feed their families.
The report also says that 31 per cent of young people are not in education, employment, or training. In fact, enrolment in educational institutions dropped from 60 per cent in 2020-2021, to just 43 per cent for the current academic year.” https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/01/1110852
“The second most populous country in the world, India has enjoyed steady economic growth and has achieved self-sufficiency in grain production in recent years. Despite this, high levels of poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition persist. Around 21.25 percent of the population lives on less than US$1.90 a day, and levels of inequality and social exclusion are very high.” https://www.wfp.org/countries/india
These are just some examples of countries with food insecurity.
The Bible clearly states that these are just “birth pangs.” Christians should be watching carefully for other signs.
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