Faithofchristian
Well-Known Member
6 You are going to hear of wars and reports of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for these things must take place, but the end is not yet.7 “For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another. 8 All these things are a beginning of pangs of distress.
In these Bible verses we read that the disciples asked Jesus when this system would end, but he didn’t give them a date. He did however mention some things that would happen around that time: signs to look for that would give people an idea of the times they would be living in.
But are those things actually happening or are we, Bible believers, being deceived by our wishful thinking? Let’s have a look at the 3 signs highlighted.
1 - Is there conflict in different parts of the world?
While some parts of the world are in peace and have been without armed conflicts for many years, others have indeed been experiencing one conflict after the other.
In this chart from History Today, we can see the gradual increase in wars, especially since the beginning of the 19th century Alarming increase in wars | History Today.
Further information can be found on List of ongoing armed conflicts - Wikipedia and Global Conflict Tracker.
This article from the Independent is more than one year old, but it also makes some important points: There are now only 10 countries in the whole world that are fully at peace.
2 – Are there food shortages?
The fight to end hunger has been ongoing for a very long time, with some victories and some losses.
For some time it looked like things were heading in the right direction. In 2011 there were more people suffering from obesity than hunger, which might seem like good news, but maybe it’s not. First of all, being obese is not a good thing, second, the percentage of people starving is huge and with more armed conflicts and weather changes displacing more and more people, famine will continue to increase despite the efforts being made by numerous entities to end it.
Please see the following for more information:
World hunger again on the rise, driven by conflict and climate change, new UN report says
Famine Is on the Rise Around the World — and Climate Change Is to Blame
Famine looms in four countries as aid system struggles to cope, experts warn
UN Aid Chief: 20 Million People in 4 Countries Face Starvation, Famine
3 – Are there earthquakes in “one place after another”?
Yes, and so it has been for a long time, as we can see in the following articles:
Is earthquake activity increasing? | British Geological Survey (BGS)
https://www.oceannetworks.ca/are-earthquakes-rise
Are earthquakes increasing? Not sure. This one is a bit trickier because an accurate measurement of earthquake frequency and intensity has only been around for a few centuries. Since the earth is much older than that, it makes statistics subject to doubts.
It seems like things have been stable, but we have the impression that there are more earthquakes because of highly populated areas that make for more victims, and better information networks to tell us about it.
There are predictions for an increase in 2018: Upsurge in big earthquakes predicted for 2018 as Earth rotation slows, Volcanoes and Earthquakes Are Increasing—But Why?. Let’s see how that goes.
I don’t know if Jesus was referring exclusively to earthquakes or natural disasters in general. If he was talking about natural disasters, the last couple of years have been off the charts, with 2017 being particularly catastrophic with total economic losses toping 300 billion dollars (Global Disasters Wreaked Havoc In 2017 - Total Economic Losses Top $300 Billion)
First of all it depends on what bible your using.
You used the words ( You are going to hear )
While the KJV 1611 has the words
( And you shall hear ) There's a big difference?
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