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"SIGNS OF THE TIMES!" BOF Parts 2 & 3 GP 1612 Comp.4/83
--Proof that we are living in the Last Days!
(Compiled by Apollos from the writings of Father David)
1. WHEN JESUS' DISCIPLES WENT OUT FROM JERUSALEM TO THE MOUNT OF OLIVES & ASKED HIM, "WHAT SHALL BE THE SIGN OF THY COMING & OF THE END OF THE WORLD?" He didn't reply with only one sign, but with dozens! (Mt.24:3) In fact, His Word is full of countless, specific "signs of the times"!--Signs of the Last Days, of the Endtime, signs that you should look out for & expect, so that you will know when you are near the End & how near the End & what is going to happen at the End!
2. I HAVE TO BE AMUSED WHEN I READ THE NEWSPAPERS & I SEE THAT EXACTLY WHAT GOD HAS SHOWN US, EXACTLY WHAT HE SAID IN HIS WORD, IS COMING TO PASS--just the way He said it would!--In spite of all man's opinions & predictions & wondering which way things are going to go! You don't have to wonder, just read the Bible! Just read what God has already revealed & you'll know which way things are going to go! And once you are familiar with the prophecies & predictions of His Word, when you see them happening & unfolding, you can say, "Well, there's another one! There's another proof that what God said was going to happen is happening!"
3. HE HAS BEEN QUITE GENEROUS IN HIS REVELATIONS OF THE FUTURE, & it's all been fulfilled up to this point. He has specified what the various Endtime events will be & even given us approximate dates leading up to the very End, which will climax in the soon-coming Antichrist reign before the Second Coming of the true Christ, followed by the idyllic Age of the 1,000-year reign of Jesus Christ here on Earth, the Kingdom of God on Earth, all of which we will cover in detail in later chapters of this book. But for now, let's examine some of the literal, specific, Biblical predictions & prophecies regarding conditions & events during the final Last Days of man's current rule on Earth, as foreseen by God's prophets thousands of years ago!:
4. "AND YE SHALL HEAR OF WARS & RUMOURS OF WARS: See that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the End is not yet.--For nation shall rise against nation, & kingdom against kingdom: & there shall be famines, & pestilence's, & earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows!" (Mt.24:6-8) We've had these things for Millenniums, ever since Jesus was here. He said they're only the "beginning of sorrows", but it's interesting to note how the scale, severity & frequency of all of these have increased in recent years:
5. "WARS & RUMOURS OF WARS...": Although the World had never been completely free from war prior to 1914, until then, war had never been universal. But from 1914 to 1918, with World War I, total war was waged, & then again from 1939-1945, with World War II. In the latter, only 12 small nations of the Earth were not actually or technically involved, & altogether 93 million people served in the Armed Forces of both sides. At the 21st Session of the International Red Cross in 1969, it was reported that more than 90 million people have been killed in wars since the 20th Century began, over 2 trillion dollars have been spent on arms & 130 conflicts on five continents have been waged!
6. "FAMINES & PESTILENCES...": The World Health Organisation estimates that about one-third of the World is well-fed, one-third is under-fed & one-third is starving! Four million people die each year of starvation, 70% of the World's children under six years old are undernourished, & 30 persons die of starvation every minute! The WHO also issued the shocking prediction that one billion people may die from famine during the 1980s!
7. "EARTHQUAKES IN DIVERS PLACES...": The World Almanac tells us that there were only six earthquakes of major strength between 1800-1896. But in each decade from 1897 until 1947 there were either two or three, in the decade from 1947-1956 there were seven, & from 1957-1966 there were 17. Since 1975 there have been over 30 significant earthquakes! 1976 alone experienced 18 major quakes with an intensity of over seven on the Richter scale, & an estimated 695,000 quake-related deaths, the highest in modern history, were reported that year by the U.S. Geological Survey.
8. IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS OF THE 1970'S, MORE PEOPLE WERE KILLED BY EARTHQUAKES THAN IN THE ENTIRE 75 YEARS PRECEDING! In fact, 25 of the 49 largest earthquakes in recorded history occurred from 1960-1980, within only two decades! The 1970's experienced the largest increase in the number of killer quakes ever known. In fact, the dramatic increase of quakes in 1976 led many scientists to predict that we are entering a new period of great seismic disturbances.
9. "AND THIS GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM SHALL BE PREACHED IN ALL THE WORLD FOR A WITNESS UNTO ALL NATIONS; & THEN SHALL THE END COME." (Mt.24:14) Now the Lord had already given these other signs in reply to His disciples' questions about the "sign of His Coming & of the End of the World." He said there'd be wars & rumours of wars, earthquakes, pestilence's, plagues, famines & all of these things, & yet the End is not yet, these would be the beginning of sorrows. But, He now says, when the Gospel is preached in all nations, then shall the End come!--And if there was ever a day in which it looks to me like every nation has heard the Gospel, it's today!
10. NEVER IN THE ENTIRE COURSE OF HISTORY HAS THE GOSPEL BEEN PREACHED IN ALL THE WORLD TO ALL NATIONS AS IT IS RIGHT NOW!--If not directly by missionaries, travellers & visitors, it is certainly being preached by the modern mediums of radio, television, printed literature, etc.! Every nation on the face of the Earth today has heard the Gospel! So if Jesus was right & the Bible is true, we are certainly now living in the time of the End!
11. THE MODERN MEANS OF COMMUNICATION & TRANSPORTATION THAT MAKE THE FULFILMENT OF THE ABOVE PROPHECY EVIDENT today bring to mind another prediction regarding conditions in the Last Days, given to the Prophet Daniel in 534 B.C.: "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the Words, & seal the book, even to the time of the End: many shall run to & fro, & knowledge shall be increased." (Da.12:4) Here the Lord is telling His prophet, who had just received some of the most detailed, specific, descriptive prophecies regarding the soon-coming one-World Antichrist government in the entire Bible, "Daniel, I'm giving this vision to you, but it's not for you, it's not for your time, it's not for your people.--It's for an Endtime when many shall run to & fro & knowledge shall be increased!"
12. "MANY SHALL RUN TO & FRO...": People's means of travel--horse & buggy, wagons, camels, sail boats, etc.--hadn't changed for thousands of years, until just a little over 100 years ago! Until then, man still travelled in the same fashion that Adam travelled!--He walked or rode an animal or something pulled by an animal. But in this very short period of time, mankind has advanced from a state little different from Adam's to one in which a man not only drives at enormous speeds, but flies & even goes to the moon & beyond!
13. PEOPLE TRAVEL MORE TODAY THAN THEY EVER TRAVELLED BEFORE! International tourism is a huge multi-billion dollar business involving over 200 million people travelling outside their own countries every year throughout the World! Within the U.S. alone, over 300 million passengers were carried by domestic commercial airlines in 1979 & over 223,000,000,000 miles were logged by air travellers! The travel industry in the U.S. totalled an income of $250,000,000,000--that's 250 billion dollars--in 1980 alone!
14. WHEN YOU REALISE THAT THERE ARE PEOPLE ALIVE TODAY WHO CAN REMEMBER THE DAYS WHEN THE COMMON MEANS OF TRAVEL WAS HORSEBACK, you'll appreciate how amazingly this prediction about the Endtime has been fulfilled! Cars today can travel at a maximum of 600 mph, planes at 2,000 mph & spaceships at 24,000 mph! A jet can fly around the World in 24 hours, a spacecraft can cover the World in 80 minutes, & in less than one second a radio message can reach the ends of the Earth!
15. 2,600 YEARS AGO ANOTHER PROPHET ACTUALLY FORESAW, "IN THE DAYS OF THE LORD'S PREPARATION" (BEFORE HE RETURNS), OUR MODERN HIGHWAYS & THEIR RACING, RAGING AUTOMOBILES!: "The chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of His preparation, & the fir trees shall be terribly shaken. The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightning's!" (Nahum 2:3,4)
16. NOW IMAGINE HIM SEEING A VISION OF FUTURE HIGHWAYS, our super highways, & scores of cars speeding along with their headlights on at night time!--How would he describe it? He'd never seen or even imagined anything like it before! Cars at night with their headlights must have looked like lightning to him! And they certainly jostle one another in the broad ways!--Thousands of people are killed every year from this jostling, all the auto accidents. In fact, more Americans have suffered in traffic accidents than in all the wars the U.S. has ever fought! In 1978 alone, 52,000 Americans lost their lives in highway accidents. Statistics show that more than 2 million Americans & Canadians have been killed in traffic accidents this century!
17. "AND KNOWLEDGE SHALL BE INCREASED...": Did you know that more has been discovered by science in the last 100 years than had been discovered or invented in the entire previous 6,000 years? Knowledge has been increased within this past hundred years of this Endtime almost beyond imagination!--To the point that machines have now become so complicated, only the best scientists & technicians can even understand them!--To where computers are now even taking over the thinking of man & are able to do feats of calculation & memory & computation & even thinking, far beyond the limits of man's own mind!
18. A FEW YEARS AGO IT WAS ESTIMATED THAT THE SUM TOTAL OF MAN'S KNOWLEDGE WAS DOUBLING EVERY TEN YEARS! But now experts estimate that it takes less than five years for man's store of knowledge to double! It is a known fact that more than 80% of all the scientists who have ever lived are alive today! Medical knowledge is increasing so rapidly that an estimated 70% of the medicines in use today were developed after WW2. Dr. Malcolm Todd, one-time president of the American Medical Association, said that about half of medical knowledge is outdated every 10 years. It is estimated that over 15,000 scientific journals are being published annually & that, throughout the World, more than 1,000 new books are published every day!--Knowledge certainly has been increased!
19. BUT ALTHOUGH MODERN MAN HAS ALL THIS KNOWLEDGE & has made so many amazing scientific discoveries & technological breakthroughs, what good has it done him?--Everybody is still running around like chickens with their heads cut off! The faster the World goes, the faster it's hell-bent for destruction!--And the more gadgets & luxuries with which man tries to find happiness & satisfaction, the more discontented & miserable he becomes!
20. WHILE MUCH OF THE WORLD TOILS TO TRY TO SCRAPE TOGETHER ENOUGH TO EAT FOR ITS MASSIVE POPULATIONS & TO TRY TO SOLVE THE PRESSING PROBLEMS OF WORLD PEACE & POLLUTION, extravagant misguided Western scientific genius is largely devoted to silly scientific toys, loony luxuries, idiotic idols & horrifying, wasteful weapons of war! And although they have the most "advanced" & expensive educational systems the World has ever known, they're turning out the most ignorant & violent children they've ever produced! If you don't believe it, just listen to some of the current "Hard Rock" or "Punk Rock", so-called "music" that is popular with today's youth!--Or ask the Police Department of any large metropolitan area which age-group is having the largest upsurge in violent crime!
21. "THE WISE MEN ARE ASHAMED, THEY ARE DISMAYED & TAKEN: LO, THEY HAVE REJECTED THE WORD OF THE LORD; & WHAT WISDOM IS IN THEM?" (Jer.8:9) If these modern teachers, professors & educators have rejected God & His Word, what wisdom is in them? What have they got left?--Nothing!--"Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools!" (Rom.1:22) They, as Jesus said, are "blind leaders of the blind," & both they & their pitiful followers are going to fall into the ditch! (Mt.15:14)
22. YES, "KNOWLEDGE" HAS "INCREASED", but without God & without His Word things are so confusing, so complicated, so complex, that by the time they complete their modern education, most people are more mixed-up than when they began! Though their heads are stuffed with facts & figures, bursting with knowledge, they don't know how to use it for any useful purpose.--What the Hell good is it all if they have no excuse for existence, no purpose in life, & no love of God & fellow man! Unwittingly, they've fulfilled another prophecy about this last generation: "This know also, in the Last Days, men shall be ever learning & never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth!" (2Ti.3:1,7)--What a picture of today's universities & hallowed halls of so-called "higher learning"!
23. SO YOU ARE LIVING IN A VERY UNUSUAL DAY!--A lot of amazing things are going on, but a lot of sad things too. "But oh," you say, "how wonderful & modern things are today!--All these modern inventions & all the various forms of transportation & comfort & luxury & all these marvels & miracles of man & science!--Isn't this a marvellous age?" Yes! It's an amazing age!--Just about to blow itself completely off the Earth! Man has finally figured out how to blow up himself & the Earth completely!
24. ANOTHER STRIKINGLY FULFILLED PROPHECY REGARDING THE TIME-PERIOD IMMEDIATELY BEFORE JESUS RETURNS IS FOUND IN 2 THESSALONIANS, CHAPTER 2: "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (of Christ's Second Coming) shall not come, except there come a falling away first!" (2Th.2:3) In the original Greek this means a great apostasy, a cooling off, a "falling away" must happen first. Has this happened today?--Of even so-called Christians? Are many cooling off & falling away from the church & from Christ & from God in indifference?--Yes!
25. I DON'T THINK THERE'S EVER BEEN A TIME IN THE WORLD'S HISTORY WHEN THERE'S BEEN SUCH A FALLING AWAY AS THERE HAS BEEN WITHIN THE LAST FEW YEARS! Church attendance has gotten so poor in some denominations that they've had to close their doors! I understand they've had to close approximately one-third of all the churches in England because of lack of attendance!--That's what I call a falling away!--A real falling out with the Lord & the church! There has been a tremendous decrease in church attendance Worldwide! Even the Catholic Church is having a hard time getting new priests.
26. THERE'S A GREAT FALLING AWAY TAKING PLACE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD TODAY BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF, loss of faith in God, loss of faith in His Creation, & loss of faith in the Bible. When have you ever heard of such an age of sceptics & agnostics & unbelievers & just downright atheists against God?--A horrible falling away! But the worst & most pitiful of all is the falling away of Christians themselves, believers themselves.
27. ENTIRE COUNTRIES OF FORMER CHRISTIANITY, SO-CALLED CHRISTENDOM, HAVE ABANDONED THEIR FAITH FOR THE FALSE TEACHING OF EVOLUTION, for which there is no foundation in proven fact whatsoever, just pure theories, lies, fantasy & guesswork! That is the basic teaching which has replaced Christianity: Evolution, which is the survival of the fittest, dog-eat-dog & might is right! So what's happened to the former Christian faith?--It's out the window, even out the windows of many churches! Thanks largely to Charles Darwin & his evolutionary "doctrine of devils" (1Ti.4:1), in the past 100 years the so-called Christian world has turned around & denied its own faith, lost its aim, its purpose & its excuse for existence!
28. BY ABANDONING GOD, THE BIBLE & CHRISTIANITY & PUTTING NOTHING IN ITS PLACE EXCEPT THE ANIMALISTIC, CANNIBALISTIC RELIGION OF EVOLUTION, the result has been total anarchy & chaos! After all, if there is no Creator nor Creation, then life is just a meaningless, chaotic process of Evolution! If there's no God, then there's no Ruler. And if there's no Ruler, then there are no rules! And if there are no rules or laws, then nothing is either right or wrong! They say--
29. "A MONKEY IS YOUR GOD & YOU MIGHT AS WELL 'DO YOUR OWN THING' & DO AS YOU PLEASE.--Kill & rob or do whatever you want to do! It doesn't matter! Nothing's right! Nothing's wrong! It's merely relative & blah blah blah blah!" No wonder they're coming out of school today like little savages!--Total savages! Back to the jungle!--The asphalt jungle! "Me first, & to Hell with the rest of you!!"
30. THE LATE U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE, FREDERICK MOORE, SUMMED THINGS UP PERFECTLY WHEN HE SAID, "NOTHING IS MORE CERTAIN IN MODERN SOCIETY THAN THE PRINCIPLE THAT THERE ARE NO ABSOLUTES!" To abandon the Ruler they had to throw away all the rules, & the result is total anarchy! To abandon the One Who gives the orders they had to abandon order, & the result is total chaos! To get rid of God they had to get rid of the absolutes--the right & the wrong & the meaning & the reason for things--& the result is total insanity, madness!
31. DO YOU KNOW WHICH AGE GROUP HAS HAD THE BIGGEST INCREASE IN CRIME INVOLVEMENT TODAY? Fifteen is now the age of the largest increase of arrests for all kinds of crimes, including major crimes. In 1979, over 1,607,000 15-year-olds & under were arrested in the U.S., according to FBI & Department of Justice reports. The age group of criminal involvement has been gradually going down the scale. When I was a young man it was in the 20's, 24 as I recall, now it's gone clear down to 15! Why?--Because they've taken God & the Bible & Jesus & religion out of the public schools & out of education! "For they have sown the wind, & they shall reap the whirlwind!" (Hos.8:7)
32. YOU CANNOT HAVE ANY KIND OF ORDER WITHOUT SOME KIND OF MORAL BASIS, a code of conduct, a sense of right & wrong, of good & evil, of what's right to do & what you shouldn't do. A psychiatric doctor in an Atlanta hospital rightly asserts, "Crime will continue to increase as restraints on behaviour are weakened. With the decline of religion, with the decline of tradition, with the loss of family structure, the crime rate is headed for double digit figures."
33. SO THINGS ARE NOT GETTING BETTER & BETTER, AS EVOLUTION PURPORTS! The Bible predicts just the opposite!--"In the Last Days, evil men & seducers shall wax worse & worse, deceiving & being deceived!" (2Ti.3:1,13) In fact, Jesus Himself said that "as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be when the Son of Man comes again." (Mt.24:37) Well, how were things in the days of Noah?--The World was so bad that God was sorry He had even made it, sorry He had even made man. Think of it! It says in Genesis, "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the Earth, & that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Earth also was corrupt before God, & the Earth was filled with violence." (Ge.6:5,11)
34. IS THE WORLD FULL OF VIOLENCE TODAY? In the U.S., violent crime has risen by 1,600% in the past 20 years!--Costing an estimated $12,000,000,000 annually! The Surgeon General reports that "violence in all its forms, from murder to child-&-wife-beating, is now the nation's number 1 public health problem."
35. EXPERTS HAVE CALCULATED THAT BY THE TIME THE AVERAGE AMERICAN CHILD IS 15 YEARS OLD, HE WILL HAVE WITNESSED THE VIOLENT DESTRUCTION OF MORE THAN 13,000 HUMAN BEINGS ON TELEVISION!--And yet they wonder, "Where did we go wrong?" when their teenage darlings wind up in jail! In one week, the following acts were observed on television during children's viewing time: On the 185 programs viewed, there were 281 assaults, 117 killings, 19 robberies, 16 kidnappings, 10 murder conspiracies, 3 arsons, 3 extortion's, 3 jail breaks, 1 lynching, 1 bombing & 1 suicide! On the average station there are 800 acts of violence per week!--It's hard to imagine that even "the days of Noah" were as violence-filled as those in which we are now living!
36. IN ANOTHER PROPHECY RELATED TO HIS "DAYS OF NOAH" PREDICTION REGARDING WORLD CONDITIONS & TRENDS IMMEDIATELY BEFORE HIS RETURN, Jesus said, "Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire & brimstone from Heaven & destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed." (Lk.17:28-30)
37. WELL, JUST LIKE THE ANCIENT WICKED CITIES OF SODOM & GOMORRAH, TODAY'S WORLD IS JUST FULL OF SODOMITES, "men with men working that which is unseemly" (Rom.1:27), & Sodomy, or male-homosexuality, has swept across the civilised World! The laws of man are beginning to tolerate & even encourage it, while countless films, recordings & entertainers are openly flaunting & promoting it--which is another reason why God is going to have to step in soon! "And I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of Judgement, than for these!" (Mt.11:24)
38. "AND BECAUSE INIQUITY SHALL ABOUND, THE LOVE OF MANY SHALL WAX COLD." (Mt.24:12) With today's totally selfish & self-indulgent "me generation", this prophecy by Jesus about the Endtime certainly is being fulfilled! Iniquity abounds more than it ever has in the World's history, like the days of Noah, & no one can deny that the love between so many people has certainly grown cold. Another passage of Scripture regarding this is found in 2Timothy 3:
39. "THIS KNOW ALSO, THAT IN THE LAST DAYS PERILOUS TIMES SHALL COME. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." (2Ti.3:1-5)
40. THEY WERE ALSO "WITHOUT NATURAL AFFECTION" IN THE DAYS OF NOAH, BEFORE THE FLOOD.--So much so that it was a common practice for mothers to "cause their children to pass through the fire." (Lev.18:21; Ps.106:36-40) This is referring to their practice of offering up their babies to the devil-god, Moloch, a huge idol which had moveable arms, hinged at the elbows, & a big yawning mouth with a huge fire built inside. They'd offer the babies to this idol, placing them on its open hands, & the priest of Moloch behind the idol would turn a lever or pull a rope & the baby would be thrown into the idol's mouth, alive, into the fire!--No wonder the Lord wiped them out in the flood of His judgements!
41. WELL, THEY'RE DOING IT AGAIN TODAY! Only now in our "enlightened" modern generation they're doing it with knives!--Abortion is one of the major sins of this generation! God says, "In thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these!" (Jer.2:34) They are killing them now by the tens of thousands, murdering their own children because they just don't want to have to take care of them! In 1978 nearly 30% of all pregnancies in the United States were terminated by legal abortions. This is an increase of almost double over a period of seven years! And according to the U.N. Fund for Population Activities, for every five births in the World there are now two abortions.--People today are not only "without natural affection", but they have absolutely no respect for the sanctity of life, the holiness of life, God-given life, & are murdering little babies while they're still in the stomachs of their mothers!--How horrible!
42. "AND THERE SHALL BE SIGNS IN THE SUN, & IN THE MOON, & IN THE STARS; & upon the Earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea & the waves roaring." (Lk.21:25) The peoples of the Earth are often likened unto the sea & the waves in the Bible. (Is.57:20,21) So here He's actually speaking symbolically of the peoples & nations of the World--their wars & rumours of wars & rebellions & riots & terrorism--the waves of their various wars & conflicts & uprisings.--"The sea & the waves roaring" meaning the whole World & its peoples are uprising & roaring & there's chaos!
43. IS THIS HAPPENING TODAY?--Every time you turn on the television, it roars! Every time you turn on the radio, you can hear the waves of a new war roaring, a new riot, a new rebellion, a new revolution, more terrorism, more strikes, more problems.--Terrible things!--The sea of the peoples of the Earth, roaring in the Last Days!
44. "AND MEN'S HEARTS FAILING THEM FOR FEAR, & FOR LOOKING AFTER THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE COMING ON THE EARTH." (Lk.21:26) Do you know what is the greatest cause of death in the Western world today?--Heart failure! The "World Almanac" tells us that in 1980, 566,000 Americans died from heart attacks, & approximately 1-1/2 million Americans have a heart attack every year! Over 37 million Americans suffer from hypertension, which is nearly 1 out of every 4 adults in the U.S., & more than 20 million have headaches severe enough to require medical help each year.
45. I CAN REMEMBER, WHEN I WAS YOUNGER, THE DAYS WHEN PEOPLE WERE NOT LIVING IN FEAR & TERROR!--They might have been living in poverty & destitution & sometimes hungry, but they didn't live in fear & terror of getting murdered on the street or being annihilated with an atom bomb in a nuclear war! But ever since World War II & the U.S.' nuclear annihilation of over 100,000 innocent people in Hiroshima & Nagasaki, Japan, it seemed like almost everybody abandoned their faith in God. They lost their faith in peace, had the atom bomb, got scared stiff of blowing themselves to Hell, & still are!
46. THE WORLD'S ATTITUDE IS NOW DISILLUSIONMENT, CYNICISM, SCEPTICISM, PESSIMISM & LOSS OF FAITH, terrific loss of faith in God, & loss of faith even in science, which had been the sacred cow that they worshipped, that they thought could solve everything. But the atomic bomb put a pin in their balloon & showed that the scientists themselves had created one of the World's greatest problems: The awesome spectre of a nuclear holocaust & the World's most horrendous war!
47. ANOTHER PREDICTION REGARDING THE ENDTIME WHICH HAS FOUND OBVIOUS FULFILMENT HAS TO DO WITH THE TREMENDOUS & UNPRECEDENTED UPSURGE & INTEREST IN THE OCCULT, psychic phenomena, spiritism, demonology & witchcraft which the World is experiencing today: "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the Latter Times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits & doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron." (1Ti.4:1,2)
48. IN THESE LAST DAYS THE DEVIL'S REALLY ON THE JOB & HE'S VERY VERY BUSY. There are all kinds of weird religions which are attracting wide followings nowadays, particularly amongst the youth. In the absence of any spiritual reality in the hypocritical, fake religions of their parents (even so-called Christians), many young people have, in their pursuit of genuine spirituality & real religion & the actual supernatural & miraculous, gone into ancient mysticism, drugs & the spirit world.
49. OF COURSE, IF PEOPLE HAVE REJECTED & REFUSED TO RECEIVE THE GOSPEL, THE TRUTH, GOD'S WORD SAYS THAT GOD HIMSELF WILL THEN SEND THEM STRONG DELUSION that they might believe a lie! (2Th.2:10-12) When people refuse the Truth, there is nothing left for them to believe but a lie, so they are then wide open for the liars & the false prophets. And now the youth from so-called Christian backgrounds are following many modern-day false prophets by the millions! "For many false prophets shall rise, & shall deceive many!" (Mt.24:11)
50. BECAUSE PEOPLE HAVE REJECTED GOD & HIS TRUTH, HE'S ALLOWING THE OCCULT & THE SATANIC TO TAKE OVER, LIKE PANDORA'S BOX! It is estimated that there are at least 100 million Americans who dabble in some form of black magic & there are over 10,000 practising witches in the United States.--Over 2 million Ouija boards are now sold annually. Statistics show that occult book sales have doubled in the last four years, & although the Bible & prayer have been officially banned & outlawed from U.S. public schools, thousands of these same schools are teaching credited courses in witchcraft & the occult!--Again, all of this is a part of the "falling away first" preceding Christ's Second Coming!
51. BESIDES THESE COMMONLY RECOGNISED DEMONIC MEDIUMS BY WHICH "SEDUCING SPIRITS IN THE LATTER TIMES" SEDUCE & DECEIVE SO MANY, the Enemy in recent years has raised his ugly head & literally roared his message loud & clear through another medium: Popular Music!--"Acid Rock", "Hard Rock", "Punk Rock", "New Wave", etc. have deceived youth particularly & misled them into the horrors of drugs & Hell! Much of the music is literally demonic, it invokes demons & seduces people to yield to their influence! It puts many people in tune with Satan, to where they get his messages & carry out his will, his diabolical design! Much of its jungle rhythms & screaming savages are the sounds of horror, the sounds of Hell, tortured souls with tortured minds producing tortured music that's literally driving this generation insane! No wonder the Lord's going to have to come soon!--The whole World's going crazy!
52. ANOTHER MAJOR SIGN OF THE VERY END PREDICTED IN THE BIBLE IS REGARDING A GREAT ONE-WORLD GOVERNMENT, LED BY A POWERFUL SUPER-HUMAN ANTICHRIST DICTATOR, which is going to arise in the Last Days of man's rule on Earth just before Christ returns to take over. The World's going to have to have a tough dictator to rule a tough people! When lawlessness becomes rampant, like the total chaos & anarchy we see developing today, it will be necessary to have a really tough totalitarian dictatorship to get things under control!
53. REGARDING THIS SOON-COMING DEVIL-POSSESSED ANTICHRIST DICTATOR, THE APOSTLE PAUL WROTE: "Now we beseech you by the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, & by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, as that the day of Christ is at hand. (Back then, 2,000 years ago!) Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (of Christ's Second Coming) shall not come, except there come a falling away first (we already covered this), & that man of sin be revealed, the Son of Perdition; who opposeth & exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God, showing himself that he is God." (2Th.2:1-4)
54. IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION, THIS ANTICHRIST & HIS GOVERNMENT ARE REFERRED TO AS "THE GREAT RED BEAST", whom all the World will wonder after & finally worship! (Rev.13) Now everything the Bible has predicted has always come true, always!--Everything that was prophesied about all the various World empires down through History has all come true, so we know this last government of man will also come to pass. According to Scriptures which we will study in detail later in this book, the Antichrist will reign for seven years: The first half will be a more-or-less general World peace as he consolidates his power & establishes his kingdom, & the second half will be 3-1/2 years of "Great Tribulation" such as the World has never known!
55. THE BIBLE GIVES US SEVERAL SPECIFIC CLUES & GLIMPSES INTO THIS FINAL GREAT ONE-WORLD GOVERNMENT'S POLICIES & METHODS TO HELP US RECOGNISE IT WHEN IT ARRIVES. And although a later chapter of this book is devoted entirely to studying the Antichrist & his rise to power, we felt some of these Scriptures should be called to your attention now, as they are definitely "signs of the times" whose fulfilment's are unfolding before our eyes today.--Consider the following prophecy about the Antichrist's policies, & see if any of it sounds familiar:
56. "HE SHALL COME IN PEACEABLY, AND OBTAIN THE KINGDOM BY FLATTERIES. He shall work deceitfully & he shall become strong with a small people. He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; & he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, & spoil, & riches: yea, & he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time. And he shall divide the land for gain." (Da.11:21,23,24,39)
57. "ENTER PEACEABLY UPON THE FATTEST PLACES OF THE PROVINCE...": This government or System will enter peaceably upon the land, the fattest & richest places, without even a war! Who is it that has taken over many countries without firing a shot, without a war, without even civil war, without even guerrillas in a lot of places? What political ideology has swept the globe & already conquered over half of the World without firing a shot, just conquering people's minds & hearts with propaganda, peaceably with flatteries, & coming in & scattering the prey & dividing up the spoil & sharing the wealth etc., just like it says here in the Bible?--Communism!
58. AND WHAT WILL THE ANTICHRIST'S ECONOMIC POLICY BE?: "HE SHALL DIVIDE THE LAND FOR GAIN." What is one of the greatest economic problems of the World today in nearly every country?--The rich own most of the land, a very small minority of people own a very large majority of the land. And a very very large majority of "small people" have little or no land. And this is one of the stock economic policies of communism--to take the land away from the rich & divide it amongst the poor!
59. RIGHT NOW IN SOCIALIST COUNTRIES, THEY'RE TAKING THE GIGANTIC ESTATES OF THE RICH & DIVIDING THEM UP AMONGST THE POOR, something they should have done a long time ago, something the Christians should have done, something the Church should have done with their gigantic multi-billion-dollar properties! They should have divided their land so that the poor would gain! But they didn't, & this is what the Antichrist is going to take advantage of & how he is going to work & how he is going to gain popularity & "become strong with the small people."--And this is one of the ways you'll be able to recognise him, & the way that God intended for you to recognise his government, his kind of politics & his kind of economics, which are already in the World today & already functioning under Communist & Socialist governments throughout the World.
60. "HE SHALL DO THAT WHICH HIS FATHERS HAVE NOT DONE, NOR HIS FATHERS' FATHERS...": Very few World conquerors, kings, tyrants or invaders have gone into a country & then divided the land & divided the riches amongst the people of that country, taken it away from the rich & given it to the poor. But that's what the Communists have done & are doing today! Not many of their fathers or their fathers' fathers ever did it! Most conquerors came in & slaughtered both rich & poor & gathered all the wealth & the riches for themselves & took it home with them! But this final World conqueror is going to scatter the prey & divide the spoil & the riches, something very unusual that has rarely been done before.
61. "YEA, & HE SHALL FORECAST HIS DEVICES AGAINST THE STRONG HOLDS, EVEN FOR A TIME." Aren't the Communists & Russians bragging about what they're going to do to the rest of the World & telling everyone that Communism is going to win in the long run, no matter what? On American television in 1957, Khrushchev "forecast his devices" to the U.S. public by saying, "Whether you like it or not, History is on our side. We will bury you! I can prophesy that your grandchildren in America will live under Socialism!"
62. IN 1925, THE LEADERS OF COMMUNISM FORMULATED PLANS FOR THE CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. In an address at that time, Lenin said, "First we shall take Eastern Europe, then the masses of Asia. After that we shall surround & undermine the United States, which will fall into our hands without a struggle, like an over-ripe fruit!"
63. SO I BELIEVE THAT COMMUNISM IS GOING TO BE THE BASIS OF THE FINAL WORLD GOVERNMENT, because it has all the characteristics ascribed to it in the Bible. Although the word "Communism" does not appear, it is called "red" & all the descriptions of the Antichrist are pictured in the Communist policies of entering through propaganda, flatteries & by peace & by sharing & distributing the wealth, etc.--And Communism certainly fits the Antichrist's philosophy & irreligion & atheism as described in the Bible! Lenin said, "Atheism is a natural & inseparable part of Marxism", & the Soviet ideologist, Zinoviev, stated in 1924, "We will grapple with the Lord God in due season, we shall vanquish Him in His highest Heaven."--Ha!
64. I DON'T SEE HOW WE HAVE TIME FOR ANY OTHER FORM OF WORLD GOVERNMENT TO ARISE! It's taken Communism now a little over 60 years to take over most of the World, & it's a perfect fulfilment of the Biblical description of the anti-Christ type of government!--All it lacks is its World dictator! So I'm personally convinced that Communism is either the Antichrist government itself, as yet lacking its one-World leader, or it is the foundation or beginning of it which he will take over & turn into his World government.
65. AND FROM WHAT THE LORD HAS SHOWN US, IT LOOKS LIKE IT'S GOING TO BE THE THREAT OF NUCLEAR ANNIHILATION THAT'S GOING TO HELP PUT THE ANTICHRIST INTO POWER! The World is beginning to finally wake up to the fact that they simply cannot afford to have another World War--it would be self-destruction, nuclear suicide!--So it's the ideal time for the Antichrist to appear, & by a master stroke of his Satanic genius effect a peace-pact between the World's Superpowers & thereby bring temporary peace & catapult himself into power & fame!
66. THE SCRIPTURES SHOW THAT HE WILL GIVE THE JEWS A 7-YEAR PACT OR COVENANT OF COMPROMISE & RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, & PERMISSION TO REBUILD THEIR TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM. But exactly 3-1/2 years after he has confirmed this religious covenant with the Jews, he suddenly breaks the agreement & wants everybody to worship him as God!--Insists that everybody worship him or be killed! At that point he places the "Abomination of Desolation in the Holy Place", which apparently is his image or idol erected in the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem. (Mt.24:15)
67. JESUS HIMSELF SAID THAT WHEN YOU SHALL SEE THIS ANTICHRIST'S IMAGE, THIS ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION STANDING IN THE JEWISH TEMPLE, then will begin the last 3-1/2 years of man's rule on Earth, a time of "Great Tribulation"! That's going to be the first sign that you're nearing the very End, the last 42 months of this Age, & you'll know that you're only 3-1/2 years from the Coming of Jesus! He says that then shall begin the Great Tribulation, the last 3-1/2 years of man's History, the last half of the 7-year reign of the Antichrist. Jesus said that after that Tribulation, you'll then see the sign of the Coming of the Lord in the air!
68. "WHEN YE THEREFORE SHALL SEE THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION, SPOKEN OF BY DANIEL THE PROPHET, STAND IN THE HOLY PLACE, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the World to this time, no, nor ever shall be." (Mt.24:15,21)
69. "IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE TRIBULATION OF THOSE DAYS SHALL THE SUN BE DARKENED, & THE MOON SHALL NOT GIVE HER LIGHT, & the stars shall fall from Heaven, & the powers of the Heavens shall be shaken." And now finally, the final sign of the very End, "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven: & then shall all the tribes of the Earth mourn, & they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of Heaven with power & great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, & they shall gather together His elect (His Church) from the four winds, from one end of Heaven to the other!" (Mt.24:29-31) Hallelujah!--The glorious Second Coming of Jesus Christ to resurrect & rapture His Own!
70. IN THE NEXT VERSE OF THIS BEAUTIFUL, PROPHETIC, "SIGNS OF THE END" CHAPTER OF MATTHEW 24, Jesus very simply & plainly tells us more about how we can tell when these final, tremendous, Earth-shaking events are about to happen: "Now learn a parable of the fig tree; when his branch is yet tender, & putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." (Mt.24:32,33) He said that just as you see the blossoms of the trees & the flowers & you know that summer is coming soon, so you'll know that His Coming is very near when you see these different events which we've already covered here come to pass. You say, "Well, most of them don't sound like blossoms & flowers to me! They sound more like thorns & thistles & briars & horrors!"--Not for us who love Jesus!
71. EVERY SIGN THAT APPEARS, NO MATTER HOW BAD IT MAY LOOK TO THE WORLD OR HOW HORRIBLE IT MAY SEEM TO BE, IS ANOTHER BLOSSOM! Every sign of the soon-coming of Jesus is another flower! Every bit of news we read in the newspapers that shows the End is near, to us is good news! No matter how bad it seems, it's good news, because we know it's got to get very bad first before it can get very good. So every bit of bad news to us is good news, because we know the worse it gets, the sooner it's going to get better & the sooner Jesus is going to return!
72. TO US, ALL OF THESE SIGNS ARE FLOWERS & BLOSSOMS & BEAUTIFUL FULFILMENTS OF HIS PROPHECIES & SIGNS OF HIS SOON-COMING!--Signs of the Summer that is near, of the beautiful Golden Age, the Springtime of the Coming of Jesus & the springing up of His flowers from the Earth, "the dead in Christ that shall rise first"! (1Th.4:16)--The Resurrection! What is Spring like?--It's like a resurrection! Throughout the horrible Winter it seems like everything is dead, but as that great sun begins to appear & it grows warmer day by day, things begin to spring from the Earth! That which seemed to be dead arises & there's a resurrection of the Earth in the Springtime!--Because the Sun is coming!
73. "AND WHEN THESE THINGS BEGIN TO COME TO PASS"--when you see these things happen, even when they begin to come to pass, what does He tell us to do?--"Then look up, & lift up your heads!" Don't be discouraged, don't look down! Don't do what Peter did, don't look down at the waves & start to sink!--"Look up!" Hallelujah! "And lift up your heads, for your redemption"--your salvation--"draweth nigh!" (Lk.21:28) Praise God! When all these terribly bad things begin to happen, start looking up, because Jesus is coming soon! PTL!
74. "SO LIKEWISE YE, WHEN YE SHALL SEE ALL THESE THINGS"--He wasn't talking to His disciples back then, 2,000 years ago, He's talking to us! He wasn't talking to them then, because they didn't see all these things being fulfilled! But He says, "Ye, when ye shall see all these things come to pass!"--You! Right now! You who are living in the Endtime in these Last Days! He says, "When you see all these things, verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled!" (Mt.24:33,34)--This generation! Your generation will not pass away till all these things are fulfilled!
75. IN OTHER WORDS, THE CURTAIN HAS BEEN DRAWN ASIDE ON THE LAST SCENE OF EARTH'S GREAT DRAMA, & the act has begun & it cannot stop now! It is impossible! It will keep right on going, fulfilling these promises of the Word of God until all these things be fulfilled! Our generation, which is seeing the beginning of all these things coming to pass right now, shall not pass away until all of these things shall be fulfilled! Think of it!
76. ALL OF THE SIGNS ARE POINTING TO THE END! And from all we can gather from His Word & what the Lord has shown us, the Antichrist is going to appear within the next few years, months or even weeks or days! So to say the least, we're living in very exciting times & there are soon going to be some very big global changes made!
77. THE WHOLE THING IS COMING TO A HEAD SOON, Hell-bent on a crash course to catastrophe & the end of man's foolish, wasteful, wanton, destructive rule on Earth!--Waste, pollution, over-population, starvation, monetary crises, energy crises, economic disaster, political chaos, the Great Confusion, the Arab-Israeli War, the collapse &/or destruction of America, the rise of the Antichrist one-World government, the invasion & conquest of Israel, WW III, the Great Tribulation, ending with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to establish His loving, Heavenly Kingdom on Earth!
78. IT'S ALL RIGHT HERE IN THE BIBLE!--And it has to be soon, because none of these situations can last much longer! And if you don't believe us or the Bible, listen to what just a few of the World's many non-religious secular humanists have to say--some of the highest-ranking members of this planet's managerial class, who have the weight of scientific data & statistics to back them up:
79. "I THINK HUMAN LIFE IS NOW THREATENED AS NEVER BEFORE IN THE HISTORY OF THIS PLANET! Not just by one peril, but by many perils that are all working together & coming to a head at the same time. And that time lies very close to the year 2,000. I am one of those scientists who find it hard to see how the human race is to bring itself much past the year 2,000."--Dr. George Wald, Nobel Prize-winning scientist, Harvard University.
80. "WE ARE ABOARD A TRAIN WHICH IS GATHERING SPEED, RACING DOWN A TRACK in which there is an unknown number of switches leading to unknown destinations. No single scientist is in the engine cab & there may be demons at the switch! Most of society is in the caboose--looking backward!"--Scientist member of the prestigious "Club of Rome" socio-economic group.
81. KURT WALDHEIM, while Secretary General of the U.N., said, "I do not wish to seem overdramatic, but I can only conclude from the information that is available to me as Secretary General that the members of the United Nations have perhaps 10 years left in which to subordinate their ancient quarrels & launch a global partnership to curb the arms race, to improve the human environment, to diffuse the population explosion, & to supply the required momentum to World development efforts. The alternative is a situation beyond our capacity to control!"
82. --AND THE AMAZING THING ABOUT THESE & MANY OTHER PREDICTIONS OF WOE BY VARIOUS EXPERTS is that nearly all of them wind up at just about the same time the Lord showed us that things are going to come to an End! So needless to say, I am convinced that the real time of the End that His Word speaks of from cover to cover is these last few years in which we are now living! According to His Word, we are already living in the time of The End!
83. BUT MOST PEOPLE NEVER SEEM TO SENSE IMPENDING DOOM OR THINGS THAT ARE ABOUT TO HAPPEN UNTIL IT'S TOO LATE.--They just don't seem to be aware of the situation. It reminds me of what Jesus said to the Scribes & Pharisees: "Ye can discern the face of the sky, but can ye not discern the signs of the times?" (Mt.16:3) Even a lot of Christians seem to be knowledgeable on almost every other subject, but the really important events that are happening & the major things that are changing, they just don't seem to understand!
84. MOST PEOPLE JUST STILL GO ON, BUSINESS AS USUAL, NO MATTER HOW MUCH WE WARN THEM OR NO MATTER WHAT IS HAPPENING!--Unwittingly, they themselves are a fulfilment of another Endtime prophecy: "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the Last Days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, & saying, Where is the promise of His Coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation." (2Pe.3:3,4)--In other words, "Everything's the same! There's no danger! Business as usual!"
85. AND JUST LIKE JESUS SAID ABOUT THE DAYS OF NOAH, "THEY BUILDED & THEY PLANTED & THEY MARRIED & WERE GIVEN IN MARRIAGE, & KNEW NOT UNTIL THE FLOOD CAME & SWEPT THEM ALL AWAY! SO SHALL ALSO THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN BE." (Mt.24:37-39)--Most people today are just going on, business as usual! "Oh, they've been preaching this business about Jesus coming for centuries & He hasn't come yet!" Well, He is coming & He's coming very soon, & you'd better be prepared by having Him in your heart & believing in Him, or you're apt to be swept away with the rest of the scoffers & procrastinators in the horrible flood of the judgements of God that are going to be poured out after Jesus returns!
86. NOAH PREACHED TO THOSE WICKED UNBELIEVING PEOPLE OF THAT HORRIBLE WICKED WORLD FOR 120 YEARS BEFORE THE FLOOD, & they never repented! They were probably waiting to see if it was really going to rain, if it was really going to happen, then maybe they'd climb on board with him. In the meantime, they just laughed, sneered, jeered & persecuted him & his sons as they worked on that ship for 120 years! Then they finally went in, & it says that God shut the door (Gen.7:16) so that nobody else could enter. And by the time it started to rain & rain & rain & rain & began to flood, it was too late for that wicked generation who were left behind to drown in the flood of their own iniquity!
87. IF YOU PUT SALVATION OFF & expect maybe when it's proved to you that all these things are going to happen, then maybe you'll believe it, then maybe you'll receive it, then maybe you'll get saved, let me tell you, it's going to be too late! "He that being often reproved & hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, & that without remedy!" (Pr.29:1)
88. THE ONLY HOPE IS JESUS & THE ONLY WAY OUT IS UP!--He said, "I am the Way, the Truth, & the Life: No man cometh unto the Father but by Me." (Jn.14:6) He loves you & will forgive your sins & give you His Love, His joy & His peace if you will just humble yourself & pray, asking Him into your heart! So receive Jesus today & prepare for His Coming by serving Him & telling others about His Love!--So that He may say to you, "Well done, thou good & faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!" (Mt.25:21)--God bless & keep you till then!
References
The paragraph numbers of the "Signs of the Times!" compilation are listed below, giving the original ML or RD references where their contents may be found, all unlisted paragraphs are either Bible verses or secular information, the sources of which are given in the text. -Some are still unpublished!
1. 1506:1
2. 1498:157
3. 1241:13
4. 1504:5
9. 1508:25; 906:7
10. 1364:45; 1504:9; RD861:3
11. 1499:47
12. BP4:17
13. RD413:5
15,16. RD413:6; 1502:77
17. 1499:47,48
19. 19. BP4:17; RD369:2
20. 258:48,49
21. RD844:8; RD228:22
22. RD228:20; RD873:4; RD231:41
23. RD369:2; 1506:38
24. RD855:13
25,26. 1515:68,69
27. 1283:135; 204:9,10
28. 1283:143; 376:8,19
29. 1283:144
30. 376:25
31. BP10:16
32. 1283:137
33. 736:53; BP1:9
37. 1175:27
38. RD861:1
40,41. RD592:8; 736:72; RD346:18,19
42. 1507:45; 939:39
43,44. 1507:46,47
45. RD118:2; 802:14;
46. RD118:3,4
47,48. 337A:17; E:11
49. RD228:105, 106
50. 536:68
51. RD264:28,29; 326:40; 1318:4; RD625:5
52. 245:16; 898:10
54. RD43:19; 1496:17
55. 1495:87
57. 1495:6; 1494:135
58. BP4:3
59. 1498:100,108
60. 1494:93,94
61. 1494:97
63. 272:46; 1497:18
64. BP4:4
65. 1518:62,7
66. RD88:34,35; 654:32
67. 1515:47
70-72. 1506:27-30
73. 1507:49,50
74. 1506:45
75. 1508:20
76. 767:28; 937:95
77,78. 281:37,38
82. 937:126; 275:124
83. 916:44
84. 875:38;
85. 875:38; 1506:68
86,87. 1203:95,96
88. RD880:2
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
