Jesus told His followers to be watching for signs of the End of the Age. First, He gave them a list of the signs of the season - the kinds of signs that make one wake out of slumber and begin to pay attention. These signs are more general, and in some respect have happened for the last 2,000 years, causing many to think their time was the time. Jesus warned His followers that when they see the signs of the season that 'the end is not yet' and 'does not come immediately.' Things will be really horrible, and people will think that the world is about to end as everything on earth is unravelling. But some time, albeit a few years, will still need to pass. Make no mistake, by saying 'the end is not yet', Jesus was not saying it could still be 50 years off, but rather, that these things have to take place first, and then the specific signs, which will occur right before the end, will happen. The kicker about the signs before that final season, is that these signs will be simultaneous and worldwide resulting in complete collapse in every sector and the death of 1/4 of the earth. Some have suggested that 1/4 is referring to those living on 1/4 of the earth by land mass and others have postulated that this means population. In either case, the number will be unimaginably devastating and something never seen before.
This situation will bring rise to circumstances forcing the entire world to be in great need of everything. Then the specific signs will occur that Jesus called the 'signs of the End of the Age'. These signs will be dramatic, show-stopping and un-mistakable to the point that everyone in the world will acknowledge in words and actions that Jesus is coming.
Jesus told us to watch for both the seemingly general signs of the season as well as the specific signs of the time of the End of the Age, because those who face those terrible times will need the assurance of His coming as they watch the events unfold, one by one, just like He said.
Do you know what these signs are?
Do you see any of them possibly taking shape in our world today?
1) SUBVERSION
The End will begin to take shape in a time of a million voices. There will be numerous competing messages seeking to take hold of people's attention and allegiances. It will be a time of 'false christs' (people coming to save you) and 'false prophets (people telling you who to follow). The greatest human deceiver of all time will begin his work behind the scenes maneuvering his way through the middle east and eventually to grab the attention and allegiance of the world. He will make a seven year agreement with the people of Israel, that he will break with an astounding betrayal half-way through, culminating in the attempted genocide of Jews, Christians and any who don't align with him. Daniel spoke of this 'covenant' in both its creation and destruction, though Jesus and John only focused on its destruction, causing some to wonder if the beginning will be known by the world at large, or only by those in secret. If the latter is true, then the Seven Years could begin, and the world begin to unravel, before the vast majority of the world has even begun to pay attention.
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2) ISRAEL
The 'covenant' that the deceiver breaks with Israel will lead to the 'abomination of desolation standing in the holy place' and the end of sacrifices and offerings. The Holy Place is a special place where God dwelt in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. The deceptive leader will place himself there to be worshiped instead. The people of Israel would bring worship to God through sacrifices and offerings there. The problem is that today, only the Temple Mount - the foundation, and not the Temple itself, exists in Jerusalem. The customary sacrifices do not happen there because the top is controlled by worshipers of Islam. Sometime before or, at the very least during, the first half of the Seven Years, Jewish worship of God with sacrifices and offerings will be reinstated on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The Jewish Temple itself may very well be built or at least in the construction stage during these years as well.
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3) WORLD WAR
While there have been World Wars in the past, none of these quite fit the description given by Jesus. The Bible says that 'nation will rise against nation' (ethnicities) and 'kingdom against kingdom'. This means people will be divided on both racial and national lines. Revelation says that 'peace will be taken from the earth.' Everyone will be impacted. Not a single nation, state, island, town or individual will be unaffected. There will be war within nations and families and friends. This will give rise to a desire for peace and unity that a world leader will rise to offer. People will be desperate, and they will come together in allegiance to him for a short-lived false peace.
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4) ECONOMIC COLLAPSE
The monetary systems and economies of the world today are inextricably entwined together. If one major currency collapses, then every one will fall, stock markets will plummet, trade will cease, shipping and trucking and supply chains will come to a screeching halt. Farms will stop growing food. Most of the world lives under a just-in-time mindset and doesn't have enough food to get them through the week. They are unprepared for a halt in production. The picture the Bible gives concerning this time is of massive inflation where food is rationed out at great prices because there simply won't be enough. The world leader will seize this opportunity to create a worldwide economic system that can only be accessed by those who take a physical mark of allegiance to him on/in their body, that will enable them to buy and sell what they need to to be able to take care of their families. But to take this mark of allegiance will mean siding with evil against God, and will only provide relief from scarcity for a short time.
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5) PANDEMICS
The worldwide war and economic collapse will bring a halt to all infrastructure. This means utilities such as clean running water, plumbing for waste, trash removal, medical staff and supplies, emergency services and heat will cease to exist. Everyone everywhere will be on their own. Sanitation will be gone, so disease will spread through water, air, surfaces and trash piles quickly. Lack of nutritious food and starvation will weaken immune systems and pandemics will run rampant as there will be no medical staff, facilities or supplies capable of taking on the needs of so many. This grave situation will lead to the death of millions, or even billions. The Antichrist, seeming like a savior, will offer a new system, where the whole world can come back on line again, but not as free humanity, rather, in exchange for direct connection to him. Because his solution will have a biological component, it makes sense that he will be offering solutions not only to infrastructure, but to global health through this techno-biological connection to him as well.
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6) ONE WORLD SYSTEM
Whether seen or unseen, the deceptive leader-the Antichrist, is not portrayed in the Bible simply as an opportunist. He doesn't randomly come up with great ideas of how to fix the global collapse. He is, behind the scenes, the instigator. He causes the devastation so that he can bring about a world system entirely under his control. He will desire every human being to be not only indebted to him, but physically tied into his system. It is his 'mark' in the hand or forehead of a person that keeps them alive by plugging them into him through some kind of biological and technological convergence. The Antichrist will know who has his mark, so it will have tracking capabilities. And people will use it to connect with their bank accounts, stores, and other people. And the deceptive Antichrist will have surveillance and control over it all. Everyone will worship him. So the one-world government, one-world economy and one-world religion will be born. He will be empowered by Lucifer himself, and the whole world will know and will worship him too. The False Prophet, will do 'miracles' pointing all to the Antichrist and Satan, and all humanity who joins in, will be one with them in their destruction as well.
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7) TECHNOLOGICAL - BIOLOGICAL UNION
This one-world system will somehow have 10 divisions. Many have speculated about the Ten Kings over the years. Will they be the European Union, United Nations, a group of Islamic Countries or perhaps technocrats and business leaders of multi-national corporations? The Bible says they will be 'partly iron and partly clay', but 'will not adhere to one another' in their genome because they will be genetically both humankind and something else. This could be a reference to the 'mark' as it connects biology with technology. It could be a reference to an attempt to insert to Ai, Robotics, nanotech, other biological or extra-terrestrial lifeforms into the human genome. But it is not only the Ten Kings who are hybrids, it is also the individuals their kingdoms who take on this characteristic as well. And this kingdom will cover the whole world. One of Jesus' judgments on the Antichrist's kingdom will be that the people will have agonizing sores from the 'mark' they took on their bodies having some type of an adverse reaction. Whatever this is, the human body will try to reject it because it is foreign material.
The first of the specific signs of the End of the Age will be the erection of the Abomination of Desolation. The False Prophet and the people will raise an image of him in the Holy Place on the temple Mount, perhaps in a rebuilt Temple. The idea of changing the human genome is not new. This statue will be able to speak and all will worship its powers and the powers of Satan, the Antichrist and the False Prophet just as they did when the 'sons of god' came to earth from the heavens to be worshiped and to create biological hybrids in the ancient past. This was done to try to replace the image of God in humanity with the image of the 'sons of god.' Lucifer, and his cohorts, have always wanted to usurp humanity's authority over Planet Earth and to make us something in their image forcing us to worship them instead. People in Israel who know both the history and the prophecy will run to the mountains in Jordan and will be protected during the entire 3.5 years of the Antichrist's reign on earth.
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8) GENOCIDE & THE GOSPEL
There will be great cost to everyone who refuses to take the Antichrist's 'mark' and worship him and his statue. They will be locked out of the economic system and will not be able to own homes, pay bills or taxes, buy food or clothing or take care of their families. They will be rejected by family and friends and churches. They will be homeless and hungry. They will be hunted, captured and beheaded. A great many in the 1/4 who will die in the worldwide collapse will be Jews, Christians, and any who recognize the Antichrist and his system for what it really is - death. It may seem like an impossible choice.
"And He (Jesus) summoned the crowd together with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it benefit a person to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what could a person give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:34-38).
This greatest persecution of Christians will bring about the preaching of The Gospel, the Good News, to the entire world. This will be another of the specific signs Jesus gave that the End of the Age is about to come. Everyone will have a chance to hear, and choose to believe, that Jesus is God, that He lived a perfect life, died on the cross in their place for their sins and who rose again to forgive them and give them eternal life. Those who take the mark and choose the Antichrist will live for a little while, but will die an eternal death with him in the Lake of Fire. People who choose Jesus instead, will be persecuted, and possibly murdered, but will have eternal life with Him in the New Heavens and New Earth. Some things really are worth dying for. But don't wait to make this choice. It is yours for the taking today.
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9) COSMIC & EARTHLY DISTURBANCES
Once the gospel has gone out to the world, then the End will come. Jesus is going to cut short the maniacal genocide of the Antichrist by turning out the lights. This is one of the great big neon signs that judgment is about to fall. The sun will go dark, the moon will turn to blood, the stars will fall, the 'sky will roll back as a scroll,' the waves will roar terrifying the world. But this is no mere eclipse. "Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Matthew 24:30
The response of all peoples from presidents to paupers will be to hide in caves and rocks, (and likely DUMBs, and underground cities and personal doomsday bunkers), for fear of the face of Jesus Christ and God on the throne. All will see Him and acknowledge Him. The events will be like nothing ever seen, and could even result in a pole shift. These cosmic disturbances could be the precursor to the Trumpet Judgments which begin with falling fire and brimstone, a mountain sized meteor and Wormwood crashing to the earth in great destruction. Perhaps all goes dark as these massive heavenly bodies will be approaching Earth.
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10) DISAPPEARANCES
One final great sign that Jesus gave before the End is that He snatch away Christian believers to safety in heaven just before He begins raining down judgments on earth. He will send out His angels to gather His followers - those who are alive and have survived the Antichrist's persecution. "And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." (Matthew 24:31)
"Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:4-8)
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11) THE CHOICE FOR YOUR ETERNAL DESTINY
There is a pastor I know of who likes to explain how to accept this free gift of eternal life for yourself in a way that he calls the ABCs of salvation. Simply talk to God. He loves you, He’s listening and He can hear you anywhere.
A - Admit you are a sinner - that you’ve done things wrong.
B - Believe that Jesus died in your place and took the punishment
that you deserve. And He will forgive you for every sin right now
- past, present and future.
C - Confess with your mouth.
Just pray and tell Him you are accepting His free gift,
and He will give it to you. It’s that simple.
