In Part I of the Signs of Our Times: False Prophets, the signs of the end times as presented by Jesus Christ in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 were discussed. Reading Part I first will provide background on what is being discussed in Part II, which will cover the final four signs: War, famine, pestilences, and earthquakes.

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. (Matthew 24:6-7)

Men have been at war with each other since Cain killed Abel in Genesis 4:8. The murderous act of one man against another born out of jealousy, hatred, disappointment, or aggression has progressed to our time where global warfare between nations and the possibility and capability of destroying entire populations at one time exists and is carried out on an unprecedented scale.

Since 3600 BC the world has known only about 300 years of global peace; that is, a period of time during which there was actually no conflict between one or more nations and another. Approximately 95 percent of man’s time here on earth has been spent at war in one scope or another. Therefore, based on historical odds, the possibility of attaining world peace instituted and executed by man alone is incredibly slim — yet untold masses still cling blindly to the idea that man is in charge of his own destiny and world peace is on the next horizon. In some respects, man at large is in charge of his own destiny, but achieving world peace apart from the divine plan of God is not in the cards.

In 55 centuries there have been approximately 14,500 wars, on large and small scales, with an estimated 3 ½ to 4 billion people killed or losing their lives in the process. Since 650 BC, of 1,650 arms races documented, all but 16 culminated in war between the opposing factions. Of the 16 not going to war, all ended in economic collapse of the countries involved with more hardship, suffering, and death in the process. The world has never known real peace and mankind now possesses weaponry capable of the destruction of virtually the entire human race. The idea of such a thing being possible, not even a century later, would have been laughed upon at the turn of the last century, just as the idea that a man would be walking on the moon just 68 years from the beginning of the twentieth century. The twentieth century would witness at least five major wars and conflicts: WWI, WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Persian Gulf War, all of which resulted in massive loss of life and casualties to armed forces and civilians alike, not to mention economic strife and hardship which endured long after the conflicts were ended. To this day, the budget for the U.S. Pentagon and armed forces, and all peripheral military entities, remains one of the largest — if not the largest – U.S. budget expenditures.

We live in very unstable times and the dream of the New World Order (as man envisions it) still seems very elusive.

As written about in last week’s post by Lori, “Tribulation,” the New World Order, when it finally does arrive, will start out with what looks like the beginning of world peace but will quickly evolve into a terrifying chaotic nightmare in which the wrath of God will be unleashed with cataclysmic force so all-consuming that Matthew 24:22 describes it as such: “And except those days should be shortened, there should be no flesh saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24:22). Tribulation on a worldwide scale so massive and devastating, that except for God’s intervention on behalf of the elect (His children who come to salvation in the Tribulation), no person would remain alive. Yes, man has not changed since his fall from fellowship with God in the Garden of Eden. Instead of progressing to the better, he has digressed and only become more proficient at ways to destroy other men on a deadlier and larger scale in the process. Not until the deadliest battle in human history, Armageddon, has concluded, and Satan is vanquished and evil expelled from the earth will the true lasting peace on earth arrive when Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, is enthroned upon the Throne of David in the Millennial Kingdom. All men would do well to take heed of that prophesied in God’s word rather than put their hopes and dreams in the houses of cards and smoke and mirrors offered by men of the world. True peace lies at the feet of Jesus.

The third prophetic trend is famine. Famines have existed biblically since early times in the days of Abraham, approximately 2090 BC. “And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was grievous in the land” (Genesis 12:10). Thirteen famines are mentioned in the Bible from the time of Abraham (2090 BC) until the first century AD when there was famine in the Roman Empire as written in Acts 11:28. Famine historically has been due to food shortages causing massive starvation and loss of life on a large scale. Contributing factors would be drought, flooding, crop disease, or occupation or oppression by a warring nation within the borders of another. A good example of this would be the widespread famine brought about by WWII and the detrimental effects it had on agriculture or confiscation of food supplies occupying nations like Germany and Japan in Europe and Asia. Another example would be the starvation in Great Britain during the same time when German warships blockaded the entry of food supplies from other countries into the British Isles. In the Biblical context, famines were usually a sign of divine judgment. “Son of Man, when a land sins against Me by acting faithlessly, I will stretch out my hand against it and break its supply of bread and send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it” (Ezekiel 14:13).

Of course, the most famous famine in the Bible is the one in Canaan that sent Jacob and his family to Egypt in 1875 BC, which ultimately resulted in Israel’s slavery and bondage for 400 years. This culminated in God’s deliverance of the Hebrew nation from Egypt in the account in Exodus. Across the remainder of the globe, famine has been a huge problem as well throughout history. Between 108 BC and 1911 AD there were at least 1800 famines in China alone, some causing widespread death and starvation on a massive scale. Britain suffered 95 famines in the middle ages. Famine is a worldwide problem, reported on most continents of the earth. Some notable famines in history are:

• Population of Rome fell by 90% during 400-800 AD due to famine and plague
• 1315-1317 – Great Famine of Europe
• 1601-1603 – Famine in Russia – 2 million dead
• 1648-1650 – Poland lost 1/3 of it’s population
• 1708-1711 – Russia 41% population dead
• 1768-1773 – Bengal, India famine – 10 million; 1/3 population dead
• 1845-1852 – Great Irish Potato Famine – 1.5 million dead, 2.5 million emigrated
• 1850-1873 – China – 60 million deaths due to war, imperialization, internal rebellion, and drought
• 1876-1879 – Northern China – 13 million dead, India 5.25 million dead
• 1896-1902 – India – 6 million dead due to drought and British Imperial policies
• 1907-1911 – East Central China – 25 million dead
• 1917-1919 – Persia – 8-10 million dead
• 1921-1922 – Russia – 5 million dead due to food confiscation and Bolshevik revolution
• 1932-1933 – Soviet Famine – 7-10 million dead due to failed collective farming policies imposed by Stalin and communist government
• 1936-1937 – China – 5 million dead
• 1967-1970 – Biafra (Nigeria) – drought and internal strife
• 1942-1943 – China – 2-3 million due to Japanese occupation of WWII
• 1943-1943 – Bengal India – 1.5 million dead due to typhoons, cyclones and flooding
• 1959-1961 – Great Chinese Famine – up to 43 million dead due to failed farming policies imposed by new communist
• 1975-1979 – Khmer Rouge Cambodia – 2 million dead
• 1996-1996 – North Korea – 3.5 million dead due to flooding
• 1998-2004 – 2nd Congo War (Africa ) – 3.8 million dead
• 2011-2012 – Somalia due to drought
• 2012-2012 – West Africa due to 2012 Sahel Drought

So, it is easily apparent that famine throughout the ages has been a major cause of death worldwide, and the ones listed above are only a fraction of the famines actually documented, not including those which were not. Even today, with modern technology’s capabilities to more effectively produce larger quantities of food to meet the needs of a growing world population, it does not seem feasible that famine will cease to be a major factor in widespread loss of human and animal life. Also, we know that continued and increasing famine is prophesied by Jesus in Matthew 24. “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land – not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord” (Amos 8:11).

The fourth prophetic indicator is pestilence. In the biblical sense, pestilence is described as any sudden fatal epidemic or calamity, often associated with plagues or evil beasts and generally indicative of divine judgment or intervention. It is frequently used in prophetic books and is mentioned 25 times in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, always associated with the sword or famine: “The Lord will send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke, in all you undertake and do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me. The Lord will make the pestilence cling to you until He has consumed you from the Land where you are entering to possess it. The Lord will smite you with consumption and with fear and with inflammation and with fiery heat and with the sword and with blight and with mildew, and they will pursue you until you perish.” (Deuteronomy 28-20-22) (The entire chapter of Deuteronomy 28 is a lengthy but very descriptive proclamation by God unto the Hebrews of both the blessings of obedience and the judgments of disobedience.)

The pestilences of the Exodus concerning God’s judgment upon Pharaoh in Exodus 7-12 are a great example of the lengths the Lord is willing to go in order to achieve His purposes with obstinate and unrepentant parties. The water turning to blood, frogs, insects (gnats), flies, cattle and livestock death, boils, hail, locusts, all occurring in successive and progressive order served as divine signs to Pharaoh that God was serious about freeing the Hebrews from Egyptian bondage. The darkness followed by final judgment of death became all the more necessary as Pharaoh continued to defy the will of God. So it will be in the last days of the Tribulation as the Lord executes His final wrath and judgment upon the wicked and unrepentant world of mankind.

Of course we know that pestilences and related problems have continued throughout the history of the world. Natural, severe weather occurrences such as heavy rains, flooding, hail, monsoons, drought, as well as insect infestations, crop failure due to disease, and epidemics due to disease all have their part in the loss of human life and suffering. Likely not a week goes by when some such event could be found in the world news. Some of the most noted pestilences in history due to disease and plague are:

• Bubonic Plague (Black Death), 1339-1351 AD, Asia and Europe. The plague killed an estimated 25 million people in China and then spread to Europe where another 25 million people died. Approximately ¼ the European population at the time.

• Measles, 1531-1534 AD, Central and South America and Caribbean. Measles was introduced into the New World by European colonists. The New World nature population had no natural immunity to the disease and death was catastrophic. Two thirds of the Cuban population and one half of the Honduran population died along with widespread loss of life in other areas. Even though a vaccine was developed in 1963, measles epidemics occur about every 2-3 years.

• Smallpox, 1775-1782 AD, North and Central America. Smallpox had taken a huge toll on life when Europeans introduced it there in the early 16th century. It was brought to North America by British soldiers and then spread along trade routes as the continent was explored. The native American population was decimated. Viral smallpox was one of the most feared diseases throughout history affecting notably Egypt, India and Rome. Smallpox is a rare pandemic success story because due to global immunization efforts, the WHO declared the virus extinct in 1979.

• Tuberculosis, 1800-1992, Europe and North America. The most lethal disease of the 19th century. By the end of the century almost 80% of the urban population was infected and of that number 80% died. An estimated ⅓ of world population are carriers of the TB bacterium and it still causes one million deaths annually though antimicrobial cures are available.

• Cholera, 1817-1823, Asia, Middle East, Africa. Cholera is a disease that affects the small intestine after the host ingests contaminated drinking water. About 40% of infected hosts die of dehydration within hours . The disease first spread from British soldiers carrying the disease to the populations in Asia, Middle East and Africa. Six pandemics followed in the next 150 years. Three million die annually from Cholera

• Influenza, 1918-1919, worldwide. Spanish flu was the single most deadly disease historically killing 50 million people worldwide the year after WWI. A pandemic occurs about once a generation due to the mutation and variation of flu viruses.

• Polio, 1952, worldwide. Polio goes back historically into antiquity. The virus is spread by touch and caused a pandemic in the early and mid years of the 20th century. There is no known cure although a vaccine was developed in 1955 which has virtually eradicated the disease.

• HIV-Aids 1970, worldwide; originating in Central Africa. The disease is spread through contact with infected bodily fluids. It specifically attacks the host’s immune system opening up the victim to more opportunistic diseases such as pneumonia, cancer and infections. There is no known cure. There have been an estimated 25 million deaths worldwide primarily in Africa with another 30 million infected, many children who were born to parents carrying the disease.

We do not know what is on the future for the peoples of the world in terms of pestilences, though we do know it has been prophesied to occur on an increasing basis in terms of frequency and intensity. With an ever-increasing world population and the mobility of large numbers of people traveling and living in congested areas, the possibility of another global pandemic seems to loom large, called to mind by the air passenger who traveled from Africa to the USA during the height of the recent Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa. All passengers on board had to be quarantined and tested before they were allowed to reenter the general population. Thankfully, the infected person was discovered early on, allowing health authorities to intercept the other passengers potentially exposed to the highly deadly disease.

The fifth and final prophetic trend is earthquakes. Earthquake history predates Christ, with the earliest one recorded in 373 BC in Greece. It is impossible to say how many earthquakes and related catastrophes occurred in ancient times either due to lack of historical data or survival of any data that was recorded. Prior to the 17th century the amount of information on worldwide earthquake activity is minimal. We do know that Rome was leveled by an earthquake in 476 AD. 250,000 people died in an earthquake in 526 AD in Antioch (Turkey). The worst earthquake in history in terms of loss of human life occurred in 1556 AD in Shensei, China in which 830,000 people died.

In recent times, other notable earthquakes with heavy death tolls are:

• 1727 – Iran 77,000
• 1755 – Lisbon, Portugal – 70,000
• 1783 – Calabria Italy – 50,000
• 1857 – Naples, Italy 11,000
• 1868 – Peru – 25,000
• 1875 – Columbia – 16,000
• 1896 – Sanriku, Japan – 27,000
• 1905 – Kangra, India – 19,000
• 1920 – Haiyuan, China – 200,000
• 1923 – Kanto, Japan 143,000
• 1927 – Tsingtao, China – 41,000
• 1935 – Quetta, Pakistan, 30,000
• 1939 – Chilion, Chile – 28,000
• 1939 – Turkey – 32,700
• 1944 – San Juan, Argentina – 8,000
• 1948 – Ashgabat, Turkmenistan – 110,000
• 1960 – Agadir, Morocco – 10,000
• 1968 – Iran – 12,000
• 1970 – Yunnan Province, China – 10,000
• 1970 – Chimbote, Peru – 66,000
• 1976 – Tangshan, China – 242,769
• 1988 – Armenia – 25,000
• 1990 – Iran – 50,000
• 1999 – Turkey – 17,000
• 2001 – Gujarat, India – 20,000
• 2004 – Sumatra – 227,000
• 2010 – Haiti – 316,000

According to the US geological survey, prior to 1900 there were 93 earthquakes on record with 1,000 or more deaths. Since 1900 there have been 520 earthquakes with fatalities greater than 1,000. Can it still be concluded that earthquakes are increasing both in frequency and intensity? Some indicators seem to point this way. Lack of reliable and widespread earthquake activity recording in pre-modern times could make this conclusion more difficult to uphold. 

What we do know is that Jesus said in Matthew 24 that all five signs would be apparent and on the rise as the end times unfold. He commanded his followers to be on the alert for the signs of these times. If we look at the text in Matthew 24 and compare it to the opening of the seals in Revelation 6, we can find a strong correlation.

• Matthew 24: False prophets, false christs
  Revelation 6:12: First Seal – antichrist

• Matthew 24:6: Wars and rumors of war
  Revelation 6:2-3: Second Seal – war and death

• Matthew 24:7: Famine
  Revelation 6:5-6: Third Seal – famine

• Matthew 24:7: Deadly pestilences
  Revelation 6:7-8: Pestilences and death

• Matthew 24:7: Earthquakes
  Revelation 6:12-14: Sixth Seal – great earthquake

What we see is complete agreement between two books written a half a century apart by two different authors; and why not? Jesus’s words in Matthew of this prophecy for the end times in the Tribulation must agree as He will carry out and pass His final judgment upon the earth and its inhabitants.

In conclusion, we cannot know exactly when the Rapture will come. Many Christians believe it is right around the corner and it very well could be. Israel is once more a nation since 1948, the first time in history that an entire nation was overrun and destroyed (by Rome in 70 AD), and its people cast out and exiled to the far corners of the earth — only to have the nation itself reinstated 19 centuries later. Israel has recently appointed a new High Priest for the first time since it was reestablished and reportedly there are plans to begin the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. These signs, along with more people turning away from God instead of to Him, the continued rise of the New World Order with man, not God, at the center, world chaos, and the prophetic trends of the end times signs in Matthew 24 all seem to indicate that the world is on the path to the end. What we must do as Christians is remain strong in our faith, knowing that in Jesus lies our salvation and the victory. We must get the gospel out to an unbelieving and lost humanity and be on the watch for the convergence of the end time signs and the glorious re-appearing of our Lord and Savior.

Holding fast,

Mark

So likewise you, when you shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the door. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Watch therefore: for you know not what hour your Lord hath come. (Matthew 24:33-34, 42)

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in the heavens: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with great power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to another. (Matthew 24:30-31)

^{Photography by Jordy Meow}