In Matt 24, our Lord gave 4 signs to His disciples when He was asked about His coming and end of age.
- Birth pains of calamitous events – wars and rumors of wars; famine; earthquakes.
- Adverse events in the church – persecution; reduction in numbers; gospel will be preached in the whole world.
- Great distress in Jerusalem with the coming of the Antichrist.
- Unnatural cosmic events.
We have been in the last days for the past 2000 years. When we see wars, famines and earthquakes happening that are of biblical proportion and with exponential frequency unlike in the past centuries, it is very likely to be the first sign. When the church starts to encounter persecution in all nations and many false prophets emerge to deceive the church to compromise, many will turn away from the faith. The faithful will be betrayed and will also leave the deceived church. The faithful will then disperse and form the small and less conspicuous Philadelphia local churches in those days and will be used mightily to preach the gospel to all corners in the whole world, together with the suffering Smyrna local churches. For those who are left in the other mainstream churches, especially the Ephesus churches, their love will grow cold and wickedness will increase. That will be the second sign. When the third sign of the appearance of the abomination that causes desolation comes, the end will be very near at the door. Immediately after this distress, the heavenly bodies will be shaken, the sun will be darkened and the stars will fall from the sky. And our Lord will return. Hallelujah !
The current Russia-Ukraine war may cause a global catastrophic famine. And it may fuel many smaller wars as the poorer nations grapple with the looming sovereign debt crisis. Meanwhile we see the mainstream churches compromising with the state on vaccine mandate without even questioning if it is against God’s designed order. The western capitalism states are likely to be coerced to accept all kinds of abomination in the coming years due to pressure from Babylon (America) since they all grow rich because of her. The churches will be persecuted then for her defiance. Many false prophets will come on stage to deceive many then to compromise. I believe the Lord’s judgment stated in Rev 18:17-19 will happen before the third sign after which the Antichrist will appear on the world stage as “savior” of the world in resolving many of the problems plaguing the nations after the Lord’s destruction of all wealth. The current situation of high inflation, unprecedented supply chain disruption, sovereign debt crisis, and continual quantitative easing may set the initial stage for the eventual global economic collapse.
