THE Bible foretold that mankind would experience “critical times hard to deal with.” It describes this period as “the last days.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5; 2 Peter 3:3-7) Jesus Christ spoke of this same era when answering a question posed by his disciples regarding “the conclusion of the system of things.” (Matthew 24:3) Are we now living during the last days? Compare what the Bible foretold with the recent reports quoted below, and then judge for yourself.
What the Bible foretold: global conflict—Luke 21:10; Revelation 6:4.
What recent reports say: “War-related deaths in the 20th century were more than three times greater than in all previous centuries combined, back to the birth of Christ.”—Worldwatch Institute.
What the Bible foretold: food shortages and disease—Luke 21:11; Revelation 6:5-8.
What recent reports say: In 2004 an estimated 863 million people on earth were undernourished, 7 million more than in 2003.—United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
Some one billion people live in slums; 2.6 billion people lack basic sanitation; 1.1 billion people are without safe drinking water.—Worldwatch Institute.
Malaria affects 500 million people; 40 million people live with HIV-AIDS; tuberculosis killed 1.6 million people in 2005.—World Health Organization.
What the Bible foretold: the ruining of the earth—Revelation 11:18.
What recent reports say: “Human activities have taken the planet to the edge of a massive wave of species extinctions.” “Nearly two thirds of the services provided by nature to humankind are found to be in decline worldwide.”—Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.
“Human-made greenhouse gases have brought the Earth’s climate close to critical tipping points, with potentially dangerous consequences for the planet.”—NASA, Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
What the Bible foretold: the good news of God’s Kingdom preached earth wide—Matthew 24:14; Revelation 14:6, 7.
The Bible foretold the world conditions we see today
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