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Critical Times Now
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
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.”
What the Bible foretold: food shortages and disease
What recent reports say: In 2004 an estimated 863 million people on earth were undernourished, 7 million more than in 2003.
Some one billion people live in slums; 2.6 billion people lack basic sanitation; 1.1 billion people are without safe drinking water.
Malaria affects 500 million people; 40 million people live with HIV-AIDS; tuberculosis killed 1.6 million people in 2005.
What the Bible foretold: the ruining of the earth
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.”
“Human-made greenhouse gases have brought the Earth’s climate close to critical tipping points, with potentially dangerous consequences for the planet.”
What the Bible foretold: the good news of God’s Kingdom preached earth wide
What recent reports say: During 2007, a peak of 6,957,854 Witnesses of Jehovah spent more than 1.4 billion hours preaching the good news about God’s Kingdom in 236 lands.
As noted above, the Bible foretold that amid all the bad news, there would be reason for optimism. Jesus spoke of the “good news” of God’s Kingdom. What is God’s Kingdom? How is it linked to mankind’s hope for a better future? And how will God’s Kingdom affect you?
The Bible foretold the world conditions we see today
