Signs of Christ's Presence
Increase of Knowledge

Dan. 12:1,4 "And at that time shall Michael stand up" [Christ returns]... "...and knowledge shall be increased."

The accumulated knowledge of mankind since his first appearance on the earth up to 1750 had doubled by 1900, redoubled again by 1950, 1960, and 1968. Since then it has accelerated even more rapidly. Knowledge is now doubling every 2-1/2 years!

Education

One hundred years ago, few of the world's population could read or write.  Today, about 1,000 books are published internationally every day.

1827  -  State of Massachusetts began providing free education. 1852  -  State of Massachusetts first state to mandate compulsory education. 1870  -  Michigan court case opened way for compulsory education in U.S. 1870  -  Great Britain - first nation to pass law for compulsory education. 1876  -  Dewey Decimal System - classification of books facilitating their use. 1876  -  George Munro introduced his "Seaside Library" - bringing price of printed material into reach of average person. 1900  -       94,883 people graduated from high school.      27,410 graduated from college. 1994  -  2,479,000 people graduated from high school.  1,165,000 graduated from college.

Inventions

Science and technology have given our century precedence over the past 2,000 years.  There were few inventions before the 15th c.  In 1438 the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg led to publication of inexpensive books and pamphlets, stimulating interest in education.  In 1447 A.D. movable type was invented.  The 16th c. produced 3 inventions, the 17th c. 7, and the 18th c. 25.   Then a leap forward to 171 inventions for the 19th c. and 194 inventions [thus far] for the 20th c.

In 1980, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office received 104,300 patent applications for inventions; in 1992 it received 173,100.  In 1980, 61,800 patents for inventions were issued; in 1992, 97,400 patents were issued.

Communication
                            

1874  -  Alexander Graham Bell develops idea for telephone. 1877  -  First telephones become available to public. 1895  -  Marconi radio-signaling system first applied to wireless telegraph. 1906  -  First program of speech and music ever transmitted by radio. 1913  -  Over a half million telephones in New York and 90,000 in Paris. 1920  -  First regularly scheduled radio station. 1927  -  First talking movie film. 1927  -  Transatlantic telephone service initiated. 1928  -  Color motion pictures and color television. 1939  -  First electro-mechanical binary computer. 1948  -  Transistor invented. 1950  -  1.5 million televisions operating in U.S. 1951  -  Color television introduced.  15 million sets sold. 1951  -  46 UNIVAC I computers sold in U.S. 1954  -  Microchip or microprocessor invented. 1955  -  First transatlantic cable laid.   Capacity is 52 simultaneous calls. 1960  -  First commercial copier available. 1960  -  85 million televisions in North America. 1962  -  Telstar satellite transmits first TV signal from N. America to Europe. 1964  -  First magnetic Tape Selectric Typewriter, the first word processor. 1965  -  246 million radios and 61.8 million television sets in U.S. 1966  -  Idea of developing broad-based computer network. 1969  -  Intel Corporation creates first random-access memory chip. 1970  -  231 million television sets in use in world. 1971  -  First word processor with video display screen. 1971  -  First microprocessor. 1973  -  First microcomputer. 1973  -  Fax machine for general use is developed. 1979  -  A telecommunications service goes on-line for the first time. 1979  -  Cellular telephones introduced. 1980  -  About 4,255 cable television channels, 750 commercial television stations, and over 7,000 radio stations operating in U.S. 1980  -  More than 1 million computers in U.S.   Computers begin to appear in classrooms. 1981  -  First laptop computer. 1981  -  18% of schools have some kind of computer on site. 1983  -  TAT-7 cable is deployed to carry 9,000 telephone conversations across Atlantic. 1984  -  77.7% of schools have computers, averaging 62.7 students per computer. 1984  -  91,600 cellular telephone subscribers in U.S. 1986  -  Over 30 million computers in U.S. 1989  -  First proposal for World Wide Web idea. 1992  -  First graphical World Wide Web browser introduced. Over 1 million host computers connected to the Internet. 1992  -  First all-digital telephone network is deployed. 1993  -  New telephone cable laid across the Atlantic.  Carries over 22,000 phone calls. 1993  -  98% of schools in U.S. have computers with 12.2 students per computer. 1994  -  19.3 million cellular telephone subscribers in U.S. 1997  -  98.2% of U.S. homes have a television set.   41% have a computer.

Computers -- The Internet

In 1998 the Internet was accessible in over 100 countries with over 1 million Web servers worldwide.  The Internet reaches over 30 million computers, with users expected to double every year.  It is estimated that by the year 2000, half of all U.S. households will be online.  An average Web page contains about 500 words.  As of 1998, experts put the number of Web pages between 30 and 50 million.

High-Tech Home Appliances

Today's households are equipped with modern appliances that only a few decades ago were uncommon.  For example, in 1960, 16.8% of homes lacked complete plumbing facilities and 21.5% did not have telephones.  By 1990, only 1.1% of homes lacked complete plumbing facilities and only 5.2% were without telephones.  Today, 97.2% have refrigerators, 76.3% have clothes washers, 45.4% have dishwashers, 78.8% have microwave ovens, 32.4% have freezers, 93.6% have phones, 98.2% have televisions, and 50% have answering machines!

•  Parallel Ages
•  Chronology
•  Signs of Christ's Presence
•  Gentile Times
•  Time Prophecies