  • Parallel Ages •
Chronology • Signs
of Christ's Presence• Gentile Times • Time Prophecies
Signs of Christ's Presence
As a result of Christ's return there is "great
tribulation" and a "time of trouble" such as never was before. One
might say, there has always been trouble in the world. Why is today's trouble
different? The trouble of our day is more intense and widespread than any previous. Lk. 21:26 "Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth..."
The time of trouble comes in spasms, as a woman in travail. Though nations negotiate peace with each other, they cannot prevent wars. For example, in 1991 a peace agreement was signed in Angola. In 1992 elections were held under the UN auspices. Within a month, heavy fighting broke out. By 1993, war had caused 1,000 deaths each day! In 1994 a new peace agreement was signed. By mid 1995, 444 cease fire violations had been reported. During the 1990s over 60 states have used forces for peace keeping operations outside the UN framework – with mixed results. In the first six years after the end of the Cold War, the UN put more military operations into conflict areas than it did in the previous 40 years! There are almost 40 million refugees worldwide. Just
over half are refugees in their own countries!  Joel 3:9-11 "Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war
draw near; let them come up: Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into
spears..." [at the same time of the regathering of the nation of Israel, vs. 1]The last decade has been one of wars for many countries.
From 1990 to 1995, 70 states were involved in 93 wars which killed 5.5 million people. In the last 100 years over 100 million lives have been lost in war. The most lethal wars since 1945 to 1996 have been:
There were about 5.5 million war deaths in the first half of the 1990s. Three quarters of them were civilians, including a million children. Between 1991 and 1995, during the wars of Yugoslavia’s disintegration, over 150,000 people were killed, three million became refugees, and 20-40,000 women and girls were raped. This was called "ethnic cleansing." Burundi and Rwanda has suffered more than three decades of war since their independence. From 1990 to 1995 there have been over 14,400,000 refugees and displaced people. Above 1,290,000 have been massacred. Nearly every woman who survives the massacre is raped. Many of the 5,000 children born as a result of these rapes are murdered. After Papua New Guinea blockaded Bougainville, 5,000, mainly children and pregnant women, died from disease and malnutrition – 17 times the number killed in combat. World War I killed 8,500,000. World War II killed
19,000,000. Hitler put to death about 17,000,000. Stalin was responsible for the death of
between 20-25,000,000. During the 20th century between 167-175,000,000 were
deliberately extinguished through politically motivated carnage. The human mind staggers
to comprehend the degradation and suffering caused by man’s inhumanity to man. Joel 3:9-11 "Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears..." There are 120,000 battle tanks, 35,000 combat aircraft, 1,500 major warships and 20,000 nuclear warheads worldwide as of 1995. In 1993, global spending was over $600 billion on military programs with the U.S. ranking number One at 41%. The U.S. is the major supplier of military weapons to developing world buyers. Its share of the world’s arms exports in 1994 was 70%. Over 110 million landmines lie in the soil with power to kill or maim. A single U.S. dollar will buy a landmine. Clearing it can cost $300 to $1,000. In 1995, active landmines in 36 countries were known; in 46 countries figures are unknown.
2 Tim. 3:1-5 "In the last days will come time of troubles...no gratitude, no piety...intempera There are 2.2 million hard-core drug users in the U.S. One out of 40 persons in New York City is a hard-core drug user. One out of 100 persons in the U.S. is a hard-core drug user. 70% of New York City’s drug users are affluent. A 1992 survey estimated that 11.4 million people ages 12 and older used illegal drugs the prior month. Alcohol is responsible for about 100,000 deaths each year. Almost half of all traffic fatalities in the U.S. are alcohol related. One alcohol-related traffic death occurs in the U.S. every 26 minutes. About 40% of all people in the U.S. will be involved in an alcohol-related traffic crash during their lifetimes. There are 15,000,000 alcoholics in the U.S. A 1992 survey concluded that approximately 98 million Americans ages 12 and older had used alcohol in the previous month. Illegal drugs and alcohol lead to the imprisonment of 4 out of 5 inmates in prisons and jails. 21% of state prisoners convicted of violent crimes were under the influence of alcohol alone. 81% of inmates with 5 or more convictions used drugs regularly. A Bureau of Justice Statistics study found that about 33% of convicted robbers and burglars had committed their crimes to obtain money for drugs. Urinalysis samples show that more than 50% of the people arrested in big cities for serious non-drug crimes tested positive for drugs. Approximately 920,000 people were arrested in 1992 for violating drug laws. An estimated 531,800 drug related hospital emergencies occurred in the U.S. in 1995. The rate increased 37% from 1990 to 1995.
Since 1991, the proportion of 8th graders taking illicit drugs in the past 12 months increased from 10% to 24%; the proportion of 10th graders rose from 20% to 38%; and the proportion of 12th graders increased from 27% to 40%. AIDS Since the start of the epidemic in the late 1970s,
about 27.9 million people have been infected with AIDS and 5.8 million have died,
including 1.3 million children. About 25% of HIV-infected women transmit the virus to
their babies during pregnancy or at birth. The World Health Organization predicts that by
the year 2,000 up to 40 million people will be infected by AIDS.
The U.S. has one of the world’s highest standards of living. However, income is not evenly distributed. In 1975 there were 25,877,000 people below the poverty level. By 1994, there were 38,059,000, which was over 10% of the population. According to the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF), one U.S. infant is born into poverty every 35 seconds. Every 31 seconds, an infant is born to an unmarried mother. In 1994, the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development cited that some 600,000 Americans were homeless, and that as many a 7 million had been homeless at some point during the previous 5 years. The fastest growing homeless group are children. Many are runaways or "throwaways" – rejected by their parents. At the other end of the spectrum, the end and object
of life is leisure and pleasure. While thousands are dying daily of starvation, others pay
$15,000 for a ticket to a basketball game. In 1992, 56.8M attended major league baseball,
63.8M attended horse racing, and 131.4M attended U.S. amusement parks. In 1990-96, in the
U.S., $125.7 billion was spent on spectator amusements, $490.4 billion on video and audio
products, computers and musical instruments, $263 billion on non-durable toys and sports
supplies, and $240 billion on wheel goods, sports, and photographic equipment, boats and
pleasure aircraft.
The U.S. entered 1996 with a staggering debt of over $5.2 trillion and a perilous foreign trade deficit of $11.43 billion. At the end of 1994, outstanding balances on Visa and
MasterCard credit cards were a record $256 billion, up 24% from 1993's $206 billion. In
1992 some 98 million people owned a total of 500 million retail store credit cards. They
charged $77 billion on these cards. Our country had 900,000 bankruptcies filed in
1990...up 10.5% from 1991.
Who has not seen the strikes in industries and the layoffs of thousands of jobs? We have witnessed walkouts and the cries of workers. The cries against injustices are heard by the Lord. Laws protecting the rights of men, women, children, the aged, minorities, animals, and the environment have been instituted within the last 100 years. Even so, the selfishness of men continues to break laws for profit and pleasure. From 1960 to 1996 there were over 4800 strikes affecting
over 23,740,000 people in the U.S. In 1970 there were 4,093,000 unemployed; by 1995
there were 7,404,000.
The U.S. is home to only 5% of the world’s population, but it
Toxic/Hazardous Waste
Some 86,000 tons of high-level radioactive wastes and spent fuel from nuclear power plants are in temporary storage until the government determines what to do with them. The wastes will be dangerous for more than 10,000 years In 1998 the hazardous waste sites in the U.S. totaled 1,359. Only 509, or 37%, have been cleaned at a cost of $15 billion. The remaining sites could cost $25 billion to clean, $15 billion for upkeep and $17 to $24 billion for legal fees. According to the EPA, 1 out of 4 Americans lived within 4
miles of a toxic dump site. Ozone Depletion Ozone depletion has:
The United States uses about 338 billion gallons of fresh water per day for all uses, or about 188 gallons per person, more water than any other industrialized country. In many parts of the world, however, the concern is not wasting water: it is finding enough for daily use. More than half the world’s people must make due with less than 25 gallons a day each, and with no guarantee that the water is safe to drink.
Land
The U.S. loses an estimated 4 billion tons of topsoil annually, making farmland less fertile and causing ecological damage. Overgrazing of range lands is responsible for 35% of soil degradation. Each year, more than 2 million acres of prime crop land are lost to erosion, salinization, and water logging. Another 1 million acres are lost to urbanization, industry, road construction, and other development. U.S. topsoil is being lost 17 times faster than it is being replaced. It takes more than 200 years to form one inch of topsoil. In 1776, when the U.S. declared its independence, the average topsoil was 9 inches deep. Today, it’s 5.9 inches deep. More than 20,000 different pesticide products, containing more than 600 different
active ingredients, are sold in the U.S. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found 98
different pesticides, including DDT, in groundwater in 40 states in 1991 –
contaminating the drinking water of more than 10 million people. Deforestation
Rainforest destruction receives attention because, although they cover only 7% of the
Earth, they contain more than 50% of its species -- supporting countless animals, plants,
fungi, and bacteria. A single volcanic mountain in the rainforests of Indonesia is capable
of supporting more species of plants than exist in the entire United States. Wetlands In the last 200 years, the United States has lost over 50% of its wetlands, 90% of its northwestern old-growth forests, and 99% of its tall prairie grass. It continues to lose almost 300,000 acres of wetlands each year. Today, only 104 million acres of wetlands remain in the lower 48 states, covering 5% of the land surface. Possibly as many as 490 species of native plants and animals vanished as a result, and
another 9,000 species of U.S. plants and animals are now at risk. Canada contains about
24% of the world’s wetlands - nearly 314 million acres. Canada has lost 49.4 million
acres or 14% of its original wetlands. Endangered Species In 1994 there were a total of 1,190
endangered species throughout the world. The Wilderness Society reported in 1995
that if current trends continue, up to 20% of the world’s plant and animal species
could be come extinct by the year 2000. Scientists estimate that at least 500 plant and
animal species have become extinct in the U.S. since the 1500s.
In the U.S. there is one birth every 8 seconds and one death every 14 seconds, for a net gain of 4,400 people per day. In the world, there is a net increase of 3 people per second, or 10,600 people per hour.
World Population Growth
Malnutrition causes the death of 6 to 7 million children every year and leaves others intellectually impaired and more susceptible to disease. Half the children in southern Asia and 1/3 the children in sub-Sahara Africa suffer from malnutrition. More than 13 million children in the United States, one in four under age 12, don’t get enough to eat. More than 17 million of the 52 million deaths in
1995 were due to infectious diseases. Of the more than 11 million deaths among children
under 5 in the developing world, about 9 million were attributed to infectious diseases,
25% of them preventable through vaccination.
2 Tim. 3:1-5 "In the last days will come time of troubles...no gratitude, no piety...implacable in their hatreds...fierce..." Hate Crimes International Terrorism
Violent Crimes U.S. has some of the highest crime rates in the world. In 1992 there were 1.9 million violent crimes, an increase of 53.6% since 1983. Eight out of 10 Americans will be victims of violent crimes in their lifetimes. Between 1995 and 1996, although there were no statistically significant changes for murder, robbery with a firearm, or stealing from person or retail store, there were upward trends for the following offences:
Prison Despite a decline in the crime rate over the last five years, the number of inmates in the nation's jails and prisons rose again in 1997. There was a sharp increase of more than 9 percent in the number of people confined in city and county jails. The U.S. has more people in jail and prison per capita than any other nation. The total number of Americans in jails and prisons reached 1,725,842 in June 1997. Why has the number of inmates continued to climb while crime has fallen since 1992? One explanation is that the crimes leading to the largest increase in incarceration, the sale and possession of drugs, are not counted in the FBI's crime index. It costs more than $20,000 a year to keep a person in prison. Homicide In 1985, there were about 19,000 criminal homicides in the U.S.; in 1992 there were 23,800. Juvenile arrests for criminal homicide increased by almost 150% between 1970 and 1992. Juvenile Delinquency Between 1988 and 1992, juvenile court cases increased 26% to almost 1.5 million. Cases involving murder, aggravated assault, and other serious crimes increased 68%, to 118,700. Children are becoming more "desensitized" to violent crimes. By the time most children complete elementary school, it is estimated that each has seen some 8,000 murders and 100,000 other acts of violence on television. Studies have found a correlation between television violence and aggressive behavior. Guns According to the National School Safety Center, some 135,000 children carry guns into school every day. About 25% of the nation's major urban school districts have installed metal detectors. Every 2 hours a child dies of a gunshot wound in the U.S. In 1987, handguns were used in 666,000 crimes. In 1992 they were used in 931,000 crimes. In 1991 there were 38,317 firearm deaths in the U.S. Of these, suicide accounted for 18,526 deaths, homicide for 17,746. Every 14 minutes during 1993, someone in the U.S. died of a gunshot wound, nearly half in homicides. In 1992, handguns were used in the murders of 13 people in Australia, 36 in Sweden, 128 in Canada...and 13,220 in the United States. Assault and Battery Every 15 seconds a woman is battered. One fifth to one-third of all women are physically abused during their lifetime. Ten percent of the time the injury is serious enough to require hospitalization or emergency room treatment. Sexual assault continues to be the most rapidly growing violent crime in America, claiming a victim every 45 seconds. Over 700,000 women are raped or sexually assaulted annually. Child Abuse In 1994, 48 states reported that 1,011,628 children were determined to have been victims of abuse and neglect. The number of victims of maltreatment increased from 798,318 in 1990 to 1,011,628 in 1994, an increase of almost 27 percent. Almost half of the victims were eight years or younger. State child protective service agencies received reports of alleged maltreatment involving more than 2.9 million children.
States reported that 1,111 children were known to have died as a result of abuse or neglect. Suicide Suicide is among the top 10 causes of death in the U.S. It resulted in 29,760 deaths in 1992. Suicide is the second leading cause of teenage death in America. The amount of teenage suicides has tripled over three decades. Each year, there are 30,000 Americans – more than 80 a
day – who intentionally kill themselves. There are also an estimated 400,000
unsuccessful suicide attempts annually. Many mental health experts...believe that many
suicides are actually reported as accidental deaths.
Is. 40:4 "Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain." The Lord is balancing the scales of justice for past wrongs. World War I brought an end to dynasties and monarchies. The last 100 years have seen revolution upon revolution leveling the governments of earth. Only a few are listed below.
Anarchy is a social structure without government – utter confusion and disregard for law and order. Trouble will increase to the point of anarchy and destruction of the present social and religious systems. Nothing in this present evil world will be saved.
Joel 3:10 "Let the weak say, 'I am strong." In the day of the Lord, the weaker nations will stand up to the super powers. We have seen North Korea and North Vietnam stand up to the United States. Smaller nations are flexing their nuclear muscles in spite of economic penalties and condemnations by major nations.
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2 Tim. 3:1-5 "In the last days will come time of troubles. Men will love
nothing but money and self [affluence and materialism]...lovers of pleasure rather than
lovers of God, men who hold an outward form of religion, but are a standing denial of its
reality." [N.E.B., K.J.V.]
The global economy is vulnerable to wild market swings. In the last
five years the American balance-of-payment deficit has risen by more than 100 percent and
Europe’s has grown fivefold. The web of connections among countries make an economic
network highly vulnerable with many weak links. Hundreds of billions of dollars move by a
computer keystroke in response to a rumor.
James 5:1-4 "Ye rich men, weep and howl...your riches are
corrupted...the rust of them shall be a witness against you...ye have heaped the treasure
together for the last days. Behold the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your
fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have
reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth [armies]."
In 1995, over 2,200,000 pounds of toxic chemicals, 92,000,000 tons
of carbon monoxide emissions and 4,900,000 tons of lead emissions were released into the
environment in the U.S. by major manufacturing facilities. A 1994 report from the General
Accounting Office noted that an estimated 275 million tons (550 billion pounds) of
hazardous waste are treated, stored, and disposed of annually in the U.S. 
Water 
Over the last 45 years, 11% of plant-supporting
soils have been degraded to the point of inability to process nutrients into a form that
plants can use. 17% of all vegetated land on Earth has suffered some degree of
degradation. 
The world is
losing its tropical forests at almost 42 million acres per year, an increase of 50% from a
decade earlier. Nearly 1.3 acres of tropical forest disappear every second. At the current
rate, tropical forests will be gone within 115 years.
250,000 people are added to our world population
every day! World population increases 90 million every year! 
Let the Weak Say, 'I am Strong'