THE TRIUMPHANT RETURN AND KINGDOM #9
From a book by Dr.Grant Jeffrey (published 2001)
The General Prophetic Signs of Christ's Return
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in
the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with
perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts
failing them for fear, and for looking after those things
which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven
shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man
coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these
things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your
heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. (Luke 21:25-28)
Some commentators think of prophecy as only "doom and
gloom." They think of the Second Coming of Christ as the end of
history. However, a biblically balanced view of the prophecies
enables us to understand that the prophets present the most
incredibly positive message we could ever hope to receive from
God. The return of Jesus Christ will usher in the greatest period
in human history. It is not the end of history; rather, Christ's
return will be the opening event in the greatest adventure in the
history of mankind.
As mentioned in the previous chapter, during the first few
centuries following the ascension of Jesus into heaven, millions
of Christians greeted each other by saying, "Maranatha," meaning
"the Lord comes." The early Christians rejoiced in their
confidence that Jesus would fulfil His prophecy that He would
return in the last days to establish His eternal kingdom on
earth.
The greatest single theme in Scripture is the Second Coming.
While there are approximately three hundred prophetic passages in
the Old Testament that foretold the first coming of Christ, there
are more than eight times as many verses that describe the Second
Coming and His triumphant rule. More than 2,400 verses throughout
the Old and New Testaments reveal God's promises about the return
of Christ. The remarkable number of prophetic passages about the
Second Advent emphasizes the vital importance of this event in
God's plan of redemption for humanity. In light of the recent
evidence of the fulfilment of these key prophetic signs, we need
to live in daily expectation of Christ's return.
It is significant that the Bible's very first and last
prophecies refer to the Second Coming. The first prophecy, which
the Lord addressed to Satan following the rebellion of Adam and
Eve, predicted Christ's ultimate defeat of Satan at Christ's
return at Armageddon. In reference to the final encounter between
Christ and Antichrist, the Lord declared, "And I will put enmity
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it
shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Genesis
3:15). The phrase, "it shall bruise thy head" prophesied that
Christ ("her seed" - the seed of the woman) will finally defeat
the Antichrist ("thy seed" - the seed of Satan).
One of the earliest prophecies concerning the Second Advent
is surprisingly recorded in one of the final books of the New
Testament, the book of Jude. The brother of Jesus, Jude, made
reference to the righteous patriarch Enoch, who was raptured to
heaven in the generations before the Flood. (No he was not. Enoch
is not in heaven, another false teaching. There is a study on
this Website concerning the truth about Enoch, Moses, and Elijah
- Keith Hunt). Jude revealed that Enoch prophesied the Second
Coming: "Enoch, also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these,
saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
to execute judgment upon all" (Jude 14-15).
The last prophecy in the Bible was recorded by the prophet
John in the final verses of the book of Revelation. This prophecy
declares, "And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me,
to give every man according as his work shall be" (Revelation
22:12). Christ's final message to His Church concludes with these
words, "He which testifieth these things saith, Surely, I come
quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus" (Revelation 22:20).
In every generation for the last two thousand years, there
have been Christian scholars of the ancient prophecies who have
wondered whether Christ will return to redeem the earth in their
lifetime. Believers in every generation have naturally longed for
the soon return of Jesus Christ. Skeptics correctly point out
that these hopes have never yet been realized. These skeptics
ask, "Why should we believe that our generation is the one that
will witness the return of Christ when other generations were
disappointed in their equally sincere hopes?" This is a
legitimate question and deserves a serious answer. The truth is
that no previous generation has ever witnessed the fulfilment of
even a fraction of the prophecies that we have seen since the
mid-twentieth century.
Will we witness the return of Jesus Christ? The answer to
this question has profound implications for our motivation to win
souls and is an encouragement to walk in holiness in the midst of
an immoral world. After thirty-eight years of careful study of
the prophecies and a detailed analysis of current world events, I
am more convinced than ever that there is overwhelming prophetic
evidence indicating the return of Jesus Christ in our lifetime.
However, we must always realize that God is sovereign and can
delay His coming if He chooses to.
(Now the last sentence is to be taken note of. I am 66 year old
and if you had asked me when I was 20 years old, if I would still
be in the flesh at age 66, I would have said "no way, Jesus will
return before I'm 66." I have learnt over the years that "time"
with God is not as man sees time. 46 years from me being 20 years
old is a long time for us humans [yet as I think back it seems to
have gone so quickly] - with God 46 years in the scheme of
eternity is as Billionth part of the blinking of an eye. As Peter
said, a day can be a thousands years or a thousand years as a
day, God can shorten or lengthen his prophetic time table
according to as He wills. Maybe Jesus will come in my lifetime,
then again maybe not. We watch the signs of the times, and
patiently wait - Keith Hunt)
As we analyze the evidence about these prophecies, we should
note that there are two types of predictions. There are a number
of broad prophecies that indicate general conditions that will
exist when Christ will return. These general prophecies include
such predictions as false Christs, false prophets, wars and
rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, and pestilence (Matthew
24:5-8). While there is ample evidence to demonstrate that these
conditions now exist, the general nature of these predictions
presents a certain degree of ambiguity. The evidence exists to
demonstrate that the number of wars, famines, and pestilences has
genuinely increased in recent years; yet, someone could
legitimately argue that the number of wars, famines, and
pestilences may continue to increase even more rapidly in future
generations. Therefore, while these general prophetic signs
provide confirmation that the times we live in may truly be "the
last days," we must carefully examine the evidence detailed in
the following chapter that reveals scriptural predictions that
are unique to discover compelling evidence that we are truly
living in "the end times."
Deception Concerning the Rise of False Christs
"And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no
man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I
am Christ; and shall deceive many" (Matthew 24:4-5).
It is fascinating that Christ's very first prophecy warned
about spiritual deception concerning the rise of both false
messiahs and false prophets in the last days. Significantly,
there are no historical references to any false messiahs before
the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In fact, the first appearance of a
false messiah occurred after the resurrection of Jesus. The
Jewish scholar C.G.Montefiore wrote, "Of false Messiahs, we know
of none among the Jews until Bar Cochba in 131 C.E." The genuine
always precedes the appearance of the counterfeit. Throughout
history, a false messiah has appeared approximately once every
century since the days of Christ. However, a veritable explosion
of false messiahs has appeared in our generation. The false
messiahs in our day include David Koresh, Sun Myung Moon, Charles
Manson, Jim Jones, L.Ron Hubbard, Lord Maitreya, and numerous
others. The rising number of false messiahs in our generation is
preparing our society for the spirit of Antichrist worship that
will manifest itself in the worship of the prophesied Antichrist
in the last days.
(The truth of the matter on this Jeffrey and kin will never
admit, because they will never see or agree to it. But the false
prophets and false ministers who come in the name of Christ,
saying that Christ is Christ, is in the tens of thousands. Great
Babylon Mystery Religion and her Daughters have well over a
BILLION members worldwide. Hence she has thousands of ministers
and priests who teach her mystery religion, and who follow the
traditions of men, the customs of men, who have changed the truth
of God into "unrighteousness" and "unrighteousness" is give as
the truth of God. Babylon and her daughters, have all one thing
in common, they have "done away with" or "changed" the clear
teaching of the 4th commandment that the 7th day of the week is
the Holy Sabbath day, which day on the Roman calendar is called
SATURDAY! They have also substituted Babylon/Roman festivals for
the true Festivals of the Lord which He says are His Festivals in
Leviticus 23 - Keith Hunt)
Wars and Rumors of Wars
Jesus Christ said, "And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of
wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come
to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom" (Matthew 24:6-7).
Twenty-five centuries ago, the prophet Joel was given a
divine vision concerning our last days generation and prophesied
as follows: "Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; 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
pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong" (Joel
3:9-10).
Since the close of World War 2, the number of wars
throughout the world has increased tremendously. In 1981 Michael
Kidron and Dan Smith wrote a military study, "The War Atlas,"
that concluded the world has not known a single day without some
nation waging a war or conflict somewhere on earth from the end
of World War 2 until 1982. Dozens of new nations demanded
independence and old empires disintegrated, and "there have been
about three hundred wars since 1945. There has been no single day
free of war and few islands of tranquility." From 1982 until
1991, there were another forty-two wars according to "The New
State of War and Peace" by Michael Kidron and Dan Smith. The last
decade has continued this trend of growing warfare.
Despite thousands of peace treaties, the last one hundred
years truly became "the century of war." The standing armies and
the reserves of the world's nations now contain hundreds of
millions of soldiers. The major powers today could mobilize
hundreds of millions of troops if needed for global war. An
international think tank, the "Club of Rome," issued the
"Reshaping International Order Report," which revealed that
almost 50 percent (over one half million) of the world's
scientists are now involved in weapons research. The continued
arms buildup in Russia, China, the West, the Middle East, and the
Third World is setting the stage for the cataclysmic Battle of
Armageddon.
The U.S. "Arms Control and Disarmament Agency" estimates
that global military spending by all nations now exceeds one
trillion dollars annually. It is difficult to comprehend the true
magnitude of the trillions of dollars spent in preparation for
war. According to "The War Atlas," the cost of a single French
Exocet air-to-ship missile exceeds the combined annual income of
more than ten thousand people in many Third World countries such
as Bhutan. At the present rate of military expenditure, every
citizen will be forced to contribute over three years of his
annual income in accumulated taxes to pay his or her portion of
this staggering arms bill. The $3 billion spent on a single
Trident nuclear submarine would pay for 16 million children to
attend school for one year in the developing nations. The money
spent on one advanced fighter plane would provide the funds to
establish 40,000 village pharmacies in poor nations. Over 100
million people throughout the world are now employed by the
military or defense industries.
I am not arguing for unilateral disarmament. We must
realistically acknowledge that we live in a dangerous world
filled with totalitarian dictatorships that represent a serious
military threat to our freedom and our physical survival.
However, the awesome new scientific discoveries and massive
military budgets have combined to produce devastating weapons of
mass destruction that have the potential to destroy a large part
of the human race. Although literally thousands of disarmament
treaties have been signed in the last century, the weapons labs
and military industrial complexes in virtually every nation are
producing devastating nuclear, chemical, biological,
electromagnetic, and conventional weapons in preparation for
future battles.
The nation of Israel faces implacable hatred from twenty-one
surrounding Arab states with a combined population of two hundred
million and a territory that is five hundred times larger than
the Jewish state. The Arab states possess virtually unlimited
military budgets based on their staggering wealth derived from
their enormous oil reserves. The total Arab conventional military
forces facing the five million Jews are greater than the total
conventional military force (armies, tanks, artillery, planes) of
the European NATO armies. In response to this incredible
military imbalance, Israel has developed over three hundred
advanced nuclear weapons, including sophisticated neutron bombs
that devastate their targets with powerful nuclear radiation that
destroys biological life without creating a large explosion. In
addition, intelligence sources indicate that Israel now possesses
a remarkable electromagnetic weapon that can hide their planes
from enemy radar systems as well as give Israeli commanders the
ability to destroy enemy missiles and planes in the air at great
distances from their territory. My sources reveal that a
remarkable electromagnetic weapon was invented by a Jewish
inventor in Toronto in 1969. The brilliant Sid Hurwich created a
device that disables complex and simple weapons at a distance. A
variation of this invention was used by the Israeli Air Force to
block radar screens during the astonishing 1973 Entebbe rescue of
Jewish hostages. In 1983 Israel blocked the radar of five Arab
nations when its jet bombers destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor to
protect the Jewish state (Weekend Magazine, Dec. 19, 1977).
(And it will not stop there IF God decides to give this planet
another 50 years or so before sending Christ back in triumphant
glory - Keith Hunt)
Famines
Christ warned that there would be famines that would be
widespread and devastating, leading up to the final conflict of
Armageddon (Matthew 24:7). John's Apocalypse also describes
terrible famine in the last days. "And I beheld, and to a black
horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A
measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a
penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine" (Revelation
6:5-6). The prophet John foresaw a future worldwide famine so
devastating that a man's entire day's wages ("a penny" was a
laborer's daily wage in ancient Rome) would only buy enough wheat
to supply the needs of himself, with nothing left over to feed
his family.
We face drought and famine conditions throughout significant
portions of Africa, India, and Southeast Asia. Millions are at
risk of famine: North Korea, Sudan, and China are currently
unable to properly feed their populations. According to a recent
Annual Study of the "UN Population Fund," the amount of
agricultural land worldwide is decreasing rapidly. Deserts are
growing at the rate of 14.8 million acres every year. Over 26
billion tons of precious topsoil are lost each year, and the
valuable tropical rain forests that contribute significant
amounts of our planet's oxygen are shrinking every year by
millions of acres.
The deadly combination of population growth and diminished
food resources is already producing serious famine threats in
Asia and Africa. The specter of widespread famine is here; the
"black horseman" of the book of Revelation, representing the
coming famine, is about to begin his deadly ride. The world
population is growing at the rate of more than 210,000 people
every single day. According to the Environmental News Network
article entitled "World Population Continues to Grow" issued on
April 5, 1999, "The population of our planet will increase to 8
billion by the end of 2026, according to the census brief World
Population Profile: 1998, and will reach 9.3 billion by 2050."
The world population has already passed the 6 billion mark.
While the rate of increase is slowing, according to the report,
the global population increase is equivalent to adding a new
Israel, Egypt, Jordan, West Bank and Gaza to the existing world
population total every year. This is equivalent to adding an
additional medium-sized city to the globe's population every
twenty-four hours.
Population growth and soil erosion are producing another
dangerous problem. The average rate of population increase
worldwide is approximately two percent, although it is much
higher in the Third World countries that can least afford their
hungry children. A rich country like Austria, with an extremely
low rate of population growth, will take almost three thousand
years to double its population. Meanwhile, a poor but populous
nation like Nigeria is experiencing such a high population growth
rate that it will double its already huge population in less than
a dozen years. Ninety percent of the 150 new babies born every
minute throughout the world will grow up in the Third World,
where both food supplies and clean water are in short supply.
It is virtually impossible to increase food production in the
Third World quickly enough to prevent widespread famine. At the
present rate of population growth, we are adding a billion new
mouths to be fed every twenty years. While it took the time from
the creation of man until World War I to produce a global
population of two billion people, it is remarkable that another
two billion people will be added to our current global population
during the next forty years. The world's population now exceeds
six billion people, and Africa, South America, and Asia
constitute 85 percent of that total. The population explosion and
its resulting famine was created because scientists solved the
"death rate" problem with DDT pesticides, antibiotics, and
improved sanitation before introducing effective fertility
control measures to solve the "birth rate" problem. The resulting
imbalance between rising birth rates and falling death rates has
produced a nightmare of starvation in those countries that we
thought we were helping.
Meteorologists are now predicting devastating global
climatic changes that may lead to drastic reductions in the
food-growing capacity in North America, Russia, and France. Yet,
there are only four nations throughout the world-Canada, the
United States, France, and Argentina - that can produce the vital
food-surplus reserves beyond the needs of their own population to
enable them to supply food to other nations. Large-scale flooding
and massive crop failures in North Korea have produced
unprecedented famine conditions.
We have destroyed more than 4.5 billion acres of topsoil
since 1945. This tragic loss of agriculturally fertile land
represents an area of land larger than the nations of China and
India combined. So far, eleven percent of the world's precious
topsoil has been eroded. This tragic loss has doomed the hopes
for self-sufficiency for many Third World countries. The Sahara
Desert is expanding relentlessly southward, destroying both the
topsoil and the agricultural nomadic lifestyle of the Africans
who have lived there for thousands of years.
Recently, the World Resources Institute in Washington, D.C.
released a sobering study of the world's soil conditions. One of
the areas most devastated is located in North America in the
center of the Canadian prairies and the Midwestern American
states. This relatively small area, only 5.3 percent of the
world's agricultural land, has been the "world's breadbasket" for
the last century. However, the study documents that over 235
million acres are now considered "degraded."
Modern fertilizers and land-management techniques could
restore a small portion of the North American soil loss, but at
an enormous cost. However, the vast majority (over two billion
acres) of global soil erosion has occurred in the poorest
countries of Asia and Africa. There is little money in the
budgets of Third World nations to begin the costly
soil-reclamation projects. Over 20 percent of the agricultural
soils of Europe, Asia, Africa, and Central America have been
"degraded."
Pestilences
Jesus Christ warned that there would be devastating
pestilence in the last days (Matthew 24:7). Tragically,
pestilence and plague relentlessly follow famine and war,
compounding their devastation. Jesus warned that worldwide
pestilence would be a sign that we were living in the generation
when He would finally return. The prophet John was given a
terrifying vision of the coming holocaust during the seven-year
tribulation, ( No such 7 year tribulation is taught in the
Scriptures - in the book of Revelation it is 42 months, 1260
days, a time, times, and half a time - Keith Hunt) when God will
unleash the terrible plagues that will decimate one-quarter of
the world's population. "And I looked, and behold a pale horse:
and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with
him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the
earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and
with the beasts of the earth" (Revelation 6:8).
In April 1997, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a
frightening report that "at least 30 new infectious diseases with
no known treatment, cure, or vaccine have emerged in the
past 20 years." Their report, published on the Internet, stated:
"New infectious diseases can emerge from genetic changes in
existing organisms and appear suddenly in new populations. At
least 30 new disease agents have been identified over the past
two decades, and new agents are being added with disquieting
regularity." This modern explosion of infectious disease is a
direct result of the increase in air travel, growing
urbanization, and poor sanitation. Many diseases of the past,
including bubonic plague, are re-emerging as deadly threats to
humanity. The WHO recently reported that diseases such as
malaria, smallpox, diphtheria, and yellow fever are also making
devastating comebacks. Unfortunately, many of these diseases are
becoming drug-resistant superbugs. The American Association for
the Advancement of Science declared that "overuse of antibiotics
is leading to a world in which the drugs are no longer
effective." A new form of malaria that causes paralysis and death
has infected over 300 million victims worldwide and the disease
no longer responds to the traditional treatment, quinine. The
health authorities' decision to eliminate the use of DDT, the
most effective pesticide against the mosquitoes that carry
malaria, has allowed malaria to once again claim hundreds of
millions of lives in the Third World.
Public health doctors are fighting a losing battle against
the new scourge of fifty-three sexually transmitted diseases
(STDs). The new epidemic of STDs is a modern form of pestilence
that is a direct result of the widespread sexual immorality and
perversion of this generation. Public health doctors estimate
that as many as 40 percent of all single, sexually active adults
in North America are now infected with a sexually transmitted
disease.
The Tragic AIDS Plague
The deadly AIDS virus is the most dangerous plague in
history. As individuals have sown the wind of immorality and
lust, they have begun to reap sexually transmitted disease,
sterility, and death. The worst of all these sexually transmitted
diseases is the deadly virus known as AIDS, now the number-one
killer disease worldwide, ahead of malaria and tuberculosis. In
1990, the CIA began a detailed global investigation of the
growing AIDS threat to the national security interests of the
United States. Once completed, this report, entitled Interagency
Intelligence Memorandum 91:10005, was given to President George
Bush in 1991. Selected portions of this report were released to
the State Department under the title "The Global AIDS Disaster"
and described the AIDS crisis as one of the most deadly
calamities in human history.
The 1991 report projected that up to 45 million people would
be fatally infected by the year 2000. Incredibly, this early
estimate of 45 million-though greater than the combined toll of
soldiers killed in World War 1, World War 2, and the Korean War -
proved to be an underestimate.
As of December 1, 2000, the United Nations/World Health
Organization reported that more than 22 million had already died
of AIDS and that another 36.1 million were currently infected
with this fatal disease. The vast majority (25.3 million, or 70
percent) of those currently infected live in sub-Saharan Africa.
The latest updated death toll reveals that AIDS is the worst
epidemic in human history, exceeding the Black Plague of the
fourteenth century and the 20 million killed by the Spanish Flu
in 1918-19.
Dr. Peter Piot, the Executive Director of the Joint United
Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, also warned about the inexorable
rising death toll of AIDS in other nations: "What we had
predicted and feared is now happening, and that's an explosion of
HIV." Reports from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union
reveal approximately 700,000 cases of HIV - a frightening 60
percent rise in only one year. A sobering report from the Russian
Ministry of Health now estimates that within five years as many
as 10 percent of the Russian population (a staggering 14 million
citizens) may be infected by AIDS.
AIDS is now exploding throughout the billions living in
Asia. Experts from the Thai Red Cross estimate that more than
five hundred people are infected with the deadly disease every
single night in Thailand. Health workers estimate that up to 90
percent of the prostitutes in Thailand are now infected. Studies
in India suggest that 3.7 million have AIDS. Meanwhile, 5.8
million are infected in South as well as Southeast Asia.
The Growth of Pestilence and Plagues
Over 11 million people worldwide die from tuberculosis (TB)
every year. This is aggravated by a new deadly drug-resistant TB
strain. The Laboratory Center for Disease Control in Ottawa,
Canada, reported that tens of thousands of North Americans
have already become infected with a new drug-resistant form of TB
that kills over 70 percent of its victims.
Since the 1950s, a number of powerful antibiotics were
developed that weaken or destroy the various bacteria that cause
so many diseases. These antibiotics have saved hundreds of
millions of lives throughout the world over the last five
decades. However, our society has abused and overprescribed
antibiotics to the point that many people can no longer derive
full benefit from them. An article by science reporter Joseph
Hall in the Toronto Star revealed that researchers recently
warned the American Association for the Advancement of Science
that "overuse of antibiotics is leading to a world in which the
drugs are no longer effective." University of Washington
biologist Marilyn Roberts warned an international science
conference that "tons of antibiotics are being used as farm
additives on plants and animals, doctors are over-prescribing
them and they are being misused in developing countries."
The shortage of antibiotics, and their expense, has often
led patients in poor countries to stop taking the drug after
their symptoms have initially dissipated, yet before the
strongest strains of the bacteria are fully destroyed. This
common occurrence often facilitates the development of stronger
drugresistant bacteria that will no longer respond to traditional
antibiotics. Professor Roberts ominously predicted that "if we
don't change the way we use these medications, they will lose
their effectiveness to fight diseases." It takes decades to
research, create, and gain approval for a new antibiotic. There
are fewer than a dozen effective antibiotics and many are
becoming ineffective.
Massive pollution and ecological problems now appear to be
almost insolvable. Since 1960s, over 70,000 new chemicals were
introduced into the earth's biosphere. Only 10,000 of these
70,000 new chemicals were even tested for their possible side
effects on humans. When we add to this deadly chemical concoction
thousands of new, environmentally untested chemicals created in
laboratories every year, we may be creating problems and diseases
for which there is no cure. The Toxic Substances Strategy
Committee reported in 1980 that up to 90 percent of
cancers were caused by exposure to hazardous substances in our
environment. The continued heavy usage of pesticides has aided in
the production of new strains of germs, known as superbugs, that
have developed resistance to pesticides and other chemicals.
Environmental studies reveal that children living in homes
that use garden pesticides have a 600 percent greater risk of
developing leukemia.
Even if a new chemical is harmless by itself, it may become
deadly when combined with other chemicals. The California Public
Interest Group has calculated that over 250 billion pounds of
synthetic chemicals are now produced every year in the United
States. One report revealed that "45,000 [chemicals] are in
commercial distribution, and it takes a team of scientists, 300
mice, two to three years, and about $300,000 to determine whether
one single suspect chemical causes cancer." Our continued
lifelong exposure to harmful chemicals is causing 15 percent of
U.S. citizens to develop supersensitivity to harmful chemicals in
their environment. These supersensitive patients develop symptoms
of allergies, depression, headaches, and irritability.
Scientists are discovering hazardous waste dumps hidden in
many communities, leeching out their toxic elements into our
water supply. The problem of disposal of radioactive waste from
nuclear reactors remains unresolved, yet we continue to produce
radioactive materials in the vain hope that someday we will find
a solution.
The Gospel of the Kingdom Preached in All the World
"And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the
world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will
come" (Matthew 24:14).
In the last fifty years, the growth of evangelism throughout
the world has been breathtaking. In the Muslim nation of
Indonesia, more than 20 percent of the population has recently
accepted Christ. Despite decades of dedicated missionary efforts,
by 1900 only 3 percent of Africans had become followers of Jesus
Christ. However, by 2000, over 45 percent of the five hundred
million people living in Africa have accepted Christ. While
Christianity was almost unknown before World War 2, up to 40
percent of the South Korean population now follows Christ.
A 1991 study by the National Council of Churches concluded
that church membership is growing at twice the speed of growth of
the world population, with the greatest growth in Evangelical
churches. The Lausanne Statistics Task Force concluded that the
number of born-again Christians has grown three times faster than
the world's population during the seventeen years from 1980 to
1997.
* In 1430, one person in 99 of the world's population was a
Christian.
* In 1790, one person in 49 of the world's population was a
Christian.
* In 1940, one person in 32 of the world's population was a
Christian.
* In 1970, one person in 19 of the world's population was a
Christian.
* In 1980, one person in 16 of the world's population was a
Christian.
* In 1983, one person in 13 of the world's population was a
Christian.
* In 1986, one person in 11 of the world's population was a
Christian.
* In 1997, one person in 10 of the world's population was a
Christian.
Lausanne Statistics Task Force on Evangelism
In only sixty years, the number of Christians throughout the
world has grown by 1,300 percent. The evangelical Church has
grown from only 40 million in 1934 to 540 million today.
Meanwhile, the world's population has grown by only 400 percent.
Christian radio broadcasts are now reaching almost half of the
world's 360 mega-languages, covering 78 percent of the earth's
population. The Church is rapidly fulfilling the Great
Commission. There were fewer than one million Chinese Christians
at the time of the communist takeover in mainland China in 1949.
However, the lowest estimates suggest there are more than l00
million followers of Christ in the underground church in
Communist China today. As many as 25,000 people accept Christ in
China every day. Every year, more than 300 million Bibles, New
Testaments, and Scripture selections are distributed throughout
the world.
(All this actually proves that false prophets and false ministers
coming in the name of Christ, are deceiving the world in a
staggering way, just as Jesus said it would be before His return.
The proclaiming of the Gospel to the world will be done by an
angel as we see in Revelation 14:6-7 then Jesus comes in verse
14-20. That is all fully explained in the New Testament Bible
Story under the book of Revelation on this Website - Keith Hunt)
The Apostle Paul's Warning Signs of the Last Days
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall
come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous,
boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,
unthankful, unholy, without natural affection,
trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce,
despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady,
highminded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God;
having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof:
from such turn away. ( 2 Timothy 3:1-5)
The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy and prophetically warned
him of these spiritual conditions that would characterize the
people living in the generation when Jesus Christ would return to
establish His kingdom. This prophecy so accurately depicts
today's world that it could have been written by any columnist in
this morning's newspaper. Paul's prophetic list of the symptoms
of our disintegrating North American and European society reveals
that our world is standing at a spiritual crossroads as the
astonishing scriptural prophecies of the last days are beginning
to unfold in our generation.
.....................
NOTE:
It is all more than interesting in the stats given by Jeffrey.
And those were the stats in 2000, his book was published in 2001.
Sometimes man, when faced with smashing into a brick wall, will
do things to reverse the situation, man has been given a mind
from the Creator that is truly amazing at times, in what it can
do when faced with the situation of "mend your ways or you are
doomed." So mankind could yet pull itself from some of the brinks
of disaster, yet in the overall of whatever time the Father is
going to allow before Jesus comes again, the world will
experience the signs that Jeffrey has gone through. But the long
and short of it all for you to remember is that "time" is in
God's hands, not ours. After Europe was forming in union in the
middle 1950s it took decades before the Berlin Wall came down. It
then took decades more before Europe abolished having "passports"
to move around from country to country. Europe - the coming Beast
Babylon/Roman Empire of the last days, is yet some distance away
from her prophetic fulfilment of the world's great trading power
she will yet be, and is still some distance away from the
military might she will be. Then also the political and religious
scene of Europe needs to be WAY different than it is now, for the
"woman whore" to rise up and ride the 7th and last resurrection
of the Holy Roman Empire.
Time belongs to God, it's entirely in His hands, in His will, not
ours.
Keith Hunt (February 2009)
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