For many people the 9.0 earthquake in Japan, the ensuing Tsunami, Nuclear Meltdown and spread of radioactive debris across the atmosphere, teamed with the Arab uprising in several countries, has caused a great pause in our questions for tomorrow.
What is coming next? Where is all this leading? What does the Bible have to say about these events and are they an indication that we are living in the Last Days?
In the last part of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus began to explain what the conditions of the world would be like in the final days.
Matthew 24:3-8 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.“
The disciples wanted to know when the last days would arrive and what would be the signs of Jesus’ return.
Jesus said:
- The last days would be characterized by a great time of Deception.
- Many will come and claim to be the Christ.
- There will be many wars and rumors of wars.
- There will be Famines, Pestilences, and Earthquakes in various places.
The deception that Jesus was speaking of is religious deception.
We live in a generation of people in which there are more churches and religions than at any other time in all of man’s history on the earth.
According to David Barrett, editor of the World Christian Encyclopedia: A comparative survey of churches and religions from AD 30 to the present, reveals that there are 19 major world religions which are subdivided into a total of 270 large religious groups, with many smaller organizations.
There are a total of 34,000 separate claimed Christian groups that have been identified in the world.
How could anyone possibly know what church to join, or which church was better than any of the others?
First of all, Jesus never told us to “Join a church”. He told us that we are His church.
The true church of Jesus Christ is made up of all those who have repented of their sins, turned to Jesus for the salvation of their souls, and are living for Jesus everyday of their life. The church of Jesus Christ is not made up of a denomination or list of affiliate churches. Jesus’ church consists of those who live their lives for Him.
The first church in the Book of Acts had three main qualities: They Met every Sunday for Fellowship, to study God’s Word and to Pray together.
Acts 2:42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Today there are millions of churches that do not even believe that Jesus is the Savior of the World. They deny that He is God and that sin is a reality. Countless other churches proclaim that a person is saved by doing a series of good works that their church prescribes. Others claim that their church or leader is the one true way to God.
The truth is that the Bible proclaims that the only way to God is through Jesus Christ. God has provided just one way for man to have his sins forgiven and to obtain eternal life. He gave us assurance that Jesus is the only one to trust in by raising Him from the dead on the third day.
Romans 1:4 …Jesus… declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.“
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
1 John 5:12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
The world has an enemy and he is determined to destroy the lives of as many human beings as possible before he is assigned to the lake of fire forever. Satan is in the business of creating as many counterfeit religions as possible. By the confusion of thousands of religions, the simple truth of God’s Love for man is clouded.
If you knew that there was only one way to heaven, and that human beings have a basic inner need to worship, you would create thousands of false religions to confuse and hide the one true way to God.
We were created to worship God. If we reject the one true Living God, Romans chapter 1 describes the fact that we will worship almost anything else.
Romans 1:25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Throughout all cultures and for all of recorded human history, man has practiced worship. If you examine the record of man’s existence since the beginning of time, you will see that when a human being does not worship the true and living God of the Bible, they will worship something that He created. People will thank the earth and the sky, but not the one who made the earth and sky. Every single human being practices some type of worship in their life. Even the atheist and agnostic worship. They have simply chosen to worship at the altar of self instead of at the feet of Jesus.
Knowing man’s inner need to worship, how would you deceive man and prevent him from seeing the true way to heaven?
Create as many false religions as possible. Satan is in the business of Religion. He is behind the creation of the world’s thousands of religious groups. He does this in an attempt to cover up the Truth that only Jesus and His Cross are the acceptable plan of Salvation that God has chosen for all men to be saved.
God wanted His plan of salvation to be simple and easy to understand. He made the forgiveness of sin and our acceptance by God, a matter of simply believing what God said:
Acts 16:31 …Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.
This definition of “Believe” is: To cling to, trust in, rely upon, and live everyday for, Jesus Christ. Salvation must be more than an intellectual acknowledgment of Jesus Christ, it must be a heartfelt, sincere trust in Him, that occurs deep within the heart.
Romans 10:8-9 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
The second sign Jesus told us to watch for was that in the last days there would be many who claimed to be “The Christ”. The word Christ is the “Christos” in Greek. The annointed one. The Savior or Redeemer.
In the 20th century, there are more people that have claimed to be the Christ, the Savior of the world, than at any other time in history. At last count, there are 21 who have claimed to be “The Christ”
- Haile Selassie I (1892–1975), the Rastafari movement which emerged in Jamaica during the 1930s believes he is the Second Coming.
- George Ernest Roux (1903–1981), called the “Christ of Montfavet” or “Georges-Christ”, founder of the Universal Christian Church (now named the Universal Alliance) in France, claimed to be Jesus, then God.
- Ernest Norman (1904–1971), an American electrical engineer who co-founded the Unarius Academy of Science in 1954, was allegedly Jesus in a past life and his earthly incarnation was as an archangel named Raphael.
- Krishna Venta (1911-1958), born Francis Herman Pencovic in San Francisco, founded the WKFL (Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith and Love) Fountain of the World cult in Simi Valley, California in the late 1940s. In 1948 he stated that he was Christ, the new messiah.
- Ahn Sahng-Hong (1918–1985), a South Korean who founded the World Mission Society Church of God in 1964, who consider him the Second Coming of Jesus.
- Sun Myung Moon (1920–), believed by members of the Unification Church to be the Messiah and the Second Coming of Christ, fulfilling Jesus’ unfinished mission.
- Jim Jones (1931–1978), founder of People’s Temple, which started off as an offshoot of a mainstream protestant sect before becoming a personality cult as time went on. He claimed to be the reincarnation of Jesus.
- Marshall Applewhite (1931–1997), an American who posted a famous Usenet message declaring, “I, Jesus—Son of God—acknowledge on this date of September 25/26, 1995: …“
- Yahweh ben Yahweh (1935–2007), born as Hulon Mitchell, Jr., a black nationalist and separatist who created the Nation of Yahweh in 1979 inLiberty City, Florida. His self-proclaimed name means “God, Son of God.”
- Laszlo Toth (1940-), Hungarian-born Australian who claimed he was Jesus Christ.
- Wayne Bent (1941-), also known as Michael Travesser of the Lord Our Righteousness Church. He claims; “I am the embodiment of God. I am divinity and humanity combined.”
- Ariffin Mohammed (1943-), also known as “Ayah Pin”, the founder of the banned Sky Kingdom in Malaysia in 1975. He claims to have direct contact with the heavens and is believed by his followers to be the incarnation of Jesus.
- Mitsuo Matayoshi (1944-), a conservative Japanese politician, who in 1997 established the World Economic Community Party based on his conviction that he is God and Christ.
- José Luis de Jesús Miranda (1946-), Puerto Rican founder, leader and organizer of Growing in Grace based in Miami, Florida, who claims to be the resurrected Christ.
- Inri Cristo (1948-), a Brazilian astrologer who claims to be the second Jesus reincarnated in 1969.
- Thomas Harrison Provenzano (1949–2000), an American convicted murderer who compared his execution with Jesus Christ’s crucifixion.
- Shoko Asahara (1955-), founded the controversial Japanese religious group Aum Shinrikyo in 1984. He declared himself “Christ”, Japan’s only fully enlightened master and the “Lamb of God”. His purported mission was to take upon himself the sins of the world. He outlined a doomsday prophecy, which included a Third World War, and described a final conflict culminating in a nuclear “Armageddon”, borrowing the term from the Book of Revelation 16:16.
- David Koresh (1959–1993), born Vernon Wayne Howell, was the leader of a Branch Davidian religious sect in Waco, Texas,though never directly claiming to be Jesus himself, proclaimed that he was the final prophet and “the Son of God, the Lamb” in 1983.
- Hogen Fukunaga founded Ho No Hana Sanpogyo often called the “foot reading cult,” in 1987 after an alleged spiritual event where he claimed to have realized he was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ.
- Marina Tsvigun (1960-), or Maria Devi Christos, is the leader of the Great White Brotherhood. In 1990 she met Yuri Krivonogov, the “Great White Brotherhood” founder, who recognized Marina as a new messiah and later married her, assuming in the sect the role of “John the Baptist”, subordinate to Tsvigun.
- Sergei Torop (1961-), a Russian who claims to be “reborn” as Vissarion, Jesus Christ returned, which makes him not “God” but the “word of God.” He founded the Church of the Last Testament and the spiritual community Ecopolis Tiberkul in Southern Siberia in 1990.
It is interesting that the 17th in this list of claimed Messiahs is from Japan. In light of the recent nuclear meltdown of several reactors in Japan, this self-claimed Christ describes a final world event that includes a nuclear Armageddon.
The third sign that Jesus mentioned in describing the last days was the fact of “many wars and rumors of wars.”
In the last 3,000 years of recorded history there has only been 286 years without a war.
- There have been over 15,000 wars resulting in 4 billion deaths.
- World War 1, More than 10 Million Men died.
- World War 2: More than 35 Million Men and Women Died.
- Vietnam 58,000 men and women died.
- From 1970-1986 there has been more than 19 wars involving 30-40 nations with 7.1 million people killed during those wars.
- There are currently from 22-25,000 gang related deaths every year.
- Someone is beaten—stabbed—or shot every 22 seconds in America.
In the 20th century, over 160 million people have died in fulfillment of Jesus prophecy of “Wars and Rumors of Wars”.
The following list, although quite long, is included in this study to give you a visual idea of just how many wars have been fought in the 20th century. Surely Jesus’ prediction of many wars occurring in the Last Days, places our generation precisely at this place in history.
1860-65: American civil war (360,000)
1886-1908: Belgium-Congo Free State (8 million)
1899-02: British-Boer war (100,000)
1899-03: Colombian civil war (120,000)
1899-02: Philippines vs USA (20,000)
1900-01: Boxer rebels against Russia, Britain, France, Japan, USA against rebels (35,000)
1903: Ottomans vs Macedonian rebels (20,000)
1904: Germany vs Namibia (65,000)
1904-05: Japan vs Russia (150,000)
1910-20: Mexican revolution (250,000)
1911: Chinese Revolution (2.4 million)
1911-12: Italian-Ottoman war (20,000)
1912-13: Balkan wars (150,000)
1915: the Ottoman empire slaughters Armenians (1.2 million)
1915-20: the Ottoman empire slaughters 500,000 Assyrians
1916-23: the Ottoman empire slaughters 350,000 Greek Pontians and 480,000 Anatolian Greeks
1914-18: World War I (20 million)
1916: Kyrgyz revolt against Russia (120,000)
1917-21: Soviet revolution (5 million)
1917-19: Greece vs Turkey (45,000)
1919-21: Poland vs Soviet Union (27,000)
1928-37: Chinese civil war (2 million)
1931: Japanese Manchurian War (1.1 million)
1932-33: Soviet Union vs Ukraine (10 million)
1934: Mao’s Long March (170,000)
1936: Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia (200,000)
1936-37: Stalin’s purges (13 million)
1936-39: Spanish civil war (600,000)
1937-45: Japanese invasion of China (500,000)
1939-45: World War II (55 million) including holocaust and Chinese revolution
1946-49: Chinese civil war (1.2 million)
1946-49: Greek civil war (50,000)
1946-54: France-Vietnam war (600,000)
1947: Partition of India and Pakistan (1 million)
1947: Taiwan’s uprising against the Kuomintang (30,000)
1948-1958: Colombian civil war (250,000)
1948-1973: Arab-Israeli wars (70,000)
1949-: Indian Muslims vs Hindus (20,000)
1949-50: Mainland China vs Tibet (1,200,000)
1950-53: Korean war (3 million)
1952-59: Kenya’s Mau Mau insurrection (20,000)
1954-62: French-Algerian war (368,000)
1958-61: Mao’s “Great Leap Forward” (38 million)
1960-90: South Africa vs Africa National Congress (?)
1960-96: Guatemala’s civil war (200,000)
1961-98: Indonesia vs West Papua/Irian (100,000)
1961-2003: Kurds vs Iraq (180,000)
1962-75: Mozambique Frelimo vs Portugal (?)
1964-73: USA-Vietnam war (3 million)
1965: second India-Pakistan war over Kashmir
1965-66: Indonesian civil war (250,000)
1966-69: Mao’s “Cultural Revolution” (11 million)
1966-: Colombia’s civil war (31,000)
1967-70: Nigeria-Biafra civil war (800,000)
1968-80: Rhodesia’s civil war (?)
1969-: Philippines vs New People’s Army (40,000)
1969-79: Idi Amin, Uganda (300,000)
1969-02: IRA – Norther Ireland’s civil war (2,000)
1969-79: Francisco Macias Nguema, Equatorial Guinea (50,000)
1971: Pakistan-Bangladesh civil war (500,000)
1972-: Philippines vs Muslim separatists (Moro Islamic Liberation Front, etc) (120,000)
1972: Burundi’s civil war (300,000)
1972-79: Rhodesia/Zimbabwe’s civil war (30,000)
1974-91: Ethiopian civil war (1,000,000)
1975-78: Menghitsu, Ethiopia (1.5 million)
1975-79: Khmer Rouge, Cambodia (1.7 million)
1975-89: Boat people, Vietnam (250,000)
1975-90: civil war in Lebanon (40,000)
1975-87: Laos’ civil war (184,000)
1975-2002: Angolan civil war (500,000)
1976-83: Argentina’s military regime (20,000)
1976-93: Mozambique’s civil war (900,000)
1976-98: Indonesia-East Timor civil war (600,000)
1976-2005: Indonesia-Aceh (GAM) civil war (12,000)
1977-92: El Salvador’s civil war (75,000)
1979: Vietnam-China war (30,000)
1979-88: the Soviet Union invades Afghanistan (1.3 million)
1980-88: Iraq-Iran war (1 million)
1980-92: Sendero Luminoso – Peru’s civil war (69,000)
1980-99: Kurds vs Turkey (35,000)
1981-90: Nicaragua vs Contras (60,000)
1982-90: Hissene Habre, Chad (40,000)
1983-: Sri Lanka’s civil war (70,000)
1983-2002: Sudanese civil war (2 million)
1986-: Indian Kashmir’s civil war (60,000)
1987-: Palestinian Intifada (4,500)
1988-2001: Afghanistan civil war (400,000)
1988-2004: Somalia’s civil war (550,000)
1989-: Liberian civil war (220,000)
1989-: Uganda vs Lord’s Resistance Army (30,000)
1991: Gulf War – large coalition against Iraq to liberate Kuwait (85,000)
1991-97: Congo’s civil war (800,000)
1991-2000: Sierra Leone’s civil war (200,000)
1991-2009: Russia-Chechnya civil war (200,000)
1991-94: Armenia-Azerbaijan war (35,000)
1992-96: Tajikstan’s civil war war (50,000)
1992-96: Yugoslavian wars (260,000)
1992-99: Algerian civil war (150,000)
1993-97: Congo Brazzaville’s civil war (100,000)
1993-2005: Burundi’s civil war (200,000)
1994: Rwanda’s civil war (900,000)
1995-: Pakistani Sunnis vs Shiites (1,300)
1995-: Maoist rebellion in Nepal (12,000)
1998-: Congo/Zaire’s war – Rwanda and Uganda vs Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia (3.8 million)
1998-2000: Ethiopia-Eritrea war (75,000)
1999: Kosovo’s liberation war – NATO vs Serbia (2,000)
2001-: Afghanistan’s liberation war – USA & UK vs Taliban (40,000)
2002-: Cote d’Ivoire’s civil war (1,000)
2003: Second Iraq-USA war – USA, UK and Australia vs Saddam Hussein (14,000)
2003-09: Sudan vs JEM/Darfur (300,000)
2003-: Iraq’s civil war (60,000)
2004-: Sudan vs SPLM & Eritrea (?)
2004-: Yemen vs Shiite Muslims (?)
2004-: Thailand vs Muslim separatists (3,700)
List complied by Piero Scaruffi
The Fourth sign that Jesus said would signal the last days was that of Famines, Pestilences, and Earthquakes in various places.
As evidenced by Japan’s recent 9.0 Quake, Major catastrophic earthquakes are increasing in frequency and severity at an alarming rate:
From 526 to 1811, a period of 1,285 years, there were only 17 major earthquakes.
From 1822 to 1994, a period of just 172 years, there were 78 major earthquakes.
This is a 500 percent increase in frequency of major quakes in just 172 years.
From 1960 to 1994, in just a 34-year period of time, there were 50 major catastrophic earthquakes.
From 1994 to 2011 in just a 16-year period of time, there have been 14 Major earthquakes in just a 16-year period of time:
March 11, 2011: Japan; magnitude 9.0; at least 20,000 killed
January 12, 2010: Haiti; magnitude 7.0; 316,000 killed
May 12, 2008: Sichuan, China; magnitude 7.9; 68,712 killed
October 8, 2005: Kashmir, Pakistan; magnitude 7.6; 79,000 killed
December 26, 2004: Indonesia; magnitude 8.5; 230,210 killed
December 26, 2003: Southeastern Iran; magnitude 6.5; 26,271 killed
May 21, 2003: Northern Algeria; magnitude 6.8; 2,300 killed
March 25, 2002: Northern Afghanistan; magnitude 5.8; 1,000 killed
January 26, 2001: India; magnitude 7.9; 19,727 killed
September 21, 1999: Taiwan; magnitude 7.6; 2,400 killed
August 17, 1999: Izmit, Turkey; magnitude 7.4; 45,000 killed
January 25, 1999: Western Colombia; magnitude 6.0; 1,171 killed
May 30, 1998: Northern Afghanistan; magnitude 6.9; 5,000 killed
January 17, 1995: Kobe, Japan; magnitude 7.2; 6,000 killed
The average magnitude of these 14 quakes in 16 years is 7.3. This means that more than 50% of every catastrophic earthquake in history has happened in just the last 51 years. Even more striking is the fact that the severity of earthquakes happening within the past 50 years has grown exponentially.
What about natural disasters, are they increasing in frequency and severity?
From 1888-1947, a period of just 59 years, there were 13 major hurricanes typhoons or other major catastrophic storms with 62,274 people killed.
But from 1952 until 1993, a period of 41 years, there were 65 catastrophic storms with 560,761 people killed.
This is an increase of 500 percent in frequency and severity in natural disasters in just 41 years.
What about famines?
Despite the world’s prosperity, 250,000 children starve to death every week worldwide but the nations of the world spent more than 1 trillion dollars last year on the weapons of war.
Just as Jesus said “Famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places”, these are increasing in number and severity unprecedented in all of human history!
Jesus said that in the last days just before He returns for the Church and the Tribulation begins, we would see all of these thing increasing in number and in severity. Both of these factors are present in greater number than at any other period of time in history.
Every month there are new catastrophic events added to the list.
- Governments are in travail over tremendous financial crisis.
- Entire countries on the verge of bankruptcy.
- Tectonic plates around the world are moving out of their place.
- Natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis and floods worldwide.
- Never-before seen weather patterns appearing all over the earth.
- Riots and revolutions breaking out in Arab nations.
- Israel surrounded by enemies who want her annihilation.
- The Islamic world expecting the coming of their “Mahdi”, or Messiah.
- The Jews expecting their Messiah.
- Violence and Murder rising at staggering rates.
- Lack or reverence for the Bible, Christians and anything Holy.
- Christians making drastic compromises in their walk.
- Many claiming to be the Christ, the Messiah.
- The greatest number of global wars in all of man’s history.
- Wordwide religious deception by false religions and cult churches
Jesus said that when we see all of these events happening simultaneously around the world, that we should be aware that He is about to return.
As we continue with this series on the last days in forthcoming articles, the following are the subjects we will be discussing in the next three publications:
Part 1: A look at some of the Prophecies that Jesus spoke concerning the last days.
Part 2: A chronological list of the events that will happen in the last days.
Part 3: A summary of the Books of Revelation and Daniel concerning the last days.
Part 4: Where the current events of the world are leading us to in the last days
Rob Robinson
