Matthew 24 – Signs of Christ’s Return

The Disciples asked Jesus what would be the sign of His return to earth.  Jesus told them, “Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of war…there shall be famines and pestilences (diseases) and earthquakes in divers (various) places…and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come” Matthew 24:6-14.  Let’s address “wars and rumors of wars:” At an anti-Zionism conference in Tehran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran stated, “Israel must be wiped off the map” (New York Times 6/11/06).  He also said, “The uniform shout of the Iranian nation is forever ‘Death to Israel’” (Fars News Agency 10/10/09).  Do you think that’s alarming?  He considers Israel to be “little Satan,” but refers to the US as “big Satan.”  Iran is creating nuclear missiles and Ahmadinejad has no qualms about tossing around threats of annihilation to Israel; so, if he wants to obliterate “little Satan,” where does that leave us (big Satan)?  Regardless of rumors mixed with propaganda, Americans need to know one thing, terrorist Muslims in the Middle East are a huge threat to the US, although President Barack Obama doesn’t want you to know this.  He walks in and out of Muslim nations feeling quite at home, while at the same time Christians are martyred in these same countries continuously.  Have you asked yourself why?  President Barack Obama says he is a Christian, but he received a Muslim upbringing in Indonesia and Hawaii, and his school registration form in Hawaii states he is a “Muslim.”  He frequently attests to his racism (against whites) and his Muslim faith in the books he authored, “Dreams from My Father” and “Audacity of Hope,” wherein he is quoted as saying, “I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”  President Barack Obama has signed policy to strike references to Islamic radicalism from the National Security Strategy (Associated Press 7/12/10).  Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, has declared Barack Obama to be the “Messiah” (Associated Content News 10/10/08).  Why would a Muslim leader laud our president as his “Messiah?”  Muslim countries do not have to wage all out war against the US, because they are effectively bringing it down from within.  According to the International Institute of Strategic Studies, thirty-two armed conflicts were underway in 2000; more than two-thirds involved Muslims (wars and rumors of wars sound familiar?).  Let’s address “famines:”  According to the World Health Organization (WHO), hunger is the single worst threat to the world’s public health and malnutrition is the biggest contributor to child mortality.  According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, starvation affects more than one billion people (one in six on the planet).  Currently, crops in Australia are threatened by a locust plague of Biblical proportions, and this is in a country that has suffered years of draught (Telegraph News 10/16/10).  Twelve million Nigerian people face the country’s worst food crisis since the 80s (The Guardian News 8/3/10), not counting other peoples of Africa suffering starvation.  Right now, bee colony collapses threaten US food supplies.  Bees don’t just make honey; bee pollination is responsible for one-third of the US food supply (USDA News 12/19/06).  Let’s address “pestilence:”  There are 33.4 million people living in the world with the AIDS virus, a 20% increase since 2000 (UNAIDS 2008 Survey Results).  “Earthquakes:”  According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), there were 14,805 earthquakes with an associated 1,787 deaths worldwide in 2009; and 15,710 earthquakes with an associated 226,215 deaths worldwide (so far) in 2010.  USGS alleges we are not experiencing any more earthquakes than we ever have, but they state the reason it appears that there are more earthquakes is because the number of seismological centers to detect them have increased.  Nevertheless, look at the differences in the death tolls from last year to date.  It is obvious that there is a very recent increase in catastrophic earthquakes worldwide.  Finally, Christ said that the end would come when the gospel is preached to all nations.  In our generation, Christian television broadcasts the gospel to all nations by satellite!  God is long-suffering, but the world is finally nearing judgment day (II Peter 3:11).  Are you ready to meet our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?  Will He say, “Well done good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23); or will He say, “Depart from me ye worker of iniquity?” (Luke 13:27).