Jesus’ disciples asked Him about the signs of His second coming
(Mat 24:3 NIV) As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
Many will come forward claiming to be the Messiah
(Mat 24:5 NIV) For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ, ‘ and will deceive many.
In our current age, there has been an explosion of people claiming to be Christ. In the past, there had been about 1 person claiming to be the Messiah every century but today there are 10,000 people claiming to be Christ in the US alone. Sun Myung Moon is one person claiming to be the Messiah of this age. He has two million followers worldwide.
Increase of wars
(Mat 24:6-7 NIV) You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. {7} Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
Never have there been so many wars all over the world involving so many nations on so many occasions. eg. World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, China/Vietnam, Falklands, Ireland, Israel-Arab wars of 1948, 1967, 1972, 1980, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Angola, Iran/Iraq, Iraq Gulf War 1991, Croatia 1991, Cold War, terrorist wars etc to name a few.
The world has never been so unstable. It is indeed gearing itself up for war. China has increased its defense budget by 50%. Russia has an army of six million soldiers. The world has enough nuclear weapons to destroy itself many times over.
Increase in famines
(Mat 24:7 NIV) There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
Famines are also coming up in many places as predicted by Jesus. We would have thought that with the advance of science and biotechnology, we would get rid of hunger forever. Yet there are more people starving now than ever. The World Health Organization says that as many as two billion people are starving every day – that’s one third of the human population!
Increase of earthquakes
(Mat 24:7 NIV) There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
Earthquakes are on the rise like never before. If we just look at major earthquakes with a Richter scale of 7.0 and above, we see that the frequency of earthquakes have risen phenomenally in these last days. In the past, there had been about one major earthquake every 10 years. From 1900 to 1949, it averaged three major earthquakes a decade. From 1949 the increase became more drastic with nine killer earthquakes in the 1950s, 13 in the 1960s, 56 in the 1970s and an amazing 74 major earthquakes in the 1980s. Finally, in the 1990s, there are more than 180 major earthquakes. (Source : U.S. Geological Survey) Look at the chart below.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey
Earthquakes 7.0 or greater on Richter scale
Increase in pestilences
(Luke 21:11 NIV) There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.
Since the onset of the HIV/AIDS epidemic 15 years ago, the virus has infected more than 47 million people in the world. With more than 2.2 million deaths in 1998, HIV/AIDS has now become the fourth leading cause of mortality and its impact is going to increase. An estimated 340 million new cases of curable Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) in adults have occurred throughout the world in 1995. (Source : World Health Organization)
As you can see, the prophecies of Jesus about the last days are coming true in frightening details.