The End Of The World As We Know It

We reviewed this six months ago. Let's review it again.

INTRODUCTION

Are you aware of the real meaning of current events? The prophecies of events that were to precede the end of civilization as we know it were made long ago in the Bible. These events are coming together right now.

Chapter 21 of the Gospel of Luke warns that the End of the World must occur in the same generation as the Jews' return to and control of Jerusalem after a long absence, meaning that when Jesus returns there will be people alive who had been alive in 1967. This return happened in June of 1967 following the re-establishment of Israel as a nation in 1948. Since then, a multitude of other related prophecies have fallen into place.

In the first three Gospels Jesus foretold that He would return to establish His Kingdom in the same generation as Jerusalem comes back under Jewish control, after they had been widely scattered from Israel. The nation of Israel was reestablished in 1948 but the Old City of Jerusalem, which is what the prophecy meant, wouldn't come back under Jewish control until 1967.

1) "THIS GENERATION"

What I find really interesting is the words that Jesus used to describe the timeframe. It was "This Generation".

1967 was also when the early "Baby Boom" generation was coming of age. A "generation" is definable in families, but usually not for society as a whole because people are being born and dying continuously. The most famous generation ever is the Baby Boomers but it took the calamity of the Second World War to bring that about. 

Soldiers returning from the war started families and the years after the end of the Second World War brought a great increase in the number of babies being born. This created a definable generation. At least in America, and other western countries, people born from 1946 to 1964 are known as the Baby Boomers.

The Baby Boomers would have a major impact on society simply because of their numbers. They brought that very special time known as the 1960s. Today the Baby Boomers are old and the western countries are facing a crisis that the world has never seen before. There have always been more young people than old people. The aging Baby Boomers have changed that.

Medical and care facilities are under great stress because there are a lot of older people who need care and not enough younger workers to take care of them. There are not enough younger people working and paying taxes to pay for the needs of the older people. Many businesses cannot find enough workers, not because governments have been brilliant at creating jobs but because Baby Boomers have been retiring by the millions and there are not enough younger workers to replace them. Many people are worried about the future of their professions because there is not enough new people coming in.

Modern medicine has extended the average life expectancy. In much of the world people have gone on having children like they always have. With the Baby Boom caused by the end of the Second World War, this has created an overpopulation crisis on the whole, the world's population having many more old people, relative to young people, than ever before.

This is a major crisis. The Baby Boomers shook up the world when they were young, and now they are shaking it up again when they are old. The world is just waiting for someone who has the answer to dilemmas like this, which we know the Antichrist will appear to have.

It is just so interesting that Jesus said "This Generation".

2) THE MANY SIGNS OF THE ANTICHRIST

"This Generation" means that the world as we know it cannot go on that much longer. Luke 21 foretells an increase in earthquakes and "wars and rumors of wars" for the Last Days, a prophecy that speaks for itself. 

The new millennium has really been a time of earthquakes. The devastating tsunami of December 26, 2004, was caused by an underwater earthquake and came almost exactly a year after another devastating quake leveled the ancient city of Bam, in Iran. Within a year of the tsunami, an equally devastating earthquake occurred in northern Pakistan on October 8, 2005. In 2008 there was a great earthquake in China's Sichuan Basin. 2011 saw yet another destructive tsunami, this time in Japan that also caused a nuclear disaster. In 2018 there was a tsunami, caused by an underwater earthquake that killed hundreds of people, in Indonesia. The June 2022 earthquake in Afghanistan killed well over a thousand people. Morocco was hit by a devastating earthquake in 2023.

The 2010 earthquake in Haiti killed almost as many people, about 200,000, as the tsunami of 2004. The quake later that year in Chile did not kill anywhere near as many people but was so powerful that the displacement from the quake had a measurable effect on the earth's rotation.

The earthquakes of the new millennium listed here are only the deadliest ones. The prophecy of "wars and rumors of wars" speaks for itself. "Rumors of war" at this point is the potential war between Israel and Hezbollah and the warnings by Russia of action against anyone helping Ukraine. Joe Biden recently approved the use of U.S.-made missiles against targets in Russia.

The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 21 is about Jesus' discussion of the future Apocalypse. In verse 25 Jesus foretells the people in these Last Days "will be in fear of the roaring of the sea". The roaring of the sea is caused by high winds and this sounds like a description of the increasingly ferocious storms, as well as rising of the sea level, that are caused by global warming.

We are also warned about false teachings and that people in this time near the End of the World will falsely claim to be Christ as did Jim Jones, Mehmet Ali Agca, David Koresh and, the kidnapper of Elizabeth Smart. These are only a few examples of people in the world today who claim to be Jesus Christ. There are articles online about the multitude of people in the world today who claim to be the Return of Jesus. There have been many news articles about people claiming to be the Messiah.

Many people misunderstand the Bible prophecies because they think only of the War of Armageddon. A cataclysmic world war will happen, but the next step in fulfillment of the prophecies is a temporary time of peace and prosperity in a world of unity and must happen first, before the War of Armageddon. This temporary time of prosperity will be led by the Antichrist. A resurgence of interest in the apocalyptic prophecies often occurs when a war or terrorist attack happens but, this is somewhat misleading.

The world is continuously coming together economically in the process known as 'globalization'. The 90s was the decade of the internet, which in effect is a global web promoting a one-world system. The 00 decade was the decade of a global battle against terrorism. The only real way to shut down terrorism is to create the means to keep track of anyone anywhere in the world. Which would, of course, put the system in place for the one-world system necessary to fulfill the biblical prophecies.

The early 20s were the decade of the virus. This gave the world quite a bit of practice to be able to keep track of everyone who might have been exposed to the virus, and who has been vaccinated.

The unified world must some day fall under the influence of the dynamic political leader of the Last days known in the Bible as the Antichrist. This man will be from a unified western Europe. The reason for this is that the Book of Daniel (written about 700 B.C.) foretold that the Antichrist will come from the people who kill the Messiah (Jesus) and destroy the Sanctuary (The Jews' Temple). This turned out to be the Romans.

The core of the European Union today is the same area as the old Roman Empire. The European Union has greatly expanded in size and is now probably the most important economic and political entity in the world. But continuous political, economic and, refugee crises in Europe call for a strong leader to step forward with all of the answers. 

The wars in Gaza and Ukraine brought the need in the European Union to find a common policy toward both. This is a major step towards consolidation of the union which will be the base for the Antichrist. There is often discussion that there should be a pan-European military force and this would fulfill the prophecy of meeting the great army from the east in the final Battle of Armageddon.

Aside from the one-world system, the basic structure of this future unified world already exists in the form of the United Nations. The world will move toward global cooperation so that the Antichrist can exercise full control.

Many times in our television age the world has been changed by one dynamic personality. In a globalizing world, there is nothing unusual about a great leader arising, able to influence the whole world. Look at what global figures royals and popes have become. This would have been impossible even a few decades ago.

The Antichrist will not be obviously evil, not at first. He will have tremendous charisma and will seem to have all the answers. But the Antichrist is actually the Son of Satan just as Jesus is the Son of God. After the world puts it's misplaced faith in him, everything will collapse into cataclysmic wars and other tribulations. I see the Antichrist as most likely an extremely ambitious man who seeks assistance from the occult in some way.

The Antichrist will be allowed to reign for seven years. The first half of this seven years will be the best time that the world has yet seen. But it will all be a fantastic satanic lie. Things will begin to fall apart and the second half of the seven years will be the worst time that the world has ever seen, or ever will see. Jesus makes it clear in the Gospels that, had he not returned to end this Tribulation Period, and set up His Kingdom, that no one would be left alive on earth.

3) THE WAR

The Antichrist will not be able to keep his control over all of the world. The world of the Antichrist will live in peace and prosperity for a time until it is shattered by an invasion of the Holy Land which will start the final war of the world. This will be God's Judgement on the world and the Antichrist, in whom they have put their faith, will be unable to prevent it.

The Book of Ezekiel, chapter 38, forecasts this cataclysmic war. After the restoration of Israel and the reestablishment of control over Jerusalem, Israel is to be attacked by an enemy to the "uttermost north". This attack must come after the world falls under the influence of the Antichrist and will start the great war. The only nation that fits this description is Russia and Moscow is due north of Israel. 

This does not mean that any nation is the "good guys" or the "bad guys" during the wars of the Tribulation. It will be God's Judgment on the whole world.

The Bible is clear that the world's final war will begin in the Middle East. The world has repeatedly shown how willing it is to plunge into conflict in the Middle East. Look at how the war in Gaza took the world's attention away from Ukraine.

The old biblical prophecies of the great war at the End of the World beginning in this region can now be seen to make perfect sense. Ezekiel 38:5 prophecies that this northern invader will be allied with Persia (Iran), Libya and, Ethiopia. The King James Version of the Bible gives the modern names of these nations, other versions may give the ancient names. The leadership of Iran has often called for the destruction of Israel, and blamed Israel for assassinations and sabotage in Iran.

There is a unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guard force that has the express purpose of someday liberating Jerusalem, known as Quds. At the time of this writing, Israel has launched numerous airstrikes against Iranian forces in Syria, just outside Israel's border. 

The latest development is that the Government of Iran has threatened an "obliterating war" if Israel launches a full scale war against Hezbollah.

The war in Ukraine has made Russia and Iran into close allies, which they really weren't before. Russia is using many Iranian-made drones in combat, and Iran has reportedly sent crews to train in their use. The statements that the Russian Government has made about the war sound like something right out of the Iranian Revolution, that the war is against "Satan" and "any soldiers that are killed in combat will have their sins forgiven".

The great war must happen, but the progress toward a unified world must happen first. The First Book of Thessalonians 5:3 states that a false sense of peace and safety will precede great destruction. Remember what an unexpected jolt the 9/11 attack was? Just when the world seems to be at peace, another war erupts. The final war of humanity will follow a similar pattern.

I believe that the 9/11 attack as well as the other terror attacks since then may have been allowed by God to jolt those people who believe that "This can't happen here" into thinking differently. The past hundred years or so, despite great technical and medical progress, was a time of brutal dictatorships and grotesque wars. In a globalizing world, there is nothing unusual about a worldwide dictatorship followed by a devastating war.

There have already been two world wars, three if you count the Napoleonic Wars as a world war. There is nothing unusual about another world war, which would fulfill the biblical prophecies, because the world is just about as troubled as ever. 

One thing that is particularly dangerous is simple demographics. It was very unlikely that there would ever be another world war as long as people were in positions of power who remembered the Second World War. But now that generation, the parents of the Baby Boomers, is just about gone and no one really knows what a world war would be like.

One thing for certain is that the next major war is going to be very nasty. It is quite possible that a nuclear war is not even necessary to bring about "The End Of The World As We Know It", as foretold in the Bible. Drones will be everywhere. There will be drones and autonomous land vehicles that will decide for themselves, by artificial intelligence, whether or not to open fire. Drones are inexpensive and any city might find itself swarmed by hundreds of explosive drones. At sea there will be AI submarine drones that decide for themselves whether to torpedo a ship. Robot dogs, powered by AI, have been developed that can kill.

It will be very difficult for humans to hide or take cover from these drones and autonomous land vehicles because not only will they have night vision but will be able to sense human body heat with infrared sensors. Drones over a city, far from being like traditional bombs, will be able to see and select where they can do the most damage and kill the most people, and sense where humans are taking cover by infrared.

Another reason for how especially nasty the next major war will be is drugs. The idea of drugging combatants, to make them more alert, aggressive and, fearless, is not new. But the war drugs available recently have turned it into a completely new game. There are drugs that can change the weakest boy in school, or girl for that matter, into a brutal and fearless warrior. The best-known is Captagon. There are also drugs that can enable a warrior on a special mission to go several days without sleep or food.

Pay no attention to writings of psychics like Nostradamus. The prophecies of Nostradamus are so vague as to be meaningless and most of his specific prophecies were in the Bible 1,500 years before Nostradamus' time. Also, pay no attention to anyone saying that the world will end on a certain day. The Bible states that no one knows the exact day, although we will know the general time. Certainly pay no attention to anyone claiming to be the Messiah. Remember that a lot of falseness and deception must be expected.

The Second Book of Timothy, chapter 3, foretells extensive sin, lawlessness, greed and, ignorance toward God in the Last Days. Don't these things abound right now?

Some versions of the Bible translate, in this chapter, that there will be people in the Last Days suffering from "uncontrollable fits of rage". There was no word for "gun" in biblical times, the development of gunpowder was far in the distant future. But this prophecy of "uncontrollable fits of rage" would fit perfectly with all of the senseless gun massacres nowadays.

Our society has lost it's foundation due to a straying from God's Word. The world without God cannot possibly avoid trouble.

4) THE BOOK OF REVELATION

The Book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, contains some seemingly mystifying prophecies. Chapter 16 foretells men in the Last Days being "burned by the heat of the sun". Right now the ozone layer is weakened and would go even faster following a nuclear exchange, exposing the planet to deadly ultraviolet rays. 

This being "burned by the heat of the sun" in the Last Days could, of course, refer to the extreme heat waves caused by global warming. It could also refer to the extensive wildfires caused by the heat drying everything out and by changes in the usual rainfall patterns. A lot of rain one year will cause extensive plant growth. But if there is a lack of rain the following year it will leave a lot of dead and dry plant matter.

The priest and evangelist scandals also fit into the prophecies; along with a lot of false, unbiblical religion. The Second Book of Thessalonians 2:3 predicts a "falling away" by many Christians, including many churches, near the world's end.

The Book of Revelation 13:17 foretells that everyone will have a "mark" for economic purposes in the Last Days. Just about everything you do can be tracked now.

Almost all countries have some kind of national identification number for it's citizens, which may include an identification card.

The world is ever more dependent on cell phones but when combined with GPS technology, the location of cell phone calls can be pinpointed easily.

With today's technology, the process of electronic tracking is much quicker and easier than ever. All of this would be ideal for helping to track terrorists and criminals, as well as a pandemic, but would also be there for use by the Antichrist enforcing order in the coming one-world system. 

We are in a surveillance society, virtually everything that we do online can be tracked and there are closed circuit cameras watching us everywhere, many of which can recognize us by the way we walk. Automatic cameras, mounted on vehicles, automatically photograph and record car licence plates. Facial recognition technology is much more efficient than it was even a short time ago. You would probably be surprised at how you can be watched, in real time, by satellites.

We would have difficulty living without our phones but this makes it so that we can be easily tracked. This will facilitate both the control that the Antichrist will have over the world and then making the wars of the Apocalypse more lethal.

The use of personal phones by soldiers, and the resulting risk of giving their position away, has been an important factor in the war in Ukraine. This culminated in the deaths of dozens of Russian soldiers as their position in a school was given away by their phones and the position was hit by missiles.

The Ukrainians apparently knew that there was somewhere in the area that the Russians had a base. They had missiles ready on New Year's Eve, figuring that some of the Russians would call home as the New Year arrived. The missiles would zero in on the phone signals and the missiles struck just after midnight. 

What is so important about this war in Ukraine is that the use of drones and AI in warfare is new. This is also the first major war where virtually everyone has a phone, and tracking those phones is part of the strategy. This war is working out and battle-testing all of this new technology so that it can be much more deadly in the future.

The emerging concept of the "Internet of Things" even makes it possible to tell remotely what a person is doing in a house, and when they are moving from one room to another.

The Book of Revelation also makes it clear that diseases will be a part of the Tribulation. We have been over-using many drugs for years and new strains of bacteria and viruses are emerging that are immune to treatment. Look at how the world was completely caught off guard by Covid.

Something interesting in the Book of Revelation, the first part of Chapter 11, verses 1-13. Two troublesome witnesses will finally be killed in Jerusalem by the forces of the Antichrist. A lot of people will be joyous and will not allow them to be buried. They will lie on the ground for three and a half days. People across the world will even exchange gifts in celebration of their deaths. But then everyone will be astonished when God suddenly calls them up to Heaven.

Now let's stop and think. When the Book of Revelation was written news could travel only as fast as a person could travel, by boat or camel or horse. How then could the world be tuned into something that lasted only three and a half days? There was no instant global news or social media then, and there wasn't until very recently, but there is now.

5) MYSTERY BABYLON IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION

Chapter 18 of the Book of Revelation should be of great interest to us. I am certain that this chapter refers to the United States, and by extension, the rest of North America. It concerns a "Mystery Babylon" in the Last Days of the world just before the Second Coming of Christ. It could not be referring to the original Babylon because it had long since passed from the scene by the time the Book of Revelation was written toward the end of the First Century A.D. by St. John.

That is why it refers to "Mystery" Babylon. It is a nation in the Last Days that spiritually resembles Babylon. The original Babylon was a nation of great wealth and power but was also idolatrous and very sinful. Down through history, Babylon has evoked images of idolatry and decadence.

The chapter foretells that this "Mystery Babylon" will be utterly destroyed by fire in one hour, in the final days of the world. It is impossible for a nation to be destroyed by ordinary fire in one hour. But what if St. John is referring to nuclear explosions? When God gave him a vision of all of this happening, there was no word in the vocabulary for nuclear explosion. It also foretells that people at sea in ships will be horrified by the sight of the smoke from the burning of Mystery Babylon. Could this be referring to the sight of mushroom clouds on the horizon from the nuclear explosions? 

On June 23, 2024, Dmitry Medvedev made a statement that America will "burn in earthly fire".

This also shows conclusively that this cannot be referring to the original Babylon because it was in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley, well away from the sea. The U.S. has a very long coastline and is the destination of tens of thousands of cargo ships from across the world, the most important port being Los Angeles which receives imports from Asia. It also reads that after the sudden destruction of Mystery Babylon, merchants across the world will mourn because no one buys their goods any more.

This fits with the fact that today the U.S. is by far the world's great importer of goods from other countries, as well as services due to the outsourcing used by so many American companies. Ironically, the original Babylon was in what is now Iraq, with which the U.S. has so entwined it's history.

6) THE END OF THIS WORLD IS SOMETHING TO ANXIOUSLY LOOK FORWARD TO

These are monumental days we are living in. God's prophecies will be fulfilled. The Gospels promise that Jesus, the Son of God, will remove his people from the Tribulation. You still have time to accept Christ as your Savior. Everyone has sinned but there is still a chance to repent. God can shield you and bring judgement on persons and organizations that treat you unfairly.

The Word of God must not be ignored. God wants you to be a part of His Kingdom. Simply knowing about Jesus is not enough. You must devote your life to Him. Right now, ask God to guide you and accept Jesus as your Savior. Begin reading the Bible, it is better to read the New Testament first. The prophecies in the Bible have an amazing record of fulfillment.

The agonizing death of Jesus, a sacrifice for sin, and the events of his life are foretold all over the Old Testament. No other religion can prove itself like this. The world could have been a real paradise if the people had followed God. Think of all the people you know. What will become of them during this holocaust? Please inform them about this.

7) THE MARK OF THE BEAST

I have been thinking about the "mark" that the Antichrist is supposed to put on people in the last days of the world according to biblical prophecies. All across the world, this has become the stuff of folklore that people will have a mark on them in order to buy and sell things. Can anyone seriously believe that hundreds of millions of people all over the world are going to line up to have such a mark put on them? I have become certain that this is not going to happen.

In discussing the Book of Revelation and similar prophecies, we have to remember that God gave a vision of future events to a person of ancient times, who described what they saw as best as they could. St. John, author of the Book of Revelation, had not the slightest concept of modern technology.

Let's consider Revelation chapter 9, verses 3-9. St. John described "locusts" as having a terrible sting. He also describes them as "scorpions" and as the locusts appearing like horses prepared for battle and as having crowns. To make it even more strange, these creatures are described as having hair like women and faces like men and their wings make a sound like many horses and chariots.

But the mystery ends if we consider that this is a perfect description of a military helicopter or drone of today, dispensing some kind of nerve gas or chemical weapon. Such a helicopter resembles both a locust and a scorpion in form. A helicopter makes a sound like many horses running. It's rotors look somewhat like a woman's long hair. The face of the pilot can be seen through the window. The "crown" is simply the rotor housing of the helicopter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter#/media/File:Kfd-205-N408KC-050428-26cr.jpg

Now, let's go to verses 17-19 in Chapter 9. These verses describe what St. John sees as "horses with heads like lions" accompanying a great army of 200 million soldiers from the east in the final days of the world. From out of the "mouths" of these horses come fire, smoke and, brimstone which causes great destruction.

Consider a modern battle tank. When seen from the side, it's turret resembles the head of a male lion with a mane. Brimstone is the old word for sulfur (sulphur) and is one of the ingredients of gunpowder, which propels shells and bullets from guns. If the "mouth" is the cannon of the tank, this explains why fire, smoke and, destruction comes from it. The colors described in this passage are a camouflage color scheme that is typically applied to tanks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank#/media/File:M1_Abrams-TUSK.svg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion#/media/File:Berl%C3%ADn_Ishtar_le%C3%B3n._02.JPG

Another thing that is interesting is how Ezekiel describes the attack on Israel, in the Last Days of the world, as a "cloud that covers the land". Could this refer to paratroopers?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paratrooper#/media/File:U.S._Army,_British_and_Italian_paratroopers_Pordenone,_Italy_191203-A-JM436-0590C.jpg

Now, considering St. John's obvious descriptions of tanks and helicopters, why should we not think that this legendary "mark" that people will have is not actually a mark at all but some other modern technology that he was shown but could not begin to comprehend? John writes that people will have such a mark on their right hands or their foreheads.

What about cell phones? They come in two basic forms, handheld and headset. If there is one technology that is really taking over the world, it is not computers or cars but these phones, there is more and more that they can do every year. 

St. John saw visions of people using hand-held phones to conduct business and described it as a "mark". He could imagine a cell phone even less than a tank or helicopter. 

So what about the number that goes with the mark, 666? It says that this number is the "number of a man" For most of human history, people were assigned names rather than numbers. But today, virtually everyone in the world does have a number, a phone number, and banking and financial transactions are being done more just by phones and cards.

To an ancient prophet, that was completely unfamiliar with modern technology, being given a vision of people far in the future going through an everyday trip to the store credit cards and bank cards would look very much like such a "Mark". Few people in most countries use cash anymore, instead of a card.

Phones were at the center of the 2020s effort to contain the Covid virus. The idea of "contact tracing" was used. China contained the first phase of the virus quickly because every phone number has to be registered with the government, and it could be tracked where the user went. People were given a color code "mark", not on their hand but on their phone, indicating their virus status.

The global drive to get people vaccinated against the virus led to vaccination certificates being displayed on phones. The Book of Revelation states that people will require the "Mark" to do business. The virus made it so that people required this "Mark" on their phone to enter a business or workplace. A lot of other identification, such as drivers' licenses, are also being held digitally on phones. New York State driver's licenses can now be on phones.

Most country codes for international calling and area codes, such as those in North America, are of three digits just like 666. What is the mystery? This is simply a prefix or part of a phone number. Through cell phone records, all that a person has done can be kept track of. A cell phone can easily be pinged to determine a person's location by GPS coordinates.

It will be said " What are those people talking about, no one is putting a "mark" on anyone, how can this be the Antichrist?" 

In another example of modern technology being foretold the Book of Revelation, Chapter 8 Verses 10 and 11, tells of a "falling star" that is named "Wormwood". This star is described as "making the water bitter" so that many people die from drinking the bitter water.

What could this mean? How can a falling star make water bitter? In Bible times nuclear science was completely unknown. What if the "falling star" is a nuclear missile?

A nuclear explosion contaminates water because it absorbs alpha particles. A primary rule of surviving a nuclear war or disaster is to absolutely never drink from open water. Alpha particles, basically helium nuclei, are blocked by the skin but are deadly if they get inside the body.

What is so interesting is that the name of Chernobyl means "wormwood". Chernobyl is the site of the 1986 nuclear meltdown. This is another example of St. John, the author of the Book of Revelation, being given a vision of the future and describing the technology as best he could.

This is not a negative thing to have the world end. It is actually the most positive thing that could happen. The Book of Isaiah, for example, describes a rejuvenated world after the Apocalypse under the direct leadership of Jesus. This will be a world where "the crippled will be able to jump high in the air".

8) SOLAR STORMS

As electronics become ever more intricate and sophisticated, it also becomes more vulnerable to the severe radiation from a storm on the sun. This radiation would induce strong currents in electrical circuitry, which would fry their sensitive components. Suppose you take a phone, or other such communication device, and run the current right through it's circuitry from a wall outlet. It would utterly destroy it, and the currents that would be induced by a solar storm would do the same.

Computers use surge protectors to shield their sensitive components from fluctuations in electric current. Just imagine what the induced current from a major solar storm would do to those components.

A nuclear bomb, particularly one exploded high in the air, would have a similar effect on sensitive electronic devices. This is known as electromagnetic pulse (EMP), but only affects a limited area. A solar storm could affect the entire world.

The last massive solar storm that afflicted the earth was in 1859, and is known as the Carrington Event. You can read about it online if you wish. The crude electrical circuitry in those days was much less vulnerable to solar storms than the fine circuitry of today, but the induced current in telegraph wires was so strong that it set fire to the paper in the machines that received telegrams.

In the early days of radio, it was considered as important to ground both transmitters and receivers. One wire would go to the antenna, and another from the metal chassis of the radio to a metal water pipe or metal stake driven into the ground. I always though that this grounding was to improve transmission and reception of the signal, but now I wonder if part of the reason was memory of the 1859 solar storm which has since been forgotten.

If such a storm happened today it could virtually shut down all electronic communications on earth, including land line phones. Car engines would not start because the computer modules would be fried. There might be no electricity, and probably no water because most water pumps are electric.

We have gotten to be utterly dependent on this technology, and few people today could "live off the land" without it. There would certainly be mass starvation.

In the Book of Revelation in the Bible, when depicting events at the end of the world, it states how people will be "burned by the heat of the sun". I always thought that this meant more ultraviolet radiation would reach earth because of nuclear explosions blasting holes in the ozone layer, which protects the earth from such radiation.

But now I wonder if it could mean a massive solar storm shutting down virtually all electronics on earth. Such a solar storm could well be a part of the Tribulation period. It would not be described as such simply because prophets in biblical times had not the slightest idea of modern technology, and the damage that such a solar storm could do to it. God just gave them a vision of the future and they described it as best they could.

9) HOW THE VIRUS CRISIS MIGHT BE EXPECTED TO HAVE CHANGED THE WORLD

One thing that is absolutely ideal to spread a virus is cash. We are so glad to have it that we rarely stop to think about how filthy it is.

There has long been discussion about the emerging "cashless society". A cashless, or nearly cashless, society will be much cleaner and more efficient. But there is one drawback. Everything that is done in a cashless society can be readily traced.

Like cash, any paper documents are ideal vehicles for virus transmission. There has long been discussion about the emerging "paperless" society. Also, the virus has greatly accelerated the trend of working from home.

But once again, this makes everything readily traceable and watchable.

You can also see why I believe that the fabled "Mark of the Beast", without which no one will be able to buy or sell, is actually phones.

This virus crisis will greatly enhance the use of robots, since they can do so many of the tasks that humans do, but do not catch the virus. In the same part of the Book of Revelation that describes the "Mark of the Beast", a statue of the Antichrist is described that will speak and praise the Antichrist. Could this be a modern robot powered by artificial intelligence? Today there are many robot priests and religious leaders, powered by AI.

10) THE TREMENDOUS GROWTH IN POPULARITY OF THE APOCALYPTIC PROPHECIES

One thing that must be said about this subject of the Apocalypse that was foretold in the Bible occurring in our times is it's tremendous growth in popularity. When I began to read about this, in the early 1980s, I knew that it was correct but it was very much a "fringe" topic among Christians. In most Christian bookstores, apocalyptic books were typically kept separated from the "mainstream" Christian books because it was understood that most Christians would not be interested in this subject. There was essentially no Catholic literature about the "End Times", just the acceptance that Jesus would return "someday", when God was ready.

But now all of that has completely changed. The Antichrist followed by the Apocalypse is a major topic of discussion everywhere. Hundreds of millions of people are awaiting this. There is a vast amount of Catholic, and every other denomination, literature about it. Doing a Google search for terms associated with this subject brings up tens of millions of hits. "Last Days" brings up nearly a billion hits.

But having so many people who are waiting for the world to end, and for Jesus to return, can actually make the world a dangerous place and it can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. The Gospels describe how Jesus, knowing that it would fulfill prophecy in the Old Testament, said that he was thirsty and drank wine from a sponge while on the cross. So why couldn't people in power today, even national leaders, help to move the fulfillment of prophecy along?

The Covid-19 virus left people across the world isolated in lockdown. Could it be that God allowed this to happen in order to prompt the people to come back to him by spending some time in prayer and Bible reading?

Many people are facing dire economic uncertainty due to inflation. Could God be allowing this to happen so that they might ask Him for help and guidance?

We tend to put more of our faith in the world than in God. But then this virus can come along and shut the world down. Could this be to get us to put more of our faith in Him? We thought that the Cold War was over and the Middle East was mostly at peace, at least on a national level, but now that has changed.

The ways of the world are actually the opposite of the Ways of God. This is why the world as we know it must come to a conclusion. For the majority of people who are not blatantly sinful, the greatest obstacle to finding God is putting our faith in the world instead.

If you have any doubts about the existence of God review the creation blog, www.markmeekcreation.blogspot.com .