Critical Times Now

THE Bible foretold that mankind would experience “critical times hard to deal with.” It describes this period as “the last days.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5; 2 Peter 3:3-7) Jesus Christ spoke of this same era when answering a question posed by his disciples regarding “the conclusion of the system of things.” (Matthew 24:3) Are we now living during the last days? Compare what the Bible foretold with the recent reports quoted below, and then judge for yourself.

What the Bible foretold: global conflict​—Luke 21:10; Revelation 6:4.

What recent reports say: “War-related deaths in the 20th century were more than three times greater than in all previous centuries combined, back to the birth of Christ.”​—Worldwatch Institute.

What the Bible foretold: food shortages and disease​—Luke 21:11; Revelation 6:5-8.

What recent reports say: In 2004 an estimated 863 million people on earth were undernourished, 7 million more than in 2003.​—United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

Some one billion people live in slums; 2.6 billion people lack basic sanitation; 1.1 billion people are without safe drinking water.​—Worldwatch Institute.

Malaria affects 500 million people; 40 million people live with HIV-AIDS; tuberculosis killed 1.6 million people in 2005.​—World Health Organization.

What the Bible foretold: the ruining of the earth​—Revelation 11:18.

What recent reports say: “Human activities have taken the planet to the edge of a massive wave of species extinctions.” “Nearly two thirds of the services provided by nature to humankind are found to be in decline worldwide.”​—Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.

“Human-made greenhouse gases have brought the Earth’s climate close to critical tipping points, with potentially dangerous consequences for the planet.”​—NASA, Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

What the Bible foretold: the good news of God’s Kingdom preached earth wide​—Matthew 24:14; Revelation 14:6, 7.

What recent reports say: During 2007, a peak of 6,957,854 Witnesses of Jehovah spent more than 1.4 billion hours preaching the good news about God’s Kingdom in 236 lands.​—2008 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

As noted above, the Bible foretold that amid all the bad news, there would be reason for optimism. Jesus spoke of the “good news” of God’s Kingdom. What is God’s Kingdom? How is it linked to mankind’s hope for a better future? And how will God’s Kingdom affect you?

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The Bible foretold the world conditions we see today