The Bible accurately foretells specific events – in precise detail – sometimes even centuries before they occur.

Approximately 2500 prophecies appear in the pages of the Bible. About 2000, or 80%, have already been fulfilled to the letter, with no errors.

Because we know that the remaining 500 or so prophecies will definitely be fulfilled, we look for news, and trends, that you’d expect to be taking place.

You might call them the signs of the times.

The apostle Paul spoke of an increasing selfishness coupled with a devaluing of human life being a characteristic of the last days. He said,

2Ti 3:1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2Ti 3:2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
2Ti 3:3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
2Ti 3:4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
Jesus was even more concise, saying “the love of many will wax cold” (Matthew 24).

The selfish devaluing of human life is accelerating rapidly. We can see it in the popularity of legal euthanasia.

Euthanasia is the practice of mercifully killing someone else, usually because they are suffering from an incurable disease, in a coma, or are in immense pain.

Except that more people are being killed for things far less terminal.  A man in the Netherlands was euthanized due to his alcohol addiction.

The article read, in part,

Mark Langedijk chose the day of his death and was telling jokes, drinking beer and eating ham sandwiches with his family hours before he passed away.

He was killed by lethal injection at his parents’ home, according to an account of the ordeal written by his brother.

The Netherlands introduced a euthanasia law 16 years ago, which is available to people in “unbearable suffering” with no prospect of improvement.

Marcel Langedijk wrote his brother had a “happy childhood” and was loved by both his parents, and only found out he had an addiction eight years ago.

“I was particularly angry at Mark,” he said. “At first we did what most people do; help. My parents especially have done everything humanly possible to save Mark.”

His parents continued to believe in a “happy ending” despite eight years of help and 21 stints in rehab.  

Eventually, Mr Langedijk told his family he wanted to die, but the family originally took the news with “a grain of salt”.

But his brother had no second thoughts. His application for euthanasia was approved by a doctor from the Support and Consultation on Euthanasia in the Netherlands.

His doctor explained the procedure, before telling Mr Landedijk to get into bed and to stay calm.

At this point, they all “started crying, my parents, everyone actually, even Mark”.

“We cried, told each other that we loved each other, that it would be all right, that we would care for each other, that we would see each other again, we held each other,” he said. “If it was not so terrible, it would have been nice.

“Mark’s eyes turned away, he sighed deeply. His last. Dr Marijke injected the third syringe. His face changed, lost color. My little brother was dead.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/man-holland-netherlands-dutch-euthanised-alcohol-addiction-alcoholic-netherlands-a7446256.html

More than 5,500 people ended their life using Holland’s euthanasia laws last year.  One of those was a sex abuse victim who suffered severe anorexia, chronic depression and hallucinations.

Another article raised a concern about a rising subset of those euthanized.  It read,

Since 2002, when the Netherlands legalized assisted dying, its laws have been held up elsewhere as a model.  But recent figures from the Dutch Euthanasia Review Committee have given some campaigners pause.  It is not the total number of deaths under the law’s provisions that bother them – though it has increased by 76% since 2010… Rather, it is 56 individual cases: those who sought, and received, doctor-assisted deaths because of psychiatric disorders.  According to Paul Appelbaum of Columbia University’s department of psychiatry, the increase “raises concerns about eliminating people from the population as an alternative to providing them with the medical care and social support they need.”

http://www.economist.com/news/international/21700506-between-life-and-death-number-mentally-ill-seeking-help-die-rising-are

Another article reported,

In 2014, Belgium voted to extend euthanasia to children with disabilities, in a move pro-life advocates worldwide had been fearing would come and expand an already much-abused euthanasia law even further.  The law allows minors to seek euthanasia under certain conditions and the measure also would extend the right to request euthanasia to adults with dementia.  No age limit would be set, but the children who are euthanized would have “to possess the capacity of discernment.”

http://www.lifenews.com/2016/09/19/first-child-dies-after-belgium-approves-measure-allowing-doctors-to-euthanize-children/

Not long after the law passed, a terminally ill child was put to death.

In Revelation 9:21 we read,

Rev 9:21  And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
That verse describes conditions in the Great Tribulation, but it seems obvious that murder will have become commonplace prior to the beginning of that terrible time.

As far as the End of Days, while we are interested in following these trends, we’re not waiting for any particular sign.

Jesus promised He’d come and resurrect the dead in Christ, and rapture living believers.  There are no prophecies needing to be fulfilled prior to the rapture.  It is presented in the Bible as an imminent event.

Are you ready for the rapture?  If not, get ready, stay ready, and keep looking up.  Ready or not, Jesus is coming!