We reserve a few minutes to discuss current trends that you’d expect from reading Bible prophecy.
We are futurists. We interpret all unfulfilled prophetic passages as future events that will occur in a literal, physical, apocalyptic, and global context.
Biometrics, Artificial Intelligence, cashless commerce, the manipulation of human DNA, global government, the exponential growth of human knowledge, and the rebirth of Israel as a nation are some of the trends we see corroborating the End Times prophecies of the Bible.
Most of our recent talks have involved the global pandemic.
COVID19 is not prophetic. However, the methods and mandates that are being utilized globally to combat it are predictive of the future socio-economic system that will play a major role in the government of the antichrist.
Citizens in the future Great Tribulation will be mandated to participate in a system by which they must produce proof of compliance in order to be allowed to work or shop or dine or attend entertainment. Without proof, their livelihood and lifestyles will be restricted.
The same thing could be said today as governments continue to struggle with the virus and things like vaccines passports.
Now that we are into the pandemic’s second year, we are starting to get data on the unforeseen consequences of the methods and mandates governments are using.
The following are all quotes from reputable sources:
✏ Nearly one million people in England became addicted to alcohol as a result of Covid lockdowns, official data suggests. Dr. Tony Rao, a world-renowned expert on alcohol misuse in older people at King’s College London, warned the impact of lockdowns had been “devastating.” Deaths directly caused by alcohol soared by 20% during the first year of the Covid pandemic.
✏ More than 87,000 Americans died of drug overdoses over the 12-month period that ended in September, according to preliminary federal data, eclipsing the toll from any year since the opioid epidemic began in the 1990s. The surge represents an increasingly urgent public health crisis, one that has drawn less attention and fewer resources while the nation has battled the coronavirus pandemic.
✏ The United Nations entity UN Women said domestic violence reports in France have increased 30% since they initiated a March 17 lockdown. Domestic Violence calls in Argentina have increased 25% since their March 20 lockdown. The organization also reports a 30% increase in helpline calls in Cyprus, and 33% increase in Singapore.
✏ Terri Poore, Policy Director of the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, says close to 40% of the rape crisis centers surveyed had seen increased demand for services since the outbreak.
✏ A World Health Organization report on global child abuse noted that schools were closed to 1.5 billion children worldwide because of the pandemic, and their parents face heightened stress and anxiety from lost income, social isolation, and potential crowding in the home. Additionally, more time online may expose children to an increased risk of online sexual exploitation or bullying. Henrietta Fore, executive director of UNICEF, said in a statement about the report, “Lockdowns, school closures and movement restrictions have left far too many children stuck with their abusers, without the safe space that school would normally offer. It is urgent to scale up efforts to protect children during these times and beyond.”
✏ A new study by McKinsey & Company “not only showed huge learning losses among American children due to the pandemic, but also shocking estimates of the long-term economic impacts these learning losses would have on the US. New data on learning loss and student mental health issues is incredibly disturbing. Children have been damaged academically, mentally, and economically, far more than COVID has hurt them.”
✏ Overall, 41% of respondents surveyed reported at least one adverse mental or behavioral health condition, including symptoms of anxiety disorder or depressive disorder, symptoms of a trauma-and stressor-related disorder (TSRD) related to the pandemic, and having started or increased substance use to cope with stress or emotions related to COVID19. The percentage of respondents who reported having seriously considered suicide in the 30 days before completing the survey was significantly higher among respondents aged 18-24 years, minority groups, self-reported unpaid caregivers for adults, and essential workers.
✏ An August 2020 edition of The New England Journal of Medicine reported, “Uncertain prognoses, looming severe shortages of resources for testing and treatment and for protecting responders and healthcare providers from infection, imposition of unfamiliar public health measures that infringe on personal freedoms, large and growing financial losses, and conflicting messages from authorities are among the major stressors that undoubtedly will contribute to widespread emotional distress and increased risk for psychiatric illness associated with COVID19.”
✏ Across the US, there were 25% more murders recorded in 2020 than the previous year.
✏ Homicides in California jumped 31% last year, making it the deadliest year since 2007 as the nation’s most populous state struggled with the COVID19 pandemic.
✏ Emergency room visits for adolescent suicide attempts soared this past summer and winter, especially among girls, perhaps in connection to America’s struggle with COVID19, new CDC data revealed.
✏ A report by The Well Being Trust found that 75,000 additional people could die from what they called “deaths of despair,” which include suicide and substance use, because of COVID19.
✏ A Yale professional journal article concluded, “Excess mortality during the four months [of the study] was more than two times greater than the number of COVID19 deaths confirmed by PCR testing. Countermeasures against COVID19 should be chosen carefully in light of suicide effects.”
✏ JAMA Psychiatry Journal concluded, “The combination of physical distancing, economic stress, barriers to mental health treatment, and pervasive national anxiety, are creating a perfect storm for suicide mortality.”
These studies and articles are talking about people we know who are without hope. They need Jesus. Remember that when they want to shutter churches.
People need more than life; they need eternal life.
We believe the resurrection and rapture of the church is imminent. It could happen any moment; nothing needs to happen before it. It will happen before the Great Tribulation.
Are you ready for the rapture? If not, Get ready; Stay ready; Keep looking up.
Ready or not, Jesus is coming!