Lately, I have heard many pastors and teachers say we are living in the last days before the return of Jesus. I don’t like to take anyone’s word for something like that so I decided to examine the evidence for myself.

First, I went to the Bible and looked primarily at the verses in Matthew 24 and Luke 21 that talk about this time. What do they say the conditions on the earth will be like before the coming of Jesus? I decided to list some of them and then come up with my own conclusions.

The first sign  in Matthew 24 is there would be false Christs and they would deceive many. I went on Google and found there were countless people claiming to be an incarnation of Jesus Christ. Some have a few followers and others seemed to be only deceiving themselves. There were others, however,  like Jim Jones, David Koresh and Sun Myung Moon who between themselves have deceived countless individuals.

The next sign would be an environment on the earth where there would be “wars and rumors of wars.” Jesus went on to say, “nation would rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.” The word for nation in the Greek is “ethnos;” in other words ethnic group would be fighting against ethnic group. I have heard enough on the news to know that this sign is taking place.

There would be “famines.” I needed only to look at Africa and the people there who have been experiencing famine for years. Some of the famines have been from natural causes but others are man-made and a form of political genocide on a particular group of people. There are also millions of refugees around the world who are on the brink of starvation because of wars taking place in their countries.

There would be “earthquakes.” In Luke 21, it says “great earthquakes.” Again, I have seen this happening all around the world, but a 2014 NBC news story entitled, “Worldwide Surge in Great Earthquakes in the Last 100 Years” was an interesting read. The USGS also has a list of the strongest earthquakes since 1900. There are a lot of them and all of them are 8.0 and above on the Richter Scale and are considered “great earthquakes.”

There would be “pestilences”. I looked that word up and  it means a disease that normally would kill you. I think of the rise of diseases such as Ebola and AIDS. There are also super bugs that are resistant to medications, and if you get one of them, there is not much the medical community can do for you. Pestilences are here.

Luke 21 also lists “signs in the sun, moon and stars.” I had heard of the four blood moons that occurred on Jewish feast days and the Revelation 12 sign that just occurred in the sky recently. Will there be more? I will have to watch and see.

Jesus also said in Matthew 24 that the gospel would be preached in all of the world and then the end will come. The gospel is being preached on the internet and on television in various countries around the world with the technology of satellites.

Israel would have to be a nation again as there are several references to Jerusalem and Judea in these passages. Israel became a nation in 1948; so that seems to be lining up with Scripture.

After I thought about all of these things, I decided “Yes, these could very definitely be the last days. It does seem like we are moving towards the culmination of all things and the return of Jesus Christ.” So what should I do?

I will continue to read Scripture and watch world events so I can be aware of what is happening. I will try to keep my eyes on Jesus in the midst of these unsettled times. And I will pray; for myself to be awake and aware and for others to look around and see the events happening today in the light of the prophetic passages in the Bible.