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Wednesday, January 05, 2005

With all the recent activities that have threatened our world, are we seeing some signs of the end times coming?

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Question: With all the recent activities that have threatened our world, are we seeing some signs of the end times coming?

Anonymous

ATP: Yes I think we are, but what the time frame is, is anyone's guess.

There is wide agreement in many circles that we are rapidly approaching the end of the age, that is, rapidly approaching what is known as the "end times." However, what "rapidly" means is open to debate.

Will the end of the age come in 10 years? 100 years? 200 years? In terms of world history if we are just 200 years away from the "end times," then we are close. So in that sense, I think there is no doubt that we are "close."

But history takes time to unfold. God works out his will in the real world in the real time frames that we live in. There are many things, in my view, that have to take place before the full end of the age can come upon us.

This subject is something that many are interested in. Just tonight as we wound up the Bible study I teach on Wednesday nights, someone asked about the end times. A discussion followed and "What are the signs that we should be looking for?" was one of the questions I was asked.

There are several in my opinion:

First we should keep an eye on the Middle East. (My apologies for not taking time to explain everthing I am about to say...perhaps at another time.) I believe that the "ten nations" prophesied to make a peace treaty with Israel at the end of the age, will be Middle Eastern nations not European ones.

When it comes, the peace treaty will likely be signed on or about Passover time. It will have been promoted by a very charismatic person who will have been able to unite disparate factions in the Middle East to come together in this false peace treaty.

Rebuilding the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem will commence somewhere in this time frame. That rebuilding is something completely unlikely now given the obviously explosive situation such a rebuilding would create between Israel and the Arab world. Therefore it is clear that some significant season of time must pass and/or some major events must occur for such a rebuilding to occur and thus the end of the age to be fully seen.

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