I don,t know how you,s feel, but I thing were getting closer to the End. Theirs been an Increase in tension in the world, the weather is changing more, their are more earthquakes,and now ,we seen pictures of the Moon turning Bright Red. Wasn,t this one of the signs that was in the Bible, didn,t our LORD tell us, that thier be signs in the sky. Now they found two Huge Black Holes,and other new Plants in the system, all kind of new things are showing up, in the sky,that we didn,t see before. So what do you think?.
Well, let’s look at the signs and problems from earlier ages and see how they compare…
1st through 4th centuries: Catholicism wasn’t even legal. Major persecutions and martyrdoms were occurring. The church was forced to hide underground. Even by the time of Constantine, less than 10% of the Roman empire was Christian. Gnostic and Arian controversies
rocked the Christian Church.
5th through 11th centuries: Western Europe is in collapse. Literacy hovers near 1%. It was difficult, if not impossible, for laypeople to undertake serious religious study. Churches were under attack from Germanic tribes and Vikings. The beginnings of Islam in 622 AD seriously threaten western Europe. Spain and Portugal fall. France barely holds on at the Battle of Tours in 732. Even the Byzantine Empire suffers through serious losses. Again, controversy over several heresies, including Monophysitism.
12th century: The Crusades begin. General warfare between Catholics and Islam. The Catholic Church and Orthodox Church split, causing the first Great Schism in Christianity (yes, I know about the Oriental Orthodox…)
13th to 15th centuries: The Black Death kills between 25% and 40% of Europeans in just a four year period. Many think the end times are at hand. The Avignon Papacy causes great corruption within the church. The Great (papal) Schism almost fractures Christianity when one, and eventually two other claimants to the papacy arise. John Wycliffe and Jan Hus stir up trouble.
16th and 17th centuries: The Protestant Reformation causes the greatest turmoil the Christian Church has ever known. The end result is the fracturing of Christianity into many dozens of denominations, and the Thirty Years’ War, which devastates Europe.
18th century: The Enlightenment and French Revolution create a massive attack on Catholicism and religion in general both in France and other parts of Europe.
Sounds like things were just as bad in the past and that nothing’s really changed, in my opinion. This just points to the futility of trying to predict the end times, of which Jesus is VERY clear on:
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief” 2 Peter 3:10
And of course as already stated:
“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven…but the Father”. Matthew 24:36
This implies that it will sneak up on us and surprise us, and that it won’t be easily predictable.