At the risk of repeating the same thing I have taught for some 30 years, please allow me to reiterate an important factor of end time prophecy.  I keep discussing it because so many of this planet’s inhabitants are seemingly void of understanding it, let alone applying it.

Each time a conflict arises, among the nations existing at the time it occurs, there is a phenomenon that spreads across the earth.  Many of earth’s inhabitants, both those who believe, and those who do not, are suddenly filled by a fear that this particular conflict will end with the battle of Armageddon.  All unbelievers are afraid that, even though they don’t believe that Jesus is alive and coming again, it might be true, and, based on the possibility it may be true, their hearts are TROUBLED.  Since Christ will catch out all true believers before the final great battle of Armageddon, unbelievers associate the coming of Christ with the battle, and fear both events.  However, I have found, in the last twenty-two years of presenting end time prophecy in more than 700 churches, colleges, seminaries, and universities, that a fear also exists in the hearts of believers about the possibility of each new conflict leading to the final great battle of Armageddon.  And, though it may surprise you, I have also discovered, for a variety of reasons, that many believers also fear the coming of Christ.  They want to live in their flesh for 100 years, and then, just as their bodies become a burden to them, it will be alright for Jesus to come and give them a new body.  Others believers, who don’t want to see Jesus come immediately, want to see their children grow up, and have children, so they can enjoy being grandparents. Then they can live happily thereafter in the flesh until Jesus comes.  Some believers, with children in their teens and below, don’t want their children to be frightened by  unpleasant prophecies.   There are a multiplicity of many different reasons why many believers and unbelievers do not want to see Jesus return to rule and reign. 

So, with all this in mind, since the vast majority of this world’s population fears both Armageddon and Christ’s second coming, please allow me to show you that using each new conflict to worry about either event, according to what Jesus said, is a waste of time.  If you really want to worry about either event, please allow me to show you, from the lips of Christ, what NOT to use as an indicator his second coming is near.

[6] And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be NOT troubled: for all these things must come to pass, BUT THE END IS NOT YET. Matthew 24:6

[7] And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye NOT troubled: for such things must needs be; BUT THE END SHALL NOT BE YET. Mark 13:7

[9] But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be NOT terrified: for these things must first come to pass; BUT THE END IS NOT BY AND BY. Luke 21:9

When war swept across Europe in the days of Napoleon, many believed it would end in Armageddon.  It did not!  Napoleon was supposed to be the antichrist.  When the great war, World War I, broke out, many were certain that it would end in Armageddon, and the second coming of Christ.  It did not!  When World War II began, many believed it would end in Armageddon and the coming of the Lord.  Arguments arose among Bible teachers as to whether Hitler, Mussolini, or some Japanese leader was going to be the Antichrist.  Then came the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam.  Operation Desert Storm came on the scene, and many suddenly appeared in churches that ministers did not even know were on the church rolls.  A significant number of TV evangelists thought the leader of Iraq could be the antichrist.  Still, NO antichrist, and NO final battle of Armageddon, and NO catching out of the saints, and so, after many years of this sequence of events repeating over and over again, many are now convinced Armageddon will never occur, and that the world will never see Christ return.  I believe the world is now ready to have the following scripture fulfilled:

[44] Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Matthew 24:44

Lord willing, in Prophecy Update 45, I will exposit on the thing that Jesus said would happen to allow all believers TO KNOW that His coming, and Armageddon, were in the immediate future.  We cannot tell the day, week, month, or year of his coming.  But there is a way we can KNOW WHICH conflict will end in Armageddon.