Laura J. Davis

I've been thinking about world events lately, particularly the earthquakes in Haiti, Chili and just recently China. Throw in the recent volcano that erupted in Iceland,  add a little bit of war into the mix and one starts to wonder what is going to happen next.

According to the US Government Earthquake Facts and Statistics Website, we have had 63 earthquakes, worldwide, that registered from 6.0 to 6.9 on the richter scale this year. It's only April! Smaller quakes, the kind most Californians are used to, are more frequent. To date, about 2695 tremors registering from 4.0 to 4.9 have occurred worldwide this year - 106 of those occuring in the United States.

In 2009 the United States had a total of 22,936 deadly storms, 1305 of these storms were tornados. The others were high winds causing damage and/or hail. In Canada we had 18 tornados, most of them in Ontario.

They say that 2009 was the last year to travel safely to Israel. If you are a student of Scripture you know how quickly things are moving toward the end. Israel is surrounded by her enemies and now one of her biggest allies, the USA, seems to be pulling away from supporting her. Christian - if you are not on the alert, you should be!

Scripture says it best:

"When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains." (Mark 13:7-8)

The birth pains started almost 2000 years ago. I would call them Braxton Hicks contractions (mothers you know what I'm talking about), they are the warning pains that something is about to happen. If you are observant, you will know that the warning pains are increasing in their intensity. Yes, people have been saying for thousands of years that Jesus is coming back soon, that the end is near. But at no time in history have we ever had everything line up so perfectly for His return. Even Muslims believe Jesus will be returning with their Messiah (Madhi) and the Jewish people are so convinced that the Messiah is about to come, that they have already started preparations for the Second Temple . There is out there today, in all three major religions a sense of urgency, to get themselves right with God and to prepare for His return.

Persecutions of Christians are increasing around the world as well. Most recently in Morocco where more than 40 Christians were expelled from the country.

Combine the persecutions and the wars, with earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, volconoes, etc. and  you've got evidence that something big is about to happen.

We know that Iran's President Imacrazyman (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) is determined to bring down Israel and anyone else who would stand in his way. He believes it must be gone in order for their Madhi to come. King Abdullah of Jordan, recently stated that war could break out this summer between the Arab States and Israel. So, what does this all mean for us? It means you need to be aware that the birth pains Jesus talked about are increasing and you need to prepare yourself for his return.

Are you ready to stand before Him or will you be cowering in fear when Jesus returns? These 'signs' are for our benefit. I would encourage all who visit this blog to examine your lives closely and ask  yourself this question - If Jesus returned today, would I be happy to see Him or afraid?