It is a world where people find no contradiction in demanding that everybody else conform to their narrow views because the view of the majority makes them feel like outsiders.

A world in which the prevailing legal view is that there is a "God-given right" for the God-haters to not be offended by the mention of "God" in public.

A Houston, Texas judge ruled that a Bible in a courthouse might give the impression Houston's Harris County has a preference for Christianity. A Bible in a courthouse! Is he kidding?

Up seems to be down and black seems to be white. For the first time in the history of mankind, the main topic of debate is over a question no previous generation would even entertain. The question baffling this generation is not "where did I come from?" or, "Is there an afterlife?" That doesn't seem to be as important as whether marriage should be between a man and a woman.

Meanwhile, the Earth itself seems to be in rebellion. The Asian mega-quake that changed geography caused the planet to vibrate like a tuning fork. It knocked the planet far enough off its axis to momentarily change time – and this may only be the beginning.

There are warnings of a sudden shift in the Earth's poles, a reversal of the Earth's magnetic fields and the fear of the onset of a new Ice Age.

Environmentalists warn that global warming will raise the world's sea levels, resulting the catastrophic flooding and loss of life. Many scientists warn that the shift of mass from the concentration of solid ice caps due to melting and being distributed in the oceans could further exacerbate the Earth's wobbling axis.

Meanwhile, the sun continues to convulse, sending out massive showers of debris into the solar system, while irradiating the Earth with unprecedented doses of solar radiation. It is, according to some prominent Russian scientists, the most active period of solar activity in 8,000 years.

The past year broke all the records in terms of natural disasters. This year began with earthquakes, floods, unseasonably cold weather in some places, unseasonably warm in others, and nobody seems to be able to explain what is going on.

The economy is at once both robust and growing and teetering on the edge of catastrophe. Economists warn that it would take just one push in the right direction at the right time for the whole house of cards to come collapsing around our ears.

Meanwhile, NASA just spent hundreds of millions to launch a spacecraft designed to impact with a comet in deep space to see if it is possible to deflect a killer asteroid. Does anyone else beside me feel like he is in a Stephen King movie?

The Bible prophets describes the last days as a period of ever-increasing wars and natural disasters. Jesus, Himself, predicted that there would be wars and rumors of wars, great earthquakes, plagues of deadly diseases, cataclysmic weather changes and famine just before His return. He likened all these things to birth pangs. He said that as the time approached, they would increase in both frequency and intensity.

He spoke of signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars. He warned of the distress of nations, saying things would grow so frightening that men's hearts would fail them for fear, just in looking at what is coming.

But all these terrors are just the beginning of a period of catastrophe and death so profound that Jesus, Himself, said no time in history has ever been like it before – nor ever will be again.

Amidst all the fear and uncertainty, however, Jesus promised great hope. He said that, just before the beginning of the 7-year period, He would come again and receive to Himself all those who put their faith in Him and receive the gift of pardon He paid for with His own blood.