CURRENT EVENTS. Jesus said, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times? An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign…” (Mt. 16:2-4).

We live in an evil and adulterous generation. Worse, it approves of abominations such as homosexuality, next to which adultery seems tame. This generation obsesses itself with the physical details and statistics of sex, mechanics, data processing and electronic surveillance so we can understand and exploit our world.

But in all this, we are preparing the way for a totalitarian state of the Antichrist, who will use all our technology to control us.

This generation can track and predict the weather with intricate precision. But it cannot discern the sign of the times. This generation considers itself the master of the material world. But it knows nothing of, and despises, the spiritual world.

One day, after the Antichrist gains influence, he will unleash his evil spiritual power with a vengeance. Then the nations will bow down and worship him.

We need a spiritual rebirth to understand how spirits affects current events. And we need to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God…every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist…” (1 Jn. 4:1,3).

2 Thessalonians 2:3 says that the Second Coming of Christ “will not come until the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness [the Antichrist] is revealed.” In current events, we should be watching for these signs of the times.

The apostasy will come because so many professed Christians in this generation have grown materialistic with the rest of the world. The Antichrist will come because the nations are becoming more and more authoritarian, after a relatively brief venture into democracy.

But the best conditions for the spread of the gospel are constitutional democracy, free enterprise, a pluralistic society, and a Christ-centered church united in its diversity. Each of these four conditions maximizes freedom of choice. The more people can choose, the more they can choose Christ in all that they do.

In covering current events, we will advocate these conditions, so we can make the most of the time we have left to reach the world for Christ.

Click here to learn more about End-Time Topics, which is where current events are leading.