Are you ready for a new year? Maybe a year of biblical proportions?

In the news, today, I keep hearing about trouble in Venezuela. I won’t say too much about that, except that trouble in South America, might expand into something bigger and much more serious.

And then there is a war that never seems to end, between Russia and Ukraine. That could also spin into something more serious.

There is also trouble and violence in the Middle East. Israel and the Palestinians seem to have a conflict that never ends, and that war could easily spin off into something bigger and more serious. Also, if you follow the news, Saudi Arabia and some of its neighbors seem to have another dangerous conflict.

And then there is trouble between Thailand and Cambodia, the Sudan, the South Sudan, and now the Central African Republic, and some places in West Africa. One result is refugees escaping to neighbor countries, to survive.

I might have missed a few wars and rumors of war, but we seem to have a biblical New Year.

About two thousand years ago, we were told that “wars and rumors of wars” would happen, and when they do, we should know where we are in history. A man named Jesus told us what to expect, when the end was close:

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. Make sure that you are not alarmed, for this must happen, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise up in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these things are the beginning of birth pains. (Matthew 24: 6 to 13)

“Birth Pangs?” We all know when a pregnant woman starts having those pangs, it’s time to start packing her overnight bag for that trip to the hospital. At least, that’s what people do, where I live.

But wherever the baby is born, we know that the beginning or birth pangs is the start of a much larger change. Soon, someone new will be born, and everything will change for the family.

Things will never be the same, and there is no way to go back.

Now let’s go back to world events, in the news. In my lifetime, I don’t remember a time like this, with so many of those “Birth Pangs.”

Global Conflict Tracker, cfr.org

We have more people living in our world; about eight billion now. That gives us more opportunities for overcrowding and bickering. We also have weapons and other technology that make fighting easier and more damaging.

Imagine if you wanted to settle an old score with some neighbors. Imagine the power that you could have now; that old score might be easy to settle, or we could imagine that we have the power. The problem with this reasoning is that the other side has the same new power. 

Technology is available to both sides.

It seems that some American special forces were able to quickly attack Venezuela, and arrest anyone they wanted. 

READ: Who’s in charge of Venezuela and what happens next?

We seem to be moving into a new kind of world.

Remember, we were promised that this would be the early signs, of the beginning of the end, for our time in history.

If you want more details, beyond “Birth Pangs” we also have four characters in the Bible, the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.”

First, the word “Apocalypse” should be explained. It is an innocent word from the Greek language, the language of the Christian New Testament, where we have the warnings about our future.

“Apo” means ‘away from.’ “Calypse” is related to the Calypso dance, really. I have no personal experience, but in that dance, the dancer bends to fit under a horizontal pole. The word “Apocalypse” means a cloth is pulled back, to show what is hidden underneath.

In another part of the Bible, the book of Revelation, also known as the “Apocalypse” we have more details.

So, let’s fold back the cloth covering.

I can’t prove that this is the end, but it is uncanny that something we were promised, two thousand years ago, could happen now. The promised end of our time seems to fit the news stories, more than any other time. 

The zipper could be about to undo in world history and God might have to step into history, before we destroy ourselves. This is some we should not ignore: