http://www.worldnetdaily.com/?pageId=96299

Are you terrified? Are you a believer? Believers have no cause to be terrified, and such reactions belie their faith. We believers have been chosen by the Creator of the universe to be given the fantastic gift of eternal life in heaven with Him. We have nothing to fear when we are forever protected by the Almighty Himself!

http://www.fcet.org/pub/1051

In brief, concerning the signs leading up to the Lord's return, here are some of those that are revealed in Scripture, that we should be paying attention to (and remember, Jesus said, "be on the alert", so how are we to "be on the alert" if we disregard them?) :

1. A star named Wormwood will cause waters to become bitter (Revelation 8:11). Now "Wormwood" in English is translated in Russian as "Chernobyl". And does anyone know what happened on April 26, 1986? "... reactor number four at the Chernobyl plant, near Pripyat in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, exploded ... Four hundred times more fallout was released than had been by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The plume drifted over extensive parts of the western Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Northern Europe, and eastern North America, with light nuclear rain falling as far as Ireland." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disast...) Notice that the account in Revelation says that the waters were made bitter. Not only were "20,000 tonnes of highly radioactive water" produced in the immediate vicinity of the accident (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disast...), after the lid blew off the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl, it is said to have rained for several days straight, polluting the waters. In an article dated April 2006, we read, "Greenpeace said more than 90,000 people are likely to die of cancers caused by radiation from the Chernobyl explosion, 10 times more than a previous U.N. report had predicted." (http://news.softpedia.com/news/Chernobyl-Kill...) All of this the Lord showed to the apostle John about 2000 years before it happened - by name (Chernobyl or "Wormwood"). This was a sign that the Lord has laid down in His word. And it is a sign that we are into the book of Revelation now.

2. In Luke 21:25, Jesus talked about the "perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves," as a sign of this return. On December 26, 2004, a massive tsunami hit several parts of the world including Asia. An estimated 300,000 are said to have perished (some place it higher). How much greater do the waves of the sea need to be, and how many more people need to perish, before we accept the significance of this event?

3. Matthew 24:14 says, "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come." While it would be nice for each individual person to hear the gospel, this passage is referring to nations and not persons. Jesus Himself said, "truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes" (Matthew 10:23b) meaning that not every person would be reached by the time He returns - not even in Israel, which is the "hub!" How much less, the "perimeter!" Thus, every nation must hear the gospel - but not every single person - before the Lord returns. Nevertheless, many people are hearing the gospel today like never before. Radios fixed-tuned to gospel short wave radio stations are being brought into countries via organizations like Galcom international (http://www.christianity.ca/NetCommunity/Page....) and today the gospel is being broadcast globally into every single nation via satellite - something that was not possible not that long ago. The ability to actually broadcast into every single country via satellite fulfills Matthew 24:14. This prophecy has come to pass already, because every nation has heard the gospel.

These are merely three signs out of a whole list that could be given, and by themselves, they are compelling! But there are more!

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/?pageId=96742

Bible prophecy recognizes four major spheres of political power in the last days: the kings of the east, the king of the south, the Gog-Magog Alliance and the Revived Roman Empire of the antichrist.

Today, the world is divided up essentially along those lines: China and its sphere of influence, Russia and its satellites, the Islamic world and the EU and the West. But there is also America, the world's only superpower and therefore in a class by itself. There is no mention in Scripture of a fifth superpower resembling America. There are a number of possible reasons for this. Perhaps the Rapture so decimates the country that it is unable to get its act together soon enough to play a role in the Tribulation. Maybe America's ideological civil war so divides it as to render it irrelevant. Or maybe an EMP pulse detonated high above America's heartland, rendering it irrelevant in a single, blinding flash. Just think about all the nations that hate us that possess this technological capability. Russia, China, North Korea, Pakistan – and soon Iran – all are capable of this kind of attack.

Exactly how God intends to fulfill His outline of future history is known only to Him. What is important to us is that no matter the details, the outcome is the same. And since we are unquestionably in the last days, the question of America's decline from power will be answered very soon.