Khilafat Centenary Souvenir 1908-2008 — Page 35
Prophecies in the Bible When we study the Bible, there are many prophecies pertaining to the issue of the Messiah. These prophecies not only provide details of the signs related to the appearance of the Messiah but also pinpoint the time of his appearance. In the Gospel of Matthew, for example, it is written: Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. (Matthew, 24: 17) This is a powerful and visible sign, such that it is difficult to deny this sign has been fulfilled. True, wars are not a modern phenomenon, and have always taken place. There has always been bloodshed since the appearance of Adam. But it is undeniable that the wars that have taken place over the last hundred years ha ve no parallel in the history of mankind. With two major wars known as 'world wars,' the Imperial struggles that surrounded them, the wars of liberation and national independence, the total number of wars in the last century has exceeded 200, and more than 50 million people died in them. During this period, on any given day, there have been , on average, ten wars going on somewhere in the world. And there is the continual threat of another war, every moment, anywhere. Never before have wars taken place at such a scale, at such intensity, with such reach: And the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Peter, 3:10 There are further, similarly detailed predictions in the Gospels: And there shall be famines (food shortages). (Matthew, 24: 17) This sign has also been fulfilled, and there cannot even be one iota of doubt about its appearance. Approximately one fourth of the total population of the world does not obtain enough food. Even in places where food is plentiful, many people are too poor to buy it. Millions of peoples die of hunger alone in Africa every year. And if we are not mistaken, billions of people are suffering with starvation all over the world. Again, even though famines have always haunted humankind, the explosion of global population growth, combined with industrialization and mass poverty, has meant a new scale to famine and food shortage around the world. There will be pestilences in diverse places. (Luke, 21: 11) This sign also appeared in a very clear way in different parts of the world, within the last hundred years. Although illnesses and epidemics haunted many places throughout history, they, too, reached another scale in the past century. Millions of people died of plague at the end of the nineteenth century, in India alone. In the years following World War I, more than twenty million people died of Spanish flu. Millions of people died from smallpox in India alone after World War II. Tuberculosis, malaria, AIDS, continue to exact a heavy toll. There will be earthquakes in one place after another. (Matthew, 24:7) In the last hundred years, more than fifty major earthquakes have taken place. Over five million people died in these earthquakes; the property of trillions of dollars was destroyed during these disasters. These signs have appeared in China, India,Japan, Turke y, Europe, Australia and America. The sea and the waves roaring (Luke, 21 :26) Hurricanes are another type of disaster. Every year, thousands of people become the victim of such events, and property worth of billions of dollars is destroyed. Onl y three years ago, about half a million people died in the disaster of the South East Asian tsunami alone. Property worth trillions of dollars was destroyed. Hurricane Katrina was another disaster, unique in its nature, with property value of about half a trillion dollars destroyed or damaged. Such hurricanes appear every year in India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, Europe and America. Under the impact of what we now know as climate change, such events are also increasing in intensity and frequency. Corruption and distortion of the faith (Luke, 18:8) It is also one of the signs of the coming of Messiah, that there would not be much faith and religiosity left around the world. Considering this angle, we see that most people like to be free from the responsibilities of the religion. Many people have adopted their own ways, different from and more often than not, indifferent to their religion. Most people's everyday practice is no longer guided by religious teaching. And the waning of religiosity is not confined to one creed alone. It is not just a