Is Economic Crisis an End-Time Indicator?

Christians are notorious for trying to link world events and political leaders to prophetic biblical scenarios. More than once, a president has been labeled the Antichrist and a natural catastrophe has been interpreted as a precursor to the Great Tribulation. As much as I resist the religious frenzy, the Scripture does command us to remain keen to “the signs of the times.”

For that reason, I’ve been particularly interested in the unfolding economic crisis. No doubt, many saw the Great Depression as the judgment of God, only to watch the country rebound. Nevertheless, for those interested in biblical prophecy, these are exciting (if not troubling) times.

This weekend, the G7 met in Washington; top finance ministers from around the world brainstorming about ways to fend off a complete economic meltdown. In an article entitled, Pressure builds for a global economic strategy, it’s described thus:

The way the current financial crisis spread around the world like a brush fire, outracing all efforts to contain it, underscored a painful reality: We have a global economy but nothing close to a global system for managing it. The world may be flat when it comes to the increasingly interconnected economies of the 21st century, but it still has borders — and conflicting national interests to go with them.

Now, as senior economic policymakers from the major developed nations meet here today, the question is whether the worst economic crisis since before World War II will open the door for a comprehensive, unified economic strategy. (emphasis mine)

This should send chills down the spine of every prophecy watchdog. Global economy? Global system for managing it? Unified economic strategy? For those “in the know,” many of these terms smack as codeword for a nefarious last days entity, the One World Government, and the Ahab that will helm that sinking ship, The Beast. Of course, this may or may not be connected. But who could doubt that the pieces are in place.

Jesus described a time when there will be “Great Tribulation such as the world has never known” (Mat. 24:15-21). According to Scripture, the end of our present age will be marked by national upheaval, cosmological catastrophes, plague, famine, and economic collapse. It is into this vacuum that a Leader arises, wooing the masses. The precursor to the unification of the nations and the rise of the Antichrist, is a volatile, unstable world. Global crisis is what pushes man toward one world governance. Of course, some speculate that these triggers — financial collapse, war, political intrigue — are deliberately engineered by secret societies and commissions bent on power. Either way, we are trending ever closer toward an unfolding prophetic scenario.

What role our current global economic crisis plays in all this is another story. Amidst the turmoil, Christians should be watchful, but not alarmist. Stock market crashes have come and gone. Antichrists have risen and fallen. However, given enough of them and we could wake up one morning to find ourselves knee-deep in the Apocalypse. So while I’m not one to jump on the over-crowded end-times bandwagon, I am growing increasingly convinced that the state of politics, technological advances, and globalization is pushing us closer and closer to the return of Jesus Christ.