With the constant stream of violence we see daily in the news, it is difficult not to become jaded. Yet it is vital to avoid falling into this trap. The worldwide phenomenon of violence is something relatively new in history, and we should be aware of it.

For instance, back in 1980, when we moved to beautiful Santiago, Chile, violence was relatively rare. We were always kidding that this part of the world was behind the times by at least 20 years and so were the cars! It was not uncommon to see Latin gentlemen still tipping their hats when a lady passed by. This was such an isolated part of the world that foreigners were viewed with a certain awe. They wondered, "Who would ever come down this far to live?" It was, on the whole, a peaceful and conservative society with relatively high morals and few crimes.

Not any more. What a change in close to 20 years! It seems violence has now penetrated even the remotest regions in the world. As everywhere else, now there are tabloid newspapers that luridly describe details of the daily murders, rapes and robberies. Drugs are rampant with the youth. At night, everyone bolts their doors and there are bars on every window. It seems we are the ones that live as prisoners inside our homes while the robbers roam freely outside. Such is the world we now live in, wherever that may be.

Also, a "hidden" type of violence to take into account is the many abortions taking place annually around the world. According to the U.N. population statistics for 1997, of approximately 175 million pregnancies that take place each year, 45 million end in abortions and 75 million live births are unwanted. Also they estimate 60 million baby girls would now be alive if they had not been aborted due to their sex. Finally, they mention each year, two million girls from ages 5 to 15 enter the business of prostitution (World Population Prospects for 1997, United Nations Population Fund, May 27, 1997, pages 2-3).

Until this century violence was limited, among other factors, by the ways murder could be perpetrated. It was difficult to carry it out with only a knife or a club. It was a messy thing, where a struggle was involved, and the proximity was horribly close. It was not always successful, and the criminal could end up being killed. But in this century, with the advent of cheap guns around the world, suddenly there was a faster, cleaner and more distant way to commit murder. This has certainly helped criminals in multiplying their crimes in a fit of rage. Millions of guns are now available to the local population worldwide.

Although man has been violent since his inception, as the first murder of Abel by Cain can attest, many factors, such as those mentioned, had kept the crime rates down. Only once before has history recorded violence on a worldwide scale comparable to what we are seeing now. It was in Noah's time. "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence" (Genesis 6:11, emphasis ours throughout).

Christ mentioned in the end times that the conditions in the world would be similar to Noah's day. "And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man...when the Son of Man is revealed" (Luke 17:26, 30).

Paul also described the end time society as being cruel and violent. "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal" (2 Timothy 3:1-2).

Isaiah, one of the major prophets of the Old Testament, was used by God not only to describe the worsening moral conditions in Israel during his days, which would lead to captivity and exile, but also to describe as a parallel what would occur in the end times. From the outset, in chapters one and two, we see God going back and forth, describing first the atrocious corruption of Israel in those days, and then the same circumstances which will prevail in the final days, when the kingdom of God will be inaugurated.

Isaiah begins in chapter 1: "Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, [society as a whole] but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have not been closed or bound up, or soothed with ointment (Isaiah 1:5-6). And in chapter 2, it then describes the end times: "Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains...and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, 'Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Isaiah 2:2-3).

This duality of the accounts continues throughout Isaiah. In chapter three it describes the increasing amount of violence: "And the worst sort of anarchy will prevail-everyone stepping on someone else, neighbors fighting neighbors, youths revolting against authority, criminals sneering at honorable men" (Isaiah 3:5, Living Bible). This certainly is an apt picture of what is occurring today.

Daniel also describes rampant violence and immorality as conditions of the end time. "And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their fullness, a king shall arise" (Daniel 8:23). Thus, sin has to reach a certain level until God intervenes and allows the end time scenario to unfold. Then shall arise the chief personalities that will lead it.

Revelation describes the same thing: "And I heard another voice from heaven saying, 'Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities'" (Revelation 18:5).

It is not enough for the readers of World News and Prophecy to remove themselves from the evil of this world to escape God's correction. But we are to move to a greater understanding of God's transcendent purpose-to not only focus on the effects, but consider the cause of human conditions. Notice Ezekiel 9:6: "Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it." Unless we are truly grieved over the state of human affairs, we will not desire to separate ourselves from this world. Jesus built on this concept found in the Old Testament when he mentioned in His "Sermon on the Mount," "Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted."

Truly, the earth is filled with violence and immorality, but we don't know at what point God considers it has reached its "peak" level and decides to intervene. But in the meantime, we should continue to watch and be aware that the increasing level of violence in the world is one of the factors that will bring about the end time scenario. WNP