A Prophetic Shift of Gears

A few days after the 9/11 attacks, I talked with my close friend Dr. Harold Willmington, who taught at Liberty Bible Institute for more than fifty years. As we shared our shock and sadness over that happened, he made a statement to me that I’ve never forgotten. He said, “Mark, it’s like there’s been a prophetic shift of gears.”

He was right. In the wake of 9/11, the world became a different place. Terrorism has become a tragic part of life around the globe. The U.S. invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. ISIS created a caliphate that threatened Iraq and Syria. The Arab Spring toppled many Middle Eastern dictators, but also moved Russia and Iran to send troops to Syria to bolster the regime of Bashir al-Assad. Since 9/11, the world has never been the same.

But as dramatic as those events were in setting the stage for the end times, they pale in comparison to global events over the last two years—sparked by the outbreak of COVID—and especially in the last two weeks with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.