[Quix]

But there's also a clear indication that He expects us to study so we can know the general time/season/years of such. He chides the pharisees for being able to tell the signs about weather but not 'signs of the times.'

And, He gives us some great clues.

One covered in LaHaye and J's book p 39 involves Mat 24:7-8:

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places, All these are the beginning of sorrows. (LA&J emphasis added).

Our Lord used two Hebrew idioms here that His Jewish friends would quickly recognize. The first, based on 2 Chronicles 15:1-7 and Isaiah 19:1-2, is "nation against nation, and kingdom against kingdom" (KJV), He was speaking of a war started by two nations, each combatant soon joined by the surrounding kingdoms until all the nations involved in the prophet's vision are included. In Matthew 24 our Lord had the world in view. So He is saying, "When you see a war started by two single nations that is soon joined by the kingdoms of the world--followed by unprecedented famines, pestilence, and multiple earthquakes at the same time--you have the sign."

We submit that is exactly what occurred in June 1914 when the Archduke of Austria, prince Francis Ferdinand was shot by a Serbian zealot in the very area of the world where in these days UN peacekeepers must be stationed to keep the Serbs and Croats from killing eachother. One month later Austria declared war on Serbia, followed shortly by the other kingdoms of the world, until all but seven nations officially joined the conflict (and even the seven "neutral" countries sent mercinaries), At first historians officially called it "the Great War," for indeed, to that point it was the greatest war in human history. The war involved more men in uniform (estimates total 53 million, 13 million of whom were killed) than all the troops in all the wars before it. But it didn't end there . . .

If this were all that happened in 1914-1918, however, it would not be sufficient to fulfill all of our Lord's prophecy. Remember, He added, "There will be famines, pestilences . . . in various places." A look at history reveals that the flue epidemic of 1918 spread throughout Europe, Canada, and the United States and took more lives than were lost on the battlefields. . . .

The authors LaHaye and Jenkins go on to mention earthquakes which happened subsequent to all such--some bigger than for a long time.

However, I do not think that WWI really qualifies. I don't think it meets even their criteria sufficiently dramatically enough to be THE SIGN. I think it still is a major sign that is pending. But they contend that the beginning of sorrows began then.

I believe that the beginning of sorrows could not really come about until Israel had become a Nation again in a day as in 1948.

[Rodney King]

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places, All these are the beginning of sorrows

I just don't know how you can possibly see today in that phrase, as opposed to almost any other time in history. Nation against nation? Has happend thousands of times. Kingdom against Kingdom? Happens less now than at any other time in the past since there aren't many kings any more. Earthquakes? There is no sign that they are more prevalent now than at any other time? Famine and pestilence? Way down. Far more common prior to 1900 than now.