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10Then (Jesus) said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

Actually the world is unusually peaceful at the moment (And this has been documented by a few organizations; posts on FR on it a few months back.)There isn't an actual full-fledged country-vs.-country war anywhere in the world right now, which is remarkable in the history of the world. All the fighting that exists are internal civil wars and terror campaigns, and none currently active are particularly bloody, relative to world history, and many that were quite bloody (Sri Lanka, Algeria, etc.) are in cease-fires or have petered out. Outside of Central Africa and the Sudan everything is very small scale.

11There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places,

Number of major earthquakes in 2004, and the previous 4 years, has been below average. Nothing particularly unusual famine and pestilence wise going on.

25“There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.

There was an M 9 earthquake near Sumatra in 1833. There were giant tsunamis killing thousands in 1960. World didn't end either time.

Call me a fanatic,

You're a fanatic.

but I don't think all of these catastrophes

How have these catastrophes been any different than all of human history?

How have these catastrophes been any different than all of human history?

I appreciate your question... the reason this time is different than any other time in human history is that the frequency and intensity of these events have increased.

The Bible corrolates these events with contractions and labor pains of a woman in the last few weeks of her pregnancy. As the contractions intensify and get closer and closer, we know that the baby's birth is imminent.

Actually the world is unusually peaceful at the moment

Yep. An expanded segment of PBS's "Secrets of The Dead" detailed the likely
hughmongous eruption of Krakatoa (or "Anakrakatoa"?) in the 530s AD and the
resulting deaths and effects on the environment.

Mentioned in the show as an aside was this tidbit...the 1900s have been a very
quiet period for total volcanic activity.

I guess, despite Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Pinatubo (sp?), it was pretty quiet
on the volcanic front compared to the preceding centuries of recorded history.