The number one sign of the Second Coming is the convergence of all the signs Jesus and the prophets said to look for. Jesus said, “When you see all these things take place, look up! Your salvation draws near” (Luke 21:28). What are the things Jesus and the prophets said to look for? Israel back in the land (Jeremiah 23:7-8)… The Jewish people back in control of Jerusalem (Luke 21:24)… The Gospel being preached to the whole world (Matthew 24:14)… And more. Today, we see these signs. Because we do, we can be confident we live in the season of His return. But Jesus cited other signs too. So did the prophets. And we see those signs as well. As 2021 draws to a close, what were the biggest prophetic news stories? Below is a list of what I believe were the top three:
1) Big Tech Censorship
For much of its existence, Google promoted the corporate motto “Don’t be evil.” Following its corporate restructuring under the banner of Alphabet Inc. in 2015, the company changed its motto to “Do the right thing.” The people who built Google probably viewed consumer privacy violations, corporate-government censorship, and data manipulation in pursuit of a social or political agenda as evil. But for today’s crop of Google employees? It’s all part of “doing the right thing.”
As people become more reliant on smart devices and the Internet for daily living, the power of Big Tech companies like Google has grown exponentially. These companies have the power to control the news and information flow for billions of people. This hasn’t gone unnoticed by power-hungry politicians across the globe. They long to wield this power for their own benefit. Unfortunately, Big Tech has been more than willing to help. For example, back in July, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced White House officials were “meeting with social media platforms” and had “increased disinformation research and tracking.” She said the administration was “flagging problematic posts from Facebook that spread disinformation” and working to “connect doctors and medical professionals who are popular with their audiences with accurate information” so as to “boost trusted content.”
The U.S. Surgeon General followed with his own lecture on the dangers of free thought. According to Dr. Vivek Murthy, “We live in a world where misinformation poses an imminent and insidious threat to our nation’s health. Health misinformation is false, inaccurate, or misleading information about health according to the best evidence of the time. And while it often appears innocuous on social media apps, on retail sites or search engines, the truth is that misinformation takes away our freedom to make informed decisions about our health and the health of our loved ones.”
Think about that. The Surgeon General thinks if you have access to uncensored information, it takes away your freedom. Only in a dystopian 1984 society does an assertion like that make any sense.
In the same month, Politico reported, “Biden allied groups, including the Democratic National Committee, are also planning to engage fact-checkers more aggressively and work with SMS carriers to dispel misinformation about vaccines that is sent over social media and text messages.” This means government authorities might “fact-check” future private text messages between you and your friends. Imagine being in the middle of a phone call with a friend, and the government cuts off your call because the two of you are discussing “disinformation.” Most people would be outraged. Yet, that’s exactly what the government is doing with this social media disinformation censorship campaign.
All this is a threat to human freedom and liberty. In an age when social media dominates public discourse, access to these platforms is vital to get a message out. Don’t believe me? Try getting your message out to a large audience without using Facebook, Twitter, Google, Apple, Amazon, YouTube, or Netflix. It’s nearly impossible. If they can de-platform the sitting President of the United States (which they did to Donald Trump), then they can de-platform you as well.
We now live in a world where the largest technology firms have more power than most totalitarian governments had in bygone eras. Since the police power of government rules over these Big Tech companies, that means governments around the world are now more powerful than they’ve ever been. The power and reach of Big Tech is global in nature, and they’ve shown their willingness to use this power to silence you.
In 2021, Big Tech continued to cancel people and organizations deemed “dangerous” or not sufficiently “woke.” YouTube channels were demonized, demonetized, and shut down. Twitter and Facebook accounts were suspended. Hosting companies dropped websites, and businesses were frozen out of using PayPal, Visa, and MasterCard.
As technology continues to advance, every aspect of human life becomes reliant on and intertwined with digital payments and the Internet. If access to those utilities is cut off, an individual’s ability to participate in modern-day society is also cut off. This means large corporations (and governments by default) can cut you off from society for any reason. And they can do so without due process, a trial, or the ability to defend yourself. If large corporations “cancel” you and refuse to provide you with basic services, how can you exist in the modern world? You can’t. At least, not as effectively as before. Big Tech now has the power to cancel people. The power of Big Tech sets the stage for the Antichrist to control all buy/sell transactions on the planet (Revelation 13:17) and to determine at his whim who can or cannot participate in modern society.
2) The Broken Global Supply Chain
The spread of COVID-19 in early 2020 marked the beginning of a global supply chain crisis. That crisis continued throughout all of 2021. The most recent example of the broken supply chain showed up in the form of shipping problems at U.S. ports. For example, on November 11, a record 111 container ships were anchored off the coast of two California ports. This broke the previous record set just 20 days earlier.
In response, Joe Biden promised to strengthen the resiliency of the supply chain by moving to 24/7 operations at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. He was concerned about the Christmas shopping season and public opinion in an era of product shortages and rising inflation. But this is a much more complex issue. The problems involving bottlenecks in these ports are a symptom of a larger systemic breakdown – a breakdown that threatens to collapse the entire global economic system.
Despite the optimistic forecasts of politicians, the broken supply chain didn’t repair itself in 2021, and it won’t be fixed in 2022 either. 24/7 port operations won’t fix the problem. Containers cover every square inch of the ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach. Before new containers can be offloaded from ships, trucks and trains need to move the existing containers to new locations. The nationwide shortage of truck drivers makes that a tall order. In 2021, the problem wasn’t confined to California ports alone. Supply chain problems and shortages plagued almost every industry and factory in the world, covering a wide range of products such as bacon, semiconductors, toilet paper, aluminum, pet food, juice boxes, and a host of other items.
When COVID first struck, the global economy came to an abrupt halt. In 2021, we experienced the trauma from that high-speed crash – and the damage was massive. The sudden collapse in global demand led to negative oil futures prices in April 2020. This caused energy producers around the world to cap production. Demand returned in 2021, and producers couldn’t simply increase production overnight. As a result, demand increased much faster than supply.
Natural gas prices in Europe tripled in five months. European natural gas is now ten times more expensive than in the United States. European natural gas storage capacity is at a historically low level going into the winter months. Meanwhile, much of Europe is now hostage to Vladimir Putin as they’ve allowed themselves to become dependent on Russian energy supplies. In China, coal (which generates 50% of the nation’s electricity) is becoming harder and harder to source. These higher energy prices mean higher costs for businesses and consumers. It also means energy shortages and rolling blackouts. These energy disruptions then result in additional production shutdowns and manufacturing bottlenecks, further compounding global supply chain problems. And that’s where we find ourselves at the end of 2021.
3) Loss of Liberty
If you love freedom and liberty, 2021 was not your year. Many Western nations that traditionally espouse individual freedom and liberty either took steps down the road to totalitarianism or transformed into outright police states. While the list of such nations is long (United States, United Kingdom, France, Canada, New Zealand, etc.), none provides a better example of this transformation than Australia.
In 2021, Australia descended into a police state. In September, the government of South Australia rolled out a new app requiring citizens to take a photo of themselves and report their location on demand within 15 minutes of a government request. Also in September, Australian MP Daniel Andrews vowed to “lock out” the unvaccinated in regard to medical care and conducting commerce. Also in 2021, “Centres for National Resilience” appeared in Australia. These are quarantine centers that could be more accurately labeled as prisons. Those who test positive for COVID (as well as any of their “close contacts”) are rounded up and forcibly confined to these camps. Earlier this month, three teenagers escaped from one of these facilities. Their escape launched a full-blown manhunt complete with roadblocks and police officers randomly searching vehicles. Barring a revolutionary pushback, Australia is lost.
Austria isn’t far behind. In November, the European nation announced mandatory vaccinations. Germany quickly stated its intent to follow in Austria’s footsteps. In countries around the world, society is singling out the unvaccinated for punishment. In addition to vaccine mandates, many nations, states, and cities have implemented vaccine passport systems. Those who refuse the COVID vaccines face potential loss of jobs, healthcare, freedom of movement, and liberty in general. The purpose is to ostracize the unvaccinated from society – to apply maximum pressure and coerce the unvaccinated into compliance.
Does any of this sound familiar? It should. The Book of Revelation describes a similar system whereby the people of the world are forced to receive a mark on their right hand or forehead. Those who refuse to comply will be unable to buy or sell. They’ll effectively be cut off from society. Vaccine mandates and passports create the same type of system. They create a social system enabling the mark of the beast. I don’t believe vaccine passports are the mark of the beast. However, if they are allowed to stand, they will create a system indistinguishable from the actual mark of the beast. This will pave the way for the rise of the Antichrist and a global dictatorship.
What to Look for in 2022
Hopefully, Jesus will return in the last few days of 2021. But regardless, expect these same trends to continue in 2022. Look for Big Tech to continue its crackdown on any ideas that run counter to the official government narrative. Look for global supply chain problems to get worse. Most of all, look for governments around the world to use every new COVID variant as a convenient excuse to trample freedom and liberty and seize ever greater amounts of power.
Combine these developments with countless others foretold in the Bible, and we can know the rapture, the Tribulation, and the Second Coming are now closer than they’ve ever been before. This is why the #1 event you should focus on in 2022 is the return of our Savior. As we enter a new year, all the signs tell us “Jesus is coming!”
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Britt Gillette is author of the free ebook Coming to Jesus as well as the books Signs of the Second Coming, Racing Toward Armageddon, and The End Times. Receive his book 7 Signs of the End Times for free when you sign up for his monthly newsletter.