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.

In fact, for much of 2022, we appeared to be on the verge of seeing the events of Revelation 6 kick off at any moment, with the real possibility of global war (Revelation 6:4), global hyperinflation (Revelation 6:6), and widespread famine from an escalating food crisis (Revelation 6:8). As 2022 drew to a close, what were the biggest prophetic news stories? Below is a list of what I believe were the top three:

1) Rumors of War

Jesus said rumors of war will precede His return (Matthew 24:6). 2022 brought war between Russia and Ukraine, but it also brought countless rumors of an escalating conflict with NATO, as well as rumors of war in other parts of the world. In September, someone blew up the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines in what should be considered a major act of war. In years past, it would have been. But in 2022, it spent just a couple of days in the western media news cycle before being all but forgotten. Meanwhile, the United States and NATO continued to provide armaments and intelligence to Ukraine. Even worse, some reports claimed NATO had troops on the ground in Ukraine.

All these developments heightened tensions and led to rumors of an escalating conflict that would draw NATO into all-out war with Russia and spark a nuclear exchange. How bad did it get? While the U.S. defense readiness condition (DEFCON) level isn’t public, some estimate we’ve been at DEFCON 3 – a level reached only three times in history – for nearly all of 2022. None of those previous instances lasted more than a few days, yet some estimate we’ve been at DEFCON 3 since February 28. This is the longest period of heightened readiness in the more than six decades of the alert system’s existence. This means a strong case could be made that we’re closer to nuclear war now than we’ve ever been in the post-World War II period.

But the Russia/Ukraine conflict isn’t the only source of rumors of war. For all of 2022, Taiwan has lived under the threat of imminent Chinese invasion. Time and again, China has sent ships into nearby waters and warplanes into Taiwanese airspace. U.S. Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, took a provocative trip to Taiwan, and the United States threatened to respond militarily to any Chinese aggression.

Meanwhile, we continue to hear rumors of war in other parts of the world – Israel/Iran, India/China, North Korea/South Korea, and countless other places. The sheer number of possible conflicts between major powers, many armed with nuclear weapons, arguably makes this the most dangerous time since World War II.

2) Inflation

Price inflation hit the world with a vengeance in 2022. World leaders blamed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and it did play a role in some of the inflation. But poor government policies and currency printing were the true culprits. Pandemic lockdowns caused major supply chain disruptions, and government stimulus programs pumped currency into every corner of the economy. How much stimulus was created? In the United States, more than 40% of all the dollars in existence were created in the last 3 years. More currency units chasing fewer goods and services will inevitably lead to higher prices, and that’s what we saw in 2022.

In Europe, decades of poor planning and naïve energy policies led to a surge in electricity and natural gas prices. In some cases, these prices rose as much as 20 times what they had been just one year before. This impacted all of European industry, leading to less production of energy-intensive products and forcing many businesses to completely shut down. One energy-intensive product, fertilizer, saw significant production cuts as European firms could no longer offer competitively priced products in the global marketplace. Lower supplies increased the global price of fertilizer, and the result will likely be higher food prices in the years ahead as less fertilizer leads to lower crop yields.

In addition, I believe we’re witnessing a collapse of the petro-dollar system, which has dominated global trade for the past fifty years. In fact, I believe 2022 signaled we’re in the last dying days of the entire global fiat currency system. The world is waking up to the fact that pieces of paper, electronic ones, and zeroes don’t have the same value as tangible items such as oil, natural gas, timber, aluminum, copper, gold, and silver.

The BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) have signaled their intent to develop an alternative to America’s SWIFT payment system as well as a commodity-backed currency to challenge the U.S. dollar. As 2022 draws to a close, a host of additional nations have expressed interest in joining the BRICS coalition. Among them are some of the most important producers of oil and natural gas on the planet – Nigeria, Iran, Argentina, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia. If they succeed, and BRICS creates its own commodity-backed currency as an alternative to the U.S. dollar, it will destroy the U.S. dollar, and most of the world’s fiat currencies will plummet in value.

3) Central Bank Digital Currency

In 2022, governments all around the world telegraphed their support for central bank digital currency (CBDC). The Bank of International Settlements announced 9 out of 10 of the world’s central banks were exploring digital currency, and more than half were developing CBDCs or experimenting with or testing rollouts.

For example, in mid-November, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced a 12-week proof-of-concept project to “explore the feasibility of an interoperable network of central bank wholesale digital money and commercial bank digital money.” They aren’t alone. In mid-December, it was revealed that the Bank of England “will begin consultations on the design of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) which would act as a digital version of the pound sterling.” Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India announced the second stage of testing for its own CBDC. After successfully running a pilot program at the wholesale level, they announced they will now test the digital rupee in a retail setting.

Meanwhile, the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX led to calls for greater regulation of digital currencies from politicians all over the globe. Citing money laundering concerns, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has vowed to crack down on the entire crypto industry. You can be certain whatever legislation results will benefit CBDCs at the expense of decentralized alternatives such as Bitcoin.

What to Look for in 2023

Expect these same trends to continue in 2023. What will 2023 bring? We can only guess, but I believe the probability is high we will see a global financial crisis, the collapse of a major market currency, widespread famine, and social unrest. In my latest video, I cover all of these in greater detail. For more than fifty years now, all the world’s major currencies have been fiat currencies – meaning they have no intrinsic value or claim on anything of value. They only have purchasing power because people believe they do. That belief will significantly erode in 2023.

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 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.

On December 7, 1941, Japan caught America by surprise when it attacked the U.S. naval base in Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. Japan sought to destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Fortunately, that attack didn’t destroy the United States. But the future may not be so kind. Why? Because the U.S. is setting itself up for a modern-day Pearl Harbor – one from which it will never recover. And it won’t be the result of a military strike. It will be the result of an economic one. To understand what’s coming (this attack is already underway), we need to understand our history.

The Bretton Woods System

In 1944, the Bretton Woods Agreement established the financial rules and monetary system governing western nations. The system required participating nations to guarantee convertibility of their currencies into U.S. dollars at a fixed rate with the dollar convertible to gold by foreign governments. This essentially put the world on a type of gold standard via the U.S. dollar.

This system served the world well until the late1960s when it became clear the United States was printing dollars without the gold needed to back up those dollars. Out-of-control government spending via a host of new government social programs and the war in Vietnam threatened to deplete U.S. gold stockpiles. So on August 15, 1971, President Nixon “temporarily” closed the gold window (it’s never been reopened) – terminating the convertibility of dollars into gold. This made the dollar a fiat currency, meaning it wasn’t backed by anything of value. To prevent runaway inflation, the United States brokered a deal with Saudi Arabia, which effectively set up a new world monetary system.

The Petro-Dollar System

Following the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the United States found itself the target of an OPEC oil embargo as a result of the military aid it provided to Israel. Oil prices quadrupled. With the dollar no longer tied to gold, inflation soared as the U.S. continued to run annual budget deficits. Facing these headwinds, in 1974, the U.S. brokered a deal with Saudi Arabia to stabilize the dollar. The U.S. agreed to buy oil from Saudi Arabia and defend the kingdom militarily while also providing military aid and equipment. In return, Saudi Arabia (and the rest of OPEC) agreed to sell oil only in U.S. dollars and use those dollars to buy U.S. debt, effectively supporting both the dollar and U.S. deficit spending.

For nearly five decades, the U.S.-Saudi relationship held up well. The United States successfully defended Saudi Arabia in Operation Desert Shield in 1990-1991, and Saudi Arabia continued to sell oil in dollars. But in recent years, the U.S.-Saudi relationship has started to fray, and over the past 18 months, it’s all but fallen apart. That means the days are numbered for what remains of the petro-dollar system.

A Critical Turning Point: August 2021

Exactly fifty years to the day from when Nixon closed the gold window, the Taliban entered Kabul, and the Afghan president fled the country. In hindsight, this event struck a fatal blow to the petro-dollar system. The petro-dollar is still alive, but it won’t last much longer. Why?

The U.S. abandoned its allies. It left Americans behind enemy lines and allowed those who assisted America to fall into the tortuous hands of the Taliban. In the face of such a betrayal, is it any surprise Saudi Arabia might begin to question U.S. commitment to its security? The U.S. showed itself to be an unreliable partner. Russia was quick to capitalize. Unnoticed by many in the western media, Russia brokered its own security deal with Saudi Arabia, undermining the petro-dollar and threatening its future.

The Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Fast forward to February 2022. Russia invaded Ukraine. In response, the U.S. and its allies imposed sanctions on Russia, froze Russian assets, and kicked Russian banks out of the international financial messaging system, SWIFT. This served as a major wake-up call to the nations of the world. Just as America’s abandonment of Afghanistan made every nation question America’s commitment to its allies, U.S. actions against Russia made the nations of the world realize what would happen if they ended up on America’s “bad list.” They now understand the risk of holding too many U.S. treasuries or of being too reliant on an international financial system dominated by the U.S. dollar. The result? These nations are now willing to explore (if not actively seek) an alternative to the dollar.

BRICS

In 2006, Brazil, Russia, India, and China (the BRIC nations) held the first BRIC Summit. The goal was to increase cooperation and explore opportunities for economic growth between these growing nations. In 2010, South Africa joined, and the coalition took on the moniker BRICS. Since then, BRICS has worked to create an alternative to the SWIFT payment system as well as a commodity-backed currency to challenge the U.S. dollar. As 2022 draws to a close, a host of additional nations have expressed interest in joining the BRICS coalition. Among them are some of the most important producers of oil and natural gas – Nigeria, Iran, Argentina, Algeria, Kazakhstan, and Indonesia. The latest nation to express interest? Saudi Arabia.

The Coming Destruction of the U.S. Dollar

If BRICS creates its own commodity-backed currency as an alternative to the U.S. dollar, and all the nations expressing interest join BRICS, it will destroy the dollar. Those nations represent over 50% of the world’s population and an even larger share of the world’s commodity production. If oil starts trading in other currencies… If the dollar loses its reserve currency status… If international trade is conducted in fewer and fewer dollars – meaning demand for dollars drops while supply remains the same – then a flood of dollars will return to the United States. This will cause massive inflation, a collapse in confidence in the U.S. dollar, and major destruction throughout the American economy. Interest rates will skyrocket, and the four pillars of American wealth – stocks, bonds, dollars, and real estate – will collapse in real terms. The U.S. will no longer be the world’s financial center. Its power will erode significantly.

CBCDs

Then what? Once the petro-dollar ends and the dollar experiences massive inflation or even hyperinflation, a new monetary system will have to take its place. Will it be the new BRICS currency or something else? We don’t know for sure. But in all likelihood, it will be built on blockchain. Many believe if BRICS creates a new commodity-backed currency, that currency won’t be convertible into the underlying commodity. Instead, the commodities will be pledged and anchored to the new currency via blockchain technology. Meanwhile, central banks openly discuss their plans to replace today’s national currencies with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Either way, a “great reset” is coming to the global financial system, and digital currencies will take over. When they do, government will wield unprecedented power. With such power, not only will government be able to track everything you buy or sell, it will be able to kick you out of the economic system – just as the Bible says.

What’s Coming to the World

When government-sponsored cryptocurrencies replace paper currencies, individual freedom and liberty will disappear. Governments will be able to “turn off” your cryptocurrency or reprogram it to determine how you can use it. For instance, if your social credit score isn’t high enough, they can reprogram the currency in your account to only work within five miles of your home or limit it to the purchase of specific “pre-approved” items. Ultimately, if you do something the government doesn’t approve of, they’ll be able to shut down your ability to buy and sell altogether. The Canadian government already showed its willingness to do this when it cut off financial access to anyone who supported the Canadian trucker protest.

The Bible says this is precisely what will happen in the end times. The Antichrist will establish a global system of commerce. His system will play a part in every economic transaction on earth. It will be so dominant that no one will be able to buy or sell anything without the Antichrist’s approval (Revelation 13:17). Does this sound like something far off in the future? It’s not. It’s fast approaching. We see the foundations of the Antichrist’s economic system coming into place today. The U.S. dollar will soon lose its status as the world’s reserve currency, and the world will be one step closer to the mark of the beast system.

It’s yet another sign we live in the season of the Lord’s return. We just experienced a global pandemic (Luke 21:11). A global famine is on the horizon (Matthew 24:7). Israel is back in the land (Jeremiah 23:7-8). The Jewish people are back in Jerusalem (Luke 21:24-28). And the Gospel is being preached throughout the world (Matthew 24:14). Make no mistake. The tribulation, the Antichrist, and global government are part of the world’s immediate future. But don’t despair; this also means the return of Jesus is part of our immediate future (Revelation 22:20). And His is an everlasting kingdom (Daniel 2:44) with no more death or crying or pain (Revelation 21:4). So keep your eyes fixed on Him!

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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.