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Naturalists will rationalize that as global populations increase the incidence of conflict and related death toll is only to be expected. If we lived only in a material universe, then such a rationalization would be justifiable. But as noted in our Science Area, the material view is undercut by evidence for design in the universe. Design requires an intelligence that creates. Creative enterprises are not chance operations. We are not here by chance. The intelligent agent working to bring design into the universe also leaves us face-to-face with considering a purpose to life. Yet death rates and total global deaths due to war are mounting to a spike (the rise is much like population increase)—especially in the recent historical timeframe. It's a sign of the times ... it's a storm warning concerning the future.

In August 1991 the Journal of the American Medical Association published a compelling study of the epidemiology of death in war which reported, among others things, the estimated average annual deaths from war over the past four centuries. The researchers found that the average annual death rate from war in the seventeenth century was 9,500. The yearly average was 15,000 in the eighteenth century, 13,000 in the nineteenth century, and an enormous 458,000 per year in the twentieth century ... Graham, Storm Warning, page 227

Photo of storm by Mike Hollingshead, copyrighted image used here with permission granted by Mr. Hollingshead and formerly by www.extremeinstability.com.

The Toll Foreshadows More War

The main warning is wars and rumors of wars are not tailing off—war on the planet persists in some form all the time. The cumulative global toll due to warfare—in life (human and other species) and in material terms—is still mounting. The biblical storm warnings and forecast indicate more war and a greater toll is yet to precede a complete peace that is yet to come.

I was surprised to see that there was an average of just 6,000 military deaths per year during the Thirty Years War of the first half of the seventeenth century, for a total of about 180,000 killed. That is a large number, but less than I would have suspected for something called the Thirty Years War. By comparison, more than 250,000 died during just four years of the American Civil War some 250 years later. But more shocking was the estimated 5,561,000 combat deaths per year during World War II, for a total of more than 30 million soldiers killed, not including the more than 20 million civilian deaths. Graham, Storm Warning, page 227

Again, Yeshua (Jesus) speaks of wars and rumors of war. With war comes a price in life lost. As time progresses the trend is toward increasing losses on a per annum basis—as indicated in the quotation above.

The root of our observation concerning the loss of life due to war concerns human behavior. The potential to have no conflict has always been there! Yet conflicts persist and would appear to mesh with the biblical expectation of a final era when the toll rises precipitously one last time. Within that timeframe the conflict may appear based on material (even natural or environmental) driving forces—but so too, forces that go to spiritual conflicts the likes of which are most obvious in recent historical events. That recent trend also fits with the biblical text.

How High Do The Numbers Go

WW II loses are often described with different accountings. The following is one example from the Internet with a link provided below to the source of this information:

"World War II killed more people, involved more nations, and cost more money than any other war in history. Altogether, 70 million people served in the armed forces during the war and 17 million combatants died. Civilian deaths were ever greater. At least 19 million Soviet civilians, 10 million Chinese, and 6 million European Jews lost their lives during the war."

"World War II was truly a global war. Some 70 nations took part in the conflict, and fighting took place on the continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe, as well as on the high seas. Entire societies participated, as soldiers, war workers, or victims of occupation and mass murder."

(Source - URL no longer active:: https://www.gliah.uh.edu/modules/ww2/index.cfm)

The Future

The biblical text not only indicates wars continue, they continue to a point in time identified as the "end of the age." The loss of human life associated with the final segment of the current timeline is a continuance of and an escalation of the rise in life toll described above. Why? The root of war and conflict is in humanity's expression of self will over others. Ill will here that breaks a commandment to not kill. And the rising toll is an ongoing indicator ... a 'storm warning' ... for the conflict we accept as a normal human condition. Normal? Is this condition really acceptable?

In biblical terms the final future death toll comes as a result of judgment—deserved through our inability to avoid conflict, to avoid sinning as a humanity defined by our actions. We are convicted by history's record.

The toll is high. It's a price paid throughout all human history. This characterizes events to come.

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The importance to global change is in looking at how social, biological, and physical sciences all reveal data and signs for more ominous changes in the near future. This is change in every aspect of human and earthly affairs ... globally. The Window looks further to see change as a backdrop to a biblical timeline. Driving forces for change force us to ask the most important questions about our true origin, who we are, why we are here, and what the Scriptures tell us about the future. Change forces us to look deeper to face choice or crisis. Life is an opportunity to look for the answers.

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Billy Graham is well known the world over for his work in spreading the biblical message of salvation.(www.billygraham.org)

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Please Note! We are presenting a number of quotations in the "Signs of the Times" series that are taken from their original context.
So Be Aware ... the impact of these statements is only heightened and intensified by a reading of the original text cited below. WindowView serves to reflect many original sources and in this case we highly recommend a reading of the entire book used as a source here! The 'Signs' are woefully important to revealing humanity's future, reading these quotations in their original context makes this point all the more clear!

Quotations attributed to Graham are from: Billy Graham. 1992. Storm Warning. Published by: W Publishing Group (formerly Word Publishing) 

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