As counted by Prime Minister Thatcher's government in Great Britain, since World War II up to the first of this year there have been 141 wars.

An article in The Pittsburgh Press, July 26, 1982, was headed: "12 Wars Mar Peace This Year in Trouble Spots Around World." This was based upon an official report of the State Department and the record stated, "the year still has five months to go!"

The wars "are in various stages and at different temperatures," said one official. "One of them is over, the Falkland Miniwar. Can you believe there were 12 different wars in the same calendar year?" he asks.

In Matthew 24, the disciples asked the Lord, "What shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the end of the age?" Among several things, Jesus said, "Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars . . . nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom" (verses 6,7). It is true, there have been wars from the beginning of time, but the increase in number and the rising tempo in intensity and destruction indicates His coming is near. Also the condition of the world that has rejected the Prince of Peace is revealed more and more, as Scripture declares: "The way of peace have they not known" (Rom. 3:17).

The prophecy of Joel opens the curtains to the culmination of man's rejection of Christ in one last great conflict in Joel 3:9-17. "Prepare war . . . beat your plowshares into swords and your pruninghooks into spears . . . let the nations be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about. . . . The Lord also shall roar out of Zion . . . the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of His people . . . So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God." Only then will wars cease and peace come to stay for the millennial reign of Christ on earth.

Isaiah 2:4 prophecies of the results that will follow: "And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."