It has been argued that what Jesus here warned of (e.g., Matt. 24:4-11) is not much different than what has characterized all of history, therefore His warnings must be of the time of the end or Daniel's 70th Week.

     The merits of other arguments notwithstanding, for me, a greater argument is that Jesus knew His followers could easily anticipate that things in this world would change for the better, especially after His resurrection and what would happen on the Day of Pentecost---but it was not to be so.  In hindsight, it is easy to see Jesus conveying that, to whatever extent the forces of evil had been active up to that time, they were going to continue to be so, and especially in some Christianity-specific ways.  Think about it---Things could have been such that none would even presume to regard themselves to be some kind of Messiah or Christ, but many have since that time, and several have in our own generation, like Charles Manson, Jim Jones, Sun Myung Moon, Father Divine, David Koresh, and others whose names I can't remember.  Concerning wars, Christianity could have had such a far reaching impact that these would, in our generation, be considered something of the long distant past, but it's not quite that way, is it?  Also, modern man (with much pride) could have made such advances that things such as world hunger and pestilences are no longer a concern.  Or, there could have been a relaxing along all of the earth's fault lines to the point that earthquakes never happen anymore.  Things could have turned out a lot differently, but they have not.  Christians could have become so very respected that none would even think in terms of persecuting, much less martyring them.  On the flip side, they could have faded from history like a little cult that never really got established.  Again, things could have turned out a lot differently, but they have not.  Isn't that something?  Things could have turned out such that of Jesus Christ, history would bear out that He didn't know what He was talking about.  What do you think?  I think Jesus hit all His nails square on the head.  Shouldn't surprise us, He being The Divine Carpenter!

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(origin is PROPOSITION K)

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