world war three?

Question

when do you think it will start and when

Answer 1

Many people believe that the Bible says the Battle of Armageddon, the Antichrist and the return of Jesus will occur in 2007. Allow me to elaborate on this prediction and outline the reasons why.

The Scenario
The war will start in 2007. The antichrist will stand in the Jewish Temple of Jerusalem and declare that he is God. The Bible calls this the 'abomination of desolation'. Shortly after this the Arab nations will unite against Israel. Egypt will lead Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan - every nation with a border with Israel - against it. Russia and its allies will join on the side of the Arabs. During the fight the US and Russia will use nuclear weapons against each other. The war will leave 2 billion dead.

The Evidence
Don't feel the need to read all of the passages, I've highlighted key quotes in bold. There are many other passages I could have used but these illustrate the point well.

When will it happen?
This is a quote from Mark 13:14-28:

But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. And let him who is on the housetop not go down, or enter in, to get anything out of his house; and let him who is in the field not turn back to get his cloak. But woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse babes in those days! But pray that it may not happen in the winter. For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of creation which God created, until now, and never shall. And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect whom He chose, He shortened the days. And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here [is] Christ; or, lo, [he is] there; believe [him] not: For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if [it were] possible, even the elect. But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things. But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.

The 'abomination of desolation' is the antichrist.
The 'elect whom He chose' is the return of Jesus.
The reference to those in Judea fleeing is because of the invasion.

Continued:
Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: So likewise ye, (Israel) when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

The fig tree is Israel. This is because in Jeremiah's prophecies he used 'Figs' as a symbol of the children of Israel. If figs are the children, Israel must be the father, the fig tree.

'When her branch Is yet tender' means that Israel will still be a new state (it was founded in May 1948).
'Putteth forth leaves' could mean when Israel recaptured all of Jerusalem in June 1967.
'Summer is nigh' means that the end of the world is near.

So soon after Israel takes Jerusalem the end of the world will occur. It says 'this generation shall not pass till all these tings be fulfilled'.

A generation in the Bible is 40 years, so the end of the world will be 40 years after 1967: 2007.

How will the war start?
This passage suggests that the return of Jesus will shortly follow the start of war on Israel. Read this from Luke 21:20-24

But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is at hand. Then let those in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are in the midst of the city depart, and let not those who are in the country enter the city; because these are the days of vengeance, in order that all things which are written may be fulfilled. Woe to those who nurse babes in those days; for there will be great distress upon the land, and wrath to this people, and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

This clearly refers to the destruction of Israel by 'surrounding armies'.

Who will fight in the war?
The attack is described in Daniel 11:40
And at the end of time the king of the South will collide with him, and the king of the North will storm against him with chariots, with horsemen, and with many ships; and he will enter countries, overflow them, and pass through.

The 'King of the South' are the Arab nations, the 'King of the North' is Russia. 'Him' refers to Israel, so the passage clearly describes an attack by these forces on Israel. It also shows how the 'end of time' will occur after this war.

The nations involved are describe in Ezekiel 38: 5-7
Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: [and] many people with thee. Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.

Persia is the site of Iran. Gomer and Togarmah are the sites of Turkey. All of these nations are Arab.

What will the war be like?
Revelation 9:13-16 states that the war will involve '200 million soldiers' and 'slay the third part of men.' This means that 2 billion (1/3 of the Earth's population) would die - a conceivable figure for a nuclear war. Such a war could use 200 million men.

This is a key passage - Ezekiel 39: 1-6:
Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I [am] against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel: And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that [is] with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and [to] the beasts of the field to be devoured. Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken [it], saith the Lord GOD. And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I [am] the LORD.

It says all but a 'sixth part' of the invading army will be destroyed. Israel's army could not do this, but Israel is known to have nuclear weapons so these could be used against an invading force.

Magog is Rusia. 'Fire on Magog' could easily be a nuclear strike. Those that 'dwell carelessly in the isles' could be referring to the US, as it is isolated geographically from other countries. This then suggests that there could be nuclear war between Russia and America.

Many scriptures describe the sun and moon becoming dark shortly after the war, eg:
Joel 3:14-15: The sun and the moon grow dark, and the stars lose their brightness

Matthew 24:29 The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky

Mark 13:24 But in those days, after that tribulation, The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven

This refers to the end of the world. The references to the sun going dark could be describing the Nuclear Winter scenario, where dust from nuclear wars blocks out the sun.

Conclusion
So that is the evidence. In 2007 the Battle of Armageddon will take place, there will be nuclear war and Jesus will return. However, some of these interpretations of the text are fairly loose, so if in doubt read through them again and make your own mind up. Whether you believe in this or not is largely a matter of faith, and either way, we will know in a few months

Answer 2

It could be 28 minutes from now or 280 years from now. When the superpowers square off against each other in two camps, then come back and we'll talk world war.

Until then, just think regional conflicts, wars between rump states, proxy wars, sabre rattling and brinksmanship. If you recall the Yom Kippur War in 1973, a coalition of Arab States (Egypt, Syria and Jordan) were soundly defeated by the Israelis. That was a worse situation than the current conflict and it didn't raise a blip on the world war radar (not that it didn't have the potential to spark a global war).

The next World War will involve a nuclear exchange, how could it not. In the first 30 minutes, nearly a billion people will have been vaporised, mostly in the US, Russia, Europe, China and Japan. Another 1.5 billion will die shortly thereafter from radiation poisoning. The northern hemisphere will be plunged into prolonged agony and barbarity.

Eventually the nuclear winter will spread to the southern hemisphere and all plant life will die. You ask when is the apacolypse, you are asking when will we commit global suicide. My answer is it won't happen soon because the larger superpowers are more rational than the rump states in the middle east.

Our biggest risk is an accidental launch of nukes by one of the nuclear powers.

Answer 3

It has already started. 9/11 was the first real shot. It is just taking time to spread.

The war of ideology will be the one that tears us apart. Much like the Crusades, the true first world war.

But it will be a very different war. As a country we've prepared ourselves for a high tech war where missles are fired from great distances. Unfortunately, this war will be fought in the streets. We will want to reduce casualities, so the nuclear option is not open to us, but the terrorist that walks into the Paris airport with a device doesn't care. When Iraq or Iran or a number of other countries get nuclear weapons and wipe out Israel - the world will rally.

Answer 4

I take it you mean where and when, not when and when right.

I'm going to be honest here - I think it's unlikely to happen in our lifetime. There are too many smaller, self-motivated factions at the moment. I suppose the Tiger Combine might initiate it - the Chinease have been pretty agressive and there's even evidence of a massive cyber-attack on US companies recently.

Where is a bit of a tough question. Because of the nature of war these days, the where is less important than the why - resources are probably the most likely cause of future wars with the dwindling supplies and our ineficient management of what we have. There may even be wars fought over water supplies.

Don't mean to cause offence Patrick E, but I think you should pay more attention to world affairs and include them in your assesment of the situation. Abrams may be significant, but the US is not the sole cause, or resolution of war in the world.

Answer 5

We've been threatened with World War III since 1946. It has happened yet and probably won't. The main reason is the World is not divided into large blocks of hostile alliances as in 1914, 1939, 1946.
I expect the wars of the future will be much like they are today. Small countries or tribes of disgruntled have-nots fighting each other.
I think the best bet for a third world war is if and when the world runs out of oil.

Answer 6

I would hope to think it will never happen but I have to say that things in the middle east have not been looking good for some time now and I can see that getting worse before it gets better.

Wasn't it Nostradamus that claimed the mightiest of wars would start in the middle east?

I think nuclear capability in the wrong hands is the fear everyone has - it only takes a fanatic in charge to start the next apocalypse and I'll bet my mortgage that it ever does happen, it will be due to religious differences or oil!

Here's hoping that common sense prevails though and it never happens at all :)

Answer 7

The definition used to describe the first 2 world wars is now inappropriate. It is now a battle of superpowers to control resources and has been since the end of WWII. For there to be another world war it would include multiple use of thermal nuclear weapons and there will be no winners.
It wont happen because no-one with the capability would be in a position where they have nothing to lose.

Answer 8

Open your eyes, it began back in the early 90's and has continued in some or other since then. Just take a look around you and observe all the wars that are happening now, not just in Iraq but in the back waters of Africa, Russia and SE Asia. In the end it wall all come down to the incumbent and their brinkmanship!

Answer 9

We better hope that there is never a 3d world war!

However! if one were to happen then it will most likely start between India and Pakistan in the next 20 years resulting from petty arguments about territorial matters. or perhaps China and the rest of the world over oil and commodities. or good ole Iran and us over nuclear arms proliferation.

Answer 10

It will happen and its probably going to be terrorist related and in the middle east. It wont be countries against countries like the 1st 2 were. Think Iraq/Afghanistan where terrorists run to some country and hide. Someone invades that country going after them. That country collapses and other countries (Iran) get involved by taking sides and making a civil war worse. It will just be bigger and much worse than our current situation over there but probably related to it.

Answer 11

It will happen,and it will happen because of a lack of food! China imports more and more of its food, because they don't produce enough to feed their populace! When you have any nation with a populace of over one billion people you cannot produce enough food without importing. Any nation that must import its most basic element for sustaining life cannot survive! This world is producing less food in relation to how many people currently exist. This means more and more people are starving in larger numbers each year! Eventually you reach a tipping point and then the cascade will occur! The precise chain of events has already been predicted many times over with amazing accuracy! Everyone must do everything they can to prepare for the inevitable!