A Texas-based Christian ministry is drawing attention for an extraordinary claim: that the countdown to the apocalypse may have started more than 100 years ago.
Lamb & Lion Ministries, a non-denominational Christian organization, says it has identified a series of events it views as signs that humanity is moving closer to the biblical end times.
According to the group, one of the earliest concrete indicators was Britain’s Balfour Declaration, issued on November 2, 1917, which it links to prophecies about the Second Coming of Jesus.
The declaration signaled British support for creating a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, a development that later helped set the stage for the establishment of Israel in 1948. Lamb & Lion Ministries connects that history to Isaiah 11:11–12, a passage describing God gathering the dispersed people of Judah from across the nations.
The ministry further argues that Israel’s creation, the return of Jewish people to the region and the country’s capture of East Jerusalem during the 1967 war all align with additional biblical prophecies.
Beyond events in the Middle East, the organization points to what it describes as mounting signs around the world, including more destructive natural disasters, wars, disease outbreaks, social instability, religious turmoil and rapid technological change that it believes could make scenes described in the Book of Revelation possible.
In particular, the ministry suggests that computers could one day allow the Antichrist to exert control over global trade, while satellite technology could make it possible for people worldwide to watch events in Jerusalem unfold in real time.
Still, the claims represent a contested religious interpretation, not a verified forecast of when the world will end — or evidence that such an event is imminent.
Lamb & Lion Ministries, a non-denominational organization based in Texas, has identified several signs it believes are evidence that humanity is approaching the end times
The argument appears in an article titled 50 Reasons We Are in the End Times, published by Lamb & Lion Ministries on its Christ in Prophecy website.
According to the ministry, there was no ‘single, tangible, measurable sign’ of Christ’s imminent return at the beginning of the 20th century.
That allegedly changed with the Balfour Declaration, issued during the final stages of World War I after British forces began wresting territory in the Middle East from the Ottoman Empire.
The declaration stated that Britain viewed ‘with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people,’ while adding that nothing should prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities.
The ministry said prominent British evangelical preacher F B Meyer immediately interpreted the declaration as prophetically significant.
Meyer reportedly invited evangelical leaders to London to discuss its implications, declaring: ‘The signs of the times point toward the close of the time of the Gentiles… and the return of Jesus can be expected any moment.’
Days before that meeting, British General Edmund Allenby entered Jerusalem in December 1917, ending approximately 400 years of Ottoman rule over the city.
The ministry believes these events initiated the worldwide gathering of Jewish people and ultimately led to the establishment of Israel on May 14, 1948.
The group identified Britain’s Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917, as the first tangible sign that the Second Coming of Jesus was drawing near. Pictured is Arthur James Balfour, who issued the declaration
It connected that moment to Isaiah 66:7–8, which describes a nation being ‘born at once,’ and Ezekiel 37:21–22, in which God promises to gather the Israelites from among the nations and return them to their land.
The group also cited Luke 21:24, in which Jesus says Jerusalem will be ‘trampled on by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.’
The ministry interpreted Israel’s capture of East Jerusalem during the Six-Day War in June 1967 as another step toward that prophecy being fulfilled.
None of those passages mentions Britain, the Balfour Declaration or 1917, however.
Under signs from nature, the ministry pointed to Luke 21:11, in which Jesus warns of ‘great earthquakes’ as well as famines and pestilences in various places.
It also invoked Matthew 24:8, which characterizes such events as ‘birth pains.’
The Christian organization interpreted that comparison to mean natural disasters will become more frequent and intense as Christ’s return approaches.
Its societal signs include increasing violence, lawlessness, materialism, drug use and despair, while its spiritual warnings include false messiahs, religious deception, occultism and the persecution of Christians.
The group simultaneously identified the worldwide spread of Christianity and the Bible’s translation into numerous languages as positive signs that the end is approaching.
Wars are another major part of the ministry’s case, as the ministry cited Matthew 24:6–7, where Jesus tells his followers they will hear of ‘wars and rumors of wars’ as nations rise against one another.
The development of weapons of mass destruction, conflict surrounding Israel and the growing possibility of global warfare are all presented as modern manifestations of that warning.
The organization claimed subsequent signs include increasingly destructive natural disasters, wars, disease, social unrest, religious upheaval and technological advances that could make scenarios described in Revelation possible
Perhaps its most striking claims involve technology that did not exist when the Bible was written.
Revelation 13 describes a time when no one can buy or sell without the ‘mark’ of the Beast.
The ministry claimed computers and digital financial systems could provide the infrastructure necessary for the Antichrist to impose that control.
It also pointed to Revelation 11, which says people from across the world will gaze upon the bodies of two witnesses killed in Jerusalem.
The ministry argued that this seemingly impossible scenario became conceivable with the arrival of television, satellites and instantaneous global communication.
Virtual reality, holograms, and robotics are similarly linked to a passage describing an image of the Beast that appears to speak and come to life.
However, these associations are interpretations, as computers, satellites, and virtual reality are not mentioned in the biblical text.
The ministry ultimately lists 50 alleged signs, but does not provide a date for the Second Coming.
The Bible itself cautions against attempting to calculate one. In Matthew 24:36, Jesus says that no one knows the day or hour, not even the angels in heaven.
