[Darris McNeely] We're coming down to the end of the calendar year 2021. We'll be soon turning a page to 2022. And at a time of year like this, we look ahead. We kind of reassess the past year. As we look ahead to 2022 in the coming months, in the world, in our own lives, there's much to consider, much to think about in the times that we're living in. I'd like to focus just for a minute upon some of the larger international events that right now at the end of the year or on everybody's mind as they look at the world condition and the situation, right now there are three big events that people are wondering what will be the next step. Russian troops have masked on the Ukrainian border in Europe. There has been a lot of Sabre rattling there about 175,000 Russian troops, a mass there. Will Russia invade Ukraine seeking to halt its look toward the west, its movement toward the west in terms of alignment and relationships? Because of Russia's desire to keep that within their orbit, what will happen there?

On the other side of the world in China, the island of Taiwan, there is the ever-present question of will mainland China, the communist-led government there invade the small island nation of Taiwan, a long hill that desire to annex and to bring back into the greater China, sphere of influence, this island nation that has been on its own since the end of World War II, will China invade Taiwan? And, of course, to both of these is the big question, what will be the world response? What will be, in particular, the response of the United States in both of these areas? And that's the big question mark.

There's a third area, and that is Iran, in its movement toward developing a nuclear weapon, which would change the entire equation of the Middle East situation. Reports continue that they are working on it, that they could be very close to it. We've heard that for a long period of time. At some point on some morning, the world may wake up and Iran will have a nuclear weapon. And, of course, then what will the State of Israel do? And will they preempt that? Will they do something to prevent that happening?

And so a nuclear Iran, China and Taiwan, the Ukraine being invaded by Russia, three critical hotspots that could erupt at any moment, possibly even in the coming months of 2022 which could change a lot.

There is the Scripture, Matthew 24, Christ's Olivet prophecy, the disciples asked Christ about the signs of His coming and He did say that, "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled for these things must come to pass but the end is not yet for nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom." When you break those verses down, they do have application to our world order and condition right now. And there are the prospect of wars and certainly, there's the rumors of war as I have talked about.

And so it's important to keep that in mind, to be able to watch, understand, and discern the times. We're living in a transitional period of history and these events plus anything else that might pop up could radically alter the world seen, the relationships among nations, and the conditions of peace as they stand. It is a time to watch and a time to understand as we look ahead for the coming months.

That's BT Daily. Join us next time.