“You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.”

— Matthew 24:6-8 (NIV)

I want to tell you about a conversation I had this week. Someone told me that the pain at the pump and the economic pressure Americans are feeling right now would be over in a few weeks — once the Iran war wrapped up. I understand the hope in that statement. But I had to respectfully and firmly push back. Because even if oil prices drop and the economy breathes for a moment, what we must look for next is the next wave of wars.

This is not pessimism. This is not fear-mongering. This is the prophetic lens through which we were always meant to view history. Jesus Christ — the most important figure in human history — told us exactly what this season would look like. He used the image of a woman in labor: waves of contractions, each one more intense than the last, until the birth arrives. That is the world we are living in right now. And we are still in the early contractions.

The Expert Alarm Bells — In Their Own Words

This is not my opinion alone. The world’s most credentialed voices in geopolitics, military affairs, and foreign policy have been saying the same thing. The language they are using is historic.

Ian Bremmer is arguably the most cited geopolitical risk analyst in the world. When he reaches for the 1930s as a comparison, that is a direct reference to the decade that produced Hitler’s rise, Japan’s imperial expansion, and World War II. He is not being dramatic. He is being precise.

Richard Haass spent decades at the highest levels of American foreign policy. The Council on Foreign Relations is the establishment’s establishment. When Haass declares this the most dangerous moment since World War II, he is speaking from an institutional position that has never used those words lightly.

General Milley was America’s highest-ranking military officer for four years. He oversaw the response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He described China as “clearly the most significant geostrategic threat we face,” and placed Russia, North Korea, and Iran alongside that threat. He was not speaking theoretically. He was speaking from classified intelligence briefings and a lifetime of military command.

The profound irony here is that the man doing much of the destabilizing is also describing the danger of the moment. Even the adversary agrees on what this time is. Let that sink in.

The Timeline of Waves — And Where We Are

People are acting as if each of these conflicts is an isolated event. They are not. They are connected waves in the same storm. Here is the honest timeline of where we have been — and where we are headed:

The Energy Shock Americans Are Feeling Right Now

Let us talk about what is happening to your wallet — because the prophetic and the practical are inseparable. Wars are not abstract geopolitical events. They hit you at the gas pump, in your grocery bill, in your mortgage payment, and in your retirement account.

The International Energy Agency — the premier global energy monitor — called this “the greatest global energy and food security challenge in history.” The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has cut off 20% of global LNG supply. Fertilizer costs are spiking, threatening food prices. Helium — essential for semiconductor manufacturing — is being constrained. The ripple effects touch everything from the food on your table to the chips in your phone.

Goldman Sachs described the oil market as carrying a $14-per-barrel geopolitical risk premium — even before the Strait fully closed. The NPR analysis captured the uncertainty perfectly: analysts are asking two questions simultaneously. “Why is oil so high, given this war should end soon?” and “Why is oil so low, when 20% of global supply is behind a closed chokepoint?” That is the market trying to price in two incompatible realities at once. That uncertainty itself is a warning.

The Financial Foundation Is Cracking

The energy shock is happening on top of a fiscal structure that was already under severe strain before a single missile flew. The numbers are not abstract. They directly determine the interest rate on your mortgage, your car loan, your credit card, and the stability of every bank holding US Treasury bonds.

The Congressional Budget Office’s own language is stark: federal debt is on “an unsustainable long-term fiscal path.” The GAO reports that the government is spending more on interest payments than it spends on Medicare, national defense, Medicaid, or veterans’ benefits — individually. America’s bill for past borrowing now exceeds its bill for protecting its own citizens.

Here is why this connects directly to war: When geopolitical crises erupt, investors get nervous about US Treasury bonds. Bond yields spike. When Treasury yields spike, everything tied to them — mortgages, business loans, consumer credit — becomes more expensive. The Iran war has already pushed the 10-year bond yield to 4.46%. The 30-year mortgage rate climbed to 6.38% on March 26, 2026. You feel wars in your mortgage payment, not just at the pump.

The Nuclear Reality No One Wants to Discuss

There is one force that has kept the major powers from going all the way — nuclear weapons. This is one of the great restraints on a true World War III. It is also one of the most terrifying facts in human history, because the restraint depends entirely on rational actors maintaining rational decision-making under extreme pressure.

China is in the middle of the fastest nuclear buildup on the planet — adding approximately 100 warheads per year. The US Department of Defense projects China could possess 1,000 operational nuclear warheads by 2030. In November 2024, Russia updated its nuclear doctrine to expand the scenarios under which it would use nuclear weapons. North Korea’s Kim Jong Un called for a “limitless” expansion of his nuclear program. This is not de-escalation. This is re-armament.

The restraint of nuclear weapons is real. But it is also a tightrope. And the more players are on that tightrope at once — Russia, China, North Korea, Iran with nuclear ambitions, India, Pakistan — the more dangerous any miscalculation becomes.

The Alliance of Adversaries

One of the most significant developments of this era is something that many people are only beginning to understand: the bad guys are working together. This is not a conspiracy theory. It is confirmed intelligence and documented coordination.

Ian Bremmer noted in his 2024 Top Risks Report that Russia, North Korea, and Iran were already boosting one another’s capabilities and acting in increasingly coordinated ways. That assessment proved prophetic. By late 2024, North Korean troops were confirmed fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine — a stunning development that merged two previously separate theaters of conflict into one coordinated front against Western interests.

China has not yet moved militarily, but it has provided critical economic and diplomatic cover to Russia, Iran, and North Korea. It has been building out 350 new ICBM silos. It has continued supplying dual-use technology. It is watching every Western response to every conflict and calibrating its own moment. General Milley himself described China’s rise as something we have “never witnessed before in modern history.”

America and Europe have been the watchful eyes against autocracy for 80 years. But the watchmen are exhausted. The US cannot produce offensive and defensive weapons fast enough for multiple simultaneous theaters of war. The Iran conflict alone has revealed that America cannot fully defend against waves of drones and ballistic missiles — technology has democratized the ability to threaten major powers. Many nations have caught up in ways that would have seemed impossible 20 years ago.

What the Bible Said — And What We See

Jesus was not vague about this season. He gave us a framework in Matthew 24 that was so specific, so sequential, and so accurate that even secular historians have noted its precision. Wars and rumors of wars. Nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom. Famines. The beginning of birth pains.

The birth pain metaphor is critical. Labor contractions do not stop midway through. They intensify. They accelerate. They come closer and closer together until the birth arrives. Jesus was telling his followers: when you see these things begin, understand that this is a process with a direction. The pain is purposeful. It is moving toward something.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, my counsel has been consistent: Get close to Jesus Christ. Prepare yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and financially. Not out of panic, but out of the wisdom that God gave us prophecy for exactly this reason — so that when these things happen, we would not be caught unaware. We would be prepared. We would have faith through them.

The conversation I had this week — someone hoping this will all blow over in a few weeks — reflects a very human desire for normal to return. I understand that desire. But the prophetic record and the strategic record are saying the same thing: this is not the end of a wave. We are in the middle of a set of waves.

How to Prepare: Five Areas of Your Life

This is why God gave us prophecy — not to terrify us, but to equip us. The wise man of Matthew 7 built on rock. He did not wait for the storm to arrive before thinking about his foundation. Here are the five areas every believer, every family, every American should be strengthening right now:

• ✝ Spiritually: Root yourself in the Word. Build an unshakable relationship with Jesus Christ. His peace is the one peace the world cannot give and cannot take away.
• 🧠 Mentally: Resist panic. Resist despair. Learn to distinguish between information and noise. Think clearly. Uncertainty is a feature of this season, not a sign of defeat.
• ❤️ Emotionally: Build deep community. Isolation is a weapon of this age. The people around you — your family, your church, your neighbors — are your first line of support.
• 💪 Physically: Be in the best health you can be. Medical costs, disrupted supply chains, and economic pressure hit hardest those who are not physically resilient. Health is preparedness.
• 💰 Financially: Reduce debt. Build reserves. Diversify. Understand that Treasury yields affect your mortgage. Oil shocks affect your grocery bill. Your financial foundation must be able to withstand turbulence.

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own… But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

— Matthew 6:33-34 (NIV)

The message of Jesus is not that these things will not happen. He told us plainly they would happen. The message is: do not be alarmed. He told us ahead of time so that when we see it, our faith would be strengthened, not shattered. The prophecy is proof that He is who He says He is.

If we get a temporary reprieve in oil prices, I will be grateful. I will not be surprised. And I will use that window to prepare more — not to relax. Because the next wave is forming. It always is. Until the birth arrives.