If the times seem a little apocryphal for some people then the times may well be right. I can imagine my Christian friends, those with a Book of Revelation bent, pouring over scripture to seek illumination.

The problem with any text purporting to foretell the future is that it is subject to the interpretation of anyone - really - anyone at all. You only have to look at the nonsense written about Nostradamus to see that no one reliable interpretation is possible amongst all the vying options.

Yes, there are 'wars and rumours of wars' (Matt 24:6), pestilences, talk of massive disruption because of climate change and in Australia, a kind of Noachian deluge at present. It is fuel to feed the imagination of those who seek out prophetic truths.

But I'm also sure that many occasions in the past have lent themselves to end-time prophecy and all of them have been wrong. It is not for humans to know such things, even if there is something to it.