The Global “Polycrisis”

Around the world, we see one global catastrophe or crisis upon another. While the world has always experienced wars, natural disasters, and a certain amount of political chaos, something is definitely different today—and analysts and authors are taking note. A recent article in The Guardian begins, “Two months into 2025, the sense of dread is palpable.… Once-in-a-century disasters are happening more like once a month, all amid devastating wars and on the heels of a pandemic” (March 6, 2025).

Two authors coined a new term to describe this “era of calamity”—polycrisis, referring to “the idea that not only are we facing one disaster after another, but those messes are all linked, making things even worse.” A Columbia University history professor observed, “the shocks are disparate, but they interact so that the whole is even more overwhelming than the sum of the parts.” However, some historians say that what we are witnessing is nothing more than “just history happening” or that this is nothing new. In contrast, political scientist Thomas Homer-Dixon believes that so many events are happening at such a pace that many cannot intellectually process all of it. “If you’re not really scared by what’s going on in the world,” Homer-Dixon notes, “you’re braindead.”

We should not be shocked by the climactic events unfolding around the globe. The Bible tells of a coming time of global trauma that will be unprecedented in its scale and impact. Eventually, Jesus Christ warned, humanity will experience “great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:21). Immediately before this time, multiple crises will be unleashed that, together, will bring devastation to a quarter of the globe (Revelation 6:1–8). While we have not yet entered the fullness of those days, we should not be surprised as world affairs begin to align with the inspired prophecies of God’s word. To learn more about what is ahead, watch “2025 in Bible Prophecy.”