So much for this being an age of sophistication and progression.

The “developed” world is supposedly the epitome of political and economic achievement, of social and cultural stability and advancement. We’re supposed to be introducing the less fortunate to a brighter future, one in which our advanced ideologies and superior liberal institutions foster peace, happiness and contentment.

Yet here we are, brutes in suits, trapped in a downward spiral into medieval barbarism.

“[Y]ou can’t smell the sulfur in the air right now and not think we might be on the threshold of an age of rage,” observed British historian Simon Schama recently (emphasis mine throughout). The developed world is currently facing a “tinderbox moment,” he said. Note that: The developed world—not some backwoods sub-Saharan dictatorship—is on the verge of exploding.

You know he’s right. No matter where you live, be it Hollywood or Harlem, Kazakhstan or Kakadu, or how large your income, or how high your IQ, you can sense it. The instability. The tension. The gloomy sense of uncertainty. The world has entered a new and terrifying chapter. You see it when you switch on the evening news or enter Drudge. It’s in the endless gush of disheartening facts and figures. Facts about what? Everything. Unemployment, sovereign debt, crime, the stock market, divorce rates, foreclosure rates—they’re all ominous. It used to be that pockets of this planet were dangerous and unstable, making them easier to put out of mind. Not anymore. Now the entire planet—and especially the developed world—is facing a “tinderbox moment.”

Our world is coming unhinged, country by country, region by region, day by day.

Consider Europe, widely considered a prototype of erudition, sophistication, and political and economic stability. Today the political, economic and social bindings that meld European societies together are coming apart. Financially, virtually every government is over a barrel, suffocating on debt, locked into social and financial commitments it simply cannot meet. From London to Athens, Berlin to Lisbon, governments are being forced to slash spending, cut social welfare plans and enact a host of “austerity measures.”

Last Friday, Hungary’s government announced that its economy is in a “very grave situation” and that severe austerity measures are needed. On Monday, Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron warned that the “scale of [Britain’s debt] problem is even worse than we thought” and that drastic and far-reaching measures are in order. Even Germany, which ranks among the healthiest of Europe’s economies, is feeling the urge to tighten its belt. Elsewhere in Europe, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, Albania, Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania have already begun enacting austerity measures.

Naturally, Europeans are furious.

Already mass strikes and protests have become virtually a daily feature in one country or another. Riots have erupted and remain a growing threat. Some of Europe’s more extreme politicians and parties, many of which espouse deadly ideologies, are experiencing popularity boons. Incumbent governments are unpopular and on edge, amplifying the political uncertainty, which only exacerbates the climate of economic panic.

How dire is it? Guardian columnist Will Hutton recently wrote that the outcome of Europe’s austerity measures “will be a Europe closer to the 1930s. Fearful, stagnant and prey to vicious racist and nationalist ideologies.” Schama concurs, warning that in Europe “[c]hauvinist movements will be reborn” and that the anger will be vented on “immigrants and Brussels dictats, with more destructive fury than we have seen since the war.” In May, Deutsche Welle wrote that the “potential for widespread social unrest in response to the continuing financial crisis has many experts fearing the worst for the world’s current political and social structures with dramatic, perhaps catastrophic, changes ahead.”

Many agree: Marked with economic and political instability, social unrest and a growing tendency toward nationalism, Europe today looks eerily similar to the Europe of the 1930s.

If you’re familiar with Europe of the 1930s—and the fruits it bore in the early 1940s—that is a chilling comparison!

Europe is far from alone. In China, mass social unrest is becoming likely as Chinese authorities seek to adapt to changing economic conditions. In Thailand recently, more than 40 Red Shirt protesters were killed and hundreds were injured after the Thai military converged on the anti-government protesters in Bangkok. This week, the Institute of Economics and Peace released its 2010 Global Peace Index, which showed “that the world has become slightly less peaceful than last year,” and that, specifically, global social unrest is becoming a greater concern.

We’ve entered a period of mass disgruntlement and frustration!

Gerald Celente, a political and economic forecaster at the Trend’s journal, warned recently that what’s “happening in Greece will spread worldwide as economies decline.” Mass protests and even riots will plague every nation facing a sovereign debt crisis, he warned, “the most obvious being Spain, Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Iceland, the Ukraine, Hungary, followed by the United Kingdom and the United States.”

Marie-Hélène Caillol, president of the European Laboratory of Political Anticipation think tank, put it a little more candidly: “This crisis is directly connected to the end of the world order as we know it since 1945 …. [T]he whole global fabric, centered on the U.S. for 60 years, is slowly collapsing, generating turmoil of all sorts,” she stated. Asked where the social unrest would end, Caillol replied:

“War. It’s as simple and as horrifying as that.”

It is striking how perfectly that forecast, and all the others from historians, journalists and prominent international figures about impending widespread political calamity and social chaos, aligns with Bible prophecy. The Bible prophesies specifically that this world will endure an “age of rage,” as Schama put it. You can read the prophecy in Matthew 24. Here, Jesus Christ explains how terrific tumult and violence—in a period which He terms the “great tribulation”—will occur immediately prior to His Second Coming.

The details of this prophecy are sobering, even frightening. But the overall lesson of Jesus’s prophecy about this “great tribulation” is extremely positive, and overflows with hope. First, it informs us that this age of rage will be short-lived. Second, if you study everything the Bible teaches about this “great tribulation”—putting scriptures together “line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little,” as the Prophet Isaiah instructed—it’s clear that this “age of rage” is actually a wonderful sign that this planet is about to enter a new and brighter world.

From beginning to end, the Bible informs us of what this new world will look like. That it will be a world of godly and lasting sophistication and culture. A world full of stable governments, thriving economies and robust and healthy social systems producing content and happy people. Founded upon God’s law and godly ideology, this coming age will overflow with hope and happiness, with positivity and success. It will be the complete antithesis of the world around you!

Even now it is possible, amid the doom and gloom, the tension and uncertainty, the pain and chaos, for you to lead a stable, fulfilled and hope-filled life. How? By perceiving this “age of rage” for what it truly is—that is, a painful but necessary bridge to a thrilling future for all mankind. You can survive, and even thrive in, this “age of rage.” To do so, you will have to learn and embrace the vision of this awesome new world.

We’d like to help you do that by sending you, free upon request, The Wonderful World Tomorrow—What It Will Be Like.