Yes, there are those who take every happening or event as evidence things will soon burst open, setting time frames etc...which we are also warned NOT to do. But this does not mean we should not watch and be aware of the status of things both nationally and internationally. Furthermore there are those who can inform and keep us abreast...FR threads oftentimes inform....and we should confirm these reports.
It is interesting connecting the dots and watching events come together....that does not mean it's going to happen tomorrow....in fact those who are careful to follow current events as well as have a broad understanding of prophetic events generally know what is hype and that which is simply being informative and alerting us to these developments.
As you might already know there are several things which are not yet positioned for the rise of the anti-Christ and the events which will occur during his time. Never the less it is always interesting and exciting to watch the world stage and see the possibilites when the movement closely aligns with scripture. As God has done in the past He can speed things up or slow them down at will. I have seen both over the years...we are in rapid motion at this time...so it's quite natural to see the hype...but do not assume all get caught up in that...rather most recognize this as events unfolding and if not “the time” now...it is much as it will look like when it does occur. We live in interesting times I see this article as another of those who inform and offer their insight on what they see....it is up to each individual on how hyped or not they choose to get.
Yet, these fortune-tellers, prognosticators, and predictors seem to be blind to the very real and amazing advances God's Kingdom is making through the world. They, like you, like me, are blinded by their presuppositions. In their case, the fortune tellers, those who try to create maps of the future from God's Word, assume "as gospel" some things that "ain't necessarily so" -- such as, the inevitability of the triumph of evil.
Now, if Jesus is Lord, why should we assume that evil doers must triumph? Psalm 2 represents God a giving human plotters just enough rope to hang themselves, then laughing derisively at their self-important impotence.
Those who are emotionally and spiritually committed to, and invested in, the global triumph of evil read their newspapers with those filters in place, cherry-picking the news for the factoids that support their expectations. The sudden fall of the Soviet Union, for example, caught them flat-footed. Their world view did not have room for a whole society, governing hundreds of millions of people, to suddenly and openly repudiate messianic atheism.
It almost seems racist. Those who have decided to serve as unpaid cheerleaders for the other team, those who delight to ballyhoo signs that antichrist is rising to power, are unable to see, appreciate, or applaud God's work in the "global south." Uganda applied the Bible to sexual morality, and the AIDS rate went from more than 30% of the population to single-digit percentiles in a decade -- but Ugandans are not white Americans, so obviously, their experience has nothing to teach us. Chinese Christians increased quietly from a few tens of thousands to nearly 100 million -- but the Chinese are not white Americans, so obviously, their experience has nothing to teach us.
Closer to home, none of the prognosticators seem to be aware of a quiet reformation underway today, one that has transformed millions of families. Good news simply does not register on their radar screens.
It must be an awfully sad way to live. May God grant them deliverance from their commitment to evil -- and us deliverance from the doomsayer's influence.