Is this the beginning of the end?

I doubt it, we're not there yet, as Jesus said, there will be wars and rumors of wars, the focus should be on him , not on the world.

Yes and no.. has to be world government first.. at least loosely, if not concretely.. but we can see that as a trend..

I think we can watch Bible prophecy being fulfilled right before our eyes. The leadership of this country (USA) and others, are herding us into a "one world" situation, which is one sign. Israel is being persecuted more and more, with even the USA turning against it. Many other things are happening that make me think that these are truly the last days. John says that the spirit of Antichrist was in the world even back when he wrote. It's growing now at an alarming pace. The love of many has turned cold, scoffers abound... what more does it take to wake us?

Do not believe for a moment that we are not heading towards the end. Indeed we have been since time began. I do believe that things are heading in that direction. We are beginning to see more and more persecutions across the globe. More and more natural disasters, disease, famine, etc. But are we anywhere close to the actual end, I don't think so. Life would have to be a lot worse than it is now. Governments will be so oppressive that there will be no semblance of freedom anywhere. No freedom of speech, religion, press, etc. We will live in the most oppressive monarchy the world has ever seen. All will be required to where some kind of mark to participate in every day life. Whether that mark is a tattoo, some kind of microchip, etc. All will need it to do anything in our world. The world will be ravaged by massive hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions. A third of the worlds populations will perish in these disasters. My point here being is since those things are not yet happening, obviously we still have a while. Plus, according to the Book of Revelations, we have yet to see the Great Deceiver which will be a big universal sign that the end is near. Plus as others have pointed out, no one knows the date or the hour, not even the Son, only the Father. We should not live in fear of the end or look for its coming in day to day things but live our lives to change the world that we live in. To try to make it better, for that is what we are meant to do. So yes, we are approaching the end. Never in history have the signs been more clear that it is coming, but I doubt we will see it in our lifetime.