In 2020, the top 100 arms companies in the world increased sales for the sixth year in a row, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (sipri). Despite the global economy shrinking 3.1 percent due to the pandemic, armament sales totaled $531 billion, a 1.3 percent increase from the previous year and a 17 percent increase from 2015.

“In much of the world, military spending grew and some governments even accelerated payments to the arms industry in order to mitigate the impact of the covid-19 crisis,” said Alexandra Marksteiner, a researcher at sipri.

In the United States, 41 arms companies accounted for 54 percent ($285 billion) of worldwide sales. China came in second, with five companies making 13 percent of worldwide sales. Nine Russian arms companies made it into the top 100, but their total sales in 2020 decreased 6.5 percent from 2019. In Europe, the 26 arms companies in the top 100 made $109 billion in sales, 21 percent of global sales; four were German companies, which had almost $9 billion in arms sales in 2020. The largest of these, Rheinmetall, had a 5.2 percent increase in sales over the previous year. However, ThyssenKrupp, a shipbuilding company, dropped 3.7 percent.

All this happened during a year when most businesses were struggling. Governments around the world enforced lockdowns, quarantines, social distancing and other policies supposedly aimed at shutting down the coronavirus. In reality, these measures shut down businesses.

In the U.S., about 30 percent of small businesses closed in 2020—some temporarily, but others permanently, according to the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council. Statista reported that unemployment in the United States more than doubled from 2019 to 2020.

The fact that weapons sales continued to grow when the global economy was shrinking is revealing: Increased arms sales often lead to war.

In the early 20th century, many European countries raced to build their armies and navies, purchase weapons, and develop new military technologies. War broke out in July 1914, leading to the deaths of around 20 million people. Many were hopeful that this Great War would be “the war to end all wars.”

The 1919 Treaty of Versailles officially ended the war between Germany and the Allies. This treaty included demands for German disarmament and restricted the German Army to 100,000 men. Despite these measures to prevent Germany from ever threatening the world again, the world erupted into war in 1939. World War ii had three times more casualties than World War i.

It took two atomic bombs to end World War ii. These weapons had a destructive capacity that could never have been imagined in World War i. In 1946, a year after the war’s end, Albert Einstein said in a radio address: “The available weapons of destruction are of a kind such that no place on Earth is safeguarded against certain, total destruction.”

Weapons technology is far more advanced now than it was in World War ii. Bible prophecy warns these weapons will be used, despite talk of world peace. The Prophet Jeremiah wrote that in this end time, people would talk of “[p]eace, peace; when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 8:11). The Prophet Isaiah wrote, “The way of peace they know not …” (Isaiah 59:8).

Bible prophecy confirms that the coming war will be so violent that “not a single person will survive” unless it is cut short (Matthew 24:22; New Living Translation). “Only God can solve our number one problem: that of human survival,” Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry writes in his free booklet Nuclear Armageddon Is ‘At the Door.’ “Our only hope physically is to repent spiritually. If nations refuse, individuals can still repent and receive protection ….” That means you can be protected from this coming calamity!

God reveals how to receive His protection in Psalm 33: “Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waiteth for the Lord: he is our help and our shield” (verses 18-20).

To learn more about what the Bible says about the coming world war, as well as how you can escape it, read Nuclear Armageddon Is ‘At the Door.’