This article originally appeared on TheBlaze on June 22, 2015.

The author of a new book about Israel’s role in biblical prophecy said in a recent interview that he believes there are five signs in the modern era that convince him that the end times could be nearing.

“There are at least five things that get my attention,” Dr. Ed Hindson, coauthor of the new book Target Israel, told TheBlaze before citing the five contemporary clues that he believes can be found in the Bible.

The first of those signs, he said, is the fact that Israel is back in the promised land.

From there, Hindson, who is the dean of Liberty University’s School of Divinity in Lynchburg, Virginia, proceeded to outline “rumors of war” and the global economy as the second and third signs that could indicate that time may be running out.

“You’ve got a crisis in the Middle East. Constant rumors of war…and that tension could potentially lead to the kinds of wars that the Bible discusses in the end times,” he said. “The fact that a global economy already exists indicates to me the potential at least for someone—or a group of people—taking over.”

On a related note, Hindson said that weapons of mass destruction are on the scene, adding that the fifth and final sign that he sees pertaining to the end times and biblical prophecy is the “moral decay in our society that is now rampant and exponential.”

“All of that to me indicates flashing warning lights that I don’t think you can just blind yourself to,” he said.

But Hindson was careful to note that the Bible makes it clear that Christians cannot cling to any definitive timetable for the end times, and that nobody knows when that time will come.

“Jesus clearly said nobody knows…the day and hour of his return,” he said.

In his new book Target Israel, which Hindson wrote alongside Tim LaHaye—the coauthor of the popular Left Behind book series—the duo tackle the Jewish state’s prominence in the Bible as a “super sign” that the end times are imminent.

Hindson said that he and LaHaye came together to write the book due to their lifelong concern for Israel and the Jewish people, and their belief that Scripture makes it clear that Israel will be a key fixture during the end times.

“Our belief is that God has them back in the promised land in the last days for a distinct purpose and that they have always been throughout the last 2,000 years the target of irrational and irresponsible hatred worldwide,” he said of the Jewish people. “And it was time for someone to expose that and come to their defense.”

Hindson continued, “Virtually all future prophecies assume Israel will be back in the land in the last days. The fact that they finally returned after nearly 1,900 years ought to get our attention that at least the stage is set for whatever God intends for the future.”

He said that the escalation last summer of tensions between Israel and the Palestinians helped push along the Target Israel project, with the hope that readers will come away from the book with a concern for Israel and her people, while learning more about biblical covenants.

“The Old Testament prophets themselves were convinced that Israel would potentially face a major invasion in the last days and have to depend on the Messiah to come and rescue them,” Hindson said.

Read more about Israel's role in the end times in Target Israel.