Irish Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has admitted that a loan from the EU, the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the ECB (European Central Bank) may be the only solution for Ireland’s faltering economy. Brussels may not be happy about its member states’ economic recession, but like their liberal US counterparts, EU leaders will not let a good crisis go to waste.
It may not sound like much to Americans, but this is the kind of event that prophecy watchers and eschatologists have been predicting with increasing frequency as we approach what many call the pivotal or critical year of 2012.
It is this kind of problem, some say, that could be the impetus for the proudly sovereign United States to enter the EU as a full member at some point in the near future. The only other foreseeable possibility would be that after resisting the global call for a one world order, the United States would be strategically attacked and subdued by a pact of Eurasian nations willing to subdue resistant Americans to the inevitable.
What until now was considered too early to predict is at least now more reasonable to imagine.
In fact, the president of the EU, Herman Van Rompuy, has recently stated that “the era of the nation state is over and the idea that countries can fend for themselves is an ‘illusion’ and a lie”. It is the first time that such a naked proclamation of the underlying objective of the EU has been made without reservation. While Britain’s David Cameron and others have denied van Rompuy’s claims, there are many in Brussels who have either applauded the claim or remained remarkably silent. Van Rompuy expressed his point of view during the 21st anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Van Rompuy denounces European skepticism as the unpleasant culprit that could not only stop the total unification of Europe but of the world itself. In an ultra-simplistic equation he concluded that Europe’s greatest enemy today is fear, he said. “Fear leads to selfishness, selfishness leads to nationalism, and nationalism leads to war.”
Van Rompuy further claims that the recession now gripping Europe would be much worse if the German mark and French franc remained the common currency in those countries.
Neither Van Rompuy nor other ministers in Brussels have chosen to recall that the United States has prospered thanks to strong nationalism for more than 230 years. The United States fought in World War I to help a Europe that had faced itself in the only war to end by attrition in modern world history and the United States had to be dragged into World War II by direct attack. to one of our largest military installations. American nationalism did not cause either war, but it did much to end both.
The prophetic certainty of a one nation-led world government (EU) emerging in the same general geographic area as the ancient Roman Empire is a biblical promise that most politicians and legislators here and in Europe all but ignore.
Religious leaders are also quite insensitive to prophecies. Religious news covers the Pope’s further easing of restrictions on condoms or the interest some 50 Anglican bishops in the UK now have in rejoining the Catholic Church. Serious study or news gathering and analysis of the Second Coming remains of interest only in religions based largely on the scriptures of the US and some EU traditional historical denominations.
Even among evangelicals, nondenominationalists, and Pentecostals, there is a tendency to dismiss the urgency of eschatological findings. Christ’s warning that no one would know the day or hour of his return (Mark 13:32) was once used to allay concerns that world events signaled the Lord’s imminent return. Such concerns reached their peak in World War II and were expressed by many, the best known of whom was the German Lutheran Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was convinced that Hitler was the antichrist.
What was once a tool for leveling excessive concerns is now used by many of the churches to nullify serious study of second coming prophecies. The result is that some of the most scripturally based churches are leaving their parishioners in a sorry state of unpreparedness.
Added to this careless denial of the ramifications of recent world events are voices like that of Janet Napolitano, head of Homeland Security. The head of the National Agency warned that adherence to the teachings of the second coming could produce radicals who want to hoard food or openly rebel against the government.
Napolitano’s views are far more radical than the concerns they address. In fact, they are diametrically opposed to the biblical warning not to flee or resist the changes that the second coming will bring to the entire world. The Christian is admonished only to a constant proclamation of the gospel no matter what the times may bring. Violence is prohibited and radical behavior is not part of the biblical message, except as it relates to the behavior of Christ and the explanation of the gospel message in a world that is already immersed in violence.
Fans of the study of eschatology now know with great certainty that the unstoppable train that is known as premillennial prophecy has now reached breakneck speed and cannot be deterred from its final destination. How fast is it going? Go see Denzel Washington’s latest movie, Unstoppable, and you’ll have a pretty good idea.
Those considered more than amateurs look for specific time slots for various events. They are not acting against the admonition of Mark 13:32, but they are working according to it. The purpose is always to keep God’s people and this very nation prepared for the changes that are coming, the likes of which this world has never seen.
It may be that only those with high-end portfolios pay attention to Wall Street forecasters, but in the case of prophetic declarations, everyone, rich or poor, has a stake in the outcome of predicted events. The very destiny of every man and woman on this planet lies in their response to the gospel, but initial salvation is only the first step in a long journey. It ends in the Lord’s triumphant return to Israel, in person, indeed, and in the very near future.
“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some have slowness, but is patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)