The economy in Europe has stolen the headlines again this past week as the world reels too and fro, dreading the storm raging on the troubled sea of the economy. The big question looming across the world is, “Will Europe break up?” or “Will the crisis forge the European countries into a superstate?”

The Bible Predicts a United Europe

The Bible predicts a United Europe in the latter days that will oppose Christ as he establishes the kingdom of Israel throughout the world. Revelation 17:12–14 tells us:

And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

Revelation is not alone in painting this picture. Daniel 2:34–35 shows us a picture of the empires of the world being united in the terrible image at the point of impact of the little stone, or kingdom of God:

Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

Verse 44 continues:

 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

For years, Bible students have been predicting the unification of Europe in accordance with Bible prophecy. It is what God has decreed by his holy prophets, as we read in Amos 3:7:

Surely the Lord God will do nothing, But he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

Germany: Fulfilling God’s Will.

Having seen what the prophets say, of a Europe which is to “have one mind’ and has “given its power and strength to the beast” and that will be “broken in pieces together”, we now look to see The Bible in the News. The European affairs daily newspaper, Europolitics, reported on June 7^th,

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, just ahead of a meeting with British Premier David Cameron, said, on 7 June, that the EU’s powers have to be boosted even if some other member states do not want to follow. Greater eurozone integration is the priority.

“We need more Europe [...] a budget union [...] and we need a political union first and foremost,” Merkel told German public television. “We must, step by step, cede responsibilities to Europe.”

The unwillingness of other countries to move along with further integration cannot prevent other member states from going ahead. “We must not remain immobile because one country or another does not want to follow yet,” said Merkel. Before a meeting with Commission President José Manuel Barroso, on 4 June, Merkel had already said that more Europe was necessary “at least within the eurozone”.

So Germany is one country who is fulfilling the words of Revelation 17:17

For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

Alarm Bells are Ringing – Germany is seizing control again.

This crisis is bringing out the extremes in governments all over the world. Some observant politicians are seeing what is going on. Nigel Farage, of the British party UKIP, and Member of the European Parliament, made the following comments in the European Parliament on Euro-Day, celebrated on May 9^th this year:

Well happy Schumann day, or Euro Day as you now call it although I thought the celebrations  were rather muted…. I think we are celebrating the wrong day. We shouldn’t be celebrating the 9^th of May, we should be celebrating the 8^th of May – Victory in Europe Day. We should celebrate the last time the Germans tried to smash the continent and they foundered, and at least half the continent got democracy back. What we are celebrating on the 9^th of May is another attempt, through different means, to smash democracy across Europe.

I don’t doubt for a minute that Jean Monnet was well intentioned at the start. He thought that if you abolished nation states you would stop their ever being another war. He didn’t at the time, of course, have the benefit of seeing that theory as it played out in Yugoslavia.

But like communism, this has all gone badly wrong, and the EU Titanic has now hit the iceberg. It is a European Union of economic failure, of mass unemployment, of low growth, but worst of all, it is an EU of the economic prison of the Euro. This now poses huge dangers to the continent. We face the prospect of mass civil unrest, possibly even revolution, in some countries that are being driven into total and utter desperation. 

But there is perhaps an opportunity; there is perhaps some good news. Now a democratic rebellion has begun. It began in Finland last year with the True Fins getting nearly 20% of the vote. We are seeing in country after country new political movements on the right and on the left making big scores. But that may not all be good news, because in Greece what we saw last Sunday, was rather reminiscent of the German election of 1932. We saw the status quo centre collapse and the extremes of right and left rise. This project could even cause the rebirth of National Socialism in Europe. We are headed the wrong way.  

Farrage sees the Euro crisis as a German power grab, where Europe is united under a terrifying beast similar to the Nazi empire, not the beneficent democratic union that is being sold to the public. The pieces are falling into place.

The International Express on June 19^th had a review written by Frederick Forsyth, entitled “The truth behind the European lie.” In the article Forsyth comments on Merkel’s meeting with David Cameron. He writes:

When it comes to politicians there are several subsequent translations needed to arrive at what is really meant.

I mean, take Chancellor Angela Merkel. She told David Cameron: “We must step by step cede responsibilities to Europe.” Sounds obscure enough? It is.

Stripped from EU jargon to layman’s language, it means: “We must step by step hand national government over to Brussels.”

Ah, that’s better. But I’m not quite finished. The final and real meaning of what the lady said is:

“We must step by step abolish the nation/state.”

Forsyth echoes Farrage’s concerns when he comments on the Queen's coronation celebrations:

Indeed, we have just spent four days demonstrating pretty visibly how much we appreciate the old place [England] and the elderly lady who wears its crown. So, if you really think that, for you, the future means the abolition of the nation to make way for the new Reich, a parting of ways cannot be long delayed.

He points out the crisis is actually a windfall for the bureaucrats in Brussels:

It is being represented in our media that the crisis in the euro is met with dismay in Brussels. In fact, the reverse is the case. At the heart of the old Belgian city, now the true home of the EU, lives and works a corps of fanatics so dedicated to the fulfillment of Jean Monnet’s utopian dream of a single state occupying the entire continent that it bears the hallmarks of a religion.

Nothing, least of all mere people, must be allowed to stand in the way of the dream. So these ultras are ecstatic.

The euro crisis is enabling them to accomplish in two years what would have taken 10 or 20 – to wit, the agreed abolition of the nation, a thoroughly tiresome obstruction to utopia.

And the leading proponent is the chancellor of the biggest and richest nation of them all. For Brussels, this isn’t a crisis. It is developing into every future Christmas rolled into one….

For years, those trying to explain exactly what was afoot were treated as bad, stupid or mad. Now even the old EU fans, like David Owen, are changing over in droves. The Labour Party, so long duped into enthusiasm, is reconsidering.

Will Britain wake up? Eventually, yes… but at what cost remains to be seen. The Bible predicts a different course for Britain that the rest of Europe, but that is another subject altogether.

The Economic Spider’s Web.

What is being woven in Europe is an economic spiders web deliberately designed to trap countries into giving their “power and strength to the beast.” Consider Nigel Farage’s comments in the European Parliament on June 13^th when the Spanish bailout was announced:

Another one bites the dust. Country number four, Spain, get’s bailed out, and we all of course know that it won’t be the last…

I remember being here 10 years ago and hearing the launch of the Lisbon Agenda. We were told that with the Euro by 2010 we would have full employment, and indeed that Europe would be the competitive and dynamic powerhouse of the world. By any objective criteria the Euro has failed, and in fact there is a looming, impending disaster.

This deal makes things worse not better. One hundred billion has been put up for the Spanish Banking system. Twenty percent of that money has to come from Italy. Under the deal, the Italians have to lend to the Spanish Banks at 3%, but to get that money, they have to borrow on the markets at 7%. It is genius isn’t it?  It really is brilliant! So what we are doing with this package is we are actually driving countries like Italy towards needing to be bailed out themselves. In addition to that, we put a further 10% on Spanish national debt. Any banking analyst will tell you that 100 billion doesn’t solve the Spanish problem, it would need to be more like 400 billion.

With Greece teetering on the edge of Euro withdrawal, the real elephant in the room, is that once Greece leaves the ECB (European Central Bank) is bust, it is gone. It has 444 billion Euro’s worth of exposure to the bailed out countries. To rectify that, you will need to have a cash call from Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and Italy - you couldn’t make it up could you? It is total and utter failure, this ship, the Euro Titanic, has now hit the iceberg, and sadly there simply aren’t enough lifeboats.

The insanity of the European system is clearly illustrated. However, it is this “demonical spirit” that will drive the nations, including Europe to the Battle of Armageddon.

While quite observant, Farrage and Forsyth both lack the light of Bible prophecy to see where things are really going, but they does point out that the bailouts are an economic prison house, and Germany is looking to secure the control of Europe. 

The Bible paints the picture of the European nations being forged together into the image of the latter days which will stand only to be broken by the Lord Jesus Christ and the kingdom of Israel which will grind to powder all other nation states to establish righteous rule in the earth.

One other thing, Angela Merkel might appear to be in the driver seat right now, but she is not the woman who rides the beast.  It is the Vatican, behind the scenes tugging the reigns to the right and the left that fulfills this role. We would highly recommend that you avail yourself of July edition of the Bible Magazine which discusses this more fully.

As we watch Bible prophecy being fulfilled before our very eyes… we need to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the Bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:4-6, “Ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of the darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.” And Revelation 16:15, “Behold I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepteth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.”

For the Bible in the News, this has been Jonathan Bowen.