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present European boundaries after the Second World
War.
The die was actually cast at the beginning of the
sixth century B.C. after the ancient nation of Judah
was taken into captivity by the Babylonian Empire.
Daniel, a young Jewish captive, who was distraught at
the ruin of his people, began to be shown first in broad
outline and then in increasing detail the course of the
future. Through a series of remarkable visions
recorded in chapters 2, 4, 5, 7, 8,
ll
and 12 of the
book of Daniel, he was given to understand that the
Election poster typifies the hopes and frustrations of tbe European
Parliament.
coming centuries would be dominated by a series of
world-ruling empires, each more aggressive than the
one before. These empires were analogized in the
visions as wild animals. Daniel lived to see the end of
the first empire (the Babylonian) and was appointed
to an inftuential position in the government of the
next empire (the Persian) that replaced it. He
continued his thirst for knowledge of the future, and
beseeched God up until the end of his long life for
further detai ls. Finally he was told to "go his way."
Enough was enough- a fu ll understanding of these
matters would not come until the future "time of the
end" (Dan . 12:9).
Five hundred and fifty years later Jesus Christ
expanded our understanding of the knowledge given
to Daniel in His prophecy on the Mount of Olives,
recorded in Matthew 24. But he deliberately left
sorne questions unanswered. The key to final
understanding was given 65 years later through the
Apocalypse or book of Revelation, the last book of
the Bible, in which the circumstances surrounding
the end of this civilization were previewed in
astounding detail by the elderly apostle John. But
even he could not fully grasp the significance of
what he saw.
It
was an understanding that could
only be fully comprehended by those destined to live
into the end time, a generation in which tbese
prophecies would be fulfilled.
We live in that time today. We can- if we
will- understand these ancient prophecies and be
ready for what is about to happen to this world. The
30
picture that emerges is truly astounding. The Bible
shows that 10 nations or groups of nations in Europe
will be goaded by circumstances to unite. They will
be unlikely allies, "iron mixed with miry clay" is
how the Bible describes them (Dan. 2). But a
common cause--or a common fear-forces them
into a fragile union.
There is nothing fragile about what happens next.
These
lO
nations, spurred on by religious idealism,
give up their sovereignty to a charismatic leader.
This leader a nd the supers tate that he rules are
described in the prophecies as a particularly
ferocious and predatory wild animal, the
like of which the world has not seen. The
peaceful and ambivalent nature of Europe
today wi ll change. Led by a voracious
appetite and possessing-perhaps possessed
by- the very power of Satan himself, this
economic-political-religious union-this
wild animal or " beast"- will go on the
rampage. For three and a half terrible years
it savages real and imagined enemies.
Britain, the United States and certain
Middle East countries are among the first
to fall, but no nation is safe. Much of the
world is plunged into the greatest period of
oppression that it has ever known.
Eventually, driven by ambition and
desperate for the battered earth's dwindling
resources, the beast turns its wrath on the
only other remaining superpower, its
age-old enemy in Eurasia. With nothing left to lose,
these two great powers prepare to battle to the
death, with the full fury of modero warfare. The
world hovers on the brink of cosmocide. Only the
intervention of God in the person of Jesus Christ
saves bumanity from destruction.
That is the briefest of overviews- and it all
sounds fantastic. Most won' t believe it- now. They
will later!
If
you do want to investigate further, we have
severa! free booklets- for example,
Are We Living
in the Last Days?
and
The Book of Revelation
Unvei/ed at Last- which
we will be pleased to send
you free of charge. All our readers, but
particular/y
those living on the shores of the North Atlantic
today, should know what they say.
This coming third superpower, portrayed in Bible
prophecy, is a far cry from the peaceful European
union envisaged by the hopeful men now working
for unity in Brussels and Strasbourg. They seek
peace and prosperity in a European union that uses
its potential to improve the quality of life of
all
the
world. Never in their wildest imagination have they
thought that they may be drawing up the plans and
laying the groundwork for the greatest prophesied
instrument of destruction that the world has ever
known.
Neither did those men who built the barracks at
Oswi~cim.
But architects and builders don't always
know what will be done with the fruits of their
labors.
-John
Halford
The
PLAIN TRUTH