North Atlantic Winds Of Change

by PRASHER, G. | Category: Focus | Jul 2003

Last March an impasse was reached in the United Nations Security Council over allowing more time for weapons inspectors to investigate whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.

Significantly the New York Times then commented: 'The Atlantic Alliance is more deeply riven than at any time since its creation half a century ago.' Throughout those fifty years the United States has been the dominant partner in that Alliance, with immense benefits to a devastated Europe following the ravages of World War II, and on-going protection throughout the period of the 'Cold War' with Russia. However, in recent years some European countries have become increasingly restless about their subordinate role within the Alliance and the degree of American influence in Europe.

In May 2003 this attitude was reflected in a meeting organized in Brussels by the four EU countries most opposed to the Iraq war - France, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium.

They announced their intention to create a headquarters for a non-NATO European military force. Spain, Britain and other countries that backed America over the Iraq war were not invited to the meeting. An idea initiated by only four of the fifteen countries which at present comprise the European Union may not find enough support to implement this plan. Yet it may well prove to be a straw in a wind of change which will gather strength in the near future.

Probably of more immediate significance is the European Convention, with one hundred and five representatives from all fifteen states of the EU. Since February 2002 this Convention has been holding discussions in Brussels under the chairmanship of former French President Giscard d'Estaing. They are seeking to draw up a draft constitution for European union to replace a patchwork of previous agreements such as the Treaty of Rome (1957) and the Maastricht Treaty (1991). This is in anticipation of the enlargement of the European Union in Year 2004 by ten additional countries, including Poland, Latvia, Estonia and the Czech Republic. The Convention's proposals will of course have to be approved by the present fifteen member states. Modifications may have to be conceded, but the trend towards an increasingly federal type of union is unmistakeable.

From a scriptural viewpoint this trend is indeed fascinating. About ninety years ago the well known Bible student and expositor W.E.Vine published a small book entitled 'The Roman Empire in Prophecy'. He outlined scriptural reasons in support of the view that at the close of the present age of grace there will emerge a dominant world power comprising nations in the general area of the ancient Roman Empire. The relevant prophetic scriptures are familiar to many of our readership, but three examples may be helpful by way of reminder:

Daniel 7:23,24. Assuming that the fourth beast of this vision represents the ancient Roman Empire, it will be out of this kingdom that one will arise whose character and actions so clearly answer to the supreme world ruler at the time of the end (compare 2 Thes.2:3,4 and Rev.13:4-8).

Daniel 8:9 indicates that this same sinister character will arise out of one of the four kingdoms into which Alexander the Great's empire was divided after his death. The Roman Empire absorbed each of those four kingdoms, so the ruler represented by the 'little horn' in verse 9 will arise from within that Empire.

Daniel 9:26. The people that destroyed the city (Jerusalem) and the sanctuary (the Temple) were the Romans, so 'the prince that shall come' must belong to a future power answering to that ancient empire.

Mr. Vine's treatment of this subject was wisely tentative and of course related to the international scene at the time of World War I. He wrote: 'Any forecast of the exact delineations of the ten kingdoms constituting the reconstructed Empire must necessarily be conjectural. That their aggregate area will precisely conform to the ancient Roman Empire does not necessarily follow from the fact of its revival. � That the Scripture will be absolutely fulfilled is beyond doubt; the exact mode of its accomplishment is known to God.' Two World Wars and the Cold War farther on, we can today see so much more clearly the potential for a European-based power from which world control will be achieved by the man of sin at the time of the end.

PRASHER, G. | Jul 2003
Focus