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The Coming European Superpower By Gary Petty The dream of a united Europe -- dating back to the Roman Empire -- seems closer to fulfillment than ever. Bible prophecy reveals what will happen next.
he recent United States-led war against Iraq demonstrated American military power is unchallenged in the world. Even though traditionally major players on the international scene -- such as Russia, France and Germany -- made every effort to prevent American action, the United States, along with Great Britain, unilaterally conquered Iraq in the course of a month. These traditional European powers have seen that they no longer can individually play a major role in world affairs. Will they be content to sink into the background and allow the United States to function as the sole international superpower, supplanting not only their traditional role, but that of the United Nations as well? The reality is that another superpower is forming on the European continent that will in the near future compete with the United States both economically and politically. Before and during the war against Iraq, French officials stated the need for a "counterbalance" to the United States.
The Romans found that the strain of maintaining an empire stretching from central Europe to North Africa, and from Britain to the Middle East, eventually proved unmanageable. Rome slowly fell into political, social and economic decay only to be conquered by Germanic invaders. In A.D. 476 the Western Empire seemed to suffer a mortal wound, but the dream never completely died. There have been numerous attempts to reunite Europe's sundry peoples into one empire, many times by force of arms. Charlemagne, Napoleon and, in more recent times, Adolf Hitler have tried to resurrect a united Europe. From the destruction and death of World War II rose the dream of a peaceful European unity, in spite of the division of the continent with the eastern half under Russian domination. A new Europe rises from the ashes In 1945, after two world wars in 30 years, Europe was in shambles. Many venerable cities were bombed into rubble. The dead were counted in the tens of millions. Old institutions and organizations ceased to exist. What happened next, fueled by U.S. dollars supplied under the Marshall Plan, was nothing more than an economic miracle. Western Europe rebuilt and retooled its industry. Modernized from the ground up in the 1950s and 60s, many of defeated Germany's factories began to outclass the factories of her United States benefactor. The old dream of a peaceful European union became an organization known as the European Common Market.
Facing new challenges For all of its economic growth, Europe is facing new problems in the 21st century. The euro, the Union's common currency, hasn't been as strong as many predicted. And for all of its marketing clout, the EU still plays second fiddle to the United States both politically and militarily. Sergio Romano continues: "Most federations, in their formative years, begin by tackling the problem of political institutions and leave money and the market to a later stage. The American Federal Reserve was created when the country already had a president, a parliament, a judiciary, an army and a diplomatic corps. Europe has done exactly the opposite, and has now reached a stage where the amount of economic integration clashes with the political institutions. Without a European government, the euro will have no face, as Henry Kissinger once said, no telephone number."
Some European leaders aren't just working for political unity, but hope to create a military force. This military might won't be just for defense but to exert European Union influences into far-flung areas of the world. Not all Europeans are greeting the concept of an EU military with open arms. The joint U.S.-European incursion into Kosovo in the late 1990s revealed the general reluctance of many European states to play a part in using military force. The combined EU members sent only 50,000 troops to the Balkans when they have almost two million men under arms. More recently, traditional Western European powers stood by while the United States and Great Britain committed over a third of a million troops to overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Europe's prophesied future The events in Europe are following a historical pattern -- an attempt to unite the Spanish and Italians, Germans and Slavs, French and Scandinavians, into one empire. The prophet Daniel was given divine inspiration to tell the meaning of a dream. In Daniel 2 the prophet tells of four successive empires, including one that will be ruling at the time of the coming of the Messiah to establish God's Kingdom on earth. The first empire was Babylon; the second, Persia; the third, Greece; and the fourth, none other than the Roman Empire.
This passage tells us of the future of this empire and gives a warning to the people of God. We pick up the story flow in Revelation 18:1: "After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, 'Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.' "And I heard another voice from heaven saying, 'Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.'" Here, the word fornication, a term used to designate sexual sin, is used to show the depths of economic power and seduction this resurrected Roman Empire will exercise over other nations. This is also an important warning to Christians not to be involved with the politics of this end-time empire. The final fall
"And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS." The recent events in the Middle East are but a very light foretaste of tremendous military and political events, which will shake the world to its very foundations. An end-time alliance of European powers will emerge as the single greatest military power in the world's history just before Jesus' return to this earth. This military power, which will be the greatest and final revival of the ancient Roman system, will oppose Jesus at His return. It will be overthrown by Him as He establishes a just world order which will finally rule for the good of all. Copyright 2003 by United Church of God, an International Association All rights reserved. |
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Keywords: European power Roman resurrection end time power
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