Recent financial events in Europe have many worried. Is it possible that the European Union (EU) could soon disintegrate? And if so, would such developments hold any implications for the Revived Roman Empire interpretation of endtime Bible prophecy? The answer will probably surprise you. Let’s first review the financial and political spin that is being reported in the popular media. Things surely look terrible.

This quote from an article entitled, “Goodbye to Europe as a high-ranking power” carried in the Financial Times, is indicative of prevailing worries:

“The combination of structural economic flaws, political parochialism and military limits will accelerate this transatlantic drift. A weaker Europe will possess a smaller voice and role. NATO will no longer be the default partner for American foreign policy. Instead, the US will forge coalitions of the willing to deal with specific challenges. These clusters will sometimes include European countries, but rarely, if ever, will the US look to either NATO or the EU as a whole. Even before it began, Europe’s moment as a major world power in the 21st century looks to be over.”

Over the past month or so, the so-called flaws of the European Union and its Eurozone have come into popular focus, although well identified by many political historians long, long ago. While there are now 27 member countries in the EU, only 16 share (soon Estonia is to join as the 17th member) the common currency of the euro, this group of countries correspondingly called the Eurozone.

What happened was that a number of the Eurozone members shamelessly milked the benefits of currency union, not caring to conduct a disciplined management of their own financial accounts. To varying degrees, countries such as Italy, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Greece, all enjoyed the benefit of lower interest rates when they joined this currency bloc, anchored by the stable economic juggernaut of Germany.

To recall, the reason that investors had demanded higher interest rates on the borrowings of these nations in the first place was precisely because these nations ran higher deficits and debts, not to mention inflationary monetary policies. (See Figure #3 on page 9.) As it happened, these countries continued their spendthrift ways after joining the currency union. They wasted the windfall of membership and have now found themselves in an intractable refinancing situation as the fall-out of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) hits home. That brings us to today.

Recent events are therefore of no surprise. What is always unpredictable in crisis situations, is the specific catalyst that prompts a reappraisal of risk … the sudden awakening to reality. As unfolded in Europe recently, a panic run on the bonds of these weaker nations in the Eurozone began in Greece. This country was mired with high debt levels, an enormous government budget deficit (equivalent to near 14% of economic output at one point) and an intransigent populace that considered it an outrage that their country’s profligacy might come to an end.

Before long, a bond market rout spread to the other financially weak nations ofSpain, Portugal and others already mentioned. (The UK is another country in rickety financial shape and continues to deteriorate, though not a member of the Eurozone.) As a consequence, the euro dropped sharply and interest rates shot up in these countries — more than doubling in a matter of days in some cases — as investors sought to escape these tumbling bond markets. Fears escalated to the point that policymakers saw no other alternative but to intervene.

Initially, the stronger EU-member countries were reluctant to bail out their spend-happy brethren in the monetary union. And, rightly so. Yet, as the crisis of confidence escalated and the euro continued to weaken, the International Monetary Fund IMF) the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) quickly cobbled together a bail-out equivalent to nearly $1 trillion (€750 billion).

The European monetary union today is undoubtedly on shaky ground. Unless some significant changes are made, it is likely to fracture further. Frankly, it is unlikely that such changes will be easily forthcoming for several reasons. Firstly, the hard-working citizens of nations such as Germany and France do not want to pay for the squandered borrowing of the deficit nations (now derisively called the PIIGS — an acronym for Portugal, Ireland, Italy,Greece and Spain). These voters are not likely to approve these bail-out costs. Secondly, the PIIGS nations are now all required to cut government spending and to raise taxes as a condition of the bail-outs. This will prove to be deeply unpopular and contribute to lengthened economic recessions. More protests and riots can be expected in the years ahead.

The question arises: Can Europe hold together and for how long? Will intervention bring back calm to the Eurozone? The recent bailouts will have bought some time. However, it will not be long before new stresses again reappear.

In fact, the tremors witnessed in Europe are  symptomatic of a problem that extends to other nations as well, not just European ones. For example, the fiscal situation in the United States is certifiably disastrous and over-indebtedness is also a problem in Canada (although not widely perceived as such).

Actually, the states of California and Illinois are in worse shape than Greece by far … and are even bigger in terms of economic size. It is only a matter of time that international attention will again fall upon America’s troubles. Then, the US dollar will take another drubbing … possibly until a worse crisis erupts somewhere else in the world. The only difference in the case ofAmerica is that it has the freedom to allow its currency to depreciate. Eurozone members do not have this option (neither does California andIllinois) and must therefore take the hard medicine of spending cuts.
While gold bullion markets rose to new highs in US-dollar terms during the Greek crisis, what seems to be overlooked is that the resolution to these crises is rather deflationary … at least for the time being. All of the countries suffering with high debts are being forced to cut spending and increase taxes. As such, a new rush to austerity seems underway around the world … certainly so in the Western countries. Countries such as the UK,Canada and the U.S. know that they are now near the end of unlimited government borrowing, lest they also wish to become vulnerable to funding crises and currency attacks. You can be sure that these reactions ultimately stand to produce the same depressive effects that contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930s.

So much for an update of the news one might hear from the media. But what all does it mean from a prophetic point of view? Just how do these recent events fit in with the “March of History”?
To begin, we can certainly say that today’s events in Europe will certainly not overturn the veracity of Bible prophecy. All prophecy will eventually be fulfilled literally, no matter the short-term gyrations of history.

At the surface, events playing in Europe today may make it seem that the European Union is about to fall apart, and that therefore, the famous Revived Roman Empire theory of prophetic interpretation may be proven incorrect.

We can conclude no such thing. While we have never gone so far as to conclude that the final world power coalition of 10 kings (10 nations) must  come from Europe, we neither see that recent events alone would negate this prophetic interpretation. The jury is still out.

As we have explained in other articles and presentations, there are other plausible theories or variations on the Revived Roman Empire theme that could yet play out. We can certainly assert what is directly ascertainable from Scripture. Bible prophecy expressly indicates that a union of 10 kings will take form in the last days just before the Antichrist is revealed. Daniel tells us that, “The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings” (Daniel 7:24). In other words, they collectively represent the last world-ruling power before the 8th ruler-king (the Antichrist) emerges. These 10 kings are shown on the seventh head (actually, in our view, they collectively represent the 7th head) of the beast depicted in Revelation 12, 13 and 17, as well as by the ten toes mentioned in Daniel 2 and the 10 horns in Daniel 7.

In our extensive studies of this topic (Please see the MS PowerPoint presentation that is posted on the home page of our website for additional details) we conclude that 10 sovereign nations are indicated by the Bible’s terminology of “10 kings.” As mentioned, a view held by many pre-millennial prophecy students is that these “10 kings” will come from Europe or at the very least, from within the boundaries of the ancient Roman Empire. It also remains possible that “Roman type” nations that are not found on the European continent (i.e. America, Canada, Brazil … etc.) could number in this final coalition. We have presented a list of countries that could prove to be eligible candidates for these 10 kings (using scriptural criteria as well as the prevailing conditions of today) in previous issues of EVR.

There are several points we wish to make. Firstly, please realize that an official European Union or currency zone is not a prerequisite for the final 10 nations to come together. Their union can be based on some entirely different set of values or rules. It is true that the conception of the European Union that exists today is very much in the old Roman model, which is one that is centrally controlled through systems and government. However, as Scripture appears to indicates, the final 10-nation coalition is more about joint “power and authority.” In other words, a small set of nations have a shared purpose and interest  as opposed to a multi-lateral structure with a large number of member countries that seeks to rule the world through broad consensus. It is a significant difference.

The Bible tells us that a group of 10 ally together out of common self-interest. They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the Beast (Revelation 17:13). The large multinational nation groups of today simply have too many conflicts of interest to be any effective consequence in today’s geopolitical environment. Developments in Asia today also, we believe, play a decisive role in these last-day machinations of 10 kings.

(Please see the new 3-part series entitled Far East Asia Nations Today: Subject of Bible Prophecy?, scheduled to be first published in Midnight Call Magazine June through August 2010. Our conclusions are quite different from the popular view!)

It is indeed possible that the entire final 10 nation coalition may all come fromEurope (though it remains much too early to be dogmatic on this point). However, this group will likely have very little to do with today’s organization as represented by the EU.

Please reflect on the fact that the Bible says that a small group of only 10 nations will have sufficient pooled power to allow the Antichrist to control the entire world. All current 27 members of Europe are not needed. As such, either the EU will break up (as could be possible) or a new group of 10 forms outside of it. Yes, this is a concept that is directly in opposition to today’s idea of globalism … the notion that a “common parliament of man” will rule the world. We recognize, of course, that today’s global agencies and non-governmental organizations such as the United Nations or Group of 20 are comprised of a greater number of members than just 10. That means that none of these assemblies qualify as the final 10-nation ruling power according to the Bible.

Here one final point: Power and agendas are not always clearly evident to the broad audience. They tend to work secretly and unobserved. Moreover, crisis can be (and are) deliberately used to accelerate change. As such, anything is possible. Next, the Europe Union may break up and devolve into a more “Roman Catholic” version of the Roman Empire (centering on the more major nation-states with “Christian values” and heritage) or become yet more undemocratic and centrally-controlled in response to economic crisis. Frankly, we cannot yet be sure.

Of one thing we are certain: A break-up of the current Eurozone (perhaps even the European Union, though not necessary) actually would be an alignment with Bible prophecy. Scripture specifically only numbers 10 nations … not 20, 27 or 192 of the G-20, European Union or United Nations, respectively. As such, either the large groups must break down or another coming together of 10 nations outside or in concert with these other organizations must occur.

As we have argued in the past, the world today is moving to a post-globalism period. Multilateralism (this referring to the joint interactions of nation groups) is coming to an end. Instead minilateralism (the idea that a small group of powerful or influential nations seize the agenda) is at the door.

In this issue, we continue from Part I in which we began to review three major conditions that the Bible indicates will typify the world order at the very end of the last days. We were pursuing the question of whether government debt plays a prophetic role. We had been drawn to this question, given the unprecedented rise of government debt around the world over the last few years. To date we have reviewed one of these a priori conditions—a worldwide wealth skew.

2. Indebtedness as a Necessary Device. The idea that economies can be regulated and managed without losses or periodic downturns is born of a world that seeks its salvation in materialism. Such a world is not possible during this dispensation. Governments who support this idea with interventions and hocus-pocus policies will find themselves in deeper debt as never before. This is what we see unfolding, and it is a necessary aspect of a widening wealth skew.

As already pointed out, for someone to become rich, someone else must be coaxed or foolish enough to become steeply indebted or indentured. Here, as we see, indebted governments play a facilitating role of transferring wealth from the masses to the rich. But, does the Bible support the idea that the “antichrist system” will be an indebted entity? Actually, our understanding on this question first came from reading the prophecies of Habakkuk. Carefully consider these verses:

For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright—but the righteous will live by his faith—indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples. Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying, ‘Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on?’ Will not your debtors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? Then you will become their victim. Because you have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you. For you have shed man’s blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them (Chapter 2:3-8, NIV).

Here, the prophet Habakkuk sheds some light on our questions. Although his prophecies were probably first directed to the Babylon of his day, they clearly also had an endtime application. The Lord answered him, “For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false” (Habakkuk 2:3). We also see the character of the Antichrist of the “end” period described. Greed and economic oppression are the prominent characteristics portrayed.

“The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad. Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and he enjoys the choicest food” (Habakkuk 1:15-16). He (or the world system, the economic Babylon of Revelation 18) is a trapper. Moreover, “[…] he is greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples” (Habakkuk 2:5-6). This endtime regime is motivated by greed and is global in span, as it takes “all the nations”and “all the peoples” captive. “Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion!” (verse 6). “Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain, to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of ruin!” (verse 9). Habakkuk’s prophecies could not provide a more accurate description of the world’s emerging ruling structure of our times, and perhaps yet in the future. It is built upon greed, oppression and extortion, taking the world captive through a financial and economic trap, as well as by other means. But there is one additional insight that Habakkuk provides us. It is the condition of indebtedness.

The endtime ruling order is an indebted one. “Will not your debtors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? Then you will become their victim” (Habakkuk 2:7). “Debtors” can be correctly translated as “creditors.” The KJV better reflects the condition of the “wicked foe’s” indebtedness, saying, “Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his!” (verse 6).

3. Emergence of Rich Elites. Now that we have documented the two conditions of a “wealth skew” and an “indebted world order,” we come to the question of the identity of the rich elites. The Prophet Daniel speaks of them in the same verse that also refers to the Antichrist: “And he [the Antichrist] shall deal with the strongest fortresses by the help of a foreign god: whosoever acknowledgethhim he will increase with glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for a price” (Daniel 11:39, ASV).

Who are “them” that will “increase with glory” and “rule over many,” and play a role in the dividing of land “for a price”? The answer—those that “acknowledge him,” the Antichrist (which can also mean the Antichrist system of world rule). Virtually all English Bible translations use the word “acknowledge.” It means here that certain key people who recognize him and accept his authority will receive a reward—land. It should be noted that the original Aramaic word used for “land” in this verse can also convey the idea of property or economic domain as well as geographic area. After all, in ancient times, land was the main foundation of wealth and economy.

It only follows that these elites, whoever they are, must be a small group of people who likely will be influential in their own right. Why? They will be made rulers over many. As not everyone can be made a ruler over many, therefore these will be few. Not only is this logical, but the Bible also specifically tell us what the reward will be for everybody else … in other words, all the rest of the masses that acknowledge and worship the Antichrist. They will not be killed (a negative reward) and will be allowed to “buy or sell.” He causes, “[…] all who refused to worship the image to be killed. He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell” (Revelation 13:15-16).

The elites, on the other hand, are bought off for their loyalty with further reward … the additional pay-off of power or economic domain, we reason. It is the same or similar deal that Satan offered Christ when he was being tested in the wilderness, promising “[…] authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours” (Luke 4:6-7).

These elites selected for reward must have something to barter in return … likely their fame or endorsement. We are given at least a few criteria with which to identify who these elites might be at that future date. In the first instance, they must be humans. Also, they must be capable of being rulers, already likely possessing some measure of power and authority. And, they must be willing worldly complicitors.

Although these events play out during the future Tribulation period (and therefore really do not concern us), is it already possible today to discern the power structures that these elites might command? Of course, we can only speculate as to whom these persons may be that the Prophet Daniel mentions. One possibility is that they could be powerful heads of large multinational corporations (MNC). After all, some of these companies are already today larger than many individual nations in terms of their commercial influence and economic footprint. (Please see the article, “The Rising Price of Obedience” in the March 2005 Midnight Call magazine, which provides some documentation of the endtime significance of the MNC phenomena … a relatively recent development in the cosmic timeline of mankind.)

Multinational firms (MNCs) today, as a group, are probably the most influential economic force in the world. And, as money is power in this age, they may also be the most powerful, viewed as a group. Though these companies may find their roots a few hundred years ago, their global power has only really developed over the past half-century or so. Today, of the top hundred economic entities in the world, roughly half are made up of countries, the other half of MNCs. The heads of these companies, though they are answerable to boards of directors, nevertheless are very influential. These firms can employ hundreds of thousands of employees—more than the population of many countries. Some secular analysts do foresee the day where a small group of such corporate behemoths will indeed dominate the world economy.

Or, these elites could simply be ultra-rich individuals who control much wealth— perhaps entire industries and many MNCs. It is in their self-interest to support the regime of the Antichrist. In their materialist worldview, preservation of their wealth must be the primary objective. They could not have reached their ultra-wealthy status without governments having also facilitated such enormous wealth transfer either through economic policy or increasing indebtedness. These governments are in cahoots with the ultra-wealthy “princes,” much in the same way as is foreshadowed by the corrupt relationships today between the “Washington Beltway” and Wall Street in America, for example.

We cannot conclusively determine the identity of the elites that Daniel mentions. This shouldn’t be disappointing. The only wise and sure conclusion is that we must keep our options open—keeping ourselves oriented to the Scriptures; watching and waiting for our Lord’s return, so as to not be distracted nor caught sleeping. It causes us to keep watching, to not be taken unawares, and to remain open to new information. The world’s power structures do keep shifting. Though“[…] we have the word of the prophets made more certain” (2 Peter 1:19), at the same time, we must also realize that our Enemy is cunning and a supreme master of deception.

A Calculated Conspiracy Against God

We can deduce from the Bible that there are essentially three main sets of players that the Bible identifies in the “Mammon-controlled saga” of the last day world. There is a world government that at one point takes the form of ten nations, later to be headed by the Antichrist himself (The Beast). These are the “10 horns” mentioned in Revelation 17:12. The preferred interpretation of this author is that these will be key nations, most likely heavily indebted (as many leading countries today already are), that band together to aggregate sufficient power to establish world rule.

These nations have (must have) the complicity of the rich elites. For nations to be heavily indebted, there must also be corresponding lenders and cronies. And, given that the Bible also tells us of a great “heaping of wealth” (Please see Part I for further explanation), we can therefore know that it will be a relatively few number of people—the ultra-rich—who will underpin the indebtedness of the nations with their claims upon wealth. All of these tendencies we see already at work today.

Thoughts to Ponder

There was a time “[…] that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, andthat every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). God saw no other way but to intervene and end it. Today, the world is fast approaching a similar state. Bible prophecy clearly outlines that God again will intervene in the affairs of mankind in wrath.

In another vein, the times today are similar to Babel. The world’s late state of globalism mirrors the sentiment of those ancient times when “[…] they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth’” (Genesis 11:4).  Globalism is counter to the will of God, as evidenced by His supernatural intervention at Babel, causing people to disperse and confounding their efforts with different languages.

Ah, yes, but we have heard countless endtime admonitions all before. Have not the processes we have identified here already been long underway? Yes, but with some key differences that should immediately quell the scoffer’s spirit. Firstly, we are the generation that would “see all these things,” as Christ said (Matthew 24:33). The fig tree (Israel) has begun to blossom. “When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near (Mark 13:28). This season can be identified, and it is here. And, there will be no false starts of this prophesied event, a process that once begun, will not be aborted. Says the Holy Spirit through Isaiah:

Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the Lord: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God (Chapter 66:7-9, KJV).

The last season of the “last days” has indeed begun. Today, all prophesied conditions are global in scale rather than applying to just one or a few nations. These conditions can all be shown to be accelerating. Moreover, God had future scoffers exactly in mind when he caused the Apostle Peter to prophesy:

Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished (2 Peter 3:3-6).

People who have no fear before the words of God, thereby ridiculing the Great Sovereign—who stakes the very proof of his essence in bringing about what He has said in advance—put themselves into the company of those “[…] natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak[ing] evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption […]” (2 Peter 2:12).