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April 19, 2003
I have speculated about the future before, and many, but not all of my theories have come to fruition. Certainly, I’m not a prophet but merely a man born in these last days to proclaim the truth of the Gospel.
The truths of the Gospel are these; that all have sinned and
fallen short of God's glory (Romans
3:23). That is the reason God sent His
Son to die for the sin's of the world (John 3:16), to be raised again the third
day, and to ascend back to heaven to take His place at the right hand of the
Father (I Corinthians 15:3, 4); and with it our victory over death and hell (I
Corinthians 15:54-57). You see, our
sin's are paid; all we have to do is accept this free gift. If anyone goes to hell they do so with their
sin debt paid in full. One other truth,
no one comes to the Father except they come through Christ Jesus (John
14:6). You can’t get to Him by being
good or by doing something heroic, buy only through repentance and faith in the
finished work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21). Will you come to the Lord today?
Over the last few weeks I have outlined what I believe will
happen in the near future and paralleled it with scripture. Certainly, much of it is built on
speculation and theory. It’s possible
that both Bush and Blair will have become distant memories by the time the
Lord comes back. It’s also possible
that a man could come from obscurity, a virtual unknown, to rise to world
domination. Although, a good story
twist, I don’t see that happening.
Personally, I don’t think we have enough time for another
world dynamic duo to be developed. It’s
pretty plain in the scriptures that two world bodies will rule the world. The dominant ruler will be Mystery Babylon
and her subservient partner will be the antichrist and his ten-nation kingdom
(beast that she rides on-Revelation 17).
It’s also plain that this end-time Mystery Babylon will be
wealthy, powerful and will make the kings of the earth rich, “For all nations
have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the
earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are
waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies (Revelation 18:3)”. But even with all they (Mystery Babylon)
have to offer it will not save them from the wrath to come, for in one hour
they will meet their doom (Revelation 18:19).
Many Bible scholars have claimed that Iraq will be Mystery Babylon, but here’s a problem I see with that theory. The Bible makes a point of mentioning that the sea merchants and shipbuilders will stand afar off and weep over this once great empire. With the exception of about 30 miles Iraq is completely land locked. They couldn’t possibly be seen as a world leader of shipped imported goods.
But that’s not all! This future world power will also be
bewailed by the kings of the earth (v. 9) and the merchants on land saying who
will now buy our merchandise (v. 11).
For “the merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall
stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing (v. 15)”.
These kings and merchants of the world must have felt some
protective comfort from Mystery Babylon because verse 15 states that they stood
“afar off for the fear of her torment”.
This leads me to believe that the world felt pretty safe and secure as
long as this country was in charge. It
also draws the conclusion that they were strong proponents of free trade
throughout the world. With them
completely destroyed who would protect their interests and freedoms. The countries of this world may hate the
U.S., but when they’re no longer around to protect them and buy the majority of
their goods, they’ll mourn.
It is following this great victory by the antichrist that I
believe he will proclaim himself to be God.
Most will accept it as fact after his great destruction of the most
powerful nation in the world. “And they
worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the
beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
(Revelation 13:4)”.
One more important point!
I have heard people tell me for years that the future antichrist will
come from some small insignificant country (like Jordan or Syria) and/or will
come out of obscurity to rule the world.
That could happen if the Lord allows it to, but I don’t see it for this
reason. In Daniel chapter two, we find
that King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and Daniel was granted divine
revelation to interpret the dream. As
you know, the dream states that from that time forward there would be five
world empires; the Babylonian Empire, the Medo-Persian Empire, the Grecian
Empire, the Old Roman Empire, and the New Roman Empire. Of course, the last empire will be lead by
the antichrist. But the point I want to
bring home is this! Each of the
previous four empires was large and powerful, and some ruled for many
centuries. These empires weren’t weak
and insignificant powers of their day and the kingdom of the antichrist (which
is numbered as one of the world powers) won’t be either. They will be an established and powerful
world body just as the others were.
I have to say that we really don’t have enough time for a
country like the United States to rise up in Iraq (or anywhere else), rule over
the world, and import all their goods.
Nor do I see anyone on the horizon lording power over the European Union
(the future kingdom of the antichrist) other than the United States.
Unless the Lord changes things dramatically, I believe these
two world bodies will be the harlot and beast described in Revelation 17. They will rule together with the U.S. taking
the leadership role. But it will be the
antichrist that will broker a peace agreement with Israel due to the lack of
trust the Arab’s will have for the U.S.
The European Union will be given the responsibility of both protection
and promotion of Israel and Palestine.
But I don’t believe this agreement will be made until after an E.U.
permanent leader is in place.
Is it really that simple?
Is the United States Mystery Babylon?
Is the European Union the future kingdom of the antichrist? Will Tony Blair be the first permanent
leader of the E.U., forge a dynamic partnership with the U.S. and eventually
sign the peace agreement with Israel?
Will Mr. Blair, in the future, betray the U.S. and then turn on
Israel? And will he one day stand up in
the middle of the Jerusalem temple and declare to the world that he is
God?
I hope this article has been helpful in sorting out what the future may hold. I wish you a Blessed Easter as we remember what this day means to every believer and the hope it represents to those yet to be saved.