Apostolic End Time Truths

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Europe and Biblical Prophecy

Has Europe already been conquered by Islam?

Nathan Jones

www.lamblion.com


"All is not well in the old world. There is a tremendous danger looming, and it is very difficult to be optimistic. We might be in the final stages of the Islamization of Europe. This not only is a clear and present danger to the future of Europe itself, it is a threat to America and the sheer survival of the West. The danger I see looming is the scenario of America as the last man standing. The United States is the last bastion of Western civilization, facing an Islamic Europe. In a generation or two, the US will ask itself: who lost Europe?"

The quote is from Geert Wilders, a Dutch lawmaker from the Netherlands, which he made in a speech at the Hudson Institute in New York on September 25, 2008. Wilders' speech addressed the situation on the ground in Europe, the nature of Islam and a video he produced called Fitna.

Mr. Wilders' speech and video, while not specifically about Bible prophecy, brings to light many prophetic end-time events that students of Bible prophecy can easily recognize.

The Controversial Fitna

The 17-minute video Wilders made addresses the same warning as his speech—the rapid Islamization of Europe. The video uses only quotes from the Koran and Muslim teachers, news stories and scenes from Islamic events as proof that Europe is quickly becoming Eurasia.

Like a modern-day Paul Revere, Mr. Wilders has been allowed in Israel and the United States to call out his warnings of the impending Islamic takeover. But, in his own European Union, Wilders' cry goes ignored by its leaders and raged at by liberal and Islamic groups. He's even been denied entry into Great Britain, following the lead of Indonesia.

Mr. Wilders' own Dutch government first attempted to prosecute him under Dutch anti-hate speech laws in June 2008, but failed. Again on January 21, 2009, his own court system ordered prosecutors to try him for hate speech, which if convicted, will land Wilders 16 months in jail and a fine of around $12,800. Court costs alone could eliminate his People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, which is most likely the intended tactic of silencing Wilders and eliminating his party's influence.

Wilders' Prophetic Warning—to Europe

If there's any proof that the Netherlands and the European Union in general have already been taken over by Islam, the silencing of a warning by one of their own parliamentarians and the condemnation by European Union leaders are proof that the will to survive has truly been lost in much of Europe.

Fitna merely uses the Koran, news stories and Islam's own practices to make people aware of what Islam's intentions and rule would be like. And yet, European leaders have chosen to appease Islam and attempt to silence Mr. Wilders' warning. Since appeasement always leads to subjugation by a totalitarian ideology, shouldn't Europe soon be conquered by Islam?

I don't think one particular European will remain compliant about Islamic takeover for very long. The Antichrist makes his scene like a peaceful, appeasing "dove" (Rev. 6:2), but once in control of this native of "the people who destroy the Temple" (Dan. 9:26)—the Romans—conquers with a warrior's spirit (Rev. 6:4). Clearly he will have taken Fitna's warning to heart.

What will this leader who believers in Christ call the "Antichrist" use to remove the threat of the Islamic takeover of Europe? Opportunity.

The Book of Daniel foretells the last Gentile world empire will be a confederation of nations (Dan. 2:41-43) that will arise out of the old Roman Empire (Dan. 7:7-8). And out of that confederation, the Antichrist will arise, using the revived Roman Empire as his base to conquer the world (Dan. 7:8, 23-25).

Half of the Roman Empire has quickly been reborn in the form of the European Union. The other half needed to complete the revival of the Roman Empire lies throughout a variety of Muslim nations from North Africa east around the Mediterranean Sea. Europe has been in negotiations with these countries in an attempt to create an economic union called the Mediterranean Union.

The battles of Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38 & 39 makes the scenario of a Mediterranean Union highly unlikely, though. With the Islamic nations crushed by Israel and God, the leader from the European Union wouldn't need a Mediterranean Union. Islamic morale will have been shattered and religious dissolution over the existence of Allah will have set in. The European ruler would only have to make a treaty with the only nation left in the Middle East—Israel—which he does in Daniel 9:27, and just walk right into the already defeated Islamic nations and subjugate them. Once the revived Roman Empire is consolidated, the Antichrist will bring world war upon the rest of the world, eliminating any vestiges of rivaling totalitarianism like Islam and forcing the nations of the world into subjugation to his empire (Dan. 8:24; Rev. 6:2-8). He'll have to contend with the other absolute ideologies like Judaism and Tribulation believers of Christ, which he does (Rev. 6:9-11; 7:9-14). But overall, the world will be his to force to obey a new religion unknown to his fathers—the worship of himself (Dan. 11:38; 2 Thes. 2:4).

The Antichrist's final Gentile empire will be short-lived, though, for it will be utterly defeated by the return of the Messiah who will "set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed" (Daniel 2:44).





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