Humpty Dumpty Together Again

After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong (Daniel 7:7).

King Nebuchadnezzar has to be one of the most fascinating characters in the Bible. A man of intense ambition, vain, and demanding instant and complete obedience among his subjects – somehow he kept bumping into the Holy One of Israel.

This was one of those times. The Scriptures tell us: “Now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams…” (Daniel 2:1). Young king Nebuchadnezzar went to bed as usual, but experienced a most unusual night. His sleep had been invaded by the touch of God. His dream patterns departed from the irrational meanderings of the subconscious, and were superseded by the mind of the eternal One.

Nebuchadnezzar awoke with a start, the vividness of his dream stamped indelibly upon his soul. Clearly he had heard from heaven. But what to do? He knew he could always get his magicians and counselors together, and they would give him some kind of interpretation. But how could he distinguish the false from the true? He had to know the meaning of this God-given communication.

The King’s Decree

His solution was ruthless, but effective. He would insist that any who would be his interpreter reveal to him not only the interpretation, but the dream’s content itself. Anyone capable of telling him what he dreamed could surely tell him the meaning.

His chief men were aghast. Protesting as loudly as they dared, they told their determined leader, “No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer” (Daniel 2:10).

Nebuchadnezzar flew into one of his kingly rages. He announced that if none of his advisors could tell the dream, they would all be killed. Case closed.

The killing began. One of the counselors was a young Hebrew captive named Daniel. When the king’s captain came for him, he asked for time to seek his God. Calling his three best friends to pray for him, Daniel poured out his heart to the God of Israel. That night the answer came. By morning the young prophet was ready to meet the king. When brought before the frustrated monarch, Daniel, after making sure the king knew that it was God who is the Revealer of secrets, began to tell the king what he had dreamed:

You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. This image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth (Daniel 2:31-35).

The young Hebrew was dead on. Every detail was accurate; the description was perfect. He didn’t stop with merely recounting the dream however. God had shown him the dream’s meaning as well. This metallic statue represented four kingdoms. The first was Nebuchadnezzar’s own Babylon. The second through the fourth represented kingdoms that would follow successively. Finally these earthly kingdoms would be replaced and overcome by a mysterious kingdom which would fill the whole earth.

Nebuchadnezzar was astonished. Daniel received a promotion and the hot-headed Babylonian ruler got himself a pretty fair counselor. It was to be a good match.

The Nightmare of the Beasts

Fast forward a few decades. Daniel is no longer young. He has been serving as a civil servant in Babylon for many years and through several different administrations. He places his weary bones on his bed one night, and this time it is his turn to have an inspired dream. Upon awakening, he recognizes the hand of his God, and quickly writes down the details. His dream involves four great beasts coming up from the sea. The first resembles a lion, the second a bear, the third a leopard, and the fourth has no earthly counterpart. He simply calls it “a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong…” (Daniel 7:7).

This dream parallels Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of several decades earlier. Like the first dream, it ends with a final kingdom. This time more detail is given about this mysterious kingdom. Daniel records:

I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed (Daniel 7:13,14).

In these two dreams, one by a Babylonian king and the other by a Hebrew prophet, we find a historical prophecy concerning those kingdoms that would dominate the world, relating to the nation of Israel, leading to the ultimate establishment of the kingdom of Israel’s Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus).

It is a simple matter to determine these four kingdoms, historically. Babylon is plainly declared to be the first kingdom (Daniel 2:38). Babylon was succeeded as a world power by the Medo-Persians. Medo-Persia was succeeded by the Greeks, and the Greeks were succeeded by the Romans. Clearly these are the four kingdoms represented by Nebuchadnezzar’s statue of gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and by Daniel’s dream of four beasts.

One Like the Son of Man

So far so good. But the confusing point here is that in both dreams the fourth kingdom is replaced by an eternal kingdom, one that will never be destroyed. At this point Daniel sees “One like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven,” and receiving dominion over the earth, that “all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him…” (Daniel 7:14). Christians who know the gospels cannot help but recognize Jesus’ own words and the obvious reference to His glorious return to the earth to judge and reign.

Rome has come and gone. Jesus has come to earth to die, but has not yet appeared on earth to take His position as its rightful ruler. How can we reconcile the ancient dream / prophecies with these indisputable facts?

For years, Bible prophecy scholars have insisted that during the time of the return of our Lord, the Roman Empire would be revived and flourishing in the earth once again. This kingdom would, as before, subjugate all other kingdoms and dominate the world political scene. Since the old Roman Empire had its boundaries in what now approximates the continent of Europe, students of God’s prophetic word have looked for the emergence of a world superpower there in the last days.

For much of the twentieth century this seemed a laughable idea. After WWII Europe was in decline, and America and Russia were the two great superpowers. Germany was devastated, England was losing the last of her colonies, and Italy was a little more than a great place for tourists to sample wine and eat spaghetti.

How things can change!

The notion of a beastly empire rising up to reign on the earth in the last days is not confined to the book of Daniel. In Revelation, John is granted a vision not so different from what Daniel had dreamed. John describes his vision thus:

Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority (Revelation 13:1,2).

Sounds kind of familiar doesn’t it? John, like Daniel seeing things from God’s perspective, beholds a beast which seems to be a conglomeration of Daniel’s beasts. He resembles a leopard, but has the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion. This empire will combine the strengths of the three empires which preceded it.

The Dragon & the Beast

Another character is introduced here – a dragon. This dragon provides the power and authority by which this empire is able to successfully rule over every nation on earth, and clearly represents Satan. We read of this Satanically inspired ruler:

And it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation (Revelation 13:7).

This is the empire of the antichrist, the revived Roman empire. It is interesting that during the time of Jesus’ first appearance on earth, there were two very significant but totally different nations whose dynamic interplay set the stage for the world’s greatest cosmic drama. One was tiny little Israel – an insignificant nation of religious fanatics in the world’s eyes, but God’s chosen actors in the story of redemption. The other was mighty Rome – massive, irresistible, and pagan, whose powerful army ruled the known world with an iron fist.

In the years that followed Jesus’ short 33 year life, Israel was the first to go. In less than forty years, Jewish stubbornness and rebellion resulted in the mighty Roman army invading their tiny client state and annihilating it. Tens of thousands of Jews were killed, and many other thousands fled for their lives. Houses were burned, the temple was thoroughly demolished and Jewish life in Israel was effectively ended. Thus began the great Diaspora. All Jews who survived were forced to become aliens and sojourners, with no homeland of their own.

Mighty Rome lasted several centuries longer, but the time came when it, too, went the way of all the nations. Collapsing under its own weight, this mighty empire was destroyed piecemeal. Eventually Rome devolved from being the greatest empire on earth to the mediocre role as the capital city of the insignificant nation of Italy. The fourth beast was no more.

For century after century the world went on with no Rome and no Israel. Rome was remembered for her might; Israel for her God. Almost no one had the slightest expectation that either would make a dramatic reappearance on the stage of history.

In the Know

A few knew. That much maligned breed of prophecy students, those rare individuals who actually took the Bible’s prophecies seriously, drew some astounding conclusions. For hundreds of years, scattered here and there as specks of light in a darkened world, prophecy scholars predicted the reestablishment of Israel and the reappearance of a major European empire in the last days. We are living in a day when that empire is being put together before our very eyes. The European Union is truly a sign of the times!

“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men,
Couldn’t put Humpty together again.”

Many believe that this little ditty actually refers to the dissolution of the Roman empire. If it does, the “theology” of this children’s verse is false. Humpty Dumpty is coming together in our generation.

There have been a number of attempts by European powers to control the world, or at least their part of the world. Napoleon looked promising but was stopped cold at Waterloo. Adolph Hitler intended a “third Reich” that would last 1,000 years, but could only endure for 12 (and the last two were not much fun for him!).

United States of Europe

No one could have predicted what has come to pass. Rather than military force, we have seen a voluntary coming together of the European nations. Almost as by an invisible hand nations and parliaments have joined themselves in an attempt to produce a “United States of Europe.”

The European Union had its birth five years after WWII. In May, 1950 French foreign Minister, Robert Schuman announced a plan conceived by French businessman Jean Monet to pool European coal and steel production under a common authority. The result was the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1951, consisting of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. As far as anyone can tell, there was nothing sinister about this union. It was done for economic reasons. These hard nosed businessmen had no clue that they were beginning the process that would lead to one of the major fulfillments of the utterances of the Hebrew prophets, made thousands of years earlier.

Over the next several decades this body grew and evolved, taking on a life of its own. In 1957 the six members agreed to set up a common market called the European Economic Community (EEC). In 1973 the community took in three new additions (Denmark, Ireland, and Britain). Later additions included Greece, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Finland, and Sweden.

In 1979 they had their first elections. Members of the European Parliament were directly elected. In 1992 the member nations signed the “Treaty on European Union” which transformed the EEC from a strictly economic union to one that is both economic and political. The European Union was born. Economics was no longer their reason dai’tre. They were now a world political force to be reckoned with.

In 2002 most of the member nations dropped their national currencies in favor of the Euro. Passports bearing national insignias were changed to proudly display the symbol of the EU. Since those early days of the 50’s this confederation has been constantly evolving, and every change has led to a greater and greater centralization of power. An official publication of the Union states: “The EU system is inherently evolutionary. It was designed to allow for the gradual development of European unification and has not yet achieved its final form.”

Superstate in the Making

What we see is an ever changing, constantly evolving entity, gaining power and momentum as it grows. What began as a purely economic confederation of a few war-ravaged European nations has slowly become an economic powerhouse, and the machinery of government is fast being put in place. The makings of a superstate are clearly evident to all with eyes to see.

Providing leadership in the EU is their chief legislating body, the Council, and a parliament of over 600 members, elected for five year terms, who debate, discuss, and pass resolutions. Overseeing the Union is an executive agency known as the Commission, consisting of 20 Commissioners, and headed by the chief executive officer of the Union. This “CEO” of Europe is the closest thing they have to an international prime minister. While at present the office holds more symbolical than actual power, things could change in a hurry with the ascension of the right man.

The Central Bank of the EU is located in Frankfurt, Germany and is responsible for dealing with enormous sums of money. In a recent year revenue for the EU came to 93 billion dollars.

Yielding their Sovereignty

It is amazing to see how these nations are rapidly surrendering their national sovereignty. For many years, Britain and the BBC have been intimately associated with one another. BBC, or course, stands for the British Broadcasting Company. Today the BBC is no longer allowed to use the word “British”. (The initials are allowed; just don’t tell anyone what they actually stand for!)

Fines have been levied for using one of the old English license plates that has the Union Jack on it. England is moving away from all such symbols of English sovereignty; they, like the other EU nations, are using the symbols of the EU to stress their inclusion in this United States of Europe.

This is one of the reasons that the Euro has become the new “coin of the realm.” Individual currencies emphasize differences; having the same currency proclaims unity. The parts are being absorbed into the whole. The Portuguese prime minister was so excited at the prospect of the Euro that he exulted: “As Peter was the rock that the church was founded on, so the Euro will be the rock that the European Union will be founded upon.”

The EU has insisted that all member nations will use the metric system. In England butchers have been fined for using pounds and ounces as units of measurement for their cuts of steak and hamburger. Squads of new-thought policeman actually go to butchers and arrest them for failing to use the politically correct units of measurement. Woe to that chopper of steak who dares rebel!

Symbols of the Union

When you consider the symbols used most frequently by the Union to express her identity, it becomes absolutely eerie. One of the major EU symbols, startling to all who know and respect the Scriptures, is the tower of Babel. The EU leadership have fallen in love with the tower of Babel; they cannot get enough of it. One of their posters showed this tower with the slogan: “Many tongues, one voice.” In case the point was lost, a crane in the background was shown rebuilding the tower.

Rising from the center of the European Parliament building in Strasbourg, France is an enormous replica of the tower of Babel. Even the secular press of France (not exactly evangelicals!) didn’t miss the connection, and has dubbed the new French structure the “Tower of Eurobabel.”

In Revelation 17 we read about a very mysterious lady. The Scripture tells us:

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns (Revelation 17:1-3).

Clearly this woman does not represent anything good. She is called a prostitute (never a good sign in Biblical symbolism), she makes the inhabitants of the earth drunk with her wine, and the beast that she rides is full of blasphemous names.

For some reason the European Union has embraced this concept of a woman who rides a beast. In the German magazine, Der Spiegel, they featured an article about the glories of the new Europe. The headline of the cover says, “Good Morning Europe!” It may be good evening for America, and good evening for Russia, but it’s a wonderful morning for Europe. The cover features a picture of a lovely lady riding a huge black bull.

In Britain they issued a stamp to commemorate the first European parliament elections in 1979. The stamp depicted a woman riding a beast. In Brussels, Belgium, in the new parliament building for committee meetings is capped by a dome. In the dome is an enormous painting, three times life-size, of a woman riding a beast. In the other parliamentary building in Strasbourg, there is a mural of a naked woman riding a beast. In the new Brussels headquarters of the Council of Europe, there is a bronze statue of a woman riding a beast, and the beast is depicted as riding on the waves of the sea. The prostitute of Revelation 17 is said to sit on many waters. So here we have the woman, the beast, and the waters!

Do they know what they are doing in using these symbols? I’m not sure. But the dark prince behind this whole movement knows exactly what these symbols’ meanings are.

Desire for Globalism

Another aspect of the European Union is the passionate desire for a global government and “one world.” In 1946 the American Education Fellowship called for the establishment of a genuine world order, an order in which national sovereignty is subordinate to world authority. Perhaps their intentions were commendable. If we could establish some kind of global authority, it would seem that the possibility of ending all wars might be at hand. With all of our progress, with all of our advancements in knowledge and technology, the possibility of war has not diminished at all. Not only is war eminently possible, we have weapons as the world has never had to make war a far more lethal prospect. In the past wars resulted in the deaths of thousands. During the world wars of the twentieth century, we faced wars that led to the deaths of millions. Today we can foresee nuclear conflicts that could lead to the deaths of billions!

For these reasons the prospect of establishing some global authority to bring about an end to war might seem a great and noble idea. And the Bible does indeed predict the emergence of just such a world government and governor. But the end result is not peace, but the unleashing of a malignancy upon the earth as has never before occurred. John hints at this when he writes: “And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns … all who dwell on the earth will worship him…” (Revelation 13:1,8).

From an official publication of the European Union, we read these words: “The 20th Century bears tragic scars left by the rise and then the collapse of the totalitarian ideologies. As the third millennium dawns, the movement towards a voluntary union among Europe’s peoples is … clearly the only credible answer to the hazards and opportunities posed by the increasing globalization of the world economy.”

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer called for a European Government, and said the European single currency – the Euro – was the “first step to a federation… Political union is the challenge for this generation.” Note that he said “political union” and not economic union.

Every time I get on an American Airlines plane I am reminded that American Airlines is a part of the “one world alliance.” The term one world is an interesting one. Clearly we do indeed live in one world. We do not have two or three or four worlds to choose from. We all live in the one world. But by the term “one world” many mean more than that. Implicit in the term is the concept that the time for differing nations, languages, and currencies is past. Rapid advancements in communications, transportation, and technology are forcing us to surrender our primitive concepts of national sovereignty and cultural superiority, and to merge as one family in our little world that is growing ever smaller. “It’s a small world, after all,” as Disney World loves to proclaim. Many of the enlightened ones love to contemplate the prospect of one world: one government, one currency, one language, even one religion (or non-religion). Let the tower of Babel be rebuilt in our day! Maybe we could even find one man capable of heading up the whole enterprise. Of course, he would have to be a very special individual!

Control

In this brave new world there will necessarily be a high degree of government control. The stronger the central government, the greater the measure of governmental control. Simply put, it is a tradeoff. You give up your privacy in exchange for security. You surrender your freedom and the government guarantees you will never lack.

The beginnings of this movement towards control are evident everywhere, but are especially prominent in Europe. In England one farmer was paid by the government not to farm. He received a phone call from a government official. They told him, “We noticed that your grass is getting quite long. We want you to mow your grass.” He asked them, “How in the world do you know that?” They told him they had seen the condition of his farm from their satellite cameras that had taken pictures of his farm from space.

This same farmer was later asked by a neighbor if he could use his barn to store wood in. He agreed and shortly afterwards received another phone call. They told him that he was forbidden to engage in any kind of farming, and that they had noticed that he had activity going on connected with his barn. He had to give them a detailed explanation of how he was allowing his neighbor to store wood in his barn, to which they told him to get the wood out of the barn.

He received a third call some time later. They told him that they noticed that he had some type of agricultural implement in his field. This upset them greatly, as he was not supposed to be farming at all. The farmer explained that he had been doing some mowing and had left his tractor out in the field. This was against their rules somehow, and the hapless farmer was fined 1500 pounds for not following their rules. This is not some kind of “big brother” plot from a sci-fi novel. This is going on in our day!

You will find more surveillance cameras in Europe than any other place in the world. England leads Europe in this respect. Walk through most of the major English cities in a day’s time, and you will have been filmed by three hundred different surveillance cameras. They are everywhere and on almost every major intersection. If you vacation in Europe and get the feeling that you are being watched, there’s a very good reason for that. You are!

Babel

This idea of one world is not a new one. We have already been down that road. In Genesis we are told that the entire earth had one language and one speech. The people declare, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth'' (Genesis 11:4).

God was not impressed. He responds, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them” (Genesis 11:6).

Much about world unity appears to be a very good idea. A uniting of all people, for example. We would say, “That’s good.” God says, “No that’s bad.” It fails because their unity is not based upon God. It is a unity based upon selfishness and pride.

They all had one language. We might say “That’s good.” What a wonderful thing if there were only language on earth. We would have no need for subtitles on foreign movies. We could go to Paris and communicate with everyone, preachers would not need interpreters.

But God says, “That’s bad.” Without virtue, without God-based morality, unity is the worst possible scenario for the human race. Even the unifying factor of one language is not a healthy thing for a wicked people.

The problem is that the greater the unity, the greater the potential – for good or for evil. According to God’s way of thinking, it is quite possible that man can have too much potential; his capabilities can exceed his morality, and the results become disastrous. This is at the heart of the original story of the tower of Babel. God declares, “nothing they plan will fail” and this must not occur. Sinful, immoral people need large and frequent doses of failure to keep them from reaching heights of evil that could threaten to extinguish morality from the earth. Thus the tower of Babel, that symbol for the unity of rebellion and independence, must be destroyed and mankind divided and scattered across the planet. For six thousand years we’ve been scattered into nations and language groups and God says, “That’s good.”

Unity in Wickedness

In the last days, Satan will make another great effort to unify the world in wickedness. And this time God will allow such unity to succeed – for a very short season. The result will be the worst outbreak of spiritual defiance our world has ever known.

Among moral people, who love Christ and follow righteousness, God highly recommends unity. “Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity” (Psalms 133:1). The psalmist compares such unity to the anointing oil which was poured out upon Aaron the High Priest, and dripped down his head, beard, and robes. “There the Lord commanded the blessing” (Psalm 133:3).

Among those that would bow their knees to God’s authority, He not only desires unity, He commands it. But among the rebellious God does not desire it. The reason is simple. With wicked people, unity hastens the process of corruption.

Consider a rebellious teen, sixteen or seventeen years old. Keep him by himself and he’s not so bad. As long as his time is spent mostly among responsible adults or virtuous teens, his rebellion is kept in check. But put him with other rebellious teens and watch how quickly corruption sets in. A gang forms, and they are capable of incredible wickedness. Drugs, rape, murder, and all sorts of horrible evils spring forth from this union of rebels, which, if kept on their own, would never have occurred. Psychologists are well aware of this phenomenon, and refer to it as mob psychology.

We see this process even in natural things. An apple left on a shelf will normally decay at a fairly slow rate, yet place it with other rotten apples and the rate of decay will increase exponentially. Our world is decaying around us. And in the midst of this moral rot, there will be a great gathering and drawing together in the last days. For a season “nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.” This gathering together is manifested through communications, through the Internet, through the European Union, through liberal and godless media, and in a variety of other ways. The tower of Babel is being rebuilt! We are a train on a one way track. There is no reverse gear. We are headed for that scenario John saw and described in the book of Revelation. The closer we get to the end, the greater the rate of corruption will be.

Ultimate Expression of the Beast

The ultimate expression of this revived Roman Empire that will come together in the last days will be a man. One man will represent this kingdom, with its defiance of God, and despising of morality and truth.

Daniel writes:

I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words (Daniel 7:8).

It seems that wherever the Bible describes the antichrist, it refers to his mouth. He is going to be the most blasphemous individual the world has ever seen.

In the same chapter, Daniel writes about this individual, “He shall speak pompous words against the Most High” (Daniel 7:25).

Not long after WWII Paul-Henri Spaak, former Belgian Prime Minister and President of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, said:

We do not want another committee. We have too many already. What we want is a man of sufficient stature to hold the allegiance of all people, and to lift us out of the economic morass in which we are sinking. Send us such a man and, be he God or the devil, we will receive him.

There are two powerful forces at work in the word today. On the dark side, there are unseen spirits that move in the midst of the various cultures and societies. The malicious entities are powerfully at work to bring destruction and misery to nations, cities, homes, and individuals. Before you laugh at the idea of unseen spirits that cause misery, keep in mind that the Lord Jesus Himself believed in the reality of demons. In fact He not only believed in them, He addressed them and cast them out of numerous individuals.

Paul spoke of the “mystery of iniquity.” We are talking about more than merely poor choices that people make. This is not just a matter of people being maladjusted or needing a bit of behavior therapy. It is the result of that mysterious evil that pervades our world. Evil is not a concept that liberal thinkers like to recognize. The late editor of Newsweek magazine, Meg Greenfield, addressed this issue, saying:

Have you noticed how many of us have been saying how blood-chilling it is that all that unspeakable biological germ warfare material is in the hands of Saddam Hussein, who is “crazy” and / or a “nut”? He’s not crazy. He’s no nut. It’s far more scary and dangerous than that. He is sane. He is evil … we think of him as someone who needs calming down, a string of reassuring “there, theres” rather than the required confrontation. He must be mad, we have concluded…otherwise why would he be behaving like this?

Disease of the Heart

How often we respond when we hear of terrible and cruel crimes by saying that the criminal who committed such acts is “sick.” In a sense we are right, but the “sickness” is a moral sickness. It is more than a few brain cells out of place or a dysfunctional thinking process. It is a sickness of the heart; it is the “mystery of iniquity.” This is a mystery unfathomable to the X-ray machine or CAT scan. It goes far deeper than biology and can be traced back to that first act of defiance when the mother of all humanity tasted the forbidden fruit. Theologians call it original sin.

This evil that saturates our world is found in the human heart. It is the sin nature that is an equal opportunity employer. No race, sex, or culture is exempt for the ugly results of selfishness that is its basic expression. Secondly, and even more offensive to secular thought, evil is both produced and exacerbated by demonic spirits. Jesus described this process thus:

When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, “I will return to my house from which I came.” And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. (Matthew 12:43-45)

Jesus believed in demons! He recognized their personality, their ability to ruin and destroy, and the evil which they can create. This mystery of iniquity, the combined power of inborn sin and demonic influence, plus the societal pressure that they create, is a force of enormous magnitude in our world today. It affects every aspect of society: the nature of the movies we watch, the political struggles in which we engage, the divorce rate, the millions of abortions, violence among our youth, and every other aspect of the culture. Evil can never stay static; if it is not actively resisted it will and must increase. As with nature, spiritual decay may be slowed but cannot be reversed or stopped (short of divine intervention). As our world degenerates, there will be a coming together as evil is centralized and becomes fully incarnate in the man of sin and that government God calls “the beast.” Its base will be on the general geographic boundaries of the old Roman empire. The unnamed monster that both Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar glimpsed will become a reality in the last days. Rome shall be revived.

There is another force at work in our world today. That force is the power of God’s Holy Spirit, bringing forth the kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit has not retired. It is amazing that in the midst of all the sin and corruption in our world, with all of our secular sophistication and worldly irreverence, people are still coming to Christ. In fact the evangelical church is growing at rate that no major religion can touch.

Cosmic Collision

When two opposite weather fronts collide severe weather conditions are the result. So will it be in the last days. The storms clouds are already gathering. Violent gale force winds of immorality and perversity sweep across the landscape. From the other direction, strong evangelical churches are sending forth powerful winds of the Spirit. As we get closer and closer to the end, evil’s loud, raucous voice will seem to overwhelm the church’s message of holiness. At some divinely predestined point, Christ will take His church from the scene, leaving the earth wide open to that prophesied delusion which is epitomized by the “man of sin.” Those who scorned Christ will have their antichrist.

As Europe reunites in our day, we are seeing the power base being prepared for this malicious world dictator. Before the baby is born, the nursery is prepared. Before the antichrist appears, the tower of Babel shall stand again. But only for a short time.

Jesus is coming back! He is returning to establish “an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away,” and a “kingdom, the one which shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:14). The tower of man’s arrogance and rebellion shall come crashing down, its fatal lack of foundations revealed for all to see.