Posted on 12/05/2004 3:55:06 PM PST by missyme
Could the EU be the new Roman Empire?
For the past couple of years member nations in the European Union have been hammering out a new constitution for all of Europe . Bible prophecy enthusiasts have been watching this process carefully. This past week marked a watershed in the development of the EU and its new constitution..
On Friday October 29, 2004 leaders of all 25 European Union nations signed the new document. With great pomp and fanfare, and Bach playing in the background, the signing took place on Capitoline Hill in Rome . Capitoline Hill is one of the famous seven hills of Rome . In antiquity it was the center of religious life in the Roman Empire . It was the ancient site of important sanctuaries and temples. Today, it serves as the center of municipal government in Rome . Interestingly, the Treaty of Rome, the document that founded the six-member EEC (European Economic Community), was signed at this same place on March 25, 1957. The EEC was the precursor to the current EU.
The new EU constitution still has to be ratified by each member state, and if approved is slated to take effect in 2007.
This major step is being hailed as a great day for Europe and its aspiration of total integration. United Nations secretary Kofi Anan hailed the signing as a "major milestone" in EU history. One British expert called this event "a seismic shift in EU politics." It could also be called a seismic shift toward the fulfillment of end time Bible prophecy.
The rapid development of the EU fits in with the Bible's prediction of a reunited Roman empire in the end times. It's fascinating that the modern reuniting or revival of the Roman Empire officially began with in 1957 with a treaty called "the Treaty of Rome." The mention of " Rome " fits far too well to be an accident. Since that time, gradually yet steadily, the nations of Europe have come together one by one. Amazingly, the amalgamation of nations has taken only forty-seven years.
What we have seen developing in Europe the last forty-five years looks strikingly similar to what the Bible predicts for the end times. While the 10 king form of government in Europe that the Bible predicts in Daniel 7 and Revelation 17 is not yet in place, the basic governmental and economic components are in place for this ruling body to take form. The EU currently has a 732-member parliament. And now there's a new constitution signed in . . . Rome . Everything keeps coming back to Rome . This points unmistakeably toward the reuniting of the Roman Empire that the Bible predicted.
All that remains now is for the EU to develop some form of 10 person ruling body and then for one man to come on the scene in the EU and ascend to power. That man will be the Antichrist, and he will rule over the final form of the Roman Empire and ultimately the whole world.
Keep your eyes on Europe and the rapidly moving developments there. The events we see in Europe today are the prelude to the reunited Roman Empire prophesied by Daniel over 2,500 years ago.
If there is an anti-Christi arising in Europe, he is not Chirac, Putin, or Schroeder. it is Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the young Spanish leader, appeaser of terrorists who is embarking on:
1. The strong union of Europe
2. Bringing Cuba, Venezuela and all dictators close to him and the EU
3. The man who lied his way to power, blamed the terrorist attack of 3/11 on Aznar to end the Popular Party's government
4. In the process of creating the Muslim Charter to align Spain (and its Muslim heritage) with Cairo, Tripoli, and Tehran.
Zapatero has had an unexplicable meteoric rise...he came out of nowhere. But he did not count on Bush's re-election. The Kerry defeat has seriously harmed Zapatero's prestige in Europe because the Socialist had put all his eggs in the Kerry basket.
Interesting topic.
What I find curious is if people will start identifying any of the leaders calling them the Anti-Christ? if he is the Anti-Christ is he a human or a beast?
An interesting hypothesis. Never really thought of the EU that way?
So you think a Palestinian leader will win over the people of Israel?
Interesting hypethesis, but I'm not sure that I would consider Rome as such a fascination.
I don't quite know what everyone is so worried about. Governments come and go. Considering ours is one of the older ones, the EU will disappear in due time.
The EU's trepidation in using Christian references seems to be more a result of a loss of faith than anything else. THAT's part of what needs to be fixed. If things get bad enough over there, the Europeans will be back in the fold.
"The fact that he was one of Spain's youngest MPs ever (just 26) is seen as one of the reasons why, as party leader, he has always insisted giving a large percentage of party posts to young politicians."
" For the first time ever in democratic Spanish politics, all opposition parties except for one (PP) voted in favour of the winning party's candidate for the presidency of Spain."
Who is the current guy? Won't christians drag him out to tell the world the monster he truly is?
Today, in the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, Foreign Minister Moratinos is meeting with the Arab League in Cairo to have a strong alliance with Spain. Further, Moratinos is going to meet the Palestinians to offer support for their upcoming elections. Sounds like Zapatero is pursuing a line opposite to the US trying to closely ally EU with Palestine and the Arabs.
http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2004/12/05/espana/1102257295.html
Very interesting..Do you have a photo of Zapatero?
Estados Unidos ping.
Zapatero's photo is in post #5
I do not believe the EU is the new roman empire.
That empire was a Mediterranean basin empire with some fingers going into N. Europe.
I would pay more attention to the 5+5 Mediterranean group apparently headed by France...it includes both European and Islamic countries....those countries that formed the core of the old Roman Empire.
I agree too, the EU is too large (25 cf 10) and have too many Nordic/Germanic and Slavic countries that historically were unknown to Romans geographically for them to be the fulfillment of Daniel 2 and 7 and Revelation.
Zapatero is now simply too famous to be the Antichrist. Everyone knows he is the Spanish PM that got elected because of the Islamic terrorism and Spanish people wanted appeasement. A lot of people who are not Christians aren't impressed with him either. The ideal one must be very, very obscure that springs onto the world stage with a bang, in a twinkle of an eye, and he will be wildly popular with almost everyone on earth save Christians - imagine he will be equally lauded by the National Review and al-Guardian.
Another thing to consider is practical geopolitics. Europe's military and economic capability is far less than the United States or even East Asia, depite Airbus Industrie, Eurofighter, Mercede-Benz, Alstrom. You can't act anti-American and uddenly expect a soft-spined US President to hand over America's resources to your control (a President Hillary Clinton or John F. Kerry, or even a President Gore Vidal is unable to do it).
And worse, conider their attitude towards Israel. Will a European Union leader persuade Israel to trust it to broker an honest peace deal? OK, even if we consider the US suddenly falls to Islamic fundamentalists and an Islamic-friendly EU forces Israel to do peace through a "peace-at-points-of-gun-barrels" deal, will Arab states wait for 3 and a half years to renege this deal? Will Arab state, under this condition (peace deal on their terms), willingly abandon the Temple Mount to allow the Jewish people to rebuild the Hebrew Temple over there? The answer is obviously a big no.
My take is that the Antichrist will be a surprising one.
We won't be around to ID him anyway.
Agreed. (Be prepared for onslaughts against us pre-tribbers now! ;-D Anyway even premillennialism is a very tiny minority here at FR.)
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