More Sobering World Events

Joel Rosenberg's blog is a great place to keep up with current world events that affect Israel and the Middle East.  Over the past couple weeks, he has posted on some more new happenings that seem to fall in line with Biblical prophecy.  Check it out:

An intriguing new geopolitical entity was born over the weekend that could in ways small and large dramatically change the course of Europe and the Middle East in the years ahead. At a series of ceremonies in Paris -- in a palace overlooking the River Seine -- leaders from 43 countries comprising 756 million people met officially to form the "Mediterranean Union," to fight terrorism, end WMD proliferation, enhance regional security, and promote free trade, economic development, and tourism. The brainchild of French President Nicolas Sarkzozy, the M.U. is certainly not a formal military or economic alliance by any stretch. Not yet, at least. But significantly, it does include all the nations of the European Union, Israel and all the countries of North Africa. The sole exception is Libya, whose leader, Muammar Gadaffi, denounced the organization as the rise of "another Roman Empire." Gadaffi is right. That's precisely what we're seeing.

Sarkozy and his colleagues are ecstatic about what they're doing and where it could lead. They see a unified Europe setting the model for a unified planet. A one world system, run by Europe. And the first step, in the eyes of the "Eurocrats" is to expand their territory southward. "The European and the Mediterranean dreams are inseparable," Sarkozy said at the opening festivities. "We will succeed together; we will fail together....We will build peace in the Mediterranean together, like yesterday we built peace in Europe...not north against south, not Europe against the rest, but united....We dreamed about a Union for the Mediterranean, and now it is a reality."

Skeptics and cynics abound as to what will really come of all this. But as I have written about before, it is worth noting that Bible prophecies indicate that in the last days the world will witness the resurrection of the Roman Empire. The Scriptures tell us that eventually a global dictator who will come to be known to the world as the "Antichrist" will be a European leader of Roman origin. I have absolutely no idea who that person will be, but that is not the point. The point is that sixty years ago, Europe was the most war-torn, economically ravaged and politically divided continent on the planet. It had just waged two horrific world wars, committed genocide, and would soon launch a fifty year Cold War (complete with the Berlin Wall, NATO and the Warsaw Pact) as well. During those dark years, few could have imagined that in 2007, Europe would have one currency, one increasingly unified political system, borderless crossings, and that all this would be based on a treaty signed in Rome on March 25, 1957. Indeed the first draft of the new European constitution was signed in Rome as well, on October 29, 2004. It has been ratified by 18 of 27 countries. It's not yet clear how soon it will be ratified by the rest, but for better or for worse, Europe's new leaders not only want to get it done -- they now want to expand their Union to include Israel and as many Mideast countries as possible. Another trend worth watching closely.

You may be tempted to chalk it up to conspiracy theory or discard it as religious nonsense, but if you think that, I'd suggest you look further into Rosenberg's track record of predicting world events.  It's scary how often he is right, so you ignore him at your peril.  Rosenberg also mentions "the discovery of a ancient stone tablet dated not long before the birth of Jesus that strongly suggests that religious Jews of the day were expecting the coming of a Messiah who would suffer, die, and be resurrected three days later. Most Rabbis and other Jewish scholars have long argued that the death and resurrection of a Jewish Messiah was a 'Christian' invention, not part of long-established Jewish thought or Biblical teaching. But a front-page story in Haaretz, a leading Israeli newspaper, just a few days ago has a lot of people asking: Are Jews really supposed to believe their Messiah will actually die and rise again, and was this really Orthodox religious thinking before the time of Jesus?"

This sort of re-awakening in the Jewish community is also predicted in the Bible.  Are these more examples of our world speeding toward its end?  It's not just Rosenberg who speculates that way.  Take a look at this story from OneNewsNow.com a couple weeks ago:

Christian Zionist Jim Hutchens says the recent homosexual pride parade in Jerusalem merely contributed to the moral climate that will bring about the besieging of Jerusalem foretold by prophets of the Bible.

Homosexuals and their supporters marched through the Holy City Thursday in direct defiance of the Hebraic scriptures as Orthodox Jews held a counter protest nearby. The so-called "gay pride" parade was allowed to proceed after Israel's Supreme Court rejected a petition to ban the event.

Hutchens, president of The Jerusalem Connection International (TJCI), says the Bible warns of a worldwide moral decline that affects the Holy Land as well. "There is a judgment that God brings worldwide and on Israel, as a matter of fact. And I think those are the events that lead up to what we refer to as Armageddon, the apocalyptic besieging of Jerusalem," Hutchens contends.

Now, back to Rosenberg.  In another recent post, he echoes a story I mentioned not long ago, questioning a recent IAEA report that Iran may already have nuclear weapons capabilities:

"The IAEA's latest report of Iranian nuclear capabilities noted several covert developments 'which should be cause for some concern': Developments of nuclear detonators, high-end experiments involving conventional explosives made to accelerate nuclear warheads' fission and underground nuclear testing facilities.

The most disconcerting find, however was that of computer files suggesting Iran already possesses – and may have already tested – a full-fledged nuclear warhead. To make matters worse, the Swiss authorities have recently discovered even more computer files suggesting Abd al-Kader Khan did more than draw plans for a simple nuclear warhead – he may have also provided the Iranians with the blueprints for a new, extremely small nuclear warhead, which can be installed atop ballistic missiles."

In the light of Iran's recent test of ballistic missiles (which was admittedly clumsy, but would you rather deal with a competent crazy dictator with nukes or an incompetent crazy dictator with nukes? does it really matter?) this development takes on special significance.

I'm not necessarily saying these guys are right and, to borrow the old cliche, that 'the end is near'.  I am saying there's more than enough credibility here that these events bear some serious thought and contemplation.

There's my two cents.