The Baptist Pillar © Brandon Bible Baptist Church 1992-Present www.baptistpillar.com
"...The church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."
I Timothy 3:15
The Final Empire
Art Sadlier
From Sound the Trumpet, September 2014
The climate of the last days, according to scripture, will be an environment of great deception. Jesus warned of this in Matthew 24:24-25, “For there shall arise false Christ’s, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before.”
Paul warned of the same last days deception in 2 Thessalonians 2:8-11, “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:”
The church has been deceived in these last days. Many no longer understand what the church is to be and what the church is to be doing. The world is being integrated into the church, in spite of the fact that Jesus said that the believer is not to love the world neither the things of the world. When the world comes into the church its candlestick is removed and it ceases to exist as a church of Christ. That procedure is indelibly marked on the history of the Church and we see it accelerating these last days.
Today the gospel has been lost in much of the church by the incorporation of easy-believe-ism into the message, changing the gospel into a gospel that is not the gospel. It has become a message that can no longer save the soul. It is a message that produces pseudo Christians. This is not a new phenomenon, Paul tells us it occurred in the first century.
Galatians 1:6-7, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.”
Great deception has swept the world in recent days. The meaning of life has been lost, the foundations of society have been destroyed and men and women have lost their way and are confused, not knowing where they have come from or where they are going. Governments are disoriented and confused and have no compass to direct them. Governments are led by men who have a world view that has been perverted by a lack of the wisdom that is from above.
The Word of God warns us of a great time of deception that will occur in the last days, as we have noted above.
Deception is to believe that the truth is a lie. In our present environment, men and women believe everything they hear and read in the media without testing it to determine if it is truth. A lie becomes the truth if it is repeated often enough to an undiscerning heart.
Satan is the great deceiver and his master tool for deception in these last days is the media. We have all watched the media distorting the truth at almost every turn for some time now. The media has deceived our generation by repeating lies. The media has forced its agenda upon society in many areas .The gay agenda has been forced upon our society by the constant repeating of lies by the media. The moral values of society have been reversed by the deception of the media. Socialism has been thrust upon us by the media. Right has been presented as wrong and wrong has been presented as right. The art of spinning or twisting the truth has been perfected by the media, spinning the truth is the essence of deception.
For instance, in 2010 the movie Avatar was released to become one of the biggest truth-spinning blockbuster movies of all time. The concept behind the movie was the ability of humans to transfer their consciousness into an alternative host body. The media classified the movie as the best Science Fiction movies ever released. The media projected that such technology would be many years away.
But the reality is that the avatar concept is not science fiction because a trans-humanist agenda is already working on the development of an avatar with almost unlimited funding and the use of some the most sophisticated technologies such as bioengineering, nanotechnology, cognitive science and cybernetics. [Among other things this would seem to be preparation for the fulfillment of Revelation 13:14-15]
The point is that the media shapes and influences and deceives society.
Back in 2013 there was another agenda of the media with regard to Europe. The news media incessantly spread the word that the European Union was in crisis and falling to pieces. In Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland; the EU was being destroyed by their national debt crisis. Events in Cypress were also presented as another nail in European coffin as all banks were closed and all savings accounts in every bank were frozen for nearly a week.
Instead of seeing the events as a sign of rising super-power, the media proclaimed that the European dream was coming to a disastrous end deceiving the world as to what is really happening. The masses of the people are conditioned into thinking that the media is always right and digest what the media says as truth.
However there are those who have been able to see that the idea of the failure of the EU is a covert plan to implement a one world government.
The truth is that the media deception on the European Union is strong but not strong enough to prevent a few from noticing that behind the chaos and emergency meetings of EU leaders and the continual bailout of national governments, that something else odd is happening.
There are men like Nigel Farage, a member of the European Parliament, who is wise enough to see a trend of the EU forcing indebted countries to their knees, removing their leaders, resisting democratic elections and putting in EU replacements, men who are already committed to a United States of Europe at the expense of national sovereignty.
He believes that the nerve center of Europe in Brussels and Berlin are actually seeing the collapse of the national economies of Europe as a blessing in disguise. The global collapse of 2008 and its domino effect; actually helped to provide the justification for Germany and the European Central Bank in bringing in new draconian powers to force Europe into a Union that can no longer be resisted.
It is also noteworthy that the first Jesuit Pope has been elected as the EU is preparing for a transformation of major global implications.
Many are just shaking their heads and thinking that Europe is in a fatal crisis and that the biblical prophecies concerning the revival of the Roman Empire are incorrect. They are assuming the media to be correct in what it says about the European Union being a failed experiment.
The truth is that today the European Union has the world’s biggest economy, it has the most Fortune 500 companies and it attracts the most American investment.
Romano Prodi, a former president of the European Commission stated: “Europe’s time is almost here. In fact, there are many areas of world affairs where the objective conclusion would have to be that Europe is already the world’s superpower, and that the US must follow our lead.”
Leading economic analysts all over the world are saying that despite the global depression and Europe’s financial chaos that the European Union will rise to replace the US as the next economic superpower.
Those who have jettisoned the biblical prophecies concerning the Revived Roman Empire and the rise of antichrist out of Europe and have replaced it with a Muslim antichrist have erred in their understanding of Scripture and in their evaluation of current events.
It is consistent with the rise of Europe to super power status, to see that antichrist will arise out of the EU. The EU is being shaped in such a way as to make it an institution through which the antichrist can arise and be revealed. Respected Bible scholars have come to the conclusion that the Bible provides overwhelming proof that there will be a revival of the Roman Empire in the last days.
The EU is now receiving approval by the UN to have the same status and rights as independent nations, with the right to speak, the right to make proposals and the right to submit amendments on UN law and resolutions. This will give the EU antichrist an opportunity to reposition Europe as the world’s dominant superpower backed by the Vatican.
The EU and Antichrist have a European and Religious Legacy
A right understanding of the European Union as it exists today must come from the context of what has happened in previous centuries. The Roman Empire was at the height of its power at the time of Christ. It had ascended to world domination through the decline of the Grecian empire.
Rome had one currency, one religion, one army and one ruler, the emperor. The religion of Rome was paganism that was composed largely of the belief systems and ideas that originated in ancient Babylon. Rome fell into decline and was overrun by the barbarian hordes.
The Christian Church started by the apostles had undergone a major, damaging and largely unrecognized change during the rule of one of the last emperors, Constantine. During that time the rituals and beliefs from pagan Rome had filtered into the hierarchy of the Church.
Rome virtually disappeared off the scene and the Roman Catholic Church filled the power vacuum and declared itself to be the Holy Roman Empire. They claimed they had a mandate from God through its Popes; it was to bring Christianity to the world, regardless of the method and to guarantee the survival of the legacy of Rome. That mandate fits perfectly into the scenario of the harlot church of Revelation 17 and the Revived Roman Empire as the kingdom of antichrist.
So as we consider what has gone before we can easily see how the Revived Roman Empire, the Catholic Church and antichrist fit into the climax of history. Remember that the last days are the consummation of the ages that have gone before.
One author has stated, “It seems that the bishops want the EU to become an extension of the Catholic Church, by confirming that European civilization, in the words of the Pope, “Emerged because the seed of Christianity was planted deep in Europe’s soil.”
The European Parliament building in Strasbourg has been deliberately designed to represent the Tower of Babel, as per the famous painting by Peter Brueghel. The reasoning behind this symbol is that the European Union is seeking to “build the house of Europe,” a task that is yet to be completed.
The building is now finished, but it is designed to appear unfinished, and even has a ring of scaffolding built into it. In a widely known quote from the Internet by an EU official when asked “Why the Tower of Babel”? His reply stated. “What they failed to complete 3000 years ago, we in Europe will finish now.”
This again emphasizes the two-fold nature of the revival of the Roman Empire, Babylon had two components –a universal government and a universal religion.
Another example of this scenario is found in the European flag. The European flag is dark blue and has 12 stars in a circle. In a Dutch, Catholic periodical, “Middelares en Koningin,” April 1974, we find the headline: “Under the Protection of Mary,” it states among other things: “We Catholics will always, when we see the blue color, perceive it as the color of the Queen of Heaven (it is also called Mary blue).
On the imprint of the new Euro we also find 12 stars on both coins and paper money. No matter how many members the EU will consist of, there will always be 12 stars. Why just 12 stars? Why not the number of the membership countries? The indication is evident that the 12 stars in a circle on the European Union flag took its inspiration from the worship of Mary by the Catholic Church. In the Catholic Church, the Queen of Heaven, Mary, with the 12 stars around her head, is a well-known motif. (It is the result of a misinterpretation of Revelation 12:1)
The vehicle for consolidating the EU and limiting the power of individual states is the European Court of Justice (ECJ). It has risen from relative obscurity to become an important and influential part of the European Union. Despite its relative unobtrusiveness the ECJ has become a powerful force and yields more authority than most other international courts. The court has been using its power to propagate further European integration. It is the most serious threat to the independence and freedoms of the national governments. Some believe it will be the vehicle that antichrist uses to come to power.
In Revelation 13 we see an image of the beast is to be created in the likeness of antichrist:
“And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed” (Revelation 13:14-15).
It is certainly not without significance that the EU has committed to fund the “Human Brain Project” involving more than 1.19 billion euro’s and involving more than 80 European and international research institutions.” This is developing the potential to produce an Avatar as a host for the dead antichrist. This avatar could host the brain of antichrist which could be totally indwelt and controlled by Satan himself.
It is not hard to envision this Avatar of antichrist performing astounding miracles for the world to witness. It would be but a short step to bring the world to worship it and thus worship Satan who indwells and controls it.
It is also not hard to envision this computer-like image to fulfilling verses 16-17, “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
I acknowledge that this does involve some speculation, but it is not without scriptural support, yet we should major on the things in scripture that are clear and plain. We ought not to allow ourselves to be consumed in speculations about prophecy. Prophecy is intended to change our lives and prepare our hearts for the coming of our Lord and Saviour, not to tickle our imagination.
I conclude with the reminder that the prophecies of Daniel and John in the book of Revelation are now being fulfilled and that antichrist will arise out of the superpower that is now arising in Europe.
Keep your eye on Rome and on Israel and look up for coming of Christ is drawing very near.