According to International Herald Tribune columnist Judy Dempsey, German Chancellor Angela Merkel recommended to Berlin cabinet officers that the Fatherland not support a NATO peacekeeping venture in Lebanon because it would be "too strongly identified with the United States" (Aug. 1).

Germany is also cool to an EU peacekeeping force. In fact, as a whole "Europe has no stomach for such a force despite its strong economic and political ties to the region . . . Most EU countries will be unwilling militarily and politically to enter into the fray" (ibid.).

European nations are concerned about internal Islamic reaction to an EU or even a NATO force. The deputy leader of the Reichstag (the German parliament), Wolfgang Bosbach, stated that "there are at least 900 supporters of Hezbullah and 300 of Hamas in our country. We are being very careful."

But Bible prophecy shows that the time will come when the "king of the North," the leader of an emerging European-centered superpower, will intervene in the Middle East by sending a military force there. Apparently that time is not yet. Europe's democracies now have a mind to let the UN sort things out.

Yet the Bible foretells that the heart of Europe will eventually revert to a dictatorship. And the head of that government, as well as the government itself, is referred to as "the Beast." Prophecy foretells a seventh and final rebirth of the ancient Roman Empire in Europe—a confederation of 10 nations ruled by a superdictator and a charismatic religous leader the Bible calls "the False Prophet" (Revelation 17:12-13; 19:20). This coming power will not hesitate to take firm action in the Middle East. GN

To understand much more, please request or download our free booklets The Middle East in Bible Prophecy, The Book of Revelation Unveiled and Are We Living in the Time of the End?