[Darris McNeely] In the previous BT Daily in this series, we talked about the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the EU, what has been called “Brexit”, on March 29th, triggering their formal process to actually take themselves out of the European Union. There’s one other point that I want to make about this that speaks to a much larger issue and helps us to tie together a few things that we should understand.

I’ve got on the board here a mathematical formula – what does it mean? Trump plus Putin – Trump, the American president; Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia – Trump plus Putin plus Brexit – the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union – equals question mark. What does it equal? How do we tie all these together and understand something about what is taking place in the world today, kind of the spirit of the age of our entire global order at this point, that helps us connect something to something deeper in Bible prophecy?

I think all of us recognize as we have been watching world events and American news especially, that President Trump’s decision or his campaign slogan, to “make America great again”, carried the day for him into the White House, leadership of the United States.

Vladimir Putin has been involved in leading Russia in one form or the other for more than seventeen years, and his particular form of leadership has been quite controversial and certainly quite different from many other leaders, but he has brought Russia back to a key role in European affairs, far above their own abilities, their weight, their economic power. Russia in many ways is a poor country, but they are a nuclear power, and Vladimir Putin has done something to regain sovereignty and the national determination of Russia.

The United Kingdom’s decision to remove itself from the EU essentially comes down to, again, the idea of wanting to determine their own order in the world, their own place in the world, and nationalism, their own borders – a lot of the issues dealing with immigration, laws, enacting their own laws – has all been behind the United Kingdom’s decision to remove itself from this larger global order called the EU.

The EU represents something in the world today that is called “globalism”. All right? One world. Some people call it “one world order”, but the idea of breaking down national barriers, uniting people under one form of government, one currency, one idea, one plan – that’s what the EU is all about in this global order, this global world that we’re in right now.

Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and the leadership of the people and their vote in the United Kingdom, have taken a step back from that. “Make America great again”, Russia’s sovereignty, control over their borders, immigration, their own laws. All of this speaks to a desire called “nationalism” or “national identity”. America, Russia, Britain. And that runs against the form and the course of globalism. Of course, the world has been on for a long, long period of time, but especially in recent years, with the EU and other arrangements, trade agreements have been made and backed out of that shape our world in many different ways.

And that’s why President Trump has met a great deal of opposition, there’s a great deal of even misunderstanding as to the intention behind Vladimir Putin’s actions, and of course a great deal of reaction both against and for what is happening with Brexit, the UK, and the EU.

Putting all this together, there is something we should understand when we bring in the overarching view of Bible prophecy. And this is where Beyond Today and our worldview helps to understand what all this means, and essentially, where this is going in terms of the global desires of so many in the world today.

In Revelation chapter 13, in verses 7 and 8, is described a world power that arises in the time of the end, and it says in verse 8 of this section that, “Authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation, and all who dwell on the earth will worship him” (Revelation 13:7-8). What is being described here is a political authority, a political power, over the earth on a global scale. A world authority truly is being described here. In Revelation chapter 17 then, in verse 13, the same system is described as receiving power from ten kings who have “one mind and they give their power and authority to,” (Revelation 17:13) what is called here in the biblical terminology, “a beast” – a political power and authority that is, again, on a world scale.

Now, where this comes from, the timing of it, and the implications – there’s a great deal more questions and understanding about that to talk about from the Bible. But the very last verses and chapters of the Bible, and the story of God’s plan and purpose being worked out on this earth, speaks to a global authority that develops unlike any that has ever been seen, even something beyond – far beyond – what we even can look and see in our world order today. Which is why when leadership like these three represented by these three entities opt for a national sovereignty and the identity of a people – America, Russia, Britain – it backs away from anything like this and meets the opposition, the controversy, and the problems that we have today. That’s one part of understanding exactly what is taking place today and why understanding how the three of these are working into the global order raises a number of questions and issues for us to understand under this particular umbrella of globalism. But when we put in the view of God from the Scriptures, it helps to give it shape and understanding.

That’s one thing to understand about what is taking place today with Brexit and some of the other issues on the larger world scene.

That’s BT Daily. Join us next time.