World News and Trends: Relentless push for a European superpower
Noted feature writer Ambrose Evans-Pritchard recently raised the alarm again about the new European draft constitution. He wrote: "Valery Giscard d'Estaing bills his 263-page draft constitution as a 'great leap forward' in European integration" (The Daily Telegraph, Sept. 10).
And if adopted, indeed it will be! The article continues: "It effectively doubles the power of the European Parliament, puts the European Commission in charge of vast fields of justice and home affairs, and turns the European Court into a fully fledged supreme court with powers to rule in most areas of national life. It creates a full time EU president ... It whittles down the national veto in roughly 40 new areas ... It creates an EU justice department, Eurojust, with powers to launch cross-border investigations into a wide range of crimes."
European Commission President Romano Prodi predicts that this new constitution "will catapult the EU into the global arena as a full superpower." Apparently under its terms, the European Union will have sole authority to negotiate most treaties. What is going to happen to national sovereignty in Europe?
David Hughes, political editor of The Daily Mail, recently reported that "the European Commission demanded even more powers—and one key member even spoke of the body becoming a 'veritable government for Europe'" (Sept. 18). According to Walter Russell Mead, "France hopes that the European Union will grow into a superpower that, under French leadership, will challenge the U.S. for world leadership" (Los Angeles Times, March 30).
As the Scriptures clearly indicate, lust for power is a universal weakness that has dogged mankind almost since our first parents left the Garden of Eden. It is one of the chief ingredients of the downside of our human nature. And when it is expressed through the medium of dictators of powerful nations, it often leads to disastrous results—sometimes with many millions of lives lost. Witness Hitler, Stalin and Tojo in the 20th century.
You cannot afford to be unaware of where these European trends and events are surely taking humankind. For further biblical information, please request our free booklet You Can Understand Bible Prophecy. (Sources: The Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail [both London], The Los Angeles Times.)
An Article from:
Good News Magazine: November - December 2003
Course Content
Jerold Aust
Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.
Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978). Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps. Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
