Brexit: A Milestone in Prophecy

Thank you, Mr. McQuillan. You set yourself up and you sang, so that was great. You're multi-talented.

Well, happy Sabbath!

You know, we live in momentous times, and I'm not talking about the 49ers tomorrow, okay? Talking about more momentous than that. Although that's pretty cool, isn't it?

So go Niners, right? But we live in momentous times. Let's see, do we have... are we fired up there? All right. And sometimes we need to be reminded as really how momentous they are. Here in the United States, we witnessed this week the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald J. Trump. Only the third time such a trial has taken place in 243 years since the Declaration of Independence was ratified on July 4th, 1776.

In remarks being sworn... in remarks upon being sworn in as a 38th president after the resignation of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford famously said that our long national nightmare is over.

But I think people will look back at the rancor, the division, and the partisan politics that have gripped this nation in our time, and I think they will call it a nightmare. Or as Judge Ken Starr said this week during the impeachment inquiry and trial, impeachment is tantamount to domestic war.

And as truly remarkable as the political events are taking place in this country that we're seeing and that we saw this week, I think an even greater event occurred yesterday which could be a milestone in prophecies leading to end time events. The United Kingdom left the European Union.

French President Emmanuel Macron commented that it was the first time in 70 years that a country had left the European Union. The Paris-based newspaper Le Monde led with the divorce is final.

After a 52% majority vote in 2016, citizens of the United Kingdom voted to leave, and now nearly four years later, and after the fall of two British governments, the separation has come and the ramifications have really only just begun.

The Prime Minister of Scotland, for example, Nicola Sturgeon, tweeted yesterday, Scotland will return to the heart of Europe as an independent country. Hashtag, leave the light on for Scotland.

And she predicts that Brexit will speed Scottish independence.

In an article for CNN on August 3rd, 2019, Luke McGee writes, Boris Johnson could be the last Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, with the view that the implications of Brexit and what's happening could lead the four member states of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England, to actually separate.

And now, with Britain out of the EU, the divide between the European Union and the United States only becomes wider.

So today, I want to remind us of some key prophetic events that will occur prior to the return of Jesus Christ and how yesterday's events may be connected to those in-time prophecies.

We'll discuss the biblical evidence for why the next world-ruling empire will come from Europe and why events here in the United States and Britain and Europe may be moving us closer to that next world-ruling empire. Now, this is a little bit different sermon than what we might hear. This is definitely a sermon squarely in the realm of prophecy. And I share these things so that we as God's people may raise our eyes and our consciousness and our awareness beyond our individual challenges, because we all have those.

And to be reminded that we are not just called to personal salvation, but we are called to be part of a body which preaches the gospel to the world and that part of that gospel says that God is not a far-off God, but God is a God that's very present and He's present in world events and He's directing world events according to His timetable. The title of today's message is Brexit, a milestone in prophecy. Brexit, a milestone in prophecy. So let's begin with our first point. I'd ask you to turn to Daniel 2. We're going to spend really all the sermon here in Daniel 2, looking at what the Scriptures say. And we'll look at the first point of the biblical evidence for why the next world-ruling empire will come from Europe. Some people say, well, the United States is that power that's described in the book of Revelation, or Iran, or great Islamic power is out of the Middle East.

In this sermon, I want to focus on the second part of Daniel 2. I gave a message on the first part of Daniel 2 and lessons in leadership and what we should be doing if we have challenges, and we're going to focus on the second part of Daniel 2 beginning in verse 31, where we have already been well aware of the events that led up to this dream that Nebuchadnezzar had. And in verse 31 to 35, we see that Daniel identifies what the dream was. That was the first thing he had to do. He had to actually tell the king what his dream was. And so let's look in Daniel 2, verse 31 to 35, and let's read this dream. Daniel says, You, O king, were watching, and behold, a great image. This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you, and its form was awesome. This image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them into pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away, so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. So this is the dream. This is the dream that he had, and he revealed the dream to him. And this dream, as we will see and as we have studied it before, becomes a template for understanding world events and events that lead up to the return of Jesus Christ. We'll see that God reveals to Daniel there are four parts of the statue, which I have up here as a picture, which represent four different kingdoms. And I know many of us have studied this before, but I think it's important to go through it, especially as we just witnessed this milestone less than 24 hours ago. So the first part of this that we see as we continue the story in verse 36 is that Daniel says that this this head of gold was Nebuchadnezzar. So let's read this in verse 36 to 38. It says, this is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation before the king.

You, O king, are the king of kings, for the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory. And wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, and the birds of heaven, he has given them into your hand, and he has made you ruler over them all. You are this head of gold.

So the Bible itself interprets the dream, and it says that this statue represents four kingdoms, and the first kingdom is identified. It's identified as Babylon. Now Babylon, as I have up here, was more of an eastern than western empire. It was located in the area what we now know as Iraq.

And that's what I've kind of circled up here with the with the red. And it was situated between the Tigris and Euphrates River. The kingdom of Babylon actually lasted for more than a thousand years. But at this time in the sixth century, as Daniel was talking to King Nebuchadnezzar, this is what's referred to by historians as the New Babylonian Empire. And the New Babylonian Empire was restored by Nebuchadnezzar. And at that time it ruled over pretty much all of the known world. And for as far as China and some other places that weren't really known at the time, it still was the the empire that truly ruled over civilization with this sort of small exception over in China. And the Bible interprets the dream as is described here. And it only lasted for 66 years.

And this was in itself a bit shocking because most people would have never thought this empire would have fallen so quickly. But this empire came to an abrupt end when the Persian Empire conquered it in 539 BC. So let's continue in verse 39. But after you shall arise, another kingdom inferior to yours will come. Or as it's referred to as inferior to yours. And this Babylonian Empire was followed by the Medo-Persian Empire, whose center is located in modern-day Iran. Now how do we know it was the Persian Empire? Does the Bible say it was the Persian Empire? Well, there's a lot of indications through Daniel which we won't go through. But we can just say very firmly that the reason that we know it's the Persian Empire is because the fall of the new Babylonian Empire was one of the most well-documented and discussed stories of the ancient world. Herodotus wrote about it extensively. And it was due in part to the brilliant strategy of the leader of the Persian Empire, Cyrus, who became Cyrus the Great, and his strategy to conquer the city of Babylon. Because the city of Babylon was considered to be impenetrable. And so his amazing skill in literally in one night without a fight taking the city of Babylon was one of the most recorded and discussed stories of the ancient world. In fact, Cyrus and what he did is so well known that in October of 1971, the former Shah of Iran, the Shah of Iran was overthrown by the Ayatollahs. And now today we deal with the republic, the Islamic Republic of Iran. But prior to the Iran that we know, there was a king or as they say, a Shah, which was friendly to the United States. And he held and presided over the 25th 100th anniversary, 2500 year anniversary of the Persian Empire, which occurred shortly before the fall of Babylon, where they honored Cyrus the Great at the city of Persepolis, which was the ancient capital. So when we discuss tensions with Iran, this is a little bit of a side, when we talk about tensions with Iran, or you hear about tensions with Iran in the news, you should realize that the Iranians have a long and storied history and are very proud of their history.

Even they gave a great deal of grief to the Romans through time. And certainly Cyrus the Great was the great conqueror of the Persian Empire. And there's many interesting stories in the Bible that we could talk about that took place during the time of the Medo-Persian Empire with Esther and so forth. But for sake of time, we will not go into those. So let's continue in verse 39. The next thing it says here, then another, a third kingdom of bronze. And this third kingdom of bronze we know is the Greco-Macedonian Empire. And again, how do we know that? Well, once again, these stories have been very well documented that there were very direct transitions between these empires. In this case, there was a man named Alexander III of Macedon, son of Philip of Macedonia, who became known as Alexander the Great. And he came up with an amazing strategy in battle that allowed him to conquer the known world at that time. And he began with the Persians. And he defeated the Persian armies at Granicus in 334 BC, followed by Issus in 333 BC, and lastly Gomugala in 331 BC. And so once that was done, he marched to Persepolis, the capital of Persia, and it surrendered in 330 BC. And what was the thing that he did as soon as he had conquered the Persians? He went to the tomb of Cyrus the Great, because he was going to be the successor. And he went to the tomb of Cyrus the Great, and he found that it had already been desecrated and robbed. And he was so upset that he rounded up the people that were responsible for it, and he put them on trial. And he restored the tomb of Cyrus the Great in honor of the great conqueror that he was. So there's a very direct connection both between the Persians taking Babylon and Alexander the Great taking the Medo-Persian Empire. Very well documented in history.

And so after the Greco-Roman Empire of Alexander, we see the beginnings of our modern Western civilization. We benefit from that Greco-Roman Empire even 2,000 years or more later.

I have a graphical map of world history in my home, and it shows that this this empire stretched from India all the way into Europe, and it lasted for a very, very short time because Alexander the Great died at the age of 32, and he left his empire to his four generals. And we won't take the time to look at the different things that are described in other parts of the Bible regarding this. And this kingdom continued until the Greco-Macazonian wars with Rome finally allowed Rome to take over from the Greeks. Let's continue in verse 40.

And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters all things, and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. So even during Alexander the Great's lifetime, he was concerned about Rome. At that time, there was a Roman Republic in the Italian peninsula there, and he was actually concerned about Rome at the time. But after his death, Rome slowly, eventually, was able to conquer all the territories. And the official dates that most historians choose for this is AD 27. So this transition actually took place while Jesus Christ as a man was alive on earth, in AD 27, under Augustus Caesar, where he put the entire Greek peninsula under Roman rule. But as I've described before, the Romans were as much conquered by the Greeks as the Greeks were conquered by the Romans, because the Romans adopted all of the Greek culture. If you were a rich Roman citizen, your children learned Greek. You might even have sent them to Greece to learn and study in the great academies there or into Alexandria. Even though Rome ruled Judea at the time of the first century, and Pontius Pilate spoke Latin, he had to speak Greek. And the Bible was not written in Latin, which was the dominant empire of the time. It was written in Greek, because Greek was the great language of the time. And so Rome asserted its dominance over the Greek empire, and Rome eventually became the biggest city in the world. And then the Roman empire split into two parts, the Eastern Empire with its capital in Constantinople, modern-day Istanbul and Turkey, and the Western Empire headquartered in Rome. The Western Empire falls in 479 AD, and the Eastern Empire falls nearly a thousand years later in 1453 AD. And so we have the two great legs of the statue of iron that swallowed up and conquered all the other empires before.

And there's very interesting reading about this, if you want to take the time to look at it, that the Persians pushed against the Romans, and the Romans pushed against the Persians, and the Romans prevailed, and then the Persians came back, and the Romans prevailed again. And Rome was truly this mighty empire in a way that the world has never seen. Now, the description here that we've read in Daniel 2, just these first few verses, this description and descriptions in other places in Daniel are so amazingly accurate that as early as 1800 years ago, scholars started saying, no way this could not have been written in the sixth century. And so there was an early scholar named Porphy of Tyre in the second century AD who claimed, no way, this was written during the time of anti-eistecopiphanes, this was written in the second century BC, this is way too accurate to be true. So people knew about the amazing accuracy of this prophecy even back then, and we're beginning to challenge it. We don't have the time today, but I would like to go through it another time with you. The remarkable evidence for a sixth century dating of Daniel, it's really remarkable. As many people who might want to say, no, it was written in the second century, there's really remarkable evidence for the fact that it indeed was written in the sixth century.

So what comes next in this timeline? What is the next thing in this timeline?

Well, let's look at Daniel 2, verse 41. Where as you saw the feet and toes partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay.

So the first thing that we have to say and identify about what comes next is there is no fifth empire.

There's no fifth empire. There are only four empires, and the last empire is the Roman Empire.

That is the Roman Empire, the legs. What you get down to, though, is some sort of resurrection or incarnation or some sort of retelling of the Roman Empire, but now this time in the toes mixed with clay. So it doesn't quite have the strength, but it does have some strength. So that's the first thing that's important to note is that there is not a fifth empire. That fifth empire is not the United States. That fifth empire is not some sort of Islamic thing that's, you know, way over on the side. That fourth empire is the last empire that is described in the vision and in the interpretation.

This is the critical point because a lot of people want to point to other places for what empire will exist, what world-ruling empire will exist at the time of Jesus Christ. So what happened to Rome and Constantinople? What happened? How did they fall? Well, we saw a the fall of these empires at the hands of Germanic peoples, at the hands of various peoples of the east, and from that we saw a progression of leaders claim the mantle of the successor to the Roman Empire. This is very explicit. This is not some sort of rereading of history. These were men, all men, who claimed to be the successor to the Roman emperors. One successor even called their kingdom the Holy Roman Empire. So if you hear the term Holy Roman Empire, don't be confused. That has nothing to do with the Roman Empire. It is a resurrection, some sort of incarnation of clay and iron and so forth that occurred a thousand years later. As my my son told me when he came back, I think it was your ninth grade history teacher. I'm looking back with ninth grade, ninth grade. Yeah, it was neither holy nor Roman, and likely not an empire. But that is how explicit these leaders were in identifying themselves as successors to this empire or continuing this empire. And so we call them often resurrections or reincarnations of the Roman Empire. Let's continue reading in verse 42. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, you will mingle with the seed of men, but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. And so these people could not quite stick together. There were just a few too many cultures, a few too many languages, a few too many differences in approach, different ethnicities. It's a very, very cluj thing. These people couldn't quite stick together, and they somehow had some power, but not the power of that of that Roman Empire that existed for so long. And so from the ashes of Rome and Constantinople, we see various minor kingdoms unite Europe. We saw the vandals, the Ostrogoths, the Haryalae, the imperial restoration under Justinian, where he ruled from Constantinople, the Frankish kingdoms under Charlemagne. Charlemagne, you might remember, defeated the Muslim Moors from Spain in 732 A.D., and he stopped the advance of Islam just short of Paris at the Battle of Tours. And from there, he was able to push the Moors back into Spain, where they remained over Spain until the very famous king and queen Ferdinand and Isabella, who famously gave the commission to Christopher Columbus. We see the aforementioned Holy Roman Empire that I mentioned that attempted to unite Europe, the Habsburg Empire, which is often associated with them and came after. And then, in the 19th century, we saw the rise of Napoleon.

And I encourage you, if you have not done it, to visit Paris and go to Napoleon's tomb. It is in a place called Les Invalides, and it is very close to the Eiffel Tower. And if you go to Napoleon's tomb, you will see that he fancied himself a Roman. In fact, he was born in Corsica, and Corsica was Italian just only a few months before he was born, and then it was taken over by the French. In fact, it was so well understood that he was nicknamed the Italian by the French. So, if you go to Napoleon's tomb, you will see him wearing the wreaths of the Roman emperors. You will see the imagery and the symbolism of Rome in that tomb. And then we have Mussolini, whose alliance with Nazi Germany saw the unification of Europe under a tyranny and dictator, a brutal dictatorship of the Third Reich. And this resurrection demonstrated to us that in modern times, there can be ruthlessness to these empires. And now, in our day, we have what is called the Grand European Experiment. That's what they call it, the Grand European Experiment.

The creation of the European Union in 1957, as many of you know, through what was called the Treaty of Rome. Treaty of Rome. And I want to read you a quotation from the Belgian foreign minister at the time of the signing of this treaty. In January 19, 1996, in the issue of Newsweek, it reported, and I quote, in January 1957, six nations signed a treaty on the site of the ancient Roman capital. They chose the Roman capital to sign this treaty.

They knew what they were doing. And they brought into being the European Economic Community. An aide to Paul Henry Spake, the Belgian foreign minister at the time, remembers that his boss said, quote, do you think that we have laid the first stone of a new Roman empire? He recalls the aide, quote, we felt very strongly we were Romans that day.

The architects of the current economic European Union, excuse me, knew what they were doing. They knew that they would be stronger together than apart. And yet, they struggle with all the languages and all the cultures and all the history as they try to meld this group together. In this regard, I want to quote a well-known French writer named Bernard Henry Leivis.

Bernard Henry Leivis is so famous in France, they don't even call him that. They call him BHL. So if you're in France and you're speaking about these things and you say, well, BHL wrote, everybody will know what you're talking about. He's that famous. He's actually considered one of the great intellectuals of modern-day Western civilization. His books, which are written in French, actually get translated in English, which are quite rare.

Typically, you're translated from English into other languages because English is the predominant language of the world. He wrote a book called The Empire and the Five Kings, America's Abdication and the Fate of the World.

Pretty heady stuff, right? That's what this guy talks about. This is what he thinks about all day. The Empire and the Five Kings. And this book was brought to my attention by Mr. Darius McNeely, when in April of last year after the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral. He had just finished reading the book, and all eyes were on Paris. This great icon of Western civilization had burned. And he shared a few thoughts from the book, which he thought were relevant with a few of us pastors and writers. And I want to read from the email he sent, and he quotes BHL in this email.

He says, Levee admires America in a D'Torkaville sort of way, but recognizes it has created a vacuum in the world in spite of its still formidable power and influence. He introduces his essay with the betrayal of the Kurds by America, leaving them to the mercy of other powers. To Levee, the Kurds are a forgotten, ethnic minority that represents the weak of the nations who have not been protected by larger predators.

While America had the power to protect them, it abdicated that power and is now withdrawing from the region. And we see this. We see the withdrawal from Syria. We see Russia stepping into the power vacuum and so forth. Into that vacuum comes what Levee calls the Five Kings.

These are Russia, Turkey, China, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. All five of these nations are able to go only so far, however. Levee does not think any of them have the vision, the culture, or the ability to either revive former glories or to ever achieve a true global reach like America, Britain, or other powers have done in the world. Here's a statement he makes about the Five Kings.

And I'm going to read just a little bit of this. He describes it. It's a little bit of a rough read because there's a lot of vocabulary in here that you've got to go to the dictionary for. He says, where in today's Iran, Turkey, China, Russia, and Arabia are the in spirits projects, the kingly works, the great books, the 21st century equivalents of the real and imaginary structures that were the glory of the ancient empires? Where are the colonnades, the esplanade, sacred and secular, the aesthetics, and the moral propositions, the fables capable of echoing what was said, and the frescoes of Persepolis? Where is the marvel of Attic powers? And so forth. He says, a civilization and thus an empire exists only if it has the strength to reproduce and to produce poets, saints, visionary, scholars, and characters larger than life.

So that is what Levy describes. Mr. McNeely continues, Levy concludes that none of the five are capable of a renaissance of any sort. There is only one ancient empire that has ever revived itself, the Roman Empire. Levy writes, and now he quotes, pray for the empire. Pray for the empire. Hope that Augustus may return. One man or woman, one spark, one accident can alter the course of things.

Let us hope to hear a Cox Crow signaling the return of day. This is one of Western civilization's greatest intellectuals asking us to pray that the Roman Empire would return. This is where we sit today. This is what is being talked about, which brings us to Brexit. Brings us to Brexit. Why are events in the United States, Britain, and Europe today pushing us towards this final world-ruling resurrection of this Roman Empire? Now, the United States and Britain have what is officially called a special relationship.

That is the term of art in the diplomatic world. We have a special relationship. There is no relationship in the world like the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom. In fact, yesterday Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of the UK, was quoted as saying, quote, America's special relationship with the UK will endure, flourish, and grow even stronger in this exciting new era which Britain now begins. That was his message.

We're going to get closer to the United States. We're going to become even stronger in our relationship. And the prospect of a European Union without Britain is a very different prospect than it with Britain. Because if we think about the European Union rising to the level of a world-ruling empire such that it would potentially dominate the United States and subjugate the United States, it's hard to imagine Britain being part of that European Union. And so now with Britain's departure from the European Union, it's going to move closer now to the United States and Britain will now move farther away because it doesn't have the mitigating influence of Britain and that special relationship. And these cultural ties between the United States and Britain, these linguistic ties, these cultural ties, and if you've read our booklet on the United States and Britain in Prophecy, you know much longer ties than that. According to an MSNBC article dated July 18, 2019, titled What Brexit Could Mean for the US Economy, it says, there may well be an attempt on the UK side, at least to foster a closer economic relationship with the US, to make up for the loss of ties with the EU. And so as time goes by, very likely we will see an alignment of the US and the UK vis-a-vis an alignment of European interests and actually in opposition to European interests.

And while the UK and the US become closer, driven by Brexit, European sits now between the power of the East, what it sees, these five kings, and the fading empire of the United States. With this backdrop, France and Germany, the two remaining great world economies within the EU, are reacting to US foreign policy shifts that are leading them to call for a new European army. I'd like to quote an article on the website foreignpolicy.com titled Europe is Ready for Its Own Army. As the United States retreats, the EU is shaping its own military. By Aizim Ibrahim from September of last year. And now I'm going to quote, Trumpism is no longer a blip, but the new political direction. An emboldened president is determined to continue his policies with renewed vigor and ensure his legacy is entrenched. A world where the United States no longer wishes to be the world's policeman. A world where an American president declares NATO the cornerstone of American defense policy since World War II obsolete. A world where political instability is used as leverage to extract monetary contributions or trade concessions from nominal allies. A world where the political base of the President of the United States regards the Kremlin as a closer ally and friend than any American of a different political party. Four years ago, I'm continuing to quote, four years ago this would have been a pretty tenuous premise for an alternative history fiction film. They're saying everything I just read four years ago would have been inconceivable, except in maybe some sort of weird film. Today that world is very real. And European leaders are already thinking about how to cope with the world's world. And European leaders are already thinking about how to cope with the scenario where they face a resurgent empire to the east and a fading and no longer friendly superpower in the west. Under these conditions, a real European army could emerge for the first time. France has its own highly developed arms industry and runs its own missions and deployments, notably in Francophone Africa, without asking anyone to come. France is almost never not at war, either officially or unofficially. France coordinates European defense projects through Airbus and the European Space Agency. So it would not be surprising that France has been the first call for the formation of a European army. What is new, however, is that most other western countries agree, and most significantly, Germany agrees. France is the muscle, Germany is the money, the union of the two is a game changer. This is a quote from formerpolicy.com. People see this coming. They see the rise of a European state with its own army.

We should be aware of the mainstream foreign policy analysts and thinkers see titanic... titanic? titanic? Tectonic, excuse me. Maybe titanic for some. Tectonic shifts in the world order, taking place before our very eyes. And you know, I'll tell you what my eyes look at. They look at what's around me. They look at the Super Bowl tomorrow. They look at the impeachment last week. They look at people moving out of California. That's what we tend to look at, right? So let's look beyond that and realize these are tectonic shifts in major diplomacy around the world. Shifts which are pushing Europe towards its Roman roots, including its own military, and a counterweight to America's shifting policy objectives.

Okay, so why is this important? So let's go to Daniel 2, verse 44, continuing. It says, And in the days of these kings, right, this is what's important because in the days of these kings, this is when we see the return of Jesus Christ. And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people. It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. In the days of these kings, and we don't have the time to go through it today, but there's a lot of other indications about this is the tenth incarnation of this Roman Empire, and this is what we believe in the Church of God.

You don't need to turn there, but I'll put it up on the screen. Luke 21, verse 36 says, And so as we cross this milestone, as I said, less than 24 hours ago, let us focus on the prophetic implications and be ready to be judged by our elder brother for the lives that we are leading right now.

We should not be distracted, as I told you, I can be distracted. We can be distracted. Let's not be distracted from making progress on vital, personal character issues.

Either by an undue focus on prophetic events, sometimes people get so into this it's all they do, or by political processes, which are literally taking over our radio programs with gavel-to-gavel coverage.

Or even for that matter, mainstream Christian agendas. We don't need to be all into all those things. They can distract us from what we should be doing.

It's too easy to give our attention to U.S.-centric political polarization, mainstream Christian agenda, conspiracy theories, and speculation about things that are nowhere described in Scripture.

America's culture wars are not our wars. They're not our wars. We don't need to be involved in that.

We fight against our selfish, carnal nature. We fight against spiritual powers of evil. And we fight the good fight of faith for salvation.

We are not responsible, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5, verse 12 and 13, to judge and stand in judgment of the conduct of people in this world.

Only God has that responsibility. We don't need to get all up in arms about that stuff. God takes care of it. He directs these events.

And when I see the moral degradation and I see the things happening, I try and focus on where it's going prophetically. Because if you don't, it can be pretty depressing.

And then we're all wrapped up. Well, we've got to get this fixed. We've got to do this and we've got to do that. Let's focus on the prophetic events that come.

We are to judge ourselves. That's what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 31. But we are to judge ourselves.

So many times people can focus on prophecy or political events as a way of avoiding difficult personal reflections on their own shortcomings.

The quest for the identity of the 144,000. Countdowns of 2,520 years. Who are the beasts in the book of Revelation?

We don't need to be distracted by that. We need to be focused on healing family wounds, feeling the pain of pushing through difficult situations, building holy and righteous character, and learning what godly love really means in resisting sin in our lives.

I think we need to be reminded of prophetic events as I believe Brexit is a prophetic event, so that our faith in God's sovereignty will be strengthened and that we might know how to understand what we're seeing.

And we know who's in charge. So I encourage you all to study into these events in a balanced way. Be aware of them. Be informed. And more importantly, grow in our sense of urgency to address the things that we need to address in our lives, so that we might be ready to stand before Christ at His coming.