What Brexit May Mean in Biblical Prophecy, Part 2

Well, good afternoon, brethren! Happy Sabbath once again! Great to see all of you with us today. We'll see how warm it can get in here. Well, it was about a month ago that the British electorate stunned the world by voting to leave the European Union. And today I'd like to give the second part of the two-part series explaining why this happened and what it may ultimately mean in world events. In part one, we looked at the Book of Daniel, if you will remember, and the highlights of chapters two and chapter seven. Let's just go over those very quickly. Review of Daniel chapter two. There were four empires that were represented on a huge statue that Nebuchadnezzar saw, and it was comprised of four different metals. The fourth part of that statue, the one closest to the ground, was the fourth empire, and it was depicted as having two feet and ten toes. And as verse 41 explains, the final phase of this restoration of this fourth empire was symbolized by the feet and the toes, and they were mixed, made together with iron and clay, which means it was not very strong. The text clearly implies that this final restoration of the Roman Empire will be marked by some sort of confederation, a loose confederation rather than one strong homogenous peoples and one strong homogenous nation. The ten toes of the two feet represent the ten rulers. Daniel said that during the latter times, these ten rulers, Christ would return to earth to set up the kingdom of God on earth. And we all pray, I'm sure, every day thy kingdom come.

The union will involve ten rulers or nations together who will become, for a short period of time, and we'll see later on for three and a half years, who will become a superpower, an incredible dynamic superpower. And it will happen so quickly, because Satan, as we'll see a little later, literally gives his power to this beast. So they will have supernatural power behind them that goes beyond the earthly abilities of just mere humans and people, and it's for that reason that this incredible empire will rise so quickly, so strongly to become a superpower. So it's something that will happen in our world. This is a vital important prophecy about the time just before the second coming of Jesus Christ. And again, we reviewed that last time. Then we took a look at Daniel 7. This was a dream that Daniel himself had, and it was the same four empires, but this time they were represented by dreadful-looking beasts. The fourth beast had ten horns, and, aside from that, a little horn that plucked up the first three of those ten horns and pulled them out by their roots. If you'll remember the story of the little horn spoken of in verses 8 and 11 of Daniel 7, again, we saw that last time, is a powerful, organized church whose leader speaks pompous words, makes florative pronouncements. He claims to be infallible. He claims to be a vicar, the one who speaks for Christ or one who is in place of Jesus Christ as his direct representative on earth. This little horn exalts himself into a position of international, powerful religious leader, overseeing a false religious system that has persecuted and will continue to persecute the church of Jesus Christ. This little horn, before it reached prominence, the same verse says that three of the first horns were plucked out by its roots. This was a prophecy that was fulfilled by three Germanic tribes that briefly subdued Rome in the fifth and sixth centuries immediately after its collapse and before the Roman church gained a great amount of influence. They were non-Roman. They ruled for a short period of time, only for about 70 years, the three invasions, the three phases of these Germanic tribes, and they virtually have been swept in the dustpan of history. The ten horns are a reference to the great power of Rome, which crushed all who opposed it. It would have ten revivals. So this Roman system, through its periodic revivals, down through history, continues right up until the time of Jesus Christ and his return to rule the earth. So that's a recap on what we covered last time. Let's now go to Revelation chapter 13, if you will turn there with me. And we'll see the same images discussed by the Apostle John in a slightly different way, but oftentimes with the same meaning and the same context as he writes in a vision that he saw in Revelation chapter 13. Revelation chapter 13 beginning in verse 1.

So the seven heads do not include the three that had been plucked out by their roots. These were the seven restorations of the Roman Empire that would be influenced in a dramatic way by this religious system centered in Rome. So again, I want to emphasize that its last restoration is comprised here of ten nations or horns in an economic and military alliance. It is the inheritor of a secular political system and philosophy that actually goes all the way back to ancient Babylon and ancient Egypt. It's an autocratic philosophy. It's a culture of dominance. It's a culture of submission in anything that's in its way. Very quickly, here are the seven historical restorations of that Roman Empire. The first was Justinian's imperial restoration about 550 AD. Now, you may recall in Nebuchadnezzar's dream that the statue had two legs. So by the time you get down to two feet and the ten toes, there were two legs. Eventually, the Roman Empire split up into an Eastern Empire and a Western Empire. The Western Empire collapsed. And it was actually Justinian, who was the emperor of the Eastern Empire, who, as we will see, healed a wound after the original Roman Empire collapsed in the West, and came and drove out the Germanic tribes and healed that wound and brought back the glory of the original Roman Empire. Anyway, Justinian was the first, and he was about 550 AD. The second was Charlemagne, who was considered in history as the Holy Roman Emperor. He reigned about 800 AD. The third is Otto I, also called the Great Emperor. He reigned and once again brought back the glory of Rome about 962 AD. The fourth was Charles V, the Habsburg Empire, which again was considered a Holy Roman Empire about 1530. The fifth occurred around 1800 AD, and it was Emperor Napoleon I. Napoleon was actually crowned by Pope Pius II at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

So he was crowned by the Pope himself as the King of the Roman Empire. And, of course, he declined and fell, and the sixth was a short period of time with the German and Italian Fascist powers from 1939 to 1945. And it's an interesting history. That's how the Vatican got its present borders. Italy at the time of Mussolini, who was a fascist, negotiated with the Catholic Church in many ways to create the Catholic Church that we know of today. That's a fascinating history if you ever get time to study it. And then, number seven is yet to come. It's going to be whatever evolves from the European Union, the EU, and we'll talk about that to conclude our sermon today. And it will be the seventh, the Confederation of Ten Nations. Now let's pick it up again here in verse 2.

And his mouth is like the mouth of a lion, like a bold roar. Very frightening, very loud, very dogmatic. He has the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power. So this is an incredible superpower in which Satan allows it to have powers that are beyond the norms of what we see in our physical world. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, his great authority, and I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. This is the fall of the original Roman Empire. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. So the dragon is Satan the devil, the god of this world, who is behind earthly events and influences the beast that are mentioned in this chapter that we will discuss. This beast is given supernatural power that aughts the world, as we will see shortly. So after decades of decline, the original Roman Empire received a deadly wound in 476 AD when Rome fell. The Empire collapsed. There was an emperor at that time. His name was Romulus Augustus. He was deposed by Germanic tribes, and Rome was gone. But that was not the end of the Roman Empire. Soon after, Justinian, whom I mentioned, about 70 years later, he was still on the other leg of that image. He was the emperor of the Eastern Empire, what we might say more the Greek world. He set his eyes upon recovering Italy from the Ostrogoths, who were a Germanic tribe. So after the fall of the Western Empire, about 75 years later, the deadly wound was healed. And that's spoken of in Revelation 13 and verse 3. We just read about it, how it had been mortally wounded and his deadly wound was healed. And history records that indeed this happened. And the Empire would rise again and again and again through seven times until there would be the last that we're about to see enter into this world. Let's pick it up now in verse 4.

So they worshiped the dragon, who again here is Satan, who gave authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast? What they're saying is nothing compares to the greatness of this empire. Who on earth can challenge the greatness and might of this empire?

Who is able to make war with him? Is there another region? Is there another nation on earth that's strong enough to attack this empire? And of course the answer is no. Not in the Americas, not in Asia, not in Africa, nowhere on earth. Is there another empire at this time that is able to challenge the supernatural power that this empire has?

And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for 42 months. That is three and a half years. So this empire will not live a very long time, but it will have a profound influence on world history.

Verse 6, then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, the blaspheme his name, his tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven, and it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. So at this time the church will have to go underground. What we call an organized church that has the ability to openly preach the gospel, that will cease.

Because this beast will overcome the saints. It doesn't mean it will necessarily kill them, even though there will certainly be some martyrs. The ability of the church to do its work will have ended. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the book of life, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. Now this is what you call world domination. I mean domination of every culture, of every continent, of every part of the world. This could only happen if supernatural power given by Satan himself, the dragon, is given to this empire to give it the ability, the strength, to enable to overcome every nation, every tongue, every tribe on this earth. So Revelation 13 has actually transitioned from speaking about the revived Roman Empire as a beast, to speaking to a political and military dictator of an empire that is called the beast here in verses 4-8. This dictator is also referred to in Revelation 17, verse 12, and we'll get there in a few minutes. Many people believe that he is the future Antichrist. Now let's take a look at a little prophecy, verse 10. And this is to encourage the church. Remember it says that he would overcome, make war with the saints and overcome them. He gives the saints some encouraging words here. Prophecy, verse 10. He who leads into captivity will go into captivity. So when you see this happening, this beast is taking other nations and tongues and cultures and peoples into captivity. Don't be afraid, because it shall go into captivity. Jesus Christ is coming back to earth, and this beast power who fights against Jesus Christ will be sent into the lake of fire, and will be captive in the lake of fire for all eternity. He who kills by the sword must be killed with the sword. So this awesome, tremendous power that kills multiple millions of people through military armaments, don't fear it. Because when Jesus Christ comes back, his power is so awesome, as it says in the prophet, that their eyes will liquidate in their eye sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths as they attempt to fight Jesus Christ himself. So what goes around, comes around, is what John is saying. And he who kills by the sword must be killed with the sword, and that will be the sword that proceeds out of the mouth of Jesus Christ to fight these peoples who are there armed against him. And there's a word of caution for us, and a word of encouragement for us. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. Just do what you know is right. When you see the world falling apart around you, don't panic. Don't get angry. Don't lose your faith. God's word is sure. When you see all of these tragic things going on around you, don't be fearful. Here is the patience and faith in the saints. Keep our noses buried in the word of God. Stay on our knees and ask God to be merciful to us, and merciful to the poor, innocent people who will be caught in the middle of all of these horrible events. And to pray every day, thy kingdom come. Because that's the only sure solution to the problems of this world.

Then I saw another beast coming out of the earth. The first beast was a secular, human-ruled government. A secular government. And now this is another beast that comes up out of the earth, not out of the sea. And he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a lion. So here in verse 11, John sees another beast coming out of the earth.

It had two horns like a lamb. And again, it spoke like a lion. Jesus Christ is described as the Lamb of God while Satan is a dragon. So this beast with two horns like a lamb is a tool of Satan trying to pawn himself off as, trying to pass himself as a representative of Jesus Christ. As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 14, and no wonder for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. So this will be a deceptive religious leader who will look good on the outside.

Well, if you're not looking very closely, will appear to be Christ-like. The words that come out of its mouth will seem good, but deep down, it's just a tool of Satan to deceive people. So who is this second beast? He's a tool of Satan who uses his position and authority to influence humankind to worship the first beast, the secular government.

A lamb is a biblical symbol of Jesus Christ. And a dragon is a biblical symbol for Satan the devil. Therefore, this powerful religious authority claims to represent Christ, but is in reality, again, a tool of the devil. Many people think that he is the future Antichrist and may very well be. Let's take a look at verse 12. And he, the second beast, exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed, going all the way back to the heritage of the Roman system, the Roman philosophy.

He performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling them who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. So everyone has to worship this secular empire as if it's God.

Everyone on earth is commanded to do this, continuing. To make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived and was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many who would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. Can you imagine our scientific world today? I don't believe anything unless it uses the scientific method to prove it.

Well, let me tell you, when that image that was just made out of matter starts talking and starts speaking, these so-called brilliant scientists who only believe in anything unless it passes the scientific method will be too busy dropping to their knees and begging for mercy for their lives to worry about how powerful this beast is. Again, this is a supernatural ability that will deceive billions. If you don't understand God's way of life, you can understand how that would happen.

If you lived your whole lifetime living by the normal laws of this world and suddenly a nation arises that has the ability to bring down fire from heaven and to perform literal miracles that the world has never seen before, people certainly will accept it. People certainly will believe it. They'll be in awe of what they see. They'll be frightened. And they'll certainly believe what's going on. Verse 16, He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive the mark on their right hand or in their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name.

Now, we don't know exactly what that is, but with our technology we can easily imagine and understand how it could be some type of chip, a very small chip, embedded in people's hand or on their forehead that will be scanned and will give you the ability to function in the world.

Can you imagine checking out at Walmart, right, and you don't have that chip? And they, I'm sorry your card is loaded through food. You can't buy food here. You didn't pass. Your credit is no good here. Can you imagine going to the bank, going up to the ATM, and you don't have this mark, somehow, some type of scan or chip? And it says, I'm sorry I can't give you any of your money out of your bank.

I'm sorry you can't make a deposit here. I'm sorry you can't pay your bills anymore because you are persona non grata. You don't exist anymore. You can't function in this new world. That's exactly what's going to happen. It says, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name.

Here is wisdom. But him who is understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666. Now this can be taken in two different ways. First of all, it just said here that it is the number of a man. The Bible associates the number six with men, with mere human rule. God created man on the sixth day of creation week.

The number 666 is a triple repetition of the number of man and emphasizes that this beast merely has human authority. Backed by Satan, certainly prodded by Satan the devil, but is a human authority as opposed to God's authority. Another way you can look at this is the early church father Polycarp noted that this number is derived from adding together the numerical equivalence of the word Latinos. Now that happens to be the Greek word for a Roman. The Greek word for a Roman is Latinos. And if you recall your dates in elementary school, happens if you add it up together, equals 666.

So this may very well have been John coding the fact that once again this is the Roman Empire in a way that someone from the Roman authorities reading this wouldn't get it. Wouldn't be able to figure it out. So here we see described a false religious system which comes out of the fourth beast and tries to pass itself off as Christ-like. It's a counterfeit form of Christianity. Back in Daniel 7, verse 25, it said that it would change times and law. If you have a study and you've ever spent time with church history, you will discover that the first four centuries after Christ died, there were many doctrinal upheavals that occurred in the Christian church that centered on changing the calendar, because we all observe a Roman calendar today.

It centered on changing the day of worship, the one that Jesus Christ observed and the one that his disciples observed from the Sabbath to Sunday. And it also changed the teaching of the meaning of God's law. Instead of God's law, it was done away by a man saying, I have papal authority. I am above God's law. What I proclaim, what I say supersedes anything written in these scrolls are in this book, so changing times and changing laws.

The final resurrection of the Roman Empire, centered in Europe, is destined to become the world's dominant superpower. Satan will use it as his principal weapon against Christ and his people at the end of this age. Satan will cause the human dictator of this end-time, beast-like empire to be worshipped worldwide. People won't have a choice. You either worship or you die. Satan will give this coming dictator the power to transform his agenda and Satan's agenda, which is political and military objectives into a worldwide religious crusade. John explains, all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the book of the life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world.

The beast that appears to John here in Revelation 13 is a composite of the empires that were represented in the image described back in Daniel 2 that we looked at last time. And the fourth beast also mentioned in Daniel 7. The fourth beast in Daniel 7 was the Roman Empire described as different from those that preceded it.

So this composite beast of Revelation 13 is a resurrection of that Roman Empire. Now let's go to Revelation 17. If you'll turn there with me. And we'll see this little horn. We'll see this second beast, once again, symbolized in a different way. This time it's a woman.

Revelation 17.

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying, to me, come, and I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

Now she's considered a great harlot for a number of reasons. Number one, her religious philosophy is a mixture. She's a harlot because many of her religious ideas come from ancient Babylon. Many of her religious ideas come from ancient Egypt. Many of her religious ideas are a distortion of the truth that were taught in the word of God. So that is one reason she is considered a great harlot. The second reason she is considered a great harlot is because she has committed fornication with the kings of the earth. That means she has said for centuries, well, you rule the secular side of the world and will influence people's religious beliefs. You do your thing and you accept our power and authority as the religious, prove the religious structure of your nation, and will get along just fine. And until the last couple of hundred years, that's exactly what this woman did in every area of the world that her church was planted. She was considered next to king and country as the most powerful and prominent influence that there were in the nations of Europe and also many nations here in the Americas because of her influence. That commingling of, I'll wash your hand if you wash mine, is called here fornication, a religious philosophy intermixing and agreeing with hand in hand, a political philosophy for both of them to stay in power. So it says, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So she carried me away in the spirit in the wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The remaining seven heads, which were originally prophesied in Daniel 7, were to follow the ascendancy of the Roman church, this little horn. So of the ten that were originally proclaimed, remember the first three were pulled up by their roots by that little horn, and that leaves seven. That's what the seven heads represent here. This church, pictured as a woman here in the book of Revelation, was to sit on the seven. It approved the seven. It worked with the seven in an uneasy relationship that again has likened to fornication, religious philosophy, working together with political ideas. The ten horns correspond to the ten ruling kings who come together in a European confederation for a short time, short time in history, as a superpower. And this also corresponds to the ten toes on the statue that Nebuchadnezzar saw in Daniel chapter 2. Now let's go to verse 4.

Verse 4, the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name written, Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots of the abominations of the earth. Again, going back, this church philosophy goes all the way back to ancient, borrowed religious pagan ideas from ancient Babylon, also some from ancient Egypt, and quasi-mixture to appear to be Christ-like.

Verse 6, and I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus throughout history, this church persecuted and often hurt, killed people who would not pay homage to its pope or its religious authority over them or its dominance in their lives.

And this happened throughout history. It's well documented. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement. For the sake of time, we're going to stop right there in Revelation 17. So Revelation 17 also helps us understand this end-time power. In this chapter, it is again depicted as a beast, but now we see again that its final manifestation includes ten kings, leaders of nations or groups of nations, who receive authority for one hour with the ruler of this end-time superpower.

An individual, the Bible refers to as the beast, here in Revelation 17, if you drop down and look at verses 12 and 13. The final revival of the Roman Empire leads into Christ's return because it says in verse 14 that they make war with the Lamb. Well, I wanted to stop there because I wanted to leave some time today after this recap of the books of Daniel that we went into a lot of detail last time and some prophecies in Revelation to get back to my original question. And that is, why did the British vote to leave the European community?

Why was it so dramatic in the world? Why did the world take notice? And why is it important? Okay, let's talk about that for a little while. First of all, what happened was the result of a populist movement that has been sweeping the world for a number of years. I'm going to define to you what populism is. Populism is a political ideology that holds that virtuous citizens, good people, are being mistreated by a small circle of elites. And populism believes that it can be overthrown if the people just wake up, if they recognize the danger and they wake up and work together, that they can bring down this elite system that's harming them.

The elites in a populist movement are depicted as trampling on people's rights and values and the voice of the legitimate people. So have we had populist movements of late? Remember something called the Arab Spring? When? In Arab nation after Arab nation, leaders, some who had ruled for decades, were overthrown by the street people, people who just broke out in the streets and rioted and closed down their economies and demanded the resignation of their presidents or their prime ministers and their leaders. We call it the Arab Spring in history, and that was a populist movement.

What occurred in Great Britain was a populist movement. You know who told the average Briton not to vote to leave? Both political parties told them not to vote to leave. The BBC told them not to vote to leave. The Archbishop of Canterbury told them not to vote to leave.

Most of the richest people and athletes and entertainers all told them not to vote to leave. The British public basically said, to all of you, and they voted to leave. Do you realize in our own country there are populist sentiments going on? A surprise happened in one of our political parties when a man named Bernie Sanders shocked his own party and many people with the power of the Arab Party.

With the power and influence he had running up to the nomination process, who he attracted was the result of a populist movement going on in the United States. The Tea Party is the result of a populist movement. The man running for the Republican nomination of the president is the result of a populist movement. The world is being influenced now by populist movements. It was a populist movement that encouraged the majority of Britons, though everyone was telling them, don't do it. It's going to hurt your economy. It's going to hurt England.

They voted for it anyway. That is what occurred. I'd like to talk about the European Union today and what the result is going to be of the European Union, because it's either going to dissolve and blow apart, as we'll see, or it's going to have to evolve into something new. Some dramatic changes have to occur with what we call the European Union.

First of all, it has to shrink from 20-plus members to 10. That's one thing it has to happen. The second thing is, right now, as we'll see, it is decidedly anti-Catholic. That's going to have to change before it fulfills what it says the beast is going to be doing and what the beast is going to be about in the book of Revelation.

I want to talk about the EU and why it's either going to explode and come apart, or why it's going to have to evolve into a whole new system with probably a new name. First of all, it is a bloated bureaucracy that needs serious reform. And many people in many nations within the EU feel this way. Even as individual nations across Europe have had to impose grinding austerity measures since the Great Recession a few years back, including slashing pay for government workers, most European Union workers get paid generous wages and have a special perk where they get a reduced tax compared to the average citizen of the EU.

The Telegraph, a British newspaper found in 2014 that many mid-level EU workers were taking home more money than British Prime Minister David Cameron. The EU employs over 33,000 bureaucrats at its headquarters in Brussels.

This is by the Washington Post, and I'm just going to read this paragraph. By treaty, the European Parliament can only meet in full session in Strasbourg, France, but most of the EU's operations are in Brussels. So one week a month, the whole apparatus, legislators, support staff, lobbyists, journalists, and everyone else, 10,000 people in all, travel five hours to Strasbourg.

But this Parliament has 751 members. Oh, and it can't propose legislation. It can only approve legislation that comes from the non-elected European Commission. The cost of maintaining two Parliament receipts is estimated at $200 million a year.

Another thing mentioned in the Washington Post is that the EU translates nearly everything it does into all 24 of its official languages as a testimony to its internationalist glory.

By EU custom, all public EU documents are translated into every language. All high-level EU meetings are treated the same way. The European Commission says it employs 1,750 linguists, 600 full-time interpreters, and 3,000 freelancers.

That cannot continue. Many people within the EU, as we'll see shortly, are frustrated with the bloated bureaucracy that the EU has taken on the life of its own. So that was the first reason. It's a bloated bureaucracy, and it needs reform. The second reason is it's presently composed, again, of 28 member states, including the United Kingdom, and it's got to get much smaller.

What I'm going to read here from you is from the recent issue of Time Magazine. It said there are five countries in the EU that show the depths of anti-EU anger beyond the British Isles. And again, this was in Time Magazine. It mentioned Italy. Italy, for them, much of the public anger focuses on the impact of the euro on the country's economy. The Eurozone's third largest economy, Italy's depth-to-GDP ratio, was currently above 130 percent. That's not good, by the way.

The fifth highest in the world. It makes it both too big to fail and too big to save. So a lot of unhappy people in Italy. Scandinavia, Time Magazine says, is another area. It mentions that for other EU member states, euro hostility, that's the first time I've ever heard that word, euro hostility is focused much more directly on the current migration crisis. Consider Scandinavia. Sweden, a country of less than 10 million, has accepted more asylum seekers per capita than any other European nation. People are unhappy. In Denmark, the Danish People's Party won 21 percent of last year's general elections, a 50 percent uptick in the past eight years.

More importantly, it's been able to push its anti-immigration agenda by forming a minority government with the Liberals, resulting in some of the harshest immigration rules in Europe. Danish legislators even passed a law this year requiring asylum seekers to hand over their valuables to help pay for the cost of the resettlement. So there's anti-immigration feelings within these nations. In Hungary, the existing Prime Minister faced a similar threat with immigration. You may remember the problem last fall. There's a surging anti-Semitic party called the Joguk Party. It's grown from 2 percent of the vote in 2006 to 21 percent today. And they basically forced him to demonstrate the Prime Minister against what he wanted to do, his so-called nationalist credentials.

He built a wall that slowed the flow of refugees into the country from more than 4,000 a day last fall to 100 within two months. If you recall the story, he put razor wire along a very long border to stop immigrants from just flooding in to Hungary. In Germany, as Hungary builds fences, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has welcomed the refugees. To date, more than a million asylum seekers have arrived in Germany.

Merkel, once again, her approval ratings at once were in the mid-70s. Today, 64 percent of Germans say Merkel shouldn't run for re-election next year. The past few years have seen the rise of the Alternative for Deutschland, the AFD, a right-wing anti-EU party that has found traction by taking a strong line against Islam.

The party failed to reach a 5 percent threshold to enter parliament in 2013, but currently is polling between 10 and 12 percent. Should those numbers hold at next year's election, the AFD would become the first right-wing party to win seats in the Bundestag. That's their Congress since World War II.

Now, do you think what happened in Munich may help this party to grow faster, as these terrorists continue to have these events in Europe? How about France? In France, the risk is more immediate. The ultra-nationalist, an EU party called the Front National Party, was founded in 1972. The party has grown from one-tenth of one percent of the vote in 2007 to polling solidly in the 20s range. The leader of this party has dubbed herself Madame Frexit. Madame Frexit? Madame Frexit. And it's promised the French people a referendum on EU membership should she come to power. At the moment, 55 percent of French citizens say they want a vote.

Again, this is from Time Magazine. It says a demand for a referendum appears to be growing in a number of other EU member states. So, as you can see, aside from Britain, there is a lot of unhappiness even within many of the nations inside of the present EU. The third reason that things must change, that the EU has to either blow apart or has to evolve and change itself dramatically, is, frankly, it's presently anti-Catholic. And this has to be reversed before biblical prophecy can be fulfilled.

I'll give you an example. In the early 2000s, the EU was working on the European Constitution. An important actor in this debate in the early 2000s was the Vatican, most notably Pope Paul II. What he wanted was he wanted within the European Constitution a specific reference to God and Europe's Christian heritage. He said, hey, we've served within for a thousand-plus years within Europe, and like it or not, we've had a pretty profound influence in Europe, and we think we should at least get an honorable mention somewhere in the Constitution. Of course, the Vatican's main goal, however, was a specific consultative status for the Catholic Church. It wanted to be able to say that we are an ambassador and we're recognized as consultants to the EU.

Well, it was rejected, this idea of adding either God or at least an honorable mention of the Catholic Church in the Constitution. It was rejected and not included in the Constitution. The treaty was signed in October of 2004 by representatives of the 25 then member states of the European Union, but it was never ratified by the EU. It hangs in limbo to this very day.

And even without it being in there to show you the kind of problems that exist, it needed to be ratified by all member states of the EU in separate national balloting. So even without a reference to God or the Catholic Church, it went to the nations. In May of 2005, the French public rejected the Constitution by a margin of 55% to 45%.

Three days later, the Dutch rejected the Constitution by a margin of 61% to 39%. So it's dead. It's not going to happen.

So again, anti-Catholic and a lot of disunity, they can't even agree on something like a Constitution. Another thing that has to happen is what arises from the present EU must become far more autocratic with a charismatic leader. And from the prospect of biblical prophecy, that is why Britain had to go. You see, Britain has a deep centuries-old democratic tradition of individual rights going all the way back to the Magna Carta. Let us never forget that this country, though it broke from Britain, received what it understood about being a republic and about the value of individual rights it inherited from Britain, even fostering our own revolution. And the truth is, it was never really all-in. Do you hear that phrase today? It's often used as being all-in.

The United Kingdom was never all-in in the European community. I'll give you an example. First of all, it started out in 1963 when France vetoed Britain's original application to join at that time what was called the Common Market. Charles de Gaulle, who was the president of France and hated the English, vetoed the request of Britain to become part of the European community at that time called the Common Market. Eventually, after he retired, Britain was allowed to join in 1973. But a little more than a decade later, Britain, under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, upset the EU when she negotiated a budget rebate in 1984 after threatening to halt payments to the EU budget.

Britain, she felt, was being unfairly treated as it was soon to become the largest net contributor, even though it didn't have the largest economy in the EU. And, sure enough, the Fountain Blues Summit agreed that it was unfair and granted Britain a rebate. That obviously upset the other nations in the EU who were looking forward to their money. Then, less than a decade later, something occurred in history known as Black Wednesday. It became known as Black Wednesday because Britain was forced to withdraw from the European exchange rate mechanism after failing to stem intense courtesy speculation that was hurting its economy. This rate was supposed to balance all the various economic monetary value of these various nations to keep stability. It was hurting the pound, it was hurting England, and it was forced to withdraw from it. That obviously upset the EU. Seven years later, in the European monetary system, Britain never adopted the Eurozone banknotes, the currency of the Eurozone. So it never accepted the euro. In 2011, something in history is known as the Bank-Levy Clash. David Cameron clashed with the EU over plans to introduce a levy on banks and restrict London's financial sector. Now, if you understand a little bit about finances, I think it's universally recognized that New York and London are the financial centers of the world, the two largest financial centers. So when the EU said they were going to put a levy on banks, that would hurt Britain and that would hurt its financial sector. And frankly, it was at that time that the angry Prime Minister promised to bring back powers from Brussels to the average Britain. And from that point on, he got cornered and cornered and cornered and cornered to the point where he had to declare a referendum that we know of as Brexit. So that was also a clash upset a lot in the EU. And the last thing that I want to mention today as we conclude the sermon, the results of Brexit could be the possible complete disintegration of the United Kingdom. In my lifetime, when I was a child, it was actually called Great Britain. And if you remember what it was called, growing up maybe, hearing it called Great Britain? Well, as it declined, beginning in the 60s, they stopped calling it Great Britain because it lost its empire, it lost a lot of its strength, and it became known what a number of people that I know who are British refer to it as the UK, meaning United Kingdom. Well, the reality is it may not be united very much longer. It's very possible that Scotland, who just very closely, on their own referendum, decided to stay part of the United Kingdom, that Scotland will break away soon from the United Kingdom because it actually voted to remain in the European community where England voted to leave.

So if there are any bad ripple economic effects of this, the Scottish are going to be a very angry people and are going to demand another referendum on if they want to stay part of the United Kingdom. There are some in Northern Ireland, since it also voted to remain in the EU, there are some in Northern Ireland, including some politicians, who are suggesting that they finally have a union with the nation of Ireland. And it's easier for them now because the nation of Ireland is no longer dominated by the Catholic Church. Ireland allows abortion, Ireland allows gay marriage, Ireland allows a lot of things that are against the teachings of the Catholic Church. And Northern Ireland has become quite secular, so that makes it possible for the North and South, since it's no longer a religious problem, to possibly have them merge. But Northern Ireland could also leave the United Kingdom. The Brexit could result in a long-term decline in the British economy, causing this final breakup of the United Kingdom. So if all that's left alone is England and Scotland is independent, that would no longer be a United Kingdom, it would be a disunited kingdom, and it could have serious consequences economically. Alright, let's take a look at one final scripture as we conclude the sermon today. One final scripture. Because I want to encourage all of us, I want to encourage all of us not to be fearful. I want to encourage our young people not to be fearful, because you're very special in God's sight. God is going to protect you. It says here in Psalm 91, beginning in verse 1, He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. We don't have to worry about anything happening to us, because we are protected under God's shadow. We are His special, His precious jewels. Verse 2, I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in Him I will trust. So again, as that prophecy said, the patience and the faith of the saints, as we see world events occurring, as we see this nation declining, if we see terrible things beginning to happen in this nation, either economically or civil war, or a number of things that could easily happen, we have to remember that He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in Him I will trust. Verse 3, Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge. His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day. So we won't have to worry about what's going on in the outside. We just need to do what's right to keep the faith and rely on God for our protection. Verse 6, Nor the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look and see the reward of the wicked. The wicked will all be dead. They will all be ashes under the feet of the righteous. Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High God, your dwelling place.

So let's make sure as we see world events unfolding that we have the right dwelling place. And that dwelling place is not in the center of any political party. That dwelling place is not isolated away from God and his people, just hanging out in our homes all alone, withdrawn, isolated.

But that dwelling place is with God's church and with God's people to encourage each other, to inspire each other, to remain faithful to God's way of life. Have a wonderful Sabbath.