There are many scholars today that point to Daniel Chapter 2 and see the Antichrist coming from a revived Roman Empire. On the other hand, there is another school of thought, with their own evidence, that AC will arise from the ranks of Islam. Thus there is an inherent challenge to reconcile the notion of the rise of a Revived Roman Empire with the belief that the Antichrist will likely rise from the ranks of Islam. The fact is, I believe both of those interpretations could be accurate. Europe is changing! Once the cradle of Christian thought, Europe is fast losing that heritage, preparing the way for the revival of the Roman Empire and the ascendance of the Antichrist.
A CULTURE ABANDONED
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” (2Timothy 4:3-4)
All across Europe, the winds of change are blowing. The Europe that brought us the Renaissance and the Reformation is no more. In a continent where art and architecture and the culture and intellectual life of nations was once centered on God of the Bible, there is no faith. To paraphrase Lincoln: Europe has lost the better angels of its nature. This is manifesting itself in various ways. On the march to irrationality: Europe is leading the way. The Europe that was the cradle of Christianity is no more. Since the end of WWII, its population has shifted increasingly away from the traditional Christian beliefs that had served as the foundation stones of society. A Gallup poll taken for the Millennium revealed that church attendance was down to about 20% in Western Europe, and about 14% in the old Communist Bloc. That compares with about 47% in North America and 82% in West Africa. The trend continued with just about all of Western Europe seeing weekly church attendance going below 20%.[i]
Europe has become what must be called a Post-Christian society. Gone are its traditional historical values that for so long defined its soul. The Continent that saw the triumph of Luther and the Reformation and experienced waves of revival under Wesley, now sees the belated triumph of the godlessness of the French Revolution. Across much of the continent, Churches are empty. Surveys have put regular attendance in the range of 10% to 20% of the overall population on the Continent as a whole,[ii] with less than 5% attending services in the U.K. on any given Sunday. These are numbers from several years ago – and things have only gotten worse. In France only about 17% of the population even express an “interest’ in religion. In Britain the figure is 23%, Germany 24% and in staunchly Catholic Italy, only about half of the people believe religion is important. Concrete changes have followed belief. France has forbidden the wearing of religious symbols (including crosses) in schools. Socialist Spain has legalized same-sex marriage.[iii] In England mosque-goers outnumber those that attend services of the Anglican Church.[iv] In Britain, church attendance has dropped by almost a third just since 1980. But its not that Europeans are totally without spirituality. Islam is flourishing. There are over 37 million Muslims now living on the Continent.[v] Chicken or egg; loss of moral clarity follows depressed church attendance follows loss of moral clarity.
And more Europeans have now bought into the Eastern or New Age view. They see God as just an impersonal life-force rather than the Biblically held view of a personal Creator-God.[vi] As church attendance has gone down, belief in the existence of God among youth went up nearly 20% between 1981 and 1999. But they have fashioned a god of their own creation. The influence of Eastern forms of thought is creating a ‘cafeteria Christianity’, where elements of Buddhism and the New Age are combined with traditional Christian beliefs.[vii] Portions of the Anglican Church have cooperated in this unholy synthesis, providing displays featuring, among other things, – Buddhist monks chanting the ‘sacred’ syllable “oooohm”. Ignoring Scripture; gay-friendly and militantly feminist Church’s and services abound. In Denmark, an atheist minister held on to his pulpit in the state-sponsored church. All of this has created a crazy atmosphere where the culture cannot or will not distinguish between right and wrong.
Bottom line: Muslim/Arab populations are increasing throughout Europe, while declining birthrates and cultural apathy plague the native Europeans. The growing Arab communities are increasing their political influence and changing the character of that continent. But just how did this all happen?
There is a new power on the rise in the world. Its very existence has been almost a secret to all but a few. It is something called Eurabia. In 1973 two events occurred that set the table for the Europe and the world we see today. Israel defeated an Arab coalition in the Yom Kippur War, and the Arab League engaged in an oil embargo of the West. In response, with France leading the way, the European Community, (forerunner of today’s E.U.), established a framework of cooperation with the Arab Oil Powers of the Middle East. So, Europe’s response to Arab Oil Blackmail was to form something officially called the Euro-Arab Dialogue (EAD). Operating at the level of the various foreign ministers, the EAD was envisioned to cut across a broad spectrum. For its part, Europe agreed to support the Arab League’s policies against Israel. In return, the Europeans received wide ranging commercial agreements. The natural outworking of this arrangement resulted in building up the European Union as a rival of and counterweight to U.S. influence in the world.[viii]
The goals of this Euro-Islamic cooperation were ambitious indeed. Goal number one was to be able to compete on the world stage with the American superpower. Other goals were to secure Middle East oil supplies, open Arab markets to European goods, provide needed manpower by encouraging Arab immigration and orient Europe toward Islam, thereby establishing an anti-Israeli foreign policy. (The EAD contributed by working to ‘officially’ spread Arab language and culture across the Continent.) The 1973 Oil Crisis just moved those policies along. Over time, European governments began marching in lock-step toward these pro-Arab goals.[ix] The anti-Semitism that had flourished prior to World War II then, – was not dead. Ironically, – despite its official defeat, – it had become institutionalized. The result was that the European powers bought into the great myth of Palestinian nationalism. After a few decades that Big Lie became an accepted truth, unquestioned by the generation that had heard nothing else. Thus the EU is insistent on driving Israel back to the indefensible armistice lines of 1949. We see now, certainly under President Trump, that this was not a winning strategy for the Europeans. [More on that in a separate article.]
The New Europe created, was one that rejected its own traditions and historical values. It has become in many ways, anti-Western. This is a civilization in serious decline. It has abandoned its Christian traditions and embraced the pursuit of things material. Beginning in the 19th century the intellectuals of the continent performed all sorts of intellectual contortions to reconcile ‘religious ideas’ to the demands of modern science and humanism. What a noble attitude: – A Christianity that does not judge. Biblical standards of right and wrong were cast aside. Over time it adopted the ideas of one Swami Vivekananda expressed at the World’s Parliament of Religions in 1893. Those ideas expressed the notion that all paths lead to God.[x] In the name of tolerance it has instead embraced a rabid multiculturalism that manifests itself in some form of personalized, cafeteria-spirituality that demands nothing of the believer. Where once there was the God of the Bible and Absolute truth, – there is now a great spiritual void. Its motto could well be taken from the 70’s film Animal House: “It just doesn’t matter!” All of this has led to a society that can wink at attacks on Jews and Synagogues, denying the obvious anti-Semitism, while embracing the pseudo-intellectual justification that excuses the worst excesses of global Jihad.
By Europe, adopting this Arab fantasy, it became possible to justify the liberal financing of the Palestinian Cause. This financial support was greatly increased after the Oslo Accords of 1993. Of course, financial aid for the Palestinians in effect meant that Europe was financing terror against Israel, and ultimately supporting the global Jihad.
Yet now we are seeing the first signs of the native European population waking. European civilization is at a crossroads. The Muslim population overwhelmingly rejects the culture and values of their new countries. But pushback is starting. Nicola Procaccini is a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and President of New Direction, New Direction – the Foundation for European Conservatism. He describes the current situation. “Across the European Union, we are witnessing the emergence of parallel societies where the laws of the State are increasingly replaced by the codes of radicalisation and the rule of violence. We must be honest about what we are seeing: there are now districts in our most historic capitals where a woman cannot walk alone, where homosexuals are targeted for who they are, or where those who simply refuse to conform to radical dictates are treated as unwelcome outsiders.”
He, of course is talking about ‘No Go Zones,’ where the native European population is not welcome and Sharia Law rules the day. Local governments are failing. “If we allow these enclaves to grow, we are not just losing control of our streets, but also the very values of freedom and equality that define our civilization.” It comes with an explosion of crime, perhaps the most notable example being the explosion in the number of rapes and the existence of ‘rape gangs,’ and ‘grooming gangs.’ And it is often excused away or ignored by authorities.
And then there is the strange alliance between the Islamic community and the radical Left. “The influence of Muslim votes on left-leaning parties is causing a weakening of core liberal values with the result that the Muslim vote has created local leftist strongholds.” Here is the bottom line. The imposition of Sharia threatens civil liberties and human right, especially as it concerns women. This entire process is not organic. It is planned. Eileen F Toplansky, of The American Thinker reminds us that the Muslim Brotherhood has been infiltrating “Western institutions while maintaining ideological opposition to democracy and pluralism.” This is all part of their 100-year plan to take over the West. It is civilizational jihad.
And the European response has been helpless, feckless – and totally dependent on America….until Trump called its’ bluff. And most importantly, despite signs of some elements finally waking up – fully capable of falling victim to the Islamic insurgency.
So, after decades of support for the Arab cause, the very character of Old Europe has been irretrievably altered. Without the Faith of their Fathers, without a truly European cultural ethic they have succumbed to ennui and apathy. Europe and the formerly Judeo-Christian West is surrendering its’ culture on an altar of the pursuit of pleasure and self-actualization. They are so taken with themselves that they cannot see the imperative of even maintaining their own societal norms. Pleasure is become their god. Paul wrote of just such a time.
“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power…. always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (2Tim.3:1-5, 7) Thus, the new Europe! And if we are not both careful and intentional, America is not far behind.
[i] How religious commitment varies by country, Pew Research, June 13, 2018
[ii] James Gannon, Is God Dead In Europe, USA Today, January 15, 2006
[iii] Angus Reid, Religion on the Way Out in Europe, Global Monitor, November 12, 2006
[iv] In Anglicanism’s home, mosque-goers outnumber Anglican worshippers,
World Magazine, January 28, 2004
[v] Jeff Chu, O Father Where Art Thou, Time Europe, June 16, 2003
[vi] Religion in the World at the End of the Millennium, Marita Carballo, Gallup of Argentina
[vii] Jeff Chu, O Father Where Art Thou, Time Europe, June 16, 2003
[viii] Caroline Glick, Europe’s Arab Gambit, January 2, 2004
[ix] Bat Ye’or, Eurabia and Euro-Arab Antisemitism, Front Page Magazine, April 4, 2004
[x] Malachi Martin, The Jesuits, Simon & Schuster, 1987, pg 260-265
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