Monday, January 26, 2009

The EU and the Tower of Babel

As discussed many times in this forum, the EU, now expanded into the Mediterranean Union is believed to represent the "revived" Roman Empire as described in Daniel 2 and 7. According to these two chapters of Daniel, along with Revelation 13 and 17, we expect the EU to continue its growth and ultimately give birth to the Anti-christ. The Anti-christ, along with his "10 Kings" will ultimately rule the earth (Rev.13:7-8, Rev. 17:12-15), and impose draconian persecution of Christians and Jews who are living during the 7-year tribulation period.

The Anti-christ will also be opposed to God (Daniel 7:25) to an extreme degree: "He will oppose and exalt himself over everything that is called God.." (2 Thess. 2:4). "He opened his mouth to blaspheme God and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven" (Rev. 13:6). You might safely say - the Anti-christ will be opposed to everything and anything related to God.

The EU has provided us with some rather obvious tips regarding their views of the God of the Holy Bible. First, lets briefly review Genesis 11 and the Tower of Babel.

Nimrod, an imposing and powerful man, established the first post-flood empire and he rebelled against God (Genesis 10, 1 Chronicles and Josephus, "The Antiquities of the Jews"). In order to promote his power and the integration of the surrounding people under his rule, Nimrod initiated great building projects, including the Tower of Babel. Genesis 11:4 provides more information regarding this project:

"Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.'" (Genesis 11:4).

This scripture alone reveals many sins of man that we see today. Pride. Arrogance. Attempting to reach heaven, in order to become "god-like". Nimrod attempting to consolidate his status as "god-like", designed this building.

God responded to this effort by Nimrod:

"But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The Lord said 'If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this...Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other. So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it is called Babel - because the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth." (Genesis 11:5-9).

In other words, God was not pleased with this display of man's arrogance and pride, displayed through Nimrod's attempt to ascend to the heavens, and, at the same time, establish a dominate government. NIV notes read as follows: "At Babel, rebellious man undertook a united and godless effort to establish for himself, by a titanic human enterprise, a world renown by which he would dominate."

Suffice it to say - God was not pleased with the Tower of Babel.

That brings us to the current situation.

The EU's Parliament building in Strasbourg has been DELIBERATELY designed to represent the Tower of Babel, as per the famous painting by Peter Brueghel in 1563. Called a "modern" Tower of Babel, the EU Parliament building even appears unfinished with the illusion of scaffolding surrounding the building around the upper levels, exactly as Brueghel's painting appeared. See pictures here and here.

In fact, the EU was quite obvious in this attempt - by inverting the very words of God in a very public and "proud" display. A poster which circulated during the construction of the building, celebrated the building of this Parliament "Tower", as the poster showed the Brueghel painting beside the new Parliament building and the words "EUROPE: MANY TONGUES, ONE VOICE", indicating their attempts to reverse God's very words: A very public display revealing complete opposition to God's word. Arrogance indeed - just like Nimrod.

So...As God dealt with Nimrod's tower by confusing languages and scattering people - the EU contends that they will attempt to reverse this will of God, by reversing His actions at Babel, and recreating what Nimrod had attempted in Genesis 11.

In fact because of the many languages used within the member states of the EU, there are now approximately 2,000 written-text translators and about 80 interpreters who are required on a daily basis in order to bring these different languages together: read here. "Many tongues, one voice" - indeed.

So, there we have it. In one of their first public displays, with their grand Parliament building, the EU directly and overtly snubbed their collective noses at God.

The question is - Why?
Why would they design this building with such an overt "anti-God" message in such a profound and obvious manner?

Only time will tell. However, working under the assumption that the EU is indeed the revived Roman Empire, as expected according to the book of Daniel, then its not really surprising. We know that the Anti-christ will "oppose and exalt himself over everything that is called God". This is just the beginning. Just as Nimrod's kingdom was ended by God - God will also put an end the "new" Roman Empire and an end to the Anti-christ:

"But the court will sit and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever." (Daniel 7:26).

God will destroy the Anti-christ at the time of the Second Coming of Christ Jesus. Revelation 19 details that eventual fate.

But there is good news, as described by Daniel. After the Anti-christ is destroyed, Christ Jesus will establish His permanent kingdom, along with His saints:

"Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom..." (Daniel 7:26-27).

Comforting words for a Christian. We know how this story ends. We've read the last chapter.








4 comments:

khd7416 said...

This is amazing!!! A painting from the 1500's and a poster depicting a modern day building are nearly identical! I also think it's really eerie how the EU building was designed to appear unfinished.
KD

Scott said...

I agree. Its surreal. the fact that they openly did this, is just as amazing.

As soon as I get a chance, I'll post about their other main symbol - "The Woman on the Beast", which is strikingly similar to the description in Rev. 17. We'll do that during the next "lull".

Anonymous said...

Wow Scott, I had never seen the building either and it is just jaw dropping. I so much appreciate your blog. It is difficult to sort through a large message board for relevant articles and we ....or at least I do not get much depth of God's word at church any more much less anything at all that relates to the times in which we live.
Kem

Scott said...

Thanks Kem

I agree, its unfortunate that so many churches neglect ~30% of the Bible, by ignoring prophecy.

But, in the words of angel, speaking to Daniel (Dan.12:10) only "those who are wise will understand". Throughout biblical history, only a very small number of people "got it", as far as prophecy. Its a strange and mystifying thing - why prophecy has been so ignored throughout the ages. But it has.

As the saying goes - "The only thing we learn from history, is that we don't learn from history". Insert prophecy for "history" and we have it.

Maranatha!
Scott