Oct 10, 2009

A Stumbling Block for the Beast?

Michael G. MickeyBy Michael G. Mickey

The significance of Ireland's recent signing of the EU's Lisbon Treaty continues to be a top story in terms of prophetic significance, potentially paving the way for the creation of two powerful new positions in the revived Roman empire of bible prophecy, the positions of president (formally titled the President of the European Council) and EU Foreign Minister (formally titled the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy).

Until this morning, there remained two nations left to sign the treaty, Poland and the Czech Republic. Now there is but one as Poland has signed on. Will the Czech Republic follow suit? Time will tell but I highly suspect so.

EUBusiness.com is reporting the following, in part:

Czech President Vaclav Klaus on Friday called for the EU's Lisbon reform treaty to prevent ethnic Germans forced out of his country after World War II from claiming back their property.

Klaus, a staunch eurosceptic and the last European Union leader holding out on signing the treaty, made this a condition for ratifying the text designed to streamline decision-making in the 27-nation bloc.

The request will probably further delay the ratification process, but top Czech and EU officials said they still believed the treaty will be fully ratified by the end of the year.
My expectation, not to be confused with a prediction, is the EU will accomplish what needs to be accomplished in this scenario, one way or another, and we will begin to see an increasingly clearer picture of the last days as detailed in bible prophecy.

Don't Get Caught up in the Hype

On the heels of Barack Obama being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, many are looking at him with a renewed interest as a major player in the last days. This is, of course, naturally true if we are on the verge of the Rapture of the Church and the beginning of the Tribulation Period as he is the leader of what is, depending on your perspective, the lone global superpower in the form of the United States. Having said that, I would remind everyone that President Obama, for now at the very least, is the president of one nation - a very powerful nation but just one nation. If the Lisbon Treaty is fully ratified, as it is believed it will be, sometime soon there are going to be two men in the world who are going to wield tremendous power over a bloc of 27 nations.

While the United States is still a formidable power in the world to be sure, consider the following:
  • As of February 2009, the population of the United States was approximately 305 million.
  • As of 1 January 2009, the population of the European Union was approximately 499.7 million people.
What am I trying to say here? Simply put, don't look past the European Union and its leadership, even in a Barack Obama-loving world like ours, as the EU is healthy, wealthy, and on the verge of busting out on the world stage with a larger voice than it has ever had before.

Remember, the European Union is in a leading role in the pursuit of Middle East peace via the Quartet comprised of Russia, the United States, the United Nations and the European Union and that role isn't likely to diminish in the near future but be enhanced by the Lisbon Treaty, assuming things progress as expected. After all, the Quartet and its road map to peace was purposefully designed to place the EU in a prime position to resolve the longstanding conflicts in the Middle East, as seen in a Jerusalem Post article:
The road map was issued in March 2003 by the Quartet, which was formed by the Bush administration to provide European states with a formal peacemaking role in exchange for gaining their support for the Iraq War.
High Expectations and Anxieties

Already, even before the Lisbon Treaty is enacted, powerful leaders in the European Union, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso among them, are somewhat frightened by the power the presidency of the European Union may hold, as revealed in the following EU Observer headline: Barroso fears powerful 'European president'

Not only are powerful leaders in the EU concerned by the power a president of the entire bloc could hold, many are just as concerned by the power the EU's foreign minister may wield. Some are of the opinion that he will be more powerful in many regards than even the EU's president.

If the Lisbon Treaty is fully ratified by the end of 2009 as anticipated, things are going to become very interesting to watch unfold from that point forward even as what's going on now is for most of us.

To borrow a line from Jack Kelley, you can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah. And in the distance, becoming more audible all the time? Hooves I believe.

Related Links

Lisbon Treaty strengthens European community: Polish PM - Xinhua
Polish Becomes 26th Nation To Ratify EU's Lisbon Treaty - Wall Street Journal
Poland Finally Signs Up For EU Lisbon Treaty - Sky News
Poland Signs EU Treaty, Raising Pressure on Czechs - Bloomberg
Pressure on Czechs after Poland signs EU treaty - Yahoo News