And how Israel could quickly become a World Superpower.
By Jeff Robb
(The second to last paragraph is quite fascinating and the main inspiration behind my posting this. Well, plus, I have been wanting to use this image for a while now. 
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The Bible predicts a number of confederacies in the end times. For example, the European Union is well into the process of stitching back together the former Roman Empire as Daniel prophesied would happen 2,600 years ago. The EU has grown into the largest economy in the world, even larger now than the United States. At some point, though, the EU must morph from its current weak, brittle condition into something that’s strong enough for the Antichrist to take over and use as his base to conquer the whole world. The Bible provides a prophetic timeline for the emergence of the Revived Roman Empire up to the Antichrist’s global empire
What’s in the works is a post-Brexit reorganization of the European Union. According to Bible prophecy, at some point in time the European Union will be ruled over by an oligarchy of ten people. That covers the first phase of the rise of the Antichrist’s empire.
The second phase sees the Antichrist serving as one of the ten kings, but he’s going to subdue three of those rulers. Evidently three of them have to go, so Daniel’s prophetic Little Horn will be the one getting rid of them. The remaining six rulers are going to subject their authority under the Antichrist by consent. Europe will have a king!
The third phase occurs during the midpoint of the coming seven-year Tribulation when the Antichrist ultimately succeeds in taking over the entire world. His ambitions far exceed simply Europe. He must rule the entire world!
A lot of people who study the prophecies in Daniel look at these prophecies and wonder how the Antichrist will go from ruling Europe to ruling over the entire world. Well, a lot of tragic events are going to be happening during the Tribulation period to create the right climate for global domination.
For starters, Ezekiel 38-39 prophesied the Gog-Magog invasion of Israel by Russian and Islamic forces. This coalition lusts for the riches of Israel and yearns to destroy that “troublesome” little nation. God’s supernatural intervention in defense of Israel will result in the obliteration of the invading hordes and the devastation of the homelands of Russia and her Islamic cohorts, such as Iran, Turkey, Libya and the Sudan. Imagine a world where Russia and Islam are no longer a viable threat. Their catastrophic defeat will forever change the balance of power in the world.
Revelation 6 and the Fourth Seal Judgment prophesies horrific plagues inflicting the world. A fourth of the world’s population dies! Depending on which countries gets hit the hardest, powers will shift.
Other catastrophic events will shift the world powers around in favor of the Antichrist. Taking into consideration how different the world will look like during the Tribulation, we therefore cannot look at what’s happening in our world today and interpret the Bible in light of current events. We have to look at what the Bible says about the future and believe that world events ultimately will be shaped to conform to the Bible’s end times configuration.
***To look at the Tribulation as the Bible describes it is to look at an entirely different world than exists today. The fact that we get from here to almost the world being destroyed in such a quick few years is simply amazing. I think the Rapture has a lot to do with that. The Rapture would cripple the West, especially the United States. And, with Russia and the Islamic nations pretty much destroyed due to the Gog-Magog Battle, Israel will become a prime nation. When Israel becomes a superpower, and the whole world is terrified by God’s divine protection over that nation, the Antichrist will make a peace treaty with Israel.
You can divide the Tribulation world into four regions. The Bible labels the King of the North, the King of the South, and the Kings of the East, but it never calls the Antichrist the King of the West even though he is heading up a European-led Western confederacy. That’s the alignment of nations that I see the Bible predicts for the end times.
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~ Mark Hitchcock: Senior Pastor of Faith Bible Church in Edmond, Oklahoma.
Mark’s published many books related to Bible prophecy, including one of his best titled – The Amazing Claims of Bible Prophecy: What You Need to Know in These Uncertain Times.
~ Image by jeff – – – – Good one, huh? 
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