Will the EU Split? What Did Herbert W. Armstrong and Catholic Prophecies Teach?
Because of all the problems in Europe, some believe that it will break up and not come together. But that is not what biblical prophecy teaches. Furthermore, the late Herbert W. Armstrong as well as Catholic prophecies indicated that it would precisely be because of economic, civil, and religious problems that the final European beast power would rise up.
In 1965, the late Herbert W. Armstrong wrote:
…European countries urgently want political union, the very UNITED STATES OF EUROPE I have been assuring PLAIN TRUTH readers for 31 years is definitely coming. It will unite them into a giant third World Power…
There is a definite German “Kultur!n There is a French culture that is in many respects quite different. Then there is a still different Italian culture, a Spanish culture, a Scandinavian culture, a Swiss culture–and all are different! European nations speak different languages, have different aspi rations, different customs, different traditions. Europe is often called a “crazy-quilt” of nations.
HOW, THEN, CAN THEY AGREE TOGETHER AND UNITE? For years The PLAIN TRUTH has said these nations are going to have to realize their inability to unite themselves politically-to choose a common political-military Leader that all can trust. They are going to finally face the fact they must look to a Supreme Authority they can all trust! That Supreme Authority cannot be a politician, or a general (De Gaulle is both). The only possible answer is a Religious Leader! (Armstrong HW. Personal. Plain Truth, November 1965, pp.1-2)
So, he felt that while they needed a political-military leader, some type of religious leader was needed to unify Europeans.
But there was more.
In a sermon on July 7, 1984, the late Herbert W. Armstrong reported:
And I can see now, the event that is going to trigger the formation of the reunification in Europe; the resurrection of the medieval Holy Roman Empire that we’ve been looking forward to that is prophesied to come…
But I believe that some event is going to happen suddenly just like out a blue sky that is going to shock the whole world and is going to cause the nations in Europe to realize they must unite! … Well now I think I can see what may be the very event that is going to trigger…that is the economic situation in the world…
The whole banking structure in the United States is a network all jointed together. But not only that, one nation has to deal with other nations and imports and exports. And so they have to have a means of transforming money from one nation to another. And so the banking structure is international and interwoven…
Now when the financial structure breaks down, all civilization is going to break down…
Herbert Armstrong clearly believed that economic problems would lead to civil unrest and that this would trigger the final reunification of Europe.
Despite grumblings by various news reports, Europe is actually more and more uniting because of the economic crisis.
Herbert Armstrong also felt that religious events would be a factor, for the end time including “a ‘man of sin’ be revealed” by “signs and lying wonders” and that “the Roman Empire, is again restored with a great religious leader”. “In Revelation 19:19-20 is pictured the beast “and with him the false prophet that does miracles before him…”(Armstrong HW. Who or What is the Prophetic Beast? pp. 21,24).
But he is not the only one who suggested these events.
Certain “Catholic” prophecies indicate that civil unrest and religious signs and wonders would be factors in the final unification. Notice some of the civil unrest prophecies:
Jean Paul Richter (died 1809): Through a terrible purgatory Europe will return to the faith. (Culleton, The Prophets and Our Times, p. 182)
Monk Hilarion (15th century): The people of the peninsula of Europe will suffer by needless wars until the Holy Man comes. The Lion will come from a high mountain in the enlightened nation. (Dupont, pp. 21-22)
Brother Louis Rocco (19th century): All over Europe there will rage terrible civil wars…The German sections of Austria will join Germany, so will also the commercial cities of Belgium and Switzerland. A Catholic descendant of a German imperial house will rule a united Germany with peace, prosperity and great power, for God will be with this sovereign (the Great Monarch?)…A Great Monarch will arise after a period of terrible wars and persecutions in Europe. He will be a Catholic… (Culleton, The Prophets and Our Times, p. 195).
Notice, for another example (this time from Eastern Orthodox Catholic sources), signs and wonders that are supposed to accompany the rising up of the “Great Monarch” (known in the Bible as the final King of the North):
Discourse of a Holy Man to Emperor Manuel II Palaeologous (15th century): And the members of the clergy and the monastics as well as every social stratum of humanity, against their own will, but led by a divine sign will come to Constantinople…Then, an angel…will descend from heaven…and he will crown the Emperor of Peace. The King will be present in Constantinople (Tzima Otto, pp. 99-100).
Anonymou Paraphrasis (10th century): The one true King..will hear the voice and instructions by an Angel appearing to him…the name of the King is hidden [concealed] among the nations…And the particular manner of the king’s manifestation to the public [to the world] will take place as follows: A star will appear [will become visible] for three days long and during the third hour of the night, on the eve of the feast day of the Morther of the Most High (it will become visible) in the Middle of the City. And this star is not one among the planets…And a herald speaking with a very loud voice in the course of the three days will summon and unveil the hoped for one…There will become visible in the sky a ‘nebulous firmament of the sun’…under that image will be suspended a cross…And the invisible herald from Heaven with his thunderous voice will say to the people: Is this man agreeable to you? At that moment everybody will be taken by fear and terror…they will elevate him on a high spot and will proclaim him (their) hereditary Monarch (Tzima Otto, pp. 30,32, 50-51, 52,53).
The combination of economic issues, civil unrest, and signs and wonders apparently will result in a fully unified Europe.
So, although there will likely be additional economic, severe civil, and unusual religious problems in Europe, it is prophesied to reunite.
And while some will rightly point out that the nations of Europe are so different that they do not have the real potential to unite, Bible believers realize the fact that the union will be fragile was foretold thousands of years ago in the Book of Daniel:
40 And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. 41 Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. 43 As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. (Daniel 2:40-43)
Thus, even though sometimes it looks like Europe will not make it, according to the above and other biblical prophecies, the final emergence of a European beast power (despite internal problems) will come to pass.
Some articles of possibly related interest may include:
Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? Is an emerging European power “the daughter of Babylon”? What is ahead for Europe?
Who Was Herbert W. Armstrong? How is He Viewed Today? Includes quotes from the 1973 edition of The Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong and explains who he was and how he should be viewed today.
Catholic Prophecies: Do They Mirror, Highlight, or Contradict Biblical Prophecies? People of all faiths may be surprised to see what various Roman and Orthodox Catholic prophets have been predicting as many of their predictions will be looked to in the 21st century.
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