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Time reported the following, which is scheduled for its December 28th edition:

The Absence of Global Leadership Will Shape a Tumultuous 2016

December 21, 2015

What to expect in the year ahead

During the annual Asia-Pacific leaders’ summit in Manila in November, President Obama … gave a short speech and then spent nearly half an hour moderating a panel discussion with two businesspeople. …

In a world of emergencies, leadership matters—and in 2016 it will become unavoidably obvious that the world lacks leadership. The days when heads of the G-7 industrial powers like the U.S. and Germany controlled geopolitics and the global economy are gone for good. The international group of today is the expanded G-20, which is much larger—including important emerging powers like China and India—yet agrees on much less. The result might be called a G-zero world, a global caucus whose members don’t share political and economic values or priorities. …

Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, former German Defense Minister, warns of an erosion in transatlantic trust, exacerbated by the U.S. presidential-election season. The campaign anthem will be “forget Europe,” he says—and it won’t come only from Donald Trump.

This doesn’t mean the U.S. is in decline. …

Yet abroad, America’s once predominant influence is fading fast. In the Middle East, the most powerful terrorist organization in history occupies large sections of Iraq and Syria. Russia has paralyzed Ukraine and is bombing unchecked in Syria. China is challenging U.S. military power in East Asia and Washington’s institutional power everywhere else. …

There is growing division between U.S. and European leaders. Transatlantic ties depend on common values. http://time.com/4154044/geopolitics-2016/

First, let me state that the USA is clearly in decline.  Its massive accumulation of debt (more than any other nation in the history of humanity) and its moral decline, combined with rising influence of other nations, shows a superpower in decline.

Furthermore, this decline in influence was prophesied:

18 ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
19 I will break the pride of your power; (Leviticus 26:18-19)

The pride of the power of the USA’s global leadership is diminishing.

While Europe has not YET arisen to take over the role that Great Britain and then the USA have had, it is working to do that.  The fact that Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg stated that the theme of the US presidential election appears to be to forget Europe is likely cementing in his mind that Europe cannot continue to rely on the USA for its defense and will need its own.

And, biblically, that is what is prophesied to happen (Revelation 13:1-4; Daniel 11:29-43).

Thirty-five ago, Gene Hogberg wrote that something could happen to make “the Americans-Germany’s defenders — to leave Europe.”  He then continued with:

Finally feeling the chilling embrace of Moscow, the German people may yet call for the Bavarian strongman — the one they feared in good times — to rescue them from their impending doom. Otto von Hapsburg, eldest son of the last Austro-Hungarian emperor, and one of West Germany’s representatives in the European parliament, knows Mr. Strauss quite well. In a recent newspaper column entitled “Why Europe Needs West Germany’s Franz Josef Strauss,” von Hapsburg relates Strauss’s impressive credentials for leadership — “a true democrat, a profoundly religious man, with a deep sense of his responsibilities as a political leader.” (Hogberg G. Where is West Germany Headed? Plain Truth, December 1980).

While Otto von Hapsburg died since (see Thousands Mourn Otto von Habsburg), it is interesting to realize that Karl-Theordor zu Guttenberg is also a Bavarian.  He is a leader that has the potential to be the type of  ‘strongman’ Europe will turn to in a in time of crisis (see Might German Baron Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg become the King of the North?).

The fact that there is more and more widely believed to be a gap in global leadership will lead to some nation or group of nations to try to fill it.  Perhaps, and likely, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg sees the need and is biding his time until he can offer to help fill than with Europe.

We have seen, during the past several centuries, the descendants of Israel (the British Empire followed by the USA-dominated age) being the global leader.  But this will come to an end.

The Bible tells of the time of trouble for the descendants of Israel (originally named Jacob) and the final times of the Gentiles:

6 Ask now, and see,
Whether a man is ever in labor with child?
So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins
Like a woman in labor,
And all faces turned pale?
7 Alas! For that day is great,
So that none is like it;
And it is the time of Jacob’s trouble,
But he shall be saved out of it. (Jeremiah 30:6-7)

25… Gentiles, who do not know You…they have eaten up Jacob, Devoured him and consumed him, And made his dwelling place desolate. (Jeremiah 10:25)

23 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. 24 And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. (Luke 21:23-24)

2 But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months. (Revelation 11:2)

Notice that Jeremiah, Jesus (whose words are recorded in Luke), and John (who penned Revelation) are talking about the same time. Also notice that “it is the time of Jacob’s trouble” and that the “Gentiles” are dominating. This means those that are descended from Israel or have the name of Jacob (cf. Genesis 48:14-16) will mainly be the trampled ones. One of the peoples that God says He will use to punish the descendants of Israel, Assyria (Isaiah 10:5-11), are a Gentile people–they will normally lead during the time of the Gentiles.

As a German, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg has Assyrian ancestry.

Notice also the following, where the remnant of Israel will be shamed, for a time, by Gentiles:

25 “I will make a covenant of peace with them, and cause wild beasts to cease from the land; and they will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. 26 I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing. 27 Then the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase. They shall be safe in their land; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them. 28 And they shall no longer be a prey for the nations, nor shall beasts of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and no one shall make them afraid. 29 I will raise up for them a garden of renown, and they shall no longer be consumed with hunger in the land, nor bear the shame of the Gentiles anymore. 30 Thus they shall know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and they, the house of Israel, are My people,” says the Lord God.’” (Ezekiel 34:25-30)

The time of Gentile domination is prophesied (Ezekiel 30:1-3, 34:25-30; Jeremiah 10:25; Luke 21:23-24; Revelation 11:2).

A time of the Gentiles means that the Israelite-descended nations will no longer dominate.

We are starting to see that.

The USA needs prayers and repentance, otherwise it is doomed (Habakkuk 2:6-8; Daniel 11:39).

Declining powers, still have their moments, and this does not mean that the USA will collapse in 2016 (see Can the Great Tribulation Start in 2016?), but the wheels of USA decline are in motion and some signs are there for those who are willing to see.

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This entry was posted on Monday, December 21st, 2015 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Prophecy.

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