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Chapter 1:
A BRIEF SYNOPSIS
2009 - Another incredible Milestones year!
I admit that 2008 seemed a year when so many of the pieces of the prophetic jigsaw dropped into place, but 2009 has excelled! The times that we have waited for are surely so close.
For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Hab 2:3
Surely it is speaking with ever increasing urgency that the Lord's coming is at hand - "watch and pray". Consider some of this year's Milestones.
The coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty alters the composition of Europe. It is no longer a collection of 27 different countries united in trade, but is now a federal state with a political identity, with a President able to speak on behalf of the EU. This surely is giving us the foundation for the latter-day Beast power. As in the previous Beast - the Beast of the Earth, it has Germany at its heart. Germany - with the Vatican - has been shaping EU policy. Her dream is an even wider cooperation with Russia, a Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals.
The prophetic picture is of a Beast system and Dragon system. These two do not seem to merge but cooperate together. We see Russia and Europe - especially Germany - working together in ways which would be almost unbelievable just 20 years ago.
At the same time we see the growing power of the Vatican. The Harlot Woman of Rev 17 is described as sitting on many waters. With Russia becoming the 178th country to have diplomatic relations with the Vatican, she truly can be said to be sitting upon many waters. Eighty years ago the number was a mere 27 countries!
Her increasing reinstatement at the heart of Europe is something Bible students have long anticipated, but its speed continues to arouse the fears of Humanists who see this as an alarming feature.
One of the reasons the Vatican was so keen to see the Lisbon Treaty come into force was that it recognises the role of the Churches (read Vatican) in Europe's past and gives them a consultative role for the future. No wonder the Vatican celebrated the coming into effect of the Lisbon Treaty with a call to start using their rights under the Treaty to promote a "critical and constructive dialogue with the EU decision makers".
We have seen amazing progress this year in healing the schism that split Christendom a thousand years ago. We
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