French Reject EU Constitution
Many people dislike the Book of Revelation because it is a book of symbols. It takes careful study and a knowledge of both the Old Testament and the New Testament to even begin to start uncovering the meaning of the symbols used in the last book of the Bible. However, in some cases, the Book of Revelation is more direct and a knowledge of Biblical symbols is unnecessary. The Ten Kings prophecy of Rev 17:12-14 says plainly that ten future kings will give their power and authority to one person, who will rule the entire world for a short time. This person is popularly called the Antichrist, though he is referred to as a beast in the Book of Revelation, one of two beasts who will rule at the end of this age. While many people like to get caught up in speculation about the identity of the antichrist, others speculate about the identity of the ten kings. Some Bible prophecy commentators believe that the ten kings represent leaders of the EU (primarily because of the Daniel 9:26-27 prophecy about the prince they infer to be Roman), and have continued to hold to this view even as the EU expanded beyond ten members. Others (like me) looked to alternative political alliances that could one day form the power base of the first beast, like the U.N. Security Council or the G8 economic forum. The recent vote by the people of France to reject the proposed EU constitution (France Rejects Europe Charter - Yahoo! News) may give momentum to the EU camp if the EU now fractures into a two-tier system. Nine members of the EU have already approved the new constitution, France would have been the tenth. All 25 members of the EU must approve the constitution for it to be ratified. So, what will happen? Stay tuned.