In the history of the whole world, a miniscule group of people, making up only 0.227%¹ of the entire world population, steadfastly remains the most discussed, pivotal, hated, and defended race to ever exist. They have been called everything from peculiar, chosen, beloved, to subhuman, and evil. They are the Jews, and for me, personally, I have become more and more amazed at the endurance, the perseverance, the ability to survive, exhibited over and over through centuries of world history, by this tenacious race of people. They have been exiled, dispersed, held in captivity, have had their nation disbanded, their holy Temple destroyed—yet again and again they rise up out of defeat and persecution on all sides to exist as a people once again.

But then again, maybe I shouldn’t be so amazed, because they are after all, “God’s chosen people.” The meaning of that phrase, chosen people, becomes clearer and clearer the more I study prophecy and watch how continually world events—even more today than ever—revolve around the nation of Israel and her people.

By any political, sociological and historical standards, Israel should have remained a non-entity since she was last destroyed in 70 A.D. Her people should have melted into the world’s population, slowly intermingling with other races until they disappeared altogether. But quite the opposite happened. They fought to retain their identity, and succeeded – enough so that they have always been noticed, targeted for persecution, and mysteriously remain at the forefront of world events. 1948, when Israel officially became a nation again, was nothing short of a miracle.

As any of you know who have listened to me teach for any length of time, I love prophecy. I love studying it, teaching it, and the books of Daniel and Revelation just might be my favorite books of the Bible. In fact, the authors of those books, Daniel the prophet and the apostle John, are the only two people in the Bible God personally calls “beloved,” and they are the two to whom He gave the most vivid and specific revelations about the future. Not surprisingly, the prophetic events they recorded all revolve around —Israel.

My intense interest and love for the Jews and for prophecy have brought me to a place in my studies where I am watching the news daily and seeing once again prophecy unfolding before our very eyes – and yet, though the events are in the news, they somehow escape the attention of most American news reporters.

There is a very powerful individual on the world scene who many Americans have never heard of. His name is Javier Solana and he is currently the European Union's High Representative for the Common Foreign & Security Policy (CFSP) and the Secretary-General of both the Council of the European Union (EU) and the Western European Union (WEU).

Students of Bible prophecy know the significance of a ten-nation alliance (see Daniel 7:24) and a seven-year “peace plan.” (And if you aren’t a regular student – don’t worry. There are lots of good books you can read and we’ll continue to study this together.)

In 1995 Mr. Solana became the Secretary general of the ten-nation alliance known as Western European Union (WEU). And just recently, in the past month, he announced the formation of a seven-year covenant to promote peace and security for  Israel and the Mideast.

Mr. Solana recently wrote a very interesting article, which you can access here (unfortunately this link has been removed by the news agency). In it he said:

“ I am pleased that the EU will launch a so-called governance facility. This will not be a cosmetic initiative, but one that, over seven years, will offer several hundred million euros to those countries that are making the greatest efforts concerning governance reform.... Moreover, we Europeans have been working nonstop to promote a peace accord...Security and reform go hand in hand.”

As you read the article for yourself, keep in mind 1Thessalonians 5:3: “For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.”

In an article dated November 29, 2005, the Daily Journal reported: “At the eleventh hour, leaders of the EU member states and their ten Mediterranean partners in the Euromed group on Monday agreed on a code of conduct to counter terrorism....”

I am going to ask you to be like the Bereans in the Bible (Acts 17:10-11). They studied matters for themselves, searching the Scriptures and finding out what was true. I plan to send out updates like this one regularly, and we’ll study together as we see prophecy unfolding all around us. I want to point you in some directions, and let you search and pray and discover for yourself.

Look at the articles I’ve referenced here, then also “google” Javier Solana, and the “Barcelona process” or “Barcelona Summit.” See where these take you! But most importantly, keep your Bible open, study the Word and pray for God to give you discernment and wisdom.

May God bless us all as we wait for the blessed hope!

As always, we welcome your thoughts and comments:  media@maranathachapel.org

Pastor Ray

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