WEBVTT

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This vote, for Britian to 
leave the European Union,

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is going to have huge ramifications
which we can't really predict or foresee.

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Some we can, but many we can't.

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But at the moment it's hard to 
see these many different countries

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with their very different histories,
including histories of enmity to each other,

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it's very hard to see them being able
to cleave together.

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The European Union's origin is,
of course, in World War II -

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this extraordinary catastrophe -
a generation of people

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Europeans, who said, 
"We cannot do this again!"

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There was an understanding that, 
if you want to preserve peace,

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you need to have some kind of
economic system

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that doesn't cause hatred
or cause rivalry.

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Many people won't understand or know
that religion was actually

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a very important ingredient in the 
establishment of the

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European economic community.

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There is still a religious element to much
of the debate in the European Union.

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In the early 2000s, the then President
of the European Commission,

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Romano Prodi, actually published a book.


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It was in Italian, but the translated title
means, "An Idea of Europe".

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And he said, "What can hold
these many different countries?

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It's not enough for the elites to
propose political union.

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There has to be something cultural."

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And he said, "The one thing
that all Europeans have in common,

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the one thing that can bind us all together,

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is loyalty to the Church."

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But he was Italian. 
What did he mean?

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He meant, the Roman Catholic Church.

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That's the story of people
trying to make Europe into a powerhouse

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and yet failing, again and again.

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Think about Napoleon: everything looked
perfect, and yet, a decade, and it fell.

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Think about Hitler: it failed.

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As a European, I grew up with the question:
"How does Europe fit into Bible prophecy?"

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Daniel chapter 2 - the king has a dream - 
Nebuchadnezzar has a dream -

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and in that dream, he sees a huge statue, 
a beautiful statue.

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Different metals are used to indicate
different kingdoms.

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He starts off as the head, the golden head. 
Babylon, Medo-Persia, the Greek empire

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and then, finally, the strength of the
Roman empire,

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but there is something else.
There are toes, and feet,

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that are made up of mixed clay and iron.

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And Daniel, somehow, he says, 
"They will not stick together.

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Some are strong, some are weak."
And that seems to be the story of Europe.

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Especially given recent circumstances - the
situation in Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus -

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where the core EU countries, the northern
EU countries, are seen as oppressive,

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as meddling in people's affairs,
at the same time we have to say,

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all kinds of ethnic and nationalist
hatreds that seem to have died in the

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ruins of World War II, and have not been
seen for 70 years, are somehow magically

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and disturbingly reappearing.

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So given all these strains that are on
the European Union, for one of the

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three biggest economies, the chief
contributor to a common defense and

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foreign policy, to leave, this is just
going to create a vacuum at the heart.

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Prophecy is not just

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something interesting we study, you know,
in history books, or in Bible classes.

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We can get our bearings, the
great direction, the big picture

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from prophecy.

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Scripture tells us that there will not be
another united Europe, it will be

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weak and strong, and we can see that.

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But that's not where the story ends.
Daniel chapter 2 doesn't end with

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the statue and the feet of
mixed clay and iron.

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There's a rock: it's small at first,
but that rock smashes the entire statue.

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That little rock that becomes a huge rock,
is Jesus Christ.

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A new kingdom. God's kingdom.