by Michael G. Mickey
(4-2-08)

Ria Novosti is reporting that French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak will be the first leaders of the newest branch of the coming new world order - the Mediterranean Union due to be launched in July 2008.

According to RN, The Asharq Al-Awsat daily said on Monday that "Nicolas Sarkozy will lead the Union on behalf of Europe, and Hosni Mubarak on behalf of the remaining Mediterranean countries."

Exactly what role the Mediterranean Union is going to play in the fulfillment of Bible prophecy from this point forward is unknown, but what we can clearly see using visual aids, is that the prophesied revived Roman empire which the Antichrist, a prince (or leader) of Roman descent, is ultimately going to head is freakily materializing on the map of our world today.

That, brothers and sisters in Christ, is a sign to those of us who believe in Bible prophecy concerning the lateness of the hour in which we're living. Once the Mediterranean Union is born, the European Union's hand of influence in the Middle East is going to be profoundly strengthened!

This development of potentially massive proportions where Bible prophecy is concerned is coming at a time when President Bush, with no obvious evidence that anything substantive is going to occur anytime soon where Middle East peace is concerned, is yet saying he is "optimistic Israel and the Palestinians will sign an agreement defining a Palestinian state before the end of his term in office." (Source)

Middle East peace by 2009 doesn't seem to add up - or does it?

Let's do just a little - and I do mean just a little speculating - concerning what could be going on behind the scenes that we have absolutely no clear evidence is taking place.

The Mediterranean Union is coming and is being marketed as an upgrade to the Barcelona Process. Once again, this makes it clear that the revived Roman empire's influence in the Middle East is about to skyrocket!

With Sarkozy holding half the reins of power in the new Mediterranean Union, particularly given he has endeared himself to Israel greatly since becoming president of France and has a Hungarian-Jewish ancestry, Sarko may well be the most influential voice of the revived Roman empire where Middle East peace is concerned as long as he holds the position he soon will. Let's not read anything into that beyond the obvious but Sarkozy may well be every bit as rare a European Union leader as we think he is - a man who will be working alongside the leader of a nation that doesn't care a great deal for Israel in the person of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

A few days ago, a reader of my site sent me an article I have pondered over for some time. As seen in a Ynetnews.com article, addressing the Arab League in Damascus recently, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas urged the group's members to "think seriously of Arab and international protection for our people."

In the past I've reported that the Israeli government has been giving strong thought lately to welcoming an international peacekeeping force to the region.

Bearing everything that we see going on here in mind, we may be on the verge - for the very first time EVER - of seeing both parties in the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli crisis in support of outside intervention becoming an element of peace coming to the Middle East. How about THAT?

Could it be that (here comes the little bit of speculation I referred to earlier) the reason President Bush seems confident peace may come to the Middle East by 2009 be because Israel and even moderates within the Palestinian government are now giving serious consideration to welcoming an international peacekeeping force into the Middle East that could represent a confirmation of a covenant that will have been reached earlier? If so, we may be within spitting distance of the Rapture of the Church!

Thinking "outside the box"

I've had many people ask things of me concerning the prophesied seven-year covenant the Antichrist will someday confirm I haven't really been able to answer outside of hypothesis like, "Why would two groups with a history like these two have come up with a seven-year peace deal and not a peace deal that would last forever?" My reply, on any number of occasions, has been something like, "Maybe the covenant that will be confirmed by Antichrist will serve as a bridge of sorts between the days of seemingly never-ending bloodshed to the establishment of a Palestinian state and a lasting peace, hypothetically-speaking."

Far-fetched on my part? I'm not the only one who has thought something like that might work and even be a necessary element of getting these two bitter enemies torn apart from one another long enough for each of them to have some good old "peace and safety" during the transitionary period!

In a recent editorial for The Jerusalem Post, Avshalom Vilan, a member of the Israeli Knesset, wrote the following, in part:

IN ORDER to overcome this dilemma, we need to explore an out-of-the-box solution that would give Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank a genuine incentive to join a future peace treaty - one that offers hope and dignity.

One such creative solution is for Israel and the PLO to formulate and jointly present a formal "peace contract" - with one categorical condition: The contract would transform itself into an actual peace treaty, with all that implies, when the West Bank and the Gaza Strip - on which the future Palestinian state is to arise - is under the rule of a single political authority, elected on the basis of the peace contract.

When the time is right, general elections would be held (also in Israel), and if the parties supporting the peace contract obtain a majority, the governments formed would be constituted as peace governments to implement the contract.

This process would ensure a smooth transition from peace contract to peace treaty. Each side would be fully aware of the facts and be able to take steps accordingly to create conditions in which the peace treaty could be signed - or they could choose to fight each other until the end of days.

A CONTRACT based, for example, upon the Clinton parameters or the Geneva Initiative would prove to the Palestinian people that a peace treaty and a state of their own is within reach, something that would plainly help weaken Hamas.

The Geneva Initiative! How about that surfacing again? It's been so long since I discussed that here on the site, most of you have probably forgotten about it.

The Geneva Initiative was the brainchild of Yossi Beilin, the architect of the Oslo Accord. Look what I wrote on the Geneva Initiative on 10-18-05:

As I've stated on numerous occasions in the past, Oslo, which Beilin worked on, had a seven-year timeline which was to see a Palestinian state born in the year 2000, seven years after it was signed in 1993. Given that Beilin is presently involved in the Geneva initiative and pushing for its use, could we see another seven-year timeline emerge, but with a different twist like, for example, a peacekeeping element involved from the European Union being deployed in the Middle East to insure everything goes smoothly? I wouldn't be surprised in the least! In fact, I believe this is what Bible prophecy seems to indicate will take place in Daniel 9:26-27 where we see a prince (or leader) of Roman descent (the prophesied Antichrist) will someday confirm (or strengthen) a seven-year covenant of peace between Israel and her enemies "with many."

It seemed possible to me this could occur in 2005 and, if the member of the Knesset who wrote the editorial the excerpt above was plucked out of, is perhaps fishing for public support for something like that, it's possible that we're going to see the seven-year timeline of the Oslo Accord - the only plan signed off on by both the Israelis and Palestinians that could bring about a Palestinian state - come right back into play.

While I have no idea what is going to occur from this point forward, I hope all of this rambling I've done has given all my readers a grasp of just how close we may be, conditionally speaking, to the advent of the Antichrist taking place - an event which will be preceded by the Rapture of the Church!

Keep looking up, Christians! We may be here a year, five years or ten more minutes. Only the Lord knows for sure but, if the Lord continues to permit me to share what could be clues pointing toward prophetic fulfillment manifesting themselves on a variety of fronts, I plan on sharing my thoughts with you that we might all stay focused on what's going on around us. Not sleeping with those who slumber or being drunken alongside those who are drunk on all the world has to offer but sober and alert, "looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ!" (Titus 2:13)

I don't know how all the pieces of the prophetic puzzle are going to fit together but I sense they're all floating around out there as I know many of you do so let's keep one another in prayer as we look for someone to tell about Jesus in what may well be the final hours before the clock strikes midnight here in the Church Age.

What a time to be alive and a Christian!