The Tower of Babel and Pentecost

In recent months it has been Europe's turn to be thrown to the mat. While last year saw the rise of the euro and the collapse of the dollar, in the wake of America's banking problems, the Financial Flu has spread to Europe in 2010.

By the end of last year it took $1.50 to buy one Euro. Now it takes only $1.22. This makes the dollar look good, of course, but in reality, most economists admit that the dollar is just "less bad" at the moment, while Europe fights to salvage its Tower of Babel project (the EU).

The modern Babylonian system has worked hard to create a New World Order, by which they mean a unification of the world under one government with one economy. This is what is falling apart, as it becomes apparent that diverse people and diverse economies among nations cannot be fused together as if they are all one big happy family.

At least, not under Babylon's rule. I have no doubt that this vision will be realized as the Stone Kingdom fills the whole earth (Dan. 2:35). God has given carnal men the first opportunity to accomplish this goal, knowing that their own lawlessness would make it an impossibility in the end. Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, and now Mystery Babylon have all attempted to unite diverse people into one Empire. All have failed in the end.

The "European Union" is now in the early stages of disunion. The near-death experience of Greece this month has lit a fire that can hardly be extinguished. Greece owed 8.5 billion euros on a 10-year bond that was coming due today (May 19), and it was about to default. The Eurozone voted to bail out Greece, mostly to save itself, since Greece owes lots of money to German, French, and British banks. A default would affect these foreign banks, causing financial crises in many other countries that are already in a precarious position.

Now the European leaders who voted for the bailout have to face the angry public. In particular, the anger is in Germany. Bob Chapman writes in The International Forecaster for May 19,

After bailing out Greece and now the euro, Germany is fed up with being Europe's paymaster.

The tension between Germany and France threatened to spill over at a Brussels summit last week end when [Germany's] Merkel and [France's] Sarkozy had a furious row. According to observers, it ended with Sarkozy threatening to leave the euro.

"It was a stand-up argument," an official told El Pais, the Spanish newspaper. Sarkozy, furious as Merkel's reluctance to sign up to a safety net of €750 billion (£644 billion), was shouting and bawling at Merkel and smashed his fist on the table. "It was Sarkozy on steroids," one witness said. [He needs 'em.]

"The bailout of Europe depends on Germany. But who will bailout Germany? Germany's local governments are slipping into their budget worst crisis since World War II, with total deficits of €15 billion forecast for this year, the German Association of Cities warned Friday.

Well, a "united europe" is a great idea. The problem is that carnally minded men want to run the show by the laws of men. God has given them time to prove themselves unworthy. He has given their laws time to fail. My suggestion: Declare Jesus Christ as King and decide to follow His laws. Exercise authority under Him and do only what He would do if He were ruling directly in person. To put it another way, follow the leading of the Spirit, remembering that the Spirit of God is not going to promote sin (violation of the divine law).

If you do not do this, you will be removed from office as the Stone grinds the image of Babylon to powder, beginning with its feet. In regard to the Eurozone, which has chosen to identify itself by the Tower of Babel, I can only quote Gen. 11:8 and 9,

"So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth, and they stopped building the city. Therefore, its name was called Babel . . ."

We are coming up on the feast of Pentecost (May 23). Pentecost was God's way of reversing the effects of the judgment upon the Tower of Babel. Babel's confusion of tongues (languages) has its counterpart in Pentecost and the gift of tongues. That is a long story, of course, because much of the Church under Pentecost has become part of the Babylonian problem and has thereby inherited its confusion of tongues.

Yet if done properly according to biblical instruction, tongues can take us from a state of confusion (lack of understanding) to the interpretation of tongues (understanding), thereby reversing the effects of Babel.

Seeing that 2010 is such an important prophetic year, and observing how the Tower of Babel is collapsing in Europe, it draws my attention to Pentecost of 2010. We must add this date to our list of "Watch Dates."

I did not make this connection until last night when I was at an all-night prayer meeting. (When I arrived, the pastor asked me to teach. I began about 8:00 p.m., tried to stop on time at 9:00 and again at 10:00, but finally was able to stop at 11:00. The audience was brutal.)

Anyway, the occasion of the prayer meeting was to prepare for Pentecost, so I gave them a better understanding of this feast by teaching them the story of King Saul and its relationship to Acts 2. During the course of teaching, I remembered the connection between the Tower of Babel and Pentecost--something I learned about 25 years ago. Yet in view of the recent Greek debt crisis and the Euro meltdown, it seems that Pentecost is probably going to be a factor in the situation.

When I began my vacation last week, the Euro was trading at $1.34. In just one week, when I returned to work yesterday, it had fallen to $1.22. This in spite of the bailout agreement, which stopped the slide for about a day. After the initial exuberance over the bailout, traders realized that even a trillion-dollar bailout was not going to solve the problem, and the Euro continued its slide as if there had been no bailout at all.

Central banks are almost out of ammunition in the war against economic collapse. Many countries are in free-fall, and each is trying to fight the other so as not to hit the bottom first. Perhaps when the Euro is equal to the Dollar (1:1), then it will be the Dollar's turn to take the lead once again in collapsing faster than the others.