Godless and confused?

"'Jury's out' on future of Europe, EU doyen says." Etienne Davignon, the Belgian industrialist and former EU commissioner, has warned: "It's clear that the world will not be the same after September 2008."

Davignon's words come as a contrast to those of U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who has said "recovery will begin next year" and believes government officials are laying a "groundwork for economic revival."

Europe is bracing for 18 to 24 months of recession, formulating plans slowly and "studying technical measures" to ensure long-term growth. Compare this to the pace American legislators kept when in February they approved an enormous 1,073-page bill that House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-WI) called "the largest change in domestic policy since the 1930s" (The Wall Street Journal, February 15, 2009). That bill was so rushed that it included items literally handwritten in ink, to activate a "stimulus package" worth $787 billion.

An article in the Washington Times, "CBO: Obama stimulus harmful over long haul,"quotes a startling warning offered by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which stated plainly that "President Obama's economic recovery package will actually hurt the economy more in the long run than if he were to do nothing." What a stark warning of the potential effect of hasty law-making!

America and Europe clearly differ in their approach to the financial crisis, which continues to create staggering job loss numbers and foreclosures, and at an unprecedented rate of bankruptcy. Will Europe, with its more conservative and thoughtful long-term approach, come out of this economic meltdown with renewed strength, economic security and stability—and a greater sense of supranational unity?

One way or another, Europeans recognize that there are great changes ahead. What will those changes be? Under the subhead "Godless and confused," Davignon alludes to the lack of religion in the EU and the loss of "traditional references" such as the church—in the absence of which, he says, Europeans are searching unsuccessfully for a newer reference to understand and weather the current crisis. Will we see a revival of church influence in government and legislation? Will there be a resurgence of church attendance?

Indeed, while the European landscape holds some of the oldest and most renowned church structures in the world, attendance in those houses of worship has lagged since the Second World War. The International Herald Tribune, April 7, 2007, stated the following concerning church attendance in Europe.

"Comparing survey data on church attendance in Europe and the United States is doubly revealing. In Western Europe as a whole, fewer than 20 percent of people say they go to church (Catholic or Protestant) twice a month or more; in some countries the figure is below 5 percent. In England, fewer than 8 percent go to church on Sundays. In the U.S., by contrast, 63 percent say they are a member of a church or synagogue, and 43 percent of respondents to a 2006 Gallup Poll said they attended services weekly or almost weekly."

As few as 5 percent attend church in some areas! It seems that Europe has lost its anchor. Will the current financial crisis bring about the fundamental change of a revived church, reminiscent of the days of the Holy Roman Empire? Only time will tell, but the Bible does plainly show that a politico-economic system will rise up in Europe and be guided by a powerful end-time church that will point all people to worship this system (Revelation 13:15). This system is known as the Beast. To learn more about this end-time system now rising in Europe, read our booklet, The Beast of Revelation: Myth, Metaphor, or Soon Coming Reality?