Last week President Barack Obama “rebuked EU leaders for failing to recapitalize banks and allowing the debt crisis to escalate to the point where it is scaring the world.”  Reaction from the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, was one of scorn, “I don’t understand how anyone in the European Commission can have such a stupid idea [spending one’s way out of a debt crisis].  The result would be to endanger the AAA sovereign debt ratings of other member states.  It makes no sense.”  Mr. Schäuble basically told Washington to “mind its own business” following Mr.

Many professing Christians were disappointed when claims of a “rapture” on May 21, 2011 were proved false. Afterward, some said “Oops!” and looked instead to October 21, 2011.  Well, “Oops!” again!  Meanwhile, “New Agers” are looking to December 21, 2012. Some see it as “Doomsday” while others expect the dawn of a new spiritual breakthrough. Of course, both views will soon be proved wrong and their followers disappointed.

Another rapture prediction is making news headlines. Will we soon witness those who are not “presently saved” being “annihilated together with the whole physical world” (familyradio.com, “What Happened on May 21?”)? Some believe that Christ’s return and the rapture will occur on October 21, 2011. Others speculate about December 21, 2012.

In his 1951 farewell address to the United States Congress, General Douglas MacArthur grimly stated his thoughts about the global conflicts in which he had played a major role. Speaking as a life-long military man—a commander in some of modern history’s fiercest battles—he put the entire weight of his experience into his observation that, although mankind has from the beginning of time sought peace, all efforts for international peace have ultimately failed. Chillingly, he warned: “If we will not devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door.”

Last Friday the German parliament symbolically voted to continue supporting European debt relief.  Internally, the parliament was split, with representatives refusing to further support EU debt by giving up German sovereignty through a fiscal union.  A Bavarian representative warned that “…the Free State of Bavaria will not take one step further towards an EMU fiscal union or debt pool.”  According to a seasoned journalist, “Germans have begun to sense that the preservation of their own democracy and rule of law is in conflict with demands from Europe.