December, 2007

Fred R. Coulter

Minister

December 13, 2007

Dear Brethren,

By the time you receive this letter, the printing of the new Bible will be well under way in China. However, we don’t know how much time off the company will give their workers to observe the upcoming holidays of this world. Though they are not “Christian,” it seems Christmas is becoming a big-time event in Asia. Nevertheless, we anticipate receiving the new Bible by mid to late January.

Much of the following information concerns free trade zones that have been (or are being) established among various nations around the world. The information comes from several official Web sites. To verify references regarding these trade zones and “regional unions” of nations—and to check the Web sites containing their official statements—you can download their site addresses from the CBCG site under the link, “The Ten Free Trade Zones in the World Today.”

The Major Keys to Understanding End Time Prophecies

The King of the North and the King of the South: With each new crisis—be it monetary, war or crime related, or a natural disaster—we wonder, “When will the end come? How much time do we have left?” We need to realize that there are many things which must yet appear on the “prophecy stage,” so to speak, before the final events of the end times can unfold and the Great Tribulation can begin. One thing is certain, the Tribulation cannot begin by Passover 2008.

Concerning end time events leading up to His return, Jesus commanded His disciples to watch: “But learn the parable of the fig tree: When its branches become tender, and it puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way also, when you see these [prophesied] things coming to pass, know that it [the end] is near, even at the doors. Truly I say to you, this generation shall in no way pass away until all these things have taken place” (Mark 13:28-30).

The parallel account in Matthew 24 reads somewhat differently: “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branches have already become tender, and it puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. In like manner also, when you see all these [prophesied] things, know that it [the end] is near, even at the doors. Truly I say to you, this generation shall in no wise pass away until all these things have taken place. The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but My words shall never pass away. But concerning that day, and the hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only” (verses 32-36). The key is that we must “see all these things”—which includes all the Old Testament prophecies pertaining to end time events. It is a grave mistake to get all excited when we see some of “these things” instead of all of “these things” and proclaim that the Tribulation will suddenly come upon us. This is why we are to constantly watch.

Perhaps the two most important end time events to watch for are the rise of the “King of the North” and the rise of the “King of the South”—because the Great Tribulation cannot begin until they first come on the scene. God inspired the prophet Daniel to write: “And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape” (Dan. 11:40-42).

These prophecies clearly tell us that at the time of the end there will be a “King of the North” and a “King of the South” on the geopolitical “prophetic stage.” They are not yet on the horizon. However, there are numerous visible indications that the way for the “King of the North” is almost complete. We must also watch for a succession in leadership before the final “King of the North” comes to power.

With the continuing development of the European Union, we can readily see that the political power base has already been established for the “King of the North.” As this development progresses, we will ultimately see the United Kingdom fully absorbed into the Union through the ratification of an EU constitution. Several years ago, the EU failed to get a new European constitution approved by the voters of the 12 key member nations. Since then, however, the EU has completed a treaty which contains nearly the same wording as the previously rejected constitution.

Unlike the previous treaty, the new constitution requires the approval of only the parliaments of the twelve nations. A majority vote by the people is irrelevant.

Another important feature of this new treaty is that once it has been ratified by the various governments, it becomes the binding law of the land for each country—over and above their national laws and constitutions. This means that since the UK’s parliament has approved the treaty and signed it into law, the UK will be absorbed into the EU. Officially, this transfer is scheduled to take place in January 2009. Watch for her sovereignty as an independent nation to begin to be eroded away until the UK and all the countries of Europe are completely subject to the dictates of the EU!

The seductive, insidious evil of such a “regional union” of nations is this: While each country retains its individual identity, its own national government, as well as a good measure of national sovereignty, each member nation is ultimately subject to the higher power of the central European parliament that will continue to arrogate more power and control to itself. In the event of a crisis, the EU central government would be able to seize complete control over all the member nations. What a slick deception, indeed! This is how the UK and the other countries of Europe will eventually lose their sovereignty to the EU. Undoubtedly, this is how the “Beast” power of the “King of the North” will come on the scene. Napoleon, Bismark and Hitler all dreamed of a United Europe stretching from the Atlantic to the Urals—established through conquest and war. Apparently, the dream will now be achieved through trade agreements and treaties—all signed in Rome.

This same approach is being followed in North America—involving the United States, Canada and Mexico—in the development of the North American Union (NAU). Behind-the-scenes negotiations (though vehemently denied) are now under way to bring about trade agreements and treaties based on the “success” of NAFTA (see SPP.gov). Once the three nations have merged into “Mex-Ameri-Cana,” the NAU will have its own regional parliament, regional court and a regional currency, the Amero.

The Coming Union of Islamic Nations: This same pattern is being used to set up other “regional unions” of nations in the world. It is a little-known fact that the seven-member “Gulf Cooperation Counsel” (GCC) was initially established in 1981 by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Yemen, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. In 1991, after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, the GCC invited the U.S. to send their armed forces to liberate Kuwait. They also requested that the U.S. not go into Iraq to fully conquer the country. Thus, the second Iraq war followed in 2003.

In addition to the GCC, the Greater Arab Free Trade Agreement (GAFTA) was ratified in 1997 and implemented in 1998 by the following 17 Islamic nations: Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Notice that the original seven GCC nations are included. When GAFTA becomes more fully developed, it will undoubtedly include all Islamic nations in the Middle East and North Africa. Perhaps it will eventually include Pakistan and Afghanistan as cooperating Islamic nations.

This union will, in turn, become the foundational power base for the “King of the South.” Now we can understand why the second Gulf war in Iraq is being fought. With Saddam Hussein having been eliminated as a threat to the GCC nations—and with success in the Iraq war—the way will be open for Islamic nations to form a prosperous “Pan-Arab Union” through GAFTA. With key components in place, we can now see how the political and territorial foundation for the “King of the South” will come together.

ASEAN—Association of Southeast Asian Nations: The ten nations that make up ASEAN include: 1) Brunei Darussalam; 2) Cambodia; 3) Indonesia; 4) Lao PDR (Laos); 5) Malaysia; 6) Myanmar-Burma; 7) Philippines; 8) Singapore; 9) Thailand; and 10) Vietnam. Representatives of these nations—which comprising one-third of the world’s population—meet annually for ASEAN business. Here is an excerpt from a press report (dated 11-29-2004) dealing with an ASEAN-China trade and economic summit:

“Vientiane, Laos: China and the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are expected to make substantial progress in advancing Free Trade Areas (FTAs) at their summit to be held here today. The two sides will sign a series of agreements, the most prominent of which are the two known as the Agreement on Trade in Goods of the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Co-operation between ASEAN and China, and the Agreement of Dispute Settlement Mechanism. Chinese Premier Wen Jiaboa arrived in Vientiane yesterday. He is in Laos Sunday through Tuesday for a group summit between China and ASEAN, [and] a three-way meeting between China, Japan and the Republic of Korea [which probably laid the groundwork for greater cooperation between the three, as well as for a separate future FTA between them]…. Wen will witness the signing of all agreements.”

More Regional Unions of Nations: In addition to the development of the “regional unions” of nations for the “King of the North” and the “King of the South,” other regional alliances are being developed through trade agreements and treaties that, in all probability, will lead eventually to ten major regions of the world. From what we already know concerning the development of these regional groupings of nations, perhaps we can anticipate the formation of certain “regional unions.” While the following proposed alignment of nations into regions is currently at various stages of development, and others are not yet clearly defined, this tentative list can at least give us a preliminary idea of how they might align into ten regions.

They are: 1) European Union; 2) Islamic nations West—Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco; 3) Islamic nations East—the rest of the Islamic nations; 4) North American Union (NAU); 5) South American Union; 6) Africa—Sub Sahara, called AFTA. 7) Russia and the nations along its southern border; 8) Southeast Asian nations, already organized as ASEAN, probably with Japan joining later; 9) China—with Tibet, Mongolia and Korea (or Japan could join the China group); and 10) India and the Himalayan nations.

How the Jewish nation in Palestine, which today is called Israel, will fit in is rather difficult to determine at this point. It could be tied to all ten regions, perhaps more prominently to Europe.

Perhaps this tentative framework of ten “regional unions” of nations can give us a better understanding of the alignment of nations in the end times. Notice that the modern end-time nations of the ten tribes of Israel would lose their sovereignty in such “regional unions”—and would be taken over by strangers within their gates, who could then easily rise high above them, and bring them into slavery within their own countries.

To tie all these alliances together, all trade agreements and treaties would be regulated through the World Trade Organization (WTO), located in Geneva, which now comprises 150 nations worldwide. In fact, all these preliminary “Free Trade Areas” are made up of WTO members, and are thus subject to its regulations and Trade Dispute Settlement Court. From their 2007 Annual Report, the WTO declares: “The challenge over the next few months is to deliver the final Doha [the capital city of Qatar] Development Agenda agreement which better integrates developing countries into the global trading system, while expanding trade opportunities for all WTO members…. The main mission of the WTO is to open markets and regulate world trade.”

A New Look at Daniel Two: If we re-examine the prophecies of Daniel two, which began with Nebuchadnezzar as the head of gold, it is possible to make more sense out of the final kingdom of ten toes. If we view the ten toes as ten “regional unions” of nations—partly weak and partly strong because of their alignments—it may give us greater understanding: “And whereas you saw the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it the strength of the iron, forasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken [or weak]. And whereas you saw iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle [or join] themselves with the seed of men [other nations]: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever” (Dan. 2:41-44).

As we witness the development of these ten “regional unions” of the nations of the world, rather than simply ten nations in Europe, as has been postulated in the past. Remember, the EU currently has 12 members nations and will be adding over 12 more in the near future. This makes it impossible to interpret the ten toes of Daniel as ten European nations—five from western Europe and five from eastern Europe. Rather, we are looking at a worldwide system. Indeed, end time prophecies show worldwide events, not just those taking place in Europe and the Middle East.

The Seven Heads that are With the Ten Horns: Revelation 13 speaks of seven heads in addition to the ten horns. Who are these seven heads? It is very possible that the nations of the G-7—meaning Group of Seven—are the seven heads. In 1975, the seven most powerful economic nations of the world began holding annual meetings. But it was not until 1985 that they were officially established as an independent power block in the world. In 1998, the G-7 added Russia as a guest observer. These seven nations continue to meet without Russia on certain worldwide economic issues. The G-7 nations are: the United States, the UK, Canada, Germany, France, Japan and Italy.

We must also consider that another possible fulfillment of the seven heads could involve the seven permanent members of the UN Security Council. At present there are only five permanent members: the U.S., the UK, France, Russia and China. However, there have been recent proposals to add two more members—Japan and Germany—which would make seven permanent Council members.

Either way, we must realize that all geopolitical and economic alliances are subject to change. The G-7 and the UN Security Council of today may be composed of entirely different nations in the future.

A One World Government: The book of Revelation also shows that there will be a worldwide government, headed up by the Beast—one of the seven heads of Revelation chapter 13. This will probably be a reconstituted United Nations, perhaps moved from the U.S. to Europe: “And I stood on the sand of the sea [nations, peoples and languages; see 17:15]; and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads [the seven leading nations of the world at that time] and ten horns [the ten “regional unions” of nations], and on his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, and his feet like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion [diversity and amalgamation, or unions of nations using the best features of the past civilizations of men—described in Daniel]; and the dragon [Satan, the devil] gave him his power, and his throne and great authority. And I saw one of his heads [the one who ends up as the leader of the entire world system] as ifit were slain to death, but his deadly wound was healed; and the whole earth was amazed and followed the beast.

“And they [all the people of the world] worshiped the dragon, who gave his authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast? Who has the power to make war against him?’ And a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies was given to him; and authority was given to him to continue for forty-two months [after his deadly wound was healed].

“And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. And he was given power to make war against the saints, and to overcome them; and he was given authority over every tribe and language and nation [a worldwide government]. And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:1-8).

There is no question that these verses are describing a one-world government with full power and authority over all the people of the world! The saints will not submit to this satanic government, refusing the “mark” of the Beast—and will be martyred! With the “false prophet”  who  is  also  empowered  by Satan the devil (Rev. 13:9-18), the Beast will

lead the whole world into the ultimate rebellion against God the Father and Jesus Christ—the worship of the Beast as God! The Beast will undoubtedly be the “King of the North” of Daniel eleven. The “false prophet” will proclaim the Beast to be God manifested in the flesh—the Anti-Christ!

Daniel describes him this way: “And the king [of the north] shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak awesome things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that which is determined shall be done.

“Neither shall he regard the god of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. But in his estate shall he honor the god of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain. And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over” (Dan. 11:36-40).

Notice how the apostle Paul was inspired to describe this final Beast: “Now we beseech you, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken in mind, nor be troubled—neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by epistle, as if from us, saying that the day of Christ is present [this is the exact expression that the New Age Religion uses to describe their false Christ].

“Do not let anyone deceive you by any means because that day will not come unless the apostasy shall come first, and the man of sin shall be revealed—the son of perdition, the one who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is an object of worship; so that he comes into the temple of God and sits down as God, proclaiming that he himself is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? And now you understand what is holding him back in order for him to be revealed in his own set time.

“For the mystery of lawlessness is already working; only there is one Who is restraining at the present time until it arises out of the midst. And then the lawless one will be revealed (whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth, and will destroy with the brightness of His coming [Rev. 19, when Jesus and the saints return to the earth from the Sea of Glass]); even the one whose coming is according to the inner working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in those who are perishing because they did not receive the love of the truth, so that they might be saved.

“And for this cause, God will send upon them a powerful deception that will cause them to believe the lie, so that all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but who took pleasure in unrighteousness” (II Thess. 2:1-9).

As we have seen, Revelation 13 describes him this way: “And a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies was given to him; and authority was given to him to continue for forty-two months [after his deadly wound was healed]. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven” (verses 5-6).

Perhaps these explanations will help us get a clearer focus on prophetic world events as we see them develop and unfold before our eyes at this time, and give us more understanding in the years ahead.

Jesus Commanded us to Watch and be Ready at All Times: We must always be watching and ready—whether we live to see the ultimate fulfillment of these events or whether we die in the faith and pass from the scene. We must always heed Jesus’ admonition: “Watch, therefore, because you do not know in what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have been watching, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore, you also be ready. For the Son of man is coming at a time that you do not think.

“Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his lord has set over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he comes shall find so doing. Truly I say to you, he will set him over all his property” (Matt. 24:42-47). Then He will say of each one of us, “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your Lord.”

A personal family note: Dolores and I are pleased to announce—IT IS A BOY! December 5, 2007, at about 2 PM, Rachelle delivered her second child—Zachery. He weighed in at five pounds and 8 ounces, about five weeks early. Chad, Rachelle and the new baby are doing fine after some anxious episodes at the hospital. All of us would appreciate your continued prayers for them.

Brethren, once again, thank you for your love and prayers for all the brethren—and especially for the Bible Project. Soon, The Holy Bible In Its Original Order will be in your hands. As a small army of true “Defenders of the Faith,” we are making a difference. Thank you for your continued support with your tithes and offerings. May God the Father and Jesus Christ continue to bless you with love and grace in everything.

With love in Christ Jesus,

Fred R. Coulter

FRC