Do you like to look at pictures? You may think there are no pictures in the Bible, but actually, God uses pictures again and again – often in dreams and visions - to reveal hidden and future things through His prophets.

The Bible shows motion pictures of animals, unique creatures and other miscellaneous “video clips” that are supernatural previews of major events far in the future. That is where we come in. The ancient pictures were meant for us today. We live in the days of the pictures becoming reality.

By knowing and understanding these pictures, it becomes possible for us to know exactly where we are in time and what will be taking place very soon.

They say that one picture is worth a thousand words. The Bible furnishes many accurate pictures of kings and kingdoms hundreds of years before they came into power.

One of the most often pictured subjects in the Bible is Europe.

Europe is one of earth’s seven continents. Its history sprang largely from Greece in the centuries before Christ. It then swung toward Rome, the Roman Empire, and then the Holy Roman Empire. God depicted these changes hundreds of years before they came to pass. Even now, those pictures are amazingly relevant.

In world history, Europe is prominent. In Bible prophecy, Europe was legendary even before its time. Both Daniel and John saw great Europe before it was great. Europe is the site where John’s beast of Revelation and the Antichrist rises up. We should keep our eyes on Europe.

So, what is the message in the pictures, and what is its significance to us right now?

Two powerful pictures are worth consideration here. Let’s take a closer look.
    1.  A huge statue being destroyed when a stone strikes its iron and clay feet.
    2. A leopard with four heads and wings of a fowl.

Incredibly, both of these scenes depict similar things. All describe forceful world powers that will be ruling when Jesus Christ returns to establish His kingdom. Let’s analyze the clues.

PICTURE #1

The first picture is of iron and clay feet. Those feet appeared on a great statue in King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

The statue depicted successive world kingdoms:
    Babylon was the head of gold,
    Medo-Persia was the silver arms and chest,
    Greece was the brass belly and thighs, and
    Rome was the iron legs.

The Roman Empire collapsed around 300 A.D. and the next and last world empire before Jesus Christ returns was illustrated by iron and clay feet.

Notice that Europe appears three times in Daniel’s statue – first, in the east, as the brass thighs of Greece. Alexander the Great took it to its zenith. Next, Europe is seen as the iron legs of the Roman Empire, under powerful men like Caesar Augustus. Thirdly, it appears as the iron and clay feet:
 
The stone struck and destroyed the iron and clay feet. What do the iron and clay feet represent?
 
 
Why would we assume that the clay in this image symbolizes the Roman Catholic Church? There are several reasons.
 
Pope Leo III of the Roman Catholic Church crowned Charlemagne on Christmas Day, 800 AD in Rome, saying, “I crown you Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.” Thus the collapsed Roman Empire revived, but was renamed “the Holy Roman Empire.” With the anointing of the RCC, Charlemagne instantly carried the most powerful endorsement of the day. As a devout Roman Catholic, Charlemagne would always be at the beck and call of the Pope. Every subsequent emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was also a Roman Catholic.
 
Charlemagne set about to consolidate Europe as never before. He would come to be known as “the Father of Europe.” The combined forces of Roman church and state would change Europe for all time. Roman pontiffs crowned almost all the kings of the Holy Roman Empire for a thousand years. The Cathedral of Kings in Frankfurt is today a monument to that notable tradition, and the Hall of Kaisers (Caesars) there displays the portraits of each emperor with his crown and “apple” – a golden ornament symbolizing his sovereignty as emperor.
 
Charlemagne ruled from Germany. Nevertheless, Rome exerted powerful influence on German politics. The German Kaisers derived their names from the Roman Caesars. For a while, Charlemagne was buried in the sarcophagus of Augustus Caesar. For all practical purposes, the Holy Roman Empire was built upon ancient Roman law.
 
Even in modern times, plenty of writers believe that Pope Pius XII was complicit with Adolph Hitler’s Third Reich. Today, Roman Catholicism can still be seen exercising its influence in high political places. Iron and Clay.
 
PICTURE #2: THE FOUR-HEADED LEOPARD with WINGS OF A FOWL
  
With the birth of the Holy Roman Empire, another prophetic picture began to take shape: the four-headed leopard with wings of a fowl (Daniel 7:6). No other country in history has been more prominently identified with a leopard than Germany. In the past century, the German 
leopard tanks played major roles in World War II.

Amazingly, the symbol of France is a fowl—the rooster. The Holy Roman Empire can be recognized as a leopard with wings of a fowl – Germany and France, both being powerfully manipulated from Rome.
 
In 800 AD, Charlemagne was a strong Germanic leader. From there, he conducted empire over Europe. One of his leading accomplishments was the unification of France. Historians say that the Holy Roman Empire was the incubator for both modern Germany and modern France. The Franco-German Alliance is at the heart of the European Union to this day.

From Germany, Charlemagne birthed the empire. The prophecy said that the leopard had great dominion. Eventually, (from the 16^th Century forward), the empire was called the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.
 
Newsweek magazine, April 9, 1984 said, “Since the time of Charlemagne, the area that is now Germany has been the pivot of European history. In the past 120 years, the Germans have dominated Europe; intellectually and militarily.”
 
“Reich” is the German word for kingdom. In all the history of the Holy Roman Empire, its parliament was known as the Reichstag. “Reich” meaning “empire” and “–stag” meaning “assembly”. The modern nation of Germany is evolved from Charlemagne’s Reichstag. As far back as 919 AD, the Reichstag elected the first King of the Germans, and in 1871 became the parliament of the German Empire.
 
FOUR REICHS (4 heads)

Germany becomes the embodiment of the four-headed leopard. Germany has indeed had four heads – four Reichs, or kingdoms.
 
1.     The First Reich. 800 to 1806 - This was the time of the Holy Roman Empire beginning with Charlemagne (picture). Most of its emperors were actually crowned by a pope.

2.     The Second Reich. 1870 to 1919 - Began under the diplomatic statesmanship of Otto Von Bismarck, “The IRON Chancellor.” From the unification of Germany following the Franco-Prussian War to the German defeat in the First World War. Bismarck attempted to stop Catholic political control of Germany, but failed.

3.     The Third Reich. 1933-1945 Adolph Hitler’s Germany followed a brief interim called the Weimar Republic. Nazi Germany was defeated in WWII and divided into East and West Germany. Journalists of that era called it a “deadly wound”. The deadly wound was healed when Mikhail Gorbachev ordered the wall torn down in 1989. It is the deadly wound that was healed in the prophecy of Revelation 13:3.

4.     The Fourth Reich. 1951 to present – Germany (leopard) and France (fowl) sponsored the European Coal and Steel Community, which evolved into the present day European Union. The Euro is now the common currency, and Germany is still the dominating nation in the EU.
 
The ancient prophecy is fulfilled: great dominion was given to the leopard.
The world will soon be dominated by the Fourth Reich: the European Union. Its population is larger than the United States’. Its currency is outperforming the American dollar on a regular basis. The oil producers of the world are talking about switching from dollars to euros. American politicians are beginning to realize what is happening. Rockwell Schnabel, former U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. wrote a book entitled, “The Next Superpower.” In it, he stated that an “…EU bent on establishing itself as an alternative geopolitical “pole” to the U.S. could undermine stability around the globe.” 
 
Not coincidentally, on June 3rd, 2000, U.S. President Bill Clinton received the 50th Annual International Charlemagne Prize, which is given to the person who does the most to further the cause of European unity. World leaders know that the future of the globe lies in European politics.
 
The European Union is likely to fulfill many other Bible prophecies before the Second Coming, including the introduction of the Antichrist and the mark of the beast. The Bible prophesies that the center of world power will swing back to Europe.
 
In the end, however, the prophecy says that a stone (representing Jesus Christ) will smite the iron and clay feet. The entire statue will be destroyed – Roman, Greek, Persian and Babylonian. In modern terms, that represents both the European Union and much of the Middle East, including Iran and Iraq. In fact, all the kingdoms of man will yield to the King of kings and Lord of lords in that.

The Iron and Clay Feet of Nebuchadnezzar’s Statue 

The European Union (the Iron) at right.

The EU FLAG was designed with the 12 stars of the Virgin Mary as depicted by the Roman Catholic Church. This indicates the symbiotic relationship between the Vatican and the EU. Iron and Clay.


The photo of the Virgin at left was taken in the Brussel's Cathedral, near the EU headquarters.

SEE ALSO: THE IMAGE TO THE BEAST

The Vatican (the clay) below.

 




 


SYMBOLS of the PROPHETIC PICTURE
Golden Head – Babylonian Empire
Silver Chest – Medo-Persian Empire
Brass Thighs – Greek Empire
Iron Legs – Roman Empire
Iron and Clay Feet – Holy Roman Empire
Stone – Jesus Christ and His Kingdom