Welcome friends, to the May 17th edition of Bible in the News with Dave Billington. This week the "International Aerospace Exhibition" is taking place in Berlin. You may be surprised to find out who the largest exhibitor is at this international show -- so big they had to especially construct a new 3,000 square meter pavilion, just for this exhibitor! It is not the European Union or even the United States. It's Russia. Yes, Russia is back in a big way. The Russian News and Information Agency reported this information under the heading: "Growing Russian Aerospace Industry to Display its Products in Berlin." Gone are the days of a starving population with Russia begging the west for aid, today Russia is flexing its muscles. The difference for Russia now, in comparison to the cold war era, is all the doors are open to the west and the lucrative markets in Europe. The International Herald Tribune Reports that Russia supplies a third of Germany's gas needs and a quarter of the EU's, sales totalling $25.7 billion, accounting for two-thirds of Gazprom -- the giant Russian state owned gas giant's -- revenue. The Baltic Sea pipelines continue to be constructed at top speed, due to be completed in 2010 bringing an additional 55 billion cubic meters a year of gas directly to Western European Markets. Despite Russia turning off the gas tap during the row with Ukraine last winter and making Europe feel vulnerable, Europe continues on courting Russia with a few grumbles along the way. Not only do we see a union developing but we see Russia posturing to dominate a united Europe.

In 1997 John Laughland wrote a book largely on the political aspect of the United European idea. He saw that the union was not to be only Western Europe but including Russia as well. Since he wrote we have seen the birth of the European currency on January 1st 2002 and now the Euros are a part of daily life for over 300 million Europeans living in the euro area. He wrote about the European vision of a united continent in these terms: "The idea is then to construct a pan-European security architecture with Russia. In other words, the institutional reforms which are being undertaken in Western Europe, especially the institutionalization of the hard core through monetary union, are the necessary prerequisite for the larger vision of one single politico-military system for the whole European continent... The hard core in the West is to be the Western 'pillar' of a pan-European security structure, of which the Eastern 'pillar' will presumably be Russia and her associated states." Do you hear what I hear? An eastern and a western pillar. The western pillar being the western Roman Empire and the Eastern being the Eastern Roman Empire--Moscow being known as the "Third Rome" after the fall of Constantinople to the Turks. Does Nebuchadnezzar's Image come to mind with it's two iron Roman legs?

Nebuchadnezzar's vision of the Image recorded in Daniel 2 is one of the basic building blocks of Bible Prophecy. The image shows a succession of empires down through time: Babylon, Medio-Persia, Greece and Rome -- all related in their domination of Israel. The feet of the image are part iron and part clay representing the nations of the European continent, since gradual break-up of the Roman Empire by the Barbaric Tribes, some ruled by the common man (Daniel 2:43) and nations with the iron type rule of Rome--nations that do not mix. However, the king was shown "what shall be in the latter days" and the image is "broken to pieces together"; so we must conclude the image will be constructed in it's entirety, right before it is smashed by the little stone power, defined for us as the kingdom of God, which at that point will comprise Jesus Christ, his saints and those Jews in the land that respond to the teaching of the prophet Elijah, in which the faithful heart of the father's has been restored in them (Malachi 4). What we look for then, is the standing up of this Image-empire that will be smashed by the kingdom of God.

John Thomas had these things in mind when writing the preface to the first edition of the book "Elpis Israel" on January 1st, 1850. He wrote: "The future movements of Russia are notable signs of the times, because they are predicted in the Scriptures of truth. The Russian Autocracy, in its plenitude, and on the verge of its dissolution, is the Image of Nebuchadnezzar standing upon the Mountains of Israel, ready to be smitten by the Stone. When Russia makes its grand move for the building-up of its Image-empire, then let the reader know that the end of all things, as at present constituted, is at hand. The long-expected, but stealthy advent of the King of Israel, will be on the eve of becoming a fact; and salvation will be to those who not only looked for it, but have trimmed their lamps by believing the gospel of the kingdom unto the obedience of faith..."

We would therefore expect Russia and Europe to be antagonistic to Israel today -- and they are. Since the terrorist organization Hamas won the January elections, Russia -- who does not recognize them as a terrorist organization, despite the terrible suicide bombings of civilians -- invited them for a visit to Moscow and since then they have sent a delegation. The EU unconcerned that the Palestianians are now led by a terrorist organization, have been successfully pressuring Israel to hand over millions of dollars in tax revenues to them. Whether the money is used only for humanitarian causes is irrelevant, even if used for humanitarian causes it frees up other money for arms and terrorism.

Just as Russia refuses to recognize Hamas as a terrorist organization, the media has been whitewashing these terrorists for years. When the bombings happened in London last year every newspaper called the perpetrators terrorists. Yet when a suicide bombing happens in Israel the perpetrators are labels "militants" instead of terrorists. The media claim that: "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter", and so they use the term "militant" -- when it suits them.

On November 21, 2000 a school bus (in what is called the Gaza strip), full of Israeli children was targeted in a deliberate terrorist attack. One family -- the Cohen's -- who have seven children, ended up with three children with missing limbs. Yisrael, 7, lost a leg; Tehila, 9 lost two legs; and Orit, 12 lost a foot. The CNN reported that the children: "lost limbs when their bus was sprayed by shrapnel from a mortar shell detonated by Palestinian militants" Today, due to international pressure the Gaza area is "Jew free" or "Judenrien" as the Germans called it. All the families, including the Cohen's, have been forced from their homes which have been destroyed.

Russia, Europe and the media have coddled these terrorists and now they have come to power. Today the new Hamas "police force" took to the streets for its first day on the job, as reported by the Associated Press: "Some 3,000 gunmen loyal to the radical Hamas-led government deployed across the Gaza Strip Wednesday, the Islamic group's most brazen challenge yet to President Mahmoud Abbas." As the Psalmist says in Psalm 141:10: "Let the wicked fall into their own nets". It will be interesting to see how they will deal with this!

Meanwhile we wait for the destruction of this Image-empire and the establishment of the little stone power upon the mountains of Israel!

Come back again next week -- God willing -- for another edition of The Bible in the News.