The North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO was formed in 1949 following World War II. It was created as a mutual defence pact whereby if one country was attacked, all countries would consider themselves attacked. This is encapsulated in Article 5 of the Treaty:
“An armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all...”
This treaty suppressed the expansion of the Soviet Union across Europe during the Cold War.
The Soviets countered NATO with “the Warsaw Pact” made up of countries that affiliated themselves with the Soviet Union, including Albania, Bulgaria, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania.
NATO has since increased from the original twelve signatories to thirty. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990 all the former members of the Warsaw Pact outside of the USSR joined NATO, as well as former Soviet states including Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
Russia sees NATO as an offensive force, not just a defensive one, as it has interfered in military conflicts outside of its own defined scope, including Kosovo in 1998 and Libya in 2011. Putin claims the US promised Russian officials in 1991 that NATO would not move one inch toward Russia, and stated in a press conference with Germany in February:
“We perceive the forceful containment of Russia as a direct and immediate threat to national security.”
The Future State of Europe
The scriptures indicate the control Russia will have over the nations of Europe in the last days:
“Son of man, set thy face unto Gog, of the land of Magog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy concerning him” (Ezekiel 38:2 YLT).
This includes the nations of Magog which encompass half of Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Romania, Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Gomer incorporates much of Western Europe.
According to Ezekiel, the tyrant of Russia will also be the tyrant of Germany occupying the area of Magog, along with Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, etc.
Of the leader Gog it is said:
“Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them” (Ezekiel 38:7).
The word guard (Hebrew mishmar) means “a place of confinement, a prison guard, a jailer, a warden.” This is the role Russia will play at the time of the end when it will bring Europe under its hegemony.
NATO has over two thirds of Europe under its wing, but the scriptures decree this situation must change. NATO, in its current form, must be dissolved.
The Babylonian head of gold, the Medo-Persian chest and arms of silver, the Greek belly and thighs of brass, the Roman iron legs, and European feet of iron and clay are all united within Nebuchadnezzar’s image when the final conflagration takes place:
“Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together” (Daniel 2:35).
This is in keeping with the depiction of the Gogian confederation of Ezekiel 38:
“Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee” (Ezekiel 38:9).
The Mission of the Autocrat
The autocrat or dictator of Russia has a significant role to play. He is the “king of the north” the “prince of Rosh” and is the one who will be responsible for assembling the image empire. He has a difficult job ahead of him, as Daniel describes:
“Whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest 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. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay” (Daniel 2:41-43).
This feet phase is divided, Hebrew peleg, a word used of a watercourse being split into channels. Part of it is iron (the broken remnants of the Roman Empire) and part of it is clay (referring to the Russian element). It will be strong, but also brittle (as the word “broken” signifies). The word mixed, Hebrew verb arab, signifies to join together or have fellowship with. The root word means “to mortgage” or to “mingle” as is used in Ezra 9:2, and expresses the idea of entering into fellowship through business transactions or obligations. However, the relationship is fragile, as they do not cleave one to another, Hebrew dabaq, meaning cling, adhere, or solder together as the root word signifies. While the elements are joined together the bond is not solid.
Over 174 years ago, John Thomas stated the following in Elpis Israel:
“It is, therefore, the mission of the Autocrat to form the feet and set up the image before the world in all its excellent brightness, and terribleness of form; that all men subject to the Kingdom of Babylon may worship the work of its creator’s power.”
That is what Russia is doing right now in Ukraine, and why it is so opposed to NATO. It has begun the process of uniting the nations of Europe within its clay mold as Habakkuk describes:
“He is a proud man… Who enlargeth his desire as hell, And is as death, and cannot be satisfied, But gathereth unto him all nations, And heapeth unto him all people… Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? And to him that ladeth himself with thick clay… thou hast spoiled many nations…” (Habakkuk 2:5-8).
Russia wants to extend its hegemony over Europe, and the Bible indicates this is its destiny.
The End of NATO
It is a logical conclusion that NATO, in its current form, will dissolve. France, which is presiding over the European Union for six months, is advocating for the establishment of a European Army. In the message from the President, Macron identified “defence with the first common military budget” as one of the pillars of their term. The Polish prime minister has called for a European Army.
Claudio Graziano, Chairman of the European Union Military Committee, had the following to say:
“Russia has brought war back to Europe, which was something so serious and dangerous that it wasn’t even considered possible. Even for people who had read about the risk, it was impossible to believe it would happen. When it did happen, it was a shock of immense magnitude that provoked a huge common response from the European Union.”
The fact is, the nations of Europe need to be re-militarized. The prophet Joel demands it:
“Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare war, stir up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, I am a warrior” (Joel 3:9-10).
The war in Ukraine has shocked the nations of Europe into a response. In a booklet released by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (March 15, 2022), and ironically titled “Ukraine: A Wake-Up Call for the West on Defence,” the retired Royal Navy Admiral Lord Baron West of Spithead is quoted as saying:
“The Ukraine crisis should serve as a wake-up call to politicians and opinion formers. In response the UK and NATO need to invest now in the necessary capabilities and strategies to meet the threats we face.”
The invasion of Ukraine has woken up the mighty men, spurring European countries to kick their defense spending into gear. Admiral Rob Bauer, the chairman of NATO’s military committee, stated:
“We all thought that there wouldn’t be an enemy anymore. We now are confronted with a nation that is showing that it is aggressive, that it has forces that we thought were not going to be used anymore.”
The publication Israel Hayom reported:
“The biggest shift in NATO’s ‘new normal,’ diplomats, former officials and experts say, is Germany’s reversal of a decades-long policy of low defense spending. Held back by guilt over its wartime past and resulting pacifism among its population, Germany resisted pressure from the United States to increase this to a NATO target of 2% of economic output. But on Feb. 27, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Berlin would now meet the 2% target—and promised a 100 billion euros ($110 billion) injection into the military.”
Since the beginning of the war Germany, France, Poland, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Italy have all announced defense spending increases. The process of beating plowshares into swords has begun.
Russia will eventually push beyond the borders of Ukraine. This will test the mettle of NATO. Will it have the resolve to defend Europe? The publication “Ukraine: A Wakeup Call” stated:
“The West also needs to understand what its goals are, and the lengths it is willing to go to achieve them. Specifically, the lack of political will in Western democracies to defend our values abroad has opened a power vacuum in areas of the world that Russia, and to some extent China, have sought to fill.”
Eventually, the West will give up on the European continent. The Russian Bear will arise and devour much flesh. In 1854 John Thomas wrote in Anatolia:
“[Europe’s] leaders are wrong in supposing that ‘the age of conquest is past for ever,’ and that they will succeed in establishing the freedom and independence of Europe. There has never been such an age of conquest as that which will soon open upon the world; and as to the establishment of European freedom and independence, the war to be initiated is the setting in of an overwhelming inundation that will submerge them under one of the most terrible and scorching despotisms that ever wrung the heart of nations.”
A terrible time is coming on Europe. Our prayer must be that these days are shortened for the elect’s sake.