Russian elections have recently moved President Vladimir Putin much closer to becoming a dictator. This strikes intense fear in Europe. The Europeans still remember how violent Russia was in World War ii, and Russia is a close neighbor with massive piles of nuclear weapons.

Reading about the shocking election and Europe’s acute fear caused a Bible prophecy to flash into my mind. It is a prophecy that is already building toward being fulfilled! It shows how these events fit into the framework of Bible prophecy. Therefore, I will discuss Bible prophecy a little more than I normally do in my Personal. World events almost demand that I do so!

The Russian election is triggering a fear that will hasten the uniting of the European Union. The Russian election will cause Germany and other European nations to want a stronger leader. Throughout history, Germany has often sought a strong leader. Bible prophecy says it will do so again—for the last time!

These events are about a rapidly approaching World War iii. (You can prove this for yourself by writing for our free booklet Germany and the Holy Roman Empire.) The world must be warned. This is all very bad news, but is it leading directly to the best news we could ever hear!

According to the Dec. 9, 2003, Wall Street Journal, Putin “already has felt the sting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe [osce], which said the weekend’s elections ‘did not meet international standards.’ Yet the osce was spot-on when it termed the elections ‘a regression in the democratization of this country.’ Mr. Putin has acquiesced to, if not instigated, some serious manipulation of the electoral process in assuring a victory by the United Russia party. The inequality of airtime on national broadcast media and the near-monopolization of city billboards in the immediate run-up, for instance, tells a story of a far-from-even playing field.

“To be sure, Mr. Putin has not moved liberal, market-oriented technocrats from key positions in the economics and finance ministries. What the elections foretell is a compliant Duma [lower house of parliament] implementing the agenda of an essentially liberal government, albeit one that wants more control of its single most strategic asset, oil. But that parliament will be compliant there is little doubt. …

“This means that if Mr. Putin wants to take Russia in the direction of dictatorship (or, as fashionable jargon has it, toward ‘managed democracy’) the Duma could speed him on his way. If he wants to take Russia in the direction of liberal democracy, it is less likely to cooperate” (emphasis mine throughout).

Russia’s “single most strategic asset” is oil. Mr. Putin is going to control that asset, no matter how much Western powers thunder in protest. Oil profits will help to place Russia back on the world stage as a dominant world power.

Russia has been outside the mainstream of world affairs for over a decade. But now it is moving back to the center of global events, and even the Russian people don’t understand why it is happening. But you can know. All we need to do is understand the Bible, which tells us to watch world events—not dates.

World events will date the Bible’s prophecies and reveal where we are in the overall time frame.

A more dictatorial Russian government is coming fast, and you need to know where it is leading. That power will be able to challenge Europe, when nobody else can, including the U.S. The EU is going to become the world’s number-one superpower. So says Bible prophecy.

Political Earthquake

“With the detention of Russia’s richest man and boss of Yukos [Mikhail Khodorkovsky], the country’s largest oil company, it is becoming clear that Russia is undergoing a profound political convulsion. This amounts to nothing less than the birth of the Second Russian Republic. … The new republic will continue to be a mixture of market and state-controlled economic forces. But it will be a country in which President Vladimir Putin controls both the political and economic levers of power. The Russian president has staged his own coup” (Foreign Report, Nov. 5, 2003).

Some journalists see that this is a political earthquake on the world scene! The world should take note. Russia is indeed “undergoing a profound political convulsion”—one that will convulse Europe and many other nations!

Mr. Putin has just changed the course of world history. And Bible prophecy reveals exactly where it is leading.

This article also discusses “the birth of the Second Russian Republic”! A new Russia has just been born. And Mr. Putin “has staged his own coup”! He has taken over this new Russia. Now the world has another major reason to tremble!

And behind all these changes of such staggering magnitude is an invisible power, assuring that a master plan is being fulfilled. As Winston Churchill said, “There is a purpose being worked out here below.” The nations are blind to where these events are leading. But they should know, because this message has been proclaimed for over 60 years. Even if the nations fail to heed, you can have God’s protection, wherever you may live on this Earth. Individuals have an opportunity to heed this warning, regardless of what the leaders of nations do.

This Earth is 10,000 times more dangerous than ever before! Now is the time to learn what is happening and where this world is headed and why—and what you can do about it.

Never in the history of man has so much prophecy been fulfilled in such a short span of time!

This is a time of supreme crisis. But it’s also a time of unparalleled opportunity to know what is happening, and how you can be a part of the greatest work on Earth! Never has there been such a wonderful opportunity for so many people.

Russia has a vital role to play in World War iii. You need to understand this urgent and world-shaking event. It will affect your life. (Write for our free booklet Russia and China in Prophecy.)

Russian politician Grigory Yavlinsky said, “A real and serious danger is not a return to the Communist past, but the creation of a new authoritarian or totalitarian system, which is based on different ideological principles and goes very well with a market economy” (Radio Netherlands, May 15, 2001).

This is “a new authoritarian or totalitarian system,” with many weapons of mass destruction! This should deeply concern every person on Earth. But most people are asleep.

We must heed the warning of Bible prophecy. If not, we will be jarred out of our sleep by the worst crisis in man’s history!

God is sending His warning message through this work, and people should tremble. If they don’t tremble now, they will tremble, and perhaps die, when these events come to pass.

While the world may think Russia is disarming its nuclear power under agreements with the West, the opposite is true. Note the new aggressive tone of Russia. Discussing Putin’s defense and strategic policy, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said last October that the role of nuclear weapons remained “a key feature of Russia’s defense strategy and that Moscow did not preclude the possibility of pre-emptive strikes, if the need arose, to defend its interests or those of its allies” (Frontline, Nov. 22 - Dec. 5, 2003). This was different from Putin’s policy as stated in 2000, which “made no mention of pre-emptive strikes in the case of allies’ interests” (ibid.).

In 2000, Russia publicly stated that its nuclear stockpiles were for defensive purposes. Now Vladimir Putin is talking about “pre-emptive strikes.” That means Russia could strike first with that vast nuclear arsenal!

At the same time, experts tell us that once a nuclear war starts, it cannot be stopped.

Such a monstrous, Russian nuclear power is going to impact this world. The nuclear genie is out of the bottle. Have we already reached the point of no return?

How can these words and events not strike fear in all of us? Do we realize this Earth is like a ticking nuclear bomb, waiting to explode?

This world is in a kind of madness! It is precisely the way Christ prophesied that it would be almost 2,000 years ago. “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved [alive]: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matt. 24:21-22). These words should cause us to tremble—and repent!

If Christ didn’t intervene and stop the madness, there would be no flesh saved alive. Not one person or animal would be left alive!

Still, this world will yet see its worst suffering ever before Christ mercifully intervenes.

Do the major media carry more weight with us than Christ’s own words? Do we listen to our political leaders more than we heed Christ’s own warnings?

It’s time for plain speaking and writing.

Putin Shaped by KGB

Stratfor wrote this about the Russian election: “What bothers the osce is less the hardball campaign tactics than the size of Putin’s win. Putin has nearly a two-thirds majority in both chambers of parliament. The liberal parties have been devastated. The Communist Party is Putin’s main opposition. Putin’s ally is the right-wing politician [Vladimir] Zhirinovsky. [He has already shocked the world with some of his dangerously extreme statements. What if he should get control of Russia’s nuclear weapons?] The shape of Russian politics is shifting as anti-authoritarian parties disappear. Increasingly, the choice is between mild or hard authoritarianism.

“Most important, if Putin does get a two-thirds majority in parliament, he will be in a position to pass constitutional amendments. He can pass amendments, for example, on the length of a presidential term, or whether a president can run for a third term. Indeed, with the ability to change Russia’s constitution, Putin could reshape the presidential elections scheduled for March, should he choose to do so.

“Putin is emerging with an interesting mix of positions. Certainly, he is determined to create a strong presidency that focuses on national security issues. At the same time, he continues to endorse free market reforms. In a sense, we are reminded of the kgb’s position under Yuri Andropov. The kgb—the institution that shaped Putin—sought economic modernization and institutional restructuring—not to weaken the state, but to save it. …

“And that is why the osce is getting nervous—not so much because of Putin’s election practices as the magnitude of his victory and the way he likely will put that victory to use. Putin is, first and last, a Russian nationalist, utterly pragmatic (or ruthless) in the tools he will use to strengthen the Russian state. He has greater power now than anyone in Russia since the collapse of communism. He can reshape the regime. Consequently, the osce and Europe are nervous about where Putin is taking Russia. They have every reason to be: Putin is slowly and systematically changing Russia’s direction. When Russia changes direction, the rest of Europe should indeed be nervous” (Dec. 9, 2003).

Europeans are not the only people who should be nervous. The whole world should be alarmed. Mr. Putin was shaped and molded by the infamous kgb—Russia’s ruthless, murderous secret service arm of the government made famous by Joseph Stalin.

Obviously, people can change. But how often do we see people make truly radical changes in their lives? Has Mr. Putin now become a freedom-loving democrat? Not likely.

The Solution

Stratfor used the word nervous three times for special emphasis. Europe has not forgotten Russia’s recent dictatorial history. It is nervous for good reason. And it is going to get a lot more nervous in a few short years.

Europe’s becoming very nervous about the outcome of the Russian election gives us a flash of light into a terrifying Bible prophecy. It is building now—at this moment—to a spectacular fulfillment! All of these events in Russia and Europe are working out according to God’s master plan.

“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” (Dan. 11:40-41). The king of the north is a united Europe, and the king of the south is radical Islam led by Iran. (Write for our free booklet The King of the South.)

Europe will win this war. But that victory will trigger some other events. Europe will then ally itself with the moderate Arabs and attack America, Britain and the nation called Israel.

Many Bible prophecies thunder that truth. Only repentance can save our nations.

Then Russia will ally with China and other Asian nations. They know that they are next on Europe’s hit list—the world’s new number-one superpower, which likes to attack without warning. Germany has a history of such treachery—and Germany leads the EU. That is the ideal way to win nuclear wars. So Russia and China will gather their armies on the borders of Europe. This move will make Europe intensely nervous! So much so that they will attack Russia and China.

“But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him” (vv. 44-45). This is where the rise of Europe and Russia is leading. It is building now even as I write.

The “tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him”—united Europe. That means the frightening news comes from the northeast. Look on any world map and see who is located northeast of Europe—Russia and China, which will soon unite.

Remember, this is an end-time book (Dan. 12:4, 9). We must understand who these nations are today, or Daniel will have prophesied in vain! So God gives us the specific time factor and the direction of where Europe’s enemy is located!

It gets even more detailed. When this World War iii clash comes, God’s very elect will be counting the days until Christ returns! “Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. And from the time that the daily sacrifice [God’s work and warning message] shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up [the European armies], there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days” (vv. 10-13).

Can you imagine our being very close to counting the days until Christ’s Second Coming? How magnificent! How wonderful!

These prophecies are being rapidly fulfilled before our eyes. It’s all happening exactly as Daniel and other prophets prophesied thousands of years ago. Never have we seen so many prophecies fulfilled so fast. How many people are going to believe God?

Will you believe God?