A revelation about the EU

by John Q on October 30, 2004

When I used to read the eschatological works of Hal Lindsey and others, one of the favorite themes was numerological analysis of Revelation, in which the EU figured prominently.

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

At the time the then EEC had six members, so an expansion to seven or ten (which seemed likely) would fulfil the prophecy and signal the impending arrival of the end times. The Whore of Babylon also fitted in, but I can’t remember how. The EU did have ten members between 1981 and 1986, and I remember speculating that Reagan might be the Antichrist – surviving an assassination attempt was supposed to be a crucial sign (Revelation 13:1-2). But the world did not end after all.

Now, thanks to the Economist, I discover that Lindsey was right, except for a reversal of alignment. Arsene Heitz, the designer of the EU Flag advises that it was inspired by Revelation 12:1

A great sign was seen in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

normally taken to refer to the Virgin Mary. I’d be fascinated to see an apocalyptic Protestant response to this revelation.

{ 8 comments }

1

Elaine Supkis 10.30.04 at 6:29 am

It is Virgo.

2

bad Jim 10.30.04 at 9:14 am

I live for an opportunity to make a flag-related comment, particularly when it’s silly. From Flags of the World:

In 1953, the Council of Europe had 15 members and the flag should have had one star for each member.

The number of stars was not to alter if the number of members changed.

However Germany objected to the number 15 because one of the members of the Council was Saarland, and 15 stars would imply “star” sovereignty for that region.
France would not agree to 14 stars as that number would acknowledge the absorption of Saarland into Germany.
13 was ruled out for superstitious reasons.
12 was reckoned to be a “good” number because it had no political innuendo, and there are
12 signs of the zodiac;
12 hours on a clock;
12 months in a year;
12 apostles;
12 tables of Roman Law;
and 12 starry crowns of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

(It should be noted that Procter & Gamble used to be accused of Satanic affiliation because its trademark contained a crescent moon and thirteen stars. Somebody must not have noticed the number of stripes on the U.S. flag, or remembered how many stars we started with.)

3

Fergal 10.30.04 at 12:44 pm

There’s a story in Bernard Connolly’s book “The Rotten Heart of Europe” to the effect that some old biddy wrote in to Jacques Delors when he was Commission president, asking him to dedicate the Union to the Virgin Mary. Apparently he wrote back saying “the time was not yet right”…

4

Dubious 10.31.04 at 4:23 am

I predict in thirty years, we’ll have a paranoid-conspiratorial novel on this, a la ‘The Da Vinci Code’.

5

Syd Webb 10.31.04 at 5:29 am

To any right-thinking protestant, a positive female image in the Bible – such as Rev 12.1 – can be taken as an allegory for the Church, the bride of Christ.

That the EU – an imperfect implementation of an ideal – should share the same imagery with the Church surprises me not in the least.

6

The Medium Beast 10.31.04 at 4:07 pm

Been addressed before:

https://www.crookedtimber.org/archives/002084.html

7

vernaculo 10.31.04 at 7:47 pm

Looked at the sun lately? Unaided? For how long?
Nice dress, babe.
The real game’s in the interface between the lived present and the perceived tomorrow. Locking it up, or down.
Prophecy is a spectator’s ruse. Just looking; like the little clots of post-Scouting behavior-auditors watching the proles on the ubiquitous god-cameras. Just looking, and reporting. To what?
Giggle, squirm, tremble like a praised dog.
Objective views are not available to the human mind.
–
Changing things is what we do best, or have done so far, but that has its own dangers.
Changing something you don’t understand can produce unpleasant, unforeseen consequences.
Take the weather, for example. Changing the weather pattern without understanding the consequences of that changing – that might not work out for the best, depending on our ability to adapt to that change, or to those changes.
Being able to see those consequences in advance would enable us to react more appropriately wouldn’t it? As long as we’re still engaged in linear human movement through time.
Time is what makes prophecy an option, and we don’t understand time. At all.
The significance of numerology and occult symbolism is its tax on understanding, a form of dues, an initiation fee, a subscription to an invisible game, played with lives and the future of the race. The actual tokens mean less than the surrender of credulity and will, and devotion to the game. It operates at a harmonic that comes out of the universal, like music does, but it isn’t being used to open the universe to our questing minds and hearts, it’s being used to hypnotize and seduce with partial understanding, to organize in easily-controlled pools of surrendered volition.
Laugh at your peril, the second level in has more truth than flat science; it’s just that it isn’t whole, or benign.
The happy-face in the iris of the eye at the top of the pyramid, pretending to be an independent being; it’s a human thing, made up from what we make all joined together; when we’re gone, it’ll be gone as well.

8

Greg Hunter 10.31.04 at 8:12 pm

Remember this is just Hal Lindsey’s interpretation and like all Biblical interpretation and commentary, it is subject to inaccuracies, much like my interpretation.

The ten horns do not represent countries, but media ownership. The consolidation of media in to ten horns (10 corporate owners) is more in line with determining how the Beast will deliver the Blasphemy.

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