The time will come when the nations of Europe will say to one man, ‘You take authority over us.’ 1

As I said before, if those 10 European nations known as the Brussels Treaty Powers are to become the 10 kings of Bible prophecy, then I knew one man would soon rise to a place of power alongside them. So I began watching for the creation of an office within the European Union that could accommodate such a person. This happened with the signing of the Amsterdam Treaty in 1997.

Europe needed one voice to speak for the many nations that made up the European Union. They also needed someone to help the Council of the European Union in matters relating to their new Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The EU nations had big ambitions in this area. What they needed was someone who the world could call “Mr. Europe.”2 So, at Amsterdam, the 15 EU heads of state met together and decided to create the new office of High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy.

Although the Amsterdam Treaty was signed in 1997, it didn’t become effective until May 1999. Then just five months later, on October 15, 1999, a remarkable man became the first to hold this office. He was a 56-year-old Spaniard by the name of Javier Solana Madariaga. He was a member of the Spanish Socialist Party and had been the prior head of NATO.

Solana’s position as High Representative also made him the Secretary General of the Council of the Europe Union. The Council is one of the three main governmental institutions that make up the EU. The other two institutions are the European Parliament and the European Commission. Although the Commission is thought to be the seat of power in the EU, many experts on European affairs believe the Council of the European Union holds the real reins of power in the EU.3

The reason for this is because the General Secretariat in the Council of Europe provides continuity to the policies being worked on by the EU’s rotating presidents. The 15 heads of the member states take turns at being president every six months. In other words, the EU presidents are only there for six months at a time. This hardly allows them time to get much done.

This is why the Council Secretariat is there to help them. With him, as the EU presidents come and go, the work in the Council can continue uninterrupted. The Secretary General of the Council – the office Solana was appointed to for a five-year term – administers the Council Secretariat. So when you add the office of High Representative to the office of Secretary General of the Council, you make Solana a very powerful man in the EU.

I wasn’t the only one thinking that Solana had been given tremendous power. In an official document for the Western European Union, Antonio Missiroli said that Solana’s combined positions could threaten the EU presidency itself. His warning was in the Chaillot Paper #38 for the Institute for Security Studies of the WEU. Missiroli said:
 

   Finally, Javier Solana’s appointment as EU Council Secretary-General and 
   High Representative (SG/HR) for the CFSP is expected to foster coordination 
   and consistency … however [Solana’s appointment], may also create a 
   dualism with the presidency of the Union and, more generally, tensions within 
   the new EU troika: in fact, the democratic element represented by the 
   rotational presidency may be easily offset by the SG/HR … And here, 
   predictably, the balance of power and influence will change according to the 
   size, political weight and specific attitude of the country holding the presidency 
   — including whether it belongs or not to the above-mentioned ‘core’ [the 10 
   Brussels Treaty Powers].4

Here, we once again find the 10 Brussels Treaty Powers. Missiroli referred to these nations in his paper as the “core.”  The implication of his remarks is that these so-called “core” nations carry more weight in the EU than the others. This was when I began to realize how unstable the politics in the EU were compared to the United States. Missiroli seemed to be saying that, now that Solana was on the scene, nobody knew for sure what was going to happen next in the EU.

Then on November 25 1999, while American was about to celebrate Thanksgiving Day, something big did happen – something even I wasn’t expecting. Solana’s already lofty position was made even more powerful. Solana put on his third hat and became the Secretary General of the WEU military alliance. In other words, Solana had now been placed in a position of influence over those “core” 10 Brussels Treaty Powers. He now was the head of Europe’s exclusive military club.

I was shocked by this news. The prophetic implications of this event were many. I knew if the Brussels Treaty Powers were to become the 10 kings of prophecy, then one man with influence in the EU would rise to power among them. And this had just happened. 

You would like me to tell you what 666 means, wouldn’t you? I have to confess that I don’t know. But I am certain that there are more than 666 interpretations as to what is meant! This was written for the benefit of those who will be alive in that day. And believers in the Lord Jesus Christ in the day of the manifestation of the man of sin will have a very clear identifying sign that the one that has come to world power is Satan’s great masterpiece.1

Yet how could I be sure of something like this? How could I know that the 10 Brussels Treaty Powers were, in fact, becoming the 10 kings of Bible prophecy? How about Javier Solana? Could he actually be the first to hold the office the Antichrist is soon going to hold?

Some Christians would laugh at such questions. And I don’t blame them. Under normal circumstances I would laugh, too. But they haven’t followed the trail I’ve followed since the end of the Gulf War.

They may not understand that we could actually see the beginning of the Antichrist’s kingdom before the rapture of the church and the return of Christ (see Chapter 1, Misconception 6). And they haven’t been told about all the events that occurred in Europe during the last six months of 2000. Even if they had, they may not realize their relevance to the prophecies.

Yet back to that first question. How could I be sure? Even after all the events I witnessed that indicate the prophecies may be soon fulfilled, I could still be wrong. You see, Bible prophecy wasn’t given to us so we can predict the future. God placed prophecies in His Word so that, when the events predicted are fulfilled, we’ll believe. 

Although it may appear to me that the prophecies are about to be fulfilled, this may prove not to be the case. And if that happens, I’ll look like a fool. Of course, it wouldn’t be the first time.

Even after all my careful research and Bible study, I could find that I’ve been following a convincing, but dead-end trail. As I said at the beginning of this book, Christian history is filled with this type of thing occurring. And it doesn’t only happen to false brethren — sometimes it happens to the sincere.

The idea that I could be reading things into these events really began to frighten me. I could see myself as another misguided prophecy teacher leading others down another prophetic dead-end path. I began to question everything about myself — my column, my motives, everything. Many times I’d asked God to keep me from error. Now I was asking Him again.

I was becoming so convinced that I was witnessing the prophecies being fulfilled that it scared me. And the idea that I could actually know what the office of the Antichrist might be seemed totally ridiculous. 

So I prayed until peace returned to my heart. When the peace came, I knew it didn’t mean I was right about the prophecies. It only meant that I had given my problem to God. And He would answer me in His time.

After praying, I turned to a document from the WEU Assembly Web site that I hadn’t had time to read. It was document #C/1720 – a report submitted by the Political Committee about the future role of the WEU.2  I began reading and underlining the parts that had to do with the 10 Brussels Treaty Powers and the office of High Representative.

I noticed a recommendation regarding the office Solana occupied. It had something to do with making the High Representative “sufficiently strong.”  I wondered what this meant.

That’s when I saw it. It was in a paragraph under the heading “Introduction and Summary.” In the first sentence it read, “Nearly five months from the adoption of Assembly Recommendation 666 on the consequences of including certain functions of the WEU in the European Union….”

I almost fell from my chair. I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. It was that infamous number of prophecy, 666!  And it had something to do with what had just occurred in the EU.

I hurried to my computer and downloaded the document. It was Assembly document #A/1689.3 And there it was. At the top of the page in large red print it said “Recommendation 666.”  Below this, in smaller print, it continued, “on the consequences of including certain functions of the WEU in the European Union – reply to the annual report of the Council.” But what did it mean?

The first thing I had to do was calm myself down. After all, this had been quite a trip. First it had been the discovery of the WEU alliance back in 1991. Then it was the meaning of that election in Israel in 1992. In 1995, the WEU officially became 10 nations, and a new office of High Representative was created in 1999. Then, in the last six months of 2000, I saw these 10 nations and the High Representative gain control of the EU’s new military alliance. Now I was looking at a WEU document that was somehow connected with these prophetic events – and it was titled Recommendation 666.

I knew this might be very significant. From what I could see, the document was a reply to the annual report of the Council by the WEU Assembly. And it didn’t seem to be saying anything new. Once again, it suggested maintaining the relationship between the10 Brussels Treaty Powers. It said:

   Take the measures necessary for the WEU to ensure that the collective 
   defense commitment provided for in Article V of the modified Brussels Treaty 
   is effectively maintained, taking account of the recent decisions concerning 
   the European Security and Defense Policy.

Nothing appeared new, that is, until I got to the 12th recommendation in the document. Apparently, the WEU Assembly was recommending that the already powerful offices that Solana holds be made even stronger. It said:

   Support proposals for the WEU Secretary-General and the CFSP High 
   Representative to preside over the PSC and civilian crisis-management 
   machinery and give him powers to convene the Council of the European 
   Union in the event of an emergency.

These were all posts held by Solana. The PSC is the Political and Security Committee. This is one of the decision-making interim bodies that Solana had created in the Council of Europe headquarters. The WEU Assembly was recommending that Solana be made head over this agency also.

Not only that, but it also was suggesting that Solana be given the powers to convene the Council of Europe in the event of an emergency. At first I didn’t understand the significance of this last part of the Recommendation. I knew it had to do with the chain of events that occurred under the French presidency in the last six months of 2000. The Recommendation was adopted June 5, 2000 – just before the beginning of the French presidency. So the French presidency was acting on Recommendation 666 when it announced its decision to make the WEU Assembly the Interim European Security and Defense Assembly. They were also following it when they decided to maintain the relationship between the 10 Brussels Treaty Powers.

It is also possible the Recommendation led to the Solana Decision – the infamous decision to clampdown on the public’s right to military documents. It must have been behind the exclusion of those other 18 nations from the crisis management decision process as well.

But there was something more here – something I hadn’t quite placed my finger on. Then it finally dawned on me what Recommendation 666 really meant. And it was at that moment — when I finally understood the implications of the Recommendation – that I knew I had to write this book.

The officials in Brussels were using the word “interim” to describe the new military bodies they had created. As we have learned, the new military structure they had decided upon under the French presidency is only supposed to be temporary. Yet I began to realize there was something in Recommendation 666 that could make it permanent.

Number 12 of the Recommendation suggested that the High Representative be given something extraordinary. In the event of an emergency, the High Representative has the authority to step in and take control of the EU’s new military machinery. One would think such powers would be reserved for the EU presidency.

As I thought about this, I realized the stage may now be set for the rise of the Antichrist. If a big enough crisis were to occur before the dangerous democratic deficit that now exists in the EU’s military wing is resolved, then the High Representative could step in and evoke his emergency powers given to him by Recommendation 666.

Could this emergency authority be part of a humanist strategy to bring about world government? It sure could. In fact, well-known humanist Edith Wynner said the only way a humanist world government could be established is by granting emergency powers to some authority. She said, “Our present tragic necessity requires that world government begin with massive emergency authority granted for ten to twenty years.”4

The idea struck me. Should Solana, or some future High Representative, ever step in and take power in such a manner – and create some kind of dictatorship – this person’s rise to power would be associated with the number 666. And if this person’s authority were to become global, as J. Dwight Pentecost said, we would have a “very clear identifying sign that the one that has come to world power is Satan’s great masterpiece.”5

Later, I would arrive at a clearer understanding of the prophetic significants of what happened in July 2000. This was when a 10-nation alliance was officially made the military wing of the EU. And, this is when the EU began on a course of competing with America for control of the Mediterranean.

Interestingly, this change in the EU’s foreign policy ultimately did lead to the confrontation between the US and the EU that Carlos Masala had warned about in his essay. In February 2003, for the first time in modern history, France and Germany shocked the world and openly opposed the United States in the UN Security Council over a resolution for a second Iraqi war

This major shift in the EU’s foreign policy began when the 10-nation alliance adopted their Western European Union Assembly Recommendation 666.  And, this event could actually mark the beginning of the rise of the foretold 10-horned beast from the sea.

Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.6

This brings us to a significant question: Was it a coincidence that the number 666 was used to identify a recommendation that could someday be linked with a man’s rise to power with 10 nations and a revived Roman Empire?  Perhaps it was.

I went back to my computer and downloaded Assembly Recommendations 664 through 670. I wanted to see if these documents could be equally interpreted to implicate these 10 Brussels Treaty nations as the possible 10 kings of Bible prophecy and Solana’s office of High Representative as the future office of the Antichrist.

They didn’t. Recommendation 664 dealt with recommendations regarding the parliamentary dimension of the EU’s new military. Recommendation 665 had to do with the associate members. Recommendation 665 had to do with the 18 associate nations, not the10 Brussels Treaty nations. Recommendation 667 was concerned with certain WEU budget matters.7 

Recommendation 666 was the only document that made recommendations regarding continuing the relationship of the 10 Brussels Treaty Powers and giving more power to the office of High Representative.

This brought me to an interesting question. After 2,000 years of speculation on this number in prophecy, could I have finally stumbled upon its meaning?  I reread where this number is mentioned in the Bible. The Apostle John said, “Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six” (Revelation 13:18).

“Calculate” indicates counting numbers. I wondered if the Greek word John used here, psephizo, had a broader meaning. It did. In fact, this is the only place in the New Testament this word is found.

Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance reveals something interesting. It gives the meaning of this Greek word this way: “to use pebbles in enumeration.”  It also says this is from another Greek word, psephos. This word means “a pebble, as worn smooth by handling. A counter or ballot. A verdict.” And this word is from even another Greek word, pselaphao, meaning “to manipulate, verify by contact. To search for; feel after, handle, touch.”  So the Greek word translated as “calculate” doesn’t just mean to count as in “one-two-three.” At the time the Apostle John wrote these words, pebbles were used to calculate numbers in much the same way as we use our modern computers. So the word “calculate” refers to something more like the operation of a modern computer. 

I’m no computer expert. But one thing I do know is that computers simply process numbers. People who work with computers say that computers “crunch numbers.”  That’s why we call the brain of a computer a microprocessor. From the way I understand it, the computer chip is a huge bundle of miniaturized, electrical, on-off switches. The electric current flows through the chip according to these switches, depending on if they are turned on or off. If there’s no error in the chip, and the computer has been programmed correctly – meaning all the switches have been set right – then it will always come to the right answer.

Getting back to the number 666. The Bible tells us to calculate the number. And the Greek word means “to calculate using pebbles.”  Many don’t realize that the computer has been in existence, in one fashion or another, since ancient times. The only difference is that today’s computers are capable of processing bigger numbers, and they are much faster.

From this we could infer that – if we have arranged all our pebbles in the right order and have followed them precisely – then we will arrive at a certain answer, just like a computer.

But, where, or what, are the pebbles we are to use in our calculations?  To answer this question, we must go back and look at the verse again. The angel of Revelation said, “Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast.”

So where, or what, are our pebbles?  Since our subject matter is Bible prophecy, I believe our pebbles are all those little nuggets of prophecies that have been scattered throughout the Scriptures – from the foretold “seed of the serpent” in Genesis to the glorious return of Christ in the book of Revelation.

Now I’ll share with you what I suspect the number could mean. If we have correctly understood the prophecies – in other words, if we have placed all the pebbles in the right order and if we follow them precisely – then we will, when the time comes, arrive at the person who is to be associated with that number. And that number is 666.