Large-scale protests continued in France last week after French President Emmanuel Macron moved to raise the retirement age by kingly decree. At the same time, farmers are still blocking streets in the Netherlands and Germans are worried about the government controlling their heating systems. This week started with more troubling news: Some of the largest Swiss banks are in trouble. As Europe’s troubles mount, watch how the Continent’s leaders respond.
Europe has fancied itself as an open, progressive continent, allowing millions of refugees in, adopting so-called “climate-friendly” policies (that are actually harming the environment), and being a role model for democracy. But for people in Europe, this supposed utopia is becoming a nightmare. Europe can’t have it all and has to choose. It seems that the first of its ideals to go is democracy.
If you compare the average retirement age in France to Britain or Germany, it needs to be raised. Although in a democracy, the people decide, France is still more of a republic, so the president gets to decide. But the same president has also pushed for open borders and green energy policies that have harmed the French economy. So some of the French anger is justified. Either way, watch Macron’s rule by decree in light of what Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in “France Is Resurrecting the Holy Roman Empire.”
The protests of Dutch farmers is even more understandable. They are protesting European Union regulations that threaten their livelihoods. The EU thought it could suppress a minority, but the majority stands behind them. The Farmer-Citizen Movement, or BoerburgerBeweging party, is set to become the largest party in the Dutch Senate after winning a provincial election last week. cnn managed to blame this on President Donald Trump and French right-wing leader Marine Le Pen: “Trump and Le Pen Backed These Dutch Farmers—Now They’ve Sprung an Election Shock.”
These protests are echoed in Germany. The previously popular German Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens), wants to ban the installation of new oil and gas heating systems starting in 2024. This is part of the reason his party’s popularity has been plummeting in the polls. Germany isn’t as democratic as it claims to be. When it comes to decisions for “the greater good,” the political elites decide what that is.
In addition to those crises, the banking system may be collapsing. The dominoes have only started to fall. Some hope to escape the crisis by investing in physical assets, but with rising utility costs, it will be hard to maintain those. Others hope to invest in gold and silver, but when it comes down to it, people want bread—from farmers that are being banned. The average person doesn’t even have to make that choice because he can barely pay his bills as it is.
The government will provide its own solution. As the late Herbert W. Armstrong explained in Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast?, Europe is about to reintroduce the six-day workweek—in a dictatorial fashion. Europe is being primed for such action today.
What can you do to escape all this? The Bible reveals the only way to be financially secure and protected: Follow God’s financial laws, coupled with the weightier matters of the law (Matthew 23:23). Jesus Christ commands that we do both. But to follow God in the troubling times ahead, there is something else we need to learn first: how to worship God. For more understanding, read Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath?, by Mr. Armstrong.