[Darris McNeely] We've been doing a series on Beyond Today Daily called "Like a Whirlwind" that has focused on President Trump's recent trips to the Middle East and to Europe, visiting world leaders. And the idea of "Like a Whirlwind," and this is number three in our series, is taken out of Daniel 11:40 where a power called the King of the North rushes into the area of the King of the South, which is in the Middle East, too, like a whirlwind, respond to a provocation that comes from that area of the world, the Middle East. 

President Trump's visits and this recent trip that he's made has been kind of like a whirlwind, it's been a whirlwind trip. He's covered a lot of ground, a lot of issues, met with a lot of world leaders to press his particular agenda, reaffirm positions, and treaties and organizations. When he left the Vatican, after talking with Pope Francis, he went to Brussels, and there he had a meeting with the leaders from the NATO countries. NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a very long-standing military cooperation agreement between the countries in northern Europe and the United States, organized after World War II. Donald Trump, our President, has been very, very vociferous about NATO taking more of the share of the responsibility against global terrorism and, especially, ISIS. This is one of the areas that he's talked about and he was wanting to press these leaders on that. He was also meeting with Angela Merkel from Germany and the newly-elected Prime Minister of France, Mr. Macron. And this was his first opportunity for them to see him, and he them.

So, one of the other things that has been on the President's mind in a push for United States policy is that NATO, these North Atlantic European nations, step up not only in taking a greater share of fighting responsibility, but a greater expenditure of the entire NATO budget, wanting, in many of their cases, to get them up to the minimum of a 2% commitment to the budget or even greater. America has bore the brunt of this through the years. And so, he's pushing them to put more money into the defense, the armaments, the armies of NATO and, therefore, bringing up NATO's ability to project force in the world.

Now, this is interesting because there's another aspect to this. As part of the NATO agreement, there is an interesting article called Article 5, which says that if any member of NATO is attacked by an aggressive power, all the other members of NATO are bound by Article 5 to come to the aid of that one nation that is being attacked. And perhaps in the negotiations and some of the talk that has been here, the idea is that if the other NATO nations don't do their part, is America then bound to respond should, maybe, one of the smaller NATO countries be invaded by a country like Russia, for instance. And so, a lot has been discussed, a lot is on the table to be negotiated in this. And looking at this particular situation, with NATO, President Trump's visit there, and from there, he went into Sicily to have a meeting with the G7, the seven economic leading nations of the world for economic discussions, many of which were part of the NATO as well. 

So Europe, Middle East, all of this has been on the mind of America and the news and watching this. Seeing what we have already covered, especially out of Daniel 11 and then in the second part of this series where we were talking about events out of Revelation 16, talk about the massing of armies and the gathering into the area of the Middle East, when we look at the diplomatic overtures, and the threats and the problems, the arming of nations in the Middle East and the nuclear ambitions of nations like Iran, it is a very volatile region. And Europe's stake in all of this is critical. They're being pushed, Europe is, to take a larger share of the responsibility economically and militarily. How could that backfire? What if circumstances created a situation where NATO nations, or European nations or other powers, had to take something of a greater role, maybe America wouldn't or couldn't, so then the very conditions of what is described in Daniel 11:40, where a push from the King of the South toward the King of the North brings the King of the North into the area of the Middle East and setting in motion events that the Bible talks about leading up to the end of the age?

It's a fascinating moment, and time and trip, all of this together for us to consider. I teach a book of the Bible called the book of Daniel in a class at Ambassador Bible College called World News and Prophecy. I put my students into the prophecy of Daniel to help them to understand not just these prophecies, but also the present world. And when we look at trips like this, and with an understanding, a balanced understanding of Bible prophecy, we have the ability, I think, to come ourselves into position like Daniel was. Seeking understanding of his time as we seek to understand our day and our time, the events that are shaping the world, coupled with a sound, balanced approach to Bible prophecy and knowledge.

I encourage my students, and I encourage you, to understand world events today in 2017 in the light of Bible prophecy. Be balanced in your approach. And one other thing, don't get caught up in the ideologies of our time and of our world, socialism, conservatism, liberalism and any other ism that are common. Let the Bible be your guide to understanding world events, and especially our reaction to them. Be very, very careful, be discriminating and be discerning. And let the urgency of the times create a deeper study of God's Word for you, and a closer walk with God in understanding our day, and our time and our responsibility to live righteously in this present world.

That's BT Daily. Join us next time.