The French-Speaking Peoples In Prophecy
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The French-Speaking Peoples In Prophecy

Conclusion:

The Future According to Prophecy

   With the exception of some passages of the Bible, which refer specifically to one or the other of the tribes of Israel, the Biblical prophecies relative to Israel refer as a whole to the twelve tribes. Consequently, the ultimate destiny of the French nation is intimately linked to that of the English, the Americans, the Belgians, the Swiss, the Scandinavians, and some other nations descended from the tribes of Israel.

The Decadence of France

   Superior "in dignity... and in power" (according to the prophecy given in Genesis 49:3), France played, during a number of centuries, an integral role in the history of nations. Called the "queen of the world," it remains the heart of all social, intellectual, and artistic activities. Poets even named it "the pride of the civilized world"!
   But things changed! With the loss of Louisiana that Napoleon Bonaparte ceded to the United States in 1803, France suddenly began to lose, and continues to lose, its past grandeur and glory!
   Reuben lost his birthright!
   "Since the commencement of the [nineteenth] century," states Elisee Reclus, "France has certainly been equaled by its rivals in Europe in works of thought and in the arts of peace, not to mention the bloody game of war. One could blame it then for wanting to keep for itself alone the name "great nation" which was given it in days of yore" (Nouvelle Geographie Universelle, Reclus, Vol. II, "France").

The Reason for its Decadence

   Why this sudden change after the year 1803?
   In the twenty-sixth chapter of Leviticus, we find the list of blessings and cursings that the Eternal set up for the children of Israel. If they faithfully obeyed the divine commandments, which included observance of the Sabbath, which is a "sign" between the Eternal and His people, they would then be abundantly blessed. On the other hand, the Eternal would punish them (and He did punish them!) seven times more — a prophetic time totaling 2520 years.
   At several junctures, we have demonstrated in this work that the Israelites were not obedient to God's commandments. On the contrary, they turned away from Him to live in idolatry. It was for this reason that the Eternal caused them to be taken into captivity by the Assyrians in about 721 B.C. From that moment began the period of national banishment for all Israel; the duration would be, according to the prophecy, 2520 years. This national exile came to an end at the debut of the nineteenth century.

Grandeur and Decline

   Although France conserved, in the course of its history, its superiority "in dignity and... in power," the other descendants of Israel lived, during these long prophetic years, in obscurity, in servitude and in poverty.
   However, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, with the end of the period of national banishment, most of the Israelite nations, notably Great Britain (descended from Ephraim — chief of the tribes of Israel) and the United States of America (descended from Manasseh, the brother of Ephraim), began to enter into the possession of what had been promised to Abraham for the Israelites as a nation. Not only did they overtake France, but they surpassed it in almost every area. (See the work of Mr. Armstrong entitled: "The United States and the British Commonwealth in Prophecy.")
   A curious fact: just as the tribes of Israel divided in the past and allied with their enemies to march against their own, today some of the Israelite nations — including France and Belgium — blindly ally themselves to the same nations who are going to conquer them and take them in captivity a second time!
   In spite of the amelioration of its economy during these last few years — an upturn, which actually gives a false sense of security — France is declining! Both, from a cultural point of view and a spiritual point of view. Its literature, its arts, its social mores, its culture, all hurl in an avalanche on the fall of human civilization!
   All Israel lives in the midst of Babylon! "Come out of her [Babylon], My people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues," cries the Eternal (Revelation 18:4). But, the Israelite nations incline not an ear to this divine advice.
   The sudden prosperity France and the other Israelite nations inherited since the end of their period of national banishment is only ephemeral, very ephemeral, given that each of them continues to reject the laws of God. Because of this, all these nations, as modern Israel, will be taken again into captivity (Luke 21:24). Full of the wine (sins) of her sister (Ezekiel 23:32), the nation of Israel will become "laughed to scorn, and held in derision"!
   As far as the gradual loss of its colonies and the political difficulties it encountered actually to conserve its rank of "super power," France isn't the only one confronting these international problems: In this, it shares in the condition of all the other Israelite nations.
   Because these Israelite nations refuse to turn to the voice of the Eternal, and they do not put in practice His laws, His commandments, and His statutes, the cursings predicted in the Bible, notably in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, already strike the whole of Israel, and come down ever more violently.
   The Eternal declared to Israel: "I will break the pride of your power," Leviticus 26:19.

Modern Israel in Prophecy

   See where France is today! The great nation which dictated, already two centuries ago, the course of history, and which dominated over European civilization, is in the midst of physical, moral, and spiritual decadence. It has lost the greater part of the acquisitions realized by the ancient regime, acquisitions especially considerable in North America and Southeast Asia.
   At the Treaty of Paris in 1763, France in effect abandoned New France and India; soon after, it ceded Louisiana to Spain, then lost St. Dominica, in 1804, and the Isle of France of Mascarene, in 1810. The treaties of Paris of 1814-1815 left it only some small Antilles... French Guyana, some branches of Senegal and in India.... It was a negligible domain" (Larousse du Xxe siecle, Article: France).
   If the different governments which succeeded since then reconstituted an overseas empire, France has lost in our time its new acquisitions, one after the other, at the price of its own blood! Laos, Vietnam, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria. Soon, it will again be reduced to the state of a "negligible domain"!
   Also see where the United States stands, a country whose prosperity began, so to speak, with the purchase of Louisiana! The Americans — the invincible of the world! — are rapidly losing their pride and grandeur! Given over to the love of money, they have even become a source of degeneration in this expanding twentieth century.
   And see where Great Britain is today, this "multitude of nations," this British Commonwealth on which the sun never set.... Stripped of its powers, of its "gates" (strategic locations of the earth), of its pride and most of its possessions, Great Britain is almost reduced to the small isles that it has always occupied!
   Whether it be France, Great Britain, the United States of America, the Scandinavian Countries, or Belgium who has lost the Congo, or adding Switzerland or whatever other nation descended from Israel, each must answer before the Eternal for its own sins and its own disobedience. Each of them, individually and collectively, will fight and be beaten in the course of the Third World War, which already is appearing on the horizon. Each of them will fall under the yoke of the enemy — of a union composed of "ten kings" (Revelation 17), of which the head will be the "beast."
   This union is already forming in Europe! Even though it includes at the moment, as members, nations of Israelite origin, the time will come when these, in their turn, will be taken into the trap of the enemy with whom they ally now!
   As incredible as it may seem, this great divine prophecy will be accomplished to the letter. (For more details, please consult the work of Mr. H.W. Armstrong, entitled: "The United States and British Commonwealth in Prophecy").
   We now live in "the last days," the time of the end, forecast by the Bible. Formidable events will soon succeed one another at a terrifying pace.
   The end is near, much nearer than one thinks. Conforming to His formal declarations, the Eternal will restore Israel to the countries of the north, and will reassemble it from the ends of the earth (Jeremiah 31:8), during the last days!
   We, the Israelites, are "the chosen people" of the Eternal. We are His people; but He chose us to obey Him, not to walk contrary to His orders and His commandments.
   "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you," says the Eternal, Deuteronomy 30:19-20. "I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live: That you may love the Lord thy God, to obey His voice, and to cleave unto Him...."

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Publication Date: 1961
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