Being a Brit myself I have some very firm reasons for being pleased with the result of the Brexit referendum, in which the British voted to leave the increasingly political European Union…

When I expressed my pleasure to a colleague he scalded me and told me that we should all be working towards an integrated world where “there’s no country”, as the perpetually stoned British would-be philosopher John Lennon imagined: a magical land where we could all just get along and forget our differences. Unable to go into a lengthy answer for lack of time, I told my work mate that it’s possible to be nice to people without letting them make all your decisions for you, and without having a foreign religion-cum political system imposed on your land.

I since realized that there must be many people of faith around the world, particularly in the US and the UK who, having been taught by prophecy “experts” that the EU is the fore-runner of the alleged and prophesied “Revived Roman Empire” who see the possibility of that fledgling empire crumbling, setting back the fulfillment of last-days events, or even threatening the truthfulness of Bible prophecy. The “experts” are the ones who earn a good living selling books and videos, and appearing on television and radio to explain it all to us Biblical illiterates who seemingly can’t read and figure it out for ourselves.

I agree that the feet and toes of the image prophesied in Daniel partly contain that which had represented Rome: iron. But as I’ve written before, the US and the rest of the Western world is all an outgrowth of what was Rome, and the UN is to a great extent a child of western diplomats. We’re even genetically related to those nations which comprised Rome, and the culture and influence of Rome has extended far beyond the shores of western Europe.

But to point at individual nations and say, “oh dear, that one’s leaving the Union…oh dear, that one hasn’t joined the Union, it must all be untrue” is an unnecessary speculation which just allows the “experts” to write more books and not have to work for a living.

The guidance we need is summed up in one verse of Revelation, and it’s free:

“The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast” (Revelation 17:12).

While the “one hour” of the reign of the ten kings/kingdoms quoted above is likely a metaphor for the concurrent three and a half year reign of the Beast (Revelation 13:5), it’s a clear statement that the Beast’s ten deputies will appear for their stint at world domination only when he also is revealed: there may be no resemblance at all between the kingdom of the beast and the current European Union.

So look up, stop buying those misleading, confusing books, and read what the Bible actually says instead. The leading indicator of the nearness of those days is Israel and its capital Jerusalem, and its treatment by the rest of the world.

• BIBLE PROPHECY