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Fiddling While Europe Burns
'WorldWatch' by David C. GrabbeMulticulturalism is presented as a policy and intellectual framework that insists on one-directional acceptance by the host society while discouraging any requirement for immigrants to integrate. This approach treats cultural differences as strengths that enrich nations, yet events demonstrate the opposite outcome as groups built on incompatible foundations come into sustained contact. Culture itself is defined as the transmitted pattern of living, thinking, speaking, and behaving that arises from foundational writings such as the Koran or the Bible; these sources shape beliefs about the afterlife and acceptable conduct in the present, producing divergent ethical and social standards even when individuals do not study the texts directly. The resulting friction appears in repeated outbreaks of violence that cannot be reduced to economic grievances or political alignments, revealing instead an underlying clash between Muslim immigrant communities and the secular culture that still carries remnants of a Judeo-Christian heritage. Short-term responses such as enhanced security, employment quotas, or appeals for dialogue leave the foundational differences untouched and therefore allow tension to persist beneath the surface. Over time the same dynamic opens several possible trajectories: demographic replacement through higher birth rates, large-scale relocation of native populations seeking safety, or the rise of a nationalist leader who promises to restore a Europe for Europeans. In each case multiculturalism functions less as a solution and more as the condition that sustains and intensifies cultural division.
His Hand Against Every Man
CGG Weekly by Richard T. RitenbaughMulticulturalism emerges as a critical factor behind the growing social crisis within Western European nations, particularly in the context of their hypocritical stance toward American action against Saddam Hussein. While these governments criticized the Bush administration and demanded proof of ties between Hussein and al-Qaida, they simultaneously refused to acknowledge a far more pressing problem festering within their own borders: an acute and growing Arab and Muslim population that resists integration into common societal standards. This influx of immigrants, driven by depressed economic conditions in their home countries, mirrors the pattern of Hispanic immigration into the United States. However, when combined with multiculturalism and socialist welfare policies, the result has been the emergence of a foreign population that refuses to assimilate. Denmark serves as the primary case study illustrating this dynamic. Although Muslim immigrants make up only about 3.5% of the population, they account for more than 40% of welfare spending, a majority of convicted rapists, and disproportionate crime rates in other categories. Beyond economic and criminal concerns, multiculturalism has allowed illegal and unacceptable practices to take root, including forced marriages and threats against Muslims who convert away from Islam. It has also enabled the rise of violence against Denmark's Jewish population, with anti-Israel marches devolving into anti-Jewish riots and organizations openly calling for the killing of Jews. Muslim clerics have gone so far as to call for the eventual imposition of Islamic law once the population grows sufficiently large, with projections suggesting Muslims could comprise one-third of Denmark's population within roughly forty years. This trend connects directly to a broader prophetic understanding rooted in Genesis 16:11-12, which describes Ishmael as one whose hand would be against every man, dwelling in the presence of his brethren. The violent and expansionist tendencies institutionalized within Islam are seen as a fulfillment of this prophecy, with Ishmael's descendants now dwelling among and fomenting problems within the nations descended from Isaac and Jacob, nations that continue to reap the blessings given to Abraham for his obedience. Winston Churchill's characterization of Islam as a religion propagated by the sword, producing fanaticism and slaughter, reinforces this connection. Ultimately, the acceptance of multiculturalism without regard for its consequences sets the stage for the fulfillment of Deuteronomy 28:43, which warns that the alien among a people shall rise higher and higher while that people comes down lower and lower. This prophecy of Israel's downfall is presented as directly relevant to the trends unfolding in Western Europe, serving as a signpost pointing toward the approaching return of Jesus Christ.
Immigration and the Kingdom of God
'Prophecy Watch' by David C. GrabbeMulticulturalism, as it developed in Europe through loose immigration policy and pluralistic ideology, provides a real-world case study for understanding spiritual truths about God's Kingdom. Europe's wholehearted embrace of the idea that all cultures are equal and can coexist without friction led to massive Muslim immigration, encouraged partly by cheap labor needs and low native birthrates offset by immigrant fertility three times higher than native populations. This created conditions for cultural conflict, exemplified by the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh by a radicalized Islamist, which shocked secular Europe and exposed the failure of multicultural ideology. In response, nations like the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark began reversing course, with politicians openly declaring multiculturalism "illusionary" and warning against "parallel societies" where state law does not apply. German Chancellor Schröder insisted that democracy cannot tolerate lawless zones or a foreign culture developing within the nation. This crisis reveals that not all cultures are equal and that Islamic culture does not integrate smoothly with traditional European civilization, forcing Europe to reconsider whether a return to nominal Christianity might be needed to define acceptable culture, since secular humanism itself enabled the crisis by insisting all cultures could coexist equally. This European struggle over defining a unified culture versus tolerating parallel societies becomes an object lesson for understanding the Kingdom of God. Unlike Europe's open-door policy, God tightly controls entrance into His Kingdom, granting citizenship only to those He calls, with only 144,000 completing the process at the outset. Harmony in God's Kingdom will exist precisely because citizens have abandoned their former cultural ways and adopted God's culture entirely, preventing any "parallel society" from forming. This connects to the debate over law and works: just as obeying a nation's laws does not itself grant citizenship, keeping God's law does not itself grant entrance into His Kingdom, since that decision rests entirely with God. However, certain behaviors, as listed in passages like Galatians 5:19-21, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, and Revelation 21:8 and 22:15, will disqualify a person or result in expulsion, much as ties to radical Islam now justify deportation in the Netherlands regardless of citizenship status. Notably, God's disqualifying lists do not mirror the Old Testament's Ten Commandments precisely, showing that God's standard is not a mere checklist but a comprehensive way of life, a "culture" defined throughout Scripture. Just as Europe struggles to define its own culture clearly enough to prevent internal division, God has already defined His culture fully, seeking heirs conformed to His image rather than immigrants who merely avoid certain sins. A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand, so God will not permit a parallel culture within His Kingdom, making it essential for believers to examine whether their own way of thinking and living aligns with God's revealed culture rather than risk the very disaster multiculturalism has produced in Europe.
The Culture War and the Cartoon Ruckus
'WorldWatch' by David C. GrabbeThe initial reaction to the cartoons was mild and non-violent. That it took five months for rage and offense within the Muslim world to be stirred.
How Did Europe Get This Way?
'WorldWatch' by David C. GrabbeThe Europe of the past few decades has honestly earned the label of 'that vast plain of irreligion.' Ironically, religion caused its secularization.
A Christian Nation?
CGG Weekly by Richard T. RitenbaughA new atheistic force is arising, and it is using its dominance of the culture and the courts to drive Christianity out of the temples of our civilization.
Islam on the March (Part One): The West
'WorldWatch' by Joseph B. BaityIslam is on the rise in America just 25 years after 9/11. Muslims advocating Sharia law are growing in numbers and political influence from New York to Texas.
America's Cosmopolitan Elites
CGG Weekly by Charles WhitakerThe profile of a "cosmocrat" includes his open-armed embrace of tolerance, diversity, inclusiveness, and universalism. He seeks to be all things to all people.
Tolerance and Love
CGG Weekly by John W. RitenbaughFor several decades, tolerance has been a powerful theme of political correctness. It is a buzzword of those influenced by the New Age movements.
Clash of Cultures
'Prophecy Watch' by Richard T. RitenbaughEurope has seen millions of migrants, mostly Muslims, stream into their nations to the point that it has become a primary topic politically.
An Overview of the Immigration Problem
Commentary by John W. Ritenbaugh (1932-2023)When diversity is given greater importance than unity, one can see the end of unity and cooperation with regard to national goals.
Learning the Right Things (Part One)
Commentary by John W. Ritenbaugh (1932-2023)The harmful things people learn thoroughly in their youth will sabotage any helpful steps to correct this earlier enslaving conditioning.
Contemporary Primitivism
CGG WeeklyTechnology merely indicates material development, whitewashing over a culture's moral, ethical, or spiritual state with shiny displays and distractions.
Out of Control
Commentary by John W. Ritenbaugh (1932-2023)Diverse cultures separate peoples, causing cantankerousness and hostility, even when these cultures share the same language or share a common language.
The Remaking of America
Commentary by Mark SchindlerA new wave of billionaires, having rejected the conservative values of their elders, embrace multiculturalism, homosexuality, climate change and collectivism.
A Growing Divide
'Prophecy Watch' by Richard T. RitenbaughAmerica and Europe have been moving away from each other politically, economically, and culturally. How does this affect our understanding of prophecy?
The Handwriting Is on the Wall (2002)
Feast of Tabernacles Sermon by John W. RitenbaughDiverse cultures cannot be mixed and be expected to get along, because different peoples have a different basis of operation in their thinking. Deuteronomy 28 treats the rapid growth of Gentile populations within Israelitish nations as a curse, and the "language" God mentions there means culture, which works like leaven in dough. God moves populations from one place to another, as He sent Midian, Amalek, and the people of the east into Israel in Judges 6, and He is now sending immigrants into the United States, Canada, Britain, and France. The 1965 Immigration Reform Act opened the door, and the results are costly: language burdens, economic strain, crime, political pressure, and the erosion of national pride. Deuteronomy 7 shows why God did not want cultures mixed. Intermarriage leads to idolatry and other sins, and religion is the strongest influence shaping a culture, for what one worships, one becomes. The clash is sharpest between the West and Islam, whose cultures share almost nothing and whose radical fundamentalists hate Western life; this sets the stage for Daniel 11:40. God's people are holy, meaning different, not better, because they have His Word. II Corinthians 6:14 through 7:1 calls them to separate from unbelievers, since righteousness has no fellowship with lawlessness. Their citizenship is in heaven, so they follow God rather than national governments or world events.
Ishmael
Sermonette by Richard T. RitenbaughTo this day, a perpetual conflict exists between Ishmael's offspring and Isaac's offspring, with the Ishmaelites determined to wipe Israelites off the earth.
More on Tolerance
CGG Weekly by John W. RitenbaughMany are guided by a multicultural value system that posits that all values, regardless of their source, are equal and should be tolerated. But God has one way.
Tolerance
Sermonette by Ronny H. GrahamTolerating perversion in our midst will attract the wrath of Almighty God. Tolerance of evil out of political correctness is not an option for us.
Israel's Immigration Problem
Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh (1932-2023)Economically, the alien has enslaved modern Israel by becoming the lender, putting an iron yoke around the necks of the people in the host nations.
How Did We Get This Way?
Feast of Tabernacles Sermon by John W. RitenbaughSecularism, founded on the philosophical underpinnings of Rousseau, is, in effect, the official state religion for the majority of our nation.
Marxism in Academia: The Origins of Political Correctness
Commentary by David F. MaasHerbert Marcuse and Saul Alinsky introduced a more pragmatic form of Marxism into American academia, facilitating self-destruction by creating 'victim groups.'
Globalism and the Wisdom of Men
Feast of Tabernacles Sermon by John W. RitenbaughThe disintegration of the Catholic Church and the greater church of God have eerie parallels. We must seek the wisdom of God rather than the wisdom of men.
Globalism (Part Seven): The Countertide Rolls In
'Prophecy Watch' by Charles WhitakerEven though the march of globalism seems irresistible, the pendulum has swung and tribalism is rearing its head in many parts of the globe.
It's All Relative
'Prophecy Watch' by Richard T. RitenbaughWe frequently hear our culture labeled as postmodern. What is postmodernism? How is it related to relativism? Most importantly, what does God think?
At the Center of Everything
CGG WeeklyOur culture places God on an equal plane with Allah, Brahma, Buddha, or any other deity, resulting in mass confusion over who or even what the true God is.
Where Is God's True Church Today?
'Personal' from John W. RitenbaughWhere can we find the true religion, the true church, in all this confusion? Only the church Christ founded and heads today has the answers to eternal life.