Most evangelical Christians knew it was coming. We just didn't think it would happen so suddenly. Almost over night we have seen the world brought to a place where we knew by the Bible that someday it would be. 

It's especially hard for someone from my generation. We have seen America at her best. To watch her decline is bad enough. But, knowing what's waiting to take her place can sometimes make it almost unbearable.

Today departing UN Secretary General Kofi Annan gave his final speech Read it here. Although his proposals should rightly scare us, I don't really blame Annan for his views. The idea of world peace and brotherhood is a nobel one. Unfortunately, we evangelicals know it won't happen. The Bible tells us world peace and brotherhood won't come until our Lord Jesus returns.

In the meantime, we can't really blame people for trying. Perhaps that helps explain mega pastor Rick Warren's thinking regarding his working toward world peace. Perhaps Warren is just doing what he thinks best until Jesus comes.

My problem is, I don't trust our world to Bible unbelievers -- whether they identify themselves as Christian Bible unbelievers, or non Christian Bible unbelievers. The way I see it, the result is the same -- they're walking in darkness. In fact, it's my view that we who live in the free world owe our freedom to Jesus. And, to the degree we turn away from Jesus, to that degree we turn from freedom.

Annan -- and many on both sides of the Atlantic -- see the UN as the best instrument for achieving world peace. Some even want NATO to become the world's policeman. With the recent shift to the left in Washington, I fear this way of thinking will only gain momentum.

The Bible backs up my fears. It has always told us that, someday, the world would make one last attempt at coming together as one. It would happen at a time when Jerusalem would become a burden for all the nations. There would be a revival of the old Roman Empire where a 10-nation alliance would appear. From among these 10 nations a new political leaders would arise who would attempt to lift the nations' burden.

From the Bible we also learn that another leader -- a political/religious leader -- will appear. This person will have the ability to exercise his religious and economic controls over all the earth. Evidently, what this person will need is something like the UN's quest for global solidarity and its new Alliance of Civilizations.

Friends, this isn't new teaching. This is old teaching -- teaching that I was brought up in.

And, suddenly, it's here.