I've come to think we make Bible prophecy more difficult than it is. We like to add this and that and, when we're done, we end up with a complicated mess that's hard to understand -- let alone teach. 

One reason we may do this is because we try to understand the subject of prophecy from our modern perspective. But, the scriptures were written thousands of years ago when people saw the world much differently than today.

Another way we make the prophecies difficult is we sometimes fail to appreciate the single mind that authored the prophecies and so we don't remember to properly tie them together. For example, we may try to interpret the New Testament book of Revelation independent of the Old Testament book of Daniel. The problem is, since the same mind inspired both books of prophecy, they can't be properly understood apart from each other.

According to the book of Daniel, the four beasts Daniel saw rising from the sea represented four Gentile kingdoms that, from Daniel's day, will be allowed to rise over Israel -- Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. Since there are only four kingdoms, it's been commonly believed someday Rome would return.

In the book of Revelation, however, we see two beasts rising over Israel in the end-times -- the beast from the sea and the beast from the earth (Rev. 13). The first beast from the sea is easily identifiable by its 10-horns as the same beast Daniel saw -- Rome. The second beast from the earth, however, has not so easily been identifiable.

Here's my point: If you cut through to the main point of the prophecies about the two beasts that rise over Israel in the end-times, you see a similar situation in today's news. For example, a Financial Times analyst is saying what is tearing the United States and Europe apart today is over who ends up controlling the Middle East. And, the author is suggesting the answer to the dispute is for the two powers to share control over the region (Read about it here).

In other words, the US and Europe should stop fighting and coordinate their efforts to finally bring lasting peace and security to the Middle East.

Question: Is this the beginning of the rise of the two beasts of prophecy?

Considering the simplest meaning of the prophecies, that's the way things look right now.