Since the publication of Hal Lindsey's Late Great Planet Earth, I've been watching for real-time geo-political realities to line up with Scripture. And when they did, I thought everyone would see it. But they didn't. Why?

I've been thinking a lot about this. Here's what I'm coming up with. The biggest problem is the majority of today's Christians don't have a solid structural understanding of Bible prophecy. When this is the case, trying to understand how recent events fit into prophecy is like trying to hit a target while bouncing around on a ball.

Our starting point should always be the Bible -- what does the Bible say? Once we understand what the Bible says, then we can begin looking for the geo-political realities that appear to match.

But instead of the Bible being our starting point, too many times we allow some recent news event to be our starting point. And when we do this, we take our eyes off what the Bible has said for centuries, and instead look at something in the moment.

The recent bombing in Madrid is a good example. Few Christians appear to be seeing its possible prophetic significance. That's not to say they don't know something of significance occurred, they just don't know how to interpret it in light of Scripture.

But I think they should. Why? Because Spain was one of the three solidly pro-American members of the EU's new 10-nation military alliance. The other pro-American members of this alliance are Italy and Britain Read about it here.

Here's where that structural understanding comes in. The Bible tells us when the final stage of the fourth and last Gentile kingdom appears, it will have 10 horns. It also tells us a little horn will rise up among them, and will pull three of the first horns up by their roots (Daniel 7:7-8).

What does it mean to pull three horns up by their roots? The Bible tells us this too. It means the little horn will subdue three kings (Daniel 7:24).

Now here are the real geo-political realities before us. In 1995 a 10-nation alliance appeared in the area of the old Roman Empire, the Western European Union. In 1999 the office of High Representative of Common Foreign and Security Policy was established to oversee this alliance within the European Union.

Now we learn there are three members of this 10-nation alliance standing in the way of the anti-American factions -- Spain, Italy and Britain. We also learn a terror attack at precisely the right moment removed Spain from the pro-American camp.

So, are we now seeing the pulling of the three horns -- the subduing of the three kings? I really don't know. And I agree, something like this is hard to believe. Nevertheless, like it or not, these are the real-time geo-political realities before us in Europe.

And what does the Bible say?