The European Union has launched a massive PR campaign, much of it targeting children, according to an article in the U.K.'s Telegraph on July 1 that was brought to my attention by users of our discussion board.

The campaign includes new videos on YouTube (not mentioned in the Telegraph article, but you can view them here) and cartoons for schoolchildren about the "benefits" of being E.U. citizens. An online comic strip is titled "Operation Red Dragon." See it here. In sum, the heroine, Elisa Correr, is a member of the European Parliament who exposes a faraway dictator's plot to acquire European weapons. The evil plot is, interestingly, called "Operation Red Dragon."

Like my father, I'm cautious about reading biblical symbolism into current events. I think well-intentioned Christians can get carried away, seeing imaginery signs in every earthquake or hurricane. But, sometimes, the symbolism seems too much to ignore--like the number symbolism in the Western European Union's Assembly Recommendation 666.

In the case of this comic strip, the symbolism is also hard to overlook. In Revelation 12:3, a sign in heaven is revealed to the apostle John: "...a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems." Several verses later (verse 9), we learn that the dragon is symbolic of Satan. Also, from Daniel chapters 2 and 7 and Revelation 13:1-2, we learn that the dragon's 10 horns symbolize a satanically inspired revival of the Roman Empire under a 10-nation military alliance. And, as Herb reported, the reunification of Europe in the form of the European Union--with its 10-nation military alliance, the Western European Union--appears to be a perfect match.

If the European Union is, indeed, the final empire raised up by Satan to oppose God's nation of Israel and God's people, then the title of the E.U.'s comic strip makes an uncanny connection. Of course, in the comic strip the E.U. shuts down "Operation Red Dragon," but in prophecy the E.U. is the red dragon's pawn.

Just as the E.U. is seeking to win hearts and minds to control more people, Satan is seeking the same thing through his own "Operation Red Dragon." It's what he's sought ever since he enticed Adam and Eve to rebel against God in the garden. Satan knows that when he controls enough people, he can control kingdoms--even a powerfully revived Roman Empire--and, through it, can lead a global rebellion against his archenemy, Christ.

This raises an interesting question. Did the people who titled the E.U. comic strip intentionally use biblical symbolism? I'm not so sure. It may have just seemed like a good title to them. The reunification of Europe, the proposed Reform Treaty and new High Representative position--all these things must seem like good, rational ideas to the secular people who are responsible for them. But when people come under the control of another they do things they themselves don't fully grasp.

Yet, Satan isn't the only one seeking hearts and minds. So is God (Mark 12:28-30). As we surrender to the control of His Holy Spirit, we become clear-sighted children of God, not blind pawns on the path to destruction.