Throwing Away the Keys
Throwing Away the Keys
Why did Britain become one of the most powerful and wealthy empires in history? One reason is that it possessed an extensive chain of overseas bases and passageways.
This enabled its navy to dominate the seas and therefore its forces and interests to dominate the coasts and much of the world. These bases gave the British nation “naval mastery,” historian Paul Kennedy wrote, and made it “extremely difficult for other lesser states to undertake maritime operations or trade without at least its tacit consent.”
This is more than history. These sea passages have never been more important. We live in an era “of extreme interdependence,” writes Rose George in her book Ninety Percent of Everything. “Hardly any nation is now self-sufficient.” The title of the book comes from the fact that 90 percent of the world’s trade travels on the seas and oceans.
But why was Britain able to acquire these sea gates?
The full answer to that question is a story of daring deeds, great leaders, economic forces, natural resources, technological development and much more. But there is a short answer: Britain owned them because God promised to give them to it.
A Promise of Greatness
Nearly 4,000 years ago, God promised the patriarch Abraham spiritual salvation for the whole world through Jesus Christ, who would be born of his line. He also promised Abraham’s descendants national greatness. This separate, physical promise included this detail: The national descendants of Abraham would “possess the gate of his enemies” and “the gate of those which hate them” (Genesis 22:16-18; 24:60).
“A gate is a narrow passage of entrance or exit,” Herbert W. Armstrong explained in his book The United States and Britain in Prophecy. “When speaking nationally, a ‘gate’ would be such a pass as the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal, the Strait of Gibraltar. … We must look for a people forming more than one nation—yet all one people, children of Abraham—either now or in history who possess the sea gateways of the world, or we must deny the Word of God.”
Mr. Armstrong proved that Britain and America are those national descendants of Abraham. One of those proofs is that these two brother nations gained control of every major “gate” on Earth!
He also made a clear, bold prediction: Britain and America would lose control of those sea gates. “[W]e have lost most of them, most recently, the Panama Canal—and it appears that soon Gibraltar, too, will be lost,” he wrote.
On what evidence? In Deuteronomy 28:52, God warned these descendants of Israel that, rather than possess the gates of their enemies, their enemies “shall besiege thee in all thy gates.”
This prophecy has come to pass. Britain has given up its bases controlling the world’s sea gates, handed over the currency of world power, and compromised its security and the security of the whole world. Why would it behave so foolishly?
This is nothing less than a national curse for its disobedience to God!
Two of Britain’s most significant remaining sea gates are Gibraltar and the Chagos Islands. And it has recently effectively signed them both away.
Surrender
The Strait of Gibraltar is the only western passage out of the Mediterranean Sea. The U.S. Navy regularly “sails” its nuclear submarines through the 10-mile-wide strait. One ship passes through this strait every four minutes. By way of comparison, the Suez Canal sees one ship every 20 minutes (when trade is not interrupted by Houthi terrorists), and the Panama Canal, one ship every 40 minutes. Without Gibraltar, access to the entire southern coast of Europe, northern Africa and, by extension, the western coasts of the Middle East is limited or, in the most drastic scenarios, impossible.
The United Kingdom, the European Union and the government of Gibraltar announced an agreement on June 11 that establishes a new post-Brexit relationship. Gibraltar will effectively join the EU’s Schengen Area. It will remain British territory, but British citizens flying there from the British Isles will now have to show their passport to do so, and Spain’s border guards now have authority to deny them entry. This arrangement also allows 15,000 Spanish workers who cross the border into Gibraltar daily to continue to do so.
If a Spanish border guard can keep British people out, is it really still British territory? And how much longer will this passageway remain British at all?
For the Chagos Islands, the surrender is even more complete.
The Diego Garcia military base, shared by the UK and the U.S., is one of the most important in the world. “The strategic location of this base is of the utmost significance to Britain,” the UK government states. “It enables rapid deployment across the Middle East, East Africa and South Asia and helps combat some of the most challenging threats we face, including from terrorism and hostile states.” The base allows Britain and the U.S. to project air power into the Middle East without relying on the largesse of local powers.
Yet on May 22, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer agreed to hand the Chagos Islands, where the base is located, to Mauritius and to rent it back for 99 years—at a cost estimated to exceed $40 billion.
Mauritius never owned the Chagos Islands. It has no historic claim to them. This would be like the U.S. giving Hawaii to the Philippines on the basis that the two island groups exist in the same ocean.
Why hand them over and pay for the privilege? A judge appointed by the Chinese Communist Party to the International Court of Justice issued a non-binding judgment saying Britain should give up the islands. When Britain signed up to the court, it explicitly exempted disputes with Commonwealth countries like Mauritius from its jurisdiction. Yet Starmer complied.
It just so happens that Mauritius is in China’s pocket. China has built up its infrastructure and is its biggest exporter, sending it $1 billion worth of goods. It is the only African nation China has signed a formal free-trade agreement with.
Could Mauritius allow China to open a base next door?
The deal requires Britain to notify Mauritius in advance of any attack it conducts from the base. Will the Mauritians pass that information on to China, which could then pass it on to a potential target?
Silly Dove
This daft deal is perfectly described in a prophecy about modern Britain found in the book of Hosea. It says that Ephraim—a reference to Britain, as Mr. Armstrong proved—“is like a silly dove, without sense” (Hosea 7:11; New King James Version).
“Ephraim, or Britain, has a ‘silly dove’ foreign policy!” wrote Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry in July 2000. “No silly dove nation can endure in a world full of hawks and tigers! This is a strong warning to a once mighty nation.”
Matthew Henry’s commentary says the dove analogy is used because the bird is “easily enticed by the bait into the net and has no heart, no understanding, to discern her danger, as many other fowls do.” Is there a better example of a “silly dove” foreign policy than the Chagos deal?
These shameful surrenders are themselves proof of Britain’s and America’s prophetic identity. Mr. Armstrong explained, “As the ‘pride of our power’ continues to be broken, as the British continue to lose their foreign sea gates and possessions around the Earth, as America signs away ownership of the Panama Canal—control over this vital sea gate—as our gold supply drains away from this nation, weather upsets increase, this focal prophecy alone represents giant proof as to where the modern ‘remnant’ of the peoples of Israel resides today!” (op cit).
These precise, specific fulfilled prophecies point to God’s intervention in world events. He can, and does, bless and curse nations. He wants all nations to experience abundant blessings, and He has a plan to turn all nations to Him. Mr. Armstrong’s free book The United States and Britain in Prophecy does more than forecast—it explains why. It shows God’s plan for Britain, the U.S. and the world.
