Canada’s national unity is being tested. Parti Québécois formed a minority government in Quebec on October 6. Its leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, has promised to hold a referendum to secede from Canada. The same party led a similar effort in 1995 that nearly succeeded, when a bare 50.5 percent of Quebecers voted to stay in the country. Along with the referendum, Parti Québécois leaders are escalating the constant French-Canadian culture war with English Canada.

Meanwhile in Western Canada, on October 19, Alberta held a nonbinding referendum on the possibility of leaving Canada. For decades, Alberta has been at loggerheads with Ottawa over political fairness, climate policies that affect the oil industry, and the imposition of progressive dogma. After months of aggressive campaigning, the separatist vote fell flat: 75 percent of Albertans voted to remain in Canada. Unlike in Quebec, secessionists in Alberta lacked support from the provincial government and were hampered by legal challenges.

Though Alberta’s independence was unsuccessful, damage to Canadian unity has been done. October showed that large numbers of people in the east and the west are divided against their central government and against each other.

A house divided cannot stand.

Bible prophecy gives us insight into where this is leading.

The late Herbert W. Armstrong explained in The United States and Britain in Prophecy that the British peoples descended from the Israelite tribe of Ephraim. The Bible prophecies about Ephraim apply to the British Commonwealth, which includes Canada.

The book of Hosea is a message for modern Ephraim. Hosea 5:11 says, “Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment.” Instead of following the principles in the Bible, Canada has been oppressed by sinful and weak-willed, compromising leaders.

Verse 12 says, “Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth ….” In this and other scriptures, God compares curses caused by sin to a moth imperceptibly eating away the fabric of our nation. Our sins breed problems, “moths,” that slowly compromise our prosperity and unity.

Separatism in Canada has been a curse consuming our nation. This division is fueling the fulfillment of other Bible prophecies that foretell the end of the Canadian experiment. Whether in the east or west, the moths are multiplying. How much longer can we hold together?