{Many of the details below were obtained from various BBC News reports}

On Sunday, May 29, 2005, the French held a referendum on a proposed European Union (EU) Constitution. The vote was 55% against the Constitution and 45% in favor. Nine nations in the European Union, including Germany, had already ratified the Constitution before France's "Non" vote. 

France's political elite was puzzled by the result. Led by President Jacques Chirac, the political elite was in favor of the EU Constitution and expected the French people to ratify it without much controversy. Informal polling of the French people has revealed that the "No" vote was a reflection of Chirac's current unpopularity and a reflection of the people's resentment against an elitist government whose policies have led to large unemployment and stagnation. Many Frenchmen saw the Constitution vote as an opportunity to show their discontent at Chirac, whom they reelected to a second presidential term in 2002.

After the referendum results became official, many Frenchmen cried for joy, jumping up and down in jubilant celebration. According to many, the bureaucrats and the elite in France "got ahead of the popular thought". According to many, the elite's mentality was, "If we, the political experts, believe in this Constitution, the people will undoubtedly follow our lead and accept the Constitution without a doubt". Many also believe that the EU political process was getting ahead of Europe's economic reality, and France's vote was the people's way of "putting on the brakes" on a process that was leaving many "rough edges" unresolved.

Many also criticized the proposed EU Constitution for the nature of its content. Compared to the U.S.'s brief Constitution, the EU Constitution was a 400+ page document. Compared to the philosophical and "principle-oriented" nature of the U.S. Constitution, the EU Constitution was a document full of dreary bureaucratic and technocratic language.

As a result of the referendum vote, Chirac's government has been greatly weakened, and he will more than likely not run for a 3rd presidential term in 2007. In an effort to soothe the "wrath of the people", Chirac fired unpopular Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and replaced him with Dominique de Villepin, who is not that popular himself. Villepin became famous when he served in the United Nations and acted as a vocal opponent of the U.S.'s effort to hold Iraq accountable for its U.N. resolution violations.

In a "Talking point" program aired on the BBC World TV channel (shortly after the French results), a German citizen living in Russia called in by phone and said the following:

"We are building a huge house, a huge construction site where elementary things have not been solved yet ... If one country says no, the constitution has to be rethought and rewritten"

On Wednesday, June 1, 2005, the Dutch also held a referendum on the E.U. Constitution, and the result was 61.6% against and 38.4% in favor. This served to further weaken the push for the Constitution, especially because France and Holland are two of the 6 founding members of the European Union. The fact that the "No" vote had a higher percentage in Holland than in France is also surprising because Holland is considered as "pro-European" as any other country in Europe.

In a seemingly unrelated story, Englishman Dan Wheldon won the Indianapolis 500 car race on Sunday, May 29, 2005 (the day of the French vote). He was able to pass female driver Danica Patrick, who was leading late in the race. Danica Patrick eventually finished in 4th place because she was forced to make a pit stop as she ran out of gas.

This is the prophetic interpretation:

As we shared in our previous article, people under the influence of the Canaanite spirit promote an artificial "unity" that is based on emotional, social pressure. They cannot forge a true unity because they are unwilling to go through the long and painful judgment process required to mold the "inner cores" of people to an independent, objective truth. Canaanites do not understand that "war" is sometimes necessary in order for true peace to be forged. For example, during the early years of the United States, an artificial "unity" was maintained between the slavery-hating North and the slavery-loving South. Canaanite appeasers did their best to maintain this tense unity, but it was only after a bitter 5-year Civil War that the United States truly became the "United" States. During the war, the "inner cores" of both sides were exposed to the judgment of an independent truth: that slavery had to be abolished.

The European Union was trying to forge a Canaanite unity based on the emotional appeal of "Europeanism" and "Anti-Americanism", without addressing the core differences between its members. Just as the German citizen quoted above said, the European Union was trying to build a huge house without first resolving fundamental issues. As we have said before, building on a true, rock foundation requires cutting through the hard rock, and that "cutting" involves judgment. On the other hand, judgment-hating Canaanites prefer to build on false, sandy foundations because the columns can be placed by simply "pushing" them into the sand, without a need for long and painful "cutting".

As we have said before, France has a strong influence of the Girgashite spirit of earthliness and temporality. Because of their obsession with the temporal, Girgashites are bound by time, meaning that they place inordinate faith in time-backed "expertise". Because of their focus on the visible, Girgashites also place inordinate faith in visible, human hierarchies. All of this turns Girgashites into people who delegate decisions to the corresponding "expert" or "hierarch" whenever possible. Since France has a strong Girgashite influence, it is understandable that the "political experts" in France would expect the French people to simply leave the evaluation of the EU Constitution up to them. Since the political elite was in favor of the Constitution, there was no reason to doubt that the Girgashite French would also be in favor of it. However, the French people came out of their "Girgashiteness" on this occasion and manifested the anti-Girgashite prophetic nature that is hidden underneath them.

There is a powerful prophetic seed that was sown into France some 5 or 6 centuries ago, but this seed has yet to fully germinate. There was a small manifestation of this prophetic anointing during the French Revolution of the late 18th century, when the "common" French people rose up to defy the authority of monarchies. Unfortunately, that prophetic movement quickly decayed, and France slowly returned to her Girgashite ways under Napoleon and succeeding rulers.

By the way, the influence of the Girgashite spirit in France can even be seen in the "Roland Garros" Tennis Tournament (or "French Open"). Of the 4 major tennis tournaments, Roland Garros is the only tournament played on a red clay surface, and, as we have said before, the word "Girgashite" literally means "clay dweller".

The French Girgashite influence can also be seen in the size of the EU's Constitution, which was drafted in great part by Frenchmen. Instead of being a brief document stating basic principles and values, the EU Constitution is a monstrous 400+ page document full of technocratic babble. As we have said before, Girgashites are generally teachers with the Spirit of Perfection who have gone astray from God's purposes, which turns Girgashites into "fleshly perfectionists" who are obsessed with spiritually meaningless details. While Girgashites are mentally obsessed with useless details, prophets are emotionally inspired by visions and causes.

As we have said before, France also has a strong influence of the Amorite spirit of pride and self-exaltation. Under the influence of Amorite pride, Chirac and the rest of the political elite in France arrogantly assumed that the "average French folks" would simply follow their "expert" lead regarding the EU Constitution. 

The word "Canaanite" literally means "lowlands people". This correlates with the name "Netherlands", which means "lowlands" and refers to Holland's territories that lie below sea level. Even though the Dutch people have many wonderful qualities, it must be said that their culture has a strong influence of the Canaanite spirit of low earthly passions, as can be seen from the infamous "red light district" in Amsterdam.

Throughout its European history, Holland has been a very successful commercial powerhouse. Interestingly enough, Scripture shows a connection between the Canaanite spirit and "commerce":

The word "merchant" above was translated from the Hebrew word Kenaaniy, which is the same word that is used in the Hebrew to refer to "Canaanites". In other words, the words "Canaanite" and "merchant" are synonymous in Hebrew. This is due to the fame that the Canaanites acquired as able traders. The interchangeable use of the words "Canaanite" and "merchant" in Hebrew also occurs in the following passages:

"Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth?" (Isaiah 23:8)

"He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffick; he set it in a city of merchants" (Ezekiel 17:4)

[The word "trafficker" was translated from the word for "Canaanite" in Hebrew]

"He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress." (Hosea 12:7)

"Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all they that bear silver are cut off" (Zephaniah 1:11)

[The word "merchant" was translated from the word for "Canaanite" in Hebrew]

From all of the above, we can see why Canaanites are such good merchants. This is not to say that "commerce" is inherently evil. As we have said before, people with a strong Canaanite influence are generally people who were originally endowed with the Spirit of Service, one of the 7 Spirits of God (when such people stray from God's will, they turn into Canaanites). Therefore, we can say that people with the Spirit of Service have the qualities required to be very successful merchants. If they don't stray from God's will, they can carry out this successful commerce without compromising their principles.

Despite Holland's propensity for the Canaanite spirit, the Dutch did not buy into "European Unity at all costs". They were unwilling to compromise their principles, and they showed that they were not afraid to go against the "pro-union" tendency shown by the 9 nations that had already ratified the Constitution. The Netherlands is as pro-European as any country in Europe, but, they were willing to look "anti-European" and cause "disharmony" by voting against the EU Constitution.

As we have seen before, Holland has shown "red-horse" tendencies at various points in its history. They have been willing to unsheathe the "sword of pestilence" that causes division and internal unrest. This tendency is derived from the influence in Holland of Calvinism from France and Anabaptism from Germany. When one studies the story of Calvinism and Anabaptism, it becomes evident why the Dutch have at times been willing to cause unrest and disharmony. As we have said before, "red-horse troublemakers" are "man-apostles", meaning that Holland has a hidden apostolic calling that surfaces from time to time.

There is a sweet spiritual irony in the fact that Holland's "red-horse" tendencies are largely due to French Calvinism and German Anabaptism. French President Chirac and German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder were the biggest "champions" of the EU Constitution, and their intention was to establish a European Union dominated by a Franco-German axis. It is ironic, therefore, that two spiritual movements birthed in France and Germany would centuries later work to undermine the earthly and carnal intentions of two leaders from these very nations. Hallelujah!

The following two facts reveal a spiritual pattern:

In both cases above, we see that "the final third" has been "denied". As we have said before, Scripture declares that false prophets promote 2 types of peace with God ("mental" peace and "emotional" peace) but do not care about the 3rd peace that really matters: peace of "wills" with God. Therefore, God is declaring that Chirac and Schroeder were acting as false prophets when they were promoting the EU Constitution in Europe. They were promoting a false, broken-net Canaanite unity, but God's judgments over Europe brought this unity's falsehood to the surface.

Chirac and Schroeder also came together in 2002 and 2003 to obstruct God's judgments against Saddam Hussein. These two false prophets saw the Iraq controversy as an opportunity to belittle the United States and rise to preeminence in the world stage (Tony Blair did the same, but he did it in a subtler way by playing along with the United States while at the same time convincing Bush to work through the corrupt U.N.; that way, he could claim victory no matter which side prevailed).

As we have said before, Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq was a physical manifestation of the pastoral matriarchy spirit. Therefore, when Chirac and Schroeder were opposing the toppling of Hussein, they were opposing God, and, as a result, God decreed the fall of their political preeminence. This is why Chirac will not win a 3rd Presidential term. A couple of weeks ago, Schroeder also suffered a major political defeat in a regional election in North Rhine, Westphalia, meaning that Schroeder's political future is facing a gloomy end. Tony Blair was able to win an unprecedented 3rd election on May 5, 2005, but his popularity in the U.K. has declined over the last few years. We did expect Tony Blair to win with relative ease in the May 5 elections, but this is because the spiritual underpinnings that support men like Tony Blair still have not been toppled completely. Those underpinnings are dark, evil, and deep.

In an effort to do "damage control", Chirac fired unpopular Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, as if to say, "It is his fault; he made me do it!" This is typical of the people who refuse to see that the problem is the "man in the mirror" and who try to manipulate the judgment of others against them through political maneuvering. This is what Saul tried to do after Samuel declared that God had cut him off:

"²⁸And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou. ²⁹And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent. ³⁰Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD thy God. ³¹So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped the LORD." (1 Samuel 15:28-31)

[Notice how Saul pretended to "repent" in verse 30, but only in an effort to get Samuel to continue supporting him before the Israelite public. Saul ignored God's judgment against him, and simply tried to get around it through political maneuvering.]

Instead of recognizing that God has judged him through the French people, Chirac not only turned Raffarin into a scapegoat but proceeded to replace him with Dominique de Villepin, the arrogant man who served as the most vocal opponent in the United Nations against going to war in Iraq. Cursed be those who stubbornly defy God's will and purposes!!! Cursed be those in France who dare to act as stumbling blocks to God's liberation!!! Cursed be those who, like Cain, are set in their stubborn ways!!!

While most of the French people have repented of their support for Chirac in 2002, Chirac refuses to repent. God's judgments continue upon you, Schroeder and Chirac!!!