The world is focused on the American elections. But there are even more important elections coming on Sept. 28, 2009. Those will occur in Germany. And because a crisis is simmering there right now, this momentous event could come to a head even sooner than we think.

After this momentous election, one man will rise to power in Europe. A man we have been anticipating for years.

German leadership is currently in turmoil. After the last German election in 2005, the Social Democrats and the Christian Democrats pinned together an unwieldy “grand coalition” government with Angela Merkel as its head. Three years later, that political alliance is full of divisions. It looks as though it may not last until the next election day.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has used her office to try to play peacemaker with her coalition’s various factions, but now it looks like she is in serious trouble. Something has forced her hand: Russia.

In August, the Red Army invaded Georgia, one of the former Soviet satellites that hosts part of an important oil pipeline leading to Europe. Georgia had been turning toward the West and nato, but Russian tanks put a stop to that. They showed the world how bold Russia is and how far its leader, Vladimir Putin, is willing to go.

Angela Merkel is from East Germany, so she knows what Russian rule is like. But because of her shaky government, she has been unable to steer her own country’s foreign policy. Germany sees what power Vladimir Putin has, and it is scared. Merkel wants to react by standing up to Russia, and, according to Stratfor, she is now abandoning her peacemaker approach to find a way to get control of Germany’s foreign policy.

But Merkel is coming to a dead end: a network of German leaders who have different plans. This group of leaders is like the Nazi underground network that developed during and after World War ii, ready and waiting to come to the surface and establish its own vision for Germany’s future. And it is a deadly and terrible vision!

Now, the upheaval in the grand coalition opens the door for someone else through flatteries and deceit to put together a coalition and become chancellor—next September, if not before.

The reason Chancellor Merkel does not control foreign policy is that other German leaders are grabbing the reins. One of them is Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. In addition to presiding over foreign affairs, he is curator of Germany’s intelligence agencies and has a lot of power. Steinmeier wants to resurrect the “Great Germany.” He doesn’t like America. He believes Germans have a fundamentally different mentality than Americans.

Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is another important part of this network. After ruling in Germany for seven years before Merkel, he took a job as an officer in Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned energy company. Both Schröder and Steinmeier are very friendly toward Russia. There is a pro-Russian sentiment in Germany. Even as Russia invaded Georgia, some of Germany’s media outlets attacked America and sided with Russia. Many Germans are excited about how Russia’s invasion has exposed the weakness of America. And many Germans want a strongman of their own like Russia has in its former-kgb-agent prime minister.

Germany’s tumultuous government and its urgent need to deal with Russia may also bring another important German to power: Edmund Stoiber. Stoiber is the best friend the pope has in Germany, so he is not out of the running for making a comeback as the leader of Germany and of Europe. The Vatican is the world’s listening post; it has a lot of power. It also has definite plans for Germany and Europe’s future—a Catholic future. Europe is going to have to be pared down if it wants to deal with Russia; the pope definitely wants it pared down to a Catholic core.

But did you know that Germany and Russia have probably already dealt with their most urgent differences? Considering the involvement of Schröder and Steinmeier, all kinds of agreements could unfold. I believe that Germany’s leaders may have already agreed to a deal with Russia, a modern Hitler-Stalin pact where Germany and Russia divide countries and assets between themselves. This agreement would allow each to turn its sights on other targets. Any such deal that may have been struck between Germany and Russia is a precursor to war!

Russia’s conflict with Georgia, Germany’s reaction to it, and a German-Russian pact will bring a man on the world scene like we have never seen before. This man is prophesied in your Bible!

Daniel 8 speaks of a fierce German ruler to come “in the latter time.” Verse 23 describes him as a “king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences.” “And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many …” (verse 25). This king comes acting like he wants peace, but he is lying! He will be a ruthless and violent man—preaching peace but practicing war!

Daniel 11:21 says this end-time Antiochus will “come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries,” yet will be a vile person. Verse 25 shows he will war against the king of the south with a great army.

I believe we might see the Daniel 8:23 man within this year!

This is Germany and Europe’s moment!

The Daniel 8 man is going to change the German landscape—economically, politically and militarily. Germany needs a man for emergencies. What we see developing now is just such an emergency, and Germany is about to bring that man to power. This is what’s just ahead of us!

We have seen the king of the south, radical Islam, come together and begin to push. We are now seeing the “kings of the east,” Russia and China, aggressively assert their power. And Russia versus Georgia is bringing in the Daniel 8 man, a man who will finally stand up and use power: the king of the north!

This is the rise of the Holy Roman Empire. It’s back!

Herbert Armstrong said in 1960, and even before, that there would be a European superpower that would be greater than the United States or Russia. Do you see this prophecy, which came from the Bible, coming to pass step by step by step? Do you see how America is falling apart, how our dollar is collapsing, our alliances are fracturing? Our people don’t have the will to confront these challenges. They are too concerned about their entertainment, their sports, their pornography. They do not want to be distracted by war, or saving their nation, or obeying God!

Russia’s invasion of Georgia, if you can believe it, has far greater significance than the fall of the Berlin Wall! It is the first military strike of the kings of the east! The world is thundering toward Armageddon!

Read Revelation 16:12-16. These armies of Armageddon are already on the world scene today!

Are you ready for what is coming? Are you paying close attention to what is occurring before our eyes?

But even in this oncoming destruction there is also hope! God has revealed something else that we should remember. Though Anglo-America is doomed to fall, and the kings of the north and south and east are to engage in the most horrific World War iii, the rest of Daniel 8:25 shows the end of this violent and bloody king of the north and his armies: “he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.”

This means this violent king will fight God! All these men will be destroyed by Jesus Christ Himself. When you see this man come on the world scene, you can know that the God who prophesied all this is coming back! Jesus Christ is about to return! This is wonderful news beyond anything you can imagine: Jesus Christ is about to return and put a stop to all war! That too is coming! Are you ready for it?

With editorial assistance by Philip Nice