In relationships, whether between persons or between countries, falling in love is a sure path to tragedy.

To fall in love is to enter an intimate relationship casually, blindly. Falling into a relationship means failing to take the time to evaluate the character, personality and history of the target of your affections; neglecting to measure compatibility and whether the elements exist for a healthy, lasting relationship.

It’s important we think about this, because the world is falling in love with Germany.

It’s easy to understand why. I travel to Germany regularly, and the more I visit, the more I appreciate and admire the German psyche: the work ethic; the quality of craftsmanship; the respect for law and order; the frugality, the discipline, individually and collectively, in the face of materialism; the emotional and mental stoicism and toughness; the reliability. There is much to admire and love.

Compared to her suitors—notably Britain and America, two recklessly led countries that are collapsing daily—Germany, with its financial stability, its robust economy, its cautious, calculated politics and sound-minded global leadership, looks like a supermodel. For a world that craves leadership, strength and constancy, a world searching for a nation it can depend on, a nation with a bright and hopeful future, Germany seems the ideal choice.

But as we fall for Germany, we need to stop and consider: Are we making a fatal mistake?

Germany, like all peoples, has ugly sides to its personality. Have we deeply considered these? More significantly, although it’s politically incorrect to discuss, Germany has a long history with tyranny, with powerful men and regimes amassing power then abusing it with unspeakable cruelty and horror. You would never give your heart to such a person. Yet, here we are, giving our hearts and souls to Germany.

It can only end in tragedy.

Deutschland über Alles

It’s been nearly 70 years since World War ii ended, and 24 years since the Berlin Wall fell. Today Germany and the German people are respected, admired, and very often envied by peoples and nations the world over. Much of this is deserved, too.

In May, Germany took first place in the bbc’s annual poll of the “most popular country in the world.” In the survey of 26,000 people from 25 countries, 59 percent said Germany has a “positive influence” in the world. In the “Nation Brands Index,” a large survey conducted by research company GfK to measure the global image of various countries, Germany came in second to America.

In May 2012, the German Society for International Cooperation (giz), an organization that informs the opinions and policies of the German government, conducted an in-depth study of the perception and reputation of Germany and the Germans. The report revealed a world that is not only agreeable to increased German leadership, but yearning for Berlin to take more control.

“Many countries have high expectations of Germany and see it playing a bigger role in Europe and the world,” giz reported. Feedback indicated that “almost everyone expects Germany to take on a major role,” and that the only thing holding Germany back right now is Germany.

Analysts at giz were surprised. “Expectations that Germany will in future take on the role of honest broker more frequently are astonishingly high—not just for ‘politically safe’ areas like energy and climate, but also on highly controversial issues like Iran and Syria” (emphasis added throughout).

Even Germany’s contemporaries in Europe, though they might sometimes balk at German demands, crave German leadership. Chancellor Angela Merkel is often criticized and ridiculed, but when she speaks, Europe listens—and conforms. Europeans know that their fate, financially and politically, rests with Germany.

‘Don’t Hide Behind Your History’

The global swoon over all things Deutsch goes beyond a love for bmws and Oktoberfest. Important people on every continent—world leaders, statesmen, finance gurus, journalists—are begging Germany to do more to solve major world problems.

President Obama lavished Chancellor Merkel with praise in 2011 while presenting her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the highest honor America can give a civilian, and an award usually given only to American citizens. “Don’t hide behind your history, said the president. Act in accordance with your importance,” reported the German weekly Die Zeit. “The world today does not fear a strong Germany,” Der Tagesspiegel recorded Obama as saying. “It is, rather, disappointed when Germany is too reserved.”

On June 19 this year, in a speech beneath the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Mr. Obama again invited Germany to assume more leadership. “[S]ometimes there can be a sense that the great challenges have somehow passed. And that brings with it a temptation to turn inward …. But I come here today, Berlin, to say complacency is not the character of great nations. … And I’ve come here, to this city of hope, because the tests of our time demand the same fighting spirit that defined Berlin a half century ago.”

The world’s fortunes depend on Germany, and Berlin has the responsibility to lead the world, Mr. Obama explained. “[W]e are not only citizens of America or Germany—we are also citizens of the world. And our fates and fortunes are linked like never before. … I say all this here, in the heart of Europe, because our shared past shows that none of these challenges can be met unless we see ourselves as part of something bigger than our own experience. Our alliance is the foundation of global security. … We cannot shrink from our role ….”

Thirty years ago, that speech would have been delivered in Hyde Park, or outside Buckingham Palace. But today, Britain, like America, is collapsing from the inside; it is a shell of its former self. America’s president has made it clear that he disdains the special, historic relationship—the alliance that secured global security during the 20th century—between Britain and America.

So here he was in Berlin, foolishly declaring America’s affections for the nation responsible for some of the greatest suffering in human history.

‘Germany, Lead Us, We Beg You’

In July, London Mayor Boris Johnson, during a visit to Berlin with his family, wrote a gushing article celebrating Germany’s rise and reproving those who view Germany with caution. Johnson recalled his grandfather’s distress about a reunited Germany. “Everything tells me that his anxieties were baseless, and that the reunification of Germany has been one of the greatest success stories of modern geopolitics,” he wrote (July 21).

Baseless? Aren’t the horrors of World War ii legitimate justification for some skepticism over Germany’s unification and emergence as a leading world power?

“You look at Berliners today,” Johnson wrote, “and you ask yourself what the fuss was about, 24 years ago. There were people like my grandfather, and Margaret Thatcher, who were instinctively hostile to German unification. … There were the Euro-federalists, who argued that Germany needed to be ‘locked in’ to Europe. We needed a single currency to ‘contain’ Germany, they claimed, to ‘tie them in’—as though the Germans were [a] loose cannon rolling about the European quarterdeck, about to crush innocent Slavic nations. What a load of bunk that turned out to be.”

What shallow, shortsighted analysis. To understand “what the fuss was about,” and to evaluate whether Germany could pose a threat, we can’t just “look at Berliners today.” Britain made this mistake during the 1930s, when many influential people, including the Prince of Wales—much like Boris Johnson today—admired and praised what they saw in Berlin. We must consider the facts of the past and present, study the trajectory, and then marshal all these pieces to build a picture of the future.

We ought to be less concerned about what Germany looks like today, and more concerned about what the nation will look like in 2, 5, 10 or 20 years!

Mr. Johnson concluded: “I can understand why my grandfather’s generation felt as it did, but it is emphatically time to forget all that and embrace the new Germany. … We have absolutely nothing to fear.”

What a sweeping endorsement: Forget history, embrace Germany’s hegemony, fear nothing! Johnson will live to regret those words.

This sentiment prevails in capitals all over the world—even in nations that not all that long ago were destroyed and occupied by Germany. Poland’s foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, stated in November 2011: “I will probably be the first Polish foreign minister in history to say so, but here it is: I fear German power less than I am beginning to fear German inactivity. You have become Europe’s indispensable nation.”

It’s difficult to find consensus among nations, but on the subject of Germany and its place in the global order, the world is in harmony: Germany, we want you, we need you, please do more!

Again, one can understand the logic. Major world problems are mounting. The West’s competitors—Russia, China, Iran and radical Islam—are increasingly belligerent. And the U.S., overwhelmed by domestic crises and led by a foreign-policy introvert, is abandoning the bridge. Meanwhile, Germany has one of the largest and healthiest economies in the world, is responsibly managed both politically and financially, and has the size and military and diplomatic infrastructure to exert leadership. Germany is strong but pacifist, adept but not overtly domineering.

It looks like the perfect savior.

The Reluctant Superpower

Berlin has answered the global clamor very shrewdly. Its leaders haven’t responded with arrogance, marching about with an “it’s about time” look on their faces. Angela Merkel hasn’t turned diva, prancing around making outrageous demands or obnoxiously lording it over others. To the contrary, Berlin is handling the attention with caution, reticence and modesty.

Germany reciprocates, but coyly, with a shy smile. Berlin is involved, often centrally, in all the important issues. It gives decisive input, signs agreements and joint statements, and dispatches its diplomats, and even its military, all over the world. It provides leadership—but it does so quietly, gently, and seemingly reservedly, with a hint of regret. Germany, as the Telegraph recently put it, appears to be a “reluctant superpower.”

This inflames the world’s affections and only makes us pine more!

Consider Germany’s conduct in Europe’s debt crisis. No one doubts that the solution can only come from Berlin. Although EU officials and European leaders participate in most conversations, on a practical level the decisions and policies are approved by Berlin. Germany is leading Europe through this crisis. But it is leading in a way that doesn’t overly concern or frighten Europe. More often, it makes Europe desire more German leadership and intervention.

We see this same strategy in Germany’s foreign policy. Consider Libya. When America, Britain and France ran off to war in 2012, Germany sat on the bench alongside Russia and China. The result? First, Germany avoided being blamed for aiding the rise of radical Islam in Libya. But it also showed itself to be independent of America and Britain, a lackey to no one. In Libya, Germany was the wise old man that more people ought to have listened to.

It’s the same in Syria. Instead of being among the first to sign Barack Obama’s statement at the G-20 condemning Bashar Assad’s chemical weapons attack, Germany was the last. Think back to the height of the Syria crisis. Can you remember a strong speech from Angela Merkel or Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle? It’s not that Germany doesn’t have a role in Syria—it does, especially via its arming of Saudi Arabia and Gulf states with military hardware. Germany is involved, but in a cautious and calculated manner, a manner that avoids offense and wins respect among its counterparts on both sides.

This strategy is working, too. Notice what President Assad stated in an October interview with Der Spiegel: “When I think of Europe, I ask myself who is closer to the reality in my region? Every European position is still far from our reality. Germany and Austria have the most objective and closest position to reality. The German position is the closest.” Asked if Germany could play the role of mediator, Assad replied: “Of course, I would like to see envoys from Germany come to Syria to see and discuss the reality. Coming here doesn’t mean you support the government. But if you come here, you can do, you can talk, you can discuss, you can convince.”

Even Syria wants more German leadership! Now that’s impressive!

The same day the Assad interview was published, Iranian President Hasan Rouhani called on Germany to play a “positive and constructive role” in the following week’s negotiations between Iran and the P5+1. The P5 is comprised of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. Guess who the +1 is? Germany. Even Iran, the sworn enemy of the West, seems to recognize Germany’s potential as a leader.

This strategy of playing the coy and reluctant superpower is evident in Germany’s dealings on every continent. The nation is entrenched politically and militarily, and especially in trade and commerce, in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East. But its presence in these regions is strong but quiet, influential but not offensive, and smartly calibrated to cause its hosts to crave more German involvement.

Historical Amnesia

Earlier this year during a conversation with a German journalist in Hamburg, I raised the question of Germany’s imperialist history and whether it ought to be considered when we discuss Germany’s ascension today. His response was cogent and delivered matter of factly, as if the question itself was passé: Listen, you guys are going to have to get past World War ii. It has no bearing on the present.

This man was speaking about the few today who factor in history when evaluating contemporary geopolitics. Because as we’ve seen, the general view is that we must forget Germany’s history, and that the German people need to get past it too. “Almost everyone expects Germany to take on a major role,” the giz survey found. “Few respondents voice[d] reservations stemming from the country’s former striving for hegemony and Nazi crimes.” Barack Obama has cautioned Germany against “hiding behind its history.” Boris Johnson says we have “absolutely nothing to fear.”

Forgetting or ignoring the horrors of Germany’s past makes us feel noble, merciful, forgiving. But this view is more self-righteous than righteous.

We must not forget that only 74 years—just one lifetime—ago, Germany started the most destructive war in human history. Today we’re taught that it wasn’t the Germans, but just Adolf Hitler and a few friends, that caused the Second World War. We’re taught that the war was imposed on the German people as much as it was on the world. This just isn’t true. The war was Hitler’s brainchild, but it was supported and fought by the German people.

We must not forget that less than a quarter of a century before World War ii, Germany instigated World War i, the most destructive war in human history to that time. Today we’re commonly led to believe that this war started in the Balkans with the assassination of Austria’s Archduke Ferdinand. The truth is, the war started because Germany pushed Austria to declare war on Serbia, thereby thrusting the major powers into conflict.

We must not forget the 19th-century history of Prussian Prince Otto Von Bismarck, the man responsible for consolidating the German states, augmenting Prussian power, and igniting the flame of modern German nationalism. Under Bismarck, the imperialist German empire initiated violent wars with the peoples of eastern and southern Europe, as well as France.

We must not forget the history of the Habsburg Dynasty, which was centered in what today is southern Germany and Austria. This too was an imperialist empire, one that expanded using a well-crafted strategy of violence, politics and romance to encompass most of Europe, the Americas and East Indies.

We must not forget the history of Otto the Great, the 10th-century German emperor, the forefather of German nationalism, and the man who under moral and spiritual cover from the Catholic Church conquered the people of central, southern and eastern Europe and established the German Holy Roman Empire.

Germany is not responsible for all of Europe’s history with war and violence. Napoleon was French. So was Charlemagne. The Spanish had their moments. But if you study objectively the past millennium of European history, you’ll find that leaders, kingdoms and regimes that were headquartered in southern Germany and Austria instigated the majority of Europe’s conflicts.

One thousand years of history teaches that when Germany is united and strong, and when it is ruled by a particular type of leader, its natural tendency is to expand and conquer. One thousand years of history teaches that the German people have a deeply rooted nationalism that can be exploited and can lead to cruel and violent action. One thousand years of history teaches that the German people, for all their wonderful qualities, have a deep weakness for embracing tyrannical leaders.

Mesmerized by the moment, we reject 1,000 years of history!

Whenever I read about the history of the 1930s and the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party, I’m always struck by the behavior of Britain and America. Many people weren’t merely naive or ignorant of Hitler and his ambitions. Many actually admired the man, his ambitions, and even Nazism. Shockingly, many British politicians, artists and media personalities visited Germany and fell in love.

Can you imagine? Many British and American leaders were infatuated with Germany—just years before Hitler thrust the world into a nightmare! There’s a powerful lesson there for us today. Sure, no German leader is publicly declaring his hatred for Jews the way Hitler did. Germany doesn’t appear to be as militaristic. We haven’t seen ominous edicts like Hitler’s Nuremberg laws. Nevertheless, Germany—in spite of, or perhaps because of, its long history of imperialism—is rapidly gaining dominance.

History demands that we be more careful.

The Mastermind

For more than two decades, Gerald Flurry and the Trumpet have marshaled Bible prophecies and world history to reveal how the now-forming German-led European superpower is in fact the seventh manifestation of the Holy Roman Empire. Employing a host of Bible passages—including Daniel 7 and 8, Isaiah 10, Habakkuk 1, and Revelation 12, 13 and 17—we have shown that Germany’s end-time global dictatorship is prophesied. For some this is hard to see and accept, but time and events are vindicating our message and warning.

The Bible also reveals that there is an unseen hand, a spirit power, that guides the Holy Roman Empire. The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 2 calls this being the “prince of the power of the air,” and in 2 Corinthians 4, “the god of this world.” Jesus called him Satan. In Revelation 12, in direct relation to the Holy Roman Empire, this being is called the “great red dragon.”

Satan masterminded the rise and actions of all six historical resurrections of this church-state combine. Today, in the rise of the seventh and final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire, we are witnessing the devil at his finest.

Think on it. If you look back on each of the six resurrections of the Holy Roman Empire, it’s easy to see each for the incredibly cruel and violent entity that it was. In each case, often long before the regime attained the height of its power, it was evident that it would inflict catastrophic damage. Take Hitler. It wasn’t hard to recognize Hitler’s capacity for evil long before World War ii. He laid out his plans for world dominion in Mein Kampf in 1926! Throughout the 1930s he rejected agreements, built his military, persecuted Jews, and toward the end of the decade even invaded other countries. It was said about Hitler that his eyes shone when he spoke, as if there was another power speaking through him. He delivered speeches with such fervor and emotion that he’d often collapse into a heap afterward. It was as if his body had been used by a foreign power.

The point is, when Satan constructed Nazi Germany, he didn’t hide his ambitions. You could see—and some few, like Churchill, did—what the terrifying and disastrous fruits would be long before they arrived.

But Satan is building the final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire much more deviously! He is being covert.

This being is the master of obfuscation and circumlocution, of smokescreens and sleight of hand. And he’s pulling out all the tricks to deceive us and lull us into a false sense of security. Who considers Angela Merkel a threat? She’s the antithesis of Hitler. We don’t see German leaders swaggering around openly plotting invasions. The German public, which appears to still be carrying around the guilt of World War ii, looks pacifist and disinterested in engaging the world. Compared to others, Germany’s military looks small. Germany today appears the exact opposite of an imminent imperialist power. It’s the perfect ruse!

Today we have to look harder and deeper than Churchill ever did. There’s no Mein Kampf, no obvious dictator at the moment, no Nazi Party, no goosestepping, no ominous hints of an impending genocide. But look closely, and you will see that Germany possesses all the basic requirements to unite Europe and establish what Bible prophecy says will be a Catholic-inspired, German-led global dictatorship.

First, there is a desperate need for leadership. Germany has the financial supremacy, the reputation and respect regionally and globally, the geopolitical experience and acumen, and the military infrastructure and power. Consider also the geopolitical landscape. Who’s around and willing to check Germany’s ascendance? France, Britain, America? Forget it. Russia and China? They are its friends, for now.

You can argue that Germany lacks a Hitler, Napoleon or Charlemagne, someone with the personality and will to shape Germany and Europe into a superpower. That’s fair. But that can change quickly. Then what happens when such a man comes along, as the Bible says he will? In that moment, he will take all these components and virtually overnight transform Germany into a terrifying superpower.

Beyond all this, there’s something the final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire has that the others lacked—something brilliant and remarkable—something virtually unprecedented in human history. That is, Germany today has the love of the world—and an openinvitation to take global leadership!

For more information, request a free copy of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire.