Will the European Empire Get Its Emperor?

“The idea of a European army is now on everyone’s lips,” wrote the EU Observer this week. Last week we talked about the French president’s calls for a European Union army. This week even more have joined the call. Most notably, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke in the EU Parliament on Monday. “We have to work on a vision of one day creating a real, true European army,” she said.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire took things even further when he said that the EU must become a “form of empire, like China and the U.S.”

“I use the term to sharpen awareness that we are going into a world where power matters. Europe should no longer shrink from deploying its power,” he said.

We talked last week about what the Bible says about this. Scriptures in Revelation 17, Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 discuss a major power, made up of 10 separate nations that pool their military resources, rising in Europe. Herbert W. Armstrong forecast this power, based on the Bible, from the end of World War ii. This is exactly the direction we see Europe going.

But an empire needs an emperor. This is the crucial ingredient. And we saw a possible step toward that this week.

Yesterday, Horst Seehofer announced his intention to step down as the Christian Social Union leader. The csu is the Bavarian sister party to Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union. Both parties will soon have new leaders. Like Merkel, Seehofer wants to keep his job as Germany’s interior minister. He said he wasn’t sure exactly when he would resign and would give more details next week.

This accentuates the massive leadership crisis in Europe. Long-established leaders from both Germany’s conservative parties are now stepping down.

When the Bible talks about this European power, it says it will be led by a strongman. Revelation 17 talks in terms of “kings”—an authoritarian term. Daniel 8 and 11 have a detailed description of this man.

We think we know who this man could be: former German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. We’ve been saying this for a few years. He’s a member of Horst Seehofer’s Christian Social Union. Could the leadership vacuum persuade him to come back? Seehofer has been trying to persuade him to come back for a number of years. Only time will tell, but watch this German leadership challenge.

Just last year, Der Spiegel wrote, “If the former defense minister, Guttenberg, would return from the U.S. exile to Germany and demand the leadership of his party, he would win them in no time!” With the leadership up for grabs, could something like this happen soon?

Now we’ve briefly touched on quite a few scriptures. But don’t take my word for it that these prophecies are about modern Europe and modern Germany. We have booklets that you can read alongside your Bible. These will show you why these scriptures apply to modern events and help you prove them for yourself. Our free booklet Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast? will tell you much more about this coming 10-nation power in Europe. And our booklet A Strong German Leader Is Imminent will show you what the Bible says about this coming strongman—and why we think Guttenberg may be that man.