I had to laugh at the Japanese government last week. To be fair, it is hard to be both a pacifist state and the world’s eighth-most powerful military (according to Global Firepower’s most recent ranking). You’re forced to jump through all kinds of rhetorical hoops.

Article 9 of Japan’s Constitution states that “land, sea and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained.” So it can’t have an army or navy. Instead it has a “self-defense force.”

That article of the Constitution has been interpreted for decades as a hard-and-fast ban on aircraft carriers, one of the most powerful ways of projecting offensive military power. But in 2015, Japan unveiled a new ship, the Izumo. It looks like an aircraft carrier, with a long, flat deck. It has a lift capable of carrying fighter jets from the hold onto that deck. But so far, the only aircraft Japan has equipped the Izumo (and its sister ship, the Kaga) with are helicopters. So they are called “helicopter destroyers.”

Until now. Last week the name game became a lot more difficult. The Japanese government announced on November 27 that those “helicopter destroyers” would be modified to carry fighter jets. So they need a new name. According to local media, the government plans to call them “mother ships.”

Hence my laughter. However, this does have a very serious side. Japan and Europe are both in the process of gaining massive boosts to their militaries, thanks to the United States. The Americans are selling them F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. Selling the F-35 is a massive investment of American trust. For the first time, these nations will have stealth capabilities—and a lot more.

The Nippon News Network reported that Japan has finalized plans to buy 40 F-35Bs. These models can take off and land vertically, designed for smaller aircraft carriers that lack a catapult or other specialized launching equipment. Several European countries are also buying the planes. Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Belgium are in the process of buying F-35s, and Germany is considering it.

You may wonder, Hang on, you have been very critical of the F-35? So why are you now insisting that it is dangerous for Japan and Europe to get them?

The F-35 is a bad deal. U.S. weapons companies continually design weapons systems, not to function as effectively as possible, but to create as many jobs in key congressional districts as possible. The result is overly complex and expensive designs. The F-35 appears to be a classic example. By some measures, it is the most expensive weapons system in human history. And its complexity may prove to be its biggest weakness. It is so vulnerable to hacking that a 2016 cyberwar test of its spare parts and logistics software was canceled. Planners were concerned that the test could accidentally ground the entire F-35 fleet. Also, its design as a multirole fighter inherently means that it is a jack of all trades and master of none.

But the F-35 does give Japan and Europe some capabilities they have never had: stealth, ability to launch from large or small aircraft carriers, and the ability to carry nuclear weapons. The U.S. did not share its earlier stealth aircraft (the B2-Bomber, F117-Nighthawk and the F-22 Raptor). This is a game-changing combination. For the U.S., which has operated the long-range, stealthy B-2, the boost in capabilities is less dramatic.

It will also be the main fighter for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marines up to 2070. So Japanese and European commanders will be very familiar with the capabilities, limitations and vulnerabilities of these aircraft. So this handover of such advanced technology signifies a huge level of trust.

And that’s even without considering the nuclear bombs. Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Turkey all host American B-61 nuclear bombs on their bases. These bombs are designed to be used by the host nation, on their own aircraft, if they come under attack.

The U.S. is spending roughly $10 billion to upgrade these bombs to extend their life, make them more dangerous, and configure them to fit on the F-35. These upgraded bombs will have gps-guidance and variable yield. They will be programmable to cause an explosion 50 times smaller than the one that destroyed Hiroshima, or one three times larger.

Thanks to the United States, Italy will soon have the ability to launch stealth nuclear attacks via an aircraft carrier nearly anywhere in the world.

Japan doesn’t have these American nukes (although there have been discussions about it). But the Japanese have one of the world’s most advanced civilian nuclear sectors, and most experts think they could develop a bomb in about six months if they chose to.

The massive level of trust America is placing in Japan and these European nations by selling them the F-35 reminds me of a powerful article Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in 1999. It’s a warning that applies perfectly to the trust America is placing in these nations. Since it’s nearly 20 years old, it’s probably not an article you’ve read in awhile. And so I’ll conclude by quoting it almost in full:

The biblical name for Germany is Assyria, which we have proven for many years. Germany is the only nation ever to repent when God sent a prophet (Jonah) to warn them. They are the only example of hope for the nations of this world to escape a nuclear disaster! I certainly am not anti-German. We have some deeply converted German members in our Church. However, we also need to keep ourselves based in reality.

Just a few years ago, a German training center was established at the Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, New Mexico. This facility will eventually have 42 Tornado fighter planes and 24 F-4 Phantom jet fighters.

The Pentagon has stated that this was the first permanent foreign military base to be built in America. Notice—the first permanent foreign military base ever established in the U.S.! I wonder, why was it never done before? Is it because it might be so terribly dangerous?

Are we so vain that we have failed to learn from the history of our forefathers? Have our leaders become so proud that they fail to learn from the precious lessons of history? Have we forgotten that Germany plunged this planet into two world wars which killed between 60 and 70 million people?

Even before World War i, Winston Churchill was trying to get his fellow countrymen to see the danger in trusting Germany. Here is a quote from Churchill’s book about World War i, titled World Crisis (emphasis mine): “They sound so very cautious and correct, these deadly words. Soft, quiet voices purring, courteous, grave, exactly measured phrases in large, peaceful rooms. But with less warning cannons had opened fire and nations had been struck down by this same Germany. … It is too foolish, too fantastic to be thought of in the 20th century. Or is it fire and murder leaping out of the darkness at our throats, torpedoes ripping the bellies of half-awakened ships, a sunrise on a vanished naval supremacy, and an island well-guarded hitherto, at last defenseless? No, it is nothing. No one would do such things. Civilization has climbed above such perils. The interdependence of nations in trade and traffic, the sense of public law, the Hague Convention, Liberal principles, the Labour Party, high finance, Christian charity, common sense have rendered such nightmares impossible. Are you quite sure? It would be a pity to be wrong. Such a mistake could only be made once—once for all.”

People were saying that Germany and the world were too civilized to plunge this planet into a world war. Then came World War i—the worst war ever. Then came World War ii, far worse, with the death of some 50 million people!

Are we too civilized for such a tragedy today?

And what if our gamble with Germany today is dead wrong? As Churchill said, it is a mistake you make only once! All Americans will pay the deadly price! It gives us the potential to be attacked from within.

Germany had a history of striking down nations with little or no warning before World War i! Churchill knew their history. “The wars of Frederick and of Bismarck had shown with what extraordinary rapidity and suddenness the Prussian nation was accustomed to fall upon its enemy. … Obviously, therefore, the danger of a ‘bolt from the blue’ was by no means fantastic” (ibid, p. 97).

The Germans had a history before World War i of attacking enemies with “rapidity and suddenness”—like a “bolt from the blue”! What if Germany becomes our enemy? What if they never really were a loyal friend? What if they were to attack the U.S. when we thought they were an ally? Could Alamogordo be our trojan horse?

Winston Churchill also tried to warn the Western world about Germany in World War ii. Martin Gilbert’s biography on Winston Churchill states that Churchill was “convinced about the possibilities of surprise in the German organizational framework.” Churchill admonished us to “remember the fondness evinced by Germany in history for this particular form of surprise.”

“The Air Staff,” Martin Gilbert continued, “fully share Mr. Churchill’s apprehensions as regards German ability to spring a surprise on their enemy on the outbreak of war by some unexpected maneuver.”

Hitler said before World War ii that if war came, “I should fall upon my enemy suddenly, like lightning striking out of the night”! The problem is most people didn’t believe him, even after he made the statement! Have we learned anything from history?

Here is what President Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill said in February 1945, in a signed document about American-British policy on Germany. It was a strong warning for the future. They said (emphasis mine): “It is our inflexible purpose to destroy German militarism and Nazism and to ensure Germany will never again be able to disturb the peace of the world. We are determined to disarm and disband all German Armed Forces, break up for all time the German General Staff that has repeatedly contrived the resurgence of German militarism, remove or destroy all German military equipment, eliminate or control all German industry that could be used for military production. It is not our purpose to destroy the people of Germany, but only when Nazism and militarism have been extirpated will there be hope for a decent life for Germans and a place for them in the community of nations.”

When the West (headed by the United States) started rebuilding Germany, even Konrad Adenauer, the German leader after World War ii, said rebuilding Germany was “taking a calculated risk.” He knew his own people. He knew Nazism was not dead.

These men knew Germany had “repeatedly” disturbed the world’s peace! Konrad Adenauer knew it was a “calculated risk” to even rebuild Germany!

Is there no risk in America allowing the Germans to establish a sophisticated military base in our land? History thunders a warning to our leaders!

“When the situation was manageable it was neglected,” Churchill stated, “and now that it is thoroughly out of hand we apply too late the remedies which then might have effected a cure.

“There is nothing new in the story. It is as old as the sibylline books. It falls into that long, dismal catalogue of the fruitlessness of experience and the confirmed unteachability of mankind. Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong—these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history.”

It’s the same old story. Men never learn from history. Again and again we make the same mistakes!

Former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt recently said that Germany is again putting on “imperial airs.”

Bernard Connolly wrote in his 1995 book, The Rotten Heart of Europe, that France was trying to “hold the old demons of Germany’s character in check.”

In October 1995, Margaret Thatcher, former prime minister of England, made some astounding statements concerning the new Germany. She said allowing Germany to reunify was a big mistake for which all of Europe is now paying. “Germany is very powerful now,” she said. “Her national character is to dominate.” She accused Germany of using its new economic clout to control European policies and institutions. “You have not anchored Germany to Europe,” she concluded, “you have anchored Europe to a newly dominant, unified Germany. In the end, my friends, you’ll find IT WILL NOT WORK.”

Do our leaders even listen to these disturbing statements from people of great stature? Are we blind to what is happening on the world scene? William Shirer, author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, during an address in Seattle on April 12, 1961, said: “The vast majority in a poll taken in Germany said that Nazism was a good idea, only badly carried out.”

Why did they think it was badly carried out? Their response was that “it lost the war for us.” If they had won the war, they would have thought Nazism was a grand idea! Shirer continued, “The memory of Hitler is far from bad and far from dead.”

Do our leaders today really understand the history of Germany? Are our leaders and people unteachable?

America supplied the armaments to defeat Germany in two world wars. Powerful German leaders are keenly aware of this fact. The Nazi underground has stated publicly that America would be their number one target in the next war.

They believe that they are destined to rule the world. When the Nazis saw World War ii was lost, they began planning for World War iii.

Here is what Herbert W. Armstrong wrote in 1952: “The United States is determined, now, to let nothing stand in the way of building up a re-armed, independent Germany. This will be the heart and core of the united Europe that will revive the Roman Empire” (Plain Truth, June 1952).

He also made such statements immediately after World War ii, when Germany was in a heap of rubble. The experts and authorities at that time said Germany would never rise again. How could Mr. Armstrong have known that Germany would again rise in great power? He understood and believed Bible prophecy.

The Bible gets very specific. Ezekiel is an end-time book to warn Israel. God specifically prophesies that He is going to “raise up your lovers against you” (Ezekiel 23:22). And who would our lovers be? Certainly, the nation that is the first to ever establish a permanent military base on our soil!

That’s the end of Mr. Flurry’s article. But how much more does this describe America’s actions over the F-35? This is America’s single-most important weapons system—designed to make up the majority of the U.S. Air Force. It is handing it over, along with upgraded nuclear bombs that fit on it, to these other powers. And any mistake in nuclear weapons is truly a mistake you can only make once.