The European Union is working to gain control of the Internet. It has already made significant progress in this effort. Many people, including some of America’s top business leaders and government officials, are deeply concerned.

Through various pieces of legislation, the EU now has extraordinary influence in the homes of Internet users and within every corporation and government on Earth. The EU is waging a campaign of technological imperialism, and most people don’t even know it!

While a lot of this legislation is created by the EU, the ultimate source of this global effort to undermine the United States’ domination of the tech industry and control of the Internet is Germany.

Germany is the EU’s largest, most powerful and most influential nation. It is using the EU as a tool to stealthily fulfill its own ambitions. Anyone who has followed the European Union knows that nothing significant happens in Brussels without Germany’s sanction and endorsement.

Germany’s ambitions for the Internet should concern everyone, even those who don’t have a computer. The EU’s behavior on this issue exposes the dictatorial nature of this German-dominated entity. Really, we are witnessing the manifestation of the spirit of the Holy Roman Empire in the tech world. The biblically prophesied seventh and final resurrection of this empire wants to control the Internet!

gdpr

Last year, the EU introduced a new rule that affected the 4.3 billion people around the world who access the Internet. Called the General Data Protection Regulation (gdpr), this EU law regulates the way companies process and manage the personal data of European citizens. Any corporation worldwide—no matter the size, industry or location—that doesn’t comply with this EU law risks massive penalties.

Five hundred million people live in Europe, and roughly 85 percent of them have Internet access. The EU is comprised mostly of First World nations with high personal wealth, at least compared to many other nations. That makes the EU market extremely attractive. If you want to access these half a billion consumers, you must live by the EU’s rules—rules set by Germany. Break them, and risk gargantuan fines.

This law has compelled some prominent U.S. media organizations to abandon the EU market. Their websites have become inaccessible to people within the EU. For example, if you visit the EU, you cannot access the websites of the New York Daily News or the Chicago Tribune. To preserve access to the EU market, many American companies have had to spend millions installing software and instituting new practices to comply with the gdpr.

This is how Europe works: It wants to manage every aspect of people’s lives! It is a major reason that the majority of British citizens in June 2016 voted to leave the EU: They are tired of this kind of dictatorial interference. With the gdpr and other Internet legislation, the EU is expanding its influence well beyond its borders—even over America.

The EU has been warring against U.S. tech companies for years. Since 2010, it has fined Google more than $9 billion. Google pays more to the EU in fines than in taxes.

“Europe wants to conquer the world all over again,” wrote Mark Scott and Laurens Cerulus in Politico last year. “Only this time, its killer app isn’t steel or gunpowder. [The gdpr is] an EU legal juggernaut aimed at imposing ever tougher privacy rules on governments and companies from San Francisco to Seoul” (Jan. 31, 2018; emphasis mine throughout).

In an article on this subject last year, Trumpet contributing editor Brad Macdonald recognized the concerns many have about the power of U.S. tech companies. “To be sure, there are genuine concerns and questions about the behavior of these companies and their inordinate power and reach,” he wrote. “That said, do we really want a handful of anti-American, European bureaucrats trying to solve these problems? We have enough evidence proving that Brussels isn’t acting altruistically, in the best interests of mankind. The EU is clearly attacking America’s influence and trying to establish itself as the king of the Internet” (theTrumpet.com, Nov. 29, 2018).

There are legitimate concerns—but do we trust Germany and this rising Holy Roman Empire to rationally and fairly solve these issues?

Another Attack

On April 15, the EU adopted another new directive that it claims will stop people from violating copyrights online. It is actually another massive power grab.

The new Copyright Directive will make it illegal to quote an author’s news article without paying him. Both Germany and Spain have already tried this, and it didn’t work. In the end, the legislation actually prevented articles from being shared online. Rather than paying the author, most people simply refrained from quoting the article or sharing it. Legislation like this will actually hurt many authors because they will lose exposure.

This law can even be used to block criticism. To debunk a false story or criticize a piece of work, you generally have to quote from it. Under the new rules, if an author doesn’t like your criticism, he can refuse permission to quote him.

Another part of this regulation requires websites that post material from the public to filter everything for copyright infringement before posting it. This means every video, article or audio file posted on sites like Facebook, Twitter or YouTube—sites where people increasingly get their news—must first go through a filtering system. So these companies will have to spend millions creating a new filtering system and instituting new policies and practices. And many experts fear this filtering system could easily be changed to filter out anything the EU doesn’t like.

Many are deeply alarmed by what is happening here. In June 2018, dozens of Internet pioneers—including the inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, and the cofounder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales—signed an open letter to the European Parliament president, warning that it was about to pass a directive that was “an imminent threat to the future” of the Internet.

Still, the directive was passed and is on the way to becoming law. European Digital Rights called this a “censorship machine.” Its senior policy adviser, Diego Naranjo, warned, “Article 13 of the directive sets a dangerous precedent for Internet filters and automated censorship mechanisms.” In other words, it’s all about getting control.

“The Copyright Directive will create two internets,” wrote Matthew Lesh of CapX. “The first, a heavily censored version for European users, including filters to prevent you from uploading content. The second, a free Internet where creativity is encouraged, for everyone else” (March 26). Germany and the EU are transforming the way the Internet operates!

“This is a press regulation by the back door,” warned Lesh. Even websites like the Times and Telegraph will be subject to the regulation because the public can post comments on their pages.

This is a slippery slope. Using this legislation, the EU will soon be able to silence any message it doesn’t like—such as the message you are reading right now!

This new regulation will also be another weapon in Germany’s assault on American tech companies. YouTube’s ceo Susan Wojcicki said on Oct. 22, 2018, that the EU’s behavior poses a threat to both your livelihood and your ability to share your voice with the world. “The new EU law is terrifying U.S. technology companies, especially Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube,” wrote Macdonald. “Many consider it to be an attempt not only to curb the power of America’s big technology companies, but to literally take over the Internet” (op cit).

I know that these American tech companies are far from perfect. I’m not arguing for them to have tyrannical control over the Internet. But when you let a handful of people get that level of control over something as important and powerful as the Internet, it can be very dangerous! Legislation like this can destroy corporations, it could cripple Silicon Valley, and it could destroy national economies!

The Holy Roman Empire

We must put this issue in the context of Bible prophecy and history. The German-led EU is behaving the way the Holy Roman Empire has always behaved. Germany is once again seeking to impose its will on the world.

This is a difficult message to accept, and many people will disagree with it, but it is the truth!

The Bible prophesied that this Holy Roman Empire would rise repeatedly in Europe. In World War ii, Adolf Hitler led the sixth resurrection of this power. He caused the death of 60 million people. Germany also started World War i, which cost more than 15 million lives. But soon we may not be able to write or speak about that European history—because the newly resurrected Holy Roman Empire will censor it!

Bernard Connolly wrote a bombshell book in 1995, The Rotten Heart of Europe, exposing this European power. For years, he served at the heart of the Exchange Rate mechanism for the European Union. He called the European superstate rotten! Within that union, he writes, “is the battle for control of the European superstate in which French technocrats confront German federalists, both sides claiming to fight under the banner of Charlemagne. The collateral damage from the battle lies mainly in the future, but it could be ghastly.”

Germany has won that battle. Nobody disputes this today. Connolly writes that this union is all about “the pursuit of a ‘European’ cloak for German ambitions!” He is right. And his country voted to leave the EU because it knows that what he said is true. Britain’s exit is a warning to everyone else—they see where this is going.

In 1995, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher warned that this was coming, but people didn’t listen. She said, “You have not anchored Germany to Europe. You have anchored Europe to a newly dominant, unified Germany. In the end, my friends, you’ll find it will not work.” They hoped this Union would restrain Germany. Instead, Germany has gotten control. It dominates the EU economically—and more and more, politically.

The late Otto von Habsburg was from the famous Habsburg dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire and a member of the European Parliament. He said, “The [European] Community is living largely by the heritage of the Holy Roman Empire, though the great majority don’t know by what heritage they live.” That’s what Connolly was writing about. The EU is not a democratic organization—it is an imperialistic empire. The world will learn this very soon.

This message isn’t personal; God is not racist. In fact, God says we must love all people—even our enemies—or we are not thinking like Him. Certainly we love the Germans. We want to warn them of where they will end up if they don’t change course.

Mr. Habsburg also said, “We possess a European symbol which belongs to all nations of Europe equally. This is the crown of the Holy Roman Empire.” Hitler called his Nazi empire the Third Reich, after the First Germanic Reich of Charlemagne and the Second Reich of the German empire. The EU is about the Germans ruling more than just Germany: They want an empire! They want to control the Internet—and that is only a stepping-stone to controlling the world! Every time it has risen, the Holy Roman Empire has made an attempt to do just that! These Internet regulations show that the spirit of Charlemagne has returned.

After the Third Reich was defeated in World War ii, the world was fed up with Germany’s military aggression. In the Yalta Conference report, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and United States President Franklin Roosevelt made this statement: “It is our inflexible purpose to destroy German militarism and Nazism, and to ensure that Germany will never again be able to disturb the peace of the world.” Germany has disturbed the peace of the world repeatedly. It was the same with the Germans’ ancient ancestors, the Assyrians. Both history and prophecy show that it is in their heart, or national character, to destroy many nations (Isaiah 10).

The Bible says Germany and nine other nations will make up the coming Holy Roman Empire. There will be 10 kings. At present, there are 28 EU members—soon to be 27 when Britain leaves. But something will cause that Union to shrink. Maybe some nations will be pushed out. Maybe some will want to leave. The EU’s Copyright Directive requires national governments to implement the rules in their own national law by 2021. Even this process could pare the number of nations down.

A Man to Watch

For the Holy Roman Empire to exert its power on the world scene, it needs a strongman. We don’t know who he is for sure, but he is certain to be far stronger than Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is very weak.

Germany’s former defense minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, has been a very popular figure in Germany. We have said for a decade that we think he could become the next German chancellor. He may be that strong leader who can wield Germany’s, and Europe’s, power like an emperor.

Guttenberg has an expert understanding of technology. He spent several years as senior adviser to the European Commission on global Internet freedom. This job included advising the EU how to use the Internet to undermine dictatorial governments they oppose. For example, he examined how the EU could use the Internet to support opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has a strong grasp of the power of the Internet and how Germany can control the Internet to its advantage.

Guttenberg is also a financial technology consultant. He is an expert in the field of finance, technology and cryptocurrency. He is studying how the Internet and computer science can change the way banking works.

Guttenberg also hates the president of the United States, Donald Trump. He appears regularly in the German- and English-language media condemning him. Soon we are certain to see whether Guttenberg is already working behind the scenes against America.

The Bible has important things to say about this coming strongman. Daniel 8:23 says, “And in the latter time of their kingdom [a modern Holy Roman Empire], when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.” The book of Daniel is only for this end time, and it talks about a man rising up to rule over that Holy Roman Empire with a fierce countenance! Verse 25 states, “[H]e shall conjure up great plans and when they least expect it, work havoc on many” (New English Bible).

This is the man the Holy Roman Empire is really waiting for. If you think Germany is dangerous now, Bible prophecy says you haven’t seen anything yet!

As I said, the Germans are a great people, but the Germans have a long history with the Holy Roman Empire. This empire has a history of bloodshed like no other institution in at least the last 2,000 years! The Bible gives us a stark warning about this institution!

Verse 24 states that “his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power ….” This verse is talking about the devil. Revelation 13:4 speaks of a system, a modern-day empire, that worships the devil!

But after the bad news, there is good news! Daniel 8:25 prophesies that this man “shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.” The book of Revelation tells us the same thing. Revelation 17:13 describes these soon-coming 10 kings: “These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.” Then the next verse says, “These shall make war with the Lamb ….” These nations, these 10 kings, are going to make war with Jesus Christ Himself!

And how will that end? “[A]nd the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful” (verse 14).

This power is about to be destroyed forever! And you have the opportunity to be among those who are “called, and chosen, and faithful” at Christ’s side when He returns!