In the last few months, France and Germany have been at odds over stopping Russian President Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron appears unable to understand why Germany isn’t supporting Ukraine as it could. Nevertheless, France under Macron is wholeheartedly supporting a European military with nuclear weapons. But little does France know to what end Germany plans to use this power!

France’s ignorance over Germany’s relationship with Russia is a sign that Germany keeps its military strategies secret from France. Much more, it gives a glimpse into a prophesied future when France will finally find out what Germany has been planning all along. France will then be shocked to see what its betrayal of America and Britain has caused!

France Is Bewildered

When Russia amassed troops around Ukraine and in the early stages of the invasion, the French president sided with his German counterpart in trying to appease Russia. After Russian troops stormed the border, Macron talked to Putin on the phone and tried to negotiate. He said the West’s response should not lead to Russia being “humiliated.” At the same time, Germany blocked military aid to Ukraine and sanctions against Russia. France was right in line with what Germany wanted.

Around the two-year anniversary, a different Macron stepped in front of the microphone. Now he boldly proclaimed that Russia must be stopped, no matter the means. Macron even reminded everyone of Germany’s lack of support for Ukraine by saying that “many of those who say ‘Never, never’ today are the same people who said, ‘Never, never tanks; never, never aircraft; never, never long-range missiles’ two years ago. Let me recall that two years ago some around this table said, ‘We’ll send sleeping bags and helmets.’”

Early on, Germany literally proposed sleeping bags and helmets when Russian tanks surrounded Ukraine! How do you explain that? But that’s not all. Macron also pointed out that all European leaders were “six to 12 months too late” in supplying crucial weaponry. This too was Germany’s design—it blocked weapon deliveries from other countries by using nato weapons-sales restrictions. Britain found a way to send its own weapons to Ukraine, but had to fly them around German airspace!

Macron today appears unable to understand why Germany acted this way and why it convinced all Europe to follow along!

Last year, France and Britain decided to send long-range missiles to Ukraine and urged Germany to do the same. But Germany still refuses to send the Taurus missiles that would help Ukraine destroy reinforced targets and infrastructure. The weaponry Germany delivers is often not what Ukraine needs when it most needs it. This is bewildering to France and Britain.

Germany’s aid to Ukraine has increased, and it does look like they are actually sending substantive help now. Germany claims to be the largest European military supporter of Ukraine, with France lagging far behind. But the numbers to support that claim are provided by the German Kiehl Institute, based on commitments rather than actual deliveries. These figures also don’t take into account how effective the aid is in actually helping Ukraine.

To counter Germany’s accusation, France published a detailed list of weaponry it is sending. It hasn’t published the list before, and it left some details secret since it doesn’t want Russia to know what it is sending.

Instead of helping Ukraine, Germany tries to make France look bad—and France clearly doesn’t understand the game Germany is playing!

German Betrayal

When the German chancellor was confronted about not sending the Taurus missiles, he dropped another bombshell. To reporters in Berlin on February 26, Scholz said, “I’m surprised that some people aren’t even moved by it, that they don’t even think about whether what we’re doing could lead to a kind of involvement in war. This is a very far-reaching weapon, and what the British and French are doing in terms of target control and support for target control cannot be done in Germany. Everyone who has looked at this system understands that.”

He brazenly revealed that British and French troops are providing technical aid to Ukraine on the ground. France and Britain had not officially confirmed this sensitive detail.

To these two countries, this was an absolute affront!

The United Kingdom was especially upset. The chair of British Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee called Scholz’s statement “wrong, irresponsible and a slap in the face to allies.” A former defense minister commented that Scholz is “the wrong man, in the wrong job at the wrong time.”

While this debate was still raging, on March 1 Russia leaked a discussion by German military generals from February 19 who discussed British and American involvement in the Ukraine war and the possibility of delivering the Taurus missile. The fact that Russia could get its hand on a sensitive discussion further proved that Germany cannot be trusted. But the leak also exposed the fact that Scholz’s excuse to not send the Taurus missile wasn’t honest. In fact, the generals concluded that no German troops were needed for Ukraine to operate the missiles.

The evidence shows Germany isn’t interested in helping Ukraine—and is more than happy to betray those who do.

Macron apparently didn’t get the memo. He keeps looking for other ways to help Ukraine.

Germany Speaks for Europe

Macron invited 20 mainly European leaders to Paris on February 26 to discuss Europe’s support for Ukraine. Believing that everyone seeks to stop Putin, Macron wondered about sending troops to Ukraine. “There is no consensus to officially back any ground troops,” he said. “That said, nothing should be excluded. We will do everything that we can to make sure that Russia does not prevail.”

Germany snapped back against Macron immediately. Chancellor Scholz announced a decision as if it were the final word for all of Europe: “There will be no ground troops, no soldiers sent [to Ukraine] by European countries or nato states.”

Germany believes it can speak for all Europe!

One rule in warfare is to never reveal your limitations to the enemy. By ruling out Western troops in Ukraine, Scholz has effectively assured the Russians that once it conquers Kyiv—no matter the cost—it will have won the war.

Why is Germany continuously saying what Russia wants to hear? Why is it withholding critical weaponry? Why is it putting a break on the efforts of others to help Ukraine?

The Telegraph believes it knows the answer. In “Germany’s Elites Run Scared as Putin Rains Down Death on Ukraine,” it writes:

“Macron’s conduct was what we have come to expect from a man whose modus operandi is, in reverse of Teddy Roosevelt’s advice, to bellow loudly and carry a rather small stick.

“But it is Scholz who, in his eagerness to rebut his rival, has done far more damage to the cause of freedom.

“At a time of maximum danger when Ukraine is crying out for help, Scholz and Germany at large are hesitant. Cowed by Putin’s threats, propaganda and a deep-seated public reluctance to engage again in war, Berlin is desperate to draw a line in the sand regardless of what it may mean for Kyiv.”

Various commentators in Britain, France, Germany and around the world believe that Scholz is either afraid of Putin or wants to be seen as a peace chancellor in the next election. Neither of these views explains why Germany is acting this way! It is not cowed or intimidated by Russia; working closely with America, Britain and France, Germany wouldn’t have to fear anything.

What Macron and these commentators do not understand is Germany’s long history of cooperating with Russia. This has resumed in recent years.

A German-Russian Deal

I wrote in the November-December 2008 Trumpet: “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!”

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, I wrote: “Many elite Germans feel that their nation has now extracted all the benefit it can from the United States, and they are now ready for a new phase in German strategy. Some want modern Germany to use its impressive industrial and economic power to multiply its political and military power. They want to establish Europe as a new superpower, a modern Holy Roman Empire!”

If you view current events with that history in mind, all of Germany’s dealings make sense.

Macron is seemingly ignorant of these secret dealings, and he is empowering Germany in unprecedented ways! For example, he is actively supporting a European military and has offered to share France’s nuclear weapons for this cause. This is the most dangerous mistake France has made in all its history!

But to really understand what is going on, we have to turn to God’s Word.

Iron and Clay

God prophesied today’s relationship between France and Germany and recorded it in your Bible. It not only reveals the rise of a European superpower but also France’s specific role in it.

Through the Prophet Daniel, God revealed a succession of world-ruling empires from the time of Nebuchadnezzar to God’s intervention in world affairs, which is just ahead of us. This was portrayed, in symbol, by a great statue of a man, composed of various metals, moving chronologically from the head down to the feet. You can read all about this in our reprint article “The Daniel 2 Image.”

The legs and feet of this image are made of iron, symbolizing the Roman Empire and its various resurrections, including successive phases of the Holy Roman Empire. This empire has brutally crushed its enemies throughout history.

In this prophecy, the final rulers over the last world-ruling empire are 10 kings, a European conglomerate of nations. They are represented by the 10 toes of this statue. And note this detail: “And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay” (Daniel 2:42-43).

In the latter days, God prophesies that this “iron empire” will be mixed with clay. What is that about?

As I explain in my free booklet Daniel Unlocks Revelation: “The clay represents some of the lost tribes of Israel, and God wants to shape and mold them (e.g. Jeremiah 18:6). Yet Israel refuses. Here, in this beast power, Israel is mixed right in with the Gentiles. They are able to come together in an emergency, but the unity won’t last. It is a divided empire. … The fact that Israel is mixed in—like France, for example—makes it inherently weak. It will not last long.”

Though few people know it, France is one of the lost 10 tribes of Israel! (For proof, read our reprint article “France in Bible Prophecy.”)

Like the other Israelite nations, France has departed far from God. It is now caught in a very dangerous situation that will turn out to be its worst nightmare. You can already see this in the fact that France apparently knows nothing about Germany’s deal with Russia. This ignorance is also prophetic.

France’s Shock

Genesis 37 recounts how Reuben—the progenitor of the modern-day French people and the name used for France in biblical prophecy—and his brothers treated their brother Joseph. The other brothers actually wanted to kill Joseph, but Reuben intervened. Instead of outright killing him, Reuben suggested casting him into a pit in hopes he could still save him and return him to his father. But his brothers still wanted him dead. Unbeknownst to Reuben, Judah then convinced his brothers to instead sell Joseph into slavery.

The whole time, Reuben tolerated his brothers’ hatred—and when he finally intervened, he was halfhearted.

Later, he returned to retrieve Joseph and found him missing. Notice his reaction: “And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes. And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?” (verse 29-30).

He rent his clothes because he was shocked at his brothers’ betrayal! He had failed to save his brother and knew he was responsible. He feared his father’s response. But his remorse came too late!

This history is prophecy. To understand it, we must understand the truth revealed in The United States and Britain in Prophecy. In this book the late Herbert W. Armstrong shows that modern-day Joseph is primarily America and Britain. These nations are prophesied to be attacked and enslaved by a German-led European conglomerate—modern Assyria.

Germany today is working together with Russia against America and Britain. But France fails to see how devious these plans are! It is blind to where its relationship with Germany is leading!

This shows just how fraught this iron-and-clay relationship is; it cannot last.

Next to the United States and Britain, France is the most powerful Israelitish nation today—and it is right in the mix of this developing European empire that is a modern incarnation of the Holy Roman Empire!

France joined with the victorious Allies in World War ii. After the war, it accepted the goal of ensuring that Germany would never again be able to wage war. Yet today, it is empowering Germany!

To whatever extent other Israelitish nations like Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden or Switzerland will play in this prophecy, it will be France that bears the responsibility—just as Reuben did anciently!

There will come a point when Germany goes into full attack mode against America and Britain. Many prophecies reveal this. At that point, France will think, What have we gotten ourselves into? But then it will be too late!

Once they see the “beast” power they have enabled and recognize what utter devastation they have helped cause, the French people, like Reuben anciently, will be utterly shocked!

Biblical prophecy illuminates the true significance of events unfolding in Europe today. Only with that understanding can you grasp what you are seeing and know the stunning conclusion to which they are leading.