Amid debates on Russia’s war in Ukraine, America’s security withdrawal from Europe, and rising defense costs, one key question remains: How will Europe coordinate its military without the United States? The answer, according to Wolfgang Ischinger, president of the Board of Trustees of the Munich Security Conference Foundation, is a “European Defense Union.”

In a March 4 podcast with former German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, Ischinger lamented: “There is so much that we Europeans could have initiated many years ago and, as we now realize, should have initiated, which unfortunately did not happen.”

While a military union has long been a seemingly illusory dream of some European visionaries, it could now suddenly emerge on the world scene. In an article published March 3 in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Ischinger wrote:

What could be the elements of an initiative that could be called a “European Defense Union”?

• The introduction of majority decisions and thus a genuine common foreign and security policy.
• The creation of a consolidated European armaments and defense market with the aim of massively increasing Europe’s performance and competitiveness. Instead of having to purchase 70 percent of our military requirements in the U.S.A., we should strive to be able to cover 70 percent of our requirements in Europe.
• Joint military development, procurement, maintenance and training at the heart of the European Defense Union. This alone could achieve annual savings in the tens of billions.
• A common and competitive arms export policy.
• Closest and continuous coordination with nato: The European Defense Union should strengthen the alliance and not compete with it.
• The strengthening of the European nuclear deterrent component by the European nuclear powers France and the United Kingdom. France offered years ago to enter into a discussion with its partners on the French nuclear strategy. Regrettably, not even exploratory talks have taken place to date.

There is a reason why all of this has not happened yet: European disagreements and fears of lost sovereignty. Thus Ischinger went on to write:

One thing is clear: This path is currently not possible with all 27 member states. This initiative should therefore be launched in the spirit of a multispeed Europe. The Weimar Triangle—Germany, France and Poland—would be a good starting point, supplemented if possible by the founding members of the EU, i.e. the Benelux countries and Italy, as well as other interested partners such as our Baltic neighbors. The partners should develop a mechanism to involve the United Kingdom, for example, as closely as possible.

Commenting on this idea to create a multispeed Europe in terms of defense, Guttenberg stated in his podcast: “But in this respect, without wanting to sound cynical, I see this as probably the last but a great opportunity for Europe to finally rectify this flaw and allow itself this degree of necessary flexibility.”

For decades, European leaders have worked to create such a union. The current crisis might be their last opportunity.

We are heading toward not only a rapidly transformed Europe but also the fulfillment of a major Bible prophecy.

The late Herbert W. Armstrong prophesied that Europe’s military unification would follow its economic alliance. In a Dec. 22, 1960, letter to co-workers, he wrote:

The prophecies say this new European combine will revel in unprecedented prosperity! First is to come this economic upsurge, quickly followed by political and military union. That economic upsurge is already underway!

This forecast is based on Revelation 17:12-13: “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.”

These passage speaks of a military unification, or a “defense union.” Based on this prophecy Mr. Armstrong wrote in the October 1962 Plain Truth: “The ‘beast,’ then, is the leader, or ruler, over all—and 10 other dictator-kings, or lesser rulers over 10 European nations or nation-groups (the ‘Benelux’ nations, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg, for example, might constitute one of the 10), are to be associated in this union of European nations. The ‘one hour’ of their reign indicates, as in verse 10, a very ‘short space’ of time.”

Daniel 2 reveals that this empire will have an East-West divide. Thus Mr. Armstrong speculated who these nations could be. On Aug. 27, 1980, he asked: “Will Poland free itself from Soviet domination and join with Yugoslavia, Romania and possibly Czechoslovakia—and with Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and Austria—in a resurrected medieval ‘Holy Roman Empire’ to dominate Europe and equal the ussr and the U.S.A. in world power?”

Remarkably, his list includes the same core nations Ischinger mentioned. However, Mr. Armstrong made this forecast before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the tearing of the Iron Curtain that divided Europe. He also wrote about the trigger for this military unification, on June 20, 1980:

[T]he heads of the governments of Europe—all likewise men of inadequate caliber for the job—have lost all confidence in relying on the United States to protect them from Communist encroachments. The Russians … will not retreat. They are in no great hurry—(a bear lumbers along slowly most of the time)—but in due time they at least now plan to keep moving on. … Europe now fears them. The Europeans want political and military union. No leader in Europe is strong enough to unite them.

Influential men in Europe are now saying that the present crisis is their final opportunity to create this union. They are right. But will they succeed?

One ingredient is yet missing, as Mr. Armstrong wrote in the January 1963 Plain Truth:

The nations of Europe want to unite. They are trying to unite. The Common Market is merely the first step. But there are problems—seemingly unsurmountable problems—blocking the way toward the desired political-military union. It cannot be brought about except through some supreme authority which all participating nations will trust. There is only one possible such authority—professedly neutral—the pope!

While the beast in Revelation 17 refers to a political-military empire led by an overarching emperor, notice that it is controlled by a woman (verse 1). A woman in Bible prophecy is a church (see Ephesians 5). But this woman is not God’s Church—instead it is in a relationship with worldly governments, making it a whore.

The Bible clearly reveals that Europe will not be able to rise to power without spiritual guidance. This guidance is currently lacking, but it could soon emerge in the form of a new pope.

The emergence of this prophetic beast should be a wake-up call to heed God’s warning contained in Bible prophecy. To understand these prophecies, one has to understand the Bible’s symbolism, as Mr. Armstrong explained in Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast? The Trumpet offers this booklet, as Mr. Armstrong did, free of charge. Beyond explaining the symbolism of Bible prophecy, however, Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast? also reveals why God uttered these prophecies and shows His overarching plan for mankind.