Analysts with the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response (itrr) recently intercepted a message circulating among al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists that said “everyone knows the next strike is very near.” The attack will “surprise everyone in its effect,” the author noted, and will be “much more shocking than that of Sept. 11, 2001” (emphasis mine throughout).

Threats like this are not rare, which means they can be too easily discarded. But this communique is relevant, and raises some worthwhile considerations. First, notice which nation the terrorists are targeting. The message said,

And the Germans, grandchildren of the Nazis, know more than everyone else that they will be the first ones to taste [the nightmare]. It is just a matter of time—that is, days or weeks—and God willing you’ll see things that you’ve never heard of before.

This message is also relevant for its timing. Germany is on the eve of national elections; the people vote on September 27. Will an al Qaeda attack occur before the German national election? Before or after, it’s easy to see how an attack would transform Germany’s national leadership.

Consider this too: Al Qaeda has a successful track record of transforming a country’s political landscape by conducting an attack, or series of attacks, on the eve of a national election. Remember Spanish national elections in March 2004?

In the weeks prior to elections on March 14, 2004, polls showed Spain’s incumbent prime minister, José Aznar, with a solid lead over his opposition. Even a week before election day, Aznar’s reelection appeared certain, despite the fact that the majority of Spaniards opposed his government’s support of and participation in the U.S.-led Iraq war. But Mr. Aznar’s political destiny changed the morning of March 11, when a string of exploding bombs wreaked carnage and chaos on the Madrid rail system, killing 191 and injuring 1,800 people.

Al Qaeda’s message to Spanish voters was crystal clear: “Perfectly timed to be absorbed into the Spanish electorate’s psyche,” Stratfor observed, the train bombings were “designed to demonstrate the price that Spain would be forced to pay for its Iraq policy” (March 18, 2004). The message resonated, quickly. “What was a less-than-decisive issue [the Iraq war] for voters March 10 became the defining issue by March 12.” Two days later, the pro-war José Aznar was ousted, and José Luis Zapatero, the anti-Iraq war leader of the Socialist Party, was elected. Within months, Spanish troops were exiting Iraq.

In a matter of hours, and with a handful of bombs, al Qaeda successfully transformed Spain’s political landscape—and drove Spanish forces from Iraq!

Will they attempt to do the same in Germany?

One of al Qaeda’s top priorities is to drive foreign troops from Afghanistan, which has been its central base of operations for more than 25 years. With more than 4,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan, the third largest contingent behind America and Britain, Germany is one of al Qaeda’s primary targets. At home, Germany’s political landscape is not dissimilar to Spain’s in the weeks prior to March 11, 2004. While the war is unpopular among the German electorate, it has not been a determining factor in the election campaign.

Not until this week did it even appear that Ms. Merkel’s support of the war efforts might hurt her popularity and seemingly likely reelection on September 27. Last Friday, the German electorate was reminded of its government’s participation in the U.S.-led war when a wayward air assault on terrorists, ordered by German military commanders, apparently killed dozens of civilians. Since then the war has emerged as a topic of national debate, with Ms. Merkel’s defense of Germany’s involvement in Afghanistan becoming as much a sore point among Germans, two thirds of whom don’t believe Germany ought to be there in the first place, as last Friday’s botched attack.

With anti-war sentiments mounting and a national election looming, it’s not difficult to see why al Qaeda might consider the next few weeks an opportune time to strike Germany.

It’s a possibility not lost on German officials. “We all have Madrid at the back of our minds,” stated August Hanning, the assistant to German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble. Last month, Schäuble himself warned that “Germany is in the crosshairs of international terrorism.” “German security authorities, especially the Interior Ministry,” noted Spiegel Online, “have rarely spoken as often and openly about a supposedly imminent attack as they have this summer.” Campaigning on domestic security might not win an election during a global financial crisis, continued Spiegel, but a “bomb exploding in Germany could quickly spell an election loss.”

In his latest Key of David television program, recorded yesterday and scheduled to air in two weeks, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry discussed the possibility of an Islamic terrorist attack in Germany, and the transformation it would cause in German politics. While intelligence like this intercepted message certainly suggests an attack is possible, Mr. Flurry explained, Bible prophecy and historical fact reveal emphatically that Germany is about to undergo a political transformation—which could easily be set off by an attack on Germany by Islamic terrorists.

“I believe this could very easily happen, and could lead to the biggest change in world events in this end time,” stated Mr. Flurry.

Should Germany be attacked by al Qaeda or one of its radical Islamic friends, explained Mr. Flurry, its response would probably be the exact opposite of Spain’s in 2004. An attack on German soil would almost certainly bring about the demise of Angela Merkel’s chancellorship, and, depending on the parties in power and the strength of the coalition, likely destabilize the German government, no matter if it occurred before or after this month’s elections. Whatever the details, an attack would not usher in a weak, introverted, anti-war administration in Berlin.

It would usher in the exact opposite!

Bible prophecy reveals that in the end time, the time immediately before Jesus Christ’s return, a man of fierce countenance and powerful, cruel leadership will assume control of a newly resurrected, German-led Holy Roman Empire. Daniel 8 identifies this man as a modern-day Antiochus Epiphanes, the Greek king in the second-century B.C. who, after obtaining his kingdom by flattery and deceit, set about afflicting and torturing the Jews around Jerusalem. (To study this prophecy in detail, read Daniel Unlocks Revelation).

A terrorist explosion on German soil could thrust this terrifying man onto the scene in an instant!

Right now Germany is a strong nation without a strong leader. The European Union is an empire without an emperor. While some Germans and Europeans see this reality, many don’t. A devastating terrorist attack on German soil by Islamic terrorists would quickly expose this void, and immediately intensify the craving in Germany, and Europe, for strong leadership. If you haven’t already, read “Is Germany’s Charlemagne About to Appear?”

And remember, watch Germany—closely!