Our long-time readers would know that, since the birth of the Trumpet magazine, we have been predicting the European Union would ultimately boil down to 10 dominant nations, or groups of nations, each led by a potentate who will give allegiance to one imperial ruler. That is the vision of the immediate future makeup of political union in Europe prophesied in the Bible. It is a vision that our mentor, Herbert Armstrong, held throughout his administration publishing the Plain Truth magazine and broadcasting over the World Tomorrow radio and television programs, from the 1930s to his death on Jan. 16, 1986.

In a “Personal” to Plain Truth readers, Herbert Armstrong wrote way back in May 1969: “For 35 years I have been saying publicly, on the air and in print, there will arise a ‘United States of Europe.’ It will be a political-military union of 10 nations. Possibly this union will restore the monarchy system to power. It may put kings presently without thrones back in power—or make kings of princes who have not succeeded to thrones. Or, it may set on thrones as kings men who are not of royal birth. There will be 10, ruling 10 nations or groups of nations in the area of the once-great Holy Roman Empire. But there will be one super-king over the 10.”

Today the European Union comprises 27 member nations, and more may be yet added to that list. Then, how is this prophecy of the EU whittling down to 10 nations going to be fulfilled if the EU goes on expanding?

Perhaps today’s monetary crisis in Europe gives us a clue.

Already voices have been raised in support of dropping Greece from the European Monetary Union (emu), putting at risk its continuing membership of the EU. But is this even possible? Greece has no sovereign means of exchange. Like all 15 members within the European Union that have signed up to the European Monetary Union, it ditched its currency and signed over the bullion in its vaults as a condition for emu membership. Its currency is the federal currency of the European monetary system. Monetary policy underwriting that system stems from the European Central Bank (ecb) based in Frankfurt, Germany. In Greece’s current adverse fiscal condition, upon what could it even begin to base a new currency? Its creditors virtually own the country.

In reality, Germany is calling the tune on the Greek crisis at this point. That is but a harbinger for the future. Fifteen years ago our editor in chief foresaw this situation: “Germany is now the financial powerhouse of the world …. The Holy Roman Empire is ready to burst on the world scene. The 10 nations are almost in place. All that has to happen is for someone to tie it all together” (Habakkuk, 1995).

In his 1995 exposé of the deceitful EU monetary system, The Rotten Heart of Europe, ex-Brussels technocrat Bernard Connolly wrote: “Germany entered the euro with an overvalued exchange rate. It then faced a long period of high unemployment that drove wages down and restored its competitive position. But Germany was also helped at the beginning of this process by the newly established ecb …. The ecb initially set interest rates where Germany needed them—far too low for most other emu countries. … That combination, and Germany’s initial uncompetitiveness, created booms in many other emu countries. But, as in the U.S. in the 1920s and again in the 1990s, inappropriate interest rates and temporarily booming growth totally distorted perceptions of today versus tomorrow. The result has been that firms and families in these countries have massively over-borrowed and banks and investors have massively over-lent.”

Thus it is that the euro chickens are today coming home to roost, and many are going to be led to the slaughter in the wake of this crippling collapse of euro economies. Greece is but the first of a coming rash of EU member nations that are facing national financial and economic crisis. This will result in a sorting out of the wheat from the chaff within the European Union on Berlin/Brussels’s terms. The result will be the political and economic elevation of those endorsed, in particular, by the architect of EU, Berlin, and the hiving off, from a core group of 10 leading powers, of the rest.

Pity the rest. For survival, their whole economies will be enslaved to the beck and call of the politics of the Reichstag in Berlin and the monetary policy of the ecb in Frankfurt. The results will be dire indeed.

Read our booklet Habakkuk for a deeper understanding of what is happening in Europe today and its coming impact on the world.