Here are two of the most alarming headlines that have been printed since World War ii. The first appeared in the Telegraph Online on July 21: “The euro crisis will give Germany the empire it’s always dreamed of.” The second was in the Mail Online on August 17: “Rise of the Fourth Reich, how Germany is using the financial crisis to conquer Europe.”

These headlines are from major mainstream media outlets. What is remarkable is that they are almost identical to headlines Herbert W. Armstrong wrote immediately after World War ii. For 65 years, we continued to prophesy and explain these headlines when nobody else was. Now several other voices are writing similar headlines.

How do you explain that? How could we have known? And what does this mean for you? These events are going to reach into your life, so you need to understand them.

Trigger for the Apocalypse

The financial crises we are now experiencing were forecast by Herbert Armstrong back in 1984. A massive banking crisis in America “could suddenly result in triggering European nations to unite as a new world power larger than either the Soviet Union or the U.S.,” he wrote. “That, in turn, could bring on the Great Tribulation suddenly! And that will lead quickly to the Second Coming of Christ and the end of this world as we know it.”

Mr. Armstrong prophesied that a financial crisis could trigger a chain of events leading right up to the return of Jesus Christ. Is this what we are now experiencing?

On Sept. 21, 2008, the New York Times wrote, “The nation is gripped by the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.” It called the situation “potentially apocalyptic.” This was alluding to the book of Revelation, saying this event really could signal the start of the Apocalypse. Germany’s Der Spiegel wrote, “It really does look as if the foundations of U.S. capitalism have shattered.”

The news media now recognize that the American financial system is crumbling before our eyes. Mr. Armstrong said it was this very event that could trigger the unification of Europe’s nations into the final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire.

The heart of this prophecy is found in Revelation 17:10: “And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.”

Those first five that “are fallen” are the first five Holy Roman Empires resurrected under the successive leadership of Justinian (a.d. 554); Charlemagne (a.d. 800); Otto the Great (a.d. 962); Charles v, commencing the Habsburg dynasty (1530); and Napoleon, who crowned himself emperor in 1804.

In the 1930s came the Hitler-and-Mussolini head—the sixth head, the one that “is.” God’s apostle, Mr. Armstrong, arrived on the scene at the same time to explain these successive resurrections of the Roman Empire. The sixth head was in power at the same time Mr. Armstrong was prophesying. God had to have somebody here to explain what was happening in all those intervening years from World War ii until 1986, when Mr. Armstrong died.

Rearming Germany

Toward the end of World War ii, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill came together to declare, “It is our inflexible purpose to destroy German militarism and Nazism and to ensure Germany will never again be able to disturb the peace of the world. We are determined to disarm and disband all German armed forces, break up for all time the German General Staff that has repeatedly contrived the resurgence of German militarism ….”

Western resolve looked strong. Yet Herbert Armstrong, at that time and throughout his ministry, warned that it would fail, and that Germany would rise again to dominate Europe. It wasn’t long at all before his warnings began to prove accurate.

In the Plain Truth in 1952, he wrote, “The United States is determined now to let nothing stand in the way of building up a rearmed, independent Germany. This will be the heart and core of the United Europe that will revive the Roman Empire.”

A year later, he wrote, “The peoples of Europe as a whole want a united Europe, and yet, without Germany, such a federation of nations is impossible.” This is precisely the conclusion that a consensus of European nations is drawing today.

In the November-December 1954 Plain Truth he wrote, “Behold, the spectacle of Washington and London making every possible diplomatic effort backed by American dollars to do two things—create a United States of Europe, and to rearm Germany.”

The United States and Britain did the very opposite of what they said they would do! They set out to make sure that Germany never rearmed, and then lo and behold—America itself rearmed Germany in an effort to stop the Soviets! This was a fatally unwise move.

The Coming Führer

In that same 1954 article, Mr. Armstrong spoke about another prophecy we expect to come to pass shortly. “All Europe is actually ready, just waiting for the confidence-inspiring leader,” he wrote. “That man is there somewhere.” He made that statement because of several biblical prophecies. That leader is on the scene now and will come into power in an amazing way.

In 1956, Mr. Armstrong elaborated on that point. He wrote that the Europeans were thinking more and more about the coming United States of Europe. “They are going to unite against us! And now Europe is about ready for it. The stage is all set! All that’s lacking now is the strong LEADER, the coming FüHRER.” All Europe needed then was a strong man, and that is all Europe needs now. I believe we know who this man is. He is already on the scene and could take over that empire as early as this coming year!

Angela Merkel, the current chancellor of Germany, is facing a dramatic loss of confidence within her own party, and there are still two more years before elections are to be held.

I believe this strong man could engineer a kind of collapse of the government before the general elections take place.

Daniel 11:21 says this man is going to come in by flatteries—not be voted into office. I don’t know the timing for certain, but I’m making these statements based on Bible prophecy, the same way that Mr. Armstrong could make all those statements half a century before they came to pass.

Ten Kings

In the Plain Truth of March 1973, Mr. Armstrong wrote, “Biblical prophecy revealed that this empire would start as an economic movement, that it would bring an era of unusual prosperity to Europe. It DID start in March 1957, when six European countries—West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg—signed the Treaty of Rome creating the European Economic Community. … How did I know as far back as 1927 that this coming United States of Europe would spring up in our time? I knew because I saw it clearly revealed in biblical prophecy.”

In 1983, Mr. Armstrong wrote, “The very first issue of the Plain Truth magazine appeared February 1934, just 50 years ago lacking about six months. The article starting on the cover page warned of a coming sudden appearance of a resurrected Holy Roman Empire in Europe, a union of 10 nations in Europe under one government with one united military force.”

So there are going to be 10 nations or 10 kings. Right now there are 27 nations in the EU, but is that about to change? Are they about to reduce that number rather violently to just 10? I have been telling you that is going to happen for years!

The Economist wrote on September 10, “All of a sudden, though, Berlin is abuzz with talk of remaking the European Union” (emphasis added). With all the crises hitting the EU, German elites are seriously talking about reshaping it. They want to restructure it in a way that would reduce it considerably to core nations that Germany knows it can control.

Now you watch! They are going to remake the European Union into 10 kings. So says your Bible (Revelation 17:12-13).

‘Welcome to the Fourth Reich’

In that article “Rise of the Fourth Reich, how Germany is using the financial crisis to conquer Europe,” Simon Heffer wrote this: “Greece, Ireland and Portugal are economic basket cases. We have heard more and more about the trouble in Spain, where unemployment is over 20 percent.

“Italy is tottering—the figures for 2010 show it has debts of 116 percent of gdp, making the country second only to Greece at around 143 percent. …

“Germany lay in ruins in 1945, but it then invested in manufacturing plants, developed first-class education, innovated, raised its productivity and competed on quality not price.

“Over the next 60 years it won the peace as comprehensively as it lost the war. …

“[B]e in no doubt what fiscal union means: It is one economic policy, one taxation system, one social security system, one debt, one economy, one finance minister. And all of the above would be German. … That means a complete fiscal union in which Germany, as the EU’s most powerful economy and principal paymaster, makes the rules and makes them unbreakable. … It is a high-risk strategy …, for if such a plan succeeded it would make Europe effectively a German empire, with non-eurozone countries such as Britain on the sidelines. … This would entail a loss of sovereignty not seen in those countries since many were under the jackboot of the Third Reich 70 years ago.”

Heffer concluded his article by saying, “Where Hitler failed by military means to conquer Europe, modern Germans are succeeding through trade and financial discipline. Welcome to the Fourth Reich” (emphasis added).

“Welcome to the Fourth Reich”! We have told you about the coming Fourth Reich for 65 years! How do you explain that? And what does it mean? It means that we must believe God! Things always come to pass exactly as He says!

Greatest News in History

The resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire that Revelation 17:10 says “is” was there during Mr. Armstrong’s ministry. Now, the empire that “is not yet come,” is come! A man is about to unify that power and restore the final head of the Holy Roman Empire!

What does this mean for you? It means that these prophecies are being fulfilled, and Jesus Christ is about to return to this Earth! This is the news of the century! It is the greatest news in human history. What could be more alarming than this? And yet what could be more wonderful, when you realize it’s all tied to the Second Coming?

Once Jesus Christ returns, He will fight that destructive empire and conquer it. And all those who have given themselves to God in this age—all those who are willing to give up their lives today and support God—are going to help Him. They will be right beside Christ to help Him put down all rebellion and to usher in the wonderful World Tomorrow. What an exhilarating truth that is!