If you live outside Britain, you may not be following the colossal scandal that is rocking the British bank Barclays and speedily rippling through other banks and financial institutions on its way to the national government.

You probably should, because this could have enormous consequences.

The details are complex and somewhat tedious. Essentially, it was recently discovered that Barclays had been deliberately contributing to the falsification of the London Interbank Offered Rate (libor), the world’s most important benchmark interest rate. The interest rates on roughly $10 trillion in financial transactions, on everything from mortgages, to credit cards, to car loans, to savings accounts—as well as hundreds of billions in securities and swaps—are calculated using the libor benchmark. Basically, since 2005 Barclays bankers (among others) have been meddling (albeit indirectly) with the personal finances of tens of millions individuals, countless companies and corporations, and ultimately, entire national economies.

All in the pursuit of bigger salaries and bonuses.

Since the story broke last week it has shown no signs of slowing. In the last seven days Barclays has been fined £290 million (almost half a billion dollars), watched the price of its stock plummet, and witnessed the axing of its ceo. Worse yet, nearly all of London’s banking giants, including Lloyds, the Royal Bank of Scotland and hsbc, have been sucked into the vortex. At least 20 other major banks are currently under investigation, and it appears manipulating interest rates had become standard practice among Britain’s major banks.

It gets worse still. Yesterday, evidence (e-mails) surfaced hinting that “senior” authorities at the Bank of England were not only aware of the financial skullduggery, but may have even encouraged Barclays and others to falsify their figures. The details will be dredged in time, but it looks as if personalities within the highest echelons of Britain’s national government will be incriminated.

Many experts fear this is the death knell for Britain’s banking and finance industry.

Truth is, there is much more at stake than that.

Britain’s banking and finance industry is the only healthy organ in a body that is quickly shutting down. The sector comprises about 10 percent of Britain’s entire economy, contributes more than £50 billion annually to the economy, and directly employs more than 1 million people, or roughly accounts for 4 percent of total UK employment. It’s the only industry here that consistently generates a large trade surplus (£36 billion in 2010), and is the only sector that continues to attract business to Britain on any significant scale (for example, 80 percent of Europe’s hedge funds are based in London). More multinational companies, which means money and jobs for Britain, are headquartered in London than in any other city (like you and me, big companies like being close to their money).

The banking and finance industry is the last vestige of Britain’s financial greatness.

More importantly, it’s the thread preventing the nation from falling into full-scale economic collapse.

Jeremy Warner, assistant editor at the Daily Telegraph, has been following British finance for years. “In all my years as a financial journalist,” he wrote last week, “it’s hard to recall a case quite as shameful as this—and I’ve certainly seen a few.” Warner rightly fears this scandal could eventually prove fatal to Britain as the nucleus of global finance. “When the history books are written, this may be seen as a defining moment, the point at which public anger with the banks bubbled over into something much more seismic …. Despite the crisis, there has been a sense of back to business as normal for the City these past three years. There have been few signs of behavioral change. But this may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back ….”

No one denies that something needs to be done to solve the corruption and deceit. But the fallout from this scandal, which will undoubtedly include massive fines, as well as more regulation and laws and government oversight, could come with debilitating consequences. Not just for banking and finance, but for Britain’s larger economy. “Finance’s golden age may be drawing to a close; with no new industry or manufacturing renaissance coming up in the wings, it is not entirely clear what’s going to take its place as a source of British wealth, jobs and tax revenues. It is not just finance for which hard times lie ahead,” explained Warner.

The potential economic crisis, initiated by the loss of tens of billions in banking revenue and the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs, is something to worry about.

But it isn’t the greatest threat posed by this scandal.

Across the English Channel, European politicians and bankers are watching this saga and licking their chops. From the moment Britain joined the European Community in 1973, it has been the goal of European elites to beat their Anglo-Saxon “partners” into submission. For nearly four decades, Brussels has achieved this by bombarding Britain with an ever increasing number of laws, regulations and policies. (I’ve been in Britain for the past week and it’s shocking how pervasive Brussels’s presence is.) One of the loftiest aspirations of European elites has been the acquisition—either directly, or indirectly via the Europeanization of English finance—of Britain’s lucrative banking sector.

For Europe, this scandal is one giant opportunity. “European policymakers will delight in the ammunition they have been given to rein in the Anglo-Saxon bankers and make them subject to the rule of Brussels and Frankfurt,” warned Warner. On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that in Europe “the Barclays fine [has] provoked renewed calls for tougher oversight of the financial system and pushed regulatory probes of interbank lending rates to the top of the political agenda.”

Keep watching—this scandal could very easily provide cover for Brussels to make a play for greater influence over Britain’s finance industry!

Finally, there’s another exciting dimension to this scandal that is worth thinking on: the way it dramatically fulfills some specific biblical prophecies outlined in the book of Hosea. Written around 790 b.c., Hosea contains a strong and explicit message for Britain, the modern-day descendant of ancient Ephraim. (To prove this, request The United States and Britain in Prophecy.) In Hosea, God specifically warns that Britain in the end time would be riddled with corruption, injustice and lawlessness, and that this condition would result in Germany dominating the nation.

In Hosea 5:11, God says, “Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment ….” In verse 12, God likens end-time Britain to a moth-eaten rag. Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry expounds on this prophecy in his booklet Hosea—Reaping the Whirlwind. “A moth-eaten garment looks good in the closet,” he writes, “but take it off the hanger and it falls apart. God says Britain is like a moth-eaten garment. … Even though certain things may look good on the surface, these two nations are ready to fall apart!”

In Hosea 7, God describes Britain’s end-time state using an analogy of a baker and a fiery hot oven. Verses 7-8 read, “They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges …. Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned.” Again Mr. Flurry explains, “The phrase ‘hot as an oven’ refers to Britain’s corruption. There is no true justice left in the land. Britain may look good on the surface. But God says in verse 8 that it is like a ‘cake not turned’—already burned out underneath.”

Using the authority of Bible prophecy, Mr. Flurry then warned explicitly: “Serious crises are going to make our nations crumble suddenly, like a burned out cake!”

The Barclays scandal is a “serious crisis” that threatens to make Britain crumble!

Amazingly, the book of Hosea also specifically forecasts that a German-led European power will exploit Britain during this period of weakness and vulnerability. In Hosea 5:13, it says that “when Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian ….” Modern-day Germany is the descendant of ancient Assyria (this too is proved in The United States and Britain in Prophecy). Britain becomes so weak it feels compelled to turn to Germany and Europe for sustenance and protection. In Hosea 7:11, God says that “Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.”

Another prophecy in Hosea 8 says Britain will be compelled to trust in Germany, and that Germany will exploit its weakness. “For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim has hired lovers. Yea, though they have hired among the nations … they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes” (verses 9-10). The term “burden” means tribute. The Amplified Bible says that Ephraim begins to “diminish because of the tribute imposed by the king of Assyria.”

This is moving when you really dwell on it. These prophecies, written about 2,700 years ago, are a perfect description of Britain today. A nation wallowing in corruption, deceit and lawlessness. A nation on the cusp of social, political and economic collapse. And a nation finding itself increasingly vulnerable—especially now, in the wake of the Barclays scandal—to being pushed and bullied, and eventually crushed, by the German-led European behemoth next door.