Which are the two richest entities in the world?

The answer is a no-brainer to those who have watched the euro crisis unfold into and merge with the great, ongoing global financial crisis.

On the one hand there’s the world’s smallest state and largest religious institution: “The Catholic Church is the biggest financial power, wealth accumulator and property owner in existence. She is a greater possessor of material riches than any other single institution, corporation, bank, giant trust, government or state of the whole globe. The pope, as the visible ruler of this immense amassment of wealth, is consequently the richest individual …. No one can realistically assess how much he is worth in terms of billions of dollars” (The Vatican Billions, Avro Manhattan).

On the other hand is the imperial entity—a largely German construct—of the European Union: “The EU is the world’s biggest exporter and the second-biggest importer” (Europe.eu). And within the EU the most dominant of nations is Germany.

Germany is, by far, the largest and wealthiest national economy within the EU. Today, in consortium with the European Central Bank, it is the largest national lender within the EU. Together, Rome and Berlin now form the revived axis around which all principle systems revolve in the EU.

The most significant expression of the revived Rome/Berlin axis in Europe is the centralized power garnered so speedily by the European Central Bank: “Much greater, because it is real, is the growing power of the European Central Bank as a result of the crisis. Its president writes a plan for the reorganization of the EU. This dictates to the EU governments the conditions under which it is willing to buy their bonds. The ecb ropes in the EU Commission and the International Monetary Fund, the reform programs of the crisis countries and monitors their implementation. It is prepared to take on even the supervision of all banks in Europe. In short, the crisis makes it the most powerful institution in Europe by far” (Handelsblatt, September 18; emphasis added).

Thus a Frankfurt-based European Central Bank, presided over by a Jesuit-educated son of Rome, Mario Draghi, becomes the outward expression of the institutionalized blend of Holy Roman and Germanic power in Europe.

In respect of both entities—the Vatican and the German nation—what is most remarkable is the extent of their gold hoardings.

It is a little known fact that the Vatican’s gold holdings exceed all the gold bullion holdings of all the governments of the world. Due to the intense secrecy that the Vatican employs surrounding its gold stashes across the world, it is hard to obtain evidence from singularly reliable sources concerning the extent of the Vatican hoard. Yet a plethora of claims to the staggering extent of the hoard can be found via open source research. The best and most reliable research on this score is perhaps that engaged in by Mark Aarons and John Loftus in researching for their book, Unholy Trinity.

Of more recent date is the publicity given to Germany’s aggressive, yet highly secretive, hoarding of bullion and theories as to the use this could be put in the event of a global financial collapse.

“The German tabloid paper Bild recently went to New York to find out more about the German gold held at the New York Federal Reserve vault. Most of the German gold—at 3,396.3 tonnes the second-largest official gold hoard in the world—is stored in other countries—with most of it in New York.

“But detailed information about this subject is rare, as the Bundesbank remains very secretive about the location and form of the German gold (the Bundesbank’s balance sheet does not distinguish between gold bullion and claims on gold). Bild points out that the Bundesbank has violated reputable accounting standards by not auditing the bars every three years, and is pushing for an investigation” (Charleston Voice, August 3).

Among other keen commentators, Bloomberg has theorized that Germany alone stands as the best option to leave the eurozone and permit a wholesale readjustment of the European economy to a semblance of stability such as it enjoyed pre-euro (June 10). The reason for this is that it has the bullion capacity to underwrite a totally new (or old, in terms of a possible resurrection of the deutsche mark) sovereign means of exchange.

That a single nation—Germany—and the world’s most powerful religion—Roman Catholicism—would stand head and shoulders above all-comers in terms of wealth and power potential in these volatile times of global disorder which we are living through today was prophesied to be so in your Bible under the inspired pen of the Apostle John in Revelation 13 and 17. Daniel 8 and 11 give further force to these prophecies for our day.

In Revelation 18, the seventh and final resurrected Holy Roman Empire is identified as being a stupendously wealthy merchant empire (verses 11-16), from which the rich and powerful of the world profit greatly, till its prophesied demise.

In Revelation 13:16-17, that final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire is depicted as possessing the sole key to global trade.

Even to the novice student of Bible prophecy, the Vatican and the nation of Germany are the only two obvious entities that have the potential to fulfill these great prophecies for our day.

As Herbert Armstrong proved, “So the mark is that of the Roman Empire, which the Roman CHURCH did cause or shall cause the Western world to receive” (Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast?).

Thus the two entities that are the instruments of the final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire are already in place, newly empowered through the careful appointment of key technocrats appointed to crucial EU positions of authority, well entrenched within the European Union.

All that really remains to bestir the beast power is the activation of the two key personalities—a powerful spiritual leader and an aggressively assertive political personality—to trigger the fulfillment of the final great prophecies leading up to the ultimate destruction of that old Babylonish system (Revelation 18:21), and its replacement with the ultimate government of all: “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. … And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:11, 16).