Is a World Dictator About to Appear?

In February 1934, this headline gripped the attention of readers of the first edition of what was then the world’s newest current affairs magazine. Eight decades later, a review of the predictions made by the Plain Truth magazine and its founder, Herbert W. Armstrong, reveals startling accuracy in the magazine’s forecast of events that led to the modern-day European Union.

Of the myriad current events and numerous social, economic and religious trends the Trumpet magazine has covered since its first edition back in 1990, one ongoing, key occurrence has been given particular attention. This same occurrence headlined the first issue of the Plain Truth in February 1934. In fact, it is a news story that began unfolding back in 31 b.c. with the rise of the Roman Empire.

Since antiquity, the topography of the city of Rome has been famous for its seven hills. In an allegory associating these hills with seven successive revivals of the Roman Empire, the biblical book of Revelation speaks of “seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. 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” (Revelation 17:9-10).

Up to the early 1930s, when the Plain Truth was born, very few had a full understanding of the true meaning of this prophecy. But by the time Herbert Armstrong began publishing this extraordinary newsmagazine, the meaning had become inescapably clear to him.

Mr. Armstrong knew that God has delivered the message of Revelation not to hide, but rather “to shew … things which must shortly come to pass” (Revelation 1:1). Understanding this, Mr. Armstrong came to see that the five fallen “kings” in Revelation 17:10 symbolized the five revivals of the Roman Empire that had occurred up to that time under the guidance of the Roman Catholic Church. These five revivals of the Roman Empire were headed by Justinian, enthroned as emperor in a.d. 554; Charlemagne, crowned in a.d. 800; Otto the Great in a.d. 962; Charles v (commencing the Habsburg dynasty) in 1530; and Napoleon Bonaparte, who crowned himself emperor in 1804.

But the prophecy in Revelation 17:10 referred to one revival of the Roman Empire that would be in existence at the very time the mysterious vision of the book of Revelation would first come to be understood: “and one is.”

Herbert Armstrong came to see that the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was that one that is, at that time, in the 1930s—prior to and during the onset of World War ii. (For a thorough explanation of this prophecy, request our free booklet Daniel Unsealed at Last.) In one of his final articles, which appeared in the Plain Truth magazine after his death, Mr. Armstrong reflected: “In 1929, Mussolini arranged a concordat with the papacy. Then about 1935, Mussolini, having united Ethiopia, Eritrea and Italian Somaliland to Italy, proclaimed it to be the reestablishment of the Roman Empire. I announced the news of this … restoration myself on radio at the time” (March 1986).

Mr. Armstrong also said the “one” that “is” included Adolf Hitler—in the Hitler-Mussolini axis (Plain Truth, October 1962).

In 1945, Allied forces defeated this weak sixth revival of the Roman Empire. Within the context of those seven kings of Revelation 17:9-10, that left just one final resurrection to rise up: “the other is not yet come.”

Keep in mind that Mr. Armstrong came to this understanding at least five years before hostilities broke out between the Axis powers and the Western Allies in 1939!

The Seventh ‘Holy’ Resurrection

Throughout the 52-year lifespan of the Plain Truth, Herbert Armstrong and the writers that served on his editorial staff pointed to events that were leading to the inevitable rise of a European federation. Before World War ii, Mr. Armstrong predicted it. During the heat of the Battle of Britain, he continued to forecast it. And when Germany lay defeated, crushed to smoldering dust by the onslaught of the Allies, he continued to proclaim the future resurrection of Germany—never wavering from his prediction that it was destined to lead a European combine. Right up to his final sermon, delivered toward the close of 1985, Herbert Armstrong continued to powerfully prophesy of these events.

As you read the following quote, consider the astounding vision of this man who, 80 years ago, predicted a major event that has become present-day reality:

“In February 1945—just a few months before the end of the war—President [Franklin] Roosevelt and Prime Minister [Winston] Churchill announced the joint American-British policy on Germany. This was the solemn policy and warning for the future. Listen. Quote: ‘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 ….’ And now, a short nine years later, 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. … Germany inevitably [will] emerge as the leader of a united Europe. It will require some spiritual binding force to inspire this confidence—to remove these fears—and that spiritual binding force must arise from inside Europe! All Europe is actually ready—just waiting for the confidence-inspiring leader …. That man is there somewhere” (Plain Truth, November-December 1954).

That was written less than 10 years after World War ii, when Germany was divided and still crushed from defeat. Europe was almost rebuilt (thanks to the massive aid of the U.S. Marshall Plan) but still disunited. Despite all appearances of the German nation at that time, Mr. Armstrong reiterated his prewar claims that a German revival would lead to a united Europe.

That excerpt contains the essence of one of the most powerful prophecies in the Bible. Mr. Armstrong repeatedly stressed that the prophecy revolves around three key points: 1) “Germany … as leader of a united Europe,“ 2) a “spiritual binding force,” and 3) a “confidence-inspiring leader.”

Mr. Armstrong wrote a letter to Plain Truth readers on July 24, 1983, in which he emphasized how long he had been proclaiming that same message: “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. For 50 years I have been crying out to the world the Bible prophecies of this coming ‘United States of Europe’—a new united superpower perhaps more powerful than either the Soviet Union or the United States!”

By the mid-1960s, signs of a remerging Germany were more abundant, but Europe’s only noticeable moves toward unification remained solely in the realms of trade and commerce. Yet, the Plain Truth said political unity would not be far behind. “[I]f 300 million Europeans were united and could speak with one voice, this would excel any might in the world today. … One thing you can count on. In fact it is so sure you can bank on it: The cry of a political union in Europe will get louder, and before long we will see the Common Market develop into a United States of Europe” (September 1967; emphasis added throughout).

Then in 1980, nine years before the Berlin Wall fell, Mr. Armstrong anticipated the building of the eastern leg of that European empire: “It now looks entirely feasible that Yugoslavia may be included in this revived Roman Empire. Also the pope’s native Poland and Romania, and possibly Hungary. Add Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and France. There will be a union of 10 nations in the general area of the medieval Roman Empire in the new united Europe. Probably Holland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden will not be included [in the final 10]. But Ireland may. Britain will not! … I have been forecasting this revived Roman Empire publicly since February 1934! Now it may go together suddenly, rapidly!” (co-worker letter, June 10, 1980).

We will examine the modern-day alignment of those nations that Mr. Armstrong predicted would join Europe, but first consider another vital element of his forecast.

A New Method of Domination

In World Wars i and ii, Germany and its allies had attempted to achieve global dominion by first conquering their European neighbors. In 1956, shortly after both of those German-led efforts had failed, Mr. Armstrong made a stunning prediction about a vital change Berlin would make in its next and final attempt: “[T]his time the [Germans] plan to sidestep the causes of past defeats. Instead of exhausting their own strength by holding European nations as captives at the expense of vital Gestapo manpower, they plan to head and dominate a united states of Europe—and add the manpower of those nations to their own military divisions” (June 1956).

Now, consider how the modern European bloc has come together.

The 1992 Maastricht Treaty extended the Common Market into a political and monetary union, exactly as Mr. Armstrong had prophesied. In 1993, the European Economic Community—then comprised of 12 nations— was given a new title: the European Union.

In 1999, under the headline “Germans Drive Toward United States of Europe,” the Weekly Telegraph reported that “Germany’s new red-green leadership has been unveiling its blueprint for a federal Europe built on the back of the newly launched euro. The moves will fuel euroskeptic fears that [the] monetary merger was merely a step on the road to a United States of Europe. … Germany wants to capitalize on the momentum of the euro’s birth to set Europe firmly on the road to a federal future” (Jan. 20-26, 1999). This development opened the way for an increase in German assertiveness.

By 2007, every single nation that Mr. Armstrong had predicted would join the European unification project—Austria, Poland, Hungary and Romania—was an EU member. By 2014, every nation that had emerged from Yugoslavia was either an EU member or under Europe’s control. These are the exact nations that Mr. Armstrong predicted would join Europe!

This is living prophecy—unbreakable, unchangeable prophecy of inevitable events that are now coming to pass right before your eyes!

Germany was, and remains, the primary force behind all of Europe’s moves toward federalization and expansion. But in order to dispel suspicions about Berlin having imperialist goals, the Germans generally pushed such moves and initiatives under a banner of striving for “the common good of the European Union.”

The Plain Truth of October 1976 explained this subterfuge: “West Germany has tried so hard for so long to bring about common community positions on one front after another. In addition, by always espousing the common European cause, she is less suspect of nationalistic motivations. After all, Word War ii is not that far in the past.”

But, since Germany’s first “baby boomer” chancellors—Gerhard Schröder and Angela Merkel—came to power, Berlin has been less preoccupied with trying to downplay its supremacy.

Dominating Europe

Now it is widely acknowledged that Germany is the most politically influential and economically powerful nation on the Continent. At the end of 2011, all of Europe looked to Germany for a solution to the euro crisis. Spiegel said, “Germany, admired and envied for its economic success, has become a model for Europe in the debt crisis. The Continent is becoming more German …” (Dec. 6, 2011).

Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president at the time, said: “All my efforts are directed towards adapting France to a system that works: the German system.”

Spiegel mused, “In these days of crisis in Europe, the ‘German model’ has become something of a magic formula. Like it or not, the dusty, dry Germans now seem to hold the key to European salvation.”

At the same time, German elites were advising their people not to gloat over their return to imperial power, for fear of arousing resistance among neighboring nations. “German government advisers and commentators are warning Berlin against manifesting too triumphantly the openly erupting German domination over the EU …. Enraged Greeks are repeatedly recalling the period when their country was under Berlin’s control—under Nazi occupation” (German-Foreign-Policy.com, Dec. 1, 2011).

Not all Europeans are happy about Germany’s success in dominating Europe.

In late 2011, after Berlin and Brussels brought down the governments of Greece and Italy, Simon Heffer wrote in the Daily Mail that the world was witnessing “the economic colonization of Europe by stealth by the Germans.” He observed that, in the past, it would have “taken an invading military force to topple the leadership of a European nation. Today, it can be done through sheer economic pressure” (Nov. 8, 2011).

British politician and European parliamentarian Nigel Farage also recognized that Germany had used Europe’s economic crisis—itself engineered by German elites—to reshape Europe into a distinctly Germanic edifice. He gave a blistering speech at the time before the European Parliament, saying, “We are now living in a German-dominated Europe—something that the European project was actually supposed to stop—something that those that went before us actually paid a heavy price in blood to prevent.”

In March 2013, in the wake of Germany’s bailout of Cyprus, Charles Moore, the official biographer of Margaret Thatcher and former editor of the Daily Telegraph, wrote: “After victory in 1945, Churchill broadcast that Germany ‘lies prostrate before us.’ Today, most of southern Europe lies prostrate before Germany.”

That same month, Simon Heffer said, “The Fourth Reich is here without a shot being fired: and the rest of Europe, and the world, had better get used to it.”

From all this, it is clear that the power over Europe which Germany twice sought in the 20th century by armed aggression has, in this 21st century, become a reality. And besides the Kosovo War, it has happened almost bloodlessly!

The Germans did, indeed, “sidestep the causes of past defeats,” just as Mr. Armstrong predicted they would back in 1956! They have, indeed, come to “head and dominate a united states of Europe—and add the manpower of those nations to their own,” just as he prophesied! Germany is working toward the final resurrection by exactly the method Mr. Armstrong said it would. What a powerful testimony to the accuracy of his prophecies!

Heart, Core and Centerpiece

Consider this statement by Mr. Armstrong that appeared in the Plain Truth in June of 1952: “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.”

Europe has evolved spectacularly in the decades since that was written, predominantly by way of a progression of treaties between EU member nations. Chief among these was a literal European constitution (a German idea), called the Lisbon Treaty. Under it, the EU has a permanent presidency and its own diplomatic corps.

Modern Germany is, by a wide margin, the EU’s leading economy. It is the transit hub for waterborne and road freight for the European Union. Germany is also poised to control the energy crossroads between Europe and Russia. Frankfurt is home to the world’s most powerful bank, the European Central Bank. And the old German High Command—which the World War ii Allies swore would remain forever dismantled—has been assembled once again wearing new clothes and a new name, the Command Staff of the Armed Forces. It is the brains behind the development of a powerful, nuclear-armed European defense force.

Judicially, Germany is the only nation boasting a high court, the German Constitutional Court, whose power exceeds that of the European Court of Justice. The powers of the latter trump all judicial powers of the individual high courts of the other EU member nations. Then there’s the Financial Stability Board, another German idea, embraced by the G-20 group of nations as future regulator of the global economy. As a single bloc, the EU has the majority vote on that board.

How accurate Mr. Armstrong’s forecast was of Germany being the “heart and core of the united Europe”!

Those prescient words were paralleled with stunning accuracy in a 2009 statement by Philip Murphy, America’s ambassador to Germany. “Germany is the centerpiece of the European Union,” he said in Berlin on December 1 of that year. Unwittingly, the ambassador confirmed the prophetic words Herbert Armstrong had declared almost 60 years earlier, at a time when Germany was anything but the “centerpiece” of Europe.

How powerfully that prophecy has been fulfilled! This is living prophecy—unbreakable, unchangeable prophecy of inevitable events that are now coming to pass right before your eyes! The EU is now a literal European empire—the final resurrection of the old Holy Roman Empire—with Germany as its “centerpiece” and its “heart and core”!

A United Military Force

In 1996, a World War ii intelligence document was made public. It details a meeting between top German industrialists that was held in August 1944, a time when it was becoming clear to the Germans that they would likely lose the war. In the meeting they discussed how, in the event of defeat, they would go about resurrecting a German empire in a post-World War ii world. Several of Germany’s elite industries were represented, and were instructed to “prepare themselves to finance the Nazi Party, which would be forced to go underground,” according to the document.

By 1944, the Germans knew they would lose World War ii and were already planning for the next round! “Existing financial reserves in foreign countries,” the document says, “must be placed at the disposal of the party so that a strong German Empire can be created after the defeat.”

When the U.S. declassified this document, it received only sparse news coverage. Yet even more disturbing than the deep stupor of the media is the fact that the U.S. government did not make it public until 1996—over 50 years later!

With knowledge of that 1944 meeting in mind, consider what Herbert Armstrong said to his radio program listeners, May 9, 1945, during the inaugural conference of the United Nations:

“The war is over, in Europe—or is it? … Men plan, here, to preserve the peace of the world. What most do not know is that the Germans have their plans for winning the battle of the peace. Yes, I said battle of the peace. That’s a kind of battle we Americans don’t know. We know only one kind of war. We have never lost a war—that is, a military war; but we have never won a conference, where leaders of other nations outfox us in the battle for the peace.

“We don’t understand German thoroughness. From the very start of World War ii, they have considered the possibility of losing this second round, as they did the first—and they have carefully, methodically planned, in such eventuality, the third round—World War iii! Hitler has lost. This round of war, in Europe, is over. And the Nazis have now gone underground. … Now a Nazi underground is methodically planned. They plan to come back and to win on the third try.”

Mr. Armstrong reiterated that same warning numerous times right up until his death in 1986. Many who heard it dismissed it as a conspiracy theory. But in 1996—when that document was made public—it became inescapably clear that he was right! It had been happening exactly as Mr. Armstrong said!

Today, the expansionist spirit is manifesting itself in the military ambitions of the German-led European Union. As shown above, Germany has grown to become the most powerful economic and political force within the 28-nation combine of Europe. And Germany has also quietly built the foundation of a united European military force!

Under the Lisbon Treaty/EU constitution, the EU is empowered to develop a united military force supported by a consolidated European armaments industry.

And here is the vital detail of that arrangement: Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court has maneuvered to ensure that German law would override EU law, meaning Berlin has the final word on whether or not the German Army participates in any EU military operation. The remarkable upshot of this is that, now, Germany must give the “go” on any deployment of any EU battle group. Thus, the deployment of EU battle groups is essentially at the direction of the German High Command under German parliamentary approval!

In early 2013, the EU showed it is willing to flex its military muscle. In an article written at that time, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry explained: “Germany has great power in Africa—even military power—that few people are paying attention to. Germany is not about to give that power up, certainly not without a fight. Why did France send 3,500 ground troops, fighter jets and armored vehicles into Mali in January and February to pound Islamist camps? The French just got out of the disastrous war in Libya helping America topple Qadhafi—surely they would have been hesitant to get involved in another conflict. But I imagine France—which is, after all, part of the European Union led by Germany—was strongly encouraged to go down there because the terrorists were getting closer to Germany’s strongholds” (Trumpet, April 2013).

This precedent means the path is now cleared for Germany to lead Europe forward to fulfill that vital part of Mr. Armstrong’s prophecy: a common military force that is as great or greater than that of Russia or the U.S.!

These facts strongly support the prophetic prediction made by Herbert Armstrong. But the fact remains that, in order for Germany to actually become a full-fledged military power once again, the nation needs a visionary leader. It needs a man who can rally the support of the German public.

A Confidence-Inspiring Leader

Bible prophecy makes clear that the final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire will be led by a confidence-inspiring individual. Passages such as Daniel 8:23 make this clear. In 1953, Mr. Armstrong wrote about this individual, saying, “Without Germany, such a federation of nations is impossible. … [I]t is probable that none but a German can provide the dynamic, inspired leadership required to organize such a political military federation” (Good News, May 1953).

In 1956, Mr. Armstrong wrote that the Europeans were “thinking more and more about the coming United States of Europe! … [Europe is] 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! The Germans are coming back from the destruction of World War ii in breathtaking manner. Germany is the economic and military heart of Europe. Probably Germany will lead and dominate the coming United States of Europe.”

Just as Mr. Armstrong did, we at the Philadelphia Trumpet have long watched for a German strongman to enter the scene who will be the one to fulfill this pivotal prophetic role.

In 2009, a German with “dynamic, inspired” leadership qualities suddenly leaped into perspective. He appeared in the front line of German politics in February 2009 when he was appointed as the nation’s minister of economics. Then, just after Germany’s national election that September, Chancellor Merkel instantaneously quintupled his political stature by making him defense minister in her new coalition cabinet. This man is Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg.

We have watched his political progress with keen interest because of how closely his biography matches the Bible’s prophetic description, which Herbert Armstrong powerfully explained. Particularly noteworthy are Mr. Guttenberg’s family and his political connections.

His early development in political life was guided by Edmund Stoiber, a Catholic conservative who himself was groomed by Franz Josef Strauss, the famous German strongman who had grand designs for a united Europe led by a dominant Germany.

Guttenberg is also connected through part of his family line to the house of Habsburg. Strauss and Otto von Habsburg shared a common dream of a united Catholic Europe. Both personally shared details of that vision with Herbert Armstrong during visits they made to the campus of Ambassador College in Pasadena, California. Otto von Habsburg dreamed of reviving the Holy Roman Empire. Mr. Armstrong knew that dream was destined to become reality.

Take the young, aristocratic Guttenberg’s impeccable Frankish-Bavarian Roman Catholic connections into mind and add them to the thread of political thought that has pervaded Bavarian politics for decades under Strauss and Stoiber—the dream of a united Catholic Europe under German leadership. Add to that something that neither Strauss nor Stoiber ever possessed: a striking family title that cements all of these connections together. The sum of all this is a German man to watch.

What is that family title? Guttenberg’s official title—granted to his forebears during the 18th century—is Reichsfreiherr. The English translation is “Baron of the Holy Roman Empire.” That’s a fascinating title when you consider what is happening in Europe!

During his brief and controversial appointment as Germany’s defense minister, Guttenberg quickly enacted policies making it easier for the Bundeswehr to engage in combat in Afghanistan. He was the first German politician to officially use the formerly taboo word “war” when describing the conflict in Afghanistan. He was also instrumental in convincing the German public of the need for a more assertive and aggressive German military.

Guttenberg made clear that the engines of Germany’s military industry need to be stoked, and that there must be greater cooperation between the German government and its military industry. During a 2010 meeting at the World Economic Forum, Germany’s government launched what the Wall Street Journal called “an initiative to strengthen its military industry.” Top executives from large German companies and government leaders attended. During the meeting, Guttenberg spoke of the “necessary interplay of defense policy and Germany’s economic interests” (Jan. 31, 2010).

As a result, the German defense industry output grew by 60 percent in 2010! This was a two-pronged win for Germany: First, it escalated employment in the Fatherland; and, second, the profits flowed back to Germany from its fellow EU member nations (which are the largest buyers by far). Thus German industry grew rich at the expense of hugely indebted EU member nations.

That is a shocking development, particularly in light of the document showing that in August 1944 Nazi politicians met with German industrialists to plot the future resurrection of a German Empire!

Guttenberg’s shooting political star seemed to crash in March 2011, when he resigned from all political offices in the wake of a plagiarism scandal. Yet, within just eight months, he was back in the public spotlight, celebrated as a respected statesman at the Halifax International Security Forum. His wife’s return as a television celebrity in Germany was then announced, and shortly thereafter he released a bestselling book that quickly sold out in Germany.

Though he is avoiding public office for now, Guttenberg is maintaining a public image. He promotes his personality and politics widely but subtly, through diligent effort, meaningful projects and quality works. He writes thoughtful, articulate articles on key issues—articles that expose the weaknesses of opponents and sell himself as an intelligent politician with real solutions. Guttenberg weighs in on such issues as Germany’s national elections, the Syrian crisis and the need for greater German leadership in the world. In every case, his thoughts are insightful and infused with strength of opinion and leadership rare in today’s world. His goal is to be seen, but only as the solution and never as the problem.

During his political exile, Guttenberg has also maintained intimate relations with political friends and allies in Germany and beyond. He has kept his finger on the pulse of German politics and injected himself into all the major conversations in Berlin. He has held regular meetings, dinners and weekends with politicians, statesmen, journalists and businessmen from Berlin, Brussels and other world capitals, including a lengthy private meeting with Chancellor Merkel in Berlin in November 2013. Clearly, Guttenberg is no longer in Germany’s political doghouse.

The baron has often hinted at a return to politics, and we continue to watch to see whether this man fulfills Mr. Armstrong’s Bible-based prophecy of a rising powerful political leader destined to rule over a resurrected Holy Roman Empire.

Live the Drama!

In a sermon delivered on November 27, 1982, Herbert Armstrong referred to that first edition of the Plain Truth published in 1934. “I was rather astonished when I once again read what I had written there, very close to 50 years ago,” he said. “The heading is: ‘Is a World Dictator About to Appear?’”

He then quoted from the article. It says, “Everybody senses that something is wrong with the world, that some mighty event is about to occur. What is it? Bible prophecy tells! Here is a solemn warning and it is the plain truth!

“We live today in the most strenuous, anxious, momentous hours of the Earth’s history. Today we stand on the very threshold of colossal events that will stagger the mind of mortal man. Just now it is like the lull before a great and devastating storm. Everyone senses it! …

“It is commonly known today that Mussolini’s whole aim is to restore the ancient Roman Empire (that is, the resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire).”

In that sermon, Mr. Armstrong then commented, “He had conquered Ethiopia. He added that to Italian Somaliland (which he already had) and Eritrea and Italy; and had made a concordat with the Vatican. So once again there’s the union of church and state, although it wasn’t a real union; but he proclaimed he had renewed the Roman Empire. … It was ‘the beast that was, and is not, and yet is’ at that time,” quoting Revelation 17:8.

That 1934 article continued, “[T]he nations prepare even more feverishly for war!

“Three or four short years ago many laughed and scoffed when we said that there would be another world war in five to seven years. They do not laugh and scoff today. Everyone knows the next world war is coming, and soon.”

That war did come five years later—when World War ii began in 1939. Mr. Armstrong commented, “So once again the Plain Truth, even in its first issue, was way ahead of its time. It was predicting what was going to happen. People scoffed and said, ‘That’s a crackpot. He doesn’t know what he is talking about.’ But World War ii did happen. It did come.”

Herbert Armstrong spoke those words back in 1982. Since his death on January 16, 1986, many who even followed and supported him to that point have since turned away, calling him, as some did over 70 years ago before World War ii, “a crackpot”!

But the prophecies Mr. Armstrong published and broadcast to multiple millions over his 57-year ministry are smacking the gainsayers square in the face! Just as he prophesied World War ii ahead of its time, so he prophesied World War iii way ahead of its time, giving cogent detail of the conditions that would prevail in Europe just before that war explodes on the world scene.

He prophesied that Europe would unite under a resurgent German nation. It has.

He prophesied that a confidence-inspiring leader would arise to lead the seventh resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire on its final crusade. Europe is crying out for such a leader, and we may well have pinpointed his identity.

Mr. Armstrong prophesied that a spiritual binding force would draw Eastern Europe out of Soviet communism back into its spiritual fold and weld a united European economic, monetary, political and military force together as the final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire. That prophecy was largely fulfilled as we entered the second decade of the 21st century with the EU constitutionally united as an imperialist power.

Even as you read this, the final elements of those great prophecies contained in the books of Daniel and Revelation are rapidly coming together. Not long ago, Europe’s unification was given little publicity by global press. Now daily headlines shout of fears of a dominant Germany and of its influence over the global financial system. Soon the world will feel that power extended onto the global scene—politically and militarily!

We at the Trumpet have the privileged job of publishing the great prophecies revealed through Herbert Armstrong and demonstrating their fulfillment through daily-occurring current world events.

The delay in fulfillment of end-time biblical prophecies was arrested at the death of Herbert Armstrong. His task was to declare them in advance. Ours is to warn of the present-day and immediate future reality of their actual, dramatic fulfillment! As our editor in chief noted in his booklet Prophesy Again, “This is living drama. God has given us many revelations about this commission to prophesy again.”

Now is the time to be tuned in to these many revelations and to really live this great prophetic drama!