Chapter 3

German-led EU Conquers Former Yugoslavia

From the booklet Germany’s Conquest of the Balkans
By Gerald Flurry

State by state, the country of Yugoslavia has been conquered. Even the name Yugoslavia has been discarded.

Most of this conquering was accomplished with U.S. military power. But it is Germany and the European Union that are taking control of the former Yugoslavia. And Germany is giving the U.S. no credit, though it does often blame America for many of the problems that have developed.

Former Yugoslavia is a part of the Balkans, or Balkan Peninsula, along with Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece and western Turkey. The Balkan Peninsula is an extremely important strategic area.

The Adriatic Sea is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea extending north to Croatia. The German-led EU is also working hard to get control of the Mediterranean Sea—of even greater strategic importance.

Look at any map and you can see the strategic value. However, it seems only Germany fully realizes the significance of these areas. The Germans are willing to fight the whole world to gain control of them. It seems nobody has asked why these areas are so important to Germany! Where is this leading?

The same spirit that caused Germany to start two world wars still prevails in that land! Soon the whole world will understand. Shocking as it may be, your Bible predicts that people by the multiple millions will once again suffer from Germany’s violent attacks, as the Germans lead Europe.

This major turnaround in the Balkans has caused Europe to look to Germany once again.

Notice what Winston Churchill said, May 31, 1935: “Everywhere these countries are being made to look to Germany in a special way.”

And today all of Europe is looking to Germany in a special way. The outcome will be frighteningly similar to World War ii—except it will be about a thousand times worse!

It seems we have learned nothing from Germany’s history. Even terrifying events like World War ii have taught us nothing—just as Churchill warned the world in the 1930s that it had learned nothing from Germany’s history and World War i.

Here is what he said on February 7, 1934: “Not one of the lessons of the past has been learned, not one of them has been applied, and the situation is incomparably more dangerous.

And the situation today “is incomparably more dangerous,” with our weapons of mass destruction, than it was in World War ii!

When Germany starts World War iii, we will finally learn some lessons—but only after America, Britain and the little nation called Israel today have become victims. We have been teaching this message for over 50 years. The only way for anybody to escape this coming catastrophe is to repent of their evil ways. May God help us to hear the trumpet sounding.

EU Adopts Balkan States

EUobserver.com posted the following on January 10, 2003: “EU Commission [EC] President Romano Prodi promised today in Athens that all Balkan countries ‘can become members of the EU one day.’ Speaking after meeting the Greek prime minister and current holder of the EU presidency, Costas Simitis, he said the Balkan countries would not necessarily become members on the same day, as each of them would follow their own course and be judged on their own merits. ‘But in the long run, Balkans belong strictly to the EU,’ he said” (emphasis mine throughout).

Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia and Croatia have since joined the EU. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Montenegro, Macedonia and Serbia have a Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU. Kosovo is considered a potential candidate for membership.

“Both for the EU Commission and the Greek presidency, future EU membership for all Balkan countries is a priority, Mr. Prodi said. He went on to add that an EU policy for the Mediterranean area was in the making. The Commission is drafting a letter to Mr. Simitis in Greece as well as Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, to make sure that the current Greek EU presidency and the following Italian EU presidency make the Mediterranean area a priority” (ibid).

Back in March 2000, Prodi stated, “Malta is the southern pillar of Europe …. I want to see Malta in the EU.” Trumpet journalists heard these words of the EC president with their own ears in Malta at conferences concerning the country’s future EU membership. Read those words again: “Malta is the southern pillar of Europe …. I want to see Malta in the EU.”

At the same conferences, Gunter Verheugen, then European commissioner for enlargement, said if Malta joined the EU it would “become a gateway. … For Europe, Malta has been described as a springboard to the whole Mediterranean region, and especially to the African and Middle Eastern shores.” Malta is now an EU member.

What ambition! The EU is already planning to reach into the Mediterranean and Africa and across to Cyprus and the Middle East. It has a dangerous global ambition. Such ambition is leading to unparalleled violence and terror in this world. But very few people seem to understand.

Yet again, the world is destined to see Islam pitted against Vatican-dominated Christianity in a “holy war,” with Jerusalem as the prize (Daniel 11:40). Cyprus could figure prominently in Europe’s battle for control of the strategic Middle East.

Why all this strategic interest? Because the German-led EU wants to rule the world!

If you think that is far-fetched, just look at the bloody history of the Holy Roman Empire. It has been the exact opposite of “holy.” And it has always had the goal of ruling the world!

Thankfully, this next resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire will be the last.

Ten Nations

We are seeing a resurrection of the medieval Holy Roman Empire. Ten kings or presidents will combine into one world superpower. They will all give their power to the “beast” (Revelation 13 and 17).

Germany and the Vatican had to get control of the Balkan states to develop the eastern leg, or foot, of the Holy Roman Empire. This too was prophesied.

Notice what Herbert W. Armstrong wrote in June 1956: “Perhaps even this coming military-political leader does not yet know how many, or precisely which, European nations will join in this United Nazi Fascist Europe. But you and I can know the number—for God Almighty wrote it down for us 1,900 years ago, in Revelation 17! There will be 10 dictatorships, exerting iron rule over 10 European nations. These 10 will give all their military power to the central over-all leader—pictured under the prophetic symbol, ‘the beast.’ …

“The strong indication of these prophecies, then, is that some of the Balkan nations are going to tear away from behind the Iron Curtain.”

Remember, that was written in 1956—over 50 years ago!

Are we too groggy to comprehend how dramatically Mr. Armstrong’s prophecy was fulfilled? Only God could have revealed to him the future fate of nations!

These prophecies have been and are being fulfilled before our eyes. Only the blind fail to see! We must awaken out of our sleep.

Here is what Mr. Armstrong wrote February 18, 1980: “There will now be an effort to bring Yugoslavia into the Holy Roman Empire alliance! There will be strong pressure from the Vatican, in view of the pope’s visit to his native Poland, to bring Poland into the new United States of Europe. [That has now happened!] If Yugoslavia and Poland go in, then expect at least Romania also to go in. [Romania is also now an EU member.]

“You may be sure the west European leaders are conferring hurriedly and secretly about how and how soon they may unite and provide a united European military force so they can defend themselves! [That has already happened.] And so they will no longer have to give in meekly to Russia! And who will they blame for their humiliation and their necessity now to have a united Europe, with a united government, a common currency, and a common military force as great or greater than either the ussr or the U.S.? They will blame the United States! And when they are strong enough to assert themselves, they will first attack Britain for standing firm with the U.S., and then they will return a lot of hydrogen bombs the U.S. has stored now in Europe!

“So says Almighty God in His Word!

“They can unite only through the Vatican. It will be a church-state union. It won’t last long but will create havoc unprecedented!”

How could Mr. Armstrong possibly have known these staggering events would unfold? Because of Bible prophecy!

What an astounding prophecy! It is being fulfilled in detail.

Never has anti-Americanism been stronger in Europe, and it is growing astronomically.

The EU now has 28 member nations, and it is still growing. But it will take the Vatican to unite them into one mind. Eventually, there will be 10 nations or kings, essentially Catholic, that form this frightening power. They will choose the “best” and reject the rest!

The map of the world’s future is laid out in striking precision.

On August 27, 1980, Mr. Armstrong wrote this comment in a member and co-worker letter: “Will Poland free itself from Soviet domination and join with Yugoslavia, Romania and possibly Czechoslovakia—and with Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and Austria—in a resurrected medieval ‘Holy Roman Empire’ to dominate Europe and equal the ussr and the U.S. in world power?”

December 27, 1981, Mr. Armstrong wrote, “What the world does not realize is that, under cover, secret planning is proceeding furiously, uncovered by the news media, unknown by the public.

“But suddenly, unexpectedly, as biblical prophecy reveals, the whole world will be startled and shocked into wonder, to learn that a new third super world power has suddenly burst forth onto the world scene—a resurrection of the medieval Holy Roman Empire by a union of 10 nations in Europe—very possibly five in Western Europe, and five broken loose from the Communist orbit in Eastern Europe! The crisis in Poland is tremendously significant, and with it the fact that there is now a Polish pope!”

Mr. Armstrong knew well the meaning of the image described in Daniel 2, of a great statue with legs of iron and feet of iron mixed with clay. These legs represent the eastern and western legs of the Roman Empire. Mr. Armstrong had the two legs of Daniel’s image on his mind—or, more specifically, the two feet: the last resurrection of that empire.

Finally, here is a statement Mr. Armstrong wrote on May 20, 1982: “Now what will actually trigger the Great Tribulation? It will last approximately 3½ years—right up to the real Second Coming of Christ with His eyes as flames of fire and His face shining as the sun full strength for all to see.

“Revelation 13 and 17, coupled with Daniel 2 and 7, say that a union of 10 nations in the area of the old Roman Empire will plunge the world into the Great Tribulation! … The uprising against Soviet domination in Poland can easily lead to Poland, and such Eastern European nations as Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and even Greece, joining in a union with Roman Catholic nations in Western Europe. The Eastern Orthodox Catholic Church could join with the Roman Catholic. The 10 nations of Revelation 17 will be Catholic.

How could Mr. Armstrong have prophesied these events so accurately? Because he had a deep understanding of Bible prophecy.

These prophecies should strike fear in the minds of our peoples! Soon these prophetic events will be fulfilled with a sledgehammer impact! Nothing can stop them.

Are you ready for what lies ahead?

The Beast of Revelation

In Revelation 17:1-3, the angel says to John, “Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. … [A]nd I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.” God says a wondrous beast shall arise that will affect all inhabitants of the Earth.

Continuing in verse 7: “And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.” God revealed to Mr. Armstrong, through these verses in Revelation 17 and other scriptures, a great political beast rising in Europe, which will be joined by a great European religious beast in an unholy alliance to conquer the world. Religion is going to emotionally stir the Europeans. And then a megalomaniac will come on the scene to stir up the people as only someone like Hitler could.

Verse 8 of Revelation 17 says, “The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder … when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.”

The word translated “bottomless pit,” or abyss, in verse 8 actually means underground. That’s where the Nazis have been since before the end of World War ii.

The so-called Holy Roman Empire is going to rise to power one final time. Verses 9-12 read, “And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen and one is”—that’s when Mr. Armstrong came on the scene and began to understand all of these prophecies—“and the other is not yet come”—but it is rising now—“and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.”

The Bible shows that Satan the devil is the real power behind European unity. “And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon [Satan, see Revelation 12:9] gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority” (Revelation 13:2). Satan knows he has little time left, and he is pushing political events and leaders in order for Europe to unify quickly.

“Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time” (Revelation 12:12). The devil is using human emotion to achieve his ends. Even Satan must use something to unite people. A strong religion is often his best tool. Satan can use the ideals of the Holy Roman Empire to unite Europe. Europe thinks this will be for the world’s good. The Bible says otherwise.

This unholy union won’t last long, but “these have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast” (Revelation 17:13). Their entire existence will revolve around doing what Satan commands them to do. And it will be dreadful! “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:21).

In Revelation 18:3, God tells us more about this great satanic system called Babylon. “For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.”

And this great religious power—this woman on the beast—what will she do with her power? Verses 12 and 13 say she will make merchandise of “slaves, and souls of men.”

The Vatican

Watch the news closely for evidence of Rome increasing its influence over European affairs.

The European constitution—disguised as the Lisbon Treaty—came into effect on December 1, 2009. In that document, the EU agreed to begin institutional dialogue with churches and other religious groups for the first time, following lobbying by the Vatican. Canon law experts recognize that this virtually assures the Vatican has the final voice in the EU on matters of religion!

When religion is discussed, it is almost always the Catholic religion. The Vatican will guide the European Union. Bible prophecy makes that very clear (Revelation 13:11-15). Otherwise, it would not be the “Holy” Roman Empire.

In 2003, the head of the European Parliament invited Pope John Paul ii to address the assembly “to mark the pontiff’s key role in reuniting Europe,” EUbusiness.com reported (Jan. 12, 2003). “His trip to the European Parliament would reflect his dual status as head of the Vatican State and as a ‘global spiritual leader.’” This type of language only increased after Pope Benedict xvi succeeded John Paul ii. And biblical prophecy says it is going to grow even more! The papal office has played a key role in reuniting Europe—and you can be certain that the man in that office will also guide Europe’s future!

The deadly, very bloody Holy Roman Empire is being resurrected! Let the world beware!

The Vatican’s impact globally has never been more intense. But it is about to become a hundredfold greater!

The clouds are black and ominous, and the thunderbolts of war are about to come crashing down on our heads!

Jeremiah spoke of a “seething pot” (Jeremiah 1:13). That pot is seething violently in Europe right now. And it’s about to boil over. Anti-Americanism is raging. Satan knows he has only a short time left, and his wrath is the worst ever! (Revelation 12:12). We should already feel the heat from this fiery, seething pot!

People could see, and even feel, the seething if they only understood a little history. But they refuse to be taught by history—even quite recent history!

Time is the supreme factor in every event. There are only a few short years before the pot boils over. We should ratchet up our lives to the emergency level. We can no longer afford to squander time.

Our “indulgent press” (Winston Churchill’s words) leaves many of our people confused, because its writings are so vague and lacking in facts. Too often they report “smooth things” (Isaiah 30:10) and call the truth “alarmist.” But we are going to have to lay aside the easy, pleasurable way if we plan to heed God’s warning.

God’s curse is upon our peoples, and it will intensify until we repent. We hold the key to how intensely we are punished.

Is your life geared to the “last hour” of this supreme crisis at the close? (1 John 2:18; Revised Standard Version).

In the mid-1930s, Churchill warned his people, “Something quite extraordinary is afoot. All the signals are set for danger. The red lights flash through the gloom.” He was concerned “that Europe, and indeed the world, may be rescued from the catastrophe with which the future is loaded.”

Our crisis-laden future will be at least a thousand times worse than what Churchill faced. We face the worst suffering ever in man’s history—megadeath! There will be unburied piles of dead bodies around the Earth.

Is this what it will take to revive us from the coma we are in now?

Churchill and Germany

In his biography of Winston Churchill, William Manchester wrote: “The Germans, after all, had been belligerent for 2,000 years; British public school boys were taught that ‘Civilization stops at the Rhine and the Danube, the frontiers of the Roman Empire,’ or, as Winston put it, ‘A Hun alive is a war in prospect.’ In the past 70 years Germany had writ her name large on battlefields ….”

If you understand Bible history and prophecy, you know the Germans have indeed “been belligerent for 2,000 years”—and throughout their history!

The Bible states that Germany has a warmongering heart, when it is militarily strong (Isaiah 10:5-7). Assyria is the ancient name of Germany (for more information, request our free booklet Germany and the Holy Roman Empire).

Churchill emphasized this problem before World War ii. He said, “Nothing but a change of the German heart can avert another catastrophe,” and that was “unlikely to come from within, for the true German nature has never changed”! (ibid). The Germans are a great people, but they have been victims of a cruel system. Their nature has been nurtured by the Holy Roman Empire, which has been directly led by the most evil being in the universe!

Manchester also wrote, “By the early 1930s, however, the strongest emotion aroused in Germany’s neighbors was primitive terror. The Germans knew it; they had deliberately provoked it in two wars, and had even given it a name, Schrecklichkeit (frightfulness). The 19th-century Prussian strategist Karl von Clausewitz had encouraged it as a means of shortening wars by putting the enemy ‘in a situation in which continuing the war is more oppressive to him than surrender.’ Teutonic troops, armed and dangerous, were frightful. They had practiced Schrecklichkeit in 1914, when bands of French and Belgian guerrillas defending their own soil had led to German executions of civilians, hostages and prisoners of war. ‘Suddenly,’ Barbara Tuchman writes, ‘the world became aware of the beast beneath the German skin.’” And the worst aspects of that “beast” are to be manifested in the imminent future!

“In the 1920s and 1930s, accounts of these crimes were suppressed by pacifists in das Ausland, that revealing German term which welded all nations outside the Reich into a single collective noun,” Manchester continued. “The new line was that all tales of German atrocities in the Great War had been Allied propaganda. But Belgians who had treated their invaders with disrespect had in fact been led before firing squads as early as the second day of the war. German records proved it. If Belgian refugees slowed the German advance, hostages were picked at random and killed. One can find their gravestones today, inscribed ‘1914: Fusillé par les Allemands’—‘Shot by the Germans’” (ibid).

Meekly caving in to—or empowering—Germany today is leading to a far worse disaster than Hitler and World War ii!

A militarily powerful Germany loves to frighten other nations. Repeatedly throughout history it has become what the Bible calls a “beast.” And it is the beast of all beasts!

How long will it take the world to learn what Winston Churchill knew so deeply? He taught us that lesson so effectively before and during World War ii. But we have refused to learn. Now the most terrifying events ever must engulf us—because of our sins.

America the Target

In 2000, Germany gave then U.S. President Bill Clinton the Charlemagne Prize. Do you really know Charlemagne’s history? This king and emperor waded through blood to conquer Europe! (Bismarck and Hitler did the same.) We can see why President Clinton was given such honor by the Germans. When Mr. Clinton was president, he knowingly empowered Germany to become the greatest political force in Europe. That act will prove to be America’s worst disaster ever!

This is a strange paradox. The U.S. is giving Germany control of the very nations that Hitler fought a bloody war attempting to conquer!

The nato attack on Belgrade in 1999 succeeded in forcing the Yugoslav government to make peace with the Kosovo separatists, after which the United Nations took over administration of Kosovo. But Europe’s offensive into the Balkans continued. Since then, it has cemented its control over this region step by step.

Remember, Germany and the Vatican are the ones who backed the succession of Croatia and Slovenia in 1991 that helped dismantle Yugoslavia. After the Kosovo war, nato, particularly the United States, wanted to get out of the region and transfer responsibility for military operations in the Balkans over to the Europeans. nato began its withdrawal in 2002. The EU began its own policing missions in Bosnia in 2003. Stratfor wrote in 2002 that the EU would “have no choice but to take over the Balkan peacekeeping mission for its own practical security and as a proving ground for EU military ambitions.” It further explained, “With the United States committed to disengaging from the Balkans, Germany will emerge as the dominant power in there and, by extension, in European defense policy” (April 29, 2002). This was clearly a stepping-stone to Germany taking the lead in European military operations! How could this happen without an outcry of alarm from the rest of the world?

On March 6, 2002, Stratfor provided this analysis of the situation: “Germany is seeking to reassert itself at the center of Europe, and the Balkans play a big part in that strategy. It is an area where Germany can expand its military reach without frightening either itself or its neighbors. Berlin also would like to build on its ties with Slovenia, Croatia, Albania, Bosnia and Bulgaria to pull both Southern and Eastern Europe under its wing as the EU expands.”

The European Union also nurtured strong economic relationships with Balkan states, sending significant amounts of financial aid and giving trade preferences even more generous than those it offered candidate countries in Central and Eastern Europe. As Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported on January 7, 2003, “The Western Balkans have always been a turbulent area, and that tradition certainly continued over the last decade, when wars and conflicts scarred the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. The cluster of little states that emerged from the wreckage now often looks to the European Union as a guarantor of future prosperity and stability, as do its neighbors.”

Slovenia became a member of the European Union, as well as a member of nato, in 2004. It joined the eurozone in 2007 and even held the presidency of the EU Council for the first six months of 2008.

Meanwhile, what was left of the former Yugoslavia suffered its final blows. In 2006, Montenegro caused the collapse of its state union with Serbia by declaring independence. Then in 2008, Kosovo also formally declared independence. Oversight of the administration of Kosovo was transferred to the EU that year, yet in spite of Kosovo’s declaration of independence, the EU decided to extend its mission in Kosovo through mid-2012. The Economist reported, “Now the UN mission that has been in Kosovo since the end of the war in 1999 should start to wind down and a big EU mission start to wind up. … The eight years in which Kosovo was a UN protectorate may well be followed by a period as an EU protectorate” (Feb. 21, 2008).

Not long after that, Serbia itself began looking to Germany for help in applying for membership in the European Union. Albania also made its official request to join. Stratfor reported in 2009 that the EU’s, particularly Germany’s, moves to facilitate the process for these two countries “are the clearest indication thus far from the European Union that it is serious about bringing the rest of the Balkans into the European Union as soon as possible. This indicates that the bloc is finally prepared to pay the price—which will be quite high considering the economic and social state of Western Balkans—for getting the region under its control ….

“The European Union’s ability to force countries in the region to do what it wants rests on EU accession, which is the key incentive that it can offer to various Balkan countries” (Nov. 17, 2009).

Besides the two that are now members, today, six Western Balkans nations are trying to become EU members. Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro have been officially accepted as EU candidates. Four others—Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo—are potential candidates.

It all amounts to a stunning coup for Germany!

In a remarkable process, aided and encouraged by other nations, the Germans neutralized a former enemy and gained an area to test and build their military—relatively unnoticed by the world! At the same time, the second leg, or foot (Eastern Europe), of the empire is developing!

Few people recognized the significance of these events as they were happening. But because we understood the prophetic overview, we have been reporting on them all along. Now, with Germany’s power over Europe all the more obvious, the true nature of this dramatic history is impossible to ignore!

Doting on Her Lovers

One more crucial aspect of these developments must be highlighted.

Notice this revealing statement from the Financial Times back in 2002: “Berlin Plus [an agreement between nato and the EU] gives the Europeans access to nato planning and assets for missions that they want to carry out independently of nato, provided that nato does not want to take the lead in the first place” (Dec. 17, 2002).

That means that the EU used “nato planning and assets”—mostly U.S.—to build this Frankenstein monster. And the monster is already turning against its primary builder—America!

These events are leading to the worst world war ever. And America, the world’s number one superpower, is going to be the number one target! Our military power has beaten the Germans in two world wars. Germany plans to obliterate us first in the next war.

World War iii will outstrip any destruction mankind can even imagine, by many times over! Now is the time to wake up.

In Ezekiel 23:12, God condemns end-time Israel for doting on the Assyrians, or Germans. Verse 17 says that following this her mind is “alienated” from the Chaldeans, or the German-led Holy Roman Empire. The recent history of the two world wars shows you our minds are indeed “alienated” from Germany. God condemns the end-time nations of Israel for making the Germans our lovers and not trusting Him. The Holy Roman Empire will soon betray us and fight against us! Then we shall know very deeply what God thinks about our “lovers”!

Since an open-skies treaty entered into force in 2002, the Germans have been making surveillance flights over the United States. Also, all of our nuclear weaponry is now controlled from Washington, d.c. There are no more submarines with independent authority to launch nuclear missiles. America and Britain are becoming dangerously vulnerable to their lovers, who will soon betray them!

“And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours …. Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted” (Ezekiel 23:5, 9). This is a specific prophecy aimed at Israel—the American and British peoples in this end time! “And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord God” (verse 49).

In spite of this colossal tragedy, there is still good news. This towering crisis will bring our nations to repentance. Then they will really get to know the great God! Most of our peoples only think they know God today. What a shame that it takes such a terrifying crisis to awaken our peoples. But it doesn’t have to be that way, if they would heed this message.

God’s Protection

“Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired [God’s faithful people]; Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger come upon you. Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger” (Zephaniah 2:1-3). God is saying that if His people are loyal to what they have learned from Him, they can be hidden from the horrors that are soon to come upon this Earth!

What is the key to being protected? We must seek God before the Tribulation strikes (Matthew 24:21-22). That is the formula for escape: Seek God now! “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7).

What has happened in former Yugoslavia over the past two decades is a major sign of how close Germany is to achieving its worldwide ambition.

The history of Germany reveals where the events in Europe today are leading. More importantly, God’s prophecies give us a preview of what is about to occur in Europe—and how it will affect the whole world. What can you do before it is too late? Seek God while He may be found.

Any political or economic crisis could strongly unite the 10 nations very quickly. The final prophesied version of the Holy Roman Empire could be here in a few short years—or even months. Watch Germany. As Germany goes, so goes the European Union.

But look at the good news—the best news we could ever receive!

This evil and profoundly deceitful political, 10-nation superpower will attempt to fight the returning Jesus Christ! (Revelation 17:12-14). Of course, Christ and His army will win. They will usher in a new civilization that will last forever. There will be peace, joy and abundance forever.

This is the most important news we could ever hear!

Sidebar: The Assyrian in Prophecy

In Isaiah 10:5, God says, “O Assyrian [the modern Germans], the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.”

Isaiah’s prophecy was recorded in a book for this end time (Isaiah 30:8). So God’s people must know who Assyria is in prophecy!

God says, “I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets” (Isaiah 10:6). God says the Germans are a tool in His hands. They tread humans down “like the mire of the streets.” Germany’s rise to power is God’s doing, and we urgently need to understand why! Germany may have a master plan, but the living God has a master plan too!

God will use the Germans in His master plan. They are to be sent against “an hypocritical nation”—people who work hard to appear righteous, but are very evil. This is talking specifically of America and Britain—and this is God’s master plan for these nations!

“Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so ….” Even the soon-coming leader of the German-led beast power will not think he would ever destroy or cut off nations. But that’s precisely what the remainder of the verse says: “… but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few” (verse 7).

Who in these modern times has cut off many nations in warfare? At least we should remember what Germany did in World Wars i and ii! But that is the way the Germans have acted throughout history. They are a great and talented people, but too often overwhelmed by an evil system.

Many nations have been destroyed by the power of the Germans. In Anvil of Civilization, author Leonard Cottrell wrote, “In all the annals of human conquest, it is difficult to find any people more dedicated to bloodshed and slaughter than the Assyrians. Their ferocity and cruelty have few parallels save in modern times”—referring to Germany.

The greatest war machine in all of history was Assyria. The Assyrians were great conquerors. They had superior weapons and superior organization. And they are back on the world scene today, becoming increasingly militant—but thankfully for the last time!

The Assyrians and the Germans are the same people. Their militant, cruel ways will continue until Jesus Christ returns.