We are at the end of a plan that God set in motion right at 6,000 years ago when He first created and put mankind on this earth. Overall, God has been “hands-off” concerning the affairs of mankind in order to let mankind experience its “own ways” and what those ways produce.
This past 6,000 years has not been about God trying to save mankind as so many in traditional Christianity teach and seem to think. Instead, God has just been allowing mankind to go its own way and then at the end of that span of time, He will intervene to stop this endless cycle of mankind’s suffering, wars, and failures. But in order to learn what we must, God is going to allow mankind to take itself up to the very brink of extinction in a nuclear war.
As it has already been stated, God has withheld greater knowledge of mathematics, physics, chemistry, etcetera, until this latter part of His 6,000-year plan. If it had been given sooner, WWIII and mankind facing its own annihilation would have happened far before now.
But God’s purpose has been to give us that span of time of self-rule so that we could learn lessons that can be seen and understood in no other way. One of the greatest lessons to learn is that mankind cannot successfully govern itself. Every small and great nation and every empire and kingdom has risen and fallen. That will again take place, here at the end. Our ways and governments just do not work, and all eventually end.
Today, people do not really believe their nations or governments will end. But they are about to do just that! The world has never known all-out thermonuclear war, nor experienced its affects. It is exceedingly ugly, it is horrifying, and it is fearful.
God foretold the rise and fall of peoples, nations, and kingdoms. Many that have fallen centuries ago have migrated to other parts of the world and have risen up under different names. God reveals how to identify them today. God foretold the actions, movement, and future prophetic role of these nations and kingdoms throughout time, and especially for us in this end-time as well.
God has orchestrated “time” for the emergence of great inventions and the revelation and growth in the sciences and technology so that the world would grow to be at its current state, exactly as it is now. Within that period of time for such revelation, especially over the past hundred years, mankind has always used such advancement in the forefront for military might and conquest—war! Because of the development of nuclear weapons, it is absolute that mankind will use that technology in one last war.
God knows the nature of man. He created it. In doing so, He gave mankind free moral agency—the power of free choice. God knew what kind of choices mankind would make over these past 6,000 years. The kind of nature that develops from physical human beings that are given such free moral agency of free choice is one that is absolute. Being created in such a manner as we have been automatically creates and produces the way of self-interest first—one’s own ways placed first above others. That is true whether it be individually, as a family, as a community, or as a nation of people.
That selfish nature works to His far greater purpose in the very reason God created us. It is exciting and inspiring what God has planned that is now not too distant from us. But before we come to that new age that God will bring to mankind, there will yet be one more catastrophic war. It is that war and the catastrophic events that go with it that will help mankind come to finally face the destructiveness of “its own ways.” Such nature, unless it changes, will inevitably destroy itself.
When God Began to Reveal THIS Was the End-Time
As mentioned, God’s Church began in 31 AD and has continued from that time. However, it has hardly been known by the world, as it has not been God’s purpose that it should be. Yet where it has been known, it has been persecuted, hated, and maligned since that time. Due to that, and because this has always been part of God’s plan and purpose, His Church has remained small throughout the centuries. Such reasons will become clearer as more about the Church continues to be addressed in the following chapters.
By 1930, it had come to a point that God’s Church had been so oppressed by the world around it over the previous four centuries that it had begun to lose truth that God had given it from the beginning. In the 1930s, God raised up an end-time apostle to His Church, Herbert W. Armstrong, in order to begin the process of restoring truth to it again and to begin preparing it for the time of the second coming of His Son. It has also been since that time that God has been progressively accelerating mankind’s technological developments.
Toward the end of WWII, God was beginning to show His apostle, Herbert W. Armstrong, that WWII fit exactly into prophetic end-time events and that there would be one more great war to follow—the last war on earth—WWIII. It was shown to him that the world, at that time, had entered the “end-times” spoken of in scripture. It was also during this time that the prophecies in Daniel and the Book of Revelation began to be revealed to him.
As soon as WWII was over, Herbert Armstrong began to warn that WWIII was coming. God had revealed very specific prophecies to him that led to knowing the very countries that would be at the forefront of final end-time events.
He explained fully that there would be a great nuclear war and also proclaimed what God declared about the result of that war. God said that it would be of such magnitude, power, and destruction that mankind would annihilate itself if He did not intervene to stop it. That is mankind’s only true hope—that God intervene in this world’s affairs and stop mankind from such an unimaginable atrocity.
At that time, he also explained in greater detail how Europe, with Germany at its helm, would rise up in a union of nations that would have a common currency, common government, and a final military union that would consist of exactly 10 European nations. At the end of WWII, to mention that Germany was going to rise again and be the principle nation to lead a unified Europe was a very unpopular concept of that time.
Nevertheless, in March 1957, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg signed the Treaty of Rome to establish the European Economic Community (EEC), also known as the Common Market. This eventually transformed into the development of the European Union of today.
Many people mocked these end-time prophesied events that Herbert W. Armstrong said would come to pass, and although he did see Europe come together in a cooperative governmental structure, it wasn’t until 13 years after his death that Europe introduced the currency of the euro to the world in 1999. Now, 28 nations belong as member states of the European Union, and in 2018 Europe entered into a unified military agreement among 10 nations.
All three of the major events concerning the formation of a united Europe came to pass exactly as God’s apostle said they would. The fulfillment of these three events in the creation of a united Europe reveals that the next great prophetic event to follow is WWIII. The final events of this end-time are closing in quickly! This book will continue to identify those events in order to help people be far better informed and better prepared for what follows.
The Book of Revelation
There is no point in going into a vast coverage of history or Biblical prophecies. Instead, an overview of these things will be covered that is designed to help clarify and somewhat simplify these matters that would otherwise take much study and lengthy explanations. Even so, one can come to recognize end-time events that the world is blind to seeing.
The last book of the Bible is the Book of Revelation. It is the book that reveals the last phases of God’s plan for His creation of mankind. It reveals the close of 6,000 years of human history that end in major catastrophic end-time events that will culminate in a nuclear WWIII. It reveals that it is at that very time, after nearly one-third of all life on earth is destroyed by mankind, that God intervenes to stop that nuclear war, and then leads mankind into a new age of worldwide prosperity and peace for the next 1,000 years.
Most of the Book of Revelation is written about the end-time, which is the time we are experiencing right now. Many of these end-time events have already occurred over the past thirty years, but the world is fully unaware of them. It has been God’s purpose to start revealing these things now that have already been taking place and then to reveal the far greater catastrophic events that are about to begin.
These final end-time events are revealed through prophetic symbolism contained in the description of the Seven Seals of Revelation, the Seven Trumpets, the Seven Thunders, and the Seven Last Plagues. Many who have done extensive studies into these matters have come to believe that we are nearing the time that these things are going to take place on the earth. Yet the truth is, much of it has already happened and we are nearing the end of these prophetic times and almost to the time when WWIII will begin.
Some of this will be described later, but as of now it is important to know that all Seven Seals of the Book of Revelation have already been opened. The First Seal was opened on December 17th of 1994.
People do not understand these revelations. There are many from among those who believe we are approaching the end-time who believe the Seals of Revelation are nearing the time they are going to be opened. But they do not realize these things have already been taking place and much has already been fulfilled. That is why even most of those who believe we are about to enter the end-time will be caught off guard and fully unprepared for what is about to happen next, just as the rest of the world.
Not only was the First Seal of Revelation opened in December 1994, all the rest of the Seals have already been opened as well. The Sixth Seal was opened on the day of the First Thunder of Revelation. It is a day that almost everyone on earth is familiar with, but they do not know what it prophetically portends.
September 11, 2001 was a day that thundered so loudly that the very mention of it is recognized all over this world. Mention that day anywhere on earth and people know what happened. However, people do not yet recognize the real meaning behind why this day is so vastly important. Indeed, it is when the Sixth Seal of Revelation was opened and the First Thunder began to sound, and this carries great prophetic meaning.
What happened in New York, Washington D.C. and a field in Pennsylvania is not what is most important about this day. The greater reality for this day is its Biblical significance. The events of this day are prophetic. The prophetic symbolism these events portend is the very thing that will lead to their actual fulfillment. Their fulfillment is revealed in the sounding of the first four trumpets of Revelation that have already sounded, but the actual destruction they announced is being held back from happening. People need to know what that means.
The destruction that will result from the sounding of these first four trumpets, once God allows it to begin, is about the demise of the United States. Most people would think that such a thing is not possible, but neither would they have believed beforehand that such a thing as 9/11 could happen in the United States.
The symbolism in the events of 9/11 are a prophetic prelude of what is to follow once the destruction from the sounding (announcement) from those first four trumpets is allowed to begin happening. From the vantage point of all the nations of the world, there could be no greater symbolism of the height of the greatness in wealth, might, and stature of the United States than that of the World Trade Center towers.
To better understand some of this symbolism, let’s consider some of the history about these towers:
The World Trade Center towers were best known for its iconic 110-story Twin Towers. The towers survived a bombing on February 26, 1993, but because of the attack on September 11, 2001, all of the original buildings in the complex were destroyed. Towers One and Two collapsed, and the others (numbers 3, 4, 5, & 6) were damaged beyond repair and later demolished. Building Seven collapsed in the late afternoon on the day of the attacks.
The towers were initially conceived as a complex dedicated to companies and organizations directly involved in “world trade,” but they at first failed to attract the anticipated clientele. During the WTC’s early years various governmental organizations became key tenants, yet it was not until the 1980s that the city’s perilous financial state eased, after which an increasing number of private companies—mostly financial firms tied to Wall Street—became tenants.
The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center also served as an icon to the greatness of a nation. Even as the name indicates, they were established upon the ideal of a center for world trade, which the United States has fulfilled for several decades now. The towers were symbolic of the stature of Wall Street itself. The destruction of all seven towers of the World Trade Center, as the destruction of an icon, should not escape Biblical students concerning such symbolism and the use of the number seven, which represents that which is complete.
As a result of that terrorist attack, all seven buildings were destroyed. This indeed portends the prophetic collapse of the United States, which is prophesied to occur from the destruction the first four trumpets have already announced.
The plane that struck the Pentagon in Washington D.C. on the same day should not escape us either. Prophetically, not even the military might of the most powerful nation on earth can escape the judgment of God and what He is going to allow to occur.
It will yet be covered why these first four trumpets that have already sounded reveal the demise of the United States. But one must first begin to understand why Europe plays such an important role in end-time prophecy.
Europe and WWIII
So how did Herbert W. Armstrong come to foretell with such accuracy how Europe would rise to become a great power in the end-time just before the last war—WWIII? How did he know they would form a governing body that would create a European Union of nations, agree on a common currency, and then form a military alliance among exactly ten European nations? It is because he was given to see how history in Europe has fit perfectly into very specific prophetic events spoken of by prophets of God who wrote about them ages ago.
Although there is much history and prophecy involved in this, it suffices it to say that those ten nations that have come together in a European Union are about a prophesied seventh and final European revival that leads to this final world war. An overview of some history and some prophecy will help illustrate what has led to the understanding for the emergence of a European Union and its connection to WWIII.
There are two primary books of the Bible that give a great deal of information concerning the rise and fall of very specific nations and kingdoms as well as a prophetic chronology of events that surround their rise and fall.
God gave the prophet Daniel some of the most detailed prophecies about these kingdoms from his time then and all the way up to the end-time. Then over 600 years later, God gave the apostle, John, more detailed prophecy that built upon what was given to Daniel. That which was given to John focuses far more fully upon specific nations and events in the end-time, just prior to Christ’s return.
Daniel 2 is an incredible prophecy that covers the long span of time of those kingdoms that would exist right up to the time when the last one would fall. It also reveals in a powerful manner what so many in traditional Christianity have never come to grasp about God’s Kingdom. Many teach that the Kingdom of God is something in the hearts of mankind upon conversion and yet others believe it is in heaven. There are numerous concepts and teachings, but a literal Kingdom existing on earth where Christ will reign is most certainly not one of them.
One of the greatest kingdoms that rose early in the world was that of Egypt from which God eventually freed the Israelites from slavery. After the destruction of Egypt’s army and Pharaoh himself, Egypt did not continue as a great world kingdom. Several hundred years after the Israelites were freed and had become a nation of people, they soon divided into two separate nations of Israel and Judah. After another few hundred years, both nations were conquered and each taken into captivity.
Israel was taken captive first by the Assyrians, and later Judah was taken captive into Babylon.
It was at this time, when Judah was in Babylon, that God raised up Daniel as a prophet. Soon after this captivity, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had a dream and he wanted to know what it meant. The dream had been given to him from God and God revealed the dream and its meaning to Daniel. It is interesting what he first told the king.
“Daniel answered in the presence of the king and said, ‘The secret which the king has demanded cannot be declared to the king by the wise men, astrologers, magicians, or the soothsayers. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to king Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, were these…’” (Daniel 2:27-28).
God used this dream to reveal through Daniel all the major kingdoms of the world that would lead up to the latter day, up to the very end-time of God’s plan and purpose for allowing mankind to have self-rule, until it was time for His Son to then take control and rule over the nations. The following verses explain that passage of time as Daniel began by telling the king what he saw.
“You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you, and its form was awesome. This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its stomach and hips of bronze, its legs of iron, and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed into dust, and it became like chaff from the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away so that no trace of them could be found. Then the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2:31-35).
As a condensed explanation, as one moves from the top of the statue to the bottom, one is moving through time until the end-time when the toes are reached. The first part of the image of gold was about the Chaldean-Babylonian Empire of which Nebuchadnezzar was king in that present kingdom of Babylon. This was followed by the portion made of silver which represented the Medo-Persian Empire and after that, the bronze, being the Greco-Macedonian Empire that followed.
The interpretation of the dream began with the description of the statue’s head of gold being the present kingdom of Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar, and it went on about the rise and fall of major kingdoms (empires) through time. It ended with the fourth portion of the statue, which was uniquely described as being legs of iron with feet of both iron and clay. This represented the last great kingdom that would go through several revivals in Europe.
A statue with feet of iron and clay is not a good mixture for supporting such a large figure. Yet the legs of iron and the feet of iron mixed with clay describes so very well the struggle that has gone on for hundreds of years in Europe. Much of its pertinent history carried the identity of the Roman Empire, and later, the Holy Roman Empire. Its history fits succinctly into prophecy that describes it in several places of scripture.
But before going more fully into the portion of a European struggle described as being of iron and clay, it is important to note what was stated at the end of what Daniel was telling the king. It states that there was a stone that was made without hands that struck the image in the feet of iron and clay, which resulted in the statute disintegrating into dust so that the wind blew it away. The stone being made without hands is a description showing that it was not manmade.
It is later in the verses of this same chapter that Daniel goes on to tell the interpretation for what the meaning of these things represented.
“In the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure” (Daniel 2:44-45).
Although this is translated rather awkwardly by most, it still reveals much, as other prophecies also do, making it clear about what God’s overall plan is for mankind. God has allowed 6,000 years of self-rule, and these verses reveal an end to the kingdoms (empires) of mankind’s rule. It is simply saying in these verses that “in the days of” or “in the time of” these rulers, there will come a time at the end when these kingdoms and all their forms of governing will come to an end.
Mankind’s self-rule is coming to an end and once that happens, the rule of mankind over the nations of the earth will no longer exist, as the rule of mankind will not be left to “other people” ever again. That is because the stone made without hands is about the stone that was “rejected by the builders” (Ps. 118:22). This is about the builders of mankind’s governments and the stone is about Christ— the Messiah whom God is sending to rule over the nations. It will no longer be left in the hands of mankind.
After the governments and rule of mankind are brought to an end by the coming of the Messiah, God will establish a kingdom on earth—a kingdom that will rule over the nations of the earth—His Kingdom. After 6,000 years of self-rule, God is going to establish the Kingdom of God to reign on the earth and Joshua the Christ is its King of all kings. God declares that His Kingdom will stand forever, whereas the kingdoms of mankind have all failed and have had to come to an end.
Legs of Iron
Through this statue, God highlighted the rise and fall of four major prophetic empires that would exist from the time of Daniel forward. God used this as a means to prophetically establish an end to mankind’s self-rule where no government of mankind will ever rule autonomously again. Instead, God’s Kingdom—God’s government—will rule over all nations of the world.
Although Daniel wrote much about these events and even much timing contained in them, the primary focus of it all was that in time—in God’s time—His government would become established over the nations. It would happen at a time that is spoken of as the end of an age or in the latter times—the time in which mankind’s self-rule is brought to an end.
Even Daniel wanted to know more about what he had been given to record, but God told him that what had been given was not about his time.
“And He said [God said to Daniel], Go your way Daniel, for these words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end” (Daniel 12:9).
God let Daniel know that not only was he not to be given more understanding about what he had been given to record, but that those prophetic things he had been given were “sealed” and not to be opened (to understanding and revelation) until the time of the end—the present age we are in now. Even that which God gave to the apostle, John, to record in the Book of Revelation, that adds so much more about a final kingdom that will exist at the end-time, wasn’t to actually be revealed until that age—that very end-time. That IS our time NOW!
The last part of the statue in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was about legs of iron and feet of both iron and clay. This is about Europe and its reign as an empire that God foretold was to fulfill a major role in prophetic events that would finally lead to the end-time.
Although other regions of the world from time to time would rise up in power and become engaged in great wars, God revealed it would be Europe that would have a long history highlighted by prominent periods of revival as a powerful empire. These revivals were led by strong leaders who would rise up in great power, especially in waging war, in order to solidify and strengthen the empire.
This prophecy about Europe and its recurring restorations to prominence and power as an empire is also closely coupled prophetically with false religion and its impact on mankind that would lead all the way up to the second coming of Christ. It was right after 62 years from when this empire came on the world scene that it gave its authority to have Joshua the Christ nailed to a pole and killed. It is Christ who will come a second time to bring an end to the rule of that empire.
There is a term that one can look up for themselves that has much to do with the beliefs and formation of Europe. It is Europa. The name comes from Greek mythology. It was the name of a Phoenician princess that was abducted by Zeus who had taken on the form of a white bull and then carried Europa to Crete. It is from this name that the continent of Europe received its name, and it actually has much to do with the eventual establishment of religious ideas in that region of the world.
As an aside, it is interesting to note that when the euro was established as the new currency of the European Union, each country had symbols placed on the two-euro coin. The symbol that was printed on the coin for Greece was a woman riding a bull—the symbol for Europa, and much more. This symbol becomes very important later in the Book of Revelation.
The Roman Empire on the continent of Europe has been the longest enduring kingdom of those God recorded prophetically in scripture. It was depicted in the last part of the statue of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream as being the two legs of iron and feet of both iron and clay. The empire is recognized as having a strong dominance over much of that region of the world from around 31 BC. This supremacy continued up to 476 AD at which time the empire experienced a great fall that is described in Revelation as a “deadly wound.”
Revelation also speaks of a time the empire would be healed and that healing began taking place under the reign of Justinian who worked to regain areas that had been lost in the western portion of the empire, especially in the area of Italy. He also worked to restore greater strength and influence of the Catholic Church within the empire.
The legs of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue are about the Roman Empire. But in the Book of Revelation God begins to give more description of this final period and the prophetic influence of this empire in Europe all the way up to the time of Christ’s coming. As the following verses are covered, a brief explanation of the prophetic significance and meaning will be given.
“Then I stood on the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name” (Revelation 13:1).
The apostle, John, was recording what he saw in his prophetic visions that God had given him to record. The sand of the sea is prophetically symbolic of the masses of people over whom this beast would have power. The seven heads are about seven distinct periods of time when this beast would exercise its greater power (as the head) over those whom it would govern. Although it isn’t as clear in these verses, but will be later, the ten horns and crowns are about what is on the seventh and last head.
“Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And the whole world marveled and followed the beast” (Rev. 13:2-3).
The dragon is Satan whom God says has had the ability to exercise great sway over mankind and nations of the world. It is shown that this dragon has had powerful influence to deceive this empire and to sway its people and leaders in his ways and to lead them into war. This led to these leaders being able to exercise greater power and control on those over whom they reigned.
The whole world being spoken of is not about the entire earth, but that whole area of the world where this empire exerted power. The people, especially in this part of the world, followed the dragon—they followed his ways (lies) that led away from God. They accepted Satan’s counterfeits and thereby practiced ways that blasphemed God and His ways (His truths).
Although it can be a difficult thing for people to come to address and acknowledge the truth of the matter, there is a real spirit being called Satan who dwells on this earth and who exercises great power over human life in exceedingly deceitful and lying ways. His power to influence comes from the result of God giving mankind the power of free choice—free moral agency. Mankind can choose its “own ways” and what it decides it will believe. Sadly, our nature tends to gravitate to our own selfish interests and we tend to choose “our own ways” rather than God’s.
Our nature tends to gravitate toward choosing evolution rather than a Creator. Our nature tends to gravitate toward choosing what the majority have come to embrace, even in religious beliefs, rather than what God commands. Our nature tends to gravitate to the celebration of a holiday called Christmas: the giving and receiving of presents, decorating with bright lights, gathering at special family meals, exercising a pseudo kind of enjoyment of endlessly playing holiday music, and much more tradition and sensationalism that goes along with this holiday.
Our nature tends to gravitate toward special holidays that over time we have enhanced, elaborated upon, and adorned, rather than magnify and rejoice in God’s Holy Days. We are quick to embrace the decorating and hiding of eggs and having children hunt for them. We enjoy giving presents through the narrative of a fat man riding a sleigh led by reindeer, even in tropical areas. We tend to do these things in the guise of fables, rather than honor God in spirit and truth.
Our nature tends to gravitate toward doing what “we like” and what “we want,” and therein is the open door for Satan to lead us farther away from God. He is a powerful master of deception and lies, and our nature tends more toward supporting and living lies than in obeying God. That is simply a reality of what is true. This is being said to express what is true and actual in life and not to judge, hurt, or offend anyone.
“So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?’ And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven” (Revelation 13:4-6).
These verses are describing seven revivals of powerful rule in Europe—power that has always been associated with war.
For a long period of time, the rule of this Roman Empire in Europe has been closely linked to a church that became exceedingly influential and powerful, and it often exercised strong power and influence over the rulers themselves.
These verses actually tell of a specific period of time that this church exerted some of its greatest influence over the empire and even its leaders. It is stated it was for a prophetic forty-two months. In such prophetic accounts, the days for that actual period of time are fulfilled in years. This was a prophetic period of 1260 years. It is believed by God’s Church that this prophetic period began when Justinian gained control of Italy at the end of the Gothic War in 554 AD and then ended with the fall of Napoleon.
The statue of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel depicted the European empire as legs of iron with feet and toes of both iron and clay. The description of this empire concerns prophetic events that are about monumental periods in European history that are highlighted by influential leaders and times of war and conquest. These prophecies about this empire began in 31 BC and continue up to the time of Christ’s coming.
Although the prophecies in Daniel give an overview of this empire, Revelation gives a more detailed description, and especially of the influence that Satan has had upon it.
In Revelation 13, Justinian’s rule as emperor of the Roman Empire is represented by the first head of this beast. It is pictured as the head that had been wounded but then healed. It was a revival, the first revival after it had previously fallen.
After Justinian, the empire waned, but finally experienced its second revival (the second head of the beast) under the Frankish Kingdom of Charlemagne beginning in 774. Then in 800 AD, Charlemagne was also crowned by the Pope to be emperor. Each time the empire would begin to wane once again, another revival would eventually follow.
A third revival occurred under Otto the Great who was also crowned by the Pope in 962. This prophetic empire then went through a long period before it came to its fourth revival in 1520, whereupon Charles V was crowned emperor by the Pope.
This church in Rome grew in such power and authority over the empire that only the popes could declare who the emperors of Europe should be. There were periods when this church became so great that the power and ruling authority was more in the hands of popes than in the hands of the emperors. However, that kind of power over these revivals began to wane and it came to an end by the time of the fifth revival.
It was when the fifth revival occurred in 1804 that Pope Pius VII agreed to go to Paris to officiate at Napoleon’s coronation to be emperor. However, it is recorded that at the last moment Napoleon grabbed the crown and placed it on his own head. This reflected the very thing that was now taking place—the popes and the church were losing power and influence that they had enjoyed up to that time. This marked the end of such coronations for the emperors of Europe.
The Feet of Iron and Clay
From this time forward, Europe struggled for an identity among several of its rising national powers. The church from Rome was no longer able to exercise the kind of power over these rising nations of Europe as it had experienced for centuries before. This now brings us to a volatile time for Europe when there was a powerful surge forward in technology and invention.
Although they had grown in power and influence, the individual nations of Europe were not cohesive at all. They were largely divided. Hence, the description of the feet of iron mingled with clay is a good one.
The movement toward a sixth revival of a European Empire depicted by the feet of clay and iron (not the toes) occurred with the outbreak of WWI. That war involved an alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers). It was the first war to so broadly involve other nations around the world. It was fought against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan, and the United States. These were known as the Allied Powers.
After thousands of years, those involved in this war were the first to experience the use of vastly superior weaponry in a rapidly growing period of scientific knowledge, invention, and technology unlike all the millennia’s before.
This war brought about great social upheaval as millions of women entered the workforce to support men who had gone to war and also replaced those who never came back. The war itself resulted in the death of some 9 million soldiers and 10 million civilians. In addition, this war helped to spread the world’s first pandemic—the Spanish flu of 1918, which killed an estimated 30 to 50 million people.
This first world war was only the beginning for the sixth revival of the prophetic European Empire, as it only set the stage for a far more massive resurgence under Hitler. This resurgence and attempt to conquer all of Europe reveals the mind that was actually behind it, as with all the revivals of the last prophetic European Empire. As Satan was not able to work through a great church to influence revivals in Europe as he had before, now he simply worked directly through one man as he exerted powerful spirit influence upon the mind and thinking of Hitler.
Hitler was determined to establish a Third Reich. The translation of the German word “Reich” is “Empire or Kingdom.” This reveals the desire and affinity he had to again raise up the old Roman Empire in Europe, but under the German name and German leadership.
The “Third Reich” became the most popular term to describe this historical period, although it was Hitler’s desire that it be known as “Großdeutsches Reich” (Greater German Reich). Another term he used was “Tausendjähriges Reich” (Thousand-Year Reich).
Hitler wanted to transform Berlin, to make it the capital of a Greater German “World Empire”—one greater than the Roman Empire. He declared at a rally in Nuremberg that “…in the next thousand years there will be no other revolution in Germany.”
Even in this, Satan was seeking to mock God’s truth, as there is only one Millennium, which is the 1,000-year reign of Joshua the Christ—the Messiah. The very thing that God said He will establish at Christ’s coming is a Millennial reign of His Kingdom on earth. It is in God’s Kingdom that there will be no more revolution—no more wars.
Satan has resisted and fought against God from the beginning of the creation of mankind. He wasted no time in leading the first two created people, Adam and Eve, into sin and rebellion against God. He even tried to have Joshua killed as a young child, and he has worked against God’s prophets and apostles over the past 6,000 years, primarily by having them imprisoned and/or killed. He is also responsible for leading a devastating attack against God’s own Church in this end-time that resulted in the Apostasy prophesied by the apostle, Paul.
But there is one last revival of a prophetic European Empire that has already been underway for several decades now. Actually, it is already near the time of its end when it will play a major role in the timing of WWIII. The world is asleep and does not even grasp the significance in the reality of the European Union in prophetic end-time events.
However, Herbert W. Armstrong did know about those things and he worked to warn the world about what was coming. He explained how 10 nations united in a European union would serve as one of the last great prophetic events to be fulfilled before the beginning of catastrophic tribulation and a third world war. So much of this is what is revealed in the meaning of the last head and ten horns of Revelation 13, and reflected by the ten toes of iron and clay in the very last portion of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue.
There could be no better description of a prophetic European Empire through the past two thousand years than the statue that has the legs of iron and the feet of both iron and clay. Today, the European Union exists as a unity of European nations with strength in numbers and economic potential. It also has the potential for exerting powerful military action upon any area of the world if it were to so choose. Yet, like clay, it struggles mightily to be a cohesive governing body and to have better unity among the member nations.
Although the initial nations among the ten may yet vary before they fulfill that major prophetic role that includes their involvement in WWIII, there will be ten in total, nevertheless, who agree at a moment in time to do the unthinkable.
From among the 28 nations in the EU, ten have entered into a joint European Intervention Initiative, and not only that, they have also begun the process of distancing themselves from the dominance of the United States and NATO.
Just last year, French President Macron unknowingly made a rather ominous statement that few could possibly understand because it fits precisely in a prophetic narrative. He stated, “We have to protect ourselves with respect to China, Russia, and even the United States.” This is far more ominous than anyone can imagine, as this last and seventh revival of a European empire will be at the forefront of an eventual confrontation with all three of those nations Macron mentioned.
Prophecy reveals that this last revival of a military union of ten European nations will become engaged in nuclear war with both China and Russia. However, before that occurs, they will also become engaged in a shocking conflict with the United States.
It is in another chapter of Revelation that these ten nations are spoken of more fully, and far more openly. What they will eventually do is the very thing that hastens the coming of the Messiah. It is because of what God gave Herbert Armstrong to understand in these prophecies, well before his death 34 years ago, that he clearly saw the European Union for what it has become today.
There are great reasons why there has been an ever-growing desire over the past many years among many Europeans for the revival of an old Europe into a single United States of Europe. They are fulfilling what was so long ago prophesied about a seventh and final revival of a prophetic European Empire. That seventh revival began to take its initial shape back in the 1950s and now its form is nearly complete.
Now, not only do Europeans have the beginning structure of a unified army, but they have established the means for self-determination of their own military operations apart from any influence and control from NATO. They have great power at their fingertips if they choose to use it. The United Kingdom and France have a large stockpile of nuclear weapons in Europe and NATO has positioned a very large number of nuclear weapons throughout Europe. The day is soon coming that these are going to be used!
The Power That Has Deceived the World
It is in Revelation 17 that God becomes very clear and incisive concerning the prophetic significance of the seven revivals of a European Empire. In those verses its significance takes on a religious context. It is something that will prove to be one of the most difficult for those in traditional Christianity to face and address.
That which is now going to be covered in the next chapter is not given to offend or hurt anyone, but some offense and hurt will come. That cannot be helped. These things are given to simply tell what it true in order to enlighten or give knowledge and understanding so that people can make better educated choices in their life.
Facing what will be stated is the only thing that can truly help anyone to begin to properly prepare themselves for what is now just ahead. Whether one addresses such things now while there is yet time to more adequately prepare, or whether it is later, it will still have to be addressed. There really is no choice about that.
At this point, people still have time to freely choose and make better judgments regarding such things. However, if these things are not freely addressed now while there is still time to do so, then once these final end-time events are released upon the earth every person will be forced to address all of this anyway. However, by that time it will be too late to prepare oneself and their loved ones.
In time, everyone will have to face these truths. It can be now, or it can be at a time when they begin to experience the destruction in a third world war, or it will have to be faced at a future time, in a future resurrection to life. Regardless, God reveals that everyone at some point in time will have to face what He states is true.
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