Our world has been facing many crises. But the biggest crisis is yet ahead. The foundation of our current American-based financial system will soon fracture—with potentially dramatic consequences for Europe. The trigger for the final collapse might have already begun with a little noticed announcement from Saudi Arabia on January 17.

The United States has long been warned that its reckless financial spending will have consequences, but those warnings have been ignored. In the last few years, the U.S. has printed trillions of dollars. At the same time, the administration has sanctioned nations around the world—giving some countries a compelling reason to find dollar alternatives.

At what point will the global market turn against the U.S.? When will other nations muster the strength to pull the rug out from under America’s feet?

That point could now be now.

“Saudi Arabia’s recent announcement that the government is open to accepting payment for oil in currencies other than the dollar is a major announcement ignored by the presstitutes,” economist and former White House official from the Reagan era Paul Craig Roberts noted on January 30. “The end of the petrodollar would have severe adverse effects on the value of the dollar and on U.S. inflation and interest rates.”

Right now, people are willing to buy U.S. dollars because they need it for foreign trade. But if oil is no longer sold in dollars, then a big chunk of that trade is dollar-free. The euro and the renminbi have already been nibbling at the dollar’s dominance. This would leave fewer people buying newly printed dollars—leading to inflation. Other countries would have less of an interest in the U.S. financial system. If it went to the extreme of defaulting on its debt, it wouldn’t be able to borrow the money.

“Should this come to pass, the implication for the U.S. is massive austerity,” Roberts noted.

But as radical as the economic upheaval would be in the U.S., a greater catastrophe could afflict Europe. European countries are still recovering from the 2008 financial crisis. “The 2008 financial meltdown was fueled primarily by America’s outrageous debt,” Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote. “Yet what has the U.S. done to correct that problem? Absolutely nothing.” The gross national debt in 2008 reached $10.3 trillion and has since tripled to an astonishing $31 trillion.

The writing is on the wall. If a debt crisis explodes, the shockwaves will once again be felt in Europe.

With all the recent predictions of financial crisis, we have to turn to the one source that has proved infallible: the Holy Bible. The late Herbert W. Armstrong wrote in 1984 that a massive banking crisis in America “could suddenly result in triggering European nations to unite as a new world power, larger than either the Soviet Union or the U.S.”

Revelation 17 speaks of Europe’s unification and the rise of 10 authoritarian leaders. The Bible reveals that Europe will respond to crises through closer unity and authoritarian rule. Some 40 years ago, Mr. Armstrong warned it could be triggered by a financial crisis. Are we now on the outskirts of this very crisis?

It is more urgent than ever that you understand these prophecies. For more information, please read “How the Global Financial Crisis Will Produce Europe’s Ten Kings.”