America’s Banking Crisis Will Unite Europe

America’s banking system is in serious trouble. Several large banks have failed, causing severe alarm in America and around the world.

People are comparing this to the 2008 banking crisis, when the American financial system came within hours of collapse and was saved only by spending huge amounts of money we did not have. Now we have trillions more in debt, and the system is at risk of a truly catastrophic collapse.

The system will come to ruin. And as the Trumpet has warned for decades, this event will cause Europe to unite into a fearsome superpower!

Since March, the financial system has seen Silvergate Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank fail, and PacWest has come very close to failing. The value of these banks exceeds that of Washington Mutual Bank, which became the largest bank bankruptcy in United States history in 2008.

The failure of American banks affects others as well. For example, Switzerland’s second-largest bank, Credit Suisse, crashed, and the fallout threatens Switzerland’s status as an international banking hub.

What is really happening here?

The New York Times said this financial collapse “changed capitalism.” How so? Governments are intervening at enormous expense, giving them more power over their peoples. The Biden administration is using this crisis to radically change America’s financial system. Few people realize how revolutionary its decision was to bail out rich account holders at Silicon Valley Bank using taxpayer money. The Federal Reserve completely rewrote the rules on bank bailouts. Many people who would normally lose a fortune in a bank collapse were rescued, with money coming from fees charged on everyday bank accounts. Yet the public was not consulted on this decision.

Risky speculation often results in failure—but here the government unilaterally decreed that there would be no consequences for risk-taking. The New York Times called this a “breathtaking leap.” It is a huge incentive for people to devote even more money to even riskier speculation.

If people do not suffer the consequences of their own actions, the only way to stop risky behavior is for the government to step in and regulate the banks more severely. And you can be sure the government will use this power to serve its own ends.

The Federal Reserve also indicated that it will let small banks fail. This means that if you keep your savings in a small bank, you could lose everything. Better to invest in the big banks that the government will rescue. That is just what happened: In the week that Silicon Valley Bank went under, customers withdrew nearly $120 billion from small American banks.

This gives the big banks and the U.S. government far more control. It’s far easier for the government to control and regulate a small number of big banks than a lot of small banks. And many heads of big banks share the same ideological goals as leftist politicians.

Look at how the government has weaponized government agencies like the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. If they get control over the banking system, they can weaponize that too. This is paving the way to tyranny!

God wants us to be able to withstand these threats and solve these problems. We could do so if we would just turn to Him. But we continue to make wrong decisions, ignore our problems, and, most of all, ignore God. This will result in disaster.

It Will Affect Europe

America’s debt danger is compounded by how it affects Europe. The U.S. financial system has a tremendous effect on the European system.

When the U.S. faced collapse in 2008, it would have been a disaster for Europe as well. European governments worked with America to ward off that outcome. But the U.S. is not following the rules that were put in place. This is causing urgency and panic in the European Union. The Financial Times wrote on March 15 that “Europe’s financial regulators are furious” at the way America has behaved. Their rules and banking regulations were already far more stringent than those in America, and they are realizing the need to tighten those rules and make consequences for breaking them even more severe. They also realize that they cannot continue to depend on the U.S.

The late Herbert W. Armstrong warned about this very issue in July 1984. He said: “The whole banking structure in the United States is a network all joined together; but not only that—one nation has to deal with other nations in imports and exports. And so they have to have means of transferring money from one nation to another. And so the banking structure is international and interwoven. … [T]he banking system has become very complex” (emphasis mine).

Paschal Donohoe, president of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, told the Financial Times that “the biggest antidote” to the risk of depending on America was to speed up work on strengthening EU rules for dealing with failing lenders. This is really motivating the Europeans. They see China and Russia and Iran uniting. They see Ukraine being wrecked and possibly completely conquered by Russia. They feel vulnerable. They know they need a strong financial system—not to mention a strong leader and a strong military (article, page 15).

The EU currently includes 27 nations. Each nation still retains much of its sovereignty, so passing new financial regulations is extremely difficult. Those who want to immunize Europe against the U.S. financial contagion cannot do so in the current situation.

But Mr. Armstrong warned that a massive crisis “could suddenly result in triggering European nations to unite as a new world power, larger than either the Soviet Union or the U.S.” (co-worker letter, July 22, 1984). He showed from Bible prophecy that modern Europe will rapidly unite into a superpower greater than even the U.S.!

Intelligence company Stratfor wrote this in March 2009: “Rather than pushing for transnational stimulus or bailouts, Germany is forcing the European Union into a common position on financial regulation. … Put another way, instead of mitigating the ongoing recession, Germany is attempting to extend its own financial system, writ large, over all of Europe.” After 2008, this started to happen. The Germans rewrote the rules of finance. These states have become utterly dependent on Germany for their livelihood.

What we are watching unfold is exactly what Mr. Armstrong warned of 40 years ago. (The man who founded Stratfor was one of the millions who was familiar with Mr. Armstrong and the Bible prophecies he taught.) I have mentioned several times over the years that this prophesied banking crisis was one of the greatest personal prophecies Mr. Armstrong ever made.

The second part of that prophecy is even more stunning: He believed the banking crisis would cause 10 kings, prophesied in Revelation 17, to unite as a superpower!

Mr. Armstrong knew from the Bible that the European power would be great, would have 10 kings, and would shock the world with its sudden rise to dizzying power. And he was looking for a banking crisis in America to trigger it.

An Empire Rises

Europe has built great empires in the past. Germany attempted to dominate the Continent during World Wars i and ii and make it into a great empire. But since then, Europe has been weak and dependent on America financially and militarily. Many people do not fear Europe right now.

This is about to change!

Certain political leaders will work to manipulate this financial crisis to their own devious ends. Such manipulation has happened repeatedly because these financial mechanisms are so complex that most people don’t understand them.

Mr. Armstrong also said this in 1984: “In London, the economic conference was on while we were there; that is a summit conference of the major powers. And I can tell you now that I learned things while in London that have alarmed me very greatly! And I can see now the event that is going to trigger the formation of reunification in Europe, the resurrection of the medieval Holy Roman Empire that we’ve been looking forward to that is prophesied to come” (sermon, July 7, 1984).

Bible prophecy and world history reveal a fearsome empire that has risen, fallen and revived throughout the centuries: the Roman Empire. This empire is revealed in passages like Daniel 2 and Revelation 13. The rulers of the last six resurrections of the Roman Empire have been directed by the Catholic Church—the Holy Roman Empire—symbolized by a beast with seven heads in Revelation 17.

Each of the six resurrections of the Holy Roman Empire had been terribly destructive. Mr. Armstrong talked a lot about this medieval empire. He knew how horrifying it was when European nations combined their financial and military strength under one religion. Revelation 17 says 10 kings will unite to resurrect this old empire. This seventh and final resurrection is prophesied to be more destructive than all the previous six!

This European empire is going to drag the world into an unparalleled holocaust. Jesus Christ prophesied what would happen in a.d. 70 when Jerusalem was destroyed (Matthew 24:15-20)—and that was only a forerunner of what is about to strike the world on a much greater scale! (verses 21-22). The disasters, suffering, starvation and worse that America, Britain and Israel’s ancestors suffered in ancient Israel when they were conquered by foreign empires is a type of what this financial collapse in America is leading to!

Add to the banking crisis the fact that, because of America’s addiction to debt, the dollar is already losing value rapidly. It is still used as a reserve currency, but many nations are moving away from it. Russia and China are trading with each other using the Chinese currency. The more that other countries stop using our currency in world trade, the more the dollar’s value will plunge. Ultimately, Americans will be unable to buy basic things, even food, and cities will erupt in chaos! (See page 20.)

And these horrors are just the prophesied beginning of nuclear war!

Nuclear bombs today have some 500 times the destructive power of the atomic bomb America dropped on Hiroshima! What will happen when modern empires start using these and other terrible weapons?

Jesus Christ prophesied that this end-time conflict between great powers would become so intense that there would be “no flesh saved alive” if God didn’t intervene (Matthew 24:21-22; Moffatt translation). Nobody would be left alive. Look at the state of affairs today and you can see mankind moving quickly in that direction! There is no hope—no future—in this world. Humanly, mankind is beyond saving!

Mr. Armstrong wrote that the sudden rise of the 10 kings “could bring on the Great Tribulation suddenly. And that will lead quickly into the Second Coming of Christ and end of this world as we know it” (co-worker letter, op cit). The rise of these kings will be even worse than people today can anticipate. That is the end result of a chain reaction that will be set off largely by the very banking crisis we see in our headlines today!

Thankfully, the global war and suffering will end before mankind wipes himself out. By a miracle of God, the return of Jesus Christ will save humanity alive. All these problems and financial crises will conclude in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the Messiah! The frightening events you see will end in the most wonderful news you could ever imagine.

This recent crisis will actually speed up this very event! It will help the European nations pare down from 27 nations to 10 kings as Revelation 17 prophesies. You are about to see that happen. It is already unfolding just as Mr. Armstrong said it would!