United States President Donald Trump has been taking on the world, trying to rectify unfair trade imbalances. However, the market’s reaction quickly showed him that simply strongarming other nations into submission will not work.

“The bond market is very tricky,” President Trump told reporters on April 9. “I was watching it …. I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy.” Traders were “getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid,” he said. “You have to have flexibility.”

Donald Trump has been bracing Americans for uncomfortable times. But what he foresaw just before pausing the tariffs was even too frightening for him.

The Washington Post commented:

President Donald Trump may have brought the world to the brink of a financial crisis before pausing his tariff war on Wednesday, as the $28 trillion market for Treasury bonds displayed unusual strains in the hours before his change of course. … This time, unlike in 2008 and 2020 when the U.S. led the rescue, the government was the cause.

Decades ago, the late Herbert W. Armstrong warned about a global financial crisis triggered by the United States. These recent events showed how this could happen at any time!

America’s financial markets are on shaky ground. One wrong move and the whole financial system could collapse.

In the 2008 banking crisis, the U.S. financial system was saved only by spending huge amounts of money we did not have. This only set us up for an even bigger crisis down the road.

After that scare, what did the U.S. do to correct the problem? Absolutely nothing. Now we have trillions more in debt.

This debt puts the value of the dollar in doubt. The dollar is still used as a reserve currency, but many nations are moving away from it. The more that other countries stop using our currency in world trade, the more the dollar’s value plummets. President Trump’s tariff policy is accelerating this trend.

If the dollar becomes worthless, inflation will skyrocket. Ultimately, Americans will be unable to buy basic things, even food, and cities will erupt in chaos!

We have to mentally prepare ourselves for this outcome. But as dramatic as it will be, the aftereffects will be even more dramatic.

Ripple Effects Across the Atlantic

America’s debt danger is compounded by how it affects Europe. Mr. Armstrong warned in July 1984, “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.”

If this banking system upheld by U.S. debt collapses, Europe’s banks will fall like dominos. Those who want to immunize Europe against the U.S. financial contagion in the current situation cannot do so. That’s because the EU currently has 27 nations, and each nation still retains much of its sovereignty—so passing new financial regulations is extremely difficult.

But a crisis is bound to stimulate major reform. It “could suddenly result in triggering European nations to unite as a new world power, larger than either the Soviet Union or the U.S.,” Mr. Armstrong wrote.

This unification is prophesied in Revelation 17. Verses 12-13 read, “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. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.”

Looking at this prophecy, Mr. Armstrong foresaw that only a severe crisis could bring this prophesied unification of European leaders about as in the days of the Holy Roman Empire. Seeing the interdependence of global banking, Mr. Armstrong foretold a financial crisis. Now, three decades later, Europe’s need to form into a single superpower is greater than ever—and so is the chance of the crisis that will trigger this event.

This unified empire, undoubtedly led by the economically strong Germany, will dramatically change the course of our world.

The Holy Roman Empire has dominated Europe for centuries. Germany attempted to dominate the Continent during World Wars i and ii and make it once again into a great empire. But since then, Europe has been weak and dependent on America financially and militarily.

Today, most people do not fear Europe. 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.

Once Germany has united Europe under its leadership and finished building its military empire, something terrible will happen.

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.” In the short term, the rise of these kings will be even worse than people can anticipate. That is the result of a chain reaction that will be set off largely by a banking crisis—which we are getting a foretaste of in today’s headlines!

However, though the imminent future will be bleak for those who fail to heed God’s warning, as Mr. Armstrong said and as Bible prophecy reveals, these events will actually speed up the return of Jesus Christ!