Germany overtook Japan to become the world’s largest creditor nation, according to data released by Japan on Tuesday. Japan overtook Germany for the title in 1991 and held it until this week.

Germany holds $3.99 trillion in net external assets (the value of assets, minus the value of debts owed to the rest of the world). Being the world’s largest creditor—or kredit-weltmeiser—means German businesses and individuals own shares in foreign companies, invest in factories and other projects abroad, and loan money to foreign governments and businesses.

Germany exports a lot more to the world than it imports, meaning it generates a large surplus of foreign currencies, which it spends abroad. It’s also seen as a sign of a lack of confidence in the domestic economy: Germans would rather invest overseas than at home.

But it means that Germany plays a major role in global economics and is an important source of investment around the world as German businesses buy up chunks of foreign competitors. It also brings risks on Germany. It has invested heavily on China, for example; if it angers China, will it be able to get that money back?

But for Germany, the power and influence that comes with this position is worth the risks. Few realize it, but this global dominance is no accident.

Herbert W. Armstrong forecast in 1945 that Germany would rise from the ashes of World War ii and become a dominant economic, and then military, power.

“What most do not know,” said Mr. Armstrong, “is that the Germans have their plans for winning the battle of the peace. Yes, I said battle of the peace.”

Twenty years ago we commented:

Peaceably, through corporate mergers and acquisitions, German corporations are reaching out beyond the borders of Germany to gain control of strategic industry. Even Germany’s most notorious World War ii companies, which were severely disassembled and banned from future arms production by the Allies, have emerged as European and global leaders.

The article stated that “this time Germany will not have to first fight to control Europe. Europe will find itself under Germany’s economic control ….”

“[T]he borrower is servant to the lender,” states Proverbs 22:7. And by this method of calculating, Germany is the world’s largest lender.

Of course, it’s not just lending—it’s also buying up other businesses and seizing business opportunities in other countries. This new title of kredit-weltmeiser is an indication of how successful Germany has been. Central and Eastern Europe are thoroughly integrated into the German economy. Skoda—owned by Germany’s Volkswagen—is the Czech Republic’s largest company and the second-largest in the region. Slovakia’s largest business is Volkswagen Slovakia. Hungary’s third-largest is Audi Hungary. Even many companies not owned by German businesses feed into the German supply chain.

In 1944, Nazi leaders and German businessmen gathered to strategize how to win this “battle of the peace.” Representatives of companies like Krupp, Messerschmitt, Volkswagenwerk and Rheinmetall were told: “Existing financial reserves in foreign countries must be placed at the disposal of the party so that a strong German empire can be created after the defeat,” according to a United States intelligence document declassified in 1996. Other highlights from the document include:

• “Each industrialist must make contacts and alliances with foreign firms, but this must be done individually and without attracting any suspicion.”
• “[T]he Nazi Party stands behind the industrialists and urges them to save themselves by getting funds outside Germany and at the same time advance the party’s plans for its postwar operations.”
• “From now on, the government would allocate large sums to industrialists so that each could establish a secure postwar foundation in foreign countries.”

Now Germany has unique global clout thanks to businesses doing exactly that.

Its industry has repeatedly played a vital role in establishing German power. Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in 2022:

For centuries, German industry and the German empire have worked hand in glove. The contributions Germany’s trade and industry have made to German power are so critical that when the Second Reich was established in 1871, the flag of the new German empire paid tribute to it. This flag—still seen at far-right rallies today—combined the flag of the German state of Prussia with that of the Hanseatic League, a trading network centered on Germany that began in 1241 and held its last meeting in 1669. …

The idea that the German empire and German business prosperity go hand in glove became deeply rooted in the German people. It found its most public expression in 1891, when leading German industrialists founded the Pan-German League. Its slogan was “Deutschland über alles”—“Germany over all.” And as the 1965 edition of the Ambassador College Bible Correspondence Course states, “They utilized the trademark ‘Made in Germany’ as proof of German superiority. Behind their commercial and business methods was a central, permanent strategy—with the goal of conquering the world! It was they who were largely responsible for inducing the kaiser to enter World War i.”

The success of German business became “a powerful source of national pride that inspired a patriotic unity in many Germans,” writes Katja Hoyer in her book Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire. Germany developed “a powerful economic backbone that drove the clamor for expansion.” These businessmen believed they could help Germany dominate the world, and that this domination would bring them great profit. Even more, the league believed that Germans were a “superior race” and wanted to stop them from mixing with inferior people, especially Jews.

Germany lost World War i, but these beliefs were not defeated. These business leaders went on to back and finance the Nazi Party.

Some business leaders backed Adolf Hitler very early. One of Germany’s richest men, Ernst Borsig met Hitler in 1921 and began fundraising for him. Gen. Erich Ludendorff was a member of the Nazi Party who backed Hitler. Industrialist Fritz Thyssen met Hitler in 1923 and also began supporting him.

The support for Hitler was effectively a continuation of the policies of the Pan-German League. Emil Kirdorf, the “Chimney Baron” whose company operated Europe’s largest coal-mining operation, was an early member of the Pan-German League who went on to support Hitler. He joined the Nazi Party in 1927 and invited Hitler to give a lecture to other industry leaders at his house. He introduced Hitler to other senior business leaders, and he bailed Hitler out when he ran into personal financial trouble.

In the critical 1932 election, Lufthansa lent Hitler an airplane free of charge, enabling the aspiring politician to travel far more easily than any other candidate.

Germany’s business dealings are once again buying the nation global success.

Herbert W. Armstrong had no direct knowledge of the 1944 business meeting and other secret Nazi plans. But he knew the Bible, where this German revival is prophesied.

Daniel 2 and 7 and Revelation 13 and 17 give an overview of world history—in advance. These passages describe a European empire that rises and falls repeatedly. Revelation 17:8 states: “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, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.” One decade the empires are there, the next it is not—it’s underground, but planning to come right back up. Revelation 18 goes on to refer to the “the merchants of the earth” backing and growing rich from this superpower.

Commerce and industry will play a key role in helping Germany dominate the world. The fact that Germany is once again the world’s largest creditor nation shows how close we are to this happening.

To learn more, read Mr. Flurry’s article “Rising From the German Underground.”