Germany Is Beating ‘Plowshares Into Swords’
“The German economy is currently experiencing a clash between industrial crisis and arms boom,” Germany’s Tagesschau reported on August 12. “Some companies that previously had little to do with the military see this as an opportunity and are now building engines for howitzers instead of trains, for example.”
The article recounts the story of Sebastian C. Schulte, who became ceo of engine manufacturer Deutz AG in Cologne on Feb. 13, 2022. Just 11 days later, Russia attacked Ukraine. “Since then, of course, the world has changed,” Schulte noted.
While his company usually produces motors for tractors, combine harvesters or construction machinery, Schulte wants to increase its defense production from 2 percent to 5 or 10 percent in the coming years. As an example, his company is redesigning a train engine model for howitzers.
“Deutz AG is not alone in this,” Tagesschau commented. “With the German automotive industry struggling, many suppliers in the country are looking for new customers. Industry giant ZF reports higher demand for defense technology.”
“We are planning to expand our activities,” a ZF spokesperson said. “In addition to transmissions, commercial vehicle brakes are also being adapted for military use, for example.”
Porsche
On August 13, Bild reported another more prominent case of the same trend:
Volkswagen’s major shareholder Porsche SE is coming under increasing pressure. The holding company controlled by the Porsche and Piëch families is feeling the effects of the crisis in the automotive industry and is now looking for new business areas beyond traditional mobility. In the future, it plans to invest more heavily in the defense industry. …
The next step: Together with other wealthy families, Porsche SE wants to establish a large investment platform for technology-driven defense companies. The focus is on companies that develop satellite surveillance, sensor and reconnaissance systems, cyber security or military logistics and supply systems. A planned “Defense Day” is intended to establish contacts with German and European family offices (private asset managers of very wealthy families) that are interested in such projects.
The Porsche and Piëch families are part of a group of wealthy families that David de Jong highlighted in Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of Germany’s Wealthiest Dynasties. The history of these companies and their present-day dealings are a sobering reminder of how quickly peaceful Germany can turn into a war machine.
Ferdinand Porsche designed the Volkswagen Beetle upon Adolf Hitler’s request. The Nazi government founded Volkswagen Co. in 1937 with the stated goal of mass producing the car. However, the Volkswagen never became the people’s car that the Nazi leaders promised; instead, production sites were used to produce military vehicles. Porsche continued to work for Hitler and the Nazis, and only after the war ended were his cars sold to civilians.
But this isn’t the full story.
In 1996, the United States government declassified an intelligence document that detailed a 1944 meeting between Nazi leaders and industrialists where they agreed to go underground to keep the Nazi party’s goals alive after the war. As Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry highlighted in “Rising From the German Underground,” Volkswagen was part of that meeting.
Now Volkswagen is returning to its military roots. We explored this trend in greater detail in “German Car Companies Are Back on the War Track.”
The automotive sector is still roughly 10 times the size of the arms industry. This shows Germany’s potential for militarization. Soon the phrase “Made in Germany” may not be famous for cars but for tanks.
Turning ‘Plowshares Into Swords’
The Bible prophesied that civilian manufacturing would be repurposed for warmaking. Joel 3:10 says: “Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.”
In many ways, this is what Germany is doing. Instead of producing tractor motors, Deutz AG is producing more and more howitzers. The time frame of this prophecy is the same as the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord referred to by Jesus Christ in Matthew 24. Repurposing civilian production sites for military purposes is a dangerous sign that we are headed for an explosion of violence.
This prophesied war will bring “great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24:21-22).
The rapid acceleration of arms production, including weapons of mass destruction, brings us closer to the fulfillment of this prophecy. All it takes is one spark to light the fire.
There are also specific prophecies that relate to Germany directly. Isaiah 10 refers to Germany by its ancient name, Assyria, as explained in our booklet Germany and the Holy Roman Empire. This prophecy recounts that God will use Germany as the rod of His anger. However, the prophecy makes clear that God does not condone German warmongering, but shows that He will eradicate this militaristic spirit in Germany and around the world.
It will take God’s intervention to teach mankind that building ever greater military weaponry while allowing hatred to grow is a recipe for disaster. Once this lesson is learned, mankind will “beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Micah 4:3).
Imagine how wonderful it will be when the whole world uses ingenuity in a cooperative spirit guided by God for productive instead of destructive means.
Such a world is coming, as Herbert W. Armstrong explained in The Wonderful World Tomorrow—What It Will Be Like.