Germany must work harder and longer to prepare for war. That is the argument made on today’s Machtmenschen (Power People) podcast by the president of the Federal Academy for Security Policy, Maj. Gen. Wolf-Jürgen Stahl. Stahl, who is advocating for compulsory military service and a 48-hour workweek in the armaments industry, said:

We need to do more. And that means we need to invest more time in our security, no ifs, ands or buts. We need to become qualified and ready for action more quickly. How can we achieve this? Once I have the equipment and the personnel, I still need to train them. And I say, if the situation requires it, I’ll just have to work longer hours and train them for longer.

This is not a popular message, and many will resist it. However, leaders of industry and government have recently also advocated for longer work hours to strengthen Germany’s struggling economy. Economic Minister Katherina Reiche said in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in July: “We need to work more and longer.”

This is leading to the fulfillment of a biblical prophecy that implies Germany will enforce a six-day workweek (it will command Sunday rest and likely seventh-day Sabbath work) and become an astonishing military power.

Seeing this revived war machine, people are prophesied to ask: “Who is able to make war with him?” (Revelation 13:4). “[W]hen people see it, they will think that no nation or even alliance of nations could dare make war with this beast power,” Gerald Flurry wrote. Verses 16-17 describe the “mark of the beast,” showing that this military empire is tied to a religious organization. Mr. Flurry explained:

This church-state combine will gain almost total power over people. It enforces its mark. Many people believe that this “mark of the beast” is a physical mark of some kind. But, as Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast? explains in detail, it is a sign—a sign that revolves around the day you worship God.

While Germany is heading toward a six-day workweek, a religious institution will call for people to rest not on the biblical Sabbath that Jesus Christ kept but on Sunday—and it will enforce it with life-and-death consequences. To learn more, read “The Prophetic Beast: Who or What Is It?”