In Berlin, standing derelict, almost ignored, is a surviving fragment of the Berlin Wall. This monument, which I visited last October, was part of the Communists’ Iron Curtain dividing Europe in two. Today, that barrier is long gone, and residents and tourists cross back and forth as if Berlin’s division never happened—an almost forgotten memory, like the ruined wall itself.

I noticed among the wall’s graffiti, in big letters, the word WHY.

One of Herbert W. Armstrong’s greatest forecasts was that communism would fall in Eastern Europe, leading to the reunification of Germany and its dominance of Europe. A Berliner friend of mine once said, “If you told me in 1988 that the wall would fall next year, I wouldn’t have believed you.” Yet in 1989, nearly four years after Mr. Armstrong died, it happened. Today, communism is gone, East and West Germany are one, and Berlin is the reunited capital of Europe’s unofficial leader. Mr. Armstrong’s forecast has been vindicated.

Maybe you are one of those people who has seen Mr. Armstrong’s Bible-based forecasts come to pass in Germany or elsewhere. Perhaps you are convinced Mr. Armstrong was right about Bible prophecies of world events—including the prophecies that Germany will ignite a world crisis that Jesus Christ called the “great tribulation” (Matthew 24:21-22).

Yet one big question still needs to be answered. It’s the same question the Berlin Wall still asks these decades later: Why?

Do you know why that wall fell—and why other prophecies were recorded and are being fulfilled? Ezekiel 20:33 answers: “As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you.” God directs world events so mankind can ultimately be reconciled with Him under His rule.

Mr. Armstrong taught that the same God who reveals the outcome of world events also reveals His law and government, and commands us to believe and obey Him. He also taught that God allows and even orchestrates events like the Great Tribulation as the direct consequence of and punishment for rebellion.

Mr. Armstrong’s decades-long ministry taught much more than prophecy and geopolitics. He taught, from the Bible, about the nature of God, how to build an active relationship with Him, how to apply His laws to have happy families and rewarding relationships, how to solve our spiritual problems. He taught about God’s purpose for creating human beings and His ultimate plan for mankind and the universe. He taught a wonderful, practical way of life, straight from Scripture.

If you saw the Berlin Wall fall and other prophecies fulfilled, you may be convinced Mr. Armstrong was a prophet of God. But if you haven’t let these events lead you to letting God rule your life, why? If you, like those Berliners I walked past, keep doing what you are doing while letting the memories of fulfilled prophecy rot like the Berlin Wall today, why?

Mr. Armstrong’s most-requested book during his lifetime was The United States and Britain in Prophecy. That book explains through Bible prophecy why the United States and Britain became superpowers, why their power is being stripped away, and why the Great Tribulation is coming.

A student of Bible prophecy must not be a passive observer. Understanding the book puts an obligation on the reader. Mr. Armstrong laid out the conditions for receiving God’s protection: “But if you—you now reading this, you as an individual—will be corrected, voluntarily, before God lets this indescribably horrendous chastening strike; if you come to real repentance, realizing how terribly wrong you have been; if you can see yourself as you really are—as a rebellious, wrong, evil person; and if you can surrender to the loving, all-merciful, yet all-powerful God—and make it an unconditional surrender, coming to Almighty God through the living Jesus Christ as personal Savior—then no plague shall come near you! (Psalm 91:8-11), but you shall be accounted worthy to escape all these frightful things and to stand before Christ at His return (Luke 21:35-36).

“Those in the true Body of Christ shall be taken to a place of safety, until this Tribulation be over (Revelation 3:10-11, applying to those faithful in God’s work now going to the world; Revelation 12:14; Isaiah 26:20).

“But you must make your own decision—and to neglect doing so is to have made the wrong decision!”

If you know that the fall of the Berlin Wall is fulfilled prophecy, then you know the Bible’s prophecies of the Great Tribulation will also be fulfilled. What is stopping you from letting these fulfilled prophecies inspire change in your life—from committing yourself to God’s work?

The Apostle Paul wrote: “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light” (Romans 13:11-12).

The time to awake is now. The Berlin Wall’s ruins are proof that Bible prophecy will be fulfilled. Will you let this knowledge change your life—before it is too late?