‘The World’s Greatest Crisis’
We are only two weeks into 2026 and the year is already off to a tumultuous start. On January 3, United States President Donald Trump woke the world up from its holiday slumber with the dramatic raid to capture Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. Five days later, anti-regime protests in Iran escalated as exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi urged Iranians to rise against the Islamist theocracy. Meanwhile, Russia has stepped up its strikes on Ukraine, and President Trump has threatened to invade Greenland and upend nato if necessary.
Is this building toward a momentous event on or around January 16?
The reason we ask is because this January 16 is the 40th anniversary of the death of Herbert W. Armstrong.
“We are now rapidly approaching the time of the world’s greatest crisis, when this whole man-made civilization will crumble and fall—and a new world of peace and eternal salvation will dawn, at Christ’s soon coming in power and glory! God has decreed that the warning message must now go to the world (Matthew 24:14).” Mr. Armstrong wrote that two months before he died in 1986.
Mr. Armstrong fulfilled the role of the end-time Elijah prophesied by Jesus Christ in Matthew 17:10-11. He preached the “gospel of the kingdom” for “a witness unto all nations” (Matthew 24:14). The Bible specifies that the generation that heard his preaching “shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled” (verse 34).
We truly are plunging into the world’s greatest crisis!
But as Mr. Armstrong taught, Bible prophecy can guide us through, if we will believe and act.
In his book The United States and Britain in Prophecy, Mr. Armstrong noted how “the nations who are Abraham’s racial descendants are to possess the gates of their enemies.” He then recounted how God gave America and Britain all the world’s strategic maritime choke points, and how the success of the Allies in World War ii hinged on these “gates.” This makes the fact that America and Britain are now losing these gates significant.
God warned that if America and Britain refused to obey Him, these same sea gates would be seized by foreign enemies and used against them (Deuteronomy 28:52). This was a keynote prophecy that Mr. Armstrong repeatedly pointed to, a prophecy God has chosen to highlight on the 40th anniversary of his death.
Most of the big crisis points around the world today involve sea gates. The Islamic Republic of Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz and is trying to gain control of the Bab el-Mandeb and the Suez Canal. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has partnered with Communist Cuba to give China and Russia a foothold near the Panama Canal. And the Kingdom of Denmark is working with the German-led European Union to control Greenland.
All of these gates will be used by America’s enemies against this nation, unless the American people turn to God in heartfelt repentance. With this in mind, let’s look at this upcoming weekend.
This Friday, January 16, a bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation is scheduled to arrive in Denmark to assure Danish and Greenlandic officials that U.S. President Donald Trump will not, in fact, seize control of Greenland. The next day, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and representatives from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay will sign the European Union-mercosur trade deal in Paraguay, creating one of the largest trade zones in the world.
We don’t know if anything further will happen in Iran or Venezuela yet, but this weekend is already shaping up to be big for the EU.
“If we don’t take Greenland, Russia or China will,” President Trump told reporters on Air Force One over the weekend. “I’m not going to let that happen. If we don’t take Greenland, Russia or China will take Greenland. … I’d love to make a deal with them, but one way or the other, we are going to have Greenland.”
I have often criticized President Trump for having Peace Derangement Syndrome and living in a fantasy world where everything can be solved with dialogue and compromises. But on this issue, he is speaking from a sense of reality. He recognizes that China and Russia want to seize control of the Arctic, and he recognizes that bold action will be required to stop them. When asked if he was willing to destroy nato over the Greenland issue, he reiterated that he likes nato but worries that nato will not come to America’s defense if needed.
That is a legitimate concern. My father, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry, has said for years that Bible prophecy shows Germany has a secret plan to destroy nato and make a deal with Russia. Prophecies in Isaiah 23 and Ezekiel 27 indicate that China and Russia will join with the EU to economically besiege the United States. Read “Building Toward a World Catastrophe” in his booklet Isaiah’s End-Time Vision for more information.
If America were to have any hope of victory in World War iii as it had in World War ii, it would need the sea gates it possessed in World War ii, including Panama and Greenland. My father has praised President Trump’s desire to reclaim these sea gates, saying, “Donald Trump values what God gave to America. In many ways, he has a similar outlook as President Theodore Roosevelt.” Yet as he has also said, it will take more than valuing them, offering money for them, or even fighting for them to save America from falling.
God promised Abraham that his descendants would “possess the gate of his enemies” (Genesis 22:17). He also warned Moses that if those descendants turned away from His law, their enemies would “besiege thee in all thy gates” (Deuteronomy 28:52). Control of sea gates is not up to President Trump but rather up to God.
This signing on January 17 is an indication from God to Americans that the only way they can regain the sea gates they have lost is to heed the warning message preached by the late Herbert W. Armstrong!
Mr. Armstrong was the end-time Elijah. God sent him to preach the gospel in all nations. If we heed the warnings that God gave through him, we will be blessed. If we reject them, we will be cursed!
President Trump does value what God gave America. He has a similar outlook to Theodore Roosevelt in many ways. But unlike Roosevelt, who was a deeply religious man who strove to obey God to the best of his ability, Trump relies too much on his own strength to accomplish great feats. God has helped him and has used him to save America from the radical left, but now He is allowing “the world’s greatest crisis” to intensify to teach people not to rely on human strength to bring peace.
Watch and see what momentous events happen this weekend.
Request your free copy of January 16: God’s Miracle Day and A Pivotal Sign of the End Time to prove who the end-time Elijah was so you can heed God’s warning message!