World Cup Highlights a Biblical Prophecy

Last night, the World Cup suddenly shone a bright light on Britain’s remaining sea gates.

[BRIEF]

England was (sadly, for me) defeated by Argentina in the World Cup semifinal. But the Argentine team was obsessed with a much more important conflict, which Britain won: the 1982 Falklands War.

• After the match, some of their players held up a banner saying “Las Malvinas son Argentina” (“The Malvinas are Argentine”), using the Argentine name for the islands.

The Argentine government followed up on the football victory by trying to stir up geopolitical tension. It accused a routine Royal Navy transit of the Strait of Magellan of being “unauthorized and unlawful” in a post right after the game.

• hms Medway left the Falkland Islands to pick up supplies in Chile. Its point of origin gave Argentina a chance to try to make the Falklands controversial again. They are clearly itching for a rematch.

The Falkland Islands are a much richer prize today. In the 1980s, many, even in Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government, thought they weren’t worth defending. Now, around $60 billion of recoverable oil has been discovered in the sea around them.

England would have faced Spain in the World Cup Final had we won the game. Spain covets another British choke point: Gibraltar. This week, it took a major step toward taking ownership. At midnight on July 14, border controls between Gibraltar and Spain ceased. The police and customs posts along the border were demolished. “The last wall in continental Europe has fallen,” gushed Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

• Now Spaniards are free to come and go to Gibraltar. British citizens, meanwhile, must show their passports to Spanish border guards if they fly to what is, in theory, British territory.

“The Union Flag still flies, afternoon tea and Victoria sponge are still served, and it is still easy to find a full English breakfast,” wrote the Telegraph. That’s all well and good, but if Spain controls the entrances and exits, is it still British territory?

Britain used these gates to bring free trade to the world. America has since taken up the baton of keeping open the world’s oceans. The entire world has benefited from these two nations’ efforts.

More importantly, these gates point you to fulfilled prophecy. Nearly 4,000 years ago, God promised the patriarch Abraham spiritual salvation for the whole world through Jesus Christ, who would be born of his line. He also promised Abraham’s descendants national greatness. This separate, physical promise included this detail: The national descendants of Abraham would “possess the gate of his enemies” and “the gate of those which hate them” (Genesis 22:16-18; 24:60).

“A gate is a narrow passage of entrance or exit,” Herbert W. Armstrong explained in The United States and Britain in Prophecy. “When speaking nationally, a ‘gate’ would be such a pass as the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal, the Strait of Gibraltar. … We must look for a people forming more than one nation—yet all one people, children of Abraham—either now or in history who possess the sea gateways of the world, or we must deny the Word of God.”

The Falklands and Gibraltar are just two proofs that God forecast world events millenniums ago and has the power to bring those forecasts to pass.

The Bible also prophesies that Abraham’s descendants will lose these gates if they fail to obey God. Their loss is powerful evidence of the way God is cursing Britain. The results are much more important than a football game. When hostile powers gain control of these gates, they’ll use them to choke their enemies off from world trade. Britain will deeply regret not fighting harder to keep them.

Will the Digital Euro Enable ‘the Mark of the Beast’?

Europe has advanced toward declaring financial independence from the United States—and strengthening its grip on Europeans’ financial lives. On Tuesday, the European Central Bank selected 36 banks and payment companies to participate in a large-scale test of the digital euro.

• The 12-month pilot, scheduled to begin in the second half of 2027, will use a beta version of the digital euro that lacks legal currency status. Its purpose is to refine the design and user experience of the digital euro before a potential eurozone-wide launch in 2029.

The digital euro is being designed to provide people with a simple, free and secure way to make instant payments anywhere in the eurozone. But it’s more, as ecb chief economist Philip Lane has emphasized:

The digital euro is not just about modernizing our monetary system. It is about ensuring that Europe controls its monetary and financial destiny against a backdrop of increasing geopolitical fragmentation.

• In other words, without a digital euro, European companies and consumers would continue to rely heavily on major U.S. payment providers such as Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Apple and Google. With a digital euro, Europeans would be able to declare financial independence from the United States.

But there’s a catch—a big one. This technology comes at a steep price for individual liberty.

• A digital euro would give the European Central Bank and governments far greater control over the economy.
• It would enable authorities to track every transaction in real time, accumulating vast amounts of personal financial data.
• It could also allow governments to directly deposit money into—or confiscate money from—people’s digital wallets, since the ecb would effectively become the ultimate manager of digital savings and payments.

Revelation 17 describes a religious entity that guides an end-time superpower. Revelation 18:3 notes that “the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury” (nkjv), and Revelation 13:17 warns that no one will be able to buy or sell without complying with this system.

• This prophecy may be pointing toward advanced digital currency technology. After all, you cannot fully control buying and selling with physical cash—but a programmable digital euro makes it possible.

Learn more about what the Bible says about the economic powerhouse rising in Europe in Herbert W. Armstrong’s booklet Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast?

U.S. Aims to Challenge China in South China Sea

United States Coast Guard vessels that have patrolled Middle Eastern waters for years are now operating from the Philippines and Singapore, where they are helping push back against China’s relentless drive for maritime dominance, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

• The fleets consist of six 154-foot fast-response cutters. Unlike larger ships, they are designed for lightning-fast deployment and operate in support of the United States military’s Pacific Command.

Broader buildup: The deployment comes as the U.S. strengthens its military posture around the South China Sea region.

• America is also upgrading air bases, testing cutting-edge missile systems, and conducting larger and more complex drills with partner nations, including the Philippines.
• In addition, the uss George Washington, the U.S. Navy’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier, is currently patrolling the Philippine Sea.

China undaunted: This American activity is an effort to persuade China that military action in the region would be too costly. But so far the renewed focus is not deterring the Chinese.

• China continues to militarize artificial islands it illegally built in the South China Sea.
• Its ships routinely harass Philippine vessels heading to military outposts or fisheries, even in waters clearly designated by international law as Philippine.
• They use water cannons and other intimidation tactics to force them back.
• China routinely targets foreign commercial ships off Taiwan’s Pacific coast, an area it has no jurisdiction over.

By all indications, China’s determination to assert control over democratic Taiwan and its environs is intensifying.

America’s efforts to push back against China’s illegal actions, uphold international law and keep the seas open to world trade are commendable. But biblical prophecy shows that they will not be enough.

In his 2016 article “China Is Steering the World Toward War,” Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote:

China is claiming the entire South China Sea as its own!

By building artificial islands atop coral reefs in the Spratlys, and installing surface-to-air missile batteries in the Paracels, China is building a new strategic sea gate. After passing through the Strait of Malacca, oil tankers and other ships pass between the Spratly and Paracel Islands on the way through the South China Sea.

Whoever controls these vital sea gates controls one third of the world’s maritime commerce.

Mr. Flurry’s Bible prophecy-based article remains relevant today. To understand more about China’s plans for the South China Sea in the context of prophecy, read it here.

Germany Quadruples Arms Export Licenses

Germany’s military tech is in high demand, and the nation is rapidly increasing weapons exports. In the first half of 2026, the government has approved four times as many arms exports compared to the same period last year.

• So far it has approved $16 billion worth of arms exports, according to preliminary figures from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs published yesterday.
• These exports are increasingly flowing outside the Continent: The share of military equipment exported to EU or nato members and close allies decreased from 83 percent to around 60 percent. The largest recipients were Ukraine, the United States, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Israel.

Germany is also expanding manufacturing operations beyond its own shores. German drone maker Helsing announced on Tuesday that West Virginia will become the company’s first U.S. manufacturing base.

• The planned facility will produce the HX-2, an advanced, AI-enabled strike drone. Soon German-made drones could be filling America’s sky.

The U.S. is inviting an enemy into its midst. The Bible warns that Germany’s rising military might should concern us all.

IN OTHER NEWS

Israel voted to gut the attorney general’s authority. Voting 61 to 51, Israel’s legislature on Wednesday finalized a law that makes the attorney general’s opinions merely recommendations the government can accept or reject. Previously, the AG, who is appointed by and accountable to the cabinet, could issue legally binding injunctions on the government. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has used this authority to limit the power of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.