The Middle East has been called the world’s powder keg. This region is a volatile mix of history, culture, trade, religion and constant conflict. Wars have been fought between tribes, nations and great empires. Today, world powers are again heavily involved in advancing their interests in the region. They fear what will happen if the oil stops pumping and the tanker ships stop moving. A disruption in energy exports from the Middle East would start major chain reactions around the globe, upsetting situations inside of nations and relationships between nations.

The Middle East is already smoldering with terrorism, proxy conflicts and wars. The right spark would ignite a conflict that would engulf the world.

But there is an even more important reason why you should watch developments in the Middle East very closely: Bible prophecy.

The Bible describes a major power called “the king of the south” that will spark an enormous clash that chain-reacts into global warfare far worse than World War i and World War ii combined!

Here is what I wrote in the Philadelphia Trumpet in “King of the South—Is He Now on the World Scene?”: “Herbert W. Armstrong prophesied for decades that we should focus on the Middle East. That is where the world order would begin to unravel—triggering World War iii!”

Mr. Armstrong recognized a truth that most other Christians ignore: The Bible is filled with prophecy—about a third of all scriptures are prophetic. Jesus Christ was a prophet. And these forecasts of the future that He and other prophets made are amazingly detailed. More than that, they are amazingly accurate!

The Bible challenges those who read it to test its prophecies—all of which are thousands of years old—against history. If you accept this challenge, you will find that not one single Bible prophecy has been wrong! But some are yet to be fulfilled, which makes prophecies like the one involving the king of the south very intriguing and very urgent.

Mr. Armstrong correctly identified “the king of the north” of Bible prophecy, as well as Assyria, Babylon, Gog and Magog; symbols of prophecy like the figure in Daniel 2 and the beasts in Daniel 7, Revelation 13, Revelation 17 and elsewhere; and crucially, the modern nations represented in Bible prophecy by the terms Ephraim, Manasseh, Jacob, Israel, Jerusalem and Judah. You can read about these by requesting a free copy of his book The United States and Britain in Prophecy.

Mr. Armstrong also correctly taught that the Soviet Union would not attack the United States, that East Germany and West Germany would reunite, that a “United States of Europe” would form, that Britain would leave the European bloc, that the Roman Catholic Church would revive in power, that Russia and China would form an alliance, that Japan would militarize, that the U.S. economy and especially the dollar would become fatally vulnerable, that America and Britain would lose their strategic overseas possessions, and that America had won its last war. We have spelled out the fulfillment of all these prophecies in our booklet He Was Right, also free upon request.

He also correctly taught that Bible prophecy revolves around the city of Jerusalem and the Middle East. He correctly taught that the Arabs are among the descendants of Ishmael, whom God prophesied would be a “wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s against him …” (Genesis 16:12). This perfectly describes the present and the past history of the Arab peoples and their interactions with other peoples and nations.

Knowing that 90 percent of Bible prophecy is for the end time, Mr. Armstrong also looked for the identity of the king of the south of Daniel 11:40: “And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.”

As I wrote in that Trumpet article, Mr. Armstrong taught from the Bible “an outline of prophecy that has been fulfilled precisely. However, his understanding of the king of the south was incomplete. Partly because he couldn’t see what we see today, Mr. Armstrong erred about when this king would appear on the world scene. …

“Egypt was the king of the south in past history. But who is this mysterious man and nation today? This king is a key player in the book of Daniel—and at the very end time.”

Mr. Armstrong thought Daniel 11:40 occurred in World War ii and expected the global war prophesied in the Bible to occur during his lifetime. A number of prophecies were fulfilled or began to be fulfilled before he died in 1986, but some did not click into place until after his death, and some still have yet to unfold.

The rise of the king of the south is one of these prophecies that was revealed after Mr. Armstrong died. Yet this understanding is still consistent with the correct overall outline of prophecy that he received and taught.

In that Trumpet article, I emphasized the phrase “push at him” in Daniel 11:40: It indicates a violent action that directly causes a counterattack that is like a “whirlwind.” I wrote, “The big question is when did the king of the south push at the king of the north, or the Holy Roman Empire—in the recent past? … From [the unification of Italy in] 1870 to the present, no king of the south pushed at the king of the north! … No such push has caused the king of the north to respond in kind—yet! But the stage is being set—right now—for this to occur!”

Only God can reveal the meaning of Bible prophecy. He did so through Mr. Armstrong with many prophecies that other churches never taught correctly or at all. But God waited until after Mr. Armstrong was gone to make clear the timing of the king of the south prophecy. And He did so through the work that kept alive the same message and prophecy that Mr. Armstrong had taught. This was not just Herbert W. Armstrong’s interpretation of prophecy: This is God’s interpretation, which He reveals to His servants.

Later in that article, I wrote, “So we see that Daniel 11:40 through Daniel 12:13 comprises the ‘time of the end.’ It is all triggered by the king of the south! It doesn’t have to be Saddam Hussein—though it could very well be. Even if it isn’t Saddam Hussein, the king of the south shall rise in that part of the world—and soon! Oil and money gives the king of the south power to ‘push.’”

I wrote this in the very first year of the Philadelphia Trumpet, 1990, when it was a rudimentary black-and-white publication of only 12 pages and perhaps a few hundred subscribers. God was continuing His Work of prophecy with a key piece of knowledge about the king of the south prophecy in Volume 1, Issue 5!

At that time, journalists, analysts, war planners and politicians were focusing on Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. After fighting an eight-year war with Iran through the 1980s, Hussein attacked Kuwait in 1990. In the following issue of the Trumpet, I wrote that Iraq appeared to be fulfilling that role, but also stated, “The king of the south still hasn’t applied the ‘push’ of Daniel 11:40.”

In the July 1992 Trumpet, I returned to the subject of the king of the south. The Islamic Republic of Iran had reportedly obtained or tried to obtain nuclear weapons from another Islamic nation, the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan. I wrote: “Much of the world is unaware of what a powerful and dangerous force the Islamic camp is becoming. …

“The king of the south could rule Iraq or Iran or both countries. But it is looking more now like Iran may produce this king. Here is what the Islamic Affairs Analyst of May 13, 1992, said (emphasis mine): ‘The main strategic aim of Iran is to dominate the Persian Gulf and environs. An important step in achieving this goal is to gain undisputed leadership of the radical Islamic camp. …’ It looks very much like the end-time king of the south will rule the radical Islamists! Iran is a natural leader for many of them today. Iran also has a goal to lead this group.”

It was 1992. This was almost a decade before the 9/11 radical Islamist attacks, more than two decades before the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear compromise, and three decades prior to the current situation with Iran—a very different world in which Iran is now infamous, consolidating its leadership over radical Islam, and working to build its own nuclear weapons.

Iran now has strong influence over several other important Islamic nations. In December 1994, I wrote a Trumpet article titled “Is Iraq About to Fall to Iran?” which stated: “The most powerful Arab country in the Middle East is Iran. Can you imagine the power they would have if they gained control of Iraq, the second-largest oil-producing country in the world? If so, there seems to be little doubt that Iran would lead the king of the south (Daniel 11:40).”

In 2003, Saddam Hussein fell to the second invasion of Iraq by the United States. And in the aftermath, Iraq fell to Iran.

Bible prophecy is alive! God has recorded the future of nations and empires in the pages of His Word, and He reveals what these prophecies mean—in a way you can prove and understand—to those willing to humble themselves, read the prophecies, watch world events, and accept the truth.

Nothing helps us understand events in the world around us like biblical prophecy. God recorded and preserved a great many prophecies, and He brings them to pass (Isaiah 46:9-10). He does this for our benefit—to make clear the fact that He is alive, and that He “ruleth in the kingdom of men” (Daniel 4:17).

Most of the prophecy in the Bible relates to “the time of the end”—that is, the time just before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. We are living in this time right now.

One crucial prophecy we must watch for is found in Daniel 11:40: “And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.”

The Prophet Daniel recorded this about 2,500 years ago. As I will explain, this passage describes in detail the major powers that would dominate the Middle East—then, over the course of four centuries, this prophecy was fulfilled! It is astonishing proof of God’s power and of the accuracy of biblical prophecy.

In verse 40, though, we read of a part of this prophecy that remains to be fulfilled “at the time of the end.” Compare what the Bible forecast with history and with current events, and you will realize that this end-time period is the modern era.

“The king of the north” and “the king of the south” are two great powers prophesied to clash in this end time. So God intends that we know who they are.

Both of these powers are rising rapidly on the world scene right now. This clash will shake the world as never before. In fact, it will lead to World War iii!

Do you know the identity of these “kings”? It is critical that you do! They play crucial roles in events that will ring down the curtain on the age of man.

The Time of the End

Consider the expression “time of the end.” That, Daniel 11:40 reveals, is when the king of the north and the king of the south arise and clash. Daniel 12:4 also mentions the “time of the end.” So too does verse 9: “And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.”

The phrase “time of the end” in these three verses comes from the same Hebrew words. Daniel 11:40 begins an end-time story flow that continues through chapter 12. Daniel 12:1 discusses “at that time.” What time? “The time of the end” spoken of in Daniel 11:40. “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book” (Daniel 12:1). At that time, there is unparalleled world cataclysm, and God’s people are delivered from this Great Tribulation. So this is a “now” prophecy!

Verse 9 tells us the time of the end began when the meaning of Daniel’s prophecies was revealed. This has happened! It happened in God’s true Church, led for decades by Herbert W. Armstrong until he died in 1986. (Read about this in our free book Raising the Ruins.) God revealed the profound prophetic meaning of Daniel’s major prophecies to Mr. Armstrong. After he died, God has revealed many more specifics of Daniel’s book to the Philadelphia Church of God.

So the king of the south must arise and “push” at the king of the north after the meaning of Daniel’s prophecy was revealed in this end time. We are in that time now. You can know the identity of these two pivotal “kings” in end-time prophecy.

To understand the identity of these kings, let’s examine their history.

History of Two Kings

The relevant history is found in the scriptures leading up to the end of Daniel 11.

The context is revealed in Daniel 10:1, which says that God gave Daniel this prophecy in the third year of the reign of King Cyrus of the Persian Empire, which was around 555 b.c. A “man”—probably the archangel Gabriel (Daniel 9:21)—describes events to occur “in the latter days” (Daniel 10:14).

Daniel 11:2-3 read: “And now will I shew thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia [after Cyrus]; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia. And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will.”

These prophesied events occurred hundreds of years later, but now this is all history. Mr. Armstrong accurately explained it in his booklet The Middle East in Prophecy. Here is what he wrote concerning these verses: “Actually there were 12 more kings in the Persian Empire, but only the first four following Cyrus were of importance for the purpose of this prophecy. They were Cambyses, pseudo-Smerdis, Darius and Xerxes. It was the last, or Xerxes, who was the richest of all and stirred up war with Greece.

“Then King Philip of Macedonia planned a great war to conquer the Persian Empire, with an army made up mostly of Grecians. He died before the plans were completed. But his son, Alexander the Great, took over his plans and invaded Persia. He met the Persian army at the Battle of Issus, 333 b.c. (Daniel 8:2, 5-6). Then he swept down into Egypt, and then to a final crushing defeat of the Persian Empire at the Battle of Arbela, 331 b.c., after which Alexander marched on a conquest clear to India, sweeping all before him.”

Daniel 11:4 continues the story: “And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those.” This prophecy came to pass with perfect accuracy and great drama.

George Rawlinson explained in his authoritative book A Manual of Ancient History, “Cut off unexpectedly in the vigor of early manhood [at age 33 in June 323 b.c.], he [Alexander] left no inheritor, either of his power or of his projects.”

Mr. Armstrong continued: “The empire was left leaderless and in confusion, but out of this emerged, by the year 301 b.c., four divisions, just as prophesied, as a result of a division of the empire into four divisions by Alexander’s generals. They were: 1) Ptolemy (Soter), ruling Egypt, part of Syria, and Judea; 2) Seleucus (Nicator), ruling Syria, Babylonia and territory east to India; 3) Lysimachus, ruling Asia Minor; 4) Cassander, ruling Greece and Macedonia. Thus was the prophecy of verse 4 fulfilled to the letter.

“Now notice what follows. From here the prophecy foretells the activities only of two of these four divisions: Egypt, [anciently] called ‘king of the south’ because it is south of Jerusalem; and the Syrian kingdom, [anciently] the king of the north, just north of Judea” (emphasis mine throughout).

Today I believe that much of the king of the south’s territory will be south of Jerusalem, but not all, as I will explain in this booklet. But all of it is south of the end-time king of the north.

“It is because the Holy Land passed back and forth between those two divisions,” Mr. Armstrong wrote, “and because their different wars were principally over possession of Judea, that the prophecy is concerned with them.”

Mr. Armstrong said of these two kings that “their different wars were principally over possession of Judea”—the land called Israel today. And it appears they go to war again over the land of Judah, specifically Jerusalem.

During the Crusades, Jerusalem was always the main prize. This city is of supreme religious importance to Jews, Christians and Muslims. The so-called Christian Crusades were really Catholic crusades. The Roman Catholics generally clashed with Muslim armies.

It is important that we understand this history. It is about to be repeated! After prophecy, history is our next indication of what the future holds.

Anciently, Jerusalem was the capital of Israel—that is, all 12 tribes of Israel. That means that in the end-time prophecies that speak of “Jerusalem,” the United States and Britain are included. The British peoples (biblical Ephraim), America (biblical Manasseh) and the Jewish nation in the Middle East (biblical Judah) are all prophesied to fall at the same time (Hosea 5:5).

Prophecy shows that shortly after the king of the north conquers the king of the south, its ambition will grow beyond simply conquering Jerusalem. (Read about this in our free booklet Jerusalem in Prophecy.)

The King of the North Today

Here is how these two kings came into being anciently: “In history, we learn that the original Ptolemy i, called Soter, became strong and powerful, developing Egypt [anciently, the king of the south] beyond the greatest dreams of Alexander,” Mr. Armstrong explained. “One of his princes, or generals, Seleucus Nicator, also became strong and powerful. And in 312 b.c., taking advantage of Ptolemy’s being tied up in a war, he established himself in Syria and assumed the diadem [crown] as king [anciently, the king of the north]” (ibid).

It is important to note, briefly, that there is another dimension—a spiritual dimension—to this prophecy. You can see this in verses 34 and 35 of Daniel 11, which advance the time frame toward the present day: “Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries. And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.” “Some of them of understanding” is referring to God’s own people—saints in the New Testament Church who “fall.” Mr. Armstrong explained, “Here is described in general the whole course of God’s people, from the days of Christ to the present. Compare with such passages as Revelation 12:6, 11, 13‑17. And notice the vision carries on down to this present time of the end.” Daniel 11:36 describes this spiritual dimension in even greater detail: “And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.” This all has a tragic spiritual fulfillment in the true Church of God in this end time. I explain all of this in my free booklet Daniel—Unsealed at Last!, especially in Chapter 5.

Yet regarding this prophecy’s physical end-time fulfillment, Mr. Armstrong made this crucial point: “The king of the north—who is he, now in the early and middle New Testament times, to which our prophecy has come? In 65 b.c., Syria was swallowed up by the Roman Empire and became a Roman province. The Roman emperor now controlled Judea, and therefore the king of the north, here referred to, is, at this time, the emperor of the Roman Empire.”

This is a critical piece of the puzzle. The Bible prophesies of 10 resurrections of this Roman Empire, the last seven of which are guided by the Roman Catholic Church. (We explain this in our free booklet Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast? and our free book The Holy Roman Empire in Prophecy.) History shows that all but one of these resurrections have already come and gone. The last resurrection is nearly upon us!

This fits perfectly with the statement in Daniel 12:1 about unparalleled global cataclysm. It connects with many other biblical prophecies about this coming Great Tribulation—sparked by this king of the north! The “time of the end” discussed in Daniel 11:40 through chapter 12 involves the king of the north, which is the seventh and final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire. This European “king” will inflict that tribulation on the nations of biblical Israel (primarily the U.S., Britain and the Jewish state in the Middle East).

So much of the prophecy recorded in Daniel 11 has already been fulfilled—and in astonishing detail! Verse 40, however, skips to the present day: “And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him ….”

This refers to a king of the south in our day.

The king of the north is comprised of several nations, led by one nation, Germany. It makes sense that the king of the south would have a similar composition.

Who is this “king” that rules a collection of people, south of Europe, and that has the character to push and provoke a catastrophic war? We will also look at other details in prophecy showing that this “king” will ally with Egypt, Libya and Ethiopia, and not with Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. This means that the king of the south could not be any of these other nations. Other prophecies reveal what these powers will do in the latter days, during the same period that the king of the south is pushing against the king of the north. So none of these nations can be the king of the south.

When you carefully analyze world events and compare them to the end-time prophecies scattered throughout your Bible, you can piece together the truth about this modern king of the south—and who that king is.

More and more, it is becoming undeniably clear that the king of the south is Iran!

Since the early 1990s, we have believed and taught that Iran would lead the radical Islamist world and be the king of the south. Today in the Middle East, Iran is “king”!

The Root of Terrorism

History teaches us some powerful lessons, especially about our future—if we are willing to learn.

When Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi led Iran beginning in 1941, he was a strong ally of America. Over time, our liberal press and politicians thought he was too undemocratic, so they helped drive him from power. As he was falling, America gave him little to no support.

Then in 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini overthrew the shah in the Iranian Revolution. He supported the crisis in which 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days by militants who supported the revolution. Khomeini sought to export the Islamist revolution and transform the Middle East; he called it a “revolution without borders,” united under the leadership of the new theocratic state in Iran. In pursuing this aim, he established Iran as the world’s number one state sponsor of terrorism.

History shows how Islamic extremism and terrorism can dramatically change the politics within a country. One telling example occurred in Egypt, where one assassination turned the course of the entire Middle East!

A few years before the fall of the shah of Iran, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was the warrior leader of Egypt and of the Middle East. He was the key leader of the Arab world in the 1973 Yom Kippur War against the Jews.

But then the world—especially the Arab world—was shocked: About the time Iran’s shah fell, Sadat was becoming an astounding peacemaker. He enraged Arab radicals by speaking at the Jewish Knesset (parliament).

One man was literally swinging the Middle East toward peace with the West. But he was working against the tide of radical Islam being promoted by Khomeini.

It is interesting that Mr. Armstrong visited with two Egyptian presidents: Sadat and Hosni Mubarak. He gave both men a strong warning that we would not have peace until Allah—God—gives it to us!

In 1979, Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes interviewed Ayatollah Khomeini (who had come to power that year). He told the ayatollah that Sadat had called him a “lunatic.”

Within two years, President Sadat was assassinated! That is the kind of power the leader of radical Islam has.

America and the world allowed this evil power to flourish in the Middle East. Now terrorism is rampant around the world! America didn’t have the will to stop such state-sponsored madness when it would have been relatively easy to do so.

When the Sadat assassination occurred, Mr. Armstrong said it was a turning point in Middle East history! That was almost an understatement. But virtually nobody in the media recognized what a world-changing event that was! Perhaps they refused to see it.

Iran’s terrorist network was working frighteningly well.

President Sadat was in the process of changing the Middle East for the good of the world. He took a stand against many of his own people and the Arab world to make peace with Israel. He proved to be a truly great man by putting the interests of the world and Egypt above his personal safety. Had the leaders of the U.S. and Britain demonstrated such courage, they would have dealt with Iran then. But because of America’s weakness, the Middle East began to look to the king of terror for leadership. It all happened because of American, British and Israeli cowardice.

Only after it was too late did some observers begin to see what a terrible mistake liberals had made in assisting the shah’s downfall. More than any other nation (apart from Iran itself), America is responsible for the ushering in of Khomeini. Our weakness could prove to be the most catastrophic foreign-policy disaster of the 20th century!

Taking Over the Region

After Khomeini’s death in 1989, his successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has ruled ever since, oversaw an intensification of Iran’s international network of terrorism. As this was occurring in the 1990s, America’s leaders did almost nothing to combat it. In 1994, U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher correctly called Iran “the world’s most significant state sponsor of terrorism.” But how pathetic to make such a statement and do nothing about it!

Just how much of a superpower is America? America has known for decades now who “the world’s most significant state sponsor of terrorism” is. But it lacks the will to hold Iran accountable for its terrorist acts of war. And the U.S. “superpower” allows Iran to continue sponsoring violent terrorism to this day.

After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America, the U.S. targeted Afghanistan, then Iraq. Both of these campaigns absorbed an enormous amount of America’s resources in its “war on terror.” But where did all this world terrorism begin? Iraq and Afghanistan may be dangerous parts of the equation, but they are not the head of the terrorist snake.

It is not enough to destroy the branches of terrorism. To deal with the problem, America should have pulled the terrorist tree up by its roots. That would be Iran! Yet rather than confronting Iran, America actually asked Iran for help in its “war on terrorism.”

In May 2003, after America led what was seen as a decisive allied military victory in Iraq, the surrounding countries, including Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iran, saw the U.S. as the ascendant power in the region and recognized the need to accommodate U.S. demands. However, as events on the ground changed and Iraq’s stability deteriorated, these nations began to see things differently. The U.S. was no longer viewed as the ascendant force: It was seen as weak and needing help.

This change had the most impact on Iran, which strongly influences the Shiites in Iraq.

“The situation in the region is, in our view, reaching the crisis stage for the United States,” Stratfor wrote. “The threat of an Islamist rising from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf no longer is an interesting theoretical concept. Except for Jordan, it is becoming a reality” (Aug. 22, 2003). The reality of an Iran-led Islamist rising throughout the region has dramatically come to pass in the years since Stratfor wrote those words! This influence and control now extends even beyond the Mediterranean into North Africa. And all because America didn’t confront Iran!

Prof. Barry Rubin wrote in 2007, “Iran tries to extend its influence in three ways: propaganda and incitement; the promotion of client groups; and projecting the state’s own power” (Global Politician, July 25, 2007). Using this three-pronged approach, Iran has spread its radical Islamic influence all over the Middle East. It has nearly taken over Iraq, helped the Taliban oust the United States from Afghanistan, intimidated many of the moderate Arab nations into compliance, and heavily infiltrated Yemen, Bahrain and several African nations.

Islamic radicals are terribly effective in assassinating top leaders. In 1990, they probably assassinated the speaker of Egypt’s parliament, Rifaat al-Mahgoub (the country’s second-ranking official at the time); gunmen on motorcycles sprayed his chauffeured sedan with automatic rifle fire. Radicals likely were also behind the killing of Algerian President Mohammed Boudiaf in 1992. Radical forces aimed at bringing down what was the moderate, pro-Western government of Lebanon assassinated Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005 in a car bomb, beginning a series of assassinations of prominent anti-Syrian Lebanese figures. In 2008, Lebanon’s governing coalition capitulated and a new government favoring Hezbollah was formed. In January 2011, Hezbollah ousted Lebanon’s U.S.-backed Prime Minister Saad Hariri in a “soft coup” and replaced him with its own candidate. These are just a few examples of how Islamic extremism can transform Mideast politics.

In Israel, the real power behind the extreme Palestinian factions is Iran. No other nation would dare finance and blatantly encourage terrorism in Israel. Iran has been caught sending vast supplies of weapons to the Palestinians. Virtually the whole world knows what Iran is doing yet will not confront Iran.

“Iran is pursuing a parallel policy of surrounding Israel with implacable enemies,” the Islamic Affairs Analyst of Gloucester, England, wrote in August 1994. This has been its well-known, established policy for decades now!

To Israel’s north, Iran has flooded Hezbollah in Lebanon with money and weapons. With Hamas in control of Gaza, Tehran could ignite another conflict on Israel’s western and northern borders at any moment, as it has done repeatedly. Iran is also opening another front in the West Bank, which crawls with zealots sympathetic to if not in the pay of Iran. And in recent years, Egypt has threatened to discard its peace treaty with Israel and to shift into Iran’s camp.

Israel is grappling with an Iranian-sponsored terrorist problem while America and Britain have all but surrendered the Middle East to Iran.

The only way to win such a war is to deal with the main source of the terrorism, or cut off the head of the terrorist snake. But neither the U.S. nor Israel has the will to tackle Iran. Our people are too weak, and lack the will, to fight and win a real war. Mr. Armstrong said over four decades ago that “America has won its last war.” He saw then that the pride in our military power had been broken!

The fruits and evidence of the past four decades overwhelmingly prove where the king of state-sponsored terrorism is! The terrorist movement flows from Iran. The whole world can see that. However, the solution to Iran’s terrorism lies in fighting it forcefully! We should have confronted the source.

The entire geographic area that Stratfor discussed in 2003 is now strongly influenced by Iran. The king of the south wields the weapon of state-sponsored terrorism. That is how Iran became king! The Daniel 11:40‑43 passage is an end-time prophecy. It is about a nation that is always pushy in its foreign policy. It pushes until it starts a war. Having such power implies that it is very likely a large oil-producing country. This prophecy shows that this king is geographically close to Jerusalem, Egypt, Ethiopia and Libya.

Who else could it be in this end time but Iran?

History’s Lessons Not Learned

Most of our politicians, the press and our universities do not understand radical Islam—nor do they understand history! Winston Churchill said that “the history of man is war.” Misinformed people like to hide from this truth.

Consider this statement from an Iranian 11th-grade schoolbook, quoting the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini: “I am decisively announcing to the whole world that if the world devourers wish to stand against our religion, we will stand against their whole world and will not cease until the annihilation of all of them! Either we all become free or we will go to the greater freedom, which is martyrdom. Either we shake one another’s hands in joy at the victory of Islam in the world, or all of us will turn to eternal life and martyrdom. In both cases, victory and success are ours.”

Khomeini referred to the West as “world devourers”! Eighty-five percent of 81 million Shiites in Iran believe in Twelver Shiism, which Khomeini espoused. This is an ideology that embraces death.

Former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Dore Gold said that a nuclear Iran can’t be deterred like the Soviet Union was during the Cold War. The Iranians have a much more radical belief system. They think their savior—the 12th imam, or mahdi—will return sooner if they cause more apocalyptic chaos and violence. As Gold pointed out in 2008: “[A]nyone who says with confidence that the West can get used to a nuclear Iran and rely on classic deterrence models has absolutely no idea what he is up against.”

Superpowers cannot survive in this evil, warring world without the will to wage long, hard wars. This is the real world in which we live; fantasies won’t change that reality.

Any nation or bloc of nations that knocks off the number one superpower becomes the number one superpower! This is the lesson of human nature and of our history books. A superpower cannot run and hide.

Iran is extremely radical—the king over radical Islam. Where is this nation’s pushiness leading? To war! Just as it has in the past. It is leading inevitably to terrifying war with weapons of mass destruction. It can lead nowhere else. Iran is preparing itself to trigger a nuclear World War iii! At this point, America has ample power to stop it but not the will. We cannot negotiate a victory. The only way to stop Iran is through superior power and the will to use it. A basic understanding of human nature and history should tell us this.

Iran and other nations keep arming the endless stream of terrorists in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank. The only way to turn it around is to stop Iran. If America and Britain held the terrorist-supporting nations accountable, we would drain the terrorist swamp. If the Iranian leadership were eliminated, the whole course of Mideast history would change radically for the better, because it is the king. Sadly, Bible prophecy reveals that will not happen.

In Leviticus 26:19, God warned that if our peoples descended into abject sin, He would break the pride of our power. And so He has! The Prophet Daniel related that this is an end-time prophecy (Daniel 12:9; 9:12-14). Little Israel has more military might than Iran but fears to use it. The same is the case with Britain. And certainly that is true of America. Our nations fear to use their power—because of our sins. The “pride of [our] power” has been broken! We have seen a complete collapse of will and power in America. Our shameful surrender in Afghanistan is proof of that! What a terrible end to a superpower!

The terrorist nations see America’s shameful division and weakness and are encouraged to support terrorism even more. Iran and terrorists are preying on our weakness. State-sponsored terrorism exists because of America’s cowardice.

In fact, as we will see in the next chapter, America has been led by a man who was and is actively, intentionally empowering Iran! This is an even more grievous curse!

Our ultimate success will be determined by our relationship with God. If God is for us, we cannot lose. But if God is against us, we cannot win. And Bible prophecy relates that God is against us and is cursing us.

So brace yourself for a terrifying future.

In 1994, United States President Bill Clinton said this about North Korea: “This agreement is good for the United States, good for our allies, and good for the safety of the entire world. … Under the agreement, North Korea has agreed to freeze its existing nuclear program and to accept international inspection of all existing facilities. This agreement represents the first step on the road to a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. It does not rely on trust. Compliance will be certified by the International Atomic Energy Agency.”

Despite President Clinton’s assurances, North Korea got the bomb 12 years later.

This history is being repeated almost precisely—but will prove to be even more dangerous—with Iran.

President Barack Obama made very similar statements regarding Iran when signing on to the 2016 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (jcpoa). And now Iran is on the brink of manufacturing its own nuclear weapons.

Realize that nuclear warfare is near! It is prophesied over 100 times in Bible prophecy. And Mr. Obama helped pave the way for these horrifying prophecies to be fulfilled!

If not for divine intervention, the human race would face extinction! We are racing toward that prophetic fulfillment!

You can prove this. But will you believe God? Or will you wait until it is too late physically to even respond to God?

The Worst Foreign-Policy Blunder in American History

In 2015, the U.S. spearheaded an international effort to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran. When it was implemented on January 16, 2016, the U.S. and the European Union lifted sanctions on Iran, released over $100 billion in frozen assets, and welcomed Iran into a range of economic deals. And they received nothing in return. Iran changed nothing in its policies of aggression, subversion and sponsoring terrorism. It didn’t even say it would reform in any of these areas! Without giving in on anything, Iran was given all it needed to accelerate its race toward acquiring the nuclear bomb.

The whole nuclear agreement hinged on trust. The Obama administration said it would implement “snapback sanctions” if it found the Iranians cheating on the deal. But Iran cheated repeatedly and faced no consequences.

When has Iran not cheated after making a significant agreement with the West? This nation had broken its agreements with the United Nations over nuclear inspections many times before this deal was signed. Once the deal was implemented, the inspections still didn’t achieve anything. Iran just kept deceiving the UN, buying time to continue its nuclear activities—and the UN and the rest of the world played along.

During the nuclear talks, Iran’s leaders continued to call Israel “the little Satan” and America “the great Satan.” They have a history of hating America and wanting to wipe our existence off the map. Just days before the jcpoa was signed, Iran’s president marched with a huge crowd of Iranians who were holding “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” signs. That alone should be enough to trumpet the fact that they couldn’t be trusted and that this deal was a humiliation for the Western world—especially America. Anybody with common sense knows you should not negotiate with nations that yearn for your destruction.

When the agreement was concluded, many people were elated. There should have been no celebration. The world needed to be pulled away from the brink of annihilation, but this deal did the opposite.

The day the jcpoa was implemented, Iran’s supreme leader said the country’s aggressively anti-American and anti-Israel policy would continue unchanged. Two days later, Iran ordered its military to accelerate its illegal intercontinental ballistic missile program. These missiles are capable of carrying nuclear warheads. This program was illegal because the original deal said Iran had to wait eight years before speeding it up. Instead Iran accelerated it immediately! This announcement was proof that Iran was already breaking a big part of the agreement. But President Obama turned a blind eye to it.

We must judge not by words, but by fruits. Iran’s fruits show it shamelessly violated the deal. That is why President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal and reimposed sanctions on Iran.

The Biden administration has been working to revive this catastrophic deal. Can any honest person believe Iran will adhere to a new deal? This time, the stakes are much higher! What is at stake is nothing less than human survival. If you doubt this, just talk to the Jewish people Iran repeatedly says it wants to wipe off the map. Israel believes its survival rests on whether or not Iran gets a nuclear bomb!

The Most Dangerous Lie in History

Since the Iranian Revolution, the majority of Americans have rightfully held an unfavorable view of the Islamic regime in Iran. Most politically aware Americans know about the anti-American and anti-Semitic ranting of Iran’s mullahs. Many are worried about the Islamic republic’s development of nuclear weapons and how the mullahs would use them.

So how did President Obama get this deal to go through? His methods reveal much about his administration and about him personally.

For many months before the deal was made, a key member of Obama’s inner circle was working hard to assuage people’s fears. At a meeting with Democratic Party activists in 2014, Benjamin Rhodes, then deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, argued that a nuclear agreement with Tehran was “the best opportunity we’ve had to resolve the Iranian [nuclear] issue.” He said this deal was “probably the biggest thing President Obama will do in his second term on foreign policy.”

After the deal was implemented on January 16, 2016, Rhodes explained in a New York Times Magazine interview that if he wanted to get anyone other than those on the hard left to accept a deal with Tehran, he had to lie. He blatantly and willfully deceived what he considered a corrupt and inexperienced American media about all sorts of things. “The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old,” Rhodes explained, “and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns. … They literally know nothing” (May 5, 2016; emphasis mine throughout).

Rhodes admitted to making up a story about how the administration’s negotiations began. He told the press that a “thaw” in American-Iranian relations was made possible by the election of President Hassan Rouhani and other Iranian “moderates” in the summer of 2013. Yet he acknowledged that he wasn’t actually sure whether Rouhani was a “moderate” or not, then bragged about how easy it was to deceive journalists to get the deal passed without congressional approval.

What a spectacle America has become to the world! It was as if lawless children were in charge of America’s foreign policy!

In August 2016, it was discovered that the Obama administration had secretly shipped $400 million cash in an unmarked plane to Iran, at the very time that Iran was releasing four Americans who had been imprisoned there. It was a ransom payment—despite the White House insisting that it did no such thing. The late Charles Krauthammer said, “I think the real issue here is not the fact that we did ransom, because I think people know that we do it in a lot of disguised ways. … It’s that they lied and they lie shamelessly and they lie when the lie is uncovered. That’s what is so scary, and they lie about the entire Iran deal. This is the tip of the iceberg. … Every item on the Iran deal that we were promised, we would hold the line on X, Y and Z, we did this or we are getting inspections … they lied all the way through and that deal is shot through with denials, with all kinds of statements that are not so, and we are going to suffer” (Aug. 18, 2016).

In 2013, during Obama’s presidency, I wrote the first version of my booklet America Under Attack, which explained the reason behind such ruinous policies. “Many people can see that these are disastrous decisions,” I wrote. “But we must understand that this isn’t simply the result of ineptitude on the part of this administration, or naivety about how the world really works. We are seeing the aftereffects of a calculated, aggressive, satanic attack aimed at weakening and ultimately destroying the nations of Israel, starting with the world’s most powerful nation!”

That booklet exposed the spiritual reality behind these terrible actions: Satan the devil is behind Barack Obama empowering Iran.

The Devil’s Fingerprints

This trend has only gotten worse under Joe Biden. Many people can clearly see that Biden is not really in charge of the government. He has filled his administration with Obama-era officials, and Mr. Obama himself is really directing the show! Some say, correctly, that this is effectively Obama’s third term.

We must be able to recognize the devil’s fingerprints on what is taking place here.

Satan is revealed as a liar from the beginning of the Bible (Genesis 3:4). There is no truth in the devil—none at all! And the radical left lie like the devil. That is the spirit behind these people who will say and do anything to accomplish their goals. They will stop at nothing to take over the government and align America with the Islamic regime in Iran. Every time they are challenged on anything illegal they have done, they lie—over and over and over again.

Yet still, no matter how outrageous the reply, people somehow accept it! The spirit of deception is troublingly deep, and it points directly to the influence of the devil. These people are swayed by the devil!

We must recognize that the real enemy is not Barack Obama. The real culprit behind his efforts is not a man! I am not blaming him—I am blaming Satan!

The Bible shows that anciently, God raised up the kingdom of Israel to represent Him. Satan attacked that nation in every way he could. History shows that at one point, an enemy almost completely destroyed it—but God raised up a flawed human king to temporarily save the nation. “For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel. And the Lord said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven: but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash” (2 Kings 14:26-27). The book of Kings is part of the former prophets. It is a book of prophecy for this end time especially.

A man tried to blot out the name of Israel—a very satanic goal. Satan hates everything God is about and wants to destroy it every way he can. But this passage shows that anciently, God stopped this from happening—and He did so through King Jeroboam ii.

It is important to understand the prophetic principle of duality. History is repeating itself today. Just what is the prophetic name of Israel? In our day, the emphasis is on three physical nations of Israel: America, Britain and the Jewish nation in the Middle East.

Iran’s mullahs publicly say they want to “wipe Israel off the map.” That is another way of saying they want to “blot out the name of Israel from under heaven”!

Why in the world would an American president align with these murderers? And why implement a deal that virtually guarantees Iran becomes a nuclear power?

This prophetic passage in 2 Kings 14 explains. President Obama shares the goal to “blot out the name of Israel”!

The Iranians may not know that the Americans are literal descendants of ancient Israel, but they do label America “the great Satan” and the Jewish state “the little Satan.” They really want to blot these nations out! And through his nuclear deal, Barack Obama was helping them accomplish this goal!

Obama decided to partner with the Islamic republic and to brazenly lie to the American people because he wants to blot out both the Jewish state and America! He also expressed hatred for Britain. Like the ancient Seleucid King Antiochus (Daniel 8:24), he is empowered by the devil to destroy the people of Israel through flattery and deceits that lead to violence. When you understand this spiritual dimension, it becomes far easier to understand why President Obama did the things he did.

Satan destroyed Israel in the past and is about to do it again—unless our people repent!

The Cause of America’s Curses

In the 1930s and 1940s, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis kept pushing and pushing, yet Britain and America just hoped the problem would go away. They thought Hitler could be appeased with words and treaties. But that did not stop him. Only superior will and power stops a tyrant or madman.

Throughout the 1930s, Winston Churchill warned Britain and America about Hitler. The politicians, media and educational institutions were overwhelmingly pacifist and against him. (This is thoroughly explained in my free booklet Winston S. Churchill: The Watchman.) In fact, he stood alone among world leaders! And that almost cost the Allies victory in World War ii!

We have learned virtually nothing from Churchill’s warning. In fact, the pacifists have grown much stronger today.

Our leaders fail to understand history because they refuse to understand that evil human nature is within every individual on Earth—including you and me! (Jeremiah 17:9). For example, our refusal to use our military might is often not because of righteousness, as we like to believe, but despicable weakness resulting from our sins. We simply lack the faith, character and courage to fight against Iran, the number one terrorist nation today. In the end, we will prove too weak to survive!

History thunders for us to awaken.

The great Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky feared Russian radicalism and what it would do to his country. Only days after he died, the czar was overthrown and killed by radicals. Where did their radical movement lead? To Joseph Stalin and the spread of violent communism over much of the world.

Mr. Obama’s appeasement of and support for the Iranian regime cannot be explained logically. Such a catastrophic policy can only be understood in the context of the satanic deception that blankets this entire world (Revelation 12:9). Those efforts shoved the world closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation—and nothing could please the devil more! “[T]hat old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world” had his fingerprints all over those developments. He passionately hates mankind and loves causing the death of millions—even billions!

The Obama administration’s handling of Iran was a monumental disaster. While respect for America slightly rebounded under President Trump, it has completely collapsed under Joe Biden’s administration, or what is really Obama’s third term. Instead, America’s enemies shake their fists at us at every turn, and we let them get away with it. America’s credibility is in tatters.

We live in exceedingly dangerous times. We are talking about nuclear bombs! That makes America’s foolishness all the more alarming and disgraceful.

No words will stop this king of terror. The Iranian leader believes that causing a nuclear cataclysm will hasten the coming of his messiah. No matter what happens, these religious zealots believe they are winners.

No other nuclear power thinks like that! It makes nuclear war inevitable!

All the wishful thinking in this world won’t stop that calamity—just as the pacifist dreamers of the 1930s didn’t stop Adolf Hitler!

Jesus Christ prophesied the outcome of these problems in Matthew 24:21-22. He said the coming “great tribulation” would be worse than any in mankind’s long, tragic history! He warned that unless these perilous days were shortened, no flesh would be saved alive! Passages like this and Daniel 12:1 describe a time of such catastrophic destruction that they could only apply to weapons of mass destruction. Isaiah 6:11, Jeremiah 2:15 and many other prophecies foretell cities without even one inhabitant. Only nuclear weapons could cause that!

Sadly, shamefully, we have brought this outcome on ourselves. Nuclear war, provoked by “the king of the south,” is coming upon the whole world very soon!

The “king of the north” and “king of the south” prophesied in Daniel 11:40 are both coalitions of nations led by one nation in particular. Many other prophecies show that the king of the north is a union of 10 European “kings” led by one supreme German strongman.

We have established that the king of the south bloc will be led by Iran. What other nations will be part of this radical Islamist alliance? This passage in Daniel 11 gives us important clues.

Let’s start in verse 42, which says that when the king of the north attacks, “He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.” Egypt will be conquered or controlled by the king of the north. This clearly implies that Egypt will be allied with the king of the south.

This prophecy indicates we are about to see a far-reaching change in Egyptian politics! We have been saying since 1994 that this would occur. Look at Egypt today, and you see the nation’s foreign policy and political orientation changing in a way that threatens to transform the entire region!

Radical Changes in Egypt

In 2011, a gigantic change in Egyptian politics occurred, similar to what happened in Iran’s 1979 revolution.

For 30 years, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had resisted the radicals and was a friend to Israel and the U.S., following the policy of his predecessor Anwar Sadat. Mubarak resisted the radical Muslims in their violence toward Israel and other nations. He was a strong ally in helping America, Britain and Israel in their war against terror. He fought against Iran getting the nuclear bomb. And President Mubarak exerted the power needed inside Egypt to control his strongest opponent, the violent Muslim Brotherhood.

Yet America, led by President Barack Obama, turned against this man. When demonstrations exploded in Cairo in January 2011, President Obama made it clear he sided with the anti-Mubarak protesters on the street. From the beginning of these massive demonstrations, the Obama administration set out to humiliate Mubarak publicly! America utterly betrayed a friend of 30 years!

The result? America’s influence in the Middle East plummeted to near zero overnight. Just weeks later, Mubarak was ousted, the nation’s government became destabilized, and Iran began moving in.

Even while Mubarak was still in power, the relationship between Iran and Egypt had started warming up. In 2007, the two countries were edging toward restoring full diplomatic relations with each other. In January 2008, Mubarak held talks with Iran’s parliament speaker, the first such high-level meeting in almost 30 years. The fact that Mubarak himself held this meeting indicated how much pressure he was under from pro-Iranian forces within his country.

Before Mubarak left office, he issued this warning: “They may be talking about democracy, but the result will be extremism and radical Islam.” Indeed, that is what we saw! After his departure, those pro-Iranian forces took control. The extremist Muslim Brotherhood, the largest and most well-organized political organization in Egypt, took control of the country. One of its leaders, Mohamed Morsi, then became president.

The Muslim Brotherhood took charge because it was so organized and so heavily supported by Iran! Are we blind to what Iran can do behind the scenes as it empowers these other groups? This was almost step by step exactly what happened in Iran in 1979.

Many people in the West hope to see Egypt transform into an oasis of democracy and peace. But what do the Egyptian people want? A 2010 Pew Research Center survey showed that the people of Egypt have no interest in Western-style democracy. They actually want strict Islamic rule. This Pew poll found that 85 percent of Muslims in Egypt wanted a strong Islamic influence in the nation’s politics. Nearly the same number said those who leave the Muslim faith should be killed. Eighty-two percent supported stoning adulterers; 77 percent thought thieves should have their hands cut off. Fifty-four percent believe suicide bombings that murder civilians can be justified. Nearly half had a “favorable view” of the terrorist group Hamas, and one fifth held positive views of al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. Among the 18 Muslim nations Pew surveyed, Egypt had the highest unfavorable rating toward America: 82 percent. That poll was taken over a decade ago. The world has grown even more anti-American and radical since.

A powerful Mubarak was able to control or contain the more extreme views of his own people. But when he resigned, that dam was broken.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s rule under Morsi moved quickly to restore diplomatic ties with Iran. Egypt announced it wanted to “open a new page” with Iran. Tehran responded by appointing an ambassador to Egypt for the first time since the two nations halted diplomatic relations in 1978. The Egyptian government also reached out to Hamas, an Iran-backed Palestinian Islamist organization Cairo had previously shunned.

President Morsi was in office for only a year before he was ousted in a coup d’état by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in July 2013. Iran’s sway within Egypt was wrested from them.

Yet Bible prophecy shows this is only temporary. These pro-Iranian hard-liners are destined to return to power. The Muslim Brotherhood still enjoys tremendous support in Egypt. Sisi’s coup was successful primarily because Egyptians were disgruntled by the Muslim Brotherhood’s economic policies—not necessarily its Islamist ideology. Under Sisi, Egypt’s economic fortunes have not improved; in some areas like tourism, they have worsened. Importantly, the poverty rate has risen to nearly one third of Egypt’s population.

Many in Israel and the West have underestimated the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood and the popular support for anti-Israel policies. Muslim movements organized by the Muslim Brotherhood have received support throughout Egypt. No new leader could ever get the power to resist such strong beliefs of the Egyptian people. This all plays into the hands of Iran.

The prophecy in Daniel 11:42 is moving toward fulfillment in this end time!

Will Libya and Ethiopia Be Next?

The nations of Libya and Ethiopia are mentioned in Daniel 11:43, along with Egypt. These two nations are the key that unlocks the strategy of radical Islam. That strategy is going to shake the U.S. and Europe to their foundations!

This verse says, “But he [the king of the north] shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.” Why did God inspire the mention of Libya and Ethiopia? Every word in God’s inspired Bible has significance. God placed two nations in the same verse as Egypt for a definite reason.

This verse shows that Libya and Ethiopia will also be closely allied with Iran!

Here is how the Soncino commentary defines “at his steps”: “Either joining his army or placing themselves at his beck and call.” The Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon defines that expression as “in his company.” The Moffatt translation reads, “following in his train.”

So you need to watch Libya and Ethiopia. They are about to fall under the heavy influence or control of Iran, the king of the south. That is why they are subdued in the king of the north’s victory.

Why would Iran be so interested in gaining control over Libya and Ethiopia? To me, the answer is intriguing.

Get a good map of the Middle East, particularly of the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. You can quickly see why the king of the south, or radical Islam, is so interested in an alliance with or control over these two countries (as well as Egypt and Tunisia). They are on the two seas that comprise the most important trade route in the world!

Whoever heavily influences or controls Ethiopia will undoubtedly also control the small areas of Eritrea and Djibouti on the Red Sea coastline. These areas only recently became independent of Ethiopia. Also, I believe the Bible view is that these small areas are a part of Ethiopia.

Controlling the Suez Canal, however, is not enough. Egypt tried that in 1956, when Britain, France and Israel kicked it out in one attack. But the situation is altogether different if this sea trade route is lined with radical Islamic nations possessing real airpower, including missiles and drones! This could give Iran virtual control of the trade through those seas. Radical Islam could stop the flow of essential oil to the U.S. and Europe!

Iran could also use these trade routes to get control of Jerusalem, Islam’s third-holiest site. I believe Jerusalem is even more important to Iran than oil is.

The soon-coming Holy Roman Empire—a superpower with 10 kings, dominated by Catholicism and led by the most deceptive and aggressive Germany ever—realizes that Muslim fervor could spread like wildfire should Iran capture Jerusalem. Many Catholics consider Jerusalem their most important religious site.

If Iran gets control of that trade route, it could create enormous damage and chaos in America and Europe almost overnight. Germany and the Vatican, the heart of the Holy Roman Empire, are not going to allow the king of the south to take over Jerusalem and the world’s number one trade route!

I recorded a Key of David television program on January 27, 2011, in which I urged viewers to watch Libya and Ethiopia because of the new understanding I had received. There was almost nothing in the news about Libya at that time. The nation seemed stable.

Less than one month later, a civil war began. Later that year, Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi was deposed and murdered. The North African nation has been extremely chaotic ever since. It has experienced multiple terrorist attacks, violent mass demonstrations, loose arms on the streets, assassinations, abductions of politicians and their relatives, messy elections, and sackings and resignations of high-ranking government officials. On September 11, 2012, terrorists in lawless Benghazi in northern Libya assassinated U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.

In Ethiopia, the situation hasn’t been much better. In 2020, Ethiopia erupted in its own brutal civil war that alienated it from its traditional ally, the United States. This has driven Ethiopia closer to Iran, which sent Ethiopia several drones in August 2021. Meanwhile, the al-Shabaab Islamist terror group—which controls substantial territory of its own in neighboring Somalia—launched a large-scale incursion into Ethiopia in July 2022. An August 2022 Associated Press article said al-Shabaab has “several thousand fighters” under its Ethiopian “command.” These include ethnic Somalis and Oromos—majority-Muslim ethnic groups—from inside Ethiopia. Al-Shabaab is a recipient of much Iranian sponsorship.

Al-Shabaab also has a score to settle with Ethiopia. In 2006, the group took over Somalia’s capital of Mogadishu. Later that year, Ethiopia invaded Somalia, forcing the terrorists out of the city. “The intervention,” the Council on Foreign Relations writes, “which came at the request of Somalia’s transitional government, radicalized al-Shabaab, analysts say. [A]l-Shabaab retreated to the south, where it began organizing guerrilla assaults, including bombings and assassinations, on Ethiopian forces. Some experts say it was during these years that the group morphed into a full-fledged insurgency, gaining control over large pieces of territory in central and southern Somalia.”

The prophecy about Libya and Ethiopia unlocks Iran’s military strategy!

The king of the south is going to push at the king of the north, probably brandishing its power over the Mediterranean-Red Sea route. Libya, Ethiopia and the other nations along the Red Sea play a key role in Iran’s trade route strategy. That push will be a dramatic act of war that will provoke a violent response from the king of the north.

So the Bible indicates that Libya and Ethiopia must be subdued by the king of the north because they are in the radical Islamic camp. Those two nations are “at his steps.” Why are these two nations even mentioned in this prophecy if they don’t play a key role?

Both countries are already influenced by radical Islam but are not in the radical camp—yet. You need to watch for Libya and Ethiopia to turn severely in that direction.

One more detail from the prophecy is worth noting: The emphasis in Daniel 11:42-43 is on Egypt—then we have Libya and Ethiopia. This shows that Egypt is the big conquest! It is the real power behind Libya and Ethiopia, which suggests that it is going to have a heavy hand in swinging those two nations into the Iranian camp.

We need to understand the enormous impact that Egypt working with Iran will have in the Middle East and even globally. This Iran-Egypt axis will change the game in the Middle East—particularly in Libya and Ethiopia.

This means we can expect Egypt—with Iran’s help—to lead Libya and Ethiopia into the Iranian camp!

This is very alarming because of the power Egypt has. For years, America has given Egypt billions and billions of dollars’ worth of military aid. The Egyptians are certain to use their formidable military power to swing much of the Middle East toward Iran.

Barnes’ Notes says about this passage: “A conquest of Egypt was almost in itself a conquest of Libya [and] the Ethiopians.” That’s exactly right! The real powerhouse here is Egypt. Iran and Egypt will work together to swing Ethiopia and Libya into that Iranian-led “king of the south” camp—and they’re going to do it with a lot of violence! They’re very good at fomenting violence.

Elsewhere in the Islamic World

Beyond Ethiopia, Iran has a long history of sending illegal weapons to countries and terrorist groups around the Red Sea. One group that Iran has shipped vast amounts of missiles, weapons and drones to is the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Like Libya and Ethiopia, Yemen is embroiled in civil war. On one side are Saudi-backed government forces; on the other are Iran-backed Houthis. These rebels have been using Iran’s weapons not only to fight their civil war, but also to oppose Iran’s main regional opponent: Saudi Arabia.

Iran has also sent countless arms shipments to Islamists in Somalia, the coastal nation on the Horn of Africa. In March 2008, Tehran signed a military agreement with Sudan. In May of that year, it further boosted its ties with Eritrea, signing trade and investment agreements. The following year, in April 2009, Iran and Eritrea agreed to expand their bilateral cooperation.

Iran has considerable influence and control in North Africa, and it greatly intensified with the unrest that began erupting with the Arab Spring in early 2011. The Tunisian government fell to radical Muslims in January of that year. Ennahda, the Islamist party banned under the dictatorship of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, quickly emerged as probably the most powerful political force in the country. In October that year, the Islamist party won the nation’s first free elections since independence in 1956. That is almost exactly what happened in Egypt when its first-ever free elections ushered in the Muslim Brotherhood in 2012. However, it didn’t take long before discontent surged against the hard-line Ennahda. Assassinations of two prominent opposition figures in 2013 threatened to spark another revolution in Tunisia. It was only averted when rival factions negotiated a peaceful abdication of the elected Islamist government. Tunisia then elected the secular-nationalist Nidaa Tounes Party, whose candidate, Beji Caid Essebsi, became president. Essebsi, however, is a former official of the ousted Ben Ali regime. He has been criticized for Tunisia’s failing economy and for terrorist attacks that have crippled the tourism industry. Again, this scenario is not much different from Egypt’s.

Now let’s focus on one of the most important of Iran’s allies indicated in prophecy: Iraq.

A Key Prophecy About Iraq

Iran is already the most powerful Islamic country in the Middle East. Imagine the power it would have if it gained control of Iraq, which was at one time the third-leading exporter of oil in the world. I predicted as far back as 1992 that this could happen. This was based on a prophecy that I will explain in the next chapter of this booklet.

Here is what I wrote in “Is Iraq About to Fall to Iran?” in the December 1994 issue of the Philadelphia Trumpet magazine: “Such a takeover [of Iraq] by Iran would shock the world—especially Europe. It would be a strong impetus for Europe to unite quickly. Such a move would, in all likelihood, give Iran power to cause a sizable increase in the price of oil. [In reality, it would then control virtually all the flow of oil in the Middle East.] This could help trigger a collapse of the Western world’s weak currencies. This in turn could cause Europe to quickly unite into the most powerful economic bloc in the world. That very event is prophesied to occur in your own Bible!”

You should read that paragraph again!

The way events have unfolded since the early 1990s has opened the way for that scenario to be fulfilled even more dramatically than I imagined.

The more influence Iran gains over Iraq, the more this terrorist state virtually controls this whole area—which contains much of the world’s oil!

In 2003, the United States eliminated the leadership of Iraq. Saddam Hussein was the only leader that Iran feared. The U.S. removed him, but it lacked the will to guard the spoils of war. America had a marvelous opportunity at that time to pressure Iran. Other terrorist-sponsoring nations would have quickly caved in if Iran were beaten or forced to stop supporting terrorism.

Saddam Hussein was definitely a terrorist threat. But the primary source of terrorism is Iran. Decisive action in Iraq, without dealing with Iran, has not stopped terrorism.

In fact, the U.S. effectively cleared the way for Shiite Iran to rule over Shiite Iraq!

It was the U.S. that overpowered Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević in the 1999 Kosovo War. He was the only leader in Europe that Germany feared. The staggering paradox may be that U.S. power paved the way for both the king of the north and the king of the south—and thus accelerated its own destruction.

Since America toppled Saddam Hussein, Iran has worked every possible angle in order to extend its influence over the majority Shiite population in Iraq and assume control over its massive oil wealth.

Shortly after Baghdad was taken by coalition forces, it quickly became clear how much the Iranian Shiites had already made inroads into Iraq even under Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship.

Stratfor wrote in April 23, 2003: “The Shiite population is creating a serious administrative problem for the United States. This was partly expected, partly a surprise. The surprise is not to the extent of anti-Americanism but the extent of the organization. The Shiites are much better organized than U.S. intelligence believed. It is clear that their long-term goal is to govern Iraq.” In truth it was building toward that goal long before the U.S. attacked Iraq.

“The Iraqi Shiite community, to the extent to which it is organized, owes that organization to Iran,” Stratfor continued. “Iran’s goal is simple: Get the United States out of Iraq. Officials in Tehran do not expect this to happen immediately, but they do expect it to happen.”

Events since America’s invasion of Iraq two decades ago have proved that Iran’s expectation was entirely justified.

Though America vowed not to allow an Iranian-style theocracy to gain hold in Iraq, it lacked the political will to see that pledge through. Iran now has great influence within Iraq’s government.

Iraq Falls to Iran

In 2010, Iraq had been at a political impasse, unable to form a government for nine months—that is, until it received the support of Iran-backed, anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

In August 2014, Haidar al-Abadi, a Shiite with strong Iranian connections, was appointed Iraq’s prime minister. His first foreign trip was to Iran. “Choosing Iran as my first destination after taking office indicates the depth of ties,” Abadi said.

For years now, Iran has worked to position itself to hold power in Iraq, working with the Iraqi government, cementing economic ties, and exploiting other diplomatic channels. And far from preventing this from happening, the U.S. has encouraged it!

In 2013, Iran used the threat of Islamic State terrorists to justify its continued meddling in Iraq. Reluctant to get embroiled in another Middle East conflict, the U.S. actually invited Iran to help combat the Islamic State. The U.S. even shared the Taqqadum military base, 45 miles west of Baghdad, with Iran. The U.S. first used this base when the Iraq War began in 2003. According to a 2015 Bloomberg View report, some of the militant groups at Taqqadum directly fought against the U.S. in the past.

Ali Khedery, a strategic consultant who advised several U.S. ambassadors in Iraq, warned that the Islamic State “will be defeated. The problem is that afterwards, there will still be a dozen militias, hardened by decades of battle experience, funded by Iraqi oil, and commanded or at least strongly influenced by [Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps]. And they will be the last ones standing.”

This is exactly what happened. Today, southern Iraq is host to dozens of Iran-backed Shiite militias. Using these proxies, Iran has attacked U.S. bases, launched drones and missiles at Saudi Arabia, and funneled weapons, personnel and equipment into Syria and Lebanon.

In January 2020, massive protests erupted demanding that the U.S. leave Iraq. Muqtada al-Sadr called for a “million-man march” against America’s continued presence there. In response, Iraq’s parliament passed a non-binding vote to expel American forces from the country.

Then, in December 2021, America officially ended its combat mission there. It retains a small advisory and training presence, but it has no plans to keep Iran out of this troubled nation.

Events have proved the accuracy of Bible prophecy. Iraq has effectively fallen under Iran’s sway. It is destined to be a significant ally of the king of the south.

Iran Has America ‘Surrounded’

In a September 2003 interview with the irna news agency, former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani gave a chilling version of these events: “Even though the United States has a physical presence in the countries that surround us, the reality is that the United States is in fact surrounded by Iran” (emphasis mine).

Was that just bluster? Look at the situation honestly and you can see that it is true! Iran has indeed “surrounded” America, because it is the king of terrorist-sponsoring nations!

Amid the uprisings that swept through the Middle East in early 2011, Stratfor wrote of the extent of the growing Iranian influence: “As Iran has reminded every U.S. ally in the region amid the recent unrest, from Bahrain to Saudi Arabia and from Yemen to Israel, Tehran is the rising power and the one filling the vacuum as the Americans leave. It is Tehran that has a strong, established network of proxies and covert operatives already in place in key positions across the region. It can foment unrest in Gaza or Lebanon that spills over into Israel; and it can at the very least exacerbate riots in Bahrain, the home of the U.S. 5th Fleet and which is on the doorstep to Saudi Arabia’s own Shiite population in the oil-rich east. Iran has done all of this while U.S. troops have remained in Iraq, and what it has achieved so far is only a foreshadowing (and intentionally so) of what might be possible if Persia dominated Mesopotamia, the natural stepping-stone to every other corner of the region” (April 14, 2011).

Iran’s tentacles extend throughout the region. As America has withdrawn its forces from Iran and Afghanistan and reduced its presence in the Middle East, Iran has grown even bolder. It is working to strengthen its ties with and extend its influence over the very nations that Scripture indicates will be part of the king of the south alliance. The radical Islamic movement, led by Iran, is very strong in Egypt, Algeria, Libya and Ethiopia. This religion will probably take control of these countries very soon. Iran appears to be on the verge of becoming a world superpower.

Truly, the fulfillment of this pillar end-time prophecy is drawing ever closer!

Daniel 11:40-43 provide important clues as to which nations will ally with the king of the south. In this chapter we will examine a prophecy that strongly indicates a number of countries that will not be allied with it—that will actually ally against it. This too enables us to better deduce the composition of this radical Islamic confederation.

The prophecy we will study lists several Islamic nations that will band together with “the king of the north,” German-led Europe! This alliance has never happened in history. All the Bible commentaries will tell you that. But these nations are coming together now.
It takes time to build a confederation like that, and it is already well underway.

The context of this prophecy shows that this won’t be totally fulfilled until after Germany and its European allies conquer the king of the south in the “whirlwind” described in Daniel 11:40. Thus, we can infer that these Islamic countries will not be part of that king of the south alliance.

If you watch Germany closely, you can see that it is already positioning itself for its “whirlwind” attack on Iran. And some of these preparations are laying the groundwork for this future alliance with Arab states.

However, this prophecy reveals a crucial truth: This alliance is primarily and ultimately concerned not with countering Iran but with destroying Israel.

A Highly Unusual Alliance

Read it for yourself: “Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones” (Psalm 83:1-3).

This foretells an alliance that will take “crafty counsel” against God’s people, referring to Israel. More on who this is prophetically in a moment.

Notice: There is also a plot against God’s “hidden ones,” which other translations render as treasured or sheltered ones. This refers to God’s faithful people, spiritual Israel, His true Church. They are embedded right in the midst of all these prophecies to ensure God has somebody He can use to reveal to the world His message about what is happening!

You are reading that message right now!

God uses His people to warn the world in advance what is going to happen. He uses them to proclaim a message of how these catastrophes could be avoided. Sadly, the world pays them little attention, and it will continue to ignore God’s message until circumstances get a lot more horrific. (Read more about this in Chapter 6: “Emphasis on God’s Very Elect.”)

Before we look at the true purpose of this alliance, notice who it includes, listed in verses 6-8: “The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah.”

You must know who the modern descendants of these peoples are to understand just how timely and relevant this prophecy is. Here are the modern names of these nations, as taught at Ambassador College under Herbert W. Armstrong: The Ishmaelites are Saudi Arabia; Moab and Ammon both refer to Jordan; the Hagarenes anciently dwelled in the land known as Syria today; the Philistines are the modern Palestinian Arabs; Gebal and Tyre are Lebanon. We cannot be extremely precise in this understanding, but it gives a good general idea.

One people listed here that lies outside the region is Assur. At one time, this was the capital of Assyria, which is the term that biblical prophecy uses for modern-day Germany. Germany is part of this alliance and is, in fact, the power behind it! In principle, this is how Germany started World War i and World War ii. (Request our free booklet Germany and the Holy Roman Empire for more information.) It is using the same old modus operandi.

Daniel 11:41 says that when the king of the north attacks the king of the south, “many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.” Anciently, Edom was located in the southern part of Jordan. The rocky fortress of Petra was at one time the Edomite capital. Moab was the central part. There is a small city in Jordan today called Moab. The children of Ammon were in the northern part. The capital of Jordan today is Amman (spelled almost the same as Ammon). The name of the capital city is only one indication of many that this is the area called Jordan today.

This shows that the king of the north will conquer the people all around Jordan, but Jordan will “escape out of his hand.” The way this is worded, it’s as if Jordan was in “his hand,” yet escapes. The Hebrew literally reads, “And these will be saved from his hand.” God will save this area for a specific purpose.

The Moffatt Bible translates verse 41, “He shall also invade the fair land of Palestine, and myriads shall be killed. (But these nations shall be saved from him, the Edomites, the Moabites, and the main part of the Ammonites.)” It is strongly implied, if not stated, that this area, called Jordan today, should have been conquered but was not. Why should this piece of real estate escape when it is so close to the battle? Other prophecies show that it is likely in this area that God’s “hidden ones,” His very elect, will be protected during the warfare that follows from this assault by Germany.

The inclusion of “Edom” in Daniel 11:41 seems to point to a specific geographic area. However, the fact that it is listed in Psalm 83 as distinct from Moab and Ammon indicates that it is a different people altogether. The Bible uses this term to refer to the descendants of Esau (Genesis 25:30). Some erroneously claim that the modern descendants of Esau are Jews. Genesis 36:10-12 list the sons of Esau, and they have names like Teman, Omar and Amalek—not Jewish names! So who is Edom prophetically?

“Esau, or Edom, as he is also called, lived southeast of Palestine near Petra. Arab Bedouins live there now. Then where have Esau’s children gone?” the July 1957 Plain Truth magazine asked. “From the days of Nebuchadnezzar, who carried them captive, they disappear for 1,000 years from history. Then suddenly we find Amalek the name of a city in Turkestan in Central Asia (from Paul Herrmann’s Sieben vorbei und Acht Verweht). The Egyptians used to call the Amalekites Amu. In Turkestan is the River Amu today! In Bible times the Edomites inhabited Mt. Seir (Genesis 32:3). In Turkestan is the Syr Darya—the River of Syr, or Seir.

“The leading Turkish tribe is the Ottoman. The prophecies referring to Edom or Esau mention Teman as the leading tribe in these latter days (Obadiah 9). The conclusion is inescapable. The Ottoman Turks are the sons of Teman. Merely the vowels in spelling have been changed over these past millenniums. From Central Asia the Turks, or Edomites, moved into Asia Minor. That is where Esau’s children live today! Turkey controls the ‘crossway’ of the nations—the Dardanelles (Obadiah 14).

“How clear, Esau, or Edom, is Turkey today!”

The article also said: “The Philistines, who came from Mizraim, inhabited southern Palestine even in the days of Abraham (Genesis 21:34). They are still there today—in the Gaza Strip in Palestine [Palestinians]—causing no end of trouble (Zechariah 9:6-7). … Both the Philistines and the Caphtorim destroyed the Canaanites in South Palestine and lived in their place (Deuteronomy 2:23). No wonder there are so few Canaanites left!”

You can see what a unique alliance is prophesied here in Psalm 83: a collection of Middle Eastern Islamic peoples, along with the Turks and, all the way from Europe, the Germans!

Notice that Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Libya and Ethiopia are missing in the prophecy of Psalm 83. Is this because these countries by this point have already been defeated or are controlled by the king of the north?

Put this together with the events prophesied in Daniel 11:40-43 and it seems clear that Psalm 83 lists the nations that will not be allied with Iran when Germany and Europe conquer that nation and radical Islam. Daniel’s prophecy could certainly account for Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Libya and Ethiopia not being in the Psalm 83 alliance.

What unites the members of the Psalm 83 alliance?

A Destructive Purpose

Their evil purpose is revealed in Psalm 83:4-5: “They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee.” This clearly states the destructive purpose for which this confederation comes together: to utterly destroy Israel.

These verses are talking about the modern descendants of the 12 tribes of biblical Israel. Do you know who they are? The modern Jewish state of Israel is only one of those tribes—Judah.

In biblical prophecy, “Israel” refers especially to the birthright nations that descended from Joseph: Ephraim and Manasseh. Those descendants are Britain and the United States, respectively. Other prophecies show that the fates of these three major nations of Israel—the U.S., Britain and the Jewish nation—are all aligned. Where Psalm 83 says this alliance is “against thy people” (verse 3), it means Germany and its Middle Eastern allies are targeting the Americans, the British and the Jews in the Middle East.

Many Iranian leaders have vowed to wipe the Jewish nation off the map. But the latter’s enemies listed in Psalm 83 have what appears to be an even deeper hatred. They want to obliterate even the name of Israel—forever!

This Islamic alliance with the king of the north is about to attack the modern descendants of Israel. Bible prophecy says the end-time nations of Israel are unusually fearful and gullible, like a “silly dove” (Hosea 7:8-12). Their enemies take advantage of their weaknesses to destroy them (Hosea 5:5). God only protects the nations of Israel from grave danger if they are obedient—which they are not in this end time.

This prophecy gives us insight into what is coming in the very near future: the Great Tribulation and the times of the Gentiles (Matthew 24:21; Luke 21:24). God is going to punish the nations of Israel more severely than at any time in their history because of all their “abominations.”

There has never been in history such an alliance to attack or totally destroy Israel. Concerning this psalm, the Anchor Bible reads, “History transmits no record of the national crisis when the nations enumerated in this psalm formed a league to wipe out Israel ….” Lange’s Commentary points out, “The 10 nations who are here enumerated as being combined against Israel, are never mentioned elsewhere as enemies allied at the same time and for the purpose of annihilating Israel.” Other commentaries make the same point. This must be an end-time prophecy!

This prophecy in Psalm 83 reveals a tremendous amount about what we can expect to see in the time ahead—including some dramatic changes!

Modern-Day Alliances

Most of the Muslims were allied with Germany in World War ii. They knew what Hitler was doing to the Jews, and we know the way many Muslims feel toward the Jews. Since America and Britain support the Jews today, it is not difficult to envision the Muslims and Germans allying against them.

The “moderate” Arabs today are going to join forces with Germany. This is already beginning to happen.

In 2020, Germany approved massive arms exports to countries involved in the civil wars in Yemen and Libya. Export destinations included Egypt (roughly $914 million worth of exports), Qatar ($370 million), the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Turkey, Jordan and Bahrain. Germany’s foreign office states on its website that “the U.A.E. is Germany’s biggest trading partner in the region.” Egypt, the U.A.E., Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain either are or previously were involved in Yemen against the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists. This means Germany is literally sponsoring the anti-Iranian coalition in Yemen. As we will examine in the next chapter, another reason Germany is allying with the “moderate” Arabs is to counter Iran and its allies. In Yemen, Germany and Iran are already fighting a proxy war with each other.

Bahrain is a special example. During the 2011 Arab Spring, the island country was rocked by anti-government protests. Starting in February, Bahrainis took to the streets, demanding political change. Bahrain, a Sunni Muslim monarchy ruling over a significant Shiite population, cracked down on the protests in what the Christian Science Monitor called “a campaign of intimidation.” “Security forces have directed much of the abuse—which includes midnight arrests, checkpoints and targeting of wounded protesters—toward Bahrain’s majority Shiite population, instilling fear and raising sectarian tensions in the tiny kingdom,” it wrote (April 1, 2011). The nation’s Khalifa dynasty is especially concerned about the prospect of Bahrain turning into a Shiite theocracy. “[Shouting ‘Down with the king’] is not a reason to imprison someone,” Bahrain’s King Hamad told Spiegel in 2012. “But when they shout: ‘Down with the king and up with Khomeini,’ that’s a problem for national unity.”

Germany has been willing to help Bahrain. In 2014, it was reported that a “German spy company” specializing in surveillance technology gave the Bahraini government technology used to hack pro-democracy figures between 2010 and 2012. In an April 2012 article—about a year after Bahrain’s crackdown had begun—German-Foreign-Policy​.com accused Germany of turning a blind eye to the crackdowns, supplying Bahrain with weapons and even training its “repressive” security forces.

What about Saudi Arabia? In 2018, Germany imposed a partial arms export ban to protest the Saudi military’s role in the Yemeni civil war. A year later, after the Saudi government murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, this became a full ban. But in 2022, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lifted the ban.

Turkey is another country to watch. The German Foreign Ministry states this about German-Turkish relations on its website: “Germany is Turkey’s most important trading partner and one of the country’s biggest foreign investors. In 2021, bilateral trade reached a record high of €39.7 billion [$42.4 billion],” and it rose even higher the following year. German weapons exports to Turkey have flourished in recent years. The German Press Agency reported in June 2020 that Turkey was the largest German arms export destination in 2018 and 2019. This despite fellow EU member state Greece—an adversary of Turkey—repeatedly asking Germany to stop arms exports. Germany cut back on exports only after Turkey escalated its involvement in the Syrian civil war. But that hasn’t stopped Germany and Turkey collaborating with each other militarily. For example, Hensoldt, a German weapons company connected with the German Ministry of Defense, helped Turkey develop a military drone that Turkey has used in Syria against the Kurds. At least in some respects, Berlin apparently sees Turkey as more of a partner than Greece, its fellow EU member state.

These are just a few examples of how the Psalm 83 alliance is already beginning to form.

The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and the other Gulf states are geographically attached to the eastern part of the huge land mass of Saudi Arabia. We believe they are also Ishmaelites and from a biblical perspective, regardless of their modern boundaries, would be considered a part of Saudi Arabia. The main issue is that Germany is building an alliance now with the moderate Arabs that is paving the way for the Psalm 83 prophecy to be fulfilled.

Saudi Arabia is also drawing closer to Germany to enhance its own security against Iran as America becomes weaker and continues to withdraw from the Middle East.

Gebal, modern-day Lebanon, is home today to the Iranian terrorist puppet Hezbollah. We can expect it to also switch allegiance. Even now Germany has naval ships just off the coast of Lebanon. Why should it be so concerned about what’s happening in that part of the world? It is all part of Germany’s global strategy.

Psalm 83 also reveals that the Philistines are with the inhabitants of Tyre. Look up a map and you will see that Tyre is in southern Lebanon, the stronghold of the Hezbollah terrorists. Their alliance with Iran is about to be broken, and Germany will be the main cause.

The Philistines—the Palestinians of Gaza and even those in the West Bank—will shift their alliance to Germany as well.

Iran has led Hezbollah and the Palestinians in their terrorist activities for years. They all share some common enemies—especially America and Israel. But in some religious and political aspects, their views differ; this could cause Hezbollah and the Palestinians to ally themselves with Germany. There may soon be some significant power shifts in Gaza.

Turkey has also been allied with Iran, but it too is going to side with Germany in the future.

Look at the changes that are coming! This is not something we can take lightly. This is world news told to you ahead of time! Just watch—keep track. See if these events don’t happen exactly as described in this chapter. Watch Germany, and watch the Middle East, and see if this prophecy doesn’t come to pass exactly as the Bible says it will.

To most people, this means very little. But God prophesied all of it! He spelled it out so that, if we just study our Bibles, we can understand it all. We must understand it! God ensures that His sheltered ones understand it.

Watch for a Massive Shift

These verses foretell a massive shift in alliances among the nations of the Middle East. Events are about to stagger the imagination of many authorities in this world! And God prophesied it all thousands of years ago.

Should we believe in the Old Testament? We should if we want to understand end-time Bible prophecy. Psalms is the only book in the Bible that contains this prophecy. Without Psalm 83, there would be no way to understand these particular events until well after they had snapped into place.

This is a most exciting and wonderful prophecy—yet the world understands almost nothing about it. People should understand because this message has been publicized for well over 70 years by the Trumpet and by Herbert W. Armstrong for them to see.

Where does this Psalm 83 alliance lead? It leads to mankind being plunged into the Great Tribulation for 2½ years, and then into the Day of the Lord for a year. But at the conclusion of the Day of the Lord, Jesus Christ will return to this Earth and put down all rebellion against Him. Finally, He will conquer the nations and bring us peace, joy and happiness forever!

Back in 1993, Iran asserted its authority in a territorial claim in Persian Gulf waters. The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs wrote of this incident: “Apparently the Iranians are calculating exactly how far they can push their neighbors ….”

Iran demonstrated the same pushy approach in March 2007, when it captured 15 British seamen in Iraqi waters and held them for 13 days.

On January 12, 2016, just four days before the implementation of the original nuclear deal, Iran humiliated the U.S. Navy by holding some of its sailors hostage at gunpoint, parading them before the world and demanding an apology from them. It was a strong power play. The mullahs sent an ominous message to the world: You can’t rely on America for protection and support anymore—especially in the Middle East. We are now in charge here.

That message was powerfully underscored in the summer of 2021 with America’s shameful surrender and retreat from Afghanistan.

The prophecies we have studied in this booklet point to a time when the United States is no longer a major player in the Middle East. Once America is gone, this king of the south will set its sights on another target: the king of the north.

The Push

“And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over” (Daniel 11:40). Remember, this is an end-time prophecy. The stage is set for an Islamic group of nations led by Iran to push at a German-led European alliance.

This king of the south alliance is undoubtedly the Iran-led radical Muslims. They are strong and are pushing others around in the Middle East. Iran has a foreign policy with a lot of “push.” And it has accumulated a massive arsenal of weapons to back up its aggressive foreign policy, and that arsenal includes chemical, biological and, soon, nuclear weapons!

Soon they will push at the king of the north, the so-called “Holy” Roman Empire. Gesenius’ Lexicon says the word push means “to strike with the horn, used of horned animals,” or “to push with the horn.” It is “used figuratively of a victor, who prostrates the nations before him,” also “to wage war.” Push is a violent word!

This push no doubt revolves around Jerusalem and biblical Judah (called Israel today)—just as the clashes in the time of the Crusades did. That city is the third-most holy city in the Islamic world. Pope John Paul ii spoke publicly of possibly moving the Roman Catholic Church headquarters there. These two great and powerful religions both passionately desire Jerusalem.

In 1990, nobody could have even imagined two world powers emerging from the Middle East and Europe. But God knew exactly what would happen. Nobody but God could have inspired these prophecies. Everybody can see these two great powers today.

The most precious jewel of Iran’s plan is to conquer Jerusalem. This would then galvanize more of the Islamic world behind Iran and spread radical Muslim influence to many countries outside of the Middle East. It could lead to dangerous rioting and terror in Europe, Asia and even America.

Iran will go far in its ambition, but it will never fully conquer Jerusalem.

How could I possibly know this? If Iran or radical Islam were to conquer Jerusalem, then we would look very ignorant. But your Bible says it will not happen. However, the Bible also states that another specific power will conquer Jerusalem.

Such statements should motivate you to prove why we can make these prophetic statements and watch them come to pass exactly as we said. You need to prove what we say—while there is time!

The blatantly bold and aggressive foreign policy of Iran must lead to war. It will either conquer or be conquered. Bible prophecy makes it clear that Iran will be conquered.

Think seriously about the fact that this will not occur at the hands of America or Britain. These nations aren’t even involved in this prophesied war! That is because they are going to fall into social and economic ruin before this prophecy is even fulfilled! The time when Britain and America were superpowers, or kings, is history.

A new superpower is rising in the European Union. The Bible calls this conglomerate the king of the north. It takes one king to topple another king.

Can we see this new European superpower rising on the world scene now? Yes, we can. Believe it or not, God is raising up that European power to punish America and Britain. (To understand why and how, request our free booklet Germany and the Holy Roman Empire.)

The Whirlwind

After the push, the king of the north will come at the king of the south “like a whirlwind” (Daniel 11:40). We have seen how the king of the south could push at the king of the north. When that occurs, Germany responds with a “whirlwind” attack. This one word prophesies how the German-led clash with Iran will unfold. It reveals in detail what is about to happen in the Middle East—and in Africa, southwest Asia and Europe.

The Germans are excellent war strategists and warriors. They are savvy enough to realize that they will never have peace with Iran. They know that sooner or later, their two religions—their two civilizations—will clash.

This scripture describes a time when Germany’s Catholic empire will wage all-out war, throwing everything it has at radical Islam—and dominating it like a violent flood pouring in!

Here is the question we need to focus on: How could Germany do this so easily, so effectively and so quickly?

Berlin will not be able to overwhelm Tehran in the near future unless it is working on a special strategy right now.

Think about the key word in Daniel 11:40. This verse describes an attack from the king of the north, but the emphasis is on the strategy of this military attack.

If you are in a whirlwind, it whirls all around you. Even now, we can see that the German strategy is to surround Iran and its allies.

The Iranians are so focused on conquering their own objectives that they don’t see what the Germans are doing. They don’t recognize how Germany is planning for the bigger war to come!

Germany has expected to clash with Iran, and it has been working on a strategy for years now. That strategy is almost complete. Germany has surrounded Iran.

“Whirlwind” in this verse is a very revealing word. It means “to sweep away in a storm,” according to Gesenius’ Lexicon. It can mean “to bristle with terror.” It can also mean terror-stricken, or shivering with fear, invoking the creeping of the skin of one who is terrorized.

This word has an unusual emphasis on terror! Will this terrifying whirlwind be nuclear? It certainly will be terrorizing! And it is about to explode in the Middle East. Finally the terrorists themselves will be terrorized!

James Moffatt translates this verse, “When the end arrives, the king of the South shall butt at him, but the king of the North shall storm at him like a whirlwind, with chariots and cavalry and a large fleet, invading his lands and flooding into them.”

Soncino says “the king of the north … will swoop down ….” This isn’t simply a straight-on assault. It is a storm that whirls around and around, invading the land and flooding into it!

If you study what is happening in the territory surrounding Iran today, you already see Germany all over it.

Surrounding Iran

How exactly has the king of the north surrounded the king of the south? Its troops haven’t encircled Tehran. It doesn’t have bases and aircraft carriers dotting Iran’s borders. But it has made some intelligent, strategic deployments and deals that give it a presence all the way around Iran’s sphere of influence.

In the previous chapter, we looked at the relationships Germany has been building that point toward the alliance prophesied in Psalm 83. Now let’s look at how many of these relationships will lead to the fulfillment of this “whirlwind” prophecy.

Iran is spreading its influence westward into Egypt and Libya. But across Libya’s western border lies Algeria. In 2011, Germany crafted a deal that sent $10.5 billion worth of military hardware to that country. It also has a personnel carrier plant there. It has a deal to manufacture rifles in Algeria. Berlin has connections even within Egypt and has sold it hundreds of millions of dollars in armaments.

In other parts of Africa, Germany is also already literally fighting radical Islam. Germany currently has over a thousand soldiers in the West African nation of Mali through EU and UN missions. The purpose of the missions is to fight an Islamist insurgency in Mali’s north. Germany did announce it would withdraw its troops from Mali by 2024. Mali suffered a coup in 2021 and the new military regime doesn’t get along with Berlin. But Germany also had a couple hundred soldiers in neighboring Niger, training the Niger Army. This mission concluded in 2022, but the EU—including Germany—intends to send soldiers back there soon. “We are not leaving the Sahel [the region of Africa including Niger and Mali] on its own,” then German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said in December 2022. France, the region’s former colonial ruler, also has a heavy presence in the region. Either way, Germany and Europe have a deep interest in combatting radical Islam in Africa.

To the southwest, Germany has a handful of soldiers and police officers in Sudan and South Sudan, and it has had a presence in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Much closer to Iran, directly across the Persian Gulf, lie the Arabian Peninsula nations. Germany has sold billions of dollars in weapons to Qatar, including dozens of Leopard 2 tanks. It has sold billions in weapons to the United Arab Emirates and built a munitions factory there.

Germany has also worked on some massive deals with Saudi Arabia, including building a machine-gun factory there and sending the Saudis dozens of Eurofighters and hundreds of Leopard 2 tanks.

At the peak of the war in Afghanistan, Germany had over 5,000 troops stationed in Iran’s eastern neighbor.

Just north of Afghanistan is Uzbekistan. There, the German military operated an air base in Termez, with about 300 military staff plus transport aircraft. The base was closed in 2015, but as the German ambassador to the nation announced in October that year, it will serve as a backup facility.

The king of the north also has a strong presence to Iran’s west. In the Mediterranean, lies Cyprus, a strategic military and intelligence asset. The terms that Germany dictated for Cyprus’s economic bailout in April 2013 basically gave the EU control of this island.

The Bundeswehr has 400 soldiers in Turkey, and for three years until December 2015, it deployed two antiaircraft missile batteries in the nation. In addition, it has developed the nation into a massive weapons export market, selling Turkey 715 tanks, 687 armored personnel carriers, 300 air defense missile systems, 197 ground survey radar units, 15 submarines, 8 frigates and 2 support ships in the last two decades.

The German military has a patrol boat off Lebanon and dozens of soldiers on the ground. It also has the largest contingent in Kosovo—over 650 soldiers.

Why is Germany so involved, stretching its presence over the Middle East and much of the world? It is preparing for a whirlwind of destruction.

Germany has surrounded Iran and radical Islam, just as God prophesied it would. Soon that whirlwind will start rotating and whirling against the king of the south with increasing speed, like a well-armed—probably nuclear-armed—vortex!

This whirlwind strategy is about to explode into all-out war. In fact, it will spark World War iii!

The Last Crusade

This prophesied warfare is nothing less than a repeat of the Medieval Crusades, a series of Roman Catholic “holy” wars to wrest control of the Holy Land from Muslims. They produced some of the bloodiest battles in history.

Did you ever wonder how the Catholics reconcile that “holy” slaughter with the Bible, which states, “Thou shalt not kill”? Or how they can read the Sermon on the Mount and still lead the religious world in spilling rivers of blood?

They are called the Christian Crusades. That label itself is a deception. They were primarily Catholic crusades. Other Christian denominations have their problems, but let’s not blame them for what the Catholics did—and will do. Some background will help us understand.

In a.d. 622, Catholics fought and were defeated in a crusade against the Persians and the Jews. Some 60,000 Catholics were killed, and 35,000 enslaved. The fall of Jerusalem left the Catholic world shocked and mourning.

This war left Catholics bitter against the Jews for the role they played in their defeat. Much more anti-Semitism began because of it.

Some historians consider this the First Crusade. But the Crusades we best remember came later, beginning in the 11th century.

Pope Urban ii unleashed a savage Catholic army and started these later Crusades. This “righteous” army marched 3,000 miles to conquer the Holy Land.

Terry Jones and Alan Ereira write in their book Crusades, which became a bbc television series: “By summoning an army under the banner of the cross, the pope was extending the church’s mantle over all Christendom. This was the idea at the very heart of the revolutionary papacy; in place of separate local churches at the center of discreet communities, there was to be one overarching church, ruled by one overarching pope. The crusade was to be its expression and its instrument” (emphasis mine throughout).

They state that this thinking was at the heart of the papacy. The popes wanted to rule any church called Christian. Through the Holy Roman Empire, they also tried repeatedly to extend their authority over nations. They have succeeded six times and are about to succeed again, for the last time, according to Bible prophecy. (Request our free book The Holy Roman Empire in Prophecy.)

The Protestant churches are prophesied to be brought back into the Catholic Church (Isaiah 47). This will mostly be done through bloodshed in the near future. Remember, this wish to rule all Christianity is “at the very heart of the revolutionary papacy.” That means this philosophy has motivated the Catholic Church for nearly 2,000 years. And it still believes violent and bloody crusades are righteous. Has it ever truly repented of its condemning history? The answer is no. The best it has managed are some vague apologies.

History proves the Catholic Church to be one of the most militant institutions ever created. It does not believe in a democratic philosophy. It has routinely and often “converted” people by the sword. Yet this world is unwilling to hold it accountable for its war crimes.

Modern historians have recorded how closely the Vatican worked with the Nazis. It was through the Catholic Church that most of the leading Nazis escaped after World War ii. That history is well documented. No one should doubt it. (Read The Unholy Trinity, by Mark Aarons and John Loftus, available at bookstores.)

And doesn’t that crime reveal that the Catholics were deeply involved with the Nazi war machine? Just a little evidence of logic should teach us that!

This subject is too important to let our emotions stand in the way, because the worst is yet to come! The last crusade will be the supreme inquisition of all history. It is time we understand the bloody history of the Crusades and let it be a warning!

The world seems almost unaware of these monstrous crimes.

Jones and Ereira continue, “Urban’s army would also rescue Jerusalem, the spiritual (and therefore the physical) center of the universe. He hoped that the redeemed Jerusalem would be directly ruled by the church.

“Every man who enrolled for the struggle must mark himself out by wearing a cross and, most important, vow to continue on his way until he reached Jerusalem.

“Urban’s method of raising this army was completely original; as well as pay, he could offer paradise [much like the Islamic terrorists]—anyone who took part had all their sins forgiven. ‘Whoever for devotion alone, not to gain honor or money, goes to Jerusalem to liberate the church of God can substitute this journey for all penance.’”

Any Bible student ought to know that only God can forgive sins and offer paradise. But that is the big problem with most Christians: They don’t believe and obey the Bible!

The whole world, including the religious world, is deceived (Revelation 12:9). Enormous problems like the Crusades will continue until we confront our own self-deception.

Jones and Ereira conclude, “By saying that carrying out a military/political enterprise would make you a better person, wiping out past sins, Urban had invented a way by which every person could internalize papal policy. Fighting in the pope’s cause was not only an obligation, it made you righteous. With that one idea, mass political action was launched. With that one idea, ideology was born. With that one idea, the Crusade was set in motion. Urban did not understand what he had done.”

Perhaps this pope did not know what he had done. But what he began led to a number of indescribably brutal wars between Catholics and Muslims.

The real tragedy is that the world, like Pope Urban, still does not understand what he did nor what the Catholic Church continues to do. Its real beliefs surface when it gains power. Today, it is building the greatest power it has ever had. If you understand its history, its future is very predictable—far more than most historians believe. Add Bible prophecy to that equation and you will see that this world faces a frightening specter prior to its final defeat.

Fighting on Both Sides

The Crusades created rivers of blood. And it was all done in the name of God. Of course, the Muslims responded with massive slaughters against the Crusaders, also in the name of God. Does it make any sense for God to be fighting on both sides? Or are these warring factions just giving our God of love a bloody reputation?

Jerusalem is considered a holy place by both religions. It is indeed considered the “center of the universe” by the Catholics. They believe conquering Jerusalem makes them righteous. That has been their ideology from the beginning. It is still true today. The fruits are there to prove it. The Bible says that “by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20). They believe in war as an instrument to achieve their religious goals.

Jones and Ereira recount an incident after the Catholic army had taken Jerusalem: “The following morning the Crusaders reentered the al-Aqsa Mosque and slaughtered every Muslim sheltering there. No one knows how many died; the Muslim chronicler reports 70,000. One of the Crusaders reports picking his way through a mess of blood and bodies more than knee-deep.” This is only one episode of many. Many people have seen pictures of this very mosque.

How many Muslims still remember the history of this mosque being knee-deep in Muslim blood? And all of this savagery supposedly made Catholics righteous! A warrior who burned Muslim babies in the Crusade was considered worthy of glory for all eternity! Does this really make sense to a sound mind?

“[K]illing, the pope now declared, need not be a sin after all. It depended on who you killed. In fact, if you killed the enemies of Christ, killing did not require penance—it was the penance. Holy slaughter could be as effective a devotional activity as prayer or fasting or pilgrimage” (ibid).

The pope said, “Now we are proposing that you should fight wars which contain the glorious reward of martyrdom, in which you can gain the title of present and eternal glory.”

“The pope had also pointed out the importance of rescuing Jerusalem from the infidel. He seems to have suggested that ‘rescue’ meant ‘seize and keep’” (ibid).

The pope also said, “Take the road to the Holy Sepulcher, rescue that land from a dreadful race and rule over it yourselves.”

Muslim and Jewish inhabitants of Jerusalem were slaughtered like pigs. And all of this was done by Catholics who presumably became more righteous in the process.

Were these killers true Christians? A true Christian is one who follows Christ. If we look in the Gospels, Christ tells us to love our enemies, even die for them—not kill them!

The memory of such horrendous massacres still lives in the minds of many Muslims.

Those memories have provoked Arabs and Jews to massacre Catholics throughout history in retribution—all in the name of religion.

King Peter’s Crusade

The little Mediterranean island of Cyprus was captured by Catholic Crusaders during the Third Crusade. In the 14th century, King Peter of Cyprus sought to reclaim Catholic control of Jerusalem. Steven Runciman wrote about this in A History of the Crusades: “King Peter arrived at Rhodes early in the month, and on the 25th the whole Cypriot fleet sailed into the harbor, 108 vessels in all, galleys, transports, merchant ships and light skiffs. With the great galleys of the Venetians and those provided by the Hospital, the armada numbered 165 ships. They carried a full complement of men, with ample horses, provisions and arms. Not since the Third Crusade had a proportionate expedition set out for the Holy War ….

“During the Friday night there was a fierce Muslim counterattack through one of the southern gates, which the Christians in their excitement had burned down. It was beaten off; and by the Saturday afternoon, all Alexandria was in the Crusaders’ hands.

“The victory was celebrated with unparalleled savagery. Two and a half centuries of holy warfare had taught the Crusaders nothing of humanity. The massacres were only equalled by those of Jerusalem in 1099 and Constantinople in 1204. The Muslims had not been so ferocious at Antioch or at Acre. Alexandria’s wealth had been phenomenal; and the victors were maddened at the sight of so much booty. They spared no one. The native Christians and the Jews suffered as much as the Muslims; and even the European merchants settled in the city saw their factories and storehouses ruthlessly looted. Mosques and tombs were raided and their ornaments stolen or destroyed; churches too were sacked, though a gallant crippled Coptic lady managed to save some of the treasures of her sect at the sacrifice of her private fortune. Houses were entered, and householders who did not immediately hand over all their possessions were slaughtered with their families. Some 5,000 prisoners, Christians and Jews as well as Muslims, were taken to be sold as slaves. A long line of horses, asses and camels carried the loot to the ships in the harbor and there having performed their task were killed. The whole city stank with the odor of human and animal corpses.”

Runciman said, “The Crusades were the pope’s work.” The Crusade philosophy has made Catholic popes the bloodiest religious leaders ever!

Still, most people try to hide from this frightening reality. That is the main reason why the worst Catholic crusade is yet to come. Mankind refuses to believe the truth and believe God.

The world so quickly forgets. Hence, the massive bloodshed continues. The Catholics committed these appalling, despicable deeds before the world. But has anyone heard them repent before the world?

There is good news: Jesus Christ will personally stop the next crusade! Sadly, however, that will only occur after the worst suffering ever on this Earth (Daniel 12:1; Matthew 24:21-22).

Cyprus

More than one crusade has been launched from Cyprus. Will we see the last crusade launched from there as well? Is history about to repeat itself?

Turkey, just north of Cyprus, has been a strong member of nato for many years. Yet a German-led European Union has rejected it from joining the EU, even though it has been applying since 1963, when there were only six members!

Cyprus, on the other hand, joined the EU in 2004.

Why has the EU consistently rejected Turkey? Is it because Turkey is predominantly Islamic?

The EU is prophesied to be ultimately comprised of 10 nations, or groups of nations, dominated by Catholicism. Already the EU is being called the Holy Roman Empire, traditionally the enemy of the Muslims.

And why did the EU want tiny Cyprus as a member? Is it already thinking about Cyprus as a launching pad from which to protect its Jerusalem interests?

You can be certain that the EU is thinking about how to protect the holy places in and around Jerusalem. Europe has thought on this for almost 2,000 years!

At the time Cyprus was accepted into the EU, some people feared a war between Greece and Turkey, which have influence over different portions of the island. Greece became the 10th member state of the EU in 1981, and Russia sold missiles to Greece, whose intention was to bully Turkey with them.

“The EU has maneuvered itself into a position where it may soon have to take a bitterly divided island, with a propensity for violence and even war, into its bosom,” Christopher Lockwood wrote in the Daily Telegraph. “It has poisoned relations with Turkey, a crucial nato ally; made a solution to the Cyprus problem harder to achieve than ever …” (March 30, 1998).

Why did Europe risk such serious problems, even warfare, over this tiny island? Even EU leaders don’t fully understand what is happening. There is a spirit and force behind these events that the world does not see.

“And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months” (Revelation 13:3-5).

If the people of the world truly understood what is happening in Europe, they would be trembling in fear.

Does this great evil spirit being, Satan the devil, have plans for Cyprus? Will a final crusade be launched into the Middle East from there? Satan knows Bible prophecy and what the future holds.

The beast will hold power for 3½ years, and then Christ will destroy that evil empire forever! We are entering the worst times ever, but they will lead into the best news we could ever receive!

Final Crusade Prophesied

One of the main tourist attractions in Jordan is the Crusader castles. The Catholics built most of them to war against the Muslims and control Jerusalem. These castles are stark reminders of the bloody past—and a far bloodier future!

The Jews have Jerusalem now. But not for long. Both Muslims and Catholics have designs on Jerusalem. These two great powers are about to clash again in the final crusade over Jerusalem!

In 1997, Iran conducted major war games—involving between 150,000 and 500,000 soldiers—code-named “Road to Jerusalem.” What could be more provocative? Iran was advertising its end goal and strategy to the world.

In 2010, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad emphasized the global significance of Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day—Iran’s annual display of support for the Palestinian cause and the “liberation of Jerusalem.” The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center reported that “according to Ahmadinejad, the issue of Jerusalem is not limited to one geographic area; it is not just a Palestinian issue, and it is, in fact, ‘even greater than the issue of Islam’” (Sept. 12, 2010).

Few people understand this Muslim passion for Jerusalem and its holy sites! It is the kind of passion that causes war!

Iran has virtually destroyed the peace process single-handedly. The world continues to talk about peace. But Iran and radical Islam don’t want peace, and words won’t deter them.

Joseph de Courcy wrote in the Islamic Affairs Analyst: “Subscribers should be in absolutely no doubt about this. From Iran’s support for subversion in Bahrain, through its improving ties with Egypt, its support for Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Islamist revolutionaries in Khartoum, to its close strategic alliance with Moscow, everything has the same ultimate purpose: the liberation of Jerusalem from under the Zionist yoke.”

In 1996, the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said, “We know but one word: struggle, struggle. Jihad, jihad, jihad. When we stop our intifada, when we stop our revolution, we go to the greater jihad, the jihad of the independent Palestinian state with its capital Jerusalem.”

Jihad is the Arabic cry for holy war. They will get their war. But it will not be holy. It will lead to the worst suffering this planet has ever experienced!

Meanwhile, Europe is experiencing a push for a revival of the Holy Roman Empire. Pope John Paul ii worked feverishly toward this end for years. Early in his papacy, in Spain, November 9, 1981, he said: “It can be said that the European identity is not understandable without Christianity and that it is precisely in Christianity that are found those common roots by which the Continent has seen its civilization mature: its culture, its dynamism, its activity, its capacity for constructive expansion in other continents as well; in a word, all that makes up its glory. …

“Find yourself again. Be yourself. Discover your origins, revive your roots. Return to those authentic values which made your history a glorious one and your presence so beneficent in the other continents.”

Many historians have tried to estimate the number of innocent people killed in the name of “Christianity” by the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire. Conservative estimates put the figure at 50 million! That’s right—50 million! The “origins” and “roots” and that “history” to which John Paul referred caused tens of millions of people to be slaughtered!

Pope Benedict xvi repeated that same message: Discover your origins, revive your roots. In 2006, at a conference in Rome of the EU’s largest and most influential conservative group, the European People’s Party, Pope Benedict was the headline speaker. “Your support for Christian heritage,” he told the politicians, “can contribute significantly to the defeat of a culture that is now fairly widespread in Europe, which relegates [religion] to the private and subjective sphere.” When he visited his native Bavaria later that year, he urged Europeans to reject secularism and embrace religion. That message must be understood in light of the Catholic Church’s history of dominating the public sphere in dangerous ways.

In Revelation 17, God paints a vivid picture of a great church as a lavishly dressed harlot, holding sway over the nations. God sees things as they truly are! Let’s look at God’s view: “And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration” (Revelation 17:6). God sees this whore “drunken” on the blood of the saints! Is killing God’s saints “glorious”?

The Holy Roman Empire will come at the king of the south like a whirlwind. Will it be a surprise attack from Cyprus? Will we see the final crusade launched from there? A whirlwind arises suddenly. So it doesn’t appear the attack will be launched all the way from Europe.

We must understand the Holy Roman Empire and the Crusades to understand the Catholic passion for Jerusalem. They have a long history of spilling rivers of blood over Jerusalem.

Notice what their first action is after their victory: “He shall enter also into the glorious land …” (Daniel 11:41). They “enter” into the glorious land, or the Holy Land. The Hebrew indicates this is a peaceful entry—not forced.

The Jews appear to invite them in as peacekeepers. After war explodes in the Middle East, there will probably be a thunderous call for a peacekeeper in Jerusalem. The king of the north will no doubt take the job. But it leads to a great double cross, prophesied in Ezekiel 23. (Request our free book Ezekiel—The End-Time Prophet to learn about this.)

The Jews should remember the history of the violence and bloodshed by the Crusaders. Then perhaps they would not invite the enemy into Jerusalem.

The Good News

At that point in prophecy, the Holy Roman Empire will face disaster. “But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many” (Daniel 11:44). The Russians and Chinese will prepare for war with Europe, striking fear in the king of the north. The Europeans will see it coming and strike first.

The king of the north will then be defeated. “And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him” (verse 45). Here we see a great religious leader moving his headquarters—“the tabernacles of his palace”—to Jerusalem. Why? This is not just for protection. He could go to many other cities that would be safer. But this will be a religious act of faith. This religious leader considers Jerusalem to be the most holy place on Earth—the “center of the universe.” Still, he will be defeated and come to a most ignominious end. Nobody will be there to help him.

There should be no chapter break between Daniel 11 and 12. The story flow continues to illustrate that this religious war will trigger a nuclear World War iii.

“And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book” (Daniel 12:1). There has never before been trouble like this. God promises to protect His people physically. Otherwise, they would perish in a nuclear nightmare.

As bad as this news is, it leads to the best news this world has ever heard! “And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days” (verse 11). The daily sacrifice is referring to God’s Work. That Work will be taken away—removed when God takes His people to a place of safety (Matthew 24:15-16; Luke 21:20-21). That must happen because the king of the north, which backs that abomination of desolation, is going to conquer America and Britain. When that happens, you will be able to start counting days to the return of Jesus Christ. He will end these “holy wars” forever.

Any child should understand that the fruits of these “holy wars” have been diabolical! There is no excuse for America and Britain not knowing the truth. God has been sending forth His message in power to the nations for over 70 years! They have rejected it repeatedly. That is why they must now suffer so intensely. Finally, God will get their attention and lead them to peace, full joy and abundance.

In 1994, Pope John Paul ii made this statement: “We trust that with the approach of the year 2000, Jerusalem will become the city of peace for the entire world and that all the people will be able to meet there, in particular the believers in the religions that find their birthright in the faith of Abraham.”‘

The pope was very accurate in this statement: “Jerusalem will become the city of peace for the entire world,” but not the way he believed.

Jesus Christ will return in the very near future. And He will bring peace to the entire world! That is one big reason there is so much violence over Jerusalem in this end time. Satan knows that God is going to rule the world, and even the universe, from Jerusalem. The Bible says we are about to see a religious clash that will stagger the world! This prophecy is yet to be fulfilled.

Of course, Satan hates this prophecy because at Christ’s return he will be cast into a bottomless pit (Revelation 20:1‑3).

What a glorious future man has. And all of that glory is going to emanate from Jerusalem!

Daniel 11 is the history and prophecy of the warring kings of the north and south. Its time frame begins before Christ’s first coming and ends at His Second Coming. However, Daniel was written for the end time, so that is where the time frame is mostly focused (Daniel 12:4, 9). And now we have moved into the specific “last end” (Daniel 8:19) of the end-time period.

Now notice how deeply God’s very elect are embedded and emphasized within Daniel 11 and 12.

“And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits” (Daniel 11:32). The word exploits means heroic acts. The very elect “stand firm and take action” (Revised Standard Version).

Our six-year court battle with the Worldwide Church of God over the right to print Herbert W. Armstrong’s writings is an example. The Philadelphia Church of God won that battle, when it looked like we had no chance of winning. God gave us the victory. Why? Because we need Mr. Armstrong’s writings to teach the foundational part of our message. Mr. Armstrong “restored all things” (Matthew 17:10-11)—all the major doctrines of God’s Church. People cannot understand our message without first comprehending his. Now the copyrights to Mr. Armstrong’s writings belong to us. (If you are unfamiliar with this story, request a free copy of our booklet Habakkuk.)

“And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days” (Daniel 11:33). God’s very elect instruct many of the Laodiceans (Christ’s lukewarm Church) and the world. The word “instruct” means to turn minds to discernment and understanding. “The word inculcates the concept of distinguishing between good and evil” (Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible). Only God truly knows how to distinguish between good and evil! Nobody else does! In the midst of billions of people, only a few thousand teach God’s true message. This tiny group instructs many, but only small numbers submit to God. However, the message is a witness to all the world (Matthew 24:14). That means God will still use our message to bring them to repentance. This is only the first stage.

Here we see a small group of people with a God-sized message. The whole world should heed today. But most people won’t become converted until Christ returns.

Our work is about God and His message. So is the book of Daniel. The whole world should heed now. They will turn to this message—it’s just a matter of when.

We instruct many. That means God gives us new and old revelation “to reach the largest audience possible,” in the words of Mr. Armstrong. We must reach out to God’s Laodiceans and the world.

“Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen [helped] with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries” (Daniel 11:34). The Laodiceans have fallen in this spiritual war. God, through us, gives them a little help, because most of them refuse to repent—even though some fake repentance “with flatteries.” Most of the Laodiceans were against us in our court battle for God’s revealed truth. Many even became antichrists and fought against Christ and the pcg. (This is explained in our free booklet The Last Hour.)

Amid World Empires

God’s perspective is exciting beyond words. In the midst of warning countries and world empires, God emphasizes His very elect most of all! They are right at the center of this history and prophecy.

Can we see how important the work of the pcg is? We all need God’s perspective on this subject. Daniel 11 describes the clash of world empires. But the spotlight is still on God’s Church. Even Church division is discussed. God wants His people to know how important they are in His eyes. Nobody takes precedence over God’s people.

In the midst of geopolitical turmoil, God gives striking details about His own Church! “And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed” (Daniel 11:35). Now God directs His warning specifically to those doing the daily (His Work). Verse 33 says many will fall. That refers to the Laodiceans. Here it says some. So even some of those who understand and are doing God’s Work will fall.

God is warning the end-time Philadelphians directly! Daniel said this was for a “time appointed.” It’s for a specific time period—our time. And right up to the very end, some among us will fall. Haven’t all in God’s Church seen that happen? The word try in verse 35 means to smelt, like smelting metal. It means a fiery trial. Even when people come into this remnant and understand the truth, they can still fall.

Should we be shocked if some few leave? God says it will happen right up to the end. We are in a war. And in a war, there are casualties. Will you be a casualty? It will happen “even to the time of the end.”

This is dangerous knowledge. Eternal life is at stake for God’s people. In the midst of world calamities, God reveals that this small, loyal remnant will have spiritual war casualties. But if we stick with God, we will never be a spiritual casualty.

God reveals a great deal of detail here about His own Church. That is because what we do has eternal consequences.

And all this was prophesied well before the first coming of Christ!

“But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things” (verse 38). First of all, in the phrase “God of forces,” god should not be capitalized. This man is worshiping a god that his spiritual fathers did not know.

“In his estate” means he’s sitting in the seat of the God of gods. This is a parallel prophecy to 2 Thessalonians 2:4. He’s in God’s seat saying that he is God—not by his words but by his deeds! For the word estate, the margin says stead. (Gesenius’ Lexicon says “in his place.”) He’s in the place of Christ. This is happening in God’s sanctuary. This man betrayed God.

The “god of forces” is Satan leading his demon army. Satan and his fallen angels have been cast down to this Earth (Revelation 12:9, 12), and they are more wrathful than ever before because they know their time is short. God is about to cast them into outer darkness.

This demon army fights God’s Church—spiritual Israel—most of all. Then it attacks the nations of Israel. These demons are stirring up the Gentiles against America, the Jews in the Middle East and the British peoples. Their activities are going to intensify until they destroy our nations.

God has chosen His very elect to warn the nations of Israel. This is the message people must heed. They can heed either now—or after the worst punishment ever. There is no escaping this message if we are to be in God’s Kingdom. God’s message is in their midst. But most will not listen until it is physically too late.

“And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them” (Ezekiel 33:33). They finally learn that there was a prophet of God in their midst—not several prophets, only one—after the Tribulation has struck.

Look again at Daniel 11:41: “He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.” The last part of this verse is interesting. In addition to sparing Edom and Moab, God will spare the chief of the children, or sons, of Ammon. The word chief means “with regard to time, first fruits” (Gesenius’ Lexicon). This undoubtedly is referring to God’s people, whom the Bible calls the “firstfruits” to be harvested in God’s plan (e.g. James 1:18). These people will be saved out of the beast’s hand.

Understand the context here. To this point in Daniel 11, we have seen how Satan has literally destroyed a whole Church of God spiritually, except for the few who understand and who instruct many. Satan could not get to the very elect spiritually. So now he tries to get to them physically, through the beast. But God will protect us from the wrath of Satan the devil. He will save His little sanctuary of strength.

“But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many” (verse 44). Tidings out of Russia and China only expedite the beast power’s plans to “destroy, and utterly to make away many”—or, as the Companion Bible says, “to devote many to extermination.”

Remember, this is all one vision. There is a chronological flow here, so don’t let the chapter break distract you. “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book” (Daniel 12:1). It says “at that time.” When? At the time of the clash between the king of the north and the king of the south. Shortly after that clash, God’s people will be delivered. Then the king of the north will attack America, Britain and Israel (Hosea 5:5).

The archangel Gabriel is still dictating this message. He refers to the archangel Michael, who stands up for the “sons [it should read] of thy people.” He stands for the sons of God—this is a military expression. He is armed, and he takes his stand, ready to fight. That’s his job. Unless we know what Michael’s role is, we will not be protected.

The great archangel Michael stands up for spiritual Israel, which is God’s very elect. They are taken to a place of safety just before the worst time of suffering ever.

Only the loyal “sons” are protected. The Laodicean rebels failed to honor their Father (Malachi 1:6). They are not protected. This is all about God’s Family. That is what the gospel is—the good news about the coming Family of God. The whole world has the potential to be part of that Family. The suffering is to help all mankind reach that goal.

We instruct many about their potential in the God Family. This is their only hope in a hopeless world. Most people today fight against their own breathtaking potential. Soon all that will change. Christ is about to return!

In the midst of clashing empires, God emphasizes the mind-dazzling potential of mankind. They don’t see that potential yet. But a small remnant do. They are preparing now to teach the whole world—billions of people!

Our message is pulsating with transcendental hope. God wants us to dedicate our lives to getting this message out.

Michael the powerful archangel has already risen up to protect God’s very elect. Our need for that protection will intensify in the troubled times ahead. Will that protection include you?

God protects those saints who “turn many to righteousness” (Daniel 12:3). This is in the context of the king of the south. Getting out this message is the purpose for which we understand God’s revealed truth. Our work is to give people a chance to turn to God. Those who do not turn will still be a witness to God’s message. The coming suffering of the Great Tribulation and Day of the Lord will finally awaken them. They will know how to repent because of our message. God rewards us as no other saints. We are to become the Bride of Christ—and to shine like the stars and the brightness of the firmament forever!