Another, More Mysterious Alliance

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: “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” (verses 6-8).

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 some 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 represent the modern Palestinian Arabs; Gebal and Tyre are Lebanon.

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!”

Psalm 83 also includes Amalek, a son of Esau. Amalek and his children became a prominent people at the time of the Exodus. Moses records in Numbers 24:20 that the Amalekites were the first of the nations to attack the Israelites after they escaped from Egypt. An account in 1 Samuel 30:11-13 shows that they were even powerful enough to enslave Egyptians. At the height of their power, the Amalekites colonized various parts of the Mediterranean, including the Aegean and western Turkey. In biblical prophecy, Amalek also refers to modern Turkey.

That Plain Truth 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.

Much of this is apparent with the level of arms exports Germany and Europe sell to the Middle East. In 2024, Germany approved arms exports to Turkey worth over $242 million, the highest level in 20 years. That same year, Germany approved the export of air-to-air missiles to Saudi Arabia, ending an arms export ban imposed after the Saudi government murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. Saudi Arabia quickly grew to be the fourth-largest recipient of German weapons in the first half of 2024. In November 2023, the month after the October 7 terrorist attack, German exports to Bahrain reached the all-time high of over $260 million.

Bahrain is a special example. The island country has a Sunni Muslim monarchy ruling over a significant Shiite population. During the 2011 Arab Spring, when it was rocked by anti-government protests along with much of the Middle East, the government cracked down 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).

There is evidence Germany directly helped suppress Bahrain’s budding Shiite revolution. 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. About a year after Bahrain’s crackdown had begun, in April 2012, 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.

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 that, regardless of their modern boundaries, from a biblical perspective they would be considered a part of Saudi Arabia. The main issue is that Germany is now building an alliance with the moderate Arabs—paving the way for the Psalm 83 prophecy to be fulfilled.

A Prophecy for Gaza

Anciently, Gaza was one of the leading Philistine city-states. Based on the Philistines’ inclusion in Psalm 83, I have predicted that we will see the Gaza Strip shift allegiance from Iran to Germany.

The last edition of The King of the South was published in February 2023. This is what I wrote then: “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 … the Palestinians to ally themselves with Germany. There may soon be some significant power shifts in Gaza.”

When we printed that edition of this booklet, Hamas was still ruling Gaza as an Iranian puppet state. To most people, no signs were apparent of any imminent changes to Gaza’s status quo. But eight months later, Hamas launched its October 7 massacre against Israel.

Since then, to say there have been “significant power shifts in Gaza” is an understatement. Soon after Hamas started its war, Israel launched a ground invasion into Gaza. In the months that followed, Israel killed thousands of Hamas terrorists, freed most hostages Hamas took captive, destroyed significant terrorist infrastructure and exposed the complicity of the United Nations and other organizations in helping Hamas rule.

Right now Gaza’s immediate future is unclear. But whoever reconstructs the rubble that is the Gaza Strip, it is clear that the main obstacle to Gaza aligning with Germany—Hamas’s undisputed stranglehold on the territory—is now history. Gaza is no longer a part of Iran’s proxy empire. You can be sure that, whatever unexpected developments affect Gaza, Germany, one way or another, will become Gaza’s new master.

Beheading Hezbollah

There are even stronger examples of how the Psalm 83 alliance is forming. These deal with Lebanon and Syria.

In the 2023 edition of this book, I wrote, “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.”

Back then, Hezbollah and its Iranian paymasters were the real rulers of Lebanon. Lebanon’s presidency had been vacant since 2022 because of Hezbollah putting up resistance. The U.S. government estimated in 2018 that Iran gave Hezbollah more than $700 million every year, making Hezbollah Iran’s most well-funded proxy by far. Hezbollah spent this money to build an arsenal of 150,000 precision-guided missiles, rockets and other projectiles aimed at little Israel, plus tens of thousands of fanatical terrorists who joined Hezbollah because they want war with Israel.

Soon after the October 7 attack, Hezbollah began bombarding northern Israel, causing tens of thousands of Israelis to move south as refugees in their own country. They never did declare a full-scale war against Israel as many were expecting them to, and I believe there is evidence that it was because they were intimidated by threats from Germany in support of Israel. (Read about this in my article “The Rise and Fall of Lebanon,” at theTrumpet.com/30487.)

However, then Israel went on the offensive. On September 17, 2024, it pulled the trigger on a long-planned attack: It activated explosives embedded within pagers it had delivered to Hezbollah, severely injuring thousands of terrorists. Three days later, Israel bombed a building in Beirut where elite Hezbollah leaders were gathered. Then it launched strikes on Hezbollah storage facilities that some estimated destroyed up to half of Hezbollah’s rocket and missile arsenal.

“I have a message for the tyrants of Tehran: If you strike us, we will strike you,” Netanyahu told the United Nations. “There is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach.”

That day, September 27, Hassan Nasrallah was in the Hezbollah headquarters bunker watching Netanyahu speak on television. Israeli warplanes then released bunker-busting bombs on his compound, killing him. Netanyahu’s threat may have been the last thing Nasrallah heard before he died.

Within a couple weeks, Israel had taken out almost all of Hezbollah’s top leadership.

Then on October 1, Israel launched Operation Northern Arrows, entering southern Lebanon to dismantle Hezbollah’s military infrastructure. It was quite successful in meeting that goal before succumbing to pressure from the U.S. and France to accept a ceasefire. Israeli forces didn’t push farther up the coast and try to uproot Hezbollah from Beirut for good. But Netanyahu said the idea was to weaken Hezbollah to the point that Lebanon’s anti-Hezbollah factions could carry out their own revolution.

In the time since, it seems this has largely happened: The Lebanese people have taken back much of Hezbollah’s control. After years of not having a president, Lebanon’s legislature backed the election of Joseph Aoun as president. Aoun is an anti-Hezbollah, Maronite Catholic who pledged to honor a ceasefire with Israel. They also nominated Nawaf Salam, an internationalist with strong connections to Europe, as prime minister. A few days after Salam’s election, French President Emmanuel Macron made his first visit to Lebanon in over four years, announcing his support in establishing Lebanon’s “new era.”

Iran’s Hezbollah puppet has lost its power in Lebanon! A Europe-aligned elite is filling the power vacuum, and one of Europe’s top leaders is helping the process. This is exactly what we have been forecasting for years. Expect Europe to consolidate its influence in Lebanon even further.

Another Iranian proxy faced even more dramatic change.

Prophecy Fulfilled in Syria

Since 2000, President Bashar Assad ruled Syria with an iron fist. It was one of the most totalitarian nations in the world. A 2024 Freedom House ranking branded it the world’s least free sovereign state—worse than China, North Korea or Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

When Syria’s civil war began in 2011, it looked like the Syrian rebels had a chance in ousting Assad. In my September 2012 Trumpet cover story, I wrote, “The eyes of the world are fixed on this explosive hot spot. Bashar Assad will be ousted shortly—but then what? You can actually know the outcome!” “Keep your eye on Germany,” I wrote. “Right now, Syria is Iran’s most important regional ally. But that is about to change. … Biblical prophecy reveals that, very soon, Syria will no longer align with Iran. It also shows that Germany will help cause this split.” It was because of Psalm 83 that we were expecting this dramatic change.

However, Assad weathered that storm and regained control over his nation. The pressure on him subsided, and it looked like what I had said was a false prophecy. It wasn’t. We don’t know the exact timing of these prophecies or how exactly they will unfold, but they do give us clear guidance on what to watch for. Sometimes events seem to go in the opposite direction of what we might expect. That doesn’t mean the prophecy is wrong.

I again began thinking about Syria in 2024. In May that year, I said this in a Key of David program: “[W]hat will happen whenever Bashar Assad is no longer ruling Syria? At this time they have Russia there, propping him up. They’re making slaves of the people, and [the people] don’t want to be living under Assad. Millions of them have already immigrated, and many of them [are] in Germany itself. This alliance gives Russia a naval and air force base, just like it does the Iranians, where they can be right on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea, and in one of the most strategic places in the world …. But when Germany is allied with Syria, of course that’s going to be taken away—and Germany and Iran will no longer have the Russians there … to allow Bashar Assad to continue to rule. But Iran is losing Syria to Germany. It’s happening even right now!”

I felt this subject so important that I gave another television program on it that month and wrote a lengthy feature article (“Iran Is Losing Syria to Germany,” August 2024). That article says, “Bible prophecy is clear: With or without Assad, Syria will break with Iran and ally with Germany!”

Suddenly, in November 2024, Turkish-backed rebels started a lightning offensive against Assad’s forces. The regime’s military crumbled as the rebels captured city after city. By December 7, the rebels had advanced to Damascus. Assad resigned the following day and fled to Russia.

Virtually no one else was expecting anything dramatic to happen there. Many commentators were blindsided by Assad’s sudden fall. But our readers were not!

The only reason I was emphasizing Syria was Bible prophecy. That shows you just how valuable prophecy is in understanding world events! In hindsight, it is clear God was directing this. He inspired those prophecies, and He was beginning to orchestrate events that would bring them to pass—though no analysts could recognize it at the time.

Syria is one of the most complex hot spots on the planet. However, what I wrote in 2012, I can write again today: “What we are seeing right now in Syria is a major biblical prophecy in the process of being fulfilled! What happens in Syria will lead to mighty nations changing course and the foundations of this world being shaken!”

How Germany Backed Turkey

Psalm 83 says Syria and several other Arab states will be allied with Turkey and Germany. This is very different from the Iran-led alliance described in Daniel 11. These two confederations are opposed to one another.

In Psalm 83, Edom represents modern-day Turkey, which has been allied with both Iran and Germany. Based on this prophecy, I noted in 2012 that Turkish-Iranian ties would break over Syria: “Turkey has also been allied with Iran, but it too is going to side with Germany in the future! Why? Because it disagrees with what Iran is doing in Syria! While Iran supports the Assad regime, Turkey supports the rebels.”

Turkey was actually the main driving factor behind the 2024 rebel uprising. This is certain to have angered Iran greatly. Clearly Turkey broke with Iran over Syria, which was a crucial ally of Iran’s. In losing that ally, Iran has lost much of its ability to supply Hezbollah in Lebanon. Combined with Israel’s decimation of Hezbollah, this is devastating for Iran.

Turkey wasn’t the only one that wanted Iran out of Syria—Germany did too. The two countries agreed on this point. (And remember, besides the two being nato allies, Turkey is a favored trading partner of Germany and, according to Germany’s president, a “valuable friend.”)

In 2012, I also wrote that Syria would split with Iran and that Germany would help cause this split. I want to add that Germany’s backing was the main cause of Syria’s fall. Based on Bible prophecy, I believe we can say this with certainty! Germany did more than just “help cause the split”: It is the main reason the Assad government collapsed!

Germany and Turkey are very different countries with different ideas in a lot of areas—but they are working together, and they are aligned on Syria.

Turkey’s support for the Syrian rebellion was strongly assisted by German armaments. Just before Turkey sparked this uprising, Germany resumed major arms exports to Turkey. In September 2024, the Federal Ministry of Economics announced that torpedoes, guided missiles and submarine components were approved for Turkey. In December, it reported that Germany approved arms exports worth $242 million to Turkey in 2024, the highest amount since 2006.

This massive influx of arms from Germany surely encouraged Turkey to spark this rebellion in Syria! Receiving arms from Germany is a game changer—and Germany has plenty of them! It is one of the greatest exporters of armaments in the world. That is stunning, especially when you consider that, after World War ii, Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt said they were determined to never allow Germany to rise up militarily again!

One of the main weapons Turkey used to oust Assad was its famous drones. The Turkish company Bayraktar has been one of the world’s leading producers of military-grade drones for years. Bayraktar’s drones were a major reason why Ukraine could fight off Russia’s initial invasion in 2022. These drones are made with German parts. German defense electronics manufacturer Hensoldt has offices and staff in Turkey and has been equipping Bayraktar tb2 drones with its optical sensors since 2020. Hensoldt has also supplied two other Turkish drone manufacturers: Turkish Aerospace Industries and Lentatek. Those drones wouldn’t work without these special sensors. And Hensoldt develops and manufactures them through a subsidiary in South Africa. In this way, it claims to be free of any components governed by German export law or the United States’ International Traffic in Arms Regulations. That means Germany is empowering Turkey secretively!

In Syria, these drones gave the rebels the key advantage over Assad’s troops. This was a decisive factor. Assad himself admitted this.

Keep in mind that Germany’s agreement to send major weapon systems to Turkey may just be an overt sign of much more going on behind the scenes. Due to German secrecy, we can’t know for sure what role Germany played in enabling those drone strikes, but it is one of few countries with the capability—and a history of surprises. Certainly Germany was hoping and waiting for Bashar Assad to leave Syria. It appears that in the end it decided to hasten the process. It wanted that power, and it saw a way to make it happen. It was Germany’s backing most of all that caused Syria’s collapse!

Watch for a Massive Shift

Look at these monumental changes! This is world news told to you ahead of time!

Psalm 83 foretells a massive shift in alliances. Just watch—keep track. Watch Germany, watch the Middle East, and see if these events don’t continue to progress just as Psalm 83 forecasts. Events are about to stagger the imagination of many authorities in this world! And God prophesied it all thousands of years ago.

To most people, this means very little. This is a most exciting and wonderful prophecy—yet the world understands almost nothing about it. But God spelled it out so that, if we just study our Bibles, we can understand it all. We must understand it! People should understand because this message has been publicized for well over 70 years by the Trumpet and by Herbert W. Armstrong.

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.

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!