The sleeping giant awakens

Ms. Schlondorff, 18, went on to say, speaking of the Nazi era, "I don't really feel touched by it…" A new generation of Germans are putting away the past and seeking to find a different identity for Germany, apart from the old stigmas of jack boots and hands raised in allegiance. What changes are now taking place in Germany and what will this portend for the future of Europe and the world?

The financial crisis which enveloped the world in 2008 did something dynamic in Germany, as their government sought to find fiscal harmony through patience and diligence. This was in stark contrast to the stimulus package spending of the Obama administration, which attempted to merely head off what appeared to be the inevitability of a depression, by bailing out banks and those organizations deemed "too big to fail."

According to the NYT article, the financial crisis did wake people in Germany, with national pride for the accomplishments of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and a feeling that the world "should follow Germany's example of austerity." Eyelids have been raised and the light of a new Germany is becoming clearer with each passing day.

In June of 1991, a reunified Germany voted to return the nation's capital to Berlin from its post-war location, Bonn: "On Monday, April 19, [1999], the German parliament … [met] … in the Reichstag building in Berlin, signaling the transfer of the capital of Germany from Bonn to Berlin. The parliament [had] not met in Reichstag since the Reichstag Fire of 1933. The recently renovated Reichstag includes a glass dome, symbolizing a new Germany and a new capital" (About.com).

Again, the NYT article quotes William M. Drozdiak, the president of the American Council on Germany, making this statement: "But having moved the capital from Bonn back to Berlin, there has been a profound psychological change, shifting the center of gravity to the east, with Germany thinking more like a Central European power."

The article summarizes by saying, "In ways large and small Germany is flexing its muscles and reasserting a long-repressed national pride. Dozens of interviews across the country … found … a people still aware of their country's history, but less willing to let it dictate their actions."

That renewed national pride will result in the resurgence of a Germany primed for a powerful and persuasive leader who will command one of the most powerful military, political and economic entities the world has ever seen. The Holy Bible shows this individual will lead a nation rising from the ashes of not only Nazi-era-Germany, but from the marble halls of the ancient Roman Empire.

"German pride did not die after the country's defeat in World War II. Instead, like Sleeping Beauty in the Brothers Grimm version of the folk tale, it only fell into a deep slumber. The country has now awakened, ready to celebrate its economic ingenuity, its cultural treasures and the unsullied stretches of its history" (ibid.).

Jesus Christ exhorts us to "watch and pray always" (Luke 21:36), and, as we see this sleeping giant awaken, we should do that very thing. As events continue to propel the world closer to the Great Tribulation and the final climactic battle at the end of the age, I encourage you to read or re-read the Beast of Revelation: Myth, Metaphor, or Soon-coming Reality.

As you continue to read Tomorrow's World magazine and watch the telecast, you will gain insight you can get nowhere else. You will be able to watch with clear vision the events hurtling the world forward toward the imminent return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of His Kingdom over all the nations, including Germany, on the earth.