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[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

Hummingbirds: A Tiny Challenge to Evolution

When was the last time you took a trip to the zoo? What about an afternoon at a marine park to be entertained by dolphins and seals? The late fellow evangelist and Tomorrow’s World telecast presenter Richard Ames and his wife once paid us a visit when we lived near Toronto, Canada. While there, we stopped at a butterfly conservatory near Niagara Falls and I must confess I had driven by it numerous times without feeling a tug on the steering wheel to turn in. However, we all found it more interesting than I expected, especially the butterfly that liked sitting on my shoulder.

It doesn’t matter where you look. Our world is filled with beautiful, amazing, strange, and fascinating life forms: giant elephants, long-necked giraffes, or sure-footed mountain goats. Each one is uniquely and marvelously designed. There is simply no end to the variety of birds: eagles, vultures, ducks and geese, parrots, and doves. Then there are reptiles such as snakes, lizards, crocodiles, and turtles, just to name a few. What about amphibians? And we haven’t even considered the incredible variety of fish and other sea creatures.

This program doesn’t give me enough time to mention all the varied life forms seen in the air, on land, and in the waters. There is also the huge subject of plant life. Some maintain that all living flora and fauna are the result of blind chance through evolutionary processes, but the more we learn about life, the more scientists and laymen are coming to conclude that it is mathematically and logically impossible for life to be the result of chance.

But none of this would be possible without the dirt beneath our feet. Or to put it in grander terms, how did the universe get here? Astronomers and cosmologists have been forced to conclude that matter had a beginning. So, whether one refers to it as the big bang, the cosmic expansion, or something else, a beginning means there was a time when matter did not exist. How then did the universe come to be?

The Bible tells us:

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse (Romans 1:20).

We should not have to study microbiology to see that life is not an accident.

One common example found only in North and South America is the hummingbird, affectionately referred to as a hummer. They fascinate not only those who see them for the first time, but even those who see them daily. That is no doubt why my wife and millions of others put feeders out to attract these amazing birds.

How Hummingbirds Defy Ordinary Flight

There are at least 300 species of hummingbirds—varying in size from the bee hummingbird, weighing in at 2 grams, to the giant hummingbird which measures 8.5 inches. One characteristic they share is speed. According to Hummingbird101.com, they can reach:

• Forward cruising speed of 25–30 mph
• Burst speed (short duration): 30–50 mph
• Maximum dive speed: 60 mph

In addition to speed, they can hover in place, go forward, backward, up, down, or even fly upside down. What gives them this unique ability? According to Earth of Birds:

Hummingbirds rotate their wings in a figure-eight pattern by twisting their shoulder joints, allowing them to generate lift on both the upstroke and downstroke. This motion is unlike any other bird’s flight. Their delicate bodies hang in the air, wings a blur, as if they are defying gravity’s rules. To truly understand how hummingbirds achieve this, it’s important to look at their anatomy, the mechanics of their flight, and the hidden advantages of their unique wing motion (“How Do Hummingbirds Rotate Their Wings in a Figure-Eight Pattern,” earthofbirds.com).

They beat their wings in this figure-eight motion an incredible 50 to 80 times per second. Now let me put that in perspective. Your car probably cruises between 2000 and 3000 RPMs—Revolutions Per Minute. That is how many times a crankshaft makes a full turn. Using that larger figure, the crankshaft is making a full turn 50 times per second—the same number of times a hummingbird’s wings rotate at cruising speed, but their wings turn in a complicated figure-eight pattern. No wonder this same source says:

Watching a hummingbird hover feels like witnessing a small miracle (ibid.).

Scientists often speak of something engineered, designed, mechanical, or miraculous, but then they go on to attribute the engineering, the designing, the mechanics, and the miraculous as the result of evolutionary forces. Note how this source that uses the term miracle then attributes the hummingbird’s miraculous abilities to blind chance.

Hummingbirds have evolved to fly in a way no other bird can (ibid.).

But how? How did this tiny bird evolve these abilities? You likely have heard a variety of “just so” stories—this happened, then that happened, etc., etc., etc.—but wanting something, needing something, and having it show up one tiny step at a time does not make it happen.

Built for Speed: Wings, Bones, and Muscle

Note how complicated the design is.

The secret starts with their shoulder joint. While most birds flap wings up and down, a hummingbird’s shoulder allows for a full rotation of the wing. This joint acts almost like a ball-and-socket, similar to the human shoulder, but with even greater range (ibid.).

One must wonder how and when this unique, perfectly designed joint structure, came to be. What gradual steps could bring it about? Evolutionists often neglect the how when confronted by something truly miraculous, claiming “it is,” so it had to happen, but no one is arguing the end result—that is, that it exists. The real question is how did it come to exist? And in the case of this shoulder joint, it is difficult to see how small steps could realistically bring it about. But there is more required to give hummers their unique flying abilities. The article goes on to explain:

Their bones are also built for this task.

Now let us stop right here, because this is another statement by evolutionists that people hear but fail to catch the significance of. How and when were they built—in other words, specifically designed, for this task? I understand natural selection, but how many small steps did it take to bring about a wing structure perfectly suited to the hummingbird’s unique shoulder structure—creating an entirely different means of propulsion from other birds. The article then continues to elaborate on what is required for hummers to flap their wings 50 to 80 times a second in a figure eight pattern.

The humerus (upper arm bone) is short and strong, while the radius and ulna (forearm bones) are longer, supporting precise movements. Muscles at the base of the wing are incredibly powerful—about 30% of the hummingbird’s total body weight is muscle, with most of that focused on flight (ibid.).

How convenient is it for a bird that feeds on nectar to have a specially designed shoulder, wing bones, and muscular strength to move in a figure eight pattern at lightning speed?

Remarkably Engineered: A Hummingbird’s Tongue

But didn’t Darwin show that the environment changes the size and shapes of bird beaks? The answer is yes, but no. In times of drought, finches with stronger stubbier beaks can break open harder shelled seeds and survive better than finches with less stout beaks. But here’s the rub. Droughts are not the origin of stout beaks. Weather only selects. It does not design. Just as humans have different colored eyes, so finches possess a variety of beaks. At the end of the day, they are still finches. Darwin correctly stated the survival of the fittest, but failed to adequately explain the arrival of the fittest.

While the 300 different species of hummingbirds have many different characteristics, including the length and shape of their beaks, all have beaks designed to enter small openings to drink nectar. But none could survive unless they were given a very long specialized tongue—not just any tongue, but one that is a marvel of design to match the hummer’s diet. From Hummingbirds: A Life-size Guide to Every Species, we read:

Hummingbirds have an extendible tongue, up to twice as long as the bill, with a forked, fringed tip. Early naturalists, finding only insects in the birds’ stomachs, thought that hummingbirds caught them in flowers, spearing or entangling them with the tip of their tongue. An alternative theory supposed that the tongue was sticky…. Later, once it was realized that nectar was the real objective, it was thought that the tongue functioned like a drinking straw…. The way a hummingbird’s tongue really works has remained a source of controversy for many years. In the 1970s it was determined that hummingbirds lap up nectar rather than suck it through a tube. At that time it was shown that the end of the tongue has two longitudinal channels and it was thought that nectar flowed into the channels by capillary action. Then after being carried into the bill, the nectar was squeezed out of the tongue (Hummingbirds: A Life-size Guide to Every Species, p. 18).

Now listen to this next part and think about how this could come to be by chance and how this tongue is uniquely engineered. Also, consider the speed with which the tongue works.

Recently, however, high-speed photography has revealed that the longitudinal channels open and close trapping a volume of nectar. In real time, the tongue flicks in and out of the flower up to a dozen times a second, supplying the hummingbird with a steady stream of nectar.

What can you do a dozen times a second? “Just so” stories would have us believe that birds with longer tongues had a survival advantage, which could have merit, but what was the cause of such long tongues with a unique design in the first place? Which came first—the long narrow tongue? Or the specially designed channels in the tongue to bring a steady stream of nectar to the bird?

How did they learn to open and close two long channels in the tongue a dozen times a second?

Who taught hummingbird how to flap its wings in a figure-eight pattern?

A Heart Beating 1,260 Times a Minute

Everything about the hummingbird happens with speed and this energy requires large amounts of oxygen. Inside the little bird is a heart that fills the need by beating up to 1,260 times per minute—that’s an incredible 21 times a second!

Would you not be correct to think that with specially designed shoulder and wings, designed precisely to allow the wings to move in a figure eight pattern 50 to 80 times a second, a heart that supplies the needed oxygen by beating 21 times a second, and a unique bill and tongue configuration, that these birds are perfectly engineered to drink nectar from flowers? No wonder Francis Crick had to reluctantly admit:

Biologists must constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed, but rather evolved (What Mad Pursuit, 1988, p. 138).

In other words, disregard the facts and hang on to your theory.

Failing the Evolutionary Test

In another less often quoted remark from Crick, he explained that for a good scientific theory, there must be of necessity an acceptance of alternative theories.

A good theory should have at least two characteristics: It should be in sharp contrast to at least one alternative idea and it should make predictions which are testable (Life Itself: Its Origin and Nature, 1982, p. 181).

But when it comes to the possibility of a Creator who designed life, Crick rejects out of hand that “sharp contrast alternative.”

Who was this Francis Crick?

He is best known for his work with James Watson, which led to the Identification of the structure of DNA in 1953, drawing on the work of Maurice Wilkins, Rosalind Franklin, and others. This discovery:

… earned Crick, Watson and Wilkins the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962 the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962 (The Francis Crick Institute).

DNA: The Code Behind Life

DNA is coding of the highest magnitude. His rejection of God is amazing, considering his work with DNA, which is literally an instruction book to build all life forms. From Science News Today, we read:

From the sweeping branches of redwood trees to the smallest hummingbird and the complexity of the human brain, every living organism shares a common molecular thread: DNA… it’s a living archive, a self-copying code, a biochemical instruction manual billions of years in the making. It’s the software of life (“How DNA Works: The Code of Life Decoded,” ScienceNewsToday.org, May 18, 2025).

The DNA double-helix is a challenge to evolution. It is easy to say an “instructional manual billions of years in the making,” but how could that happen? Companies pay highly intelligent men and women to write code that is nowhere nearly as powerful as DNA. Are we really to believe that it happened by chance over billions of years? The fact that life exists—whether that of a hummingbird or human—is not proof of evolution. The question is: How did such complex life come to exist?

Did Life Come From Outer Space?

Recognizing the seeming impossibility of life evolving, Crick and some others turn to panspermia as an alternate theory, but is that an answer to the question of life, or merely a distraction?

It now seems unlikely that extraterrestrial living organisms could have reached the earth either as spores driven by the radiation pressure from another star or as living organisms imbedded in a meteorite. As an alternative to these nineteenth-century mechanisms, we have considered Directed Panspermia, the theory that organisms were deliberately transmitted to the earth by intelligent beings on another planet. We conclude that it is possible that life reached the earth in this way, but that the scientific evidence is inadequate at the present time to say anything about the probability (Icarus, vol. 19, 3. July 1973, pp. 341–346).

The theory of Panspermia, whether by accident or directed, has one critical flaw. If life came from elsewhere, how did it come to be at that location? Panspermia merely shifts the problem of how life came to be from here on earth to some unknown location light years away.

Creation Points to a Creator—Now What?

The hummingbird, with the DNA that gave instructions on how it was to be designed and engineered, is a huge challenge to Darwin and evolution.

The hummingbird is only one of tens of thousands, yea, millions of perfectly engineered life forms on Earth—powerfully proving to anyone with an open mind that there is an intelligent Designer of life. As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans:

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.... Professing to be wise, they became fools (Romans 1:20–22).

And, as we read in Psalm 14:1:

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”

Now my assumption is that most of you watching this program already believe that God exists and that He is Creator of life on planet Earth. Therefore, the question must be asked: What are you personally doing about it?

In this light, Jesus gave two parables with a similar message. In the parable of the nobleman who went into a far country to return with a kingdom, the nobleman (an obvious reference to Christ) called His servants, gave each a unit of money, and instructed them to do business until He returned. Here is what happened when the nobleman returns.

Then came the first, saying, “Master, your mina has earned ten minas.” And he said to him, “Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities” (Luke 19:16–17).

The nobleman is likewise pleased with the second servant, even though he only gained five minas. But he is not pleased with the servant who did nothing with what he was given. Calling him a wicked servant, he commanded those who stood by:

“Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas” (Luke 19:24).

In the parable of the talents, he gave his servants differing amounts based on their innate abilities but expected them to do something with the talents. We’ll pick up the parable in Matthew 25:19.

After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, “Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.” His lord said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord” (Matthew 25:19–21).

But again, what happens to the individual who does nothing with what he is given?

Then he who had received the one talent came and said… “I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.” But his lord answered and said to him, “You wicked and lazy servant…. You ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents…. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:24–30).

If you truly believe God exists, that Jesus Christ came to give His life for your sins, God expects something of you. And what does He expect? In this next video, you’ll see that Jesus Christ gave us the answer—and a challenge.

Are you ready to put effort into examining your life? And to see if you are measuring up to what your Savior wants you to do?

God created us with amazing ability to think, to reason, and to do marvelous things—but for a very special purpose. Watch and find out what Christ said must come first—and whether you are up to the challenge.

The choice is yours.

[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

Living in the End-Times | Matthew 24

We are living in increasingly stressful and distressing times. It seems that in every way we can imagine the world is becoming more unstable, more dangerous, and more morally confused.

In fact, things are so bad, that surveys show even many who have never cracked open a Bible in their lives are beginning to wonder—are we living in the end-times?

At the same time, the world has seen difficulties before: World wars, famines, plagues. How can we distinguish between the usual times of difficulty and hardship, and the true end of days as prophesied by the Bible? Is it possible to know?

The Pew Research Center reported at the end of 2022 that “[a]bout four-in-ten U.S. adults believe humanity is ‘living in the end times.’” Now, I’m not saying 2022 wasn’t crazy, but you tell me: In the years that have passed since then, do you think that times have gotten worse or better?

And those individuals included more than those who consider themselves “Christian.” Among non-Christian religions, 29% believed we are in the end-times, and even among the non-religious, 23% thought so.

But how can you tell? Let’s be honest—people have declared their day to be the prophesied end-times, here and there, for generations.

After all, who could have blamed people for wondering if it was the end-times when the Black Plague killed one-third to one-half of the population of Europe? And how many prognosticators have written books about counting “blood moons” or other such phenomena—ignoring the Bible’s warning against doing so—and when their predictions fail, they just write another book.

But if we were in the “end-times” described by the Bible, how would we know? Some cite the Bible itself to say that you CAN’T know. For instance, look at Matthew 24:36. Speaking of His Second Coming, Jesus told His disciples in the first century:

“But of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”

Similarly, He says in verse 44:

“Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:44).

In these passages, Jesus is indeed speaking to the futility of trying to “time” your righteousness and obedience. Faithfulness and obedience to Jesus Christ is a 24/7 commitment, and those looking to live lives of dissipation, debauchery, and disobedience to God will find that their strategy has been unwise.

But is Jesus saying here that we cannot have any sense that His approach might be near?

No, He’s not. In fact, look at the verses right before this statement—in the very same chapter.

“Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Matthew 24:33–35).

In other words, while no one can “game” God, and the moment itself will come unexpectedly, the wise will have a sense of the times they are living in—and will be able to discern that they are in the end-times.

In fact, Jesus tells those who are faithfully following Him, as the signs of the last days of this age arrive, that no matter how distressing they are, they will see those signs as signs of hope. Note what He says in Luke 21:28 to those who are watching for these signs and ordering their lives rightly.

“Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”

We don’t have to guess whether the end-times are close, or rely on vague senses of “hard times” in the world, or proclamations of approaching doom. Honestly, since Adam and Eve’s sin in the garden of Eden, mankind’s history has been filled with hard times and devastating tragedies.

Instead, the Bible gives us many specific things to look for—conditions that should remind us not to take our spiritual state for granted.

Lawlessness, Perilous Times, and a Brutal Society | 2 Timothy 3:1–5 Explained

The first of the prophesied signs of the end-times that we are highlighting today is:

1. Extreme lawlessness, brutality, ungodliness, and selfishness

Now, before you dismiss this by thinking that mankind has always been this way, listen carefully to what the Bible is saying about this.

For instance, the Apostle Paul clearly describes the end of the age in his second letter to the young evangelist Timothy. Let’s read there in 2 Timothy 3:1–5.

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

Many believe that somehow the arc of mankind is one of progress toward goodness—that somehow human nature will simply get better and better. But history and prophecy both say the opposite. And God’s word says [that] the end-times will become a period of remarkable carnality, violence, selfishness, and pride, filled with a focus on pleasure rather than the things of God.

Again, before you dismiss this warning, think: The Apostle Paul lived in the first century, and traveled throughout Asia Minor and the Mediterranean. He was very familiar with human nature. In fact, he was often the victim of it. Yet he highlights that the end-time will be an especially brutal period—so much so, that it would stand out for it, even compared to the days in which he was then living.

Jude, an early leader of the Church and a brother of Jesus, wrote to first-century believers to say the same thing. We read his warning in verses 17 and 18 of his letter.

But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts (Jude 1:17–18).

Of course, the world is a pretty terrible place, you might say, and there have always been dens of sin and vice where such behavior could be found. But when you read Scripture closely, you find that these behaviors will become prominent in places that normally had claimed the “high ground” in world affairs—areas that should truly know better.

America and Britain Decline | Deuteronomy 28

In fact, those abhorrent conditions will be seen running rampant in the nations that are the focus of the second prophetic sign of the end-times we’re highlighting today.

2. The decline of America, Britain, and other British-descended nations.

Ask yourself: How are those nations doing today? Who can deny that the United Kingdom has been on a downhill slide for some time? Today, few consider England to be much of a leading power, and they instead debate whether the nation is truly relevant in world affairs any longer.

As for the United States, how dramatically things have changed in the last decade! Still possessing great power and might, to be sure, but no longer considered an unstoppable superpower. The world is learning that the U.S. is vulnerable. And Bible prophecy says it will become far more so as the end-times approach.

But why? The politicians and “talking heads” of these nations debate policy, economics, military strategy, foreign policy approaches, and other details, but all of them miss the point! These once-mighty nations are crumbling because of sin—the very sins we detailed in the first prophetic sign.

Perhaps the best thing I can do to explain this point is read from Roderick Meredith’s clear and hard-hitting explanation of this sign of the end-times. In the free resource we are offering today, beginning on page 33, he writes the following concerning these nations:

Our competitors for global power and influence are looking down on us with increasing glee as we stumble in resolving domestic and international problems. These things are happening to us because we have turned aside from God. We have not obeyed the God of our fathers.
In Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 are powerful prophetic warnings for us today, because God does not change ([as it says in] Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8). God promised that if we would obey Him, He would set us “high above all nations of the earth” (Deuteronomy 28:1). However, if we do not obey God and keep His commandments, He says, “Cursed shall you be in the city” (Deuteronomy 28:16). Are we cursed in our cities? Think about it. Millions of Americans are afraid to go out of their own homes at night. Elderly people, women, and others all over this land are afraid to venture out in the evening—in this “land of the free, and the home of the brave.” We are locked in our homes like prisoners! No, we are not blessed in our towns and cities…. The growing effect of our national sins includes escalating crime, violence, marital infidelities, sexual perversions of all sorts, lying, cheating, stealing, and every foul thing imaginable that is disgusting in the sight of a just and holy God. The selfishness and decadence of our “modern lifestyle”—which is based on egotistical pride and vanity—are gnawing like voracious termites at the structural frame that holds in place the edifice of our national greatness. How long before our house collapses? Look around you and consider.
In spite of our great material blessings, the American and British-descended peoples have turned away from God. These once-great nations have plummeted in their moral standards and become nations of perverts, liars, thieves, and murderers. And God will chastise these nations for their own good, as He rebukes and chastens every son He loves ([as He says in] Hebrews 12:6) (Fourteen Signs Announcing Christ’s Return, Meredith, p. 33).

My friends, the growing decline of the U.S. and the UK is more than a shift in world politics. It is the accumulating and compounding of biblical curses coming upon these countries, due to their national sin and unwillingness to repent and seek their God.

Hubris causes many Americans and Britons to see themselves as the standard-bearers of all of Western Civilization. But setting aside the last several decades, the seat of Western Civilization has been Europe.

Europe and Germany Rise | Revelation 13

And Bible prophecy indicates that as the U.S. and UK sink lower and lower, Europe will once again lead not just Western Civilization, but the entire world.

Our third prophesied sign of the end-times is:

3. The rise of a European political, economic, and military juggernaut

We read of this juggernaut in many places in God’s word. Turn with me to Revelation, where we see several descriptions. For instance, look at Revelation 13, beginning in verse 1.

Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. [And] the dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?” (Revelation 13:1–4).

Other passages, such as Revelation 18, speak of the political and economic power of this “Beast,” as well.

This beast power will be a united Europe, representing a final revival of the ancient Roman Empire, and with Germany as its leading nation.

Does this surprise you? Haunted by the memory of World War II, Germany has essentially been pacifistic for more than half-a-century, and Europe has been content to allow the U.S. to lead the way in protecting it from danger.

But those times are no more. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and President Donald Trump’s warnings that Europe must learn to protect itself have put the continent on war footing. And leading the way, as this ministry has said for almost a century, is the nation of Germany, which has begun rebuilding the Bundeswehr—the German armed forces—with the goal of becoming the strongest military in Europe.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in a speech before his assembled government in May 2025:

Strengthening the German Armed Forces is a top priority in our policy. In the future, the German Federal Government will provide all the financial resources that the Bundeswehr needs to become the conventionally strongest army in Europe. This is more than appropriate for the most populous and economically powerful country in Europe. Our friends and partners expect the same from us. Moreover, they are practically demanding it.

Note those words: “All the financial resources” the military needs. That is what we call a “blank check.” This is a Germany flexing muscles we have not seen—well, since World War II!

Notice that Chancellor Merz speaks of a “conventional army.” What about nuclear weapons? The Four Plus Two Treaty of 1990, which allowed East and West Germany to reunite, banned Germany from manufacturing, possessing, or controlling nuclear weapons. But these are changing times, and Germany is beginning to think very differently.

In January 2026, Reuters reported on Germany’s talks with other nations about “a shared [European] nuclear umbrella.” And knowing how Europe is plagued with internal political instability, many are suggesting Germany should consider expanding its ability to produce its own nuclear weapons. For instance, in a March 11, 2025 report, the globally respected Foreign Policy magazine recommended that:

Germany needs to invest in maintaining nuclear latency—that is, having the basic capabilities in place to pursue its own nuclear weapons program in a situation where it is left with no other alternative (“Germany Is Rethinking Everything Nuclear,” Foreign Policy, Benner, March 11, 2025).

No matter what today’s headlines may say, never, never, never bet against the Bible. The rise of Europe and Germany is an important, prophesied end-time sign that bears a very close watch.

We mentioned inner turmoil in European politics in the last sign, and Bible prophecy speaks of this as well, describing the mix of peoples and nations in the final revival of the Roman Empire as a divided kingdom, like a mix of iron and clay.

A Powerful False Prophet Appears | Revelation 13

YT Q: What does the bible say about the antichrist?

The real unifying power behind that superpower brings us to our fourth prophesied sign of the end-times.

4. The rise of a great false prophet leading a counterfeit Christianity.

One of the definite signs of the end times, which will herald the close of this present evil age, is the arrival on the scene of a great false religious leader, called in the Bible the “false prophet” (Revelation 19:19–21). This religious leader will possess great charisma and will exercise a very powerful influence over a political power—the soon-coming “beast” (Revelation 13, 17, 19). He will be the long-prophesied, influential head of a great, militant church in Europe. Together, this combination of personal charisma and awesome power to influence others will have an enormous effect on the future of the nations of the Western world (Fourteen Signs Announcing Christ’s Return, Meredith, p. 20).

In Revelation 13, the Apostle John describes this leader in vision as appearing like a kind of beast, saying:

He had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon (Revelation 13:11).

That is to say, the leader looks and acts like Jesus Christ, but his teachings are the subtle deceptions and counterfeit truths of Satan the Devil.

This false prophet—and the ancient, wealthy, and powerful counterfeit Christianity he leads—will work to support the Beast of Revelation, which, in turn, will back that leader with its economic, political, and military might. Together, they will persecute those who seek to “keep the commandments of God” and have the faith and “testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 12:17; Revelation 14:12).

The True Gospel Reaches the World | Matthew 24:14

The fifth and last prophetic sign we will discuss today is one virtually no one understands due to one of the most successful bait-and-switches the Devil has ever pulled off. And it is a shame, too, because it involves the greatest hope mankind truly has.

5. The Gospel of the Kingdom of God is preached to the whole world.

This sign is described by Jesus Christ Himself in Matthew 24:14:

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”

We need to notice two things about this important prophecy from the mouth of our Lord and Savior. First, He says “this gospel of the kingdom”—the true Gospel of the Kingdom of God, preaching the good news of Jesus Christ’s coming to this earth to rule the world alongside His saints, in the Family of God and a world-spanning government based on God’s laws and way of life.

The Devil long ago counterfeited that message and replaced it with one that is only about the person of Christ—and frankly, not even getting that right, either!

Second, He says that Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached to all nations. Yes, before Jesus returns, what covers the globe will not be the counterfeit gospel about the person of Jesus, but the TRUE Gospel that Jesus Himself preached.

The question is, what is the real Gospel? And why will the vast majority of the world resist and reject that Gospel, preferring instead the counterfeit gospel of the False Prophet?

Jesus Himself even says in Matthew 24:9 that all nations will come to hate those who are preaching this message in Jesus’ name.

Watch this next video to find out what is it about the true Gospel of Jesus Christ that brings such a strong reaction—and decide whether you will embrace that message, including its warning for the end-times.