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

Trump-Europe: End-Time Bible Prophecy in Motion

Greenland: An American territory?

That was the idea proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. Of course it made headlines around the world. It even sparked a few humorous videos on social media—because the prospect of America taking Greenland just seemed preposterous.

But it also caused serious discussions among European leaders. It even led to a small contingent of military personnel being sent to Greenland, involving Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, and the UK (“European military personnel arrive in Greenland as Trump says US needs island,” BBC, January 15, 2026).

The United States has maintained a small base in Greenland for many years. It currently stations about 150 soldiers there. But what President Trump was proposing was not just having a military installation there, but making Greenland American territory.

The diplomatic row subsided in a few weeks. But for some, the controversy was yet another signal that the relationship between the United States and Europe is fracturing. And it’s hard to deny that.

What does the future hold for the United States and their allies in Europe? Is the decades-long status quo over? And if it is changing, why?

Trump-Greenland: Antagonizing US Allies

There were real reasons why the American President desired to have Greenland. From a security standpoint, this Arctic land presents strategic advantages in any potential conflict with Russia or China. Greenland is also rich in important natural resources. And actually, American overtures to own Greenland are not without precedent.

At least five times in the last 200 years, the U.S. government has expressed interest in gaining control of Greenland (“Get the Facts: What makes Greenland so valuable—and why President Trump is interested,” ABC News, wmur.com, February 3, 2026).

But this announcement by President Trump didn’t sound like a proposal; it sounded like a demand. And predictably, the Europeans reacted with shock and alarm.

President Trump eventually reversed course on his original statements. But the whole matter exposed yet another fracture in an increasingly rocky relationship between America and Europe. Beyond the splashy headlines and the political posturing, what’s really going on in this trans-Atlantic relationship? And where is it headed?

America and Europe have been allied for decades. Most of us who live in either the United States or Europe don’t remember it any other way. Maybe some of you remember World War II, but you would be the exception. Others may be old enough to remember the post-war years, or may have heard stories about the war.

The point is, not that long ago the United States, France, Britain, and other Allied countries were engaged in Europe in an all-out war with Germany, Italy, and the other Axis Powers. It took six long, bloody years to bring it to a close. The cost was immense. It’s estimated that 60 to 80 million people died, if you count both military and civilian deaths. It was an unthinkable level of carnage and destruction of human life.

In terms of financial and material losses, it was devastating. Agriculture was disrupted. Internal transport systems were laid waste. About 30 percent of homes in Britain were damaged or destroyed. Quoting from the Encyclopedia Britannica website:

By 1945 the economies of the continental nations of western Europe were in a state of virtually complete paralysis (“Human and material cost (World War II),” Encyclopedia Britannica, February 11, 2026).

Even when the shooting stopped, though, another dynamic came into play. When Nazi Germany and the other Axis Powers were finally vanquished, a new threat emerged: Soviet Russia. And so, a strategic relationship between the United States and Europe was born. It was called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; NATO for short.

Trump-NATO: Abandoning US Allies

The North Atlantic Treaty was signed on April 4, 1949, and included in the treaty was the vital “Article 5 for Collective Defense.” Article 5 states that an attack on one NATO country is an attack on all.

That NATO agreement has been the hallmark of the American-European security policy for decades. Led by the United States, NATO has maintained a protective umbrella of defense over Europe ever since.

But once the Soviet Union fell in 1991, many questioned the need for NATO. Was it necessary and relevant anymore? It didn’t take too many decades to find out. By 2014, Russia once again caused anxiety in Europe by invading Crimea and supporting separatist agitators in eastern Ukraine. Boosting spending for defense once again became a priority in Europe. In 2015, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, during a NATO visit, urged Germany to increase defense spending to take on a larger share of defending Europe (“Pentagon chief urges Germany to bolster defenses,” Deutsche Welle, June 22, 2015).

But just two years later, during his first administration, U.S. President Donald Trump rattled European nerves by questioning the value of being in NATO at all. Much of the reason was financial; it’s expensive to maintain high numbers of troops overseas when the U.S. is having economic troubles at home. And then the President caused a political firestorm when he initially chose not to recommit to Article 5—the foundational principle of NATO.

In response, then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated:

“I can only say that we Europeans must really take our fate into our own hands… The times in which we can fully count on others are somewhat over”(“Merkel: Europe cannot rely on its allies anymore,” EU Observer, May 29, 2017).

In 2019, two years later, a European observer noted that for generations, American Presidents usually worked hard to strengthen ties with Europe. But President Trump was different. With him, those ties were being loosened or deliberately torn apart.

Note this article from January 13, 2019.

With every visit to Europe and every White House tweet about the cost of NATO or EU tariffs, this president makes it clear that he believes Europe is more often an impediment than an ally. None of his predecessors would have dreamed of calling the EU a “foe,” as President Trump did in a recent interview about trade (“Has Trump turned his back on Europe?,” BBC.com).

That was in 2019.

Trump-Germany: Provoking a Military Beast

The antagonistic rhetoric has only grown again in recent years. The Politico website reported, on March 18, 2025, that incoming chancellor of Germany Friedrich Merz reacted to:

...an alarming new reality in which U.S. President Donald Trump’s America could no longer be relied on to protect Europe—and could even act to harm it. “In view of the threats to our freedom and peace on our continent,” the mantra “whatever it takes” must now apply to Europe’s defense, Merz told reporters earlier this month as he announced a historic borrowing plan that could unleash €1 trillion in new spending for defense and infrastructure over the next decade (“Will the threat of Trump end Germany’s austerity zeal?,” Politico, March 18, 2025).

The article reported that Chancellor Merz, in an interview on public television on March 16 had said:

“The meeting in the White House between Zelenskyy and Donald Trump really showed the whole drama in which we are living today in terms of security policy, and that is why we had to act quickly…. We now have to take a more independent path from America. Europe’s time has come.”

Fellow presenter Gerald Weston wrote a whole article for the July-August 2025 Tomorrow’s World magazine by that same title: “Europe’s Time Has Come.”

Genesis 49 Explained: America in Prophecy “in the Last Days”

The American-European relationship is changing, and has been changing for years. But why? And where will it lead?

Long-time viewers of Tomorrow’s World know that to understand Bible prophecy, you have to understand that many nations mentioned in the Bible have different names today. Consider the modern British-descended nations of the world—including the United States. You can trace them back to the patriarchs in the Bible, if you know where to look.

The patriarch Abraham lived about 4,000 years ago. His life is recorded in the book of Genesis. God promised Abraham’s descendants many wonderful blessings because of His faith and obedience. Included in those blessings was the promise of great material wealth.

Abraham had a son, Isaac. Those same blessings were passed down to Isaac’s son, Jacob. Jacob’s name was changed by God to Israel. Many assume the only descendants of Israel are the Jews. But when you look at the Bible, you find that Judah—the ancestor of the Jews—was just one among twelve sons of Israel.

As we often explain on Tomorrow’s World, all Jews are Israelites, but not all Israelites are Jews. This is vital to understand. Another way to think of it is all Germans are Europeans, but not all Europeans are Germans. Now, why is this important? Consider an inspired prophecy spoken by Jacob, or Israel, before he died. It’s recorded in Genesis 49:1-2.

And Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days.”

Now, this is significant because when the Bible speaks of “the last days,” it’s primarily referring to the time just before the Messiah’s return. In other words, Jacob, or Israel, was predicting what would happen to his sons’ descendants in the end-times. If we understand we are living in those end-times NOW, he was talking about our world today.

US and Britain: End-Time Blessings to Joseph’s Sons

Israel prophesied about the Jews in verses 8-12. But then he spoke of his son Joseph in verses 22-26. Notice (in Genesis 49:22):

Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well; his branches run over the wall.

Whoever Joseph is, he would be a fruitful, expanding, and even colonizing people. That’s what it’s talking about when it speaks of branches “running over the wall.” What nation or group of nations has been known for being a colonizing people in the last two or three hundred years?

Notice what it says in Genesis 49:23-24.

The archers have bitterly grieved him, shot at him, and hated him. But his bow remained in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob (from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel).

What nation or groups of nations have held superpower status in the last two or three hundred years?

After the defeat of the Spanish armada in 1588, Great Britain (of the tribe of Joseph) eventually rose to prominence and ruled the waves through its mighty navy.

After World War II, the United States, another descendant of Joseph, took over that position of pre-eminence, and has enjoyed unprecedented power ever since.

Going on, Jacob (or Israel) predicted (in Genesis 49:25–26):

By the God of your father who will help you, and by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. The blessings of your father have excelled the blessings of my ancestors, up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.

What nation or nations have been blessed economically, in population growth, and in agricultural and mineral wealth in these end-times?

God’s Promises: Control of Maritime Trade Routes (Sea Gates)

Certainly, we can recognize the British-descended nations have been blessed like no others.

In his book The Post-American World, published in 2008, writer and CNN commentator Fareed Zakaria wrote this:

For almost three centuries, the world has been under-girded by the presence of a large liberal hegemon--first Britain, then the United States. These two superpowers helped create and maintain an open world economy, protecting trade routes and sea lanes, acting as lenders of last resort, holding the reserve currency, investing abroad, and keeping their own markets open. They also tipped the military balance against the great aggressors of their ages, from Napoleon’s France, to Germany, to the Soviet Union. For all its abuses of power, the United States has been the creator and sustainer of the current order of open trade and democratic government--an order that has been benign and beneficial for the vast majority of humankind (The Post-American World, Zakaria, p. 45).

That’s quite a summation by Mr. Zakaria. By and large, the policies and structures established by the British and inherited by the Americans have been a blessing to the world. He mentions “sea lanes and trade routes.” In Bible terms, this is talking about a promise God gave to Abraham and his descendants, as recorded in Genesis 22:17.

Blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.

Map of US and UK Chokepoints

Look at, just for a moment, the strategic sea gates that Britain controlled at its height—and the United States, to a much lesser degree.

• The Suez Canal
• The Panama Canal
• The Strait of Gibraltar
• The Malacca straits
• The Port of Dover
• The Cape of Good Hope
• The Strait of Hormuz
• Singapore
• Hong Kong

Just to name a few—God promised that the descendants of Abraham would possess the gates of their enemies. How could this be just by chance?

Germany in Bible Prophecy: The Assyrian Empire

The British-descended nations come from the ancient tribe of Joseph. Joseph was one of the sons of Jacob, or Israel. The nations descended from Joseph were prophesied to receive great material and military blessings from God. But they were also warned that they would fall if they disobeyed the God who blessed them. And that’s where Europe comes in—specifically Germany.

Can we identify Germany in ancient history? Yes—as the Assyrians. Even secular writers have noted the parallels between the Germans and the Assyrians.

Back in 1995, Klaus Fischer, a professor of history and philosophy at Allan Hancock College, wrote about Germany under the Nazi regime. He said this:

Ingenious rituals were devised to break down individuality: marching columns, mass rallies… it was a gleam of sinister beauty the world had not seen since the days of the ancient Assyrians…. Most of these grandiose plans (colonizing Russia, annexing Crimea, etc.) were postponed by the Exigencies of war, but they reflect the Assyrian nature of German policy toward conquered peoples (Klaus Fischer, Nazi Germany: A New History, 1995, pp. 342, 496).

“Not since the days of the ancient Assyrians” had anything been seen like this. In his book from 1985, historian Arther Ferrill made this chilling observation after reviewing just one account of Assyrian atrocities on a conquered people.

This gruesome document is nearly as revolting as photographs of Nazi concentration camps, and it has few parallels in history (Arther Ferril, The Origins of War: From the Stone Age to Alexander the Great, 1985, p. 69).

Roscoe Lewis Ashley, in his 1921 book Early European Civilization, wrote that the Assyrians were:

...especially fond of war, which they waged against their enemies with fierceness and cruelty (Roscoe Lewis Ashley, Early European Civilization, 1921, pp. 44–45).

He also noted that the Assyrians deported subjugated peoples by the tens of thousands.

Does that ring any bells from modern times?

It’s not hard to see a connection. Other parallels and symbols such as the iron cross, and the eagle and sun-disk link the modern Germans with ancient Assyrians. These and many other parallels are noted in another study guide we produce entitled, Germany in Prophecy. You can access that by going online at tomorrowsworld.org.

It’s not just military similarities that link modern Germany and ancient Assyria. Numerous historians have noted migration patterns that lead from the ancient lands of Assyria, through the Near East and the shores of the Black Sea, right into the heart of Europe. Lexicographer William Smith, wrote in 1904:

The Germans regarded themselves as indigenous in the country; but there can be no doubt that they were a branch of the great Indo-Germanic race, who, along with the Celts, migrated into Europe from the Caucasus and the countries around the Black and Caspian seas, at a period long anterior to historical records (William Smith, A Classical Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, Mythology and Geography, 1904, p. 281).

End-Time Prophecies Reveal Germany’s Emerging Role

So modern Germany has links back to ancient Assyria. Why is this important? Because in ancient times, Israel and Assyria were bitter enemies. In fact, when the northern House of Israel fell in 721 BC, it was at the hands of the Assyrians. Because of their sins, Israel was given over to destruction. Assyria was the instrument of that destruction. This was foretold by Isaiah, in Isaiah 10:5–6.

Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger and the staff in whose hand is My indignation. I will send him against an ungodly nation, and against the people of My wrath I will give him charge, to seize the spoil, to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

The ungodly nation God was talking about was the nation of Israel, which was overrun by the fierce Assyrians.

Why should this concern us today? Because prophecy is often dual—an historical fulfillment, followed by a future fulfillment. In other words, the British-descended nations are setting themselves up for being beaten by a German-led Beast power in Europe. It’s an ancient rivalry being played out one more time.

The prophet Isaiah predicts that end-time Israel will be defeated, scattered, and then regathered “from Assyria.” That’s found in Isaiah 11:16. Notice further in Isaiah 27:12–13.

It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord will thresh, from the channel of the River to the Brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel. So it shall be in that day: the great trumpet will be blown; they will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria, and they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.

This was never fulfilled in the past. The people of Israel never came back from Assyria after being taken captive. Many Jews eventually returned to the Promised Land from their Babylonian captivity. But not the northern house of Israel. This is yet future.

So will Germany and Europe go their own way, independent of the United States? Bible prophecy says yes. And the pieces for that to happen are beginning to come together.

At the 24th Berlin Security Conference in November of 2025, the US Ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, made this interesting statement. He said:

“I look forward to the day when Germany comes to the United States and says that we’re ready to take over the Supreme Allied Commander position. I think we’re a long way away from that, but I look forward to those discussions” (“Donald Trump wants Germany to take over Nato,” The Telegraph, November 19, 2025).

It may not be as long as he thinks. Consider this quote from a December 14, 2025 CBS 60 Minutes special.

Scarred by their country’s Nazi past, Germans embraced pacifism after the Cold War. Defense spending collapsed to the point some soldiers were buying their own gear. But Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, combined with persistent pressure from President Donald Trump for Europe to shoulder more of its own defense, transformed the landscape. Today, Germany is racing to rearm (“Germany rearms, modernizes military after decades of embracing the peace dividend,” 60 Minutes, December 14, 2025).

Bible prophecy says that Europe will get strong enough to not only protect itself and rival the United States, but given the right turn of events, will subdue it and conquer it.

How ironic. The United States is pushing Germany to remilitarize its industries. The ultimate result will be the rise of a new Nazi-like regime. Only, this time the Allies won’t win.

America and Europe will become, for a time, bitter enemies. That might be shocking to you, but it comes right out of Bible prophecy.

But they won’t remain enemies. The prophet Isaiah also gave this astounding prophecy of how, under Christ’s direction, Israel and Assyria will work together to rebuild during the Millennium. Notice Isaiah 19:24–25.

In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing in the midst of the land, whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”

Our world is about to turn upside down. And we need to be ready for those coming events that will take humanity by surprise. We can also be encouraged by the promises of a hope and a future, under the Millennial reign of Christ, for the people of Assyria, the people of Israel, and everyone from every nation on earth. It will be a time when Assyria and Israel will be real allies and work together under Christ for 1,000 years.

God speed that day.