For 47 years I have been a student of Bible prophecy. There are times when one sees a flash of light that clearly defines the prophetic landscape. I wonder if this is such a time.

For nearly two years a financial crisis has redefined the United States and Europe. A mortgage bubble burst and exposed deep problems among top banks and financial institutions. Wall Street nearly collapsed in September 2008. Government bailouts prevented complete collapse but resulted in hundreds of billions of dollars of additional debt. The U.S. debt load is spiraling upward and threatens to destroy America's once preeminent role of world superpower. Unless the increased debt is stopped, America is headed toward economic serfdom. Creditor nations will dictate its future.

Europe is seeing its own challenges. Iceland has defaulted on its debt. Greece could be next unless someone, like Germany, steps in to prop up its economy. Other EU member states, Italy, Spain, Ireland and Portugal, could follow. The EU appears to be in a crisis that will force changes to its current configuration. Germany, Europe's strongest nation, is in a key position to expand its historic influence. Melvin Rhodes covers this in more detail in the cover article for this issue.

Since age 12 I have been aware that a German-led Europe would one day play a key role in end-time prophecy. Maintaining an alert awareness of this has admittedly been a challenge. Youth, marriage and family commitments, as well as keeping up with a demanding career, tug and pull on one's focus. But this idea has never left my mind.

So as I have watched this current financial crisis unfold, I have realized we may have a front-row seat to events long foretold in the books of Daniel and Revelation. The role of the English-speaking nations, led by Great Britain and the United States, is in decline. This was prophesied. A European-centered colossus is rising that will play a pivotal role in events leading to the return of Jesus Christ. This, too, is prophesied.

When astute observers of world politics begin to sound these same themes with an eye to history, it makes you stand up and take notice. What I heard as a child, and what I study and write about today, is coming to pass. It makes me wonder just how close we are to the culmination of these prophecies.

Peter, writing about prophecy, may have had this in mind. "And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts" (2 Peter 1:19). The closer we come to the time, the clearer we will see and understand certain prophecies—as a "light that shines in a dark place."

Watching and understanding such prophecies is a challenge. I find it a paradox that in our globally connected, social Web world, we can know what happens in virtually any part of the world, yet we are not able to understand what it all means and what it tells us about our future. We can know anything globally, yet we place our focus on what is local. Technology connects us, but it does not by itself give us understanding. For that, we must turn to the Bible.

As events continue to fulfill end-time prophecy, it is important we keep our eyes focused on the One who is guiding and directing all events. Jesus Christ, the true Morning Star (Revelation 22:16), will give us understanding of what it all means.

Keep watching.