On Nov. 9, 2009, some 30 heads of state joined German Chancellor Angela Merkel in celebrating the collapse of the Berlin Wall. The fall of the Wall has become a symbol of reunifying a divided Europe, breaking down the "iron curtain," the phrase Winston Churchill coined in a speech while visiting President Harry Truman in his home state of Missouri on March 5, 1946.

On Oct. 3, 2010, the Germans will celebrate the reunification of a previously divided East and West Germany. What has happened since? Writes Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank, in the International Herald Tribune: "Over the past 20 years, Germans have accomplished important things. They have helped integrate the countries of Central and Eastern Europe into the European Union and into the trans-Atlantic security of NATO. They have helped build an historic European Union in peace" (Nov. 7, 2009).

Germany has become the fulcrum state of the European Union. Pope Benedict XVI is a native of Germany. The Bible foretells a future European-centered union in which the Roman church plays a major role. (To learn more, request or download our free booklet The Book of Revelation Unveiled.)