Ten years ago I was sent to Berlin at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall. I witnessed the joyous pandemonium of many East Berliners as they flooded into the West. Citizens from both sides of the city warmly embraced and danced on top of the wall Nov. 9, 1989.

For nearly 50 years freedom of travel had been severely restricted—and not a few from the East lost their lives attempting to reach West Berlin.

A different Berlin

But 10 years later we see a transformed Berlin—a city that has begun to resume its former role as capital of a powerfully reunited German nation. Cranes and other heavy construction equipment dot the city as it prepares to house the vast government offices and residences necessary to run the most influential nation in modern Europe.

A new multilevel railway passenger depot is to be built on the site of a relatively small station. The presence of some 100 cranes towering over the site is mute testimony to the seriousness of this superambitious project already hailed as the biggest and finest railway station in all of Europe. Indeed, Berlin is the biggest building site on the Continent.

Official business is already progressing. On Aug. 23 Gerhard Schröder began to govern Germany from Berlin, its historic capital. Throughout July, 40 containers packed with everything from fresh note paper to vital historical records traveled over the busy railway route from Bonn, capital of the former West Germany, to Berlin.

For the first time since the Federal Republic of Germany was founded in 1949, parliament and government are, in the true sense of the phrase, coming home—but at an estimated cost of 20 billion marks.

Berlin is again becoming the fulcrum of a greater Germany. The focus of the nation's politics and decision-making has shifted east. The new capital is the crucial gateway to Eastern European markets. Between 1995 and 1997 exports to Poland increased by 60 percent, and East Europe as a whole has become Germany's second-largest export market.

Future capital of Europe?

As The Good News has reported, last April marked the opening of the Reichstag as the new permanent home of the Bundestag, the German parliament. It comes eight years after the national governing body voted to relocate itself to the historic site of Berlin, a city founded more than 750 years ago.

The Reichstag was originally constructed during the 20-year reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II (1888-1918) and has experienced a turbulent history. Its destruction by arson in early 1933 served as a pretext for the Nazi regime (1933-1945) to revoke the democratic Weimar constitution.

British journalist and author Neal Ascherson had also traveled to Berlin for a first-hand look at this burgeoning city. Here is his summation of its future: "Germany will be the heartland, the engine-room, of a United Europe in the 21st century. One currency, the Euro, will be run from Frankfurt, but Berlin may come to be the focus of European culture and politics."

This veteran journalist did not mince his words. He called Berlin "the monster from the Prussian sands." Right or wrong, this view from the British press is not unusual.

In his recent book History of the Present, another British author and journalist, Timothy Garton Ash, is more reserved in his assessment. "Even at one minute past midnight on 1 January, 1990 we already knew that this would be a formative decade in Europe. A forty-year-old European order had just collapsed with the Berlin Wall . . . Everyone was hailing a 'New Europe.' "

There is no questioning the fact that a united, fully sovereign Germany will be the richest and most powerful country in Europe. As Mr. Ash continued: "What matters now is for the new republic, The Berlin Republic, to concentrate on building Europe's future" (emphasis added). Even Bill Clinton has described Berlin as "the heart of a united Europe."

British concern expressed at Chequers

On March 24, 1990, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain summoned a team of experts, historians and specialists on Germany to a private meeting at Chequers (every British prime minister's country home, analogous to Camp David in the United States).

Timothy Garton Ash participated in this Chequers meeting and later gained access to a synopsis written by Mrs. Thatcher's private secretary, Charles Powell. At that time one particular sentence reflected Conservative Party concern about long-term German intentions:

"Some even less flattering attributes were . . . mentioned as an abiding part of the German character: in alphabetical order, angst, aggressiveness, assertiveness, bullying, egotism, inferiority complex, sentimentality." Although the report mentioned positive national characteristics as well, this single sentence is the one the British tabloids played to the maximum.

A few months later in the respected Spectator magazine, a British cabinet minister publicly labeled the European monetary system as a "German racket designed to take over the whole of Europe." So great was the outcry among British liberals that in effect this statement cost him his job.

A personal view

Being of German heritage on my paternal side, with 19th-century ancestral roots in Oldenburg, I don't like to hear negative comments about the German nation or its national character. However, my mother's ancestry was British, and she felt so strongly about Germany (undoubtedly because of its role in World War I, 1914-1918) that my father had to agree before the marriage never to speak a word of German in the children's presence. Although it was his first language, he faithfully kept this promise.

Nonetheless my father kept me informed about West Germany's startling economic progress in the early '50s and ingrained in me a strong interest in Teutonic culture and practice.

Yet at the end of the day what counts is not personal feelings about a particular race or ethnic group, be it British or German, but what God's Word tells us of the future role of nations.

Prophecy of the fourth kingdom

The broad, trunk-of-the-tree outline of prophecy is projected throughout the Bible. But several chapters in the books of Daniel and Revelation considerably narrow the focus of future world events. A governmental power referred to as a "beast" is mentioned in both books.

Daniel writes: ". . . I saw in the night visions . . . a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong" (Daniel 7:7). In fact, it was to be as "strong as iron" (Daniel 2:40).

Since history records no additional world empire between the disintegration of the Greek Empire (biblically identified as the third beast Daniel saw) and the rise of Rome, this fourth beast can refer only to the Roman Empire. Since the beginning of the Christian era Europe has been the geographical area greatly influenced, if not governed, by the Roman Empire and its successors, both politically and religiously.

We should note that this fourth great empire, ruling the known civilized world at that time, was to superimpose its control over the territory of the three preceding empires. "And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others" (verse 40).

The Roman Empire was to experience seven resurrections. Six have already been documented in European history since the original fall of ancient Rome in A.D. 476. The seventh and final revival is yet ahead of us.

Daniel and Revelation tie together well. The latter book also mentions the fourth beast. The apostle John wrote: ". . . All the world marvelled and followed the beast . . . saying, 'Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?' " (Revelation 13:3-4). This beast power assumes authority "over every tribe, tongue, and nation. All who dwell on the earth will worship him . . ." (verse 7).

Here is a future power of immense strength and might—the driving force behind a revived Roman Empire. Germany, as the most vibrant economic power in Europe, fits this prophetic description better than any other country within the territory of that ancient empire.

Biblical prophecy further indicates that this powerful combine will be composed of 10 nations or groups of nations (Revelation 17:3). But one authoritarian figure will be head of state over these nations—roughly within the historical-geographical territory of the old Roman Empire (verse 13).

Which nation will dominate?

Conor Cruise O'Brien is a respected author of many books about nations who resides in the Republic of Ireland. Writing in the Oct. 31, 1989, issue of The Times (London), he warned: "The Reich is reviving." Mr. O'Brien saw "a reunited and powerful Germany as only a matter of time."

Alvin Toffler is an American author and observer of world trends and events. His books include the best seller Future Shock and another influential work, Powershift.

Mr. Toffler and his wife, Heidi, have toured the world to talk with national leaders about significant shifts affecting regional power centers. In the January 1990 issue of World Monitor, he spoke of a "Berlin power center." The article was headlined "Merging Germany: The Future."

Following are some of Mr. Toffler's predictions expressed in this article from 10 years ago:

"Despite many obstacles, the two Germanys manage to reunify . . . They relocate the nation's capital from Bonn to Berlin."

"The combined two-Germany economy drastically overshadows those of France, Britain, Italy, leading the economic hegemony over Europe."

"The [European Union's] push for a common currency and a single European bank [now in Frankfurt] intended to enmesh Germany, produces the reverse effect. By centralizing power, they give more not less power to whatever economy is largest."

"Despite the urging of Western Europe's leaders, the United States, driven by its budgetary deficits [no longer true] and international political pressures, radically reduces its troops in Europe, weakening NATO and further enhancing the relative independence and power of Germany."

In the real world of international relations, the more economically sound nation-a reunited Germany-is destined to dominate in Europe.

The emergence of German power and influence

When Yugoslav's President Slobodan Milosevic finally decided to contact the outside world by making his initial offer to withdraw his forces from Kosovo, he didn't send letters either to the United States or Russia. Instead he posted one to Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of Germany.

As Jacob Heilbrunn observed in The Los Angeles Times (June 6), "Milosevic's decision to appeal to Germany is further confirmation of that country's growing power in the center of Central Europe." (Mr. Heilbrunn is a senior editor for The New Republic and has resided and traveled extensively in Germany.)

However, it must be said that the present German chancellor does not generally emphasize national power in his rhetoric and often talks of Berlin's constructive, cooperative role within a larger Europe. For instance, in his inaugural speech he spoke of "a grown-up nation that doesn't have to feel superior or inferior to anyone, that accepts its history and responsibility—but is forward looking."

Also, 45 years of communism badly crippled East Germany's economy, and it has taken much longer than originally anticipated to revive the Eastern side's economic fortunes. Yet the nation as a whole is just beginning to get cranked up economically. As The Sunday Times reported from Frankfurt: "After slumbering for years, Germany's giant companies are on the prowl and pitting their might against European and American rivals" (Aug. 19).

Europe stands at a crossroads as to whether it will use its enormous human and natural resources for the benefit of humankind or for purposes that in the end will prove far more sinister.

And the prophecies of the Bible remain. One in the book of Revelation says: "The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as of yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast" (verses 12-13). This prophetic "beast" government will rule in opposition to God's principles and laws.

We cannot predict just how and when such a powerful force will emerge in the ancient land of the old Roman Empire. But Bible prophecy reveals that it will happen, with devastating results for the rest of the world. GN