Chapter 5: America : Undeniable Prophecies of the Apocalypse

In The Book of Signs, Dr. David Jeremiah offers answers to questions including:

• What does the Bible tell us about the future?
• How much can we understand about biblical prophecy and its application in our lives?
• What signs and signals will precede the end of everything as we know it?
• Which of those signs and signals have already come to pass, which are we experiencing now, and which are still to come?

An epic and authoritative guide to biblical prophecy, The Book of Signs is a must-have resource for Christians seeking to navigate the uncertainties of the present and embrace God’s promises for the future with a renewed sense of hope and purpose.

Chapter five America. When the sun rises over Washington DC.
Each morning, its rays fall on the eastern side of the city’s tallest structure. The 555 ft tall Washington monument.
The first part of that monument to reflect the rising sun is the eastern side of its aluminum capstone on which the words Laos Dale are inscribed.
That’s Latin for praise, be to God.
This prayer of praise visible to the eyes of heaven alone is tacit recognition of our nation’s unique acknowledgment of the place of God in its founding and in its continuance.
Were these words a grandiose but empty claim to national piety?
Or do they reflect a true reality in the light and the glory?
Peter Marshall and David Manuel ask a profound question.
What if Columbus discovering of America had not been accidental at all?
What if it were merely the opening curtain of an extraordinary drama?
Did God have a special plan for America?
What if in particular he had a plan for those he would bring to America, a plan which saw this continent as a stage for a new era in the drama of mankind’s redemption, President Ronald Reagan believed God had a plan for our nation.
He wrote, I have always believed that this anointed land was set apart in an uncommon way that a divine plan placed this great continent here between the oceans to be found by people from every corner of the earth who had a special love of faith and freedom, America and the sovereignty of God.
It seems clear that God does have a plan for America.
It is true that we have no direct reference to that plan in the Old or New Testament.
But that does not discount the fact that God has a sovereign purpose for America in his redemptive plan.
As Marshall and Manuel suggest God’s hand on America began with its discoverer in the rotunda of the Capitol building is a great painting titled The Landing of Columbus depicting his arrival on the shores of America.
As Marshall asserts when Columbus discovered the new world, God had his hand on the wheel of the ship and brought it here.
Looking back at our nation’s history. We can see America’s leaders turning to God for guidance.
We see Washington kneeling in the snow of Valley Forge. We see our founding fathers on their knees.
At the first Continental Congress, we see Lincoln praying in the hour of national crisis.
We see Woodrow Wilson reading his Bible at night by the white house lights.
Washington summarized this national dependence on God.
When he said, no people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States.
Clearly, America did not become the land of the free and the home of the brave by blind fate or a set of coincidences.
A benevolent God has been hovering over this nation from its very conception.
Why has God blessed this nation above all other lands?
Why has America in her short history outstripped the wealth, power and influence of all ancient and modern civilizations.
Can God have blessed a nation so richly without having a pivotal purpose?
What is God’s plan for America?
What is its place in end time prophecy to understand America’s place in end time prophecy.
We must first explore the reasons for God’s favor on America and then we will show what this means in terms of coming events.
America has been the force behind world missions.
God has blessed America because we have been the launching pad of the world’s great missionary movement.
In the aftermath of world war two, Americans started 1800 missions agencies and sent out more than 350,000 missionaries even before the widespread use of the internet.
Scholars believed that more than 95% of the population of the world, people from every culture and language and every country will have access to the gospel through some portion of scripture in their language, through literature, distribution, radio transmission, audio recordings, the Jesus film or simply through the message of an evangelist.
These achievements are due largely to the missionary zeal of churches in the United States.
America has been a friend to the Jewish people.
America’s historic support of Israel is based not so much on efforts by Jewish lobbyists in Washington or the presence of Jewish groups in our society, but on the Judeo Christian heritage of our nation, President Truman’s determination to recognize Israel as a modern state was fueled by his lifelong belief that in the book of Deuteronomy, God gave the land of Israel to the Jewish people for all time.
At the founding of the modern state of Israel, surrounding Arab nations immediately declared war on the new nation.
Few felt Israel could survive and Western nations did not want to become embroiled in the conflict.
Truman was under pressure not to intervene.
Jewish statesman, Abba even flew to Paris to meet with an American delegation.
Regarding recognition, Secretary of State George Marshall had to return home for medical treatment.
And his deputy John Foster Dulles assumed leadership of the delegation later wrote that Dulles held the key to the success of the talks behind a dry manner, redolent of oak paneled courtrooms in the United States.
There was a curious strain of protestant mysticism which led him to give the Israel questions a larger importance that its geopolitical weight would indicate what he called.
A curious strain of protestant mysticism is the historic love that Christians have for the land and people of Israel based upon their shared religious heritage and scriptures.
This more than anything else has cemented the friendship between America and Israel.
God promised to bless those who bless Israel. He has amply fulfilled that promise.
America has been abundantly blessed as a nation because we have blessed the Jews.
America has been a free nation in my study of scripture.
I have observed that the principles of freedom are united with the tenets of Christianity. America.
Today is the laboratory where those blended principles can develop and become an example to all the world.
The Bible says you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.
Freedom can never be taken for granted in our world as an independent watchdog organization, Freedom House Studies, the challenges to democracy and freedom around the world.
In 2018, Freedom House’s annual report indicated that only 45% of the world’s population lives in nations categorized as free meaning nations that guarantee free and fair elections, the rights of minorities, freedom of the press and the rule of law.
In fact, the tendency in a fallen world is always away from freedom and toward despotism and tyranny.
In his 1981 inaugural address, President Ronald Reagan spoke of our freedom in these stirring words, no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men.
And women, it is a weapon. Our adversaries in today’s world do not have.
It is a weapon that we as Americans do have.
Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors.
America has learned what our repressive and terrorist adversaries do not understand liberty without law is anarchy.
Liberty to defy law is rebellion but liberty limited by law is the cornerstone of civilization.
We Americans have tried to share what we have learned by exporting freedom wherever we have gone in the world, we have tried to help people understand that freedom is what creates the life God intended us to have from the beginning.
America has become the paradise of human liberty.
A great oasis in a global desert of trouble, suffering, repression and tyranny.
Our nation is a dramatic exclamation point to the assertion that freedom works today.
Our heritage of freedom is being challenged internally by the erosion of our culture.
As long held freedoms come under fire.
Some Americans, especially those with wealth are deciding that the United States is no longer the best place to live.
Sadly, if our culture continues to jettison the principles that made our nation great, we can hardly expect the blessing of Almighty God to continue.
America was founded on God and his word.
It is no mystery why America’s founders insisted on the principle of freedom.
Their dependence on the God of the Bible led them to subject themselves to him as the ultimate authority for law rather than set themselves up as autocrats with the audacity to control the lives of their subjects.
And because they submitted to God’s authority, he has blessed this nation as none has ever been blessed.
The Psalmist wrote blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he has chosen as his own inheritance.
Psalm 33 12. The book of Proverbs adds righteousness, exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people.
Proverbs 14, 34 dependence on God characterized our governmental philosophy through several generations and resulted in God’s blessings on our nation.
Our leaders stabilized government with a lifeline between nation and God with authority and blessing flowing downward as dependence and Thanksgiving flowed upward.
Georgia Washington set the tone for the nation’s governmental authority when he said it is impossible to rightly govern the world without God in the Bible.
That philosophy remained intact through the time of Abraham Lincoln, who was quoted as saying, it is my constant anxiety and prayer that both myself and this nation should be on the Lord’s side.
Benjamin Franklin explained why he requested that each day of the constitutional convention be opened in prayer.
He wrote, the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth that God governs in the affairs of men.
He continued without his concurring aid. We shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel.
In 1911, President Woodrow Wilson said the Bible is the one supreme source of revelation of the meaning of life, the nature of God and spiritual nature and needs of men.
It is the only guide of life which really leads the spirit in the way of peace and salvation.
America was born a Christian nation.
America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture.
Today. Our heritage of national dependence on God is under fire forces within our nation threaten its divine lifeline.
The attitude of many in our culture today seems symbolized by the legal tides trying to remove the words under God from the pledge of allegiance.
Those two words were inserted into the pledge in 1954 partly to distinguish our nation from the atheistic communism of the Soviet Union.
But while these words came late to the pledge, they certainly reflect what has been a part of America’s heritage.
From the very beginning, our leaders realized that once America failed to acknowledge that we are under God, our basis for freedom and equitable government would come crashing down.
President Calvin Coolidge said it well, the foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them.
If in faith, these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country.
In other words, when America turns from its position of being under God, we can no longer expect his blessings on this nation to continue the silence of the Bible on the future of America.
Doctor Tim LaHaye wrote, one of the hardest things for American prophecy students to accept is that the United States is not clearly mentioned in Bible prophecy.
Indeed, no specific mention of the United States can be found in the Bible.
One reason may be that in the grand scheme of history, the United States is a new kid on the block.
Our nation is less than 250 years old, much younger than the nations featured in biblical prophecy.
In fact, the Bible makes no mention of most nations in the modern world.
The ancient prophets were primarily concerned with the holy land and its immediate neighbors.
Most areas remote from Israel do not figure in Bible prophecy.
Doctor Leha went on to raise this question.
Does the United States have a place in end time prophecy?
My first response he wrote is no, there is nothing about the US in prophecy.
At least nothing that is specific.
There is an allusion to a group of nations in Ezekiel 38 13 that could apply.
But even that is not specific.
The question is why, why would the God of prophecy not refer to the supreme superpower nation in the end times in preparation for the one world government of the antichrist?
We can understand these issues better if we look at some of the best thinking that students of prophecy have given us on why America is absent from end time prophecies.
Here are some possible explanations for the Bible’s Silence on the future of America.
America will be incorporated into the European coalition.
Our first answer comes from prophecy expert John Walford who wrote.
Although the scriptures do not give any clear word concerning the role of the United States in relation to the revived Roman Empire.
It is clear this will be a consolidation of the power of the West.
Unlike the coalitions led by the United States, this coalition will be led by others.
The group of 10, most citizens of the United States of America have come from Europe and their sympathies would be more naturally with a European alliance than with Russia, Asia and Africa, Europe and America may be in formal alliance with Israel in opposition to the radical Islamic countries in the Middle East.
According to this theory, though America is not mentioned by name and prophecy, it will be in the mix of the political realignments that foreshadow the end time and we can see signs of such realignments taking place in recent years.
Former President Bush welcomed the Eu Commission President Jose Barroso and the serving president of the European Council.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the White House in April 2007.
The president thanked the two for their part in the transatlantic economic integration plan that the three of us signed today.
It is a statement of the importance of trade. It is a commitment to eliminating barriers to trade.
It is a recognition that the closer that the United States and the eu become, the better off our people become on the surface.
There seems to be nothing ominous about such an agreement.
It appears to be simply about freeing up economic trade between nations but agreements such as this have implications far beyond economic trade.
What does this mean for America? America will be invaded by outside forces?
Perhaps the silence of scripture on the future of America indicates that by the time the tribulation arrives, America will have lost her influence in the world and will no longer be a major player.
America’s thirst for oil and inability to close the gap between supply and demand could cripple our ability to defend our borders and protect our nation.
Once again, John Walford addresses the issue, some maintain that the total absence of any scriptural reference to America in the end time is evidence that the United States will have been crippled by a nuclear attack, weapons of mass destruction or some other major catastrophe in the post 9 11 world.
The defination of a dirty bomb nuclear device or biological weapon on us soil is a dreaded yet distinct possibility.
Such an attack could kill millions of people cripple the economy and reduce the United States to a second rate power overnight since the deployment of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August of 1945 America has enjoyed a certain fear based aura of invincibility.
Both friends and enemies knew we would use any and all weapons in our formidable arsenal to protect our nation.
According to Ed Timberlake, who served in the office of the Secretary of Defense Air Force and Navy personnel continue to stand vigilant 24 hours a day, seven days a week inside the strategic triad of bombers, land based ICBM S and submarine boomers in today’s world.
However, such power and vigilance may no longer deter enemies determined to attack the United States in a column in the Washington Times.
Timperlake observed that the political instability in Pakistan could lead to nuclear warheads falling into the hands of radical Islamic jihadists.
It is certain continued temper lake that a nuclear weapon in the hands of fanatical jihadists will be used.
The only current deterrence against its use is a worldwide hunt for the device before Israel, Paris London, New York or DC disappears in a flash.
Timberlake went on to say that jihadists are not our only threat from a rogue nation armed with nuclear weapons.
What about the criminal state of North Korea or the vitriolic anti Semitic nation of Iran?
Either country for many perverse reasons can slip a device to a terrorist group.
These enemies have different agendas but they share a common disregard for human life and a burning hatred for the United States while we would like to close our ears to predictions of impending disaster.
Experts such as timberlake and others see a major attack on our country in the near future as virtually inevitable America will be infected with moral decay.
The average lifespan of the world’s greatest civilizations has been about 200 years.
During that two century span. Each of these nations progressed through the following sequence.
From bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to complacency, from complacency to apathy and from apathy to dependence and from dependence back to bondage.
At what point is America in this cycle?
In 1947 forward looking sociologist, Doctor Karl Zimmerman wrote a text called Family and Civilization.
He identified 11 symptoms of final decay observable in the fall of the Greek and Roman civilizations.
See how many characterize our society today.
No fault, divorce, birth de increased disrespect for parenthood and parents, meaningless marriage rights and ceremonies.
Defamation of past national heroes, acceptance of alternative marriage forms widespread attitudes of feminism, narcissism and hedonism, propagation of antifa sentiment, acceptance of most forms of adultery, rebellious Children, increased juvenile delinquency and common acceptance of all forms of sexual perversion.
One cannot hear lists such as these and doubt that America is throwing away its treasured position as the most blessed nation.
Remember, God blessed this country for a reason. Our nation was founded on submission to him.
But now, as the reasons for His blessings upon America are eroding, we can expect the blessings themselves to fade as well.
It’s a simple matter of cause and effect, remove the cause and the effect ceases once we invited God into our nation and made him welcome as our most honored guest.
But now our culture seems bent on shutting him out.
Almost six decades ago, President Herbert Hoover wrote a warning that I fear America has not heeded.
He stated our greatest danger is not from invasion by foreign armies.
Our dangers are that we may commit suicide from within by complacence and evil.
It saddens me to say it, but I believe the signs make it certain that America is now infected with the deadly disease of moral decay.
And as that infection eats away at our foundations, we can expect the law of cause and effect to come into play.
Scripture often warns us that even a long suffering, God will not forever strive with men.
If we ignore divine directives, we cannot expect God’s blessing a limb that cuts itself off from the trunk will not continue to live.
America will be impotent because of the rapture.
If the rapture were to happen today and all true believers in Jesus Christ disappeared to heaven in a single moment.
America, as we know it could be obliterated.
It is estimated that at the rapture, America will lose millions of citizens, not only would the country lose much of her population.
But she would also lose the very best, the salt and light of the nation who can imagine the chaos in our country when all the Godly people disappear, leaving only those who have rejected God.
It is not a pretty picture. We who love Christ.
Not only will know the joy of being with our beloved Lord, but also will be spared the horrors that the world will suffer through the evil of people left in the wake of the rapture.
It’s like a reverse surgical operation.
One in which all the healthy cells are removed and only the cancerous ones are left to consume one another.
Yet we cannot help but feel a sense of tension in our hearts. Yes, God will save us.
But things we’ve never experienced are about to happen and changes such as we’ve never imagined loom on the horizon.
But in spite of the uneasiness, we approach with confidence, the events we are anticipating because we know they were put into play by the creator of the universe.
He knows the end from the beginning and because we are his friends, he is letting us in on the eternal secrets of his determined will.
In an article about the United States in prophecy, Herman, a Hoyt made a statement that is a fitting conclusion to this chapter he wrote since the promise of Christ coming for the church has always been held out to his people as an event that could take place at any moment.
Surely the events of the present hour in relation to the United States ought to give new stimulus to watch momentarily for his coming in these days of crisis.
Our trust should not rest in a nation that may shortly disappear, but in him who works all things after the counsel of his own will, Doctor Hoyt is Wright, what do we have to worry about?
Our trust has never been in governments, civilizations or cultures.
These institutions will be swept away by the winds of history.
They are helpful while they are here, but they have never been worthy of our trust.
We have always put our trust in the one who stands above institutions above history and even above time itself, the one by whose power and permission these things exist and who knows their times and the end of their days only he is worthy of our ultimate allegiance.