Implosion: Can America Recover From Its Economic and Spiritual Challenges in Time?
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In 1942, Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of a cult known as the Worldwide Church of God and a magazine called The Plain Truth, published a 196-page book titled The United States and Britain in Prophecy. “The all-important master key has been found!” Armstrong wrote. “That key is knowledge of the astonishing identity of the American and British peoples—as well as the German—in biblical prophecies. . . . This book will open, to open minds, this hitherto closed vital third of all the Bible. No story in fiction ever was so strange, so fascinating, so absorbing, so packed with interest and suspense, as this gripping story of our [American and British] identity—and our ancestry.”[163]
In 1968, S. Franklin Logsdon published a 98-page book titled Is the U.S.A. in Prophecy? “Is the U.S.A. mentioned by name in prophecy?” Logsdon asked. “The answer, of course, is ‘No.’ But, if you ask, Is the U.S.A. in the framework of prophecy? The answer is an unqualified ‘Yes’ . . . It is unthinkable that the God who knows the end from the beginning would pinpoint such small nations as Libya, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Syria in the prophetic declaration and completely overlook the wealthiest and most powerful nation on the earth.”[164]
In 1998, Thomas Ice and Timothy Demy published a 48-page booklet titled The Truth about America in the Last Days. They wrote, “Most would agree that neither America, North America, nor the United States is mentioned explicitly in the Bible, either historically or prophetically, in the way that Scripture speaks repeatedly of Israel, Babylon, Syria, or Egypt. . . . The Western Hemisphere is not specifically mentioned in Scripture.”[165]
In 2003, David R. Reagan published a 210-page book titled America the Beautiful? The United States in Bible Prophecy. “So, where is the United States in Bible prophecy?” Reagan asked. “A partial answer is that we are not mentioned directly and specifically. We are covered by general prophecies that relate to all nations, but beyond that, our end time destiny is not specifically mentioned. General prophecies that apply to the United States include those that say all nations will be judged (Isaiah 34:2-3). . . . But how could God overlook the world’s most important and powerful nation? I don’t think He has. I believe America can be found in Bible prophecy, not specifically, but in prophetic type. . . . I believe the biblical prophetic type of the United States is the nation of Judah.”[166]
In 2004, Michael D. Evans published a 310-page book titled The American Prophecies: Ancient Scriptures Reveal Our Nation’s Future. “Is America in prophecy?” Evans wrote. “Yes, it is. . . . After thousands of hours of research, I am totally convinced that America is found in prophecy.”[167]
In 2009, Terry James published a 292-page book titled The American Apocalypse: Is the United States in Bible Prophecy? “Is America in prophecy?” James asked. “The answer, to this writer at least, is a resounding yes! By name, no, but by presence and influence, absolutely!”[168]
Also in 2009, Mark Hitchcock also published a well-researched, well-reasoned 191-page book titled The Late Great United States: What Bible Prophecy Reveals about America’s Last Days. In it, Hitchcock helpfully cites many more books on the subject, including an 1859 book by Frances Rolleston titled Notes on the Apocalypse, as Explained by the Hebrew Scriptures: The Place in Prophecy of America and Australia Being Pointed Out; an 1884 book by Uriah Smith titled The United States in the Light of Prophecy; a 1914 book by L. A. Smith titled The United States in Prophecy; a 1976 book by Douglas B. MacCorkle titled America in History and Bible Prophecy; and a 1977 book by Henry Hoyt titled Is the United States in Prophecy?[169]
Clearly, there has been no shortage of discussion on the topic. What, then, is the answer? Is the U.S. clearly and specifically identified in the Bible as part of End Times prophecy or not?
Allusions to America in the Bible
At the minimum, one can certainly and reasonably argue that America is alluded to repeatedly in the Bible. After all, the terms “all nations” and “all the nations” appear a combined total of eighty-nine times in the New American Standard translation of the Bible. The Lord has very specific things to say about what he has done for “all the nations” in the past and what will happen in—or to—“all nations” in the future. This certainly includes the United States.
In Haggai chapter 2, for example, the Lord foretold through the Hebrew prophet that he would shake all the nations of the world in the last days. “For thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. I will shake all the nations. . . . I am going to shake the heavens and the earth. I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the nations’” (vv. 6-7, 21-22). This is certainly coming true in the United States. We are being shaken physically, financially, socially, spiritually, politically, and in numerous other ways, and we can expect this to accelerate and intensify in the years ahead.
In Matthew 24:14, the Lord Jesus says that in the last days, “this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.” There is no question that the Lord has used the United States for more than two centuries to help train, equip, and deploy pastors, teachers, preachers, and missionaries who have taken the gospel all over the earth. Americans have set up Bible schools, Bible colleges, and seminaries here at home and in many other countries. Americans have translated the Bible into hundreds of languages, printed those Bibles, and distributed millions upon millions of copies around the world. Americans have produced evangelistic films and television and radio programs and Internet materials in hundreds of different languages to reach people all over the globe with the salvation message of Jesus Christ. What’s more, the U.S. has long been the “ATM” for the world missions movement, helping to finance much of the missions work that was done in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, though other countries are increasingly sharing that blessed burden.
Yet according to the Scriptures, the era of the U.S. being the epicenter of Christendom will come to an end. The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 24:9 that at some point during the last days, opponents of Christianity “will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.” That’s painful to hear, but it is true. “All nations” will eventually turn against faithful followers of Jesus Christ, including here in the United States. We are certainly not seeing Christians in America being imprisoned or even killed for their faith by the government as we see in China or in radical Islamic countries—yet—but we have in recent decades begun to witness the climate of American culture shifting significantly and steadily away from its Judeo-Christian roots to one that is increasingly hostile toward faith in Christ. This will go from bad to worse, according to Jesus.
Ultimately, the Bible says that judgment will come upon the United States, as it will upon all the nations. The Lord Jesus warned in Matthew 25:31-33 that “when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.” In his righteousness and holiness, the Lord will judge the individuals from all nations. To some, he will say, “Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (v. 34). To others, however, he will say, “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels” (v. 41). All individuals from all nations will hear one or the other, based on whether or not they received Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and were born again as described in John 3—and thus lived lives of faith and obedience to the Lord, loving him and loving others.
But aside from such general references, is America ever specifically mentioned in the Bible?
Is America “Babylon”?
Numerous authors and teachers over the years have insisted that the United States—and/or New
York City—is the Babylon mentioned in the book of Revelation.
David Wilkerson, for example, the late founder and pastor of Times Square Church in Manhattan, once wrote a book titled America’s Last Call. “Revelation 18 predicts a graphic scene of a prosperous society falling under judgment in a single hour,” Wilkerson explained. “This society is called Babylon—and many theologians have tried to predict who it will be. Some say it will be a revived Rome. Others say it will be a rebuilt version of the literal Babylon in Iraq. Scripture doesn’t make clear who this Babylon will be. To me, it sounds much like New York City, with its Wall Street and the United Nations.”[170]
A. P. Watchman recently published a book titled Reaping the Whirlwind: The Imminent Judgment of Babylon America. “Truly, the United States is the ‘great harlot who sits on many waters with whom the kings of the Earth have committed fornication and the inhabitants of the Earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication,’” Watchman argued, equating America with the Babylon described in Revelation 17 and 18. “If we are honest with ourselves, we know that the Rome, Italy, of our day could never match the description given by Jesus in Revelation 18; nor does any other nation or singular city on the earth in our day, with the possible exception of the city of New York.”[171]
In 1998, R. A. Coombes published a book titled America, the Babylon. One prophecy expert said it “offers the most extensive, in-depth treatment of the American Babylon view that I’ve been able to find.”[172]
The list could go on and on.
Are there similarities between the U.S. and Babylon? Unfortunately, there are. Is the United States becoming Babylon-esque over time, in the sense of being both enormously powerful and spiritually apostate? Tragically, she is.
But the prophecies in question, together with events happening today, indicate to me that the “Babylon” found in End Times Bible prophecy really refers to the nation of Iraq and the actual ancient city of Babylon, which was once the thriving and powerful capital of the nation of Babylon (also known in history as Babylonia in Mesopotamia). Babylon is not the United States or New York City or Rome or Moscow or any of the many other speculations people have made over the years.
Prophecies found in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Revelation indicate that Babylon the country and Babylon the city will, in fact, be resurrected and rebuilt in the last days, much as Israel and Jerusalem have been resurrected and rebuilt in recent decades. Indeed, the Bible indicates that the city of Babylon will not only be fully rebuilt but will actually become the wealthiest and most powerful—and eventually the most corrupt and wicked—city on the face of the planet. That may be difficult for many to picture or accept, but it was also difficult for many to picture the “dry bones” of Israel being rebuilt until it happened in the twentieth century.
What’s fascinating to me is that such prophecies are already beginning to come to pass in our lifetime.
In my 2006 book, Epicenter, I wrote an entire chapter on Saddam Hussein’s efforts in the 1980s to begin rebuilding the ancient city of Babylon and on the new Iraqi government’s plans to continue and dramatically expand the work that Saddam set into motion. I quoted a story that appeared on the front page of the New York Times on April 18, 2006, saying that “Babylon, the mud-brick city with the million-dollar name, has paid the price of war. It has been ransacked, looted, torn up, paved over, neglected, and roughly occupied. . . . But Iraqi leaders and United Nations officials are not giving up on it. They are working assiduously to restore Babylon, home to one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and turn it into a cultural center and possibly even an Iraqi theme park.”[173] I also cited my interview with then–Iraqi finance minister Ali Abdul Ameer Allawi, who told me, “Cultural, religious, archaeological, and biblical tourism is a big opportunity for Iraq. I think rebuilding Babylon is a wonderful idea, as long as it is not done at the expense of the antiquities themselves.”[174]
Since Epicenter was published, much more has been done to rebuild Iraq and establish peace and security in the once and future Babylon. I have had the opportunity to travel to and minister in Iraq four times since the fall of Saddam Hussein, and each time the country was safer and more prosperous than the time I went before. Just as remarkable is that more steps have been taken to rebuild the actual city of Babylon as well, even with American assistance. On February 14, 2009, I wrote a blog post under the headline “U.S. to Help Rebuild City of Babylon in Iraq.”
The government of Iraq is moving forward with plans to protect the archaeological remains of the ancient city of Babylon, in preparation for building a modern city of Babylon. . . . The Obama administration is contributing $700,000 toward “The Future of Babylon” project through the State Department’s budget. “Officials hope Babylon can be revived and made ready for a rich future of tourism, with help from experts at the World Monuments Fund (WMF) and the U.S. embassy,” reports the Reuters news agency. “‘The Future of Babylon’ project launched last month seeks to ‘map the current conditions of Babylon and develop a master plan for its conservation, study, and tourism,’ the WMF says. ‘We don’t know how long it will take to reopen to tourists,’ said Mariam Omran Musa, head of a government inspection team based at the site. ‘It depends on funds. I hope that Babylon can be reborn in a better image.’”[175]
Two years later, in January 2011, I pointed readers of my blog to another New York Times story, headlined “A Triage to Save the Ruins of Babylon.” “The Babylon project is Iraq’s biggest and most ambitious by far, a reflection of the ancient city’s fame and its resonance in Iraq’s modern political and cultural heritage,” the article reported, noting that “in November, the State Department announced a new $2 million grant to begin work to preserve the site’s most impressive surviving ruins.”[176]
The article also reported that “the American reconstruction team has refurbished a modern museum on the site, as well as a model of the Ishtar Gate that for decades served as a visitors’ entrance. Inside the museum is one of the site’s most valuable relics: a glazed brick relief of a lion, one of 120 that once lined the processional way into the city. The museum, with three galleries, is scheduled to open this month, receiving its first visitors since 2003. And with new security installed, talks are under way to return ancient Babylonian artifacts from the National Museum in Baghdad.”[177]
Clearly, Bible prophecies are coming to pass. Babylon is rising again. Unfortunately, too few people are paying attention, which brings us back to the question of America.
So, Is America Ever Mentioned in the Bible?
As we have seen, there have been some very creative—and at times, very bizarre—interpretations of the Scriptures by a wide range of people trying to find America in the Bible. But none of them hold water. The United States is not one of the “ten lost tribes” of Israel, as some have suggested. We are not the “land of whirring wings” mentioned in Isaiah 18 or the “young lions” or “merchants of Tarshish” mentioned in Ezekiel 38, as others have suggested. America is not the “great eagle” mentioned in Revelation 12. These and similar arguments are simply not credible.[178]
Are there lessons America can learn from the histories of other nations in the Bible? Yes. Are there commandments in the Bible that all nations, including the United States, must obey? Yes. Are there promises of blessing made to all nations, including the United States, if they follow the Lord? Yes. Are there punishments promised to all nations, including the United States, that turn away from the Lord and his Word? Yes. All these points are important. But those who try to extract more out of Scripture—who try to force the Bible to say more than it does—are standing on shaky theological ground.
The truth is, the United States of America simply is nowhere to be found in the Bible. This may be painful for many to hear. This may be difficult for many to accept. Nevertheless, the fact remains: The U.S. is never directly mentioned or specifically referenced in Bible history or in Bible prophecy. It just isn’t.
If Not, Why Not?
“Joel, you believe we are living in the last days, right?”
Right.
“And you’re saying the signs in the Bible that are evidence of the last days are coming to pass, right?”
Right.
“And you believe that the rebirth of Israel is the super sign, the one that proves beyond all doubt that we’re moving deeper into the last days, right?”
Right.
“And all kinds of countries are mentioned in the Bible—Egypt, Iran, Iraq, even India and Russia, right?”
Right.
“Then how is it possible that America—the wealthiest, most powerful country on the face of the earth in the history of mankind—is not even mentioned in Bible prophecy at all, much less as a key player in the End Times?”
That’s a good question, and the answer is: I don’t know. The Bible doesn’t say. If the Bible spoke directly, clearly, and precisely to our future as a nation, then I would say so, but it doesn’t. So the next question we have to ask, then, is this: “If not, why not?” If America isn’t mentioned in the Bible, then why isn’t it? What happens to us?
I draw two possible conclusions from the absence of a clearly defined biblical role for the U.S. in the last days:
• First, something happens to the United States in the last days that strips us of our status as the wealthiest, most powerful country on the face of the earth in the history of mankind.