Second Term - A Novel of America in the Last Days (The End of America Series Book 1)
Page 32
“The absence of any mention (in the end times) of a nation we could say is the United States, therefore, is a cause for great distress among those of us who live in and love this nation. Where will America be at that time? The conclusion we must draw is very sad and sobering, and it should serve as a loud warning to our beloved United States. Simply put, the United States will no longer be a world power in the end times. It will not be a significant enough nation to play a major role in the events of those days – that is the obvious answer.” (Jerusalem: Where Empires Die, Lester Sumrall, Sumrall Publishing).
The only published writer at the time who had concluded that America is set forth in the Bible was C. Franklin Logsdon, who in 1968 wrote “Is the U.S.A. in Prophecy?” (Zondervan, 1968). Logsdon’s little book was an eye-opener, because the author focused on a subject in the Bible not much mentioned by Bible expositors, the “Daughter of Babylon.” (Throughout the book, the name the “Daughter of Babylon” will be used in reference to the end times nation that the Bible also labels as “Babylon the Great” (Revelation 17-18). It’s obvious from the text and context that both titles refer to the same end times nation.)
I pursued studying what the Bible said about the Daughter of Babylon, wrote some limited pages on the subject, spoke in a few churches on the topic, and then, ultimately, concluded that though the verses describing the end times Daughter of Babylon certainly appeared to apply to our nation, there were several pieces that just did not, at that time, seem to fit properly together.
Prophetic interpretative questions at the time included:
a.) America was a world superpower, but not the only “hammer of the whole earth” that Jeremiah said the Daughter of Babylon would be. The Soviet Union was then seen by most as equal to America in military power;
b.) The nations of Europe were not yet united in any meaningful way;
c.) Several Arab nations mentioned in prophecy were without any power or influence; and
d.) Prophetically, the Daughter of Babylon will bring judgment on itself from God for doing things that America had not itself done a third of a century ago.
After some study of the subject, I filed away what I had learned, and moved on to other matters. Along with my wife, we raised four God-loving children (for whom we are eternally grateful) and watched America change over the last three plus decades.
That changed in the summer of 2007 as I began to pray and ponder the prophetic issues of what would become the contents of this book. I gradually realized that what I had researched and studied almost a third of a century ago was now, with changed circumstances in the world, beginning to make perfect sense. So, what had happened over those thirty plus years? Many things, obviously, which are covered herein. But by far, the two most important changes since the mid 1970’s were:
1.) America has changed. It has taken actions that have brought it closer to fulfillment of prophetic end times verses. It is, therefore, now in a position to do other things it never would have done in the past (more on this later); and
2.) The rise to world prominence, and to public attention, of radical Islamic Jihadists who are able, and more than willing, to conquer the world for Allah.
Islam had not been seen by Bible students or commentators in the last century as having any part in end times Bible prophecy. But now the several pieces that didn’t seem to fit in the late 1970’s, quickly began to slip into place. Is it of any importance that Christians, and Jews, understand what Muslims believe? Well, actually, it’s critical that we know what Muslims believe about the end times, because there is an astounding overlap between what the Bible and the Quran say will happen in the end of this last phase of human history.
We are now closer to end times events than in the last century, so we can now discern much more about how these prophecies will be, and are being, fulfilled. We can now, gradually, begin to understand how those formerly somewhat unclear prophecies are now becoming clearer every day. It’s like approaching a light in the night through a fog, the closer one gets, the clearer one can see. As we get closer to the end, we can begin to see that only one group of inhabitants of the earth can fulfill these prophecies in our day.
In this regard, the biggest shock to this writer, in beginning to re-study what the Bible calls the “mystery” of the identity of the Daughter of Babylon, was that, contrary to the formerly prevailing general belief that America is not in Biblical prophecy, America, as it turns out, is a major player on the prophetic end times world stage. A major player, that is, until a prophesied point in time. This, then, is a significant conclusion of The End of America. The Bible contains numerous prophetic verses that, we now increasingly see and understand, can only apply, and do apply, to the United States of America, and to no other nation of the past or present. Those verses have always been there, but it is only now, as we approach their fulfillment, that we can perceive them as such.
What must be emphasized is that this is not just another book about the well-known and often studied end times topics, such as Armageddon, the Antichrist, the Rapture, the Tribulation and other final days world events. Unlike most books on prophecy, we will study in depth those end times prophecies that come before these events that we normally think of when we think of end times prophecies. As it turns out, the Bible contains over 220 verses (and thirty identity clues) that describe a particular end times nation (it’s not Israel) which will be fulfilled before the final days events with which students of the Bible are well acquainted.
So, grab your Bible, and grab your newspaper. As you do, keep in mind that there are 1,239 prophecies in the Old Testament, and 578 prophecies in the New Testament. Those 1,817 prophecies include 8,352 verses. And because there are 31,124 verses in the Bible, those 8,352 verses are about 27 percent of the total, meaning that over one-fourth of the Bible is prophecy. (Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy, by J. Barton Payne). Some of those 1,817 prophecies have already been fulfilled, many are not yet fulfilled, but all will be fulfilled by the end of the end times. Thankfully, God has given us in His Word what will happen before it all happens. Let’s study those prophecies together to learn what God wants us to know, and more importantly, to act on what He has told us to do in the beginning days of the end times. Our very lives will depend upon it.
THE END OF AMERICA
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God bless & thanks for reading,
John Price