What is America’s Destiny?

What is America’s Destiny?

Repentance or Judgment?

By Dr. David R. Reagan

What is America's Destiny?

[read in Lamplighter (pdf)]

Let’s put this topic in perspective with two foundational Scripture passages:

The first is Psalm 33:12 which says: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD.” Or, as it reads in Hebrew, “…whose God is Yahweh.”
The second is Proverbs 14:34 which reads: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.”
What is America's destiny?
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The Nations in Prophecy

Ever since I began holding Bible prophecy conferences 38 years ago, the number one question asked during Question and Answer sessions has been, “Where is the United States in Bible prophecy?” The horrific events of September 11, 2001 intensified the importance and frequency of this question — and that is certainly understandable.

The Bible is full of prophecies about nations:

Isaiah prophesied in detail about the destinies of Assyria, Babylon, Moab, Syria, Ethiopia, Edom, Arabia, Tyre and Egypt.
Jeremiah covered the same nations, adding Philistia, Kedar, Hazor, Elam and Ammon.
Nearly all the Hebrew prophets spoke about Israel or Judah or both, and many of their prophecies concerned the fate of Jerusalem.
Daniel focused on world empires, and in the process he wrote history better in advance than most historians after the fact.

Daniel and many of the other prophets also spoke about the configuration of nations that would exist in the end times, right before the return of the Messiah. They foretold:

  • The resurrection of the Roman Empire in Europe.
  • The re-establishment of the state of Israel.
  • Israel besieged by surrounding Arab nations.
  • Israel menaced by Russia and its allies.
  • And nations in the Far East capable of sending an army of 200 million against the Middle East.
America in Bible Prophecy

The United States in Bible Prophecy

So, where is the United States in Bible prophecy? How could the prophets overlook our nation?

What makes this question even more perplexing is that the signs of the times indicate we are on the threshold of the Tribulation, and we are the world’s dominant superpower! So how could the Bible fail to mention us?

The search for the United States in Bible prophecy has been extensive and intensive. It has also been very imaginative.

Isaiah 18

In the 19th Century, one of the favorite locations of the US in prophecy espoused by Bible prophecy experts was Isaiah 18. It speaks of a nation of “tall, smooth-skinned people who are feared far and wide…A powerful nation whose land is divided by waters.”

The problem with applying Isaiah 18 to the United States is that the chapter begins by specifically identifying the nation it is talking about, and that is Cush, which is the modern day nation of Sudan.

The river it is referring to is obviously the Nile. And furthermore, the whole setting of the chapter is during the Millennial reign of the Messiah.

Ezekiel 38 & 39

During the 20th Century, the most popular place to find our nation in prophecy shifted to Ezekiel 38 and 39 where the end time battle of God & Magog is described. This is a massive invasion of Israel by Russia and its allies, all of which are modern day Muslim countries.

Ezekiel 38:13 states that when the Russian invasion of Israel occurs in the end times, “the merchants of Tarshish, with all its villages,” will speak out against the invasion.

Tarshish was identified as Britain and the “villages” were identified as Britain’s English speaking colonies, including, of course, the United States.

Later in the century, the identification of Tarshish shifted to Spain. To compensate for this, the advocates of this theory simply pointed out that Columbus sailed from Spain and thus his discovery of America would make our nation one of Spain’s “villages.”

I think you should be beginning to see how desperate people have been over the years to find the United States in Bible prophecy.

Actually, the latest anthropological and metallurgical scientific evidence points rather conclusively to the island of Sardinia as the site of Tarshish. Sardinia is the second largest island in the Mediterranean, second only to Sicily. And I don’t think anyone will be so bold as to claim that our nation is one of the villages of Sardinia!

The Great Eagle

This brings us to what I consider to be the most imaginative and the silliest identification of our nation in Bible prophecy. It is found in Revelation 12:14 which states that when the Antichrist attempts to annihilate the Jews in the second half of the Tribulation, the Jews in Israel will flee “on the wings of a great eagle.”

Believe it or not, some people have seized on this imagery to teach that the United States, whose national symbol is the eagle, will supply the end time air lift that will save the Jewish remnant!

But the Bible is its own best interpreter. And when you look up the phrase, “wings of an eagle,” you will find that it is the same one that God used in Exodus 19:4 to describe how He brought the Israelites out of Egypt: “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself.”

The same imagery is used in Deuteronomy 32:11 where it speaks of God’s protection of Israel in the wilderness:

“Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, He [the Lord] spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions.”

In Revelation 12, God is the “eagle,” not the United States. What the passage in Revelation 12 is saying is that God is going to supernaturally protect the Jewish people when they flee from the Antichrist into Jordan in the middle of the Tribulation.

Babylon the Great

This brings us to what is today’s most popular passage for identifying our nation in Bible prophecy.

It is found in Revelation 18 which speaks of a great empire dominating the world in the end times called “Babylon the Great” that will be destroyed by God in one hour of one day.

There is no doubt that the United States shares many similarities with the corrupt commercial empire described in this chapter. The empire is described as one that is in rebellion against God, to the point that it has become “a dwelling place of demons” (verse 2). It further states that the immorality of this empire has corrupted all the nations of the world (verse 3).

It is also made clear that this “Babylon the Great” will completely dominate the world economy, and its destruction will result in the collapse of the economies of all nations. This causes the kings, merchants and shipmasters to “weep and lament” and cry out, “Woe, woe!” (verses 9,11,17).

In the present international context, it certainly sounds like the United States. But, again, the Bible is its own best interpreter, and chapter 17 of Revelation makes it clear that “Babylon the Great” is the end time world empire of the Antichrist that will be centered in Rome, not Washington, D.C.

Many Bible prophecies have a prefillment in symbolic type before they are ultimately fulfilled in reality. The destruction of the United States (whether by external or internal forces), and the impact of that destruction upon the world, could certainly constitute a symbolic prefillment of Revelation 18, but the true fulfillment will have to await the annihilation of the world empire of the Antichrist.

So, my conclusion is that the United States is not specifically mentioned in Bible prophecy. We are covered by general prophecies that relate to all nations, but beyond those, our end time destiny is not specifically mentioned.

But this conclusion raises more questions than it answers. Why aren’t we mentioned? How could the Bible be silent about us?

Possible Scenarios for a Missing America

There are several possible scenarios to explain our absence from end time Bible prophecy:

1) Terrorist Devastation

Because of our freedoms and open borders, we are a sitting duck for terrorist attacks that could fatally disrupt our society. Such attacks could take various forms — biological, chemical and electronic. They could even take the form of suitcase nuclear dirty bombs.

It is almost impossible to protect a society from suicide terrorists who are willing to sacrifice themselves for their cause.

2) External Nuclear Attack

A second possibility is either direct atomic hits or indirect ones in the form of electromagnetic pulse explosions in the atmosphere above our nation.

3) Internal Moral Rot

A third possible scenario would be an internal collapse due to moral rot which could lead to the breakdown of law and order, resulting in widespread violence.

Stock Market Crash 4) An Economic Collapse

A fourth possibility is an economic collapse due to the astronomical national debt we have so recklessly built up over the past few decades.

In the first edition of my book about the United States in Bible prophecy, published in 2003, I wrote:

“The first thing that comes to mind is an economic catastrophe that will result from our out of control debt situation…There is no way to escape the conclusion that America has become a debt junkie.”

I concluded with this observation:

“I believe an unprecedented economic collapse is highly likely because money is the real god of America, and the true God of this universe is a jealous One who does not tolerate idolatry. God, by His very nature, is going to be compelled to destroy our false god.”
5) The Rapture

There is a fifth scenario that could explain our nation’s absence in end time prophecy, and it is the one I prefer and pray for. I’m thinking, of course, of the Rapture of the Church. Even though we have become a secular nation, we still have many true Christians, many of which are in powerful positions of government, industry and the military.

The Rapture would produce mass chaos in our nation on an unprecedented scale. It would undoubtedly result in martial law. Probably the only way we could survive is to reach out to Europe and ask to be included in the European Union.

So, once again, my conclusion is that the United States is not specifically mentioned in end time Bible Prophecy.

But, we are there!

We are there in prophetic type — in prophetic symbolism.

Prophetic Types

But before I reveal our prophetic type, let me take a moment to explain the meaning of a prophetic type.

A prophetic type is a symbol of a prophecy yet to be fulfilled. It prefigures a coming reality. It can be a person, an event, a ceremony, or an inanimate object.

Thus, the Greek tyrant, Antiochus Epiphanes (c. 215 BC – 164 BC) was a prophetic type of the Antichrist who will appear on the world scene in the end times.

The Old Testament sacrificial system pointed forward to the finality of the Cross.

Every aspect of the Ark of the Covenant pointed to the Messiah:

  • It was made of wood — pointing to the Messiah’s humanity.
  • It was overlaid with gold — pointing to the Messiah’s divinity.
  • It contained three objects:
    A pot of Manna — pointing to the fact that the Messiah would be our bread of life
    The tablets of Moses — pointing to the fact that the Messiah would keep the Law perfectly
    Aaron’s Rod that budded — pointing to the fact that the Messiah would rise from the dead.
  • Once a year the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies and sprinkle blood on the lid of the Ark, signifying that the Messiah would have to die in order for the grace of God to cover the Law of God.

America’s Prophetic Type

Now, I believe America’s prophetic type is the ancient nation of Judah.

If you will remember, after the death of Solomon, the kingdom of David split into two nations — Israel and Judah.

The northern nation of Israel was apostate from the beginning. It was founded in rebellion against God and continued in that condition for 208 years until it was conquered by the Assyrians in 722 BC. During its lifetime, the nation had 19 kings, and not a single one was considered righteous in the eyes of God.

The southern nation of Judah lasted 136 years longer for a total of 344 years. Eight of its 20 kings were considered righteous by the Lord.

Consider the parallels between our nation and Judah:

  • They were given great leaders like Hezekiah, Jehoshaphat and Josiah, just as we have been blessed in our history with leaders like Washington, Lincoln, the Roosevelts and Reagan.
  • They enjoyed a degree of freedom that was unparalleled for that day and time, just as we have been blessed.
  • They were granted great prosperity just as we have been.
  • And they were favored with abundant spiritual blessings just as we have been. The Shekinah Glory of God resided in their Temple in Jerusalem. We have been blessed to be used by God to proclaim the Gospel all over the world.

I wish I could stop there with this list of positive parallels, but I cannot. That’s because we share some negative characteristics with Judah.

One is pride. Judah became proud of its blessings and the people deceived themselves into thinking they were the ones responsible for their blessings. They forgot the One who was truly responsible, just as we have.

Another negative parallel is rebellion. As Judah distanced itself from God, it began to rebel against His Word, just as we are now in the process of doing the same thing.

The result for Judah was the destruction of their nation by the Babylonians in 586 BC.

But before God poured out His wrath on the nation, he patiently called them to repentance and warned them of His impending judgment.

He did this in two ways — through prophetic voices and remedial judgments. Let’s consider the prophetic voices first.

The Sins of Judah

In about 740 BC, God anointed a sophisticated and erudite man named Isaiah to be a prophet to Judah, and the first thing He asked him to do was to search out the land and compile a spiritual inventory of the sins of the people.

God knew the sins. This was His way of acquainting Isaiah with them first hand.

Isaiah’s subsequent report was startling and heartbreaking. It clearly revealed that the people whom God had so richly blessed had turned their back on Him and His Word.

And since these are the sins that motivated God to destroy the nation, the city and the temple He loved so much, we should pay close attention to what they were.

A people entrenched in sin
A people entrenched in sin.

Isaiah’s Report

Isaiah’s report is found in chapter 5 of his writings, and he begins in verse 7 with the sin of injustice:

“He [God] expected a crop of justice, but instead he found oppression. He expected to find righteousness, but instead he heard cries of violence.”

Next, he mentioned greed: (5:8)

“You buy up property so others have no place to live. Your homes are built on great estates so you can be alone in the midst of the earth!”

The next sin he discovered was pleasure-seeking: (5:12)

“They furnish wine and lovely music at their grand parties — lyre and harp, tambourine and flute — but they never think about the LORD or notice what He is doing.”

The fourth sin he reported was blasphemy: (5:19)

“They even mock the Holy One of Israel and dare the Lord to punish them. ‘Hurry up and punish us, O Lord,’ they say. ‘We want to see what you can do!'”

Next, Isaiah pointed to the shocking sin of moral perversion: (5:20)

“They say that what is right is wrong and what is wrong is right; that black is white and white is black; bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.”

Isaiah lamented the sin of intellectual pride: (5:21)

“Woe to those who are wise and shrewd in their own eyes!”

Next, Isaiah identified the sin of intemperance: (5:22)

“Woe to those who are “heroes” when it comes to drinking and boast about the liquor they can hold.”

The final sin identified by Isaiah was political corruption: (5:23)

“They take bribes to pervert justice, letting the wicked go free and putting innocent men in jail.”

Isaiah concluded his list with a summary statement that identified the fundamental reason for all the sins: (5:24)

“…they have thrown away the laws of God and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.”

So, the eight sins of Judah that Isaiah reported were: Injustice, Greed, Pleasure-Seeking, Blasphemy, Moral Perversion, Intellectual Pride, Intemperance and Political Corruption. All of which he asserted were produced by contempt for the Word of God.

Isaiah also reported that all his calls to repentance were met with scoffing and frivolity (22:12-13):

“The Lord God called you to repent, to weep and mourn, to shave your heads in sorrow for your sins, and to wear clothes made of sackcloth to show your remorse. But instead, you sing and dance and play, and feast and drink. ‘Let us eat, drink, and be merry,’ you say: ‘What’s the difference, for tomorrow we die.'”

Isaiah responded to this crass indifference with a strong warning: (5:26-30)

“God will send a signal to the nations far away, whistling to those at the ends of the earth, and they will come racing toward Jerusalem…Their arrows are sharp; their bows are bent; sparks fly from their horses’ hoofs, and the wheels of their chariots spin like the wind. They roar like lions and pounce upon the prey. They seize my people and carry them off into captivity with none to rescue them.”

Jeremiah’s Report

Sixty years later, God called a young priest named Jeremiah to do the same thing he had requested of Isaiah. He asked him to go forth and make an inventory of the sins of Judah.

When he reported back to God, he listed the same sins as Isaiah, but he added three new ones.

The first was immorality. This, of course, had been hinted at in Isaiah’s accusation of moral perversion. But Jeremiah got specific: (5:7-8)

He declared that God had fed His people until they were full, but they thanked Him by “committing adultery and lining up at the brothels.” He added, “They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor’s wife.”

The second sin Jeremiah detected was religious corruption: (5:30-31)

“A horrible and shocking thing has happened in this land — the prophets give false prophecies, and the priests rule with an iron hand. Worse yet, my people like it that way!”
America
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The third sin he added to the growing list was closed minds: (6:10-11)

He declared the people do not listen when God speaks: “Their ears are closed, and they cannot hear. They scorn the word of the Lord. They don’t want to listen at all.”

Jeremiah then concluded with three powerful summary statements:

  • “Their faces are harder than rock” (5:3).
  • “They have a stubborn and rebellious heart” (5:23).
  • “They do not know how to blush” (6:15).

Jeremiah issued a called to repentance, coupled with a stern warning (6:26):

“Oh, my people, dress yourselves in burlap and sit among the ashes. Mourn and weep bitterly, as for the loss of an only son. For suddenly the destroying armies will be upon you!”

But the people of Judah were so caught up in rebellion that they refused to repent, and they scoffed at the warning, responding by shouting, “The Temple, the Temple, the Temple!” (Jeremiah 7:4).

What they meant by this taunt was that they did not believe God would ever destroy their nation and their capital city because the Shekinah Glory of God rested in their Temple.

One nation under God's judgment

Remedial Judgments

Meanwhile, while God was speaking through prophetic voices, calling the people to repentance and warning them of an ultimate judgment, He was simultaneously inflicting the nation with remedial judgments.

These are judgments designed to humble people and motivate them to think with an eternal perspective.

Before they entered the Promised Land, God had warned them through Moses that if they were not faithful to His commandments, they would suffer remedial judgments to call them to repentance. These judgments are listed in detail in Deuteronomy 28, and they include such things as crop failures, rebellion of teenagers, an epidemic of divorce, rampant disease, confusing government policies, defeats by enemies, foreign domination and the ultimate judgment — exile from the land.

But the people of Judah were set in their sins, and Jeremiah therefore declared that their “wound was incurable” (Jeremiah 10:19).

The result was the Babylonian conquest of the nation and its capital in 586 BC, resulting in most of the people being carried away into captivity.

God in His mercy allowed them to return 70 years later, but during the next 400 years, they persisted in their sins, and so, in 70 AD, God allowed them to be conquered by the Romans and dispersed worldwide, just as He had warned.

This sordid history of a richly blessed people rebelling against their God who had blessed them so overwhelmingly is summed up in two very sad verses in which you can almost hear the Lord weeping (2 Chronicles 36:15-16):

15) And the Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place;
16) but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against His people, until there was no remedy.

How God Deals With A Rebellious Nation

From this history of Judah, we can draw some conclusions about how God deals with a rebellious nation which He has so richly blessed.

1) He raises up prophetic voices to call the nation to repentance. And, if there is no repentance,
2) He places remedial judgments upon the nation.
3) If the nation repents, He forgives and blesses. But if there is no repentance,
4) God destroys the nation when its rebellion becomes entrenched, reaching a point of no return.

This point of no return occurs when “the wound becomes incurable.” Nahum declared that Nineveh had “an incurable wound” (Nahum 3:19). Jeremiah used the same terminology with reference to Judah (Jeremiah 30:12).

Jeremiah was even told to stop praying for Judah (Jeremiah 7:16). Ezekiel was told the same thing, but in even stronger terms. Ezekiel was told that if the most righteous men who have ever lived — Noah, Daniel and Job — were to intervene for Judah, it would be of no avail, except for themselves and their families, because the nation had reached the point of no return and was going to be destroyed (Ezekiel 14:12-21).

All of which reminds me of the words of the prophet Nahum (Nahum 1:2-3):

A jealous and avenging God is the Lord;
The Lord is avenging and wrathful.
The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries,
And He reserves wrath for His enemies.
The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,
And the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.

Application to the United States

Now, let’s apply these principles to the United States.

As I pointed out before, I believe God raised up this nation with the purpose of using our great natural resources and technical ingenuity to spread the Gospel all over the world.

As we fulfilled His purpose, He poured out blessings upon us — blessings like unparalleled freedom and prosperity and immense power, worldwide influence and — the greatest blessing of all — sharing the Gospel with the world. He even gave us the blessing of serving as the key nation in the re-birthing and nurturing of the nation of Israel.

But we became enamored with our wealth and power, and we began turning our back on God.

  • The Almighty Dollar became our god.
  • Greed became our motivator.
  • Gambling became a national pastime.
  • Sex became our obsession.
  • We became the world’s largest consumer of illegal drugs.
  • We kicked God out of our schools.
  • We legalized abortion.
  • We endorsed moral perversion.
  • And we became the moral polluter of planet earth through our violent, immoral and blasphemous movies and television programs.

God’s Response

As we wallowed in the sexual revolution of the 1960’s, God began raising up prophetic voices like Dave Wilkerson, calling this nation to repentance.

And in the years since that time, he has raised up many more prophetic voices, 13 of which I identify in my book, God’s Prophetic Voices to America.

When we refused to repent, the remedial judgments began to fall. (And let me just pause to say that I do not believe that all calamities are remedial judgments. Most are simply products of natural forces. A true remedial judgment can be determined by its magnitude or its timing or both.) Considering those factors, I believe that some of the remedial judgments we have experienced in recent years are:

The Vietnam War

This war occurred on the heels of the sexual revolution of the 1960s.

The 9/11 Attacks (2001)

God allowed the terrorists to be successful in attacking the two symbols of our pride: The Twin Towers in New York which represented our wealth, and the Pentagon in Washington, DC which represented our power.

Hurricane Katrina (2005)

Undoubtedly God’s response to our immorality and our forcing Israel to abandon the Gaza Strip. The storm formed suddenly in the Gulf on the last day of the Gaza Strip withdrawal and hit New Orleans just as it was getting ready to host its annual homosexual festival.

The Sept 2008 Stock Market Crash

Again, a response to our attempts to strong arm Israel into surrendering its heartland. It occurred on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and the market fell by 777 points — indicating the signature of God.

The Type of Leaders We Deserve

It is no accident that President Obama was the most pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, anti-Capitalist, anti-Israel leader in the entire history of our nation. The man who promised us hope proceeded to destroy that hope with his myriad of ungodly programs and actions.

The Parallels

Let’s consider the parallels once again between Judah and the United States: Ancient Judah was blessed with great leaders, freedom, prosperity and spiritual blessings — all of which we have enjoyed.

But, like Judah, we have drifted into pride and rebellion. And as with ancient Judah, God has responded with prophetic warnings and remedial judgments. We are now courting His Destruction.

A Crucial Question

This brings us to a very important question: Why should the United States be treated any differently? The answer, of course, is that God is not treating us any differently. He has raised up prophetic voices to call us to repentance, and He has sent remedial judgments. And our response has been one of patriotism, when the needed response is repentance.

The 9/11 Attacks

After 9/11 my wife noticed an explosion of bumper stickers saying, “God Bless America!” One day she turned to me and said, “Those bumper stickers are wrong, because God has already blessed America.”

So, she designed what she considered to be a more appropriate sticker: “America Bless God!”

America Bless God!

The 9/11 attacks were a wake-up call for our nation. But instead of awakening to the need for repentance, we reacted like a sleepy man who hits the snooze button on his alarm clock, rolls over, and goes back to sleep.

And so, our society has continued to slouch toward Gomorrah.

The Decay of Society

Let me take a moment to emphasize to you how serious the decay of our society has become. Only a person my age can appreciate how radically and how quickly our society has disintegrated.

I was born in 1938 when autos still had running boards and gasoline was 20 cents a gallon.

When I was born…

Abortionists were sent to prison.
Pregnancy out of wedlock was thought of as scandalous.
Homosexuality was considered unnatural and immoral.
Pornography was despised as a perversion.
Drugs were something you bought at a drug store.
Marriage was sacred.
Living together was taboo.
Divorce was a disgrace.
Same-sex marriage was beyond even the wildest and most depraved imagination.
Homemaking was honored, and day care was provided by mothers in their homes. Child abuse was almost unheard of.
Ladies did not curse or smoke.
The word,”Damn,” was considered flagrant language in a movie.

The first major motion picture to use a curse word was Gone with the Wind in 1939. The movie ended with the phrase, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” In 2013 a film called The Wolf of Wall Street, starring Leonardo de Caprio, had the “f-word” in it 544 times in 180 minutes!

In 1997, the veteran television star, Steve Allen, denounced the growing filth contained in movies and television programs by saying, “We have become a society where vulgarians entertain barbarians.” And that was 20 years ago!

Quote by Paul Washer

A Temporary Respite

It is true that in His grace and mercy, God has given us a temporary respite — a window of grace through the miraculous election of Donald Trump in 2016.

Incidentally, I believe the crucial factor in producing that miracle was Franklin Graham’s prayer crusade that he took to every state capital in our nation. At each stop, he began his presentation with the same words:

“I have no hope in the Democratic Party, and I have no hope in the Republican Party. Zero hope. Our only hope is God.” And he proceeded to call our nation to prayer and repentance.

I think it is very interesting that back in 1980 when Ronald Reagan was elected, Francis Shaeffer, one of God’s prophetic voices to America, also referred to Reagan’s election as a “window of grace” from God, and it was. But as soon as his term ended in 1989, our society took up where it had left off in its rejection of Judeo-Christian values and proceeded with its downward spiral into the secular, pagan pit of Humanism.

President Trump is doing a lot of things right while he continues to proclaim that he is going to “Make America Great Again.”

But don’t count on it. No one can make our nation great again as long as we continue in our outright rebellion against God and His Word.

Our nation, like Judah, has gone too far in its rejection of God. I believe we have reached the point where our wound has become incurable. The election of Trump is not a portent of our future. And I can prove that with three brutal facts.

After eight years of the most ungodly administration in American history:

1) President Obama left office with a 60% approval rating.
2) His designated heir, Hillary Clinton, received 3 million more votes than Trump.
3) And our nation’s future — the Millennials (18 to 29 year olds) — supported an out-and-out Socialist, and when he failed to get the nomination, they voted overwhelmingly for Clinton.

The Most Brutal Reality

But more important than these three facts is the ignorance of God’s Word that has come to characterize both our nation and professing Christians. This ignorance is reflected in the latest polls conducted by the Barna Association which show that only 9% of Americans are Bible-believing Christians! And even more shocking, only 17% of professing Christians are truly Bible-believing Christians!

And what determines a Bible-believing Christian? Answers to the following six questions:

1) Does absolute moral truth exist?
2) Is the Bible totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches?
3) Is Satan a real being and not simply a symbolic force?
4) Can people earn their way into Heaven by doing good works?
5) Did Jesus live a sinless life?
6) Is God the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today?

Again, only 9% of Americans can answer these questions biblically, and only 17% of professing Christians can do so. Is it any wonder that a recent national poll by the George Barna’s American Culture and Faith Institute revealed that:

  • 77% of Americans believe divorce is acceptable.
  • 71% believe sexual intercourse between unmarried adults is acceptable.
  • 69% believe having a baby out of marriage is acceptable.
  • 58% believe viewing pornography is acceptable.

Or, consider what public opinion polls are showing regarding same-sex marriage: acceptance of the abomination of same-sex marriage has increased rapidly from 37% in 2007 to 62% in 2018. The acceptance among white Evangelicals has increased from 14% in 2007 to 35% in 2018.

The latest poll in 2018 shows that Alabama is the only state in the Union where a majority of people oppose same-sex marriage!

Our nation needs to wake-up to the fact that legalizing an abomination does not make it moral. Here’s how one organization has put it:

Legality does not equal morality
(https://me.me)

The Triumph of Humanism

My friends, we need to face up to the fact that we have lost the culture war. Humanism has triumphed. We are now a nation begging God to deliver us from judgment to destruction.

If President Trump is succeeded by another liberal ideological person like Obama or Bernie Sanders, supported by a liberal Congress, the turn around will be swift and breathtaking.

  • All of Trump’s executive orders will be reversed overnight.
  • The 2nd Amendment will come under concerted attack.
  • Abortion will be promoted.
  • Hate speech legislation will be broadened to prevent people speaking out against the Sexual Perversion Movement.
  • Israel will be abandoned.
  • Expressions of Christianity will be confined to church buildings.

People say, “But the Supreme Court will stand as a wall of protection against the tide of paganism and secularism.” My response is, “Don’t count on it.”

Our constitution does not specify the number of judges on the Supreme Court. This is determined by Congress. A radical President with a supporting Congress can undercut the Court by passing legislation to increase the members from 9 to 11 and to allow for additional appointments for each judge who stays on the court beyond the age of 70.

Yes, FDR tried this in 1937 when he was at the height of his popularity and failed. But what most people forget or don’t know is that after originally determining in 1789 that the Supreme Court would have six justices, the Congress has changed the size of the Court five times by either increasing or decreasing the number of justices — each time for political reasons.

God's Wrath Revealed

The Warning of Romans Chapter 1

Romans chapter 1 makes it crystal clear that the fate of our nation is sealed. It says that the wrath of God is called down from Heaven by: ungodliness, unrighteousness, suppression of the truth, and worship of the creation rather than the Creator.

Well, that’s exactly where we are in our nation’s history.

  • We are practicing ungodliness as we kick God out of our schools and all aspects of our public life.
  • We are practicing unrighteousness in our daily murder of babies.
  • We are suppressing the truth of the origin of the universe and of life.
  • We are worshiping the Creation rather than the Creator.

Romans 1 says that God responds to this kind of rebellion against Him and His Word by stepping back and lowering the nation’s hedge of protection, allowing evil to multiply. And the results are:

1) A sexual revolution — which occurred in our nation in the 1960s (verses 24-25).
2) A plague of homosexuality — which followed in the 1980s and 90s (verses 26-27).
3) The society being delivered over to a depraved mind — which is where we are today (verses 28-32).
White House
(www.washingtontimes.com)

What else but depravity of mind could explain our nation’s celebration over the Supreme Court’s decision to legalized same-sex marriage? As we celebrated, God must have wept. Especially so when our President had the audacity to lite up the White House in the colors of the Sexual Perversion Movement. What a depraved and sordid spectacle that was!

I have no doubt that we signed our nation’s death warrant on June 26, 2015 when our Supreme Court rendered its despicable, ungodly decision.

United States of America

Nor are we alone. Europe has rejected Christianity, and Christians are being persecuted and slaughtered worldwide. Our world is a ticking time bomb. And one of the tragedies is that the average person is just going about his normal business as if nothing is wrong, oblivious to the fact that the wrath of God is about to be poured out.

Our Hope

Is there any hope for our nation? I do not believe so. But we should not despair for several reasons.

First, what we are experiencing is a fulfillment of end time prophecy. The biblical prophets, including Jesus Himself, all prophesied that in the end times society would disintegrate into violence and immorality — that it would become as evil as in the days of Noah, and that people would go about their business as if everything was normal.

That is exactly where we are today. And thus, we are witnesses to the very signs that are heralding the soon return of Jesus.

This is why the great pastor, Adrian Rogers, once said, “The world is growing gloriously dark.” Or, as Jan Markell likes to put it: “The world is not falling to pieces; rather, the pieces are all falling into place.”

The second reason we should not despair is because there is individual hope. For those of us who are believers. God has promised that He will never forsake us.

A third reason we should not despair is because of what God is doing in Heaven right now. The Bible says in Psalm 2 that while all the political leaders of the world conspire against Him, His Word and His Son, our Creator sits on His throne and laughs. He is not laughing because He does not care. Oh no! He is laughing because He has the wisdom and power to orchestrate all the evil of mankind and Satan to the triumph of His will in history.

And don’t forget, we have a fourth reason for hope. We have the incredible hope of the Rapture.

There is also hope for unbelievers. As Robert Jeffress likes to point out:

When the darkness deepens, the light of Jesus will shine more brightly, like a diamond on a black cloth, and more and more people will be drawn to Jesus and be saved.

Meanwhile, as the darkness deepens, those of us who are believers must serve as salt and light, standing for God and His Word and refusing to give in to the demands of a pagan society, regardless of the cost.

We must be beacons of hope, pointing people to the God of hope while urging them to put their hope in their only Hope — Jesus, the Son of God and the soon returning King of kings and Lord of lords.

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