The United States and Bible Prophecy Part 2

This is difficult for me to write. It’s not an easy thing to know that the nation you belong to has turned away from God and faces judgment. Until last year, I never saw it coming. The reason is that I was like most people in this country. I said I believed in Jesus Christ, but I certainly wasn’t following his teachings. What does Jesus say about this?

‘Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.’ (John 14:23-24)

Once I was born again, came close to the Lord and began following His teachings, the Lord certainly has made His home with me and my family. He began to show me this nation through His eyes. What do I see? Darkness. The good news is that it doesn’t have to remain this way. If we, as a nation, ask for forgiveness and come back to our Lord, then he will heal us and restore us. It is conditional on us seeking Him, understanding the truth, repenting and humbly asking for forgiveness. The bad news is that the Lord has searched this nation and He sees that we have passed the point of no return. The only way for Him to wake us up and cut the sin out is through His judgment. What happens after His judgment is up to us. Will this nation return to Him and stand for Him against the onslaught of our spiritual enemy and his beasts? I do not know. I pray that our eyes are opened and that we will someday become the people that the Lord wants us to be. I pray that instead of being a home to darkness, we will be a beacon of light in a dark world.

For now, I will continue to speak the message I have been given. I mentioned in the previous posting that the Lord has led me to two areas in the Bible regarding the future of the United States. The first was Revelation 13. The second place that I believe relates to our future judgment is Revelation 18. First, I firmly believe that this chapter in Revelation was written in reference to Rome and the Roman Catholic Church (I will spend some time on this topic in future postings). However, the Lord has led me to specific verses within this chapter because they do describe what is about to happen to America. Again, this is very difficult to write, but I know it to be the truth.

Revelation 18 begins with an angel shouting the following:

‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird. For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.’ (Revelation 18:2-3)

You will notice that much of Revelation 18 describes luxury, wealth and commerce. The Lord makes it clear that He detests the pursuit of wealth and luxury (I will spend some time on wealth in a future posting). The judgment described in this chapter is clearly a result of the worship of wealth and luxury. Stop and think about this for a moment. Who is the wealthiest nation on earth? Who buys more ‘stuff’ than anyone else on the planet? Who basks in luxury more than any nation on earth? It’s not hard to answer these questions. The United States has a net worth of over $52 trillion dollars. The current city of ‘Babylon’ for the world is New York. What are we doing with our vast wealth? If you read the Wall Street Journal regularly, it’s apparent that we don’t have enough wealth, we want more. Everyday I read about CEOs and the wealthy in this nation scheming to get more and more. Jesus spoke about money more than any other subject in His gospels. Do you wonder why? Ask yourself who the master of this nation truly is.

‘No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.’ (Mathew 6:24)

What does the Bible say about the pursuit of money and wealth? This sounds very familiar to what we read in our newspapers everyday. What does God say about the pursuit of these things? They are meaningless.

‘Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.’ (Ecclesiastes 5:10)

To me, nothing sums up our nation’s problems like this verse from 1 Timothy.

‘For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.’ (1 Timothy 6:10)

What has the love of money done to us? It has caused widespread corporate and governmental fraud and corruption. It drives our pride and arrogance. It causes us to covet our neighbor’s things (thus breaking the 10th Commandment). We simply never have enough. Why? Because we do not strive to lead humble lives seeking the Lord. Most of us are completely consumed by this world and the stuff in it. I should know, I was definitely on this path – always looking ahead to the next new house, car….whatever. Probably the biggest casualty of all of this is our families. The drive to have more money and things has separated us from our children and our spouses. Business trips, day care, endless meetings….all add up to much less time spent together as a family. God created the family for a reason. Guess who wants to destroy it?

Enough about all of this – you get the picture. The bottom line is that money itself is not evil. It’s the love of money that will get you in trouble time and again. The question you must ask yourself is this – do I view my money as mine all mine, to do with as I please or do you realize that the earth is God’s and everything in it. Do you view yourself as simply a steward of God’s money to provide for your family and to use to build His kingdom here? We all need to realize that it’s all His and there’s plenty to go around - no need to be selfish.

Would it be better to live a life of luxury apart from God and spend eternity in desolation or live a humble live in service to the Lord and spend eternity with Him, surrounded by His love and joy?

Jesus sums it up in Luke 18.

‘A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'" "All these I have kept since I was a boy," he said. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."’ (Luke 18:18-25)

The following are verses in Revelation 18 that I believe relate to what we’re going to see happen to the United States.

‘When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power! In one hour your doom has come!’ (Revelation 18:9-10)

‘The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more….’ (Revelation 18:11)

“They will say, ‘The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your riches and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered.’ The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment…..in one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!’ (Revelation 18:14-17)

‘…every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off. When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, ‘Was there ever a city like this great city?’ They will throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and mourning cry out: ‘Woe! Woe, O great city, where all who had ships on the sea became rich through her wealth! In one hour she has been brought to ruin!’ (Revelation 18:17-19)

I believe that it is clear that the United States will fall from dominance both economically and militarily. It is also clear that this is going to happen in a very short period of time. ‘In one hour’ is mentioned repeatedly. As I mentioned earlier, I pray that our nation will turn back to God and seek His will for us after this is over.