Is America in Bible Prophecy?

IS AMERICA IN BIBLE PROPHECY? – by Joe Palcsak

Many among us recognize that we are living in the end times. In these end times, America has risen to the status of the world’s lone superpower. The Bible has much to say about the end times, so it is only natural to wonder whether the Bible says anything about the United States. This curiosity has only intensified as this country has fallen into apostacy over the past half century or so. And as this fall continues to accelerate, the curiosity likewise rises: can we find America in Bible prophecy?

My opinion – and I stress that this is my opinion – is that America is all over Bible prophecy! Now I could make the strong argument that the “land shadowed with buzzing wings” in Isaiah 18 can only be America. I could present the case that only America (specifically New York City) fits the description of the Babylon of Revelation 18. But I will leave the task of trying to find symbolic needles in the haystack of prophecy still awaiting fulfillment to those bolder than myself. The case I wish to present here is far more ubiquitous: as hidden as it is obvious.

In Deuteronomy, God speaks to the children of Israel through Moses: “I know your rebellion and your stiff neck. If today, while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against God, then how much more after my death. Call the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them. For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you. And evil will befall you in the latter days because you will do evil in the sight of God, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands” (Deut. 31:27-29).

The post-Mosaic Bible reveals a repeating pattern; really a never-ending cycle, that proves this prophecy. First, God blesses and prospers a nation that looks to Him and calls Him their God. Then, as the people become accustomed to their prosperity, they stop relying on God and begin to take the credit for their prosperity; credit that belongs to God. Next, as they revel in their prosperity, they find less and less time for God, and drift farther and farther away from Him. They begin to embrace and celebrate their sin. In other words, they have, as Moses prophesied, become utterly corrupt, doing evil in the sight of God. At first, God pleads with them to return to Him, but as they continue to ignore Him, He begins to warn them, sending them prophets. But in their prosperity, they ignore and mistreat God’s prophets. Finally, God sends judgement by removing the prosperity He had blessed them with. He does this for their own good, so that they might repent of their sins and seek Him anew. When they humbly confess their sins and repent and return to Him, He begins to bless them again, and the pattern begins anew.

The United States was founded by men who dedicated their country and their lives to God. God, in turn, blessed this country with prosperity. Indeed, He has prospered this nation more than any other nation in history. In her infancy, when America was small and weak, He blessed her with miraculous military victories, and as she grew and continued to call on Him, He showered her with prosperity. It didn’t take long for Americans to begin taking the credit for their prosperity, and as we became comfortable and self-congratulatory, we began ignoring God, then disobeying Him. In my lifetime, we have kicked Him out of our schools, out of our public squares, even out of our churches and out of our lives. Today we have reached the point where we live in open defiance of Him. We have indeed followed the pattern of ancient Israel. We have followed it exactly.

In the New Testament, the apostle Paul echoed Moses’ warnings in letters to the Christian church. He told the church at Thessalonica that there would be a “falling away” (II Thess. 2:3), and He described this falling away in detail in the second letter to his protégé, Timothy: “In the last days, perilous times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God…” (II Tim 3: 1-4).

It is not hard at all to recognize that Paul is describing the current state of America, and indeed, the entire affluent western world; and it is not hard at all to recognize that the United States has followed the pattern of ancient Israel to a tee. It is in this undeniable pattern that I see America in Bible prophecy. The Old Testament prophets practically cry out, “We are talking to you too, America!” I have assembled excerpts from the book of Isaiah, and I present them below in a slightly moderated form to drive home my point. Specifically, I have taken liberties with the pronouns so that Isaiah seems to be talking directly to modern-day America. Where I have done so, the pronouns are bracketed. I have also done a little bit of word substitution, primarily substituting words such as Israel, Jerusalem, Judah, and the temple, with words like America, Christianity, and the Church. Those substitutions are indicated with an asterix. Finally, I have listed all the Scriptures at the end of this article.

“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For God has spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me. The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master’s crib, but America* does not know, My people do not consider. Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a breed of evil doers, children who are corrupters. [You] have forsaken God. [You] have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel. [You] have turned away backward.

You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick and the whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot, even to the head, there is no soundness in it. Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; strangers devour your land in your presence.

Unless the LORD of hosts had left [you] a very small remnant, [you] would have become like Sodom, [you] would have been made like Gomorrah. Hear the Word of God, you rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah: I cannot endure iniquity and Sunday worship*. When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword, for the mouth of God has spoken.

How the faithful nation* has become a harlot! It was full of justice; righteousness lodged in it. But now murderers. Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water. Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow come up before them. I will turn My hand against you and thoroughly purge away your dross. The destruction of transgressors and of sinners shall be together and those who forsake God shall be consumed.

[Your] land is full of silver and gold and there is no end to your treasures. [Your] land is full of horses and there is no end to [your] chariots. [Your] land is also full of idols; [you] worship the work of [your] own hands, that which [your] own fingers have made. For the Church* stumbled, and America* is fallen because [your] tongue and [your] evil doings are against God, to provoke the eyes of His glory. The look on [your] countenance witnesses against [you], and [you] declare your sin as Sodom. [You] do not hide it. Woe to [your] soul! For you have brought evil upon [yourselves].

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil; who put darkness for light and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom will ascend like dust; because they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts and despised the Word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore, the anger of God is aroused against His people.

God has sent a Word against America* and it has fallen on the Church*. All the people will know…who say in pride and arrogance of heart, ‘the bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with hewn stones; the sycamores are cut down, but we will replace with cedars.’ Therefore, God shall…spur His enemies on. For the people do not turn to Him Who strikes them, nor do they seek the LORD of hosts. For the leaders of this people cause them to err, and those who are led by them are destroyed. Therefore, God will have no joy in their young men, nor have mercy on their fatherless and widows; for everyone is a hypocrite and an evil doer, and every mouth speaks folly.

Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, who write misfortune which they have prescribed to rob the needy of justice, and to take what is right from the poor of My people, that widows may be their prey and that they may rob the fatherless. Without Me they shall bow down among the prisoners and they shall fall among the slain.

Shall the ax boast itself against him who chops with it? Or shall the saw exalt itself against him who saws with it? As if a rod could wield itself against those who lift it up or as if a staff could lift itself up as if it were not wood. Therefore, God, the LORD of hosts, will send leanness among the fat ones.

[You are] a people of no understanding; therefore, He who made [you] will show [you] no favor. [You] have made lies [your] refuge and under falsehood [you] have hidden [yourselves]. ‘Woe to the rebellious children,’ says God, ‘Who take counsel, but not of Me, and who devise plans but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin.’

Thus says God… ‘I am your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you by the way you should go. Oh, that you had heeded My commandments! Then your peace would have been like the sand and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Your descendants also would have been like the sand, and the offspring of your body like the grains of sand. [Your] name would not have been cut off, nor destroyed before Me.’

Tell My people their transgression and Christianity* their sins. Yet they seek Me daily and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God…Your iniquities have separated you from your God and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perversity. No one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth. [You] trust in empty words and speak lies. [You] conceive evil and bring forth iniquity…[Your] works are works of iniquity and the act of violence is in [your] hands. [Your] feet run to evil…So truth fails, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. You are those who forsake God…When I spoke, you did not hear, but did evil before My eyes and chose that in which I do not delight.”

Isaiah is warning America and the western Church as surely as he warned Israel. All his words to Israel apply to us today. This same exercise also works as well with Jeremiah and Hosea. I know, because I have done the same thing with those prophets, and there is little doubt that it works as well with other prophets. So, when I declare that America is all over Bible prophecy, what I am saying is that His Word is alive; and the messages of the prophets are as true and appropriate, and relevant today, as they were in the days of the prophets.

Scriptures referenced above in Isaiah:

(Isa. 1:1-4, 5b, 6a, 7a, 10, 13b, 15, 19-23, 25a, 28)

(Isa. 2:7-9)

(Isa. 3: 8-9)

(Isa. 5:20-21, 24, 25a)

(Isa. 9:8-11, 16, 17a)

(Isa. 10:1-2, 4, 15, 16a)

(Isa. 27:11b)

(Isa. 28:15b)

(Isa. 30:1)

(Isa. 48:17-19)

(Isa. 58:1b, 2a)

(Isa. 59:2-4, 6b, 7a, 15a)

(Isa. 65:11a, 12b)

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