Posted on 03/20/2014 8:01:21 AM PDT by xzins
Bible prophecy related to the end times mentions many nations, including Libya, Iran, Iraq Ethiopia, and possibly even China and Russia, but not the United States of America. In an article on his blog, Pastor Greg Laurie gives three plausible reasons for the nation's exclusion.
"Where is the United States? Why are we not in the last-days scenario?" asks Laurie, pastor of Harvest Church in Riverside, Calif.
One reason why the United States is not mentioned in Scripture is perhaps because the nation "might be devastated by a nuclear war," the pastor writes. "It is a horrible scenario and one that none of us would want to see, but we cannot rule it out as a possibility."
The threat remains despite the dissolution of the former Soviet Union, Laurie argues. "It could indeed be a rogue terrorist nation with nuclear capabilities, or even a terrorist group that could set off the dominoes falling onto each other. I hope this isn't the case, but we cannot rule it out."
Laurie is for a strong military for that reason. "We need to take seriously any foreign threats. But having said that, what about an internal collapse?"
A second possible reason could be that the U.S. might decline as a world power, Laurie says, quoting Proverbs 14:34, which reads, "Godliness makes a nation great, but sin is a disgrace to any people."
"As our country becomes more and more secular, systematically eliminating God and the Bible from our education system, courts, and the arts, we will begin to reap the inevitable results of sin. We will begin to rot from the inside," the pastor warns. "I think to some degree, we already have [seen that happen] as we have seen the breakdown of the family, rampant crime and so many other problems that have come from disobeying God."
Laurie points out that what once was freedom of religion seems to have now become freedom from religion. "We have succeeded in getting God out of our schools, out of our sporting events, out of our public places and out of our workplaces."
The nation needs to remember that the freedom we enjoy is built on the foundation of absolute truth, he says. "And when you remove that foundation, this freedom actually can turn into anarchy."
A third possibility could be that the U.S. will witness a revival, "which I find a lot more hopeful," Laurie goes on to say. "That is not to say a revival would eliminate us as a world power. But if our nation had a revival, it would affect us. Think about this. Let's say, for example, that one-fourth of all Americans are believers. This would mean that we have approximately 78 million true believers in our country today… When the Rapture of the church takes place, don't you think there would be an impact on the United States…?"
Laurie said we need to, therefore, pray for revival in our country today. "When I say that our nation needs God, I don't mean that we need whatever god everyone happens to believe in," he clarifies. "The only hope for America is when we turn back to the true and living God – the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who gave us the Bible as the revelation of who he is, the God who loved us so much that he sent his own son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross in our place."
I think that you’ve handled too many rattlesnakes and drank just a bit too much Strychnine dude.
synonymous with:.....lying, untruthful, dishonest, deceitful, false, dissembling, insincere, disingenuous, hypocritical, fraudulent, double-dealing, two-faced, Janus-faced, two-timing, duplicitous, perjured
The beast system must have a military power base and access to exotic technologies that seem miraculous to behold(the son of perdition worships the god of forces per Daniel) with which to rule the world and fool the peoples. The US might be in the Bible as the power seat of the Beast system.
The increasing ET encounter phenomena in the US(as well as the rest of the world) and reported emphasis on sexuality and genetic manipulation with contactees suggests a Genesis 6 scenario, as Christ warned that his coming would be at a time when the times were as the days of Noah.
Knowledge has exploded, and there is evidence our government or at least entities acting thru our government are reverse engineering technologies that just seemed to either fall out of the sky or were given to them. There is an urgent kind of desperation one can sense from watching politicians and learned officials. Humans are being goaded into defying the living God because the entities doing the goading can already hear the approach of “Faithful and True” and they have no place to hide....not even in the genetic “containers” they have been trying to fashion for themselves!
The latter days will produce many strange bed fellows between Catholic , Orthodax, Protestants, and Messianic Jews...we’ll discover that we’re all being called...”those Christians” either out of spite or out of admiration and hope.
I agree....if we have any involvement it will be a part of some military coalition, but not with the political power once known...I think we can already see we are loosing that at record speed already.... ...and that needs to be in order for things to shape up as written, otherwise the USA would prevent much in the East and Europe,...... being weak economically, spiritually and in every other way we cannot.
It's very difficult seeing our nation slide from International and National Power as it has...but then when we see how the world needs to become, and fashioned for that day...it's easier to accept, though not painless.
IMO We know that Putin understands the power of oil and is using it as a weapon....and he knows the EU's moves to be a United World Power, which threatens his goal For Russia to be so... So his lust for oil, and the power it welds, will lead him to go where that "gold" is...and he's doing just that.
...Israel is now doing oil discovery and advancing....I think that might be the what ultimately pulls him south to Israel...when the time comes. Of course he'll overplay his hand, as he often does, and his military will be destroyed, but will again revive Russia's power to try again,... and the next time will take the Muslim countries to help to fight the Ultimate Battle.
Interesting is to see and watch the cozy relationship Putin has with China for a time, though neither trusts each other....it's convenient for both while each gains their power....All are playing in the "Economic Wars" as well.
The Bible is not an encyclopedia containing all ‘known’ truth..... It is the record of the revelation of God — the story of redemption..... It provides all we need to know about some subjects, like how to be reconciled to God.....But it doesn’t tell all we’d like to know — and someday will know — about other subjects.
Some have difficulty understanding the flow of information in general....most Media is controlled now and depicts whatever the powers that be would have them deliver for consumer consumption. They “frame” the agenda....
Speculation is interesting to hear, but it is just that...much we won’t know... and much will be lies we are told. The truth often falls between or absent altogether.
I’m one to check with His Word...if it conflicts then safest to put ones trust in what He says.
Good catch!
I posted this up above ... so you may have already seen it. This presents a much more rational view of what is being talked about here - and in line with the Bible (and not off into fantasyland and devoid of correlation to the Bible itself) ...
The woman is Israel ...
Now, the following is something that I see represents fairly well, what the Bible says about what you just referenced. I have no idea what other topics are valid on that website, but I can say that this particular page is good, overall.
http://www.enduringword.com/commentaries/6612.htm
Must be nice up there on your mountaintop of spiritual perfection. Lotsa luck with your conversions, there, pal.
Great post!
....”that means it is an enduring system”....
Yes, and correct.
It might be a “great post” from a “non-premillennial” and “Preterist” viewpoint, but since this is a “Premillennial Caucus”’- the promotion of the non-premillennial and the corollary of it, being Preterist - is not done on this thread.
What I have learned since the 90s is that the corruption of our traditional way of life conceived by the Founders started a century ago and has become the force of law steadily creeping into more and more realms of life. It's impossible for many to recognize just how fascist the secularists have become. Many of the ways of Christianity we still believe in have already been so undermined by legal undercutting, they are only the most fragile of ideas, able to be destroyed in the lives of individuals in one small moment.
Marriage is one of those institutions that no longer enjoys the support of law; instead we have the corrupting menaces of 1) "no-fault" divorce, in which there is no justice for the wronged spouse, and 2) political correctness about homosexual behaviors, in which there is no justice for the wronged natural family.
On the other hand, true Christianity requires not just the society upholding moral law, but the hearts of the people upholding that law; in this situation, we are to blame every time we buy into it, such as purchasing or viewing a Hollywood product that defames our religion or our nation, etc. We are reaching such an onslaught of corruption now, however, that it becomes harder every day to vote or buy without the "mark of the beast."
Thank you for the clarification. Therefore I depart, since I am leaning Millenialist at this time.
You’ve got a good supply of firewood on your shoulder!
We like our Religion Moderators, and we don;t usually call them dictators, even when we disagree with them.
Still confused?
Bereshis 28:5
And Yitzchak sent away Ya’akov; and he went to Padanah-Aram unto Lavan ben Betuel the Aramean, achi Rivkah, em Ya’akov and Esav.
This is the story of Ya'akov traveling to Beit Lavan.
Laven = White, Beit = house
A scholar studies, a parrot only repeats what they've heard. The only problem with Xian studies is comprehension and retention. Other than that?
Tehillim 28:8
יְהוָה עֹז־לָמוֹ וּמָעוֹז יְשׁוּעוֹת מְשִׁיחוֹ הוּא׃
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