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."
3 Reasons provided by Laurie: At that time, America is:
1. Destroyed
2. Declined
3. Departed
I would add another one: it is mentioned and we don’t recognize it.
Why should we be? Most of the world is not mentioned or included (except in very general terms) in prophecy.
Never make the mistake of believing you are more important than you are.
I agree about the negatives of self-importance, however, with a belief in the soon return of the Lord, it makes sense to ask the place of a world super-power in a huge war and terrible tyranny.
Where do you think that might be?
No the Bible doesn’t mention America..
But the important country has always been Israel..
Jerusalem is in Israel..
the Jews are “the apple of God’s eye”
the end time prophecies are centered around Israel..
we don’t need America..
The point being that we don’t recognize it yet, I couldn’t say. However, the Lord says He doesn’t do anything without revealing it to His servants the prophets.
My sense is that every other world superpower has attracted His attention, as in ‘He sets up Kings and deposes them”. That would make me wonder about this Anglo/American system that has pretty well dominated the world the last 300 or so years.
The populace of the United States is drawn from every people, but some believe prophetic references to the tribe of Manasseh refers to it. Also to an extent Ephraim, but that is thought to speak more to the English aspect of the nation.
The great city of prophecy that is destroyed and mourned from afar by the merchants of the world has been assumed by many to reference the US.
It didn’t exist at the time, it’s people are varied and many, and the land itself was little known, so any reference would of necessity have to be more symbolic and abstract.
See #7.
If Laurie spent a great deal more of his time contemplating Christology rather than Eschatology, he might be worth listening to. As it is, he isn’t. The center of his theology is not where it ought to be.
The pride and arrogance of the American Evangelical is truly something to behold. Ah yes Amerika is sooo great that there must be some reason why we are not plastered all over scripture!
Face it, no matter what condition Amerika is in during that last little bit of history the focus is not on the world but on Israel and those nations that directly interact with her in those last days. We are insignificant in comparison and really are not all that important to Gods plan. It really is that simple.
If America is not the great city Babylon described in Revelation 18, I would be very surprised.
See the title line of this article
See #7
I have seen that expressed before, and the arguments against it generally have to do with that city being identified in such a way that excludes America.
I would say that it’s a good thing the US is not mentioned...
It means that the US is not one of the nations which rise up against Israel and gets it’s lights knocked out for it.
Because USA is not Israel.
Well, the bottom line (in terms of the Bible) is — very simply — the USA is not relevant for those events described or is not involved in those particular described events.
The USA may simply evolve to an “isolationist position” after being way too involved in everything up to now. The USA May simply tell the rest of the world to “take care of yourself” because we’re going to take care ourselves!” There are a whole lot of people who want to see that, right now.
So, it doesn’t have to be “disaster”. It’s clear from the Bible that the USA is NOT involved in a clear and singular position. What the Bible does NOT say is the “why” of the USA not being involved in a clear and singularly identifiable way.
Anything we say about that is PURE SPECULATION.
You are absolutely correct.
I hope that’s correct. Sadly, though, it appears that Israel is becoming totally isolated and that the US is pulling away from its alliance with Israel.
This is the work of this administration primarily. There might have been others in the past that thought the same thing, but the politics of not supporting Israel was too painful for them to openly go there.
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