God’s News In The News

Week One Hundred Forty-Six

Is America In The Bible Prophecy?

America The Beautiful

We could spend a lot of time detailing all the miracles in the creation of what we call America now. Going all the way back to its discovery to winning an unwinnable war against the most powerful nation in the world at the time and rising to prominence after helping stave off world dominance from not one but two world wars, America is quite unique in world history. But from a beauty standpoint, this nation is a rare mix of climates and sights to behold. Almost every state boasts of tourist sites where people can come and enjoy the scenery alone. As the aforementioned song says, America is special. But nestled in that famous song is the one line that makes this country one for the ages and that God shed His grace on it. While not always deserved, God’s blessings are undeniable. But is that touch of the Creator waning? Do we see signs of this country falling from the top of the food chain? And then there is the question on many Christian’s minds and that is where is America in prophecy?

A Great Mystery

For some time Bible scholars and novice students of prophecy have scoured the Scriptures looking for even hints that the greatest nation on the planet for well over a century plays a part if only a small part in the end times. We can make cases for Israel, Iran, Russia, Germany, China, and even a revived Roman empire playing a part in the events culminating in Armageddon, but the land of eagle is hard to find. And one would think it is strange that such omission occurs, but outside of some extrabiblical sources, the United States isn’t seen at all. So the question must be posed, what would cause the dominant superpower of our lifetimes to fall from grace and not be seen in Bible Prophecy? Could it be from a nuclear attack from a list of many countries? Perhaps a series of natural disasters cripples America from earthquakes, super volcanoes or a solar flare. Maybe a pandemic that wipes whole swaths of the population does the trick. Or it could be an economic earthquake that makes America weak enough to fall from prominence.

Building A From BRICS

According to an article from The Economic Times (economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/Brics) here is what this acronym means:

BRICS is an acronym that started as BRIC in 2001, coined by Jim O’Neill (a Goldman Sachs economist) for Brazil, China, India, and Russia. Later in 2010, South Africa was added to become BRICS. Goldman Sachs claimed that the global economy will be dominated by the four BRIC economies by 2050. The main reason for such a claim was that China, India, Brazil, Russia, and South Africa were ranked among the world's fastest-growing and emerging market economies for years. The main comparative advantage of this group is their low labour costs, favourable demographics, and abundant natural resources at the time of the global commodities boom.

The Goldman Sachs thesis didn’t claim that BRICS would become a political alliance or even a formal trading association. However, the report said that BRICS has the potential to form a powerful economic bloc.

In 2013, BRICS accounted for around 27% of global GDP in purchasing power. The five countries have a total population of 2.88 billion, accounting for around 42 per cent of the entire global population. The countries in the BRICS bloc cover 26 per cent of the total land area on earth.

O’Neils’ theory would turn out to be prescient as the 14th annual BRICS Economic Summit was held in China on June 23rd of 2022. While it was a virtual summit, it was important, nevertheless. How does this play in the light of Bible prophecy, though?

A Coming Economic Earthquake

As we read, the BRICS alliance could make major headway in toppling the American dollar as the dominant currency and if the dollar is not used around the world it would be devastating for our country. Here is a quote from geopoliticaleconomy.com (see https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/01/21/brics-us-dollar-saudi-oil-currency-multipolar/):

The international economic system had been dominated for decades by the United States, but this financial architecture is rapidly fracturing with the creation of new institutions in the Global South.

The BRICS bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa is working “to develop a fairer system of monetary exchange”, to challenge the “dominance of the dollar”, South Africa’s foreign minister has revealed.

Saudi Arabia publicly confirmed that it is considering selling its oil in other currencies.

And such a move got a big boost in a largely unreported treaty brokered by none other than China that occurred earlier this month as seen in this article from web site of the United States Institute of Peace (see https://www.usip.org/publications/2023/03/what-you-need-know-about-chinas-saudi-iran-deal)

Iran and Saudi Arabia announced last Friday a Chinese-brokered deal to restore relations. After decades of enmity and a formal cutting of ties in 2016, the rapprochement has been touted as a momentous development in the region. But how it ultimately impacts the Middle East remains a very open question, as the long adversarial powers are fighting a proxy war in Yemen and continue to support opposing sides across the region. Amid perceived U.S. retrenchment from the Middle East, the deal is a diplomatic win for China as it increasingly seeks to present an alternative vision to the U.S.-led global order.

Losing The Petrol Dollar

Lost in all of this is the move to sell oil in other currencies than United States dollars. As we mentioned earlier, this would be a huge financial blow to the US economy, an economy that is already reeling from inflation and recession, although the current administration is playing word games on defining recession in a game of economic smoke and mirrors. Regardless of that, this quote from the web site of businessinsider.com notes the intent to move away from using the dollar as the currency of exchange for oil:

On January 17, the Saudi minister of finance, Mohammed Al-Jadaan, announced that the Saudi state is open to selling oil in currencies other than the dollar. “There are no issues with discussing how we settle our trade arrangements, whether it is in the US dollar, whether it is the euro, whether it is the Saudi riyal,” Al-Jadaan told Bloomberg TV.

If the Saudi regime does indeed embrace substantial trade in currencies other than the dollar as part of its oil-export business, this would signal a shift away from the dollar as the dominant currency in global oil payments. Or measured another way, this would signal the end of the so-called petrodollar.

But how large of a shift is this? With the increasingly frequent Saudi comments about trading in nondollar currencies, we’ve also seen an increasing number of pundits announcing the “collapse” of the dollar or the imminent implosion of the dollar’s currently outsized global power.

Will a shift away from the dollar in the global oil trade really lead to a big relative decline in the dollar? Probably and eventually…

Dollar Decline And A Digital Currency

Some financial movers and shakers see the threat of the loss of the petrol dollar as a way of promoting a digital currency as a way to control things overall and lessen the blow of such an economic loss. While this tactic is up for debate, it would explain the lack of worry by American leaders on the topic of BRICS and the treaty between Iran and Saudi Arabia and comments that oil traded between the two using Chinese currency. I’ve discussed the dangers of a digital currency before so I won’t broach it here, but the fact that such a move shows us that an economic earthquake could very well be the reason America is not mentioned in prophecy. I for one think it will be a combination of events that will cause the United States to fall from prominence to the point they aren’t seen in end time prophecy and one major event will be the biggest factor.

Weak From Rapture

The Rapture of the Church is the elephant in the room when discussing America in Bible prophecy. Yes, the Yellowstone super volcano is a threat, and yes, a solar flare could knock out our electrical grid and much more, and yes, a rogue nation could invade and/or strike us with nuclear weapons, and yes as we discussed, an economic collapse could take us down more than a few notches, but nothing compares to the impact of losing so many people to the Rapture of the Church. It would be the biggest single event in modern human history, and it would devastate America if the estimated amount of Christians in our nation is anywhere close to being correct. Losing leaders in all aspects of life would cause a scramble to fill immediate voids to stabilize life and whatever influence the United States had would disappear as countries without Christian leadership will not be as adversely affected, countries like Russia, China, North Korea and Iran just to name a few. America would be left with little more than diplomatic intervention and that is where some see this country in Bible prophecy.

The Young Lions

Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?’ (Ezekiel 38:13, NKJV)

Many Bible scholars point to this single verse to find America in Bible prophecy because Tarshish is thought to be Britain and their national animal is the lion so one of the young lions would be the United States. It is a rather weak assumption, but it’s the best one out there so far. Overall, America isn’t mentioned, and we simply don’t know conclusively why. But how does that affect us as the Church? How does it change what role the Body of Christ plays in end time prophecy?

The Great Commission Moves On

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. (Matt 28:18-20, NKJV)

Regardless of country affiliation, Jesus told us to make disciples of people using the authority given to us by Jesus. Many nations have risen and fallen since this command was given and nowhere does it tell us any one nation is needed to accomplish this. Rather, it is up to us individually and as the Church overall to get the job done. Yes, it is made easier by some nations and their leadership either promoting the cause or just getting out of the way, but the commission remains. America will seemingly decrease in prominence as the end times get closer to being fulfilled, but we should work while it is day for the night comes when one can work. Let us be about our Father’s business as the night approaches.