Is The USA In End-Time Prophecies?
Pastor Leslie Chua
“Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all its leaders will say to you, ‘Have you come to seize spoil? Have you assembled your hosts to carry off plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to seize great spoil?’”
Is the United States of America mentioned in End-Time prophecies?
This is a question in the minds of many people primarily because the USA is a superpower. It is the most technologically advanced and wealthiest country in the modern world. Given that, it wields a tremendous influence on the nations of the world, directly and indirectly.
On the spiritual front, the heritage of the US is undeniably Christian. Like most of the countries in the West, its values and ethics are largely Judeo-Christian though it is eroding quickly in recent years. The US contribution to world missions in the last two centuries has been phenomenal. It is also a friend of the Jewish people and a staunch supporter of the nation of Israel. Without the US, Israel would not have survived to this day.
Given all that, it is understandable that many Christians expect the US to play some kind of role in the End-Time events.
However, the US is not mentioned explicitly in the Bible. If you run a quick check on the eschatological passages in the Bible, you will not find any mention of the US. Prophecy scholars and commentators agree that the Bible is silent about the US.
Reading America into Biblical Prophecies
Having said that, some people insist otherwise. Some of these contentions are somewhat logical while others are highly creative and they cannot be taken seriously.
Here is an example of a plausible suggestion. These people point to the “merchants of Tarshish and all their young lions” in Ezekiel 38:13 (NKJV). They contend that the “merchants of Tarshish” refer to the United Kingdom and the “young lions” refer to the USA since the British established colonies in parts of America in the 17th and early 18th centuries.
Reading in its context, even if this interpretation is correct, the “young lions” or the US mentioned here is a toothless tiger. It is helpless to protect Israel from a coalition of nations attacking Israel. It can only protest feebly against the unjustified invasion of Israel (Ezekiel 38:13).
Recently, someone sent me an article claiming the US was specifically mentioned in the Bible. Not by name but by a symbol. The article refers to Daniel’s vision of 4 beasts, which represent 4 world empires.
Daniel 7:4-5 - The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings. Then as I looked its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it. And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear…
According to the article, the lion is the national symbol of Great Britain and the eagle is a symbol of the USA. The USA used to be a colony of Great Britain. Hence, the eagle’s wings on the back of the lion.
The article goes on to say that the second beast, the bear, refers to Russia because the bear is the national symbol of Russia.
After that, it creatively links Daniel’s vision to Revelation 12:14, which says - But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.
The woman is correctly identified as Israel. But here is where it gets very creative. “The two wings of the great eagle” given to Israel to escape from the serpent refer to the USA. In other words, during this time in the second half of the Tribulation, the US will help to protect Israel and help the Jews to escape from the jaws of the Antichrist.
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We cannot interpret prophecies arbitrarily by conveniently matching prophetic symbols with nations or people. By doing so, you can easily mix and match many different prophecies to your preference, which will result in many confusing interpretations. We ought to handle biblical prophecies responsibly.
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These arguments sound logical and convincing except that they are flawed. They are a simplistic and lazy way of interpreting biblical prophecies and they are misleading.
With the benefit of historical hindsight, we know that the lion with the eagles’ wings symbolises the Babylonian Empire and the bear is the Medo-Persian Empire. These prophecies concerning the first 2 beasts had already been fulfilled more than 2,000 years ago.
We cannot interpret prophecies arbitrarily by conveniently matching prophetic symbols with nations or people. By doing so, you can easily mix and match many different prophecies to your preference, which will result in many confusing interpretations. We ought to handle biblical prophecies responsibly.
Why America is Not Mentioned in Biblical Prophecies
That being the case, why is a prominent superpower like the USA, which has its hand on all significant geopolitical matters, not mentioned in the End-Time prophecies?
In an intricately interconnected world, we would assume that it will certainly be involved in the End-Time events in one way or another. Yet, curiously, it is missing.
Terrorist Attacks & Natural Disasters
Most serious prophecy-watchers postulate that the US will no longer be a global superpower at the end of this present age. Between now and then, something massive will happen to the US and it will quickly lose its power and influence.
What can happen to diminish the US’ global leadership and dominance?
Several possibilities have been proposed. Here are 2 such possibilities. The US will come under tactical nuclear attacks by terrorists that bring the country to its knees. Just before or in the aftermath of these crippling attacks, a devastating earthquake and the consequent tsunami hit the northwestern coast of the country sinking parts of densely-populated northern California, Oregon, and Washington. Together, these calamities will trigger a collapse in the financial markets and the already weak economy.
The Globalists’ Agenda to Collapse America
In recent years, some prophecy-watchers, including me, saw another possibility of how the US will decline in its power and influence rapidly.
Several years ago, the World Economic Forum famously stated that the US would no longer be a superpower by 2030. America’s dominance will be over. It will be replaced by a handful of global powers. Many think tanks and geopolitical analysts share the same prognosis.
It is easy to see why. The policies adopted by the Americans seemed to be intentionally designed to weaken and collapse the country.
They began by pushing the LGBT agenda in earnest more than a decade ago. By now, you should be well aware that this is a political agenda to create confusion and tear down basic family units. The US government has funded hundreds of millions of dollars to push this agenda within the US and internationally.
The woke agenda followed the LGBT agenda. The woke-mind virus quickly gained traction among the liberals and young people. Wokeism is fundamentally a Marxist ideology disguised as a social justice movement to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion. These are nice-sounding terms with sinister objectives. The aim is to destroy the American racial harmony and social fabric.
With governmental support, the DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) framework was pushed onto governmental organisations, banks, and large corporations. Meritocracy, organisational efficiency, and corporate profits became secondary to racial and gender diversities and other woke ideals. It was a crazy period in America. The entire nation seemed to have lost its mind.
The Obama and Biden administrations also pushed out a deliberate policy of encouraging illegal immigration. Hundreds of thousands of people crossed over from Mexico illegally into the US every month. Little was done to stamp the tide. All sorts of people passed through the US borders easily. During Biden’s presidential term, the numbers swelled into the millions. It is hard to understand the rationale without thinking in conspiratorial terms. The illegal immigrants posed serious social and security problems to the US.
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The overarching objective of all these policies and agendas is to destroy the USA. That is the goal of the globalist elites from the West. They want to create a West-centric one-world government but the US is standing in the way. So, they have to take it down.
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On the economic front, President Joe Biden and the Democrats were strong supporters of the globalists’ climate agenda. The US is energy self-sufficient but the government deliberately restricted drilling for oil and gas causing the energy prices to shoot up.
Concurrently, there was a big push to develop a US Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). As we know, CBDC is programmable, which means that it can be used to surveil and control people.
The overarching objective of all these policies and agendas is to destroy the USA. That is the goal of the globalist elites from the West. They want to create a West-centric one-world government but the US is standing in the way. So, they have to take it down.
The deep state and the Democrats in the US are complicit in this agenda.
That was how many prophecy-watchers and I thought the US would lose its global hegemony and fade into insignificance very quickly. After all, it is an inside job.
Trump Hastens America’s Decline
But the return of Donald Trump as the President of the United States changes all that. Trump sees through the globalists’ agenda and he is dead set against it. For Trump, it is America first. He does not believe in globalism and globalisation.
As soon as he was inaugurated, he immediately put a stop to the globalists’ agenda. By his executive orders, he derails not just the globalists’ plan for America but also for the world.
Trump wants to make America great again.
Initially, I thought Trump might succeed to a certain extent. America will be strong again for at least a little while more. America has a chance to remain a superpower and maintain its global leadership and dominance.
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Now, I believe there is a strong possibility that Trump may hasten America’s decline.
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But after watching how he conducts his foreign policy, imposes tariffs, and starts trade wars against all the countries around the world, I am beginning to have second thoughts.
Now, I believe there is a strong possibility that Trump may hasten America’s decline.
Trump has the instincts. He can see the problems. He dares to confront the problematic issues head-on, take the bull by its horns, and make the necessary changes. These are highly commendable traits for a leader.
However, it is becoming very apparent that he does not think through issues carefully and strategically. He also does not have a good grasp of the complexity of the issues at hand. It is obvious from the way he reacts to the changing circumstances. He makes decisions on the fly arbitrarily and without consultation with his cabinet team members.
Trump has a good reason for his tariffs but he does not have a proper plan for its implementation. Countries are frustrated with the lack of clarity when their negotiators sit across the table with Trump’s trade representatives.
Lately, Trump has been caught lying repeatedly. He claimed to have already done 200 non-existent deals. He also claimed to have spoken to the Chinese President, Xi Jinping, and both the US and the Chinese teams were in conversation. China had categorically denied all this.
I am not saying all these things to criticise Trump but to say that Trump and the US are losing credibility fast with other countries. Even their allies like the European Union, Canada, and Japan are exasperated.
Trust in the US has eroded significantly in recent years due to the weaponisation of the US dollar and the SWIFT payment system. Now, Trump’s unpredictability, haphazardness, and tariff fiasco have added another layer of distrust and mistrust of the US. Trust, once broken, cannot be easily regained even if Trump were to reverse its tariffs and trade policies.
Trump’s actions have serious ramifications on the US domestic economy and financial markets. The tariffs and trade wars are a lose-lose proposition. The US also has a lot to lose because of its lack of a manufacturing base and its high debt amounting to about US$37 trillion. Internally, it cannot produce most of the goods in the short to medium term to meet the demands of its domestic markets and industries. Externally, if the confidence in the US continues to fall, countries and investors will bail out of the US debt instruments causing the country to collapse overnight.
Add to all this, Trump’s declaration of his intent to possess Greenland and control the Panama Canal also rattles the world. Many political leaders are alarmed by Trump’s imperialist rhetoric in the name of America’s security. Can you imagine if the other major world powers such as China and Russia harbour similar ambitions?
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Looking at the way things are going, Trump’s belligerent and chaotic leadership is likely to lead the US into troubled waters in the days ahead. The US will find itself increasingly discredited, distrusted, and isolated.
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The US is already in a precarious position. Any more miscalculations and missteps by Donald Trump will send the US and the world into an economic tailspin. It will certainly diminish the US economic and geopolitical dominance.
Looking at the way things are going, Trump’s belligerent and chaotic leadership is likely to lead the US into troubled waters in the days ahead. The US will find itself increasingly discredited, distrusted, and isolated.
This is a plausible reason the US will not play a significant role in the events of the Last Days. That is why it is not mentioned in any End-Time prophecies.