Babylon / Iraq
Are the dramatic events we have witnessed in Iraq since “Iraqi Freedom” and in recent days, the invasion of the murderous forces of Islam known as ISIS (Islamist State of Iraq and Syria) the ignition of Armageddon? With the many signs of the biblically prophesied end of the age now storming at our generation on history’s horizon, we must examine the things involving the place called the “cradle of civilization” carefully.

“Armageddon” is the biblical term most everyone thinks of whenever war begins to look imminent in the Middle East. Even the mainstream news organizations at times bring this troubling name into their reportorial mix when war seems to loom. Armageddon is prophesied in Revelation to be an incrementally stepped-up war, rather than a single battle. It will be a conflict that progressively involves more and more nations until the military forces of all nations of the world come together in a triangular valley called Jezreel, near an ancient place called Megiddo.

Armageddon Anxieties
The worry among many who watch troubles in the Middle East is always that the next military conflict might ignite Armageddon, mankind’s final war, according to how most view Bible prophecy. Major wars in that region will, many mistakenly believe, mean the end of the world.

What about Iraq, the war dubbed “Iraqi Freedom,” the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the insurgent terrorism, the democratic election that followed, and now the brutal, ISIS force that is determined to establish regional and world-wide caliphate (total Islamist rule)? What have the dramatic developments of late in this long past part of biblical history to do with prophecy yet future?

To begin examining the facts and possibilities, we must start with the nation of Israel. Modern Israel, as much as ancient Israel, is a key to understanding Iraq’s inevitable part in the wrap-up to human history.

Obstacle to World Peace
All prophecy yet future must be considered in light of this one fact: God’s chosen nation is back in the land of promise. Understanding that country’s position in the arena of Middle East and world affairs is critical to understanding all other geopolitical realities. That is, to know where the dramatic changes in Iraq are leading, one must carefully study that tiny, though militarily powerful state called Israel.

Israel is prophesied to become an intolerable problem that world leaders think must  be eliminated before there can be peace in the Middle East and in the world. God, himself, will see to it that Israel will be a major obstacle to sin-flawed, man-made peace. This is because only God’s Son–Jesus, the Prince of Peace–can establish true peace on planet Earth.

“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it” (Zech. 12:2-3).

Do we see a volatile situation today with regard to the modern nation of Israel? Is the world community of nations, especially the United States, fretting over problems between Israel and its neighbors? The answer is, of course, a resounding, “Yes!” The on-going process to force peace upon the Middle East, no matter the consequences to the safety of Israel, is irrefutable evidence that the world is extremely nervous about the Jewish state and its enemy neighbors.

The Problem is Supernatural
A reasonable question for those who truly seek world peace is this: Why is Israel always at the center of the problem that threatens to involve the whole world in thermonuclear war?

World leaders cannot understand the answer God’s Word–the Bible–gives to this “reasonable” question. This is because the leaders of the world reason in-line with Satan’s thinking, not in line with God’s thinking, which comes from His perfect foreknowledge. Today’s world leaders believe they can find the formula for peace totally apart from taking into consideration God’s explanation of the supernatural causes involved.

Concerning the obstacles Israel presents to the Middle East and world peace in our time, God, through revelation given to the prophet John in symbolic language — tells about the  ancient hatred that spawned and perpetuates the problem:

“And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days” (Rev. 12:1-6).

Revelation, chapter 12, tells about a “woman,” which refers to Israel, the Jewish people out of whom the Deliverer, Jesus Christ, will come. The great red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns, whose tail draws one-third of the stars, refers to Satan. The stars are the angels who rebelled and followed Lucifer, who was cast out of Heaven.

Satan hates Israel because Israel is the nation chosen by God to bring the Savior into the world. The devil, as he is also called, is prophesied to do all within his considerable power to destroy that people. Antichrist will be the devil’s world dictator who will try to carry out Israel’s destruction, as outlined in Daniel, chapters 7, 8, 9, and 11, and in Revelation chapter 13.

So again we ask the question: Are the dramatic events we have witnessed in Iraq from the time of the war called   “Iraqi Freedom,” to the genocidal rampage of ISIS, the likely ignition of Armageddon? Saddam Hussein and most all other dictators in the Middle East have long been blood-vowed to completely destroy Israel. They have stated they want every Jew drowned in the Mediterranean or to meet an even more terrible fate.

In that sense, Iraq and the other enemy nations of God’s chosen people bring history tick after tick of the prophetic clock ever closer to that final battle in the valley God’s Word calls Armageddon.

At the same time, the answer is, “No.” The dynamic drama playing out in Iraq won’t be the thing that sets the Armageddon war campaign in motion. We have God’s Word on it. Jesus Christ, who was and is God the Son, said, “And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet” (Matthew 24:4).

The world has been in this time of “wars and rumors of wars” throughout history. Jesus here, did, however, strongly imply that there will be a great increase in the number of wars and rumors of wars as the end of the age draws near. There will be, Jesus prophesied, wars and rumors of war with greater frequency and intensity. Certainly, the 20th century was the bloodiest of all centuries, with millions of people killed in war. Certainly, too, with the fear of thermonuclear war and the horrific destruction it would bring, “rumors of wars” were more pronounced than at any other time. “But the end is not yet,” Christ said. The war with Saddam’s genocidal forces was but one more of the “rumors of war” that became a war in fact.

Iraq/Babylon?
Is there anything of prophetic significance we can make of the explosive recent and current events in and around Iraq? Does the Bible have anything to say about end-time Iraq?

As a matter of fact, yes. Quite a bit. But Bible prophecy speaks of Iraq as being in an apparently changed form from the Iraq of today. Prophecy again calls that region Babylon, and it is in big trouble with God. Jeremiah the prophet foretold Babylon’s end-time plight:

“The word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces. For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast” (Jeremiah 50:1-3).

The prophet said further:

“Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgment upon the graven images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her. Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for Babylon: for the spoilers shall come unto her from the north, saith the LORD” (Jeremiah 51:47-48).

Babylon’s Last-Days Role
It becomes obvious, if one believes that Bible prophecy should be taken literally, that the area now called Iraq, is mentioned prominently as having a role to play in history  that is yet to unfold. We can be sure the prophetic Scriptures haven’t yet been fulfilled because the region has never been rendered completely uninhabitable like foretold by Jeremiah:

“And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant” (Jeremiah 51: 29).

Does the prophecy above indicate that nuclear devastation is prophetically scheduled for the area presently occupied by the nation called Iraq? Radioactivity that contaminates the land to the point it cannot be inhabited seems to fit such a scenario.

Prophecy Scholars Differ on Babylon
When it comes to the subject of Babylon in prophecy, excellent prophecy scholars hold different views. Some believe that an actual city will be rebuilt on the very real estate once occupied by ancient Babylon. This, they believe, will be the great religious and commercial center that will be destroyed in one hour, as indicated in Revelation:

“And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come” (Revelation 18:9-10).

Other prophecy scholars believe prophecies about end-time Babylon found in Revelation and Jeremiah refer to the entire world religious and economic system that will have developed by the time of the end. These prophecies, they believe, involve ancient Babylon only in that it was the matrix out of which all of the religious and commercial evils began to grow and infect mankind’s activities throughout history. These prophecy students believe that the city destroyed in a single hour might be the greatest center of commerce at that time. For example, in our day, that city would be New York City, because it has the most influence over world trade, etc.

Iraq Today – The Bottom Line
Although Saddam Hussein began rebuilding a city on the site of ancient Babylon, it appears at this time to be many, many years away from even having a chance of again becoming a great world commercial and/or religious center. This is especially true because of the Islamist violence taking place there at present. It is scarcely more than a tiny, token symbol of the magnificence that once occupied that area.

The presence chaos and violence taking place in Iraq has disrupted any rebuilding effort. However, some prophecy watchers suggest that with Saddam removed and when things settle, the world community might yet think to come together and make an effort to rebuild Babylon into a true symbol for world unity and world peace. A major city with towering skyscrapers could, with today’s technologies, be erected in mere months. This has already been done in another Mid-East nation. Some believe that even the United Nations might be moved to a rebuilt Babylon as a gesture of world community and harmony.

Whether the current volatility and other dynamics will bring about the prophesied end-time Babylon cannot be known for sure at this point. We can be certain, however, that the war that kicked the dictator, Saddam Hussein, off his deadly throne did not start Armageddon, as feared by some. However, if war reignites because of the rage taking place presently and in the future in the region and becomes severe enough (with nuclear weaponry introduced, inflicting damage to major populations), that conflict could be the catalyst that helps bring about the event that will start the Armageddon campaign of war in motion. Here’s how.

The Tribulation Era
Already the world community is demanding that peace be made between Israel and its Middle Eastern neighbors. The world’s leaders see the Israeli/Palestinian conflict as holding the greatest potential for igniting all out war. Additionally, the Jewish/Islamic differences are seen as explosive fuel that might be thrown on any war that might erupt in the region. Global leaders intend to do all within their collective power to force peace upon Israel and those who want to push the Jewish people into the Mediterranean.

Daniel the prophet foretold a peace that will destroy many people, both Israel’s and its enemies” people (Daniel 8:25). The Antichrist will, according to Daniel 9: 26-27, be the leader who guarantees that seven-year covenant of peace. When this “man of sin,” as Antichrist is also called, brings together Israel and her foes for that peace treaty, the Tribulation era will begin.

The Tribulation is prophesied by prophets such as Daniel, Jeremiah, and Jesus to be a time of God’s judgment upon rebellious earth-dwellers. This judgment will last seven years and will conclude with Christ’s return, when the last battle of the Armageddon war is taking place in the Middle East.

Peace Agreement Brings on Armageddon
It will be God’s agreement with the Antichrist to sign that peace covenant that will begin the tribulation, or apocalypse. This also sets in motion a progressive series of conflicts that grows into the war called Armageddon.

So, war with Iraq–even the terrorist horde attempting to establish a caliphate, hasn’t started Armageddon. But war, reignited by the nuclear threat posed by Iran or some other hostility in that volatile region, could, if destructive enough to major populations, be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back. Such conflict could hasten the world community into forcing Israel and her enemies to finally agree to the so-called peace which has proved so elusive throughout the great diplomatic efforts since God’s rebirth in 1948. In that sense, the ejection from power of the “Butcher of Baghdad, Saddam Hussein” and the American-led rearrangement for Iraq might fit significantly into the prophetic picture.

Reading Zechariah chapter 5 leads the believer in Bible prophecy to observe that wickedness/evil is scheduled to return to the place called “Shinar.” That’s present-day Iraq. With the ancient biblical prophecies involving the city of Babylon for the wrap-up of human history, it is incumbent upon every student of Bible prophecy to examine news coming out of that land where God said the first human beings were created.
Chronology of a Civilization

5000 B.C.
Farming spreads into southern Mesopotamia, the ancient name for the territory of Iraq. The world’s first great cities develop along the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Two regions become dominant: Akkad in the north and Sumer in the south.

3500-3000
The Sumerians develop the wheel, writing, counting and calendars.

2334-2279
Sargon the Great establishes the Akkadian Empire.

1792-1750
Hammurabi establishes Babylon as the region’s power center. Hammurabi is best known for a code of laws that bears his name.

1400
Assyrian, Babylonian, Hurrian and Elamite kingdoms flourish and vie for ascendancy.

722-705
Sargon II strengthens Assyrian rule and builds a palace-temple complex near Nineveh.

612
The Assyrian Empire collapses suddenly; Chaldeans take control.

597
Nebuchadnezzar II captures Jerusalem. Under Nebuchadnezzar, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, are built. Nebuchadnezzar’s is the last home-grown government in Mesopotamia until the 20th century.

539
King Cyrus of Persia captures Babylon.

331
Alexander the Great seizes Babylon, declares it his capital and dies there in 323.

226 AD
The Persian Sassanid dynasty is established.

637
The Arabs defeat the Sassanids in the battle of Qadisiya and bring Islam to Iraq.

762-63
Mansur founds Baghdad. Probably the world’s first completely planned city, Baghdad becomes the center of Islamic civilization.

1258
Mongols sack Baghdad.

1534
The Ottoman Turks, under Suleyman the Magnificent, seize Iraq.

1800s
Britain begins to exert its influence in the Persian Gulf to protect trade routes with India.

1914-18
The Ottoman Empire sides with Germany against Britain, France and Russia in World War I.

1919
The League of Nations gives Britain a mandate over Iraq.

1921
Prince Faisal, who had fought with T.E. Lawrence against the Ottomans, is brought to Iraq and chosen king in a referendum.

1932
Britain grants Iraq its independence.

1958
Gen. Abdel Karim Qassem topples the monarchy in a military coup.

1979
Saddam Hussein becomes president.

1980-88
Iraq-Iran war.

1990
Iraq invades Kuwait.

1991
Persian Gulf War.

1998
UN weapons inspectors leave Iraq.

2002
President Bush calls for a “regime change” as he seeks to disarm Saddam Hussein.

2003
American-led coalition defeats Iraq’s armies and overthrows Saddam Hussein.

2005
Democratic elections take place on January 31 in Iraq.

2006
Prime Minister Maliki oversees the formation of Iraq’s first permanent constitutional government since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Saddam sentenced to death by hanging.

2007
Deadliest year for U.S. troops in Iraq.

2008
Al Qaeda remains a dangerous force in Iraq despite a general decline in violence and U.S. troops must continue to confront the militant group.

2009
Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki announces break with Iraqi National Alliance.

2011
December 18, 2011. Last convoy of American Troops leaves Iraq.

2012-2013
Wave of deadly bombings continue.

2014
Terrorist incidents escalate; US warplanes deployed to aid civilians and reclaim the Mosul Dam from extremist militants.

Sources: The New York Times, Knight Ridder Tribune, Associated Press, CIA World Fact book 2001, Iraq: Enchantment of the World and Iraq: Old Land, New Nation in Conflict, Think Progress.

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— Terry James

Is America in Bible Prophecy?
One thing that comes to mind in these contemporary times regarding the United States is its magnetic attraction to peoples around the world. This nation might be likened to the Planet Jupiter. It is huge in most of the ways human beings see as alluring, giving it the greatest gravity–materially speaking—of any nation state to grace earth’s surface. God has indeed blessed America “from sea to shining sea.”

While all other nations orbit this one, realization about the liberty that is synonymous with the U.S. to worship, move about, work, play, or even just be slovenly doesn’t escape even those kept from knowing much about things going on around the rest of the planet. Indeed, America’s gravity dynamically draws all peoples toward its irresistible opulence. With the exception of a very few people, no one makes noises about leaving this nation to live elsewhere. Billions look in America’s direction as the shining light on the hill, as President Ronald Reagan once called it.

Even the defectors who sought to dodge the draft during the Vietnam era have since done all they could to come back to the nation they deserted. The Hollywood types–like Barbra Streisand, for example—who periodically threaten to leave America because they don’t get their way, politically, decide to stay when it comes down to the moment of leaving or staying. In southern parlance, they know on which side their bread is buttered.

Perhaps to get right to the heart of what has made America the center of the universe of nations, and to try to determine its status so far as involvement of America in Bible prophecy might be concerned, I would like to consider a well known historical observation by a man outside this country–a Frenchman, no less!

French social philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville, while touring the United States in the 1800s said about America: “America is great because America is good. If she ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.” De Tocqueville no doubt was speaking of how he viewed cultural and societal good. But, upon observing the nation’s Christian church  foundation he encountered, he must have based his conclusion on the fact that America’s goodness in the societal sense was a result of Christianity running throughout the country’s cultural fiber. What he likely didn’t understand was what that “goodness” really means in God’s economy.

God’s Word speaks of this “good”: “And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? [there is] none good but one, [that is], God” (Mar. 10:18).

Jesus was not saying to the man who fell on his knees before the Lord that He, Jesus, was not “good,” but the Lord was acclaiming that God, alone, is the only good. Jesus was–and is–the only “good” flesh-and-blood person to ever walk the earth’s surface following the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. That is because Jesus IS God.

Christianity is the God-sent only belief system through which any people–individually or collectively–can ever be considered “good” in God’s holy, omniscient eyes. Belief in Jesus Christ for salvation is the ONLY way to reconciliation with God, which redeems lost man from sin. Christianity is the belief that says Jesus, alone, was the lamb that takes away the sins of the world. All other belief systems we call religions constitute the broad way to eternal destruction apart from God and heaven.

“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matt. 7:13-14).

Jesus said this: “…I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the father, but by me” (John 14:6).

America in Bible Prophecy – A Prophetic Nation
So, it is through His Son, Jesus Christ, the second member of the triune godhead, that God the Father recognizes “good.” The Christian roots of this nation called America gives this country claim to the only “good” that is found therein. America has been blessed only because of its “goodness.” Let’s have a look at this seemingly elitest declaration.

President George Washington said in his farewell address, “Reason and experience both forbid us that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” John Adams, America’s second president, said, “The United States Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.”

We have only to look at what is inscribed upon the edifice that houses the U.S. Supreme Court, and what is etched in the surfaces of walls that frame other government buildings, to understand what is the “religion” to which Washington and Adams referred as being the basis for America’s “morality”. The Ten Commandments that flow from the mind of God so influenced the founding fathers of America that they saw His directions for godly living as inseparable from their own governance.

Here is what Jesus, the Son of God, said: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matt. 5:17).

Jesus, the founder of God’s only outreach to mankind with the offer of redemption through Christ’s shed blood on the cross at Calvary, fulfilled the Ten Commandments, that Mosaic Law that is everywhere one looks in Washington, D.C., and in capitals around America. This, despite incessant attempts by those who would destroy all vestiges of our Christian heritage.

The question we who teach, preach, and write about Bible prophecy get practically every time there is a forum for Q & A, is something like: “What about America –is it in Bible prophecy?”

The answer that must be given, if we are to be absolutely faithful to truth found in God’s Word is: No, America isn’t mentioned by name in Bible prophecy. But, it is always appropriate to follow up with: However, America is certainly in prophecy in the sense of being among the nations foretold to influence the course of human history while the end of the age approaches and the tribulation looms on the prophetic horizon. We can say that, because here we are, right in the mix of things moving the world toward the climax of human history.

America in Bible Prophecy – America, A Golden Cup
Again, is the name “America” given anywhere in Scripture? Of course not. But, the influence this nation has exerted since coming to its full bloom as earth’s greatest superpower in history makes it a prophetic nation. The Creator of all things continues to use America in His mighty hand to accomplish two very distinctive, supernatural purposes. As a matter of fact, the United States, in my view, has an overwhelming presence in Bible prophecy. Its place is at the very heart of the end times things that we observe developing –matters we see unfolding in daily, even hourly, news reports. In this sense, I am of the conviction that God is speaking of America –in type, if not by name, when His Word tells us the following:

“Babylon [hath been] a golden cup in the LORD’S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad” (Jer. 51:7).

Certainly, the United States of America has been a “golden cup” in the Lord’s hand. No other nation of modern vintage can come close to claiming that achievement. Some nations of Europe were formative in bringing forth Christianity into the world, thus shedding a degree of Gospel light into a world of sin-darkness. But, it is America that, despite its great shortcomings, and more recent degeneration, that has been a shining beacon, reflecting from that golden cup in God’s hand.

Being the first nation in spreading to the whole world the Gospel message –that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross makes possible the only way to redemption for lost mankind—is a feat no other country can claim. This, ultimately, has been done not by the offices, or under the auspices of American ingenuity, but by the omniscience and the omnipotence of the One holding the “golden cup.” It is God’s grace and mercy that has put America as a beacon of God’s light upon thatmountain of Gospel dissemination. God’s providence gave this nation the industrial and technological genius –a fact that is denied, or that is so taken for granted today.

America in Bible Prophecy – America and Babylon
Tragically, the United States, like every other nation of this generation, is the hybrid offspring of the Babylonian system, which God’s prophetic Word has traced from the times of Nimrod on the Plains of Shinar and the Tower of Babel (read Genesis 11). America, which has spread the Gospel message to the entire world, will, sadly, be in one form or another part of the agglomerate beast system mentioned in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel Chapter 2 –the 10 toes on the feet of the multi-metallic man-image. This nation will, in a grotesquely metamorphosed form, become a constituent part of the nondescript beast of Daniel 2, which is prophesied to appear during the tribulation era–as presented in Revelation Chapter 13, as it raises from the sea.

“And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy” (Rev. 13:1).

This world Babylonian hybrid that represents –in the final analysis—total, luciferian rebellion to Jesus Christ, who fulfilled God’s prescription for living righteously, will do all within its Satan-derived power, to destroy all that God holds dear to His heart.

America in Bible Prophecy – Israel, America’s Saving Grace
This brings us to America’s second reason for existence –toward the purpose of accomplishing God’s great prophetic plan. In my view, this use of the phenomenally powerful American nation is among the most profound indicators we can find that America, indeed, is in prophecy. And, I believe that America’s being in prophecy includes God’s using it to be mid-wife in Israel’s modern birth into the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob those thousands of years ago.

It was President Harry S. Truman–who said he had read the Bible through a number of times—who insisted, despite many voices of opposition, that the embryo country still in the womb of the Holy Land, Israel, come to birth on May 14, 1948. America stood by Israel’s struggle to get to its feet, and through the battles it fought against its attacking, hate-filled enemy neighbors.

God’s hand was at work in unseen ways, it becomes obvious to a careful look at unfolding times leading up to Truman’s assuming the presidency following Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death in 1945.

Truman had, as mentioned above, read God’s Word through a number of times. He told those around him that the Jews had promises from God to the land. He apparently believed that America must bless Israel, not curse that people. Historians would say that coincidentally, perhaps even ironically (but I am convinced that the word should be “providentially”), Truman had a Jewish friend–Edward Jacobson–with whom he had co-owned a haberdashery. His partner convinced Truman early on of that nation’s prophetic destiny.

Although Israel now has its own nuclear arsenal, it is America–in human terms—that has provided the most strength, militarily, which discourages overwhelming assaults against the Jewish state. But, looking beyond the physical earthly protection for Israel, it is the Lord of heaven that provides the ultimate hedge of protection.

God has proved in war after war throughout Israel’s earlier and latter incarnations that He  keeps His promises to protect them from absolute destruction, despite their many Diasporas and their tribulations as captive and/or outcast people. He uses human military to accomplish this promise that the Jew will always be His chosen people. But, many strange reports have come out of some of those battles, proclaiming supernatural activity having turned the tide. Reports of battles during Israel’s rebirth as a nation in 1948, as an established nation in 1956, 1967, and 1973, brought such reports. And, at a spiritual warfare level in the sense of Ephesians 6: 12, there continue to be conflicts unseen by human eyes.

Christian Soldiers
Israel’s nuclear capability and America’s stupendous military and technological might are strong defensive ingredients for modern Israel’s protection. But, while surrounded by forces of overwhelming numbers whose satanic rage cannot be stemmed, it is a most unconventional army that is Israel’s greatest ally. It is this ally contingent that holds the joint Israeli-American defensive coalition in place, in my view –and, I believe—in God’s prophetic plan. It is a spiritual force that is Israel’s closest friend. Christians, particularly those in America, make up the spiritual army that supports Israel’s right to exist as does no other group on earth.

I must qualify that statement, because today there are so many divergent claims to the name of Christ –differing views about what it means to be “a Christian.” The definition I use here is one who has been “born again” (John 3: 3). This means that a person has been born into the family of God, for all eternity. The only way for this to happen is for an individual to accept Christ’s sacrifice on the cross at Calvary–His shed blood—to pay for the individual’s sin, which separates the individual from God. Those who are  “born again” make up this army of defenders of Israel’s right to exist in its ancient homeland. This army doesn’t bear physical arms, or fight, literally on the bloody fields of battles surrounding Israel. This army fights with prayer for the peace of  Jerusalem, and does spiritual battle for Israel, God’s chosen people, while that Jewish state moves in blind unrepentance, toward its ultimate great destiny–to be the head of all nations during the Millennium, Christ’s 1000-year reign on Planet Earth.

America Plunges While the Church Arises
America, the golden cup in the Lord’s hand for more than two centuries –having disseminated the Gospel to the world, and having been the mid-wife of Israel’s birth into modern times, then its protector—is not mentioned in Bible prophecy, by name. Supposedly lesser nations of history are mentioned. For example, Persia (present-dayIran), Syria, and others, upon delving into etymological studies of ancient days juxtaposed against the geographical locations of current national entities. Russia, for example, fits into the region known in ancient times as the region called “Rosh.” But this once shining city on the hill called America is nowhere to be found as the very end of days unfold.

America in Bible Prophecy – So, what happens to the United States of America?
We have looked at my view–which I believe is the biblical view—that God’s people, the Christians of these end times, are Israel’s most fervent friends. But, again I must write a word of qualification. Not all of the born again hold to the position that Israel is God’s chosen nation as given in the Old Testament. Most Christians today (again talking about born-again members of God’s family) don’t even think in terms of Israel and its prophetic destiny one way or the other. This is because these Christians aren’t taught about the truth of these matters by their pastors and teachers. Also, they don’t do enough study on their own to open their spiritual minds on these things, so God the Holy Spirit can instruct them regarding Israel and prophecy yet future. They are ignorant of these things. Many are willfully ignorant.

So, it is a relatively small group who observe prophetic matters as outlined in God’s Word. Nonetheless, all Christians –every single individual who is a member of God’s eternal family—will go to be with Jesus Christ when He shouts: “Come up here” (Rev. 4:1). All of Israel’s most fervent supporters –that Jewish nation’s staunchest allies—will instantly be gone from the planet. I believe it is at this moment on God’s prophetic time line that America’s time as a viable nation will begin a precipitous plunge. It will recede into the depths of history past, so far as its grandiosity is concerned.

Much of the stable, tax-paying base will be removed in that stupefying moment. Its worker-base will be so severely disrupted that it won’t come close to resembling the economic powerhouse it was the moment before the rapture. This, because America has, it is quite safe to presume—the highest percentage of Christians of any nation of significant population.

The politicians and powers that be within governmental and business bureaucracies will flail wildly, trying to bring their turfdoms back into some semblance of order. It will be a task that will be impossible without the most extreme, draconian measures. Ultimately, I’m convinced, these political and governmental powers will readily agree to come under the auspices of the much more stable European Union. The EU–the member nations of which have long-since doused the Gospel light, thus its populations not as severely affected as that of the U.S.– will grow to immense size and power within perhaps only a few days.

Israel Following Rapture
Israel will suddenly find itself without its staunchest lobby-base with the American government. The U.S. leadership will, itself, find itself so tied up in the staggering problems of trying to regain economic and societal equilibrium that urgent pleas from Israeli leaders will likely go unheeded.

The Islamic world will have lost in the rapture its small children and babies in the wombs of mothers within the Middle Eastern world. But Islamic armies of young, fanatic militants will be untouched by the catastrophe that has caused the disappearance of many millions of people. These, under their enraged leadership, will almost certainly  fervently look at Israel to vent their frustrations. Likely the true Islamic fundamentalist fanatics will see what has happened as Allah’s preparing to bring on the end of the world.

Perhaps this is the “hook” in the “jaws,” which Ezekiel the  prophet foretold God promises to implement at this time. There will be no one –including America—to offer to defend Israel. It is at this time that the great, supernaturally persuasive world leader who will one day in the future be known as “the beast” –Antichrist—will come forward from the swiftly reforming western alliance. He will propose to all of the antagonists of the forces poised for war a peace covenant they won’t be able to refuse.

Without genuine repentance of her people, America’s time as the apex nation of history will end. She will lose her golden glow. Her former glory will turn black with soot from the fire of judgment and wrath that will be the fate of all who come against Jesus Christ –the God of all creation.

America’s place in prophecy, without repentance before God, is seen in the Babylonian system of rebellion, as represented by the description of the destruction of its chief city.

“Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her” (Rev. 18:8).

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— Terry James