Today many intelligent thinking folks are asking the question, where is this great nation of America headed? Troubled signs are all around us; economic woes, wars and rumors of wars, distrust in our great institutions, a major health care crisis, government corruption, reckless spending, coverups, severe weather, and the list goes on with no apparent end in sight. The purpose of this post is to direct our attention to what the Holy Bible has to say about these things, especially the role of America in latter day prophecies.
“Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin [is] a reproach to any people.” — Proverbs 14:34
Most Seventh-day Adventists are very familiar with the identification of the United States as the two-horned beast of Revelation 13:11-18. Rising upon the scene as a gentle lamb-like nation upholding the principles of Republicanism and Protestantism, America was truly an oasis for the liberty of conscience and freedom of religion. However, the character of this great nation would change as revealed through inspiration.
“The lamblike horns and dragon voice of the symbol point to a striking contradiction between the professions and the practice of the nation thus represented. The “speaking” of the nation is the action of its legislative and judicial authorities. By such action it will give the lie to those liberal and peaceful principles which it has put forth as the foundation of its policy. The prediction that it will speak “as a dragon” and exercise “all the power of the first beast” plainly foretells a development of the spirit of intolerance and persecution that was manifested by the nations represented by the dragon and the leopardlike beast. And the statement that the beast with two horns “causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast” indicates that the authority of this nation is to be exercised in enforcing some observance which shall be an act of homage to the papacy. Such action would be directly contrary to the principles of this government, to the genius of its free institutions, to the direct and solemn avowals of the Declaration of Independence, and to the Constitution. The founders of the nation wisely sought to guard against the employment of secular power on the part of the church, with its inevitable result–intolerance and persecution. The Constitution provides that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” and that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” Only in flagrant violation of these safeguards to the nation’s liberty, can any religious observance be enforced by civil authority. But the inconsistency of such action is no greater than is represented in the symbol. It is the beast with lamblike horns–in profession pure, gentle, and harmless–that speaks as a dragon.” — Great Controversy, p. 442
“A time is coming when the law of God is, in a special sense, to be made void in our land. The rulers of our nation will, by legislative enactments, enforce the Sunday law, and thus God’s people be brought into great peril. When our nation, in its legislative councils, shall enact laws to bind the consciences of men in regard to their religious privileges, enforcing Sunday observance, and bringing oppressive power to bear against those who keep the seventh-day Sabbath, the law of God will, to all intents and purposes, be made void in our land; and national apostasy will be followed by national ruin.” — Review and Herald, Dec. 18, 1888
What Seventh-day Adventists do not realize is that this is not all that has been revealed about the fate of the United States in last day events. In particular, how is it that this nation will be brought to national ruin? What role does America’s never ending imperialistic wars around the globe have to do with its downfall, especially regarding its unconditional support of the nation of Israel in the intensely contested area of the Middle East? What role does the Middle East have in Bible prophecy for that matter? How do the Islamic nations fit into this picture of events? These aspects are rarely, if ever, discussed or understood in the traditional Adventist teaching but they do have an important role in understanding how it is that America will be humbled at the hand of God in order to bring her people to repentance. Would you believe that this country is about to be drawn into a gigantic world war centered about the Middle East and, contrary to all expectations, will lose this war in a major way? No one would predict or believe such an outcome, but this is what the Bible predicts. And what God says, no man can annul. The answer, in part, comes from a long controverted prophecy found in the latter verses of Daniel chapter 11.
”And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many [countries] shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, [even] Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians [shall be] at his steps. But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.” — Daniel 11:40-45
The key to unlocking this prophecy has to do with identifying the the two belligerents in this conflict, the king of the south and the king of the north. Men without the aid of inspiration have tried for scores of years to unlock this mystery but God has keep its symbols in secret until the perfect time for them to be revealed to us in these latter days (Amos 3:7). Fortunately, by the grace of God, we have not been left in darkness regarding this important series of prophetic events leading up to the glorious deliverance of the saints when Michael our prince stands up to deliver His people (Dan. 12:1). A systematic revelation of this latter day king of the north has been unlocked by tracing the history of the successive rulers over the promised land (Palestine). Please download the study at the link below and see for yourself the inescapable and irrefutable logic that covers the span of history and revelation from the time of the Grecian empire up to the present day. Then you will discover how America fits into this latter day prophecy and the fate of this once great nation when it falls into the hands of a righteous and Holy God.
Daniel 11:40-45: The King of the North and the King of the South, Who are They?
For more detailed investigation into the fate of America in a gigantic world war centered about the middle east that is prophesied in the book of Naham, please download the following tracts and see what will become of this world superpower.
Tract No. 12: The World, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Tract No. 14: War News Forecast
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