STAND FIRM: The Future of America and The American Church - A Starting Point
Over the next few articles, I want to take what we can know in Scripture about the political scene at the end of the age combined with what we know about the church and look toward the future of our nation and Christianity within it. If you have followed this column for even a short time, I believe you agree that there is a lot about the end of the age we can know. No, we don’t know everything, but we can know much more than we commonly think. With this series, I want to return to the heart of Stand Firm Ministries, and that is talking about our spiritual preparedness, starting with being a prepared church. The beauty of Christianity is we know where things are going. We have the roadmap — Scripture, as well as the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we can be a prepared church.
Let’s start this multiple-article discussion with what’s ahead for America and how that will impact the church. Again, I know the objection comes up, “Jesus said we won’t know the day or the hour.” That’s exactly right. He did. That would be biblical, but with regard to Scriptural context, we must realize that just a few verses ahead of where Jesus made this statement, He said we should be able to recognize the season of the end of the age. Before that statement, He gave a list of signs to look for.
I would argue that we have already seen a huge marker to the end-time season when the Jews returned to the land of Israel — not only returning but forming a Jewish state in 1948 and gaining control of Jerusalem in 1967. We don’t know how long the end of the age will be delayed from that marker, but it should be clear it’s not out of bounds to recognize we are in a season at least closer to the end of the age.
Therefore, if we’re at the start of that season, it is important for us, as well as our churches, to be spiritually prepared.
When it comes to the United States, we’re not mentioned in the Bible. I know some will point to certain symbols, such as the eagle’s wings in Daniel 7, but any connection is merely conjecture. In the entire end-times scenario given in Scripture, there are only two accounts with only four verses that talk about Western nation involvement at the end of the age. The focus of Bible prophecy is on a regional Middle East war between Israel and a coalition of its neighbors that spills over onto the world scene. That doesn’t mean Western nations such as the United States aren’t in the picture, but we’re peripheral at best, even if we are.
Those two mentions of Western nations come from Daniel 11 and Ezekiel 38. Daniel speaks of ships coming from Kittim. Kittim is most likely Cyprus, where the United States and other Western nations have naval bases, but it might also point to further Western nations in Europe. Ezekiel mentions Tarshish, which has been labeled as far as Spain and is associated with the far reaches of the Mediterranean Sea. That’s it. That’s the mention of Western nations. Again, that doesn’t mean the United States is out of the picture, but it points to us not being centerstage, which is hard to imagine today.
I believe some passages give even further insight into geopolitics at the end of the age and further point to at least the diminishment of the US on the world stage. Revelation 17:9-11 includes a list of kingdoms (which I believe have/will have rule of Jerusalem). In this list, the kingdom or empire following the Roman Empire is said to be the one of the Antichrist. If that is the case, it would be the Islamic Empire or Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire returning parallels other passages about the kingdom and origin of the Antichrist. If a Middle Eastern coalition of nations rises to be the world superpower, it will change the role of America in the world.
With all this said, I do not see an accurate biblical option of the United States being at least a world superpower and economic leader as it is now at the end of the age or even leading into the final seven years. At the very minimum, our country will have to diminish, greatly affecting our lives and, therefore, our churches. As we will see in the next article, that isn’t all bad news for Christianity and the church in America, but it points to a trying time. Living in a diminished or isolated United States will be a trying time, but it will be even more trying to face the journey to get there. That would mean further economic woes, leading to over-intrusive government reach, which would cause further division, and that’s a best-case scenario.
I doubt I have to twist anyone’s arm to believe this is where we are headed as a country, but we often view the national woes as just political issues. What if we stepped back, saw what the Bible says will happen, then prepared ourselves and our churches accordingly?
— Jake is a state missionary and would love to share about the work in Northwest Arkansas and encourage your church to stand firm. (standfirmministries.com)
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Jake McCandless
Jake McCandless authors a weekly column titled, Stand Firm and Live Epic, through which he seeks to encourage the modern church to not just survive, but thrive in current times. He also addresses many end-times topics.
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