The body of Christ is going to face stiff headwinds. The winds of godless ideologies will buffet the ship of Zion. Jesus said in John 15:18-20, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.”
The Apostle John wrote: “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.” I John 3:13. The world hasn’t really hated the body of Christ in the last few decades, but that hatred is building now.
The social fabric of the American society was once built on the framework of biblical principles. We once had a Christian nation. President after President proclaimed this, as did Supreme Court decisions and other well-known sources. John Adams, a founding father of this nation and our second President, said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” And Abraham Lincoln also recognized that this Republic was “under God” at Gettysburg. And this understanding was placed into our Pledge of Allegiance, national motto, and national holidays.
Both John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan acknowledged the Pilgrims’ desire to found America as a City upon a hill. They were recalling John Winthrop’s sermon to the settlers: “We shall find that the God of Israel is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies; when he shall make us a praise and a glory, that men shall say of succeeding plantations, ‘The Lord make it like that of New England.’ For we must consider that we shall be as a City upon a hill.”
This is not to say that America was ever perfect; or even truly righteous. American history is replete with wrongs – slavery, prejudice, rape, murder, other crimes, sexual immorality, drug abuse and other wrongs. But in the past, the great majority of people knew those things were wrong. We are now in a time when much of our society doesn’t know that sin is sin. They don’t believe wrongs are really wrong.
Biblical Illiteracy Leads to Immorality
It will keep getting worse. A new Gallup survey released on March 29, 2021 revealed that only 47% of Americans belong to a church, synagogue or mosque. That’s the first time in history that church membership has dropped below 50% of the population. U.S. church membership was 70% or higher from 1937 through 1976, falling modestly to an average of 68% in the 1970s through the 1990s. In the 1700s and 1800s, it probably was 90% or more.
Back before COVID-19 struck, nearly 40% of Americans said they attended church once weekly; but numbers from actual counts of churches placed the real number at around 17%. That number will probably be lower in post-COVID America. People aren’t hearing God’s Word preached.
Our nation is slipping into the same trouble as Judah did long ago. The prophet warned in Isaiah 56:10-11: “His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.”
The pulpits are failing to preach, and so the people don’t know what the Bible says. Bible illiteracy is rampant – and extremely dangerous. Amos 8:11 warns: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.”
The danger of God’s judgment hitting America is real - and increasing. Why? Because of the lawlessness of the land. After decades of a primarily downward trend in the overall number of people killed, crime experts say 2020 marked the biggest single-year national jump in homicides since national crime statistics began to be released in the 1960s. And 2021 is on track to be significantly worse.
There were more homicides in Chicago in the first half of 2021 than the entire year of 2020. Consider these American statistics:
• Homicide and incarceration rates are the highest of any industrialized nation. They are times that of Japan, Sweden, Ireland, and the Netherlands.
• Crime increased by 371% since 1960, with Juvenile Crime up 920% since 1985, the highest in the world.
• Divorce has quadrupled in the last 30 years, making the U.S. the world leader.
• Teenage pregnancies also quadrupled in the last 30 years (more than a million a year) making the U.S. the Western World leader.
• The U.S. is the voluntary abortion leader in the world.
• It is also the Illegal drug use leader of the world.
Governments and the educational system and social media moguls are pushing the big lies – that aberrant sexual behavior is normal and wholesome, that defunding police will make us safer, that reverse discrimination will right the wrongs, that violent protests are needed and beneficial, etc.
What does God think? He probably thinks much the same as He did about Israel in the time of Hosea. “Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish.” Hosea 4:1-3.
One example of how this biblical illiteracy affects society, and even Biblebelieving Christians is in the acceptance of premarital sex and cohabitation. Even Evangelicals, especially those under the age of 40, do not see cohabiting outside of marriage as sinful. Premarital sex has become normalized – not just among liberals, but even among so-called conservative Christians.
A Pew Research study from 2019 found that 58% of all white evangelicals and 70% of black evangelicals believe sex before marriage is acceptable if a couple plans to get married. Of course, we know it is wrong; and we preach that it is wrong. But far too many in younger generations do not know what the Bible says about this.
Even among evangelicals who believe fornication before marriage is wrong, many cannot explain why. They know the Bible is against it, but they don’t know why. And therefore, they decide the Bible is wrong. We live in a society where, for the first time in American history, many church-attending, Bible-believing teenagers cannot explain from the scriptures why sleeping together before marriage is wrong.
And that’s just one example. I could cite the acceptance of gay and transgender lifestyles, the legalization of drugs, and so many more sinful vices. The majority of society doesn’t know right from wrong. Psalms 82:5 says. “They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.”
Losing God’s Blessings
I believe God has withdrawn His hand of blessing from this nation. Psalms 9:17 tells us that the nations that forget God shall be turned into hell. COVID-19 is just the beginning of the sorrows this nation will endure. We cannot expect God’s hand of blessing or protection when we have forsaken Him. His judgments will continue and, if we don’t repent and change, they will become more and more severe.
I don’t believe the nation will repent. Therefore, the judgments of the book of Revelation and other prophecies in the Bible will strike our world and our nation. Sadly, God’s judgments will not change the hearts of those who are drifting away from biblical foundations. It didn’t in Old Testament Israel. “O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return. Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.” Jeremiah 5:3-4.
President Obama said on June 28, 2006: “Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation.” He caught a lot of flak for that statement, but he was right. Our nation is going down the wrong road and will not turn back. America has moved from being a Christian nation to a post-Christian nation. Now we are moving beyond that to being an anti-Christian nation. But it is wrong to say we’ve “moved beyond” Christianity.
Really, a people cannot “move” beyond Christian faith. You don’t just “move” from being Christian to being something else, like you move from Des Moines to Omaha. Christianity is not a fad or fashion. A society cannot simply “move on” from Christian principles, like it moved on from powdered wigs and hoop skirts. A society that rejects Christ and the Bible doesn’t simply move on; instead it becomes antiChristian and then rapidly deteriorates.
American society is in the process of deciding that authentic Christianity is unworthy of respect or even toleration. Raising children according to biblical principles will be deemed to be human rights violations.
Our society’s “Cancel Culture” now demands that we surrender our right to free speech. It demands that we refrain from any expression that might somehow be deemed contrary to the prevailing philosophies. The cancel culture is replacing Christian culture.
Our society also demands that we embrace sin – especially sexual sin. Refusal to embrace what the Bible forthrightly condemns is going to be labelled a hate crime. The push to accept and embrace the LGBTQ+ lifestyle has gained incredible strength in a very short time.
The belief systems of American society are not Christian. Perhaps a majority now believe a woman has an unalienable right to kill her unborn baby. If bearing a child is inconvenient, that life in the womb can be snuffed out. This belief in the right to abortions rises to the level of religious dogma – a basic belief. There are laws preventing cruelty to animals, but none prohibiting cruel, painful killing of unborn babies.
Our Supreme Court legalized gay marriage, and now society has moved beyond that to demand full embrace of transgender and gender-fluid lifestyles. Any statements against immoral sexual practices are
T h e s o c i a l f a b r i c o f t h e A m e r i c a n s o c i e ty wa s o n c e b u i l t o n t h e f r a m e wo r k o f b i b l i c a l p r i n c i p l e s .
now being seen as some kind of awful, inhumane, evil. Those who don’t embrace sexual immorality are deemed worthy of being sued, fined, and forced to take sensitivity training in an attempt to brainwash and change their basic beliefs.
Even the environmentalists and those advocating a green new deal seem to embrace paganistic beliefs. Earth is treated as a mother-goddess that is to be worshipped, loved, and honored. Much of our society now believes the environment doesn’t exist for man to exercise dominion over it; rather, we are to be slaves to the living environment. Worship of nature seems to be more important than worshipping God.
Patriotism is also dying. It seems all our American heroes are unworthy of honor now, because of their faults. We have to pull down statues of former heroes. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owned slaves, so we cannot honor their memories. Abraham Lincoln freed slaves but treated native American Indians poorly, so pull down his statues! Don’t dare celebrate Columbus day – because he brought civilization to the New World and destroyed the “paradise” of the native cannibals.
Few are really proud of American history. Schools don’t teach children to be proud of America. Public school history courses don’t teach the good America and Americans have done – instead they focus on past racial injustice, mistreatment of women, and the mistakes and faults of former leaders.
I fear that all of this spells the future doom of America. Unless there is a massive national repentance, which I don’t see happening, we are going to fail to live up to our founders’ dream of being a city set on a hill.
Where is America in Bible Prophecy?
We have claimed ever since the fall of the Soviet Union that America is the world’s only superpower. But is that true? At least nine nations currently have nuclear weapons – and Iran is soon to join the nuclear club. Russia has more nuclear weapons than the United States. China’s economy will soon be greater than the U.S. economy – and may already be the greatest in the world. Both China and India have larger armies than the U.S. China has more ships in its navy.
Maybe the U.S. is the world’s only superpower today – but it might not be tomorrow; and it certainly isn’t mentioned directly in the Bible. Just a few years ago, it would have seemed that America should have a big role in end-time prophecies, and especially in those pertaining to Armageddon. But I don’t see America in Ezekiel 38 or 39. I don’t see America as one of the heads of the beast in Revelation. I don’t believe America is one of the ten kings that are the ten toes on Nebuchadnezzar’s image, or the ten horns of the beast.
But some say America is in the prophecies of Ezekiel 38. Maybe. Yes, America could be one of the “young lions” in Ezekiel 38:13: “Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?”
But the young lions seem to not be involved in the military action; they are just asking about what the intent of the invaders really is. They seem to think the right strategy is to employ diplomacy; rather than military might. Diplomacy will not stop Armageddon.
There are verses in the Bible that seem to point to nuclear war. E.g.: II Peter 3:12: “Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? And Zechariah 14:12: “And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.”
America has a nuclear arsenal, and other weapons of mass destruction. Will she use them in the Battle of Armageddon? How do we have a nuclear holocaust without America unleashing nuclear weapons? Maybe because our weak leaders at the time are reluctant to fire them. (There are enough other nuclear powers that could use WMD in the Middle East.)
Maybe the 7 Last Plagues have so weakened America by that point that it can’t be an active participant in the buildup and Battle of Armageddon. Maybe we’ve disarmed our nuclear arsenal by then. Or maybe we do fire them, but too late in the Armageddon narrative to merit direct mention in the Bible.
The point is, if America had a “major” role in end-time events, I believe it would somehow be seen in end-time prophecies. But it isn’t there – at least as I read the Bible. I believe it must be that America won’t have the willpower or the resources to be greatly-involved.
Why is that? Is it because great and powerful America will move to a future where this nation is no longer as great and no longer as powerful as it was when basic Judeo-Christian principles undergirded our laws and social interactions? Will divine judgments so weaken America that it can no longer be a major player in MidEast conflicts? Or will the political will of the population be against any American intervention?
It might not be that God will curse America directly; rather, He may just withdraw His hand of protection, and the devil will rush in to curse our land. In the first two chapters of the book of Job, God didn’t curse Job; He simply lifted His wall of protection and Satan cursed Job.
Again, Psalms 9:17 says the nations that forget God will be turned into hell. It isn’t because God gets angry and hurls thunderbolts, but because He draws back, and this gives Satan the opportunity to cause havoc.
Americans used to sing, “America, America, God shed His grace on thee…” And we used to sing, “God bless America, land that I love; Stand beside her, and guide her, through the night with a light from above.” But why would God do that now? What America is becoming now - is not worthy of heaven’s blessings.
Restoring the Church in a Godless Society
But remember, the early church prospered in the midst of a godless society. The failure of the early church wasn’t due to persecution, but compromise. Persecution only strengthens a church. Jesus said the church would be persecuted in Matthew 5:10–12. God uses the persecution and suffering of his people to spread the truth of Christ and to bless the world. See Acts 8:1, 4.
What caused the falling away of the early church wasn’t persecution; it was compromise with false religion, compromise with political powers and compromise with wickedness.
Paul said in Galatians 5:9 that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Three types of leaven destroyed the early church.
I t m i g h t n o t b e t h a t G o d w i l l c u r s e A m e r i c a d i re c t l y ; r a t h e r ; H e m ay j u s t w i t h d r a w H i s h a n d o f p ro te c t i o n , a n d t h e d e v i l w i l l r u s h i n to c u r s e o u r l a n d .
I could cite multiple scriptures for each, but will only give one reference for each. You can find more in your own private Bible studies at home.
The first is religious leaven. Jesus said in Matthew 16:6: “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.” In verses 11-12 it is clear that He was talking about the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. But the early church compromised with false religion, bringing in pagan beliefs, pagan practices and pagan holidays.
The second is political leaven. Mark 8:15 says, “And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.”
Instead of saying leaven of Sadducees as in Matthew., Jesus here said “the leaven of Herod.” Sadducees compromised with the Roman government, and supported the government, in a mutuallybeneficial arrangement. By the time of the conversion of Constantine, the early church had done the same thing.
Finally, there is sinful leaven. Paul condemned the church in Corinth in I Corinthians 5:1 because of fornication. In verse 6 he called that sinful corruption leaven. There is constant pressure on the church to compromise with worldliness and abandon holiness.
These three leavens caused the early church to fall away. The same leaven will prevent us from becoming the restored end-time church. But if our preachers warn against these leavens; and if the saints avoid them; our future is bright.