Hey Steve, I am Jeremy Ackman and live just around the corner and down the street from you. We also be attend CatG, and have met a couple times, but nothing very formal.
Anyway, I was checking out your blog today and had a questions. I tried to post it there but it says I need to be logged in. Anyway I found this, so I thought I would see what you say.
I was reading through your blog and something occurred to me. Every time I hear about end times wars and battles America seems to be the center of Gods Army.
My question is why America?
Is there something biblically that leads back to the USA as a world leader in the side of God in the end times?
Or is that an assumption by Americans because we are a world leader now?
Ezekiel 39:7 says
I will nolonger let my holy name be profaned, and the nations will know that I the LORD am the Holy One in Israel.
It seems like as a nation, America is more then willing to show contempt or irreverence for God. It seems as if the church, and her desire to serve the Lord are not represented in the actions of our nation.
I pray to God that we are in that place of honor when the time comes, but right now I wonder if we are not for getting to check the oil in our nation s lamps.
MYREPLY
Jeremy,
Your questions are good ones. Although the record of history and biblical prophecy points to the USA as one of the leading tribes (Manasseh, to be exact) of the house of Israel, prophecy does not indicate that the USA or any the ten tribes of Israel will be “righteous” during the end times. The verse you cited, Ezekiel 39:7, certainly indicates that the bulk of the people living in the latter-day nations of the tribes of Israel will not be righteous. The lack of righteousness in all the nations of the earth in the latter days is a repeated biblical theme. Revelation 12:9 prophecies that the Adversary will “deceive the whole world” in the latter days, and II Peter 3:3-8 prophesies that there will be widespread scoffing in the latter days at the belief that Christ’s return will be imminent. In Matthew 24:24, Christ himself prophesied that deceptions would be so commonplace that even the “very elect” would be deceived “if it were possible.” In Luke 18:8, he wondered if he would even “find faith on the earth” when he returned.
Given the above prophecies, we should not expect the nations of the latter-day house of Israel (or any other nation) to be righteous or faithful in the latter days. There will be righteous people scattered among the nations, but prophecy does not indicate there will be any righteous nations at the end of our age. As Ezekiel 38-39 shows, God will rescue the Israelite nations in the latter days not because of any righteousness on the part of our nations, but rather because of his faithfulness to the covenant he made with our forefather, Abraham. Also, Isaiah 41:21-26 cites God as saying that one of the proofs of his Divine Sovereignty is his ability to bring to pass the prophecies which he gave to the ancient biblical prophets. Because God prophesied in Genesis 49:22-25, Jeremiah 30:7-8 and 24, Ezekiel 38-39 and Joel 2:17-32 that he would rescue the tribes of Israel in the latter days when they were attacked, we can be confident that he shall do so!
Steve
