My working assumption (until history proves it wrong) is that the United States is the Beast described in Daniel and Revelation. This assumption helps me make sense of many events that are occurring on earth.
My assumption is not a vain guess, but is based on a detailed study of the scriptures over many years. In the next ten posts, I will give ten reasons why I believe this assumption could be true.
Christians and the entire US nation are deeply divided over Donald Trump. Some are immensely hostile to him, and others see him as God's gift to the nation. Both sides of this debater are missing the point. Donald Trump is a sideshow. While Christians are fighting over him, the enemy has been at work through political parties and the Washington bureaucracy transforming the nation into a Beast that can be used for the purposes of evil.
Donald Trump is no more important than many of his predecessors. The process of transition from Republic to Beast has been going on for many decades, even or most of the twenty-first century. Most presidents and many members of congress have contributed to this transition. Donald Trump is just carrying on down the same path as his predecessors. The only difference is that the starkness of current events is revealing changes that were previously hidden.
1. Time of Distress
The Beast that Daniel saw in his vision is not a person, but a terrible empire that crushes and controls the nations of the world. This terrible beast emerges and dominates the world during a Time of Distress, when a season called the Times of the Gentiles is coming to an end. This beast causes the events that will eventually lead to the Fulness of the Jews, which opens the way for a massive advance of the gospel in the power of the spirit that releases the fulness of his Kingdom on earth.
I have described this change of season in my book Times and Seasons. More detail is given at Times and Seasons. I believe that the world has already entered the Time of Distress, so the events that will bring in a new season are now underway. This means that the Beast of Daniel must already be in existence somewhere. It must have already emerged, even if it has not reached the apex of its power.
When I look around the modern world for a powerful empire, only one nation fits the brief. The only really powerful modern world empire is controlled by the United States. The European Union looked like a candidate for a while. Many biblical commentators expected it to grow into a super-state, like a restored Roman empire. but the European economy is now failing and several countries want to break out of the union. When Britain goes, more will follow. Europe is economically weak and its population is declining. European military forces are very limited and the anti-war sentiments of the population make a military build-up difficult. Therefore, if the prophecy of the Beast is being fulfilled in our time, we must look outside Europe.
The collapse of the Soviet Union confirmed that it is not the Beast. Russia now has an economy about the size of Portugal or New York state, so its opportunity to become a world empire is gone. China is getting strong economically, but it does not have sufficient military power to become a dominant world empire within the next couple of decades. So, if the Beast is active in our world, it must be the United States of America.
The United States is the most powerful empire the world has ever known, with the strongest economy and military bases all over the world. Many nations are dominated by its power, and no other nation can challenge its role as superpower. The US economy is the largest that has ever existed. No other nation could sustain two wars on the other side of the world at the same time without collapsing under the strain. The United States is definitely a world empire.
Most Americans would agree that their nation is an empire, but they believe that it is a good empire. However, the evidence tells a different story. The United States has wrecked many nations while pretending to do good. Some examples are the Philippines, North Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Libya, Syria, etc. Daniel said that the Beast would crush many nations.
The beast is dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it (Dan 7:7).Daniel's Beasts rose to power when the four winds of heaven had churned up the sea (Dan 7:2-3). The sea is a symbol of the multitudes of people living on the earth (Rev 17:15). The beast arrives at a time when the people of the world are stirred up.
The Beast is active throughout the Time of Distress.
He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place (Dan 11:36).This beast will collapse when the time of distress is complete and the next season emergences.
2.Government that Died
The key to identifying the political empire called the Beast is that it seems to have died, but then comes back to life again. When it comes back to life, the entire world follows the Beast.
One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast (Rev 13:3).One of the heads of the beast had been killed, but it came back to life, which caused great amazement throughout the world.
This Beast uses a form of human government that existed before John's time, but came to such a violent end that it seemed impossible that it would rise again. John saw a form of human government that seemed to be finished forever, coming into existence again. This is confirmed in a later vision.
The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come (Rev 17:8).The Beast once existed, in John's time it did not exist, but in the future, it will come back into existence. People will be amazed when this type of government returns, because it seemed to have been obliterated.
John records the time when this government came to an end.
They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for a little while. The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction (Rev 17:9,10).The seven kings (or heads) are the seven forms of human government that ruled over Rome. Five did not exist during John's lifetime but had held power in previous times. The sixth form of government was ruling at the time when John received his vision. It is easy to identify, because the Roman Empire dominated the world throughout John's lifetime. The sixth head is the Roman empire.
The Beast has a form of government that did not exist during John's lifetime, but had existed previously. Therefore, the key to identifying the Beast is identifying the form of human government that came to a violent end when the emperors came to power. The major form of human government that existed prior to the Roman Empire was the Roman Republic. It began in 500 BC and lasted for nearly five centuries. The Republic was led by consuls elected for a year. An elected Senate was responsible for passing laws and appointing government officials. Not everyone had the right to vote, but the Roman Republic was based on the principle of democracy, which had been developed in Greece, but had died there much earlier.
The republic was an important form of government for several centuries, but by the time that John received his vision, the Republic appeared to be gone forever, having been fatally wounded by several Roman emperors. It came to a violent end about thirty years before Jesus was born, when Julius Caesar and his successor Augustus turned their armies against Rome and destroyed the Republic. By the time of Jesus, the Empire was fully entrenched in power.
John's vision warns that the Republic would come back to life as an eighth king. The Beast with the "fatal wound had been healed' and the "beast who was wounded by the sword and lived" is a democratic republic. It is the fifth king that died just before the Kingdom of God was established.
The democratic republic came back to life ten centuries later when the leaders of the democratic movement in the United States looked back to the example of the Greek and Roman Republics. The government buildings in Washington used Greek and Roman designs. The eighth king is the restored democratic republic that was developed in the United States and copied in other parts of the world.
People of the modern world have enormous faith in the democratic government. Most people have more faith in the state than Christians have in God. They say that democracy is the best form of government, so very few people are interested in being governed by God. Democracy is the ultimate rebellion, because it consists of an entire society refusing to accept God's government.
3. Confederation of States
The Beast of Revelation had "ten horns" (Rev 17:13-18). Daniel also saw a Beast with ten horns (Dan 7:8). The most obvious interpretation of the beast with the ten horns is that a number of independent nation states hand over their sovereignty to become part of a single united nation. One-third of these nations refused to give up their sovereignty and are forced to join under threat of military force (Dan 7:20, 25).
America is the only place in recent history where this has happened. The thirteen states that gained independence from Britain were each independently-governed, autonomous nation-states. They united to fight for independence, but they remained politically independent. After the war of independence, these nation-states came together and established the United States. They created a federal system in which they handed over very limited powers (mostly defence) to the federal government. All other powers were retained by the states.
We sometimes get confused by the use of the word state in this context. These states were not provinces of a greater state, but legally independent states that gave some power to a federal government.
Because they joined freely, many states considered that they could also withdraw from the Union. At the beginning of the civil war, the southern states attempted to withdraw from the Union and establish a separate confederacy. Although slavery was the initial trigger, the civil war was primarily fought over the right of these states to secede from the Union. If they had been allowed to freely secede from the Union, it would have been significantly weakened and further fragmentation would have been inevitable.
The army of the twenty northern states (two thirds) destroyed the armies of the 11 southern states (one third). The victory of the union forces enabled them to maintain the union, eliminating the right of the states to secede. This opened the way for a gradual shift of power from the states to the federal government. During the following century, the United States became the greatest military and economic power in the entire world and the states are now just provinces within this greater entity.
Christian commentators looking for a powerful confederacy of nations forget that a powerful union called the "united states" already exists. Daniel saw a group of nations (ten horns) joining together to become one nation (a single horn). At first, the federal government had very limited power (a little horn), but it defeated a group of states that tried to withdraw from the union (three horns) and became very powerful (large beast).
The numbers ten and three should not be taken literally. Ten symbolises completeness, indicating that all the states joined freely. The number three indicates that 3/10 of these states would be defeated in their attempt to secede.
Ten minus three is seven. Seven symbolises divinity. This indicates that the conquering states would take attempt to take on sovereignty that belongs only to God. The Beast attempts to "try to change the set times and the laws". This represents a rejection of God's laws. Since the civil war, the United States government has become increasingly secular and humanistic. Whereas the thirteen original states had laws directly based on the Bible, American law is now dominated by pragmatism and humanism.
4. Brutal Military Power
Daniel described a powerful military empire that would dominate most of the earth.
The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it (Dan 7:23).This Terrible Beast devoured the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing everything that stood in its way.
The military power of the United States exceeds anything that has ever been known. It has military bases all over the world, including a large force in Europe and another in Asia (Korea). The US navy has more powerful ships than any nation that has ever existed. The US air force has the ability to drop bombs or target missiles anywhere in the world. No nation can challenge the military power of the United States.
The military power of the United States is made greater by its economic power. United States defence expenditure is bigger than the budgets of the next 15 to 20 biggest spenders combined. It is making it hard for any other country to catch up. It spends far more on military research and development than any other military power.
The United States has overwhelming nuclear superiority, the world's dominant air force, the only true, blue-water navy and military bases all over the world. It leads the world in exploiting the military applications of advanced communications and information technology.
American unmanned planes and guided missiles are becoming increasingly sophisticated. These developments give unrivalled ability to destroy targets from afar with extraordinary precision.
The British Empire at its peak had about 35 bases in foreign countries. The United States has over a thousand bases all over the world. This superiority gives the United States a unique capability to project power around the world.
Compared with earlier empires, like Rome, Egypt and Babylon, the reach of American power is absolutely immense. Those ancient empires only controlled a small part of the world and their economic power and military forces were feeble by comparison to the United States.
All previous empires were surrounded by enemy powers. The United States is isolated on an island on the other side of the world with no threats to its peace. It has never been invaded, except by the first European settlers. Yet because the people trust in military power, their leaders have been able to devote massive resources to build up the nation's military forces. This situation is unique, so military dominance on this scale will probably never happen again.
The American Empire does not need direct control of every country in its sphere. It can gain enough control to accomplish its purposes by doing deals with kings and dictators. The United States government supplies the dictator with military and economic assistance. The dictator creams a tithe off the top of the economic aid to maintain his family in a presidential lifestyle. He uses military assistance to suppress opposition and to establish the peace and stability needed for the operation of American business. Everyone that counts is happy.
The United States is the only modern nation with sufficient military and economic power to be the fulfilment of the Beast. Unfortunately, its system of government is breaking down. As presidents become more dictatorial, they will embark on foreign adventures using military power to enhance their popularity.
The expansion of the American Empire does not eliminate kings and rulers. They can continue in their comfortable lifestyle with undiminished power, provided they submit to American interests. Many weak nations will be trampled by American power. If rulers refuse to comply with American interests, they will be beaten up like Iraq and Libya.
Christians think of their military as the nice people in uniform at church on Sunday. They ignore the brutality of the US military in places where it is fighting, destroying buildings, massacring citizens, imprisoning people who disobey their commands.5. Astonished
John said that people would be astonished when a democratic republic returns, because this form of government seemed to have been obliterated. When the democratic republic is restored, the people of the world will be impressed too.
The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast (Rev 17:8).They will be impressed with the "new" form of government because it seems to give them control over the state. The democratic republic will seem like the best form of government ever (its true nature will eventually be revealed). People longing for peace and prosperity will support any political power promising to fulfil their dreams.
Many Christians believe that the restoration of a Christian empire is part of God's plan. They will be puzzled by the suggestion that this democratic empire is the Beast described in Revelation. They will not realise that their faith in political power has made possible the greatest accumulation of political power and control that has ever existed on earth.
The only people not surprised by this aggregation of political power will be followers of Jesus who understand the signs of the times. When most people are calling on the political powers to do more to turn back the overwhelming crisis, they will expose the real character of the "best government ever", but explaining that this democratic republic is just another manifestation of the Beast will make them unpopular.
The surprise will be greatest amongst American Christians, because they believe that their system of government is better than all others. They will find it hard to believe that the system which they trust has become the Beast of Revelation.
This surprise is a confirmation of the Beast's identity, because John said that God's people would be surprised when the identity of the Beast.
In a way, this surprise is not surprising. The United States has a higher percentage of Christians than any other modern nation. Despite this strong influence, the nation has two serious vulnerabilities.
American Christians have immense faith in political power, perhaps because they think their political system is the best that has ever existed. The consequence is that they have massive expectations of what politics can achieve. Many Christians have more faith in the power of politics than they have in the power of the Holy Spirit.
American Christians have even greater faith in military power. As a consequence, the nation has been engaged in wars around the war for most of its history. Despite considerable evidence to the contrary, American Christians believe that their troops are always well behaved and only ever to do good. They believe their military forces are needed to keep the world safe. They are often elated when American bombs and missiles destroy their enemies.
This faith in political power to bring change at home and military power to bring change in the world has opened the way for the United States to become the Beast of Revelation. Because these vulnerabilities are rooted in Christian faith, most Christians will be amazed when they realise their nation has become a terrible beast.
6. Controlled by a Woman
One of the mysteries in the book of Revelation is the woman riding on the beast.
Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns (Rev 17:3-5).John was surprised by the vision
Then the angel said to me: "Why are you astonished" (Rev 17:7).John knew all about beasts. His world had been dominated by many great empires, and was currently controlled by the powerful Roman Empire. What was strange about his vision was the woman sitting on the beast. Sitting symbolizes control, so this terrible beast with seven heads and ten horns was being controlled by a woman. Her identify is the key to identifying the Beast.
The wilderness is a key to understanding the identity of the woman. An angel had carried John into the wilderness where he saw the woman controlling the kings of the nations. John knew who the identity of this woman, because he had seen her in Revelation 12. She gave birth to a child that was eventually caught up into heaven. The child was Jesus, so this woman was Israel.
After Jesus had ascended into heaven and defeated the spiritual powers of evil, they lost their place in heaven, so they attacked the woman.
She was scattered in the wilderness for the entirety of the Times of the Gentiles. The wilderness is the place that God prepared to keep the children of Israel safe during the time when they would continue to reject Jesus as their Messiah (Rev 12:14-16).John was not surprised to see the woman in the wilderness. He already knew she was there. What surprised him was that she was riding on a powerful beast. He did not expect to see her controlling the Beast that controls the rulers of the nations. John had been Israel being exiled from Canaan, so he was amazed to see this same woman still in the wilderness (in exile from God) sitting on a terrible beast and controlling it.
The empires of the world had trampled Israel, so it was almost impossible to believe that it could control an empire greater than the Roman Empire. Instead of trusting God to keep them through their troubles, the chosen people have been seduced by political and military power. This is a false hope.
The identity of the woman was confirmed to John at the end of the vision.
The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth (Rev 17:18).This great city had been described in the vision of the two prophets in Rev 11:8.
Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city-which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt-where also their Lord was crucified.This city is called Egypt and Sodom and Babylon to indicate that it is opposed to the purposes of God, but it is actually the city where Jesus was crucified. Everyone knows where Jesus was crucified. The great city is Jerusalem. This means that the woman controlling the beast is the city of Jerusalem and the nation of Israel.
The vision of the woman on the Beast describes a season when the nation of Israel will control the most powerful empire the world has known. This vision seems to be being fulfilled in our own time. The United States is the most powerful empire ever known, with the strongest economy and military bases all over the world.
The dominant political force in the United States is the Israel lobby (AIPAC). A presidential candidate who rejected the demands of AIPAC will have difficulty being elected. Getting elected to congress is difficult without its support. Many members of congress are willing to place the security of the United States at risk in order to protect Israel, even when it engages in evil activities. When the Israeli resident visits the United States, the congress gives him a standing ovation, something it rarely does for a sitting US President. This strange power situation is perfectly described by a woman (Israel) sitting on a beast (United States).
7. Economic Power
The Terrible Beast manifests is an Economic Empire in which it controls all buying and selling. The nations are unable to buy or sell without the permission of the beast (Rev 13:17).
Controlling buy and selling ▶ Powerful government controlling the world economy.The Mark of the Beast symbolises management of the economy by political power. Traditional empires imposed massive taxes and collected them harshly, but they did not attempt to control other aspects of economic activity. They let businesses do what they liked, but made sure they captured a big share of the profits. They did not care if businesses were dishonest, because they could demand an even bigger share of any corrupt gains.
In contrast, the Terrible Beast seeks to control every aspect of economic life. It sets prices and sets rules that businesses must comply with. Over the last century, we have seen a vast increase in interference in the economy by human governments.
When studying the Mark of the Beast, Christians focus on the technique used (a mark) which is quite obscure, rather than the outcome, which is clear. People and nations are unable to buy and sell without the permission of the democrat beast. John saw a great political power waging war and controlling the world using economic weapons.
The technique by which control is accomplished is less important, because it is determined by the legal situation at the time when it will be fulfilled. John did not know how societies would change, so he did not understand the techniques available to future rulers, so he described it in terms of images that he understands.
Marking people with an image/stamp was the way that empires and slaveowners controlled people in John's time. So that is the way that John described the techniques used by the empire to impose control. That does not mean that the vision will be literally fulfilled in that way.
A modern empire can use tariffs, import controls, quality standards and documentation requirements to limit trade. The United States has also used the SWIFT system that banks use for international transfers to control trade. This is a practical implementation of the Mark of the Beast that previous empire could do.
John's vision will be fulfilled in a time when people, businesses and nations are represented by numbers, actually digits on a computer database. The beast has a number. Every other person has a number. This is the situation in the modern world. John saw a situation where a powerful political power used the numbers issued to people and business to prevent them from buying and selling.
The United States uses its place at the centre of the world financial system to control other nations. Nations that do not submit to the American interests are not allowed to trade. Sanctions are imposed on nations that will not submit to the dictates of the United States. Nothing like this has been done before.
These sanctions are directed at nations, but they are mostly imposed on people and businesses. The list of people and businesses that are banned is thousands of pages long. Some of the bans have been in place for nearly fifty years. The United States uses control of the financial system to prevent people and companies from other nations trading with the nations on their list of baddies.
The Church provided moral support for this behaviour by declaring that the sanctioned nations are evil. Many churches advocate the full use of economic power to implement American power in the world, but their selection of targets is highly selective. The Beast decides which nations can buy and sell.
John said that the people of the world would be deceived. The United States claims to be a leader of the free world and claims to be a staunch advocate of free trade, yet it is acting to limit the free flow of trade. This is probably what John saw in his vision?
Economic sanctions are immoral. No person or nation has the right to prevent other people or nations from buying and selling. The person who owns something does not have to sell it if they choose not to, regardless of the price that is offered. But if they choose to sell to someone, they are free to sell. No political power has authority to prevent them. All economic sanctions are immoral. They are a form of blackmail.
Christians think of American business as free enterprise and a force for good in the world. They don't notice the harm done by powerful, but soulless US corporations all over the earth.
8. Entertainment Empire
The spirit that controls the Beast of Revelation uses music and entertainment to gain influence (Rev 18:23-24). John calls this witchcraft. Traditional emperors used witchcraft as a source of wisdom and to shape thinking about the world. The modern equivalent is the entertainment industry. Modern people are taught what to believe by the music, movie and television industries.
Music
The music industry has become very powerful. Musicians are the philosophers of the current age, who create the patterns of thinking that undergird an entire movement. The result has been an enormous shift in values.
Advertising and Materialism
American business and advertising have worked together to shape the culture all over the world. Television advertising tells people what they need. It fosters hedonism and materialism: new cars, new houses, beautiful bodies. This demand has been an important driver of the American economy.
The "spin doctors" who manage the image of politicians are the new palace magicians. Their power is so great that a good image is more important than sound policies for winning an election.
Television Morality
Television and movies are powerful tools for shaping culture. The United States is the base of an enormous entertainment industry that spreads evil. The television industry has filled the living rooms of people all over the world with filth and abominable things that would not have been allowed near our houses in earlier generations. Blasphemy has become commonplace. The names of God and Jesus have become the most common expletives.
The entertainment empire is very hostile to the Christian faith and the church. When Christians appear in popular programmes are usually are mocked. They are portrayed as slightly feeble and out of touch with life. The American entertainment industry determines what is good and evil. Once the media takes sides, anyone opposing their view is relentless mocked. Talkback hosts and are the prophets of this new age.
Secular Humanism
The voice that dominated the last century is secular humanism. This philosophy came out of universities in the United States and Europe and through the media has flooded the entire world. Humanism shapes the way the modern world thinks. This movement has been so successful, that humanity has become its own god.
The United States is the centre from which secularism humanism has been exported into the world. The American movie, television and music industries shape the universal culture that is sweeping the world. Together with the universities, these industries have spread humanism throughout the world.
Christians often only see one side of their nation's culture and behaviour. They think of the thousands of American missionaries that have bent out into the world to share the gospel, but they ignore the humanistic, and often evil, content being sent into the world by Hollywood and the television industry. This has a far greater impact on the culture of the world than all the missionaries.
9. Believing a Lie
The Beast of Revelation arises to power when the people of a nation come to believe a lie. This monster does not need to establish its power by military force. It gains authority by deceiving the people into thinking that it is good, when its heart is evil.
The lies that deceive them came from two sources. The first source of the lie was the False Prophet. John received a vision of a powerful organisation that caused the people to believe a lie. This organisation helped restore the democratic republic that had died when the Roman Empire came to power.
Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed (Rev 13:11-12).This beast had "two horns like a lamb". The two horns signify enormous worldly power, but there is an interesting twist. In Revelation, the lamb is Jesus, so it appears to represent Jesus, but it speaks like a dragon. This shows that it is actually working for evil.
John saw a lamb-like animal doing great evil. The beast with horns like a lamb represents a Christian organisation that has influence over much of the world. This church becomes a strong advocate for political power. This is a strange role for the church, because Jesus had refused to use force and coercion to establish his Kingdom. This church is different, because it has greater faith in human bureaucracy and political power than on the gospel and power of the Holy Spirit.
John calls this beast the False Prophet (Rev 19:20). God uses true prophets to constrain political power. The False Prophet builds up political power. It will support the re-emergence of a powerful democratic empire.
It deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honour of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived (Rev 13:14).The Beast that was wounded yet lived was the Roman Republic. The False prophet will be an advocate for democratic political power.
The other source of the lie was the Woman riding on the Beast. This woman is Israel.
By your magic spell, all the nations were led astray (Rev 18:23).John explains that Israel will contribute to belief in the lies that support the emergence of the Beast, the democratic/republican empire. Israel has a powerful and effective propaganda system that has deceived many Christians from all over the world.
The American people are generous, bold, positive, confident, active, entrepreneurial and outgoing. Whether because of this, or despite this, they have a propensity to believe lies, especially about political and military power. These lies could allow the United States to become the Beast of Revelation and Daniel.
Lies
I was going to list the lies here, but they are too many, so here are just a few that I read or hear quite frequently. Not all these lies are believed by all people, but all people believe some of them.
The United States has the only true free-market capitalist economy in the world (this is believed, despite the largest sectors of the economy being dominated by state-controlled, state-protected and state-funded corporates, such as telecommunications, finance, defence, agriculture).
America is the indispensable nation with responsibility for delivering peace to the world.
God wants the United States to intervene and transform evil nations by using military force to impose a copy of the American political system.
The United States only fights good wars, whereas other nations fight wars for evil gain. The eighteen-year long war in Afghanistan that has empowered warlords and imposed corruption is a good war, despite the military being uncertain about what it is trying to achieve and lying about its lack of success.
The people of the United States watched on television as their military forces attacked Iraq, killing thousands of people, damaging infrastructure, including power stations, telecommunication equipment, hospitals, schools, churches, mosques, roads, bridges, factories, oil wells, because their leaders had lied about Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). The Iraqi people, who had good education, health care, abundant electricity and plenty of food now face shortages of food, fuel, electricity, medicines, and items of daily life, and face life with lawlessness and chaos everywhere, but it is their fault, because they were too stupid to accept the good opportunity that the US invasion offered them.
The US military is still the most moral in the world. The soldiers and contractors who tortured prisoners, deliberately shot civilians, and mutilated bodies are not true Americans.
Many Christians believe that God sent Donald Trump to save the American nation. The idea that a political leader can save a nation is a distortion of the gospel.
Many Christians assume they are prophetic because they are critical of Donald Trump, but their faith and interest in political power is strengthened, not weakened. They still believe that the American political system is the best in the world, despite it throwing up a choice between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
Influential newspapers, like the New York Times and the Washington Post, are willing to lie in support of the political leaders, the military forces and the security agencies of the nation, even when they are doing evil.
The United States is good. A few other nations, like the UK, Australia and New Zealand are OK, but a bit dodgy. Most others are evil.
The Chinese police shooting rubber bullets against protestors in Hong Kong are evil, but the Israeli snipers who deliberately shoot protestors across the Gaza fence are good.
The people of other nations are cynical about political power. They assume that politicians will behave badly. They realise that people who are trained in war will begin to see violence as a solution to all problems. This counterbalance seems to be missing in the United States.
American Christians who believe the myths about their nation will not be surprised when it manifests fully as the Beast. They have always loved American dominance and power, so they will be glad when it becomes strong and more brutal.
10. State as Saviour
Democracy has given the American state unprecedented power by expanding the role of governments. They now promise to provide cradle to the grave security. Over the last century, the thinking of people has changed. They now expect the state to provide all their needs. Governments care for the poor, the sick and the elderly. They are expected to guarantee wealth and happiness for everyone.
The rulers of earlier empires had more absolute power than current governments and took the title saviour, but they never considered care for individuals to be part of their role. The state acted on behalf of the privileged elite. The rest were left to fend for themselves, or worse, were slaves. The Government as Saviour is a new idea, but is the spirit of the age.
In the State We Trust
The United States is an enigma. It was founded on faith, yet political power was dominant right from the start. Christians had an influence on the government, but this was soon squeezed out the decisions of the Supreme Court and Congress and the growth of Presidential Power. Faith in political power and human government now dominates American culture. Even those who oppose a particular party or president have enormous faith in the presidency and politics.
Americans trust in God, but expect the state to solve the problems of life.
The American lifestyle is extremely materialistic and people expect the government to sustain a lifestyle of comfort.
Comfort trumps freedom. American people will give their rulers immense powers to maintain peace and security.
Despite public profession of faith, the government of the United States has bowed to humanism. Many public institutions are hostile to Christianity.
American big businesses claim to believe in free enterprise, but expect the government to protect their interests and rescue them when they fail.
The people claim to trust in God, but rely on military power for security.
Christians have been captured by the lure of state power. When they see human suffering, compassionate Christians say, "The Government should do something about it".
The "End-times Industry" has encouraged American governments to expand their political power and dominance of the world. The church has been a false prophet supporting the American Beast.
Political power is a huge obstacle to the Kingdom of God, because it is so vulnerable to evil. Political evil cannot be defeated with political power. Many Christians have unwittingly supported the enemy and held back the Kingdom by supporting political power.
More at Messianic Imperialism.
Response
Most American Christians will be surprised by the suggestion that the United States is becoming the Beast described in the visions received by Daniel and John. While the accepted teaching was that the Beast would emerge in Europe, American Christians could give thanks that they would not be affected. Now the finger is being pointed in a different direction, they will have to think about how they should respond.
The future of the nation is not set. If the gospel goes forth in the power of the spirits and the prophets challenge the nation about the direction it is going, the nation might repent of its false ideas and turn back to the ways of God. It could become a place where the Kingdom of God emerges in fulness. God would prefer that outcome, but it is not guaranteed. It depends on how his people and the nation respond to his call.
There is currently a battle going on for the American soul. Christians assume that they will win the struggle. I suspect that the dark side is stronger than they realise, and will eventually make it to the top. We may be already seeing it manifest in many aspects of US government. People who hear the voice of God should be getting prepared for living through a season when the Beast emerges.
The Beast will persecute the church, so it will need to adopt an organisational structure that is persecution proof. The safest place to be during the season of the Beast power is a strong community of followers of Jesus, who are committed to loving one other by serving and protecting each other. I have described how these would function in Kingdom Communities and Being Church Where We Live.
Fortunately, the best witness to Jesus is also a community of his followers caring for each other in the presence of the watching world. So regardless of the outcome, Kingdom Communities are the best option for Christians in the United States.
