THE USA IN BIBLE PROPHECY
Sir,
Revelation 13 describes two powerful beasts that will dominate the world at the end of time. One beast rises out of the sea and the other rises out of the land. In Bible prophecy, a beast represents a nation or a major political power in the world.
The first beast represents the Roman Empire that persecuted God’s people during the 1260s. The Bible predicted that papal Rome would lose its power at the end of the 1260s. This prophecy, in verse 10, was fulfilled in 1798, when Napoleon’s General Berthier took the Pope captive and Rome received its deadly wound. The second beast (verse 11) was seen emerging at that time.
The United States declared its independence in 1776, voted the Constitution in 1787, adopted the Bill of Rights in 1791, and was recognised as a world power by 1798.
Revelation 13:11 describes the land beast as having ‘two horns like a lamb’. The lamb represents Jesus but this land beast is not Jesus Christ because of the way it persecutes Christ’s true worshippers (verses 15–17). Applying this to a nation we can say the nation would appear to be ‘Christ-like’ and be based upon Christian principles. America declared that church and state should never unite, and that every man would be permitted to worship God according to the dictates of his conscience. Unfortunately, this nation will end up speaking like a dragon (Revelation 13:11-12).
This is a contradictory image; a lamb that speaks like a dragon. In one of his speeches former President Barack Obama had this to say; “We occasionally have to twist the arms of countries that wouldn’t do what we need them to do.”
An interesting fact is that this beast is also referred to as the ‘false prophet’ in Revelation 19:20 and 20:10. Now to be a false prophet you would have to proclaim that you serve God, but in reality what you do and teach shows you to be false. Even on the banknotes, they printed ‘In God we trust’ but the statement is alongside other unchristian symbols like the pyramid and the ‘all seeing eye’.
The beast arises ‘out of the earth’ instead of out of the water as did the other nations in Daniel and Revelation. Therefore, the earth represents the opposite; this nation came up in a sparsely populated area. At the time people from other nations began to migrate to North America, its population consisted of around one million indigenous Indians occupying about three million square miles; it was consequently a sparsely populated area.
Revelation 13:16, 17 reveals that this nation will cause everyone to receive a mark in their hands or in their foreheads. Without this mark there will be no buying or selling. According to the Bible, this nation will be at the forefront of enforcing the mark. Revelation 16 provides us with more information about this ‘mark’. The chapter describes seven plagues that will break out in the world just before Christ’s second coming. And, according to verse 2, the first plague will fall on ‘the people who had the mark of the beast’. When we put together the above characteristics, it becomes evident that the beast represents the United States.
Bopoto Gwinyai
(7663 8191)
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