America and the nations of the world,
as we have explored, are--according to
Glenn Beck and Hal Lindsey--moving
quickly down the road that leads to
global socioeconomic cataclysm. I agree.
Such a destiny lurks in the murkiness of
the not-too-distant future. However,
exactly how that destination will be
reached and who among the planet’s
current population will suffer the
disastrous fate predicted by Beck and
Lindsey are matters for much closer
scrutiny. Two questions we will try to
address are in view as we look at the
near future through the prism of Bible
prophecy:
1) Will America and the world suffer
Beck and Lindsey’s feared versions of
economic collapse, thus societal
catastrophe? 2) Will Christians in
America suffer severe persecution as
part of any such catastrophic breakdown?
Now, here’s where things can get
quite confusing, if careful attention
isn’t paid to the thoughts I’m trying to
convey. I am of the conviction that
America and the world will suffer
Lindsey and Beck’s predicted economic,
thus societal, catastrophe. Persecution
and martyrdom will coalesce to make life
for believers even in the U.S. region
hell on earth as a result of that
immense calamity.
I am at the same time equally
convinced that there will neither be
national and worldwide economic and
societal collapse nor severe persecution
and martyrdom for American Christians.
Lunacy? Not if one views things to come
through Bible prophecy as it is truly
given for us to understand.
God’s ways are not our ways and His
thoughts are not our thoughts (Isa.
55:8). Believe it or not, like it or
not, God’s Word demonstrates that He
deals with mankind in
dispensations–distinctive eras that He
alone determines. This generation is
part of the dispensation of grace–the
Church Age. This dispensation will morph
into the Tribulation, a period of seven
years of God’s judgment and wrath also
known as "Daniel’s seventieth week."
My seemingly irrational claims,
viewed in light of dispensational truth,
are on sound biblical footing. Please
consider slowly and carefully. Putting
forth that I believe America and the
world both will experience and will not
experience apocalyptic socioeconomic
collapse makes sense from dispensational
perspective. Holding that American
believers in Jesus Christ will not go
through such persecution that includes
martyrdom, all the while proclaiming
that believers living in this nation
will suffer persecution and martyrdom,
is a biblically correct dispensational
pronouncement.
These paradoxical proclamations are
made understandable by the words of the
greatest of all prophets–the Lord Jesus
Christ. His astonishing prophecy about
the end of this dispensation in which
you and I are living addresses the two
questions for which we seek answers.
Bible prophecy’s answers to these are
as follows, I’m firmly convinced:
1) Neither America nor the world will
suffer societal and monetary catastrophe
that will bring about apocalyptic
collapse due to man-made accidental
bungling or contrived manipulation.
However, there will be a crash of the
world’s socioeconomic system, which will
cause chaos of unfathomable scope,
brought about by the God of heaven in an
instant of time.
2) Christians in America today will
not face persecution of the sort
suffered by martyrs in past ages and by
believers in parts of the world at
present. But, following God’s next
catastrophic intervention into earth’s
history, believers in North America--as
well as all other believers in Jesus
Christ--will suffer persecution even
worse than that inflicted upon believers
of previous times.
Most Relevant Prophecy
When thinking on prophecies that are
stage-setting for the wind-up of
history, we most often point to
prophecies involving Israel being back
in the land of promise as most key to
where we stand on God’s end-of-the-age
timeline. The peace process and
Jerusalem being at the center of the
world’s spotlight show precisely the
lateness of the hour.
That said, I believe no prophecy is
more relevant for this moment in history
than that given by Jesus Christ Himself,
which encompasses not just the future of
Israel and Jerusalem, but of the entire
world:
And as it was in the days of Noe, so
shall it be also in the days of the Son
of man. They did eat, they drank, they
married wives, they were given in
marriage, until the day that Noe entered
into the ark, and the flood came, and
destroyed them all. Likewise also as it
was in the days of Lot; they did eat,
they drank, they bought, they sold, they
planted, they builded; But the same day
that Lot went out of Sodom it rained
fire and brimstone from heaven, and
destroyed them all. Even thus shall it
be in the day when the Son of man is
revealed. (Luke 17: 26-30)
This prophetic declaration by the
Creator of all things is about the
generation that will be alive at the
dénouement of the age. Specifically, it
refers to one catastrophic moment in the
present dispensation when all of this
world system will come crashing down. We
will next look in-depth at the details
wrapped up in Jesus’ foretelling of
planet earth’s near future.
