What’s Going on in America?
Introduction
[Reading time: 19 minutes] This article is based on what Larry Fox believes the Lord told him from 1999 through 2015 about America.
Many Christians say God will judge America because we took prayer out of our schools, practice abortion, export pornography worldwide, approve gay marriage, and so on. However, God doesn’t judge a nation today because of sin as he did under the old covenant.
Because we American Christians have failed to honor our covenant relationship with him, God is gradually withdrawing his blessing and protection, making us vulnerable to the natural consequences of our actions. If the American church had been doing what we should for the last 100 years or so, we wouldn’t be facing most of the problems we’re experiencing or seeing develop today. We’ve failed to represent God properly. In the absence of life and righteousness from the church, corruption and evil are increasing in our culture. What else should we expect? God isn’t withdrawing his blessing and protection from our nation because sinners are acting sinfully, rather because of the spiritual indifference and moral decay among American Christians.
In the following sections, I summarize what I believe God has told me over the years about America’s future. This isn’t a gloom-and-doom message, though it may sound like one; rather, it’s insight to what’s going on in America and how we can prepare for it. I believe the best days are ahead for the American church, if we respond properly to God’s warnings.
God’s Kingdom Versus Satan’s
There are two spiritual kingdoms in operation on earth. God’s kingdom is within those who accept Jesus as Savior, while Satan functions as the god of this age. True Christians embrace God’s nature and ways, and the world embraces Satan’s.
God chooses to let Satan attack but uses the process to mature, train and strengthen Christians. He works through seemingly weak people to overpower the strong and the seemingly foolish to confound those who consider themselves wise, because his power and authority alone are sufficient to win the victory. God Almighty is the champion and there is no one like him.
It may appear Satan is becoming more powerful and successful, but God’s unlimited, overwhelming power will crush him and those who side with him. Satan has no real hope for victory, but he’s full of vanity and believes his own lies. The deceiver has deceived even himself, but his plans and abilities are laughable compared with God’s. By comparison, Satan is an absolute failure. If we could see him from God’s perspective, we’d see how pathetic he really is.
The End Times
We’re about to experience some things never seen before on earth – some will be blessings and some will be the natural results of sin. Don’t let this disturb you, for it’s all in God’s control. He is Lord God Almighty and what he does, no one can stop; what he opens, no one can close; what he says, no one can silence.
He set broad boundaries and allowed latitude in the past, allowing people to express themselves, make their own decisions and experience the consequences. This next phase will be different because he’ll allow sinfulness to reach full maturity. Sin always corrupts and destroys. Because the physical realm is humanity’s domain, people’s authority makes things happen throughout the universe; both directly and indirectly. Every action produces cascading effects and all of creation reverberates with them. The coming events may seem like God’s judgment of sin, but in reality they’re warnings and therefore redemptive in nature.
Watch Israel closely and be aware of Islam’s effects on the world scene, because these are major players.
The day is rapidly approaching when Jesus will return to make his rightful legal claim on the physical realm and everything will conform to his will. Everything he declares will happen, just as surely as his word brought creation into existence.
America
Many times God uses visions and prophecies to show what will happen unless people repent. But not this time. What he has said will happen. Christians generally haven’t done much better than non-Christians, but there is a core of believers whose hearts are on fire for him and he’ll protect them and use them in ways that will astound them.
America has turned its back on God and his ways. He won’t continue blessing a people who continue to resist him, and is beginning to withdraw his favor and protection. Meanwhile, Satan’s highest priority is to attack and afflict members of God’s family.
America will no longer be a world power and its fall from influence will happen quickly. We’re seeing the initial trembling now, the tremors that precede the collapse. Our nation will continue to exist, but significant internal changes are about to happen and the entire culture will become radically different.
Don’t be afraid, but also don’t be naive. America’s fall from world power will be complete. God is patient but won’t continue blessing Christians who ignore him and go their own way. He will care for and protect those who turn to him, but terrible devastation is coming.
There won’t be a single decisive cause for America’s fall. Repeated blows will hit different areas of vulnerability until Uncle Sam falls, overwhelmed by the ferocity and scale of the assaults. We’ll experience a wide variety of problems: government failures, terrorist and military attacks, civil unrest, extreme self-indulgence, economic turmoil, major earthquakes, extreme weather, and more.
Basic systems in society will collapse and many public services will be abandoned for lack of funding and overwhelming problems. The nation’s infrastructure will deteriorate because of financial shortages.
The world is already looking for replacements for the American dollar as the world’s reserve currency, which will cause it to become essentially worthless.
It will appear even nature has gone wild. We’ll experience devastating hurricanes and earthquakes. Water resources will suddenly change location or dry up. Landslides and earthquakes will reroute rivers. Pests and diseases immune to man’s artificial controls will destroy crops. Many will claim it’s all the result of anthropogenic climate change, but it will instead be spiritually-induced and cause great damage to food supplies.
The nation will fall suddenly and completely from world power to virtual oblivion. People will still have jobs, but the standard of living will be drastically different. All the “toys” people struggle for today will lie abandoned in heaps because they will have no value. Those who relied on their investments to give them a life of luxury and indulgence will struggle to earn enough to buy basic foods.
Some of these events are unavoidable, but not all of them are and Christians’ responses will affect their severity and duration. If we will humble ourselves, pray, seek God’s face and turn from our own wicked ways, then the extent of the damage will be reduced.
This judgment is not for destruction, but for correction and repentance. Although Christians will call out to God, there won’t be significant, long-term changes in the nation’s policies or people’s behavior.
Increasing Spiritual Conflict
The spiritual war will escalate rapidly with open conflicts in the streets. Not with guns or brute physical force, but with authority opposed to rebellion, true power opposed to imagery. The enemy will do nothing new, only be more brazen about it. But we will see unprecedented divine miracles.
People will live in despair and try to numb themselves by engaging in every form of indulgent and destructive behavior. Out of a sense of desperation and futility, they will abandon all restraints, throw off all standards of acceptable behavior, deliberately violate laws, and abuse others verbally and physically. They will live by their most basic desires and instincts in total depravity. The darkness of their own spirits will cause people to embrace the ultimate darkness as enlightenment and the ultimate bondage as liberty. We must guard ourselves as every form of perversion and godlessness floods our culture.
Sin in all its vile forms will explode on the scene as people try to numb their senses. The selfish attitudes of recent generations will cause people to throw tantrums because they can’t have what they want. They will steal, kill and destroy, just like their father Satan. American society will become increasingly dangerous. There will be a period of great danger, and anarchy will rule in many large cities, but we’ll be safe if we trust in God. The calamity will affect Christians, but not destroy us.
God will allow corruption to mature so it shocks the sensibilities of even the most immature believers, causing them to turn to him. If they continue to embrace the world as it becomes increasingly evil, they’ll have made their choice to abandon him. If instead they’re sickened by the revolting sinfulness around them and turn to God for help as he intends, he’ll gladly purify, strengthen and protect them.
There will be unprecedented spiritual warfare throughout the world, including America. God’s people – Jews and Christians – will seem overwhelmed by the oppression, hatred and physical attacks, but they won’t have to defend themselves, because he will deal with those who oppose them.
God is setting up our enemy Satan for his defeat and preparing us so we can do our part in it. At times, it may appear the enemy is prevailing, as some of us pay for our faith with our lives. But this is part of God’s strategy, too. Not only do martyrs bring him glory by honoring him more than their lives, their deaths prove that his sentence is just, and the enemy deserves exactly what he’ll receive.
Though some will die during this time, they will live forever and nothing will harm them. Though some will lose everything they own, they will enjoy all that God has. Though people will reject them, he will embrace them. Though they will be treated like outcasts, they will rule with him over the nations. Though they become the focus of abuse and ridicule and torment, they will receive honor and glory from him. They will lose nothing of value because this world has nothing of value to give.
Most Americans have substituted government for God. They want the government to protect them from all harm, guarantee their income even in retirement, and take care of them. That is why human government must be proven to be ineffective; it’s incapable of being god and the true God won’t share his glory with anyone. People will riot because federal, state and local governments will fail.
While our nation collapses, God’s kingdom will explode on the scene. While sin will abound among the pagans, his righteousness will abound among us, his people. While chaos and anarchy reign in the streets, his power and kingdom will reign in our hearts and lives. Destruction will be prevalent and we will flourish. Crime rates will soar and holiness will thrive. Two kingdoms will openly express themselves with conflict between their citizens.
The barrier between the spiritual and physical realms will disappear and everyone from those realms will actively engage in the conflict. When spiritual beings appear on earth, people will self-medicate with every form of perversion to reduce their terror and hopelessness. Violence, abuse, perversion and every form of evil will be rampant. But as God’s people, we’ll revolt against evil and yearn for righteousness, and as we become more like him, the world will hate us even more.
The circumstances in that phase will seem hopeless and paralyze people with fear; common people and leadership alike. No one will have worthwhile solutions. World governments, societies and economies will be chaotic. The earth itself will convulse as if nauseous from the evil, affecting weather, tectonic plates and oceans. All this will reflect the warfare between the spiritual kingdoms.
I call this a phase instead of a period because what it will accomplish is more important than how long it lasts. It will last several years – maybe as many as ten – depending on how we respond. But its purpose will be twofold: (1) to show God’s glory during catastrophe, and (2) to purify us and help prepare us for our eternal roles in his kingdom. As we seek his face, he’ll give us the resources we need – ideas, inventions, finances and materials – to do the work he ordained.
If God wanted to destroy those who reject him and his ways, he could simply step back and allow them to experience the full consequences of their choices, because sin is devastating. We don’t realize how much he’s protecting and sustaining the world we live in. Without his constant intervention, this world would self-destruct.
The events we’ll experience will be unprecedented in their magnitude, locations and timing. This will not be God’s wrath, which he is reserving for destruction of the world system on the Day of the Lord. Instead, this is his temporary and redemptive judgment.
The American Church
The problems we see in America today – fiscal uncertainty, skyrocketing debt, increasing divorce rate, terrorist threats, increasing decadence, cultural polarization, intolerance, escalating violence and hostility – are only symptoms. The real issue is the state of the church.
If America collapses, it will be the result of internal decay – spiritual indifference and moral decay among American Christians. The external blows will trigger the collapse, but the internal weakness will cause the fall. If the church were spiritually strong, nothing would take America down. But most Christians are spiritually lazy, self-indulgent and worldly; spiritual infants unwilling to follow God.
God loves us too much to allow us to struggle and suffer in our current state. We’re in bondage to destruction and decay, yet think we’re free and prosperous. His love and compassion motivate him to refine us.
The battle between the kingdoms will become visible, but we Christians aren’t ready because we’re preoccupied with earthly life. We need to be thinking about God’s kingdom, or we won’t understand what is about to happen. We’ll be afraid and of little value because we’ll be immobilized by the cares of life. We’ll be more concerned about protecting our belongings and reputations than about serving God.
The spiritual war between kingdoms will erupt on the social and civil scenes, resulting in violence against many ministries and churches. True believers will meet secretly in many cities.
Every Christian has a role and the church will need each person’s contribution. So it’s essential each of us understand what is happening and why, what our role is, how to work with God and other believers, and how to withstand the ungodly assaults we’ll experience.
As wickedness ramps up, God’s grace will flow from those who love him and we will have everything we need to do the work he gives us. He’s allowing sin to increase so every being – humans, angels, demons and all other creatures – can see the devastation caused by sin and confess he is justified in destroying all who embrace it. He is patient, but also just.
Those who haven’t strengthened themselves in the Lord will fall and their end will be terrible. Some will enter his eternal kingdom but lose everything they gained in life; they will finish the race but will have nothing to show for it. Others will abandon him when problems increase because he’s no longer satisfying their carnal desires. They will be lost, and it will be worse for them than if they had never been believers.
The secular church will continue to embrace the world and promote a corrupted gospel. True believers and churches will be vilified, condemned, ridiculed and even denied basic rights, but we’ll grow spiritually and transform into his image with ever-increasing glory. He’ll work mightily through us and all the earth will acknowledge we’re his holy people, even while it rejects and persecutes us.
God’s refining his people all over the world so we will provide life, light and hope during the coming time of death, darkness and despair. It’s up to us to turn from wickedness and self-indulgence, and turn to him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Everyone must decide finally and forever whom they will serve.
Don’t be afraid of the calamities coming on the world and America in particular. They are nothing compared with the glory God’s prepared to release in and through us. The future will be devastating to earth-dwellers – people who live only for their earthly existence – but it will finish the cleansing work he’s doing in us, whom he loves. This will be the most challenging, exciting and fulfilling time of our lives.
It’s true we’ve seen food multiplied, diseases healed, limbs restored and shattered lives made whole. But we’re about to see miracles unprecedented in history for their magnitude and frequency. There will be a mighty release of God’s Spirit as believers worldwide turn to him in faith. As human systems fail, we’ll rediscover the Holy Spirit’s power, which will dwarf the greatest of all human achievements. “Blatant miracles” will become commonplace and the extraordinary will become typical among us. His power will completely overshadow the severity of the world’s problems for us, if we’re willing to call out to him and receive his blessing.
The next Great Awakening is beginning now in ordinary people scattered across the nation and around the world. It will grow into a major spiritual movement, greater in size and impact than even the great movements of the twentieth century.
At the same time, however, great persecution will arise unlike anything in American history, a spiritual conflict evident in every aspect of society and culture. We’ll see open hostility to every form of morality and righteousness, a demonically-inspired revulsion against God and his people. But God will use the enemy’s worst efforts to produce the best results in true believers, and we’ll see the sheer danger of flirting with sin and turn to God with all our hearts. As we’re refined, we’ll reject the “great American dream” and embrace kingdom reality, willingly exchanging materialism and self-indulgence for spiritual maturity and glory.
The best days are still ahead for the true church, that core of believers who center their lives on God and serve him with their entire being.
Our Response
We have nothing to fear if we rely on our heavenly Father, not ourselves. The issue isn’t whether circumstances are pleasant or difficult, but whether we’re completely dependent on him by choice.
We’ll be ready for the perilous times ahead if we begin preparing ourselves now, starting with repentance. That involves conforming our thinking to God’s, and includes modifying our attitudes, values, standards and priorities. The best way to learn how God thinks is to devour the Bible as spiritual food, pray, and focus on his presence. We must trust him in every situation, conform ourselves to his nature and ways, and choose to live a life that pleases and honors him. We must realize the warfare is between the two spiritual kingdoms, and the people we encounter are not the enemy. It would be helpful to begin preparing ourselves psychologically for God to work through us, so we can help terrified, desperate and needy people. Then it doesn’t matter what the future brings because he will provide everything we need, including the ability to do what he asks.
It’s essential that we don’t allow earthly life to monopolize our thinking, including the world’s condition, culture, attitudes and behavior. This is a foreign environment for us and is deadly to our true nature if we give in to its enticements. Its spiritual pollution and corruption will deface his image in us and alter our nature. If we continue to think as the world does and share the world’s values, we’ll suffer like the earth-dwellers. But if we transform our minds, we’ll see God’s glory and engage in what he does.
The distinction between the kingdoms will be obvious to everyone. No more hazy, gray areas in which everyone can feel comfortable, both sinner and saint alike. God’s calling us out of the world system, to live exclusively in his kingdom though we physically remain on earth.
We don’t need to be concerned about the future because he’ll show us what to do and deliver us out of all that happens, through the destruction that will be all around us. Thousands may fall around us, but whatever harm we experience will make us more like him, prepare us for greater responsibility in his kingdom, and prove his judgment of evil is proper and necessary.
God will work through us in ways we couldn’t imagine, even if he were to tell us now. But step by step, with our cooperation, he’ll prepare us and propel us into our destiny. We’ll be awed at what he’s about to do in both the physical and spiritual realms.
God is showing us what’s ahead and how we should prepare ourselves. He doesn’t want us to be fearful or oblivious. He wants us ready to engage in the final great awakening by leading unbelievers to him and serving those who need help. It’s time for everyone to be involved and on fire for him.
If we turn to God and allow him to purify us now, the coming hardships won’t have as much impact on us. It will be much more difficult if we wait until conditions worsen and have to make the changes under great stress. If God were to use us without first preparing us, we would be vulnerable to spiritual failure and he loves us too much to allow that.
Closing Thoughts
I’m encouraged about this, but not because I enjoy hardship. Instead, I’m grieved that we’re almost indistinguishable from the world, and I want to see God gloriously and powerfully at work in us.
I look forward to us fulfilling our God-given destinies and experiencing him working through us to advance his kingdom and destroy the enemy’s works. I can’t describe how much I want to see him do that through every one of us. But I realize it can only happen if we are serious about serving him and doing the work he’s preparing us to do.
Summary
There’s a period of great turmoil and uncertainty developing in America, resulting in numerous blows that will overwhelm the nation, so it’s important for us to know what is happening and why. This is an alert of major changes facing us. However, this may be the American church’s finest hour.