Implosion Read Free

they would ask such questions, and it’s heartening to know—even years after the fact—that some do. But it is quite another thing for leaders to privately ask whether the Bible offers clues to the possible decline or even implosion of their own country.
    There is nothing wrong with doing so. To the contrary, all leaders should feel comfortable asking honest, genuine questions about what the Bible says on any subject, including their nation’s future. Most of us, however, simply would not expect such questions from our national leaders. In many ways, this is new, uncharted territory. Yet given the state of our economic and cultural troubles, these are the questions people are asking these days.
    And it’s not just politicians. In my experience, people at all levels of business, media, the arts, sports, ministry, education, and elsewhere are asking as well.
    The Most Frequently Asked Question
    Until recently, the question I was asked most frequently when I spoke and did interviews in the U.S. and around the world was, “Joel, how can you be Jewish and believe that Jesus is the Messiah?” Within the last few years, however, that important question has been significantly eclipsed by another one. These days, the question I am most frequently asked is this: “What happens to America in the last days?”
    I also get plenty of variations on the theme:
    • Is America simply in decline, or are we like the Roman Empire, stumbling toward collapse?
    • Do you believe America’s days are numbered?
    • Are we approaching the end of America as we have known it?
    • Are we living in the last days?
    • What does the Bible say about the future of the United States?
    • Is America even mentioned in End Times Bible prophecy?
    • Is America mentioned, described, or hinted at in the Bible at all?
    Christians are certainly wrestling with such questions. But I find that Americans from a variety of religious backgrounds—including Jews, Muslims, and others—are asking these and similar questions as well. Indeed, often when I am on a secular talk radio show, I’m invited to talk about geopolitical issues related to Israel, the broader Middle East, and radical Islam. The conversation tends to come around to my views of how Israel and the nations of the epicenter fit into Bible prophecy, and then it’s not uncommon for the radio host to ask me, “So what about America? What does the Bible say about our future?”
    Some people ask because they are certain America is , in fact, described in the Scriptures as a significant or even major player in the End Times, and they want to know more. They are looking for hope that we are going to weather the economic, political, moral, spiritual, and other storms now battering us so intensely. Others, however, ask because they are fearful the U.S. is not described in the Bible, and they are wondering, “Why not? And if not, what will happen to us, and how much time do we have left?”
    My wife, Lynn, and I have lived in and around Washington, DC, since 1990, and neither of us recalls hearing such questions—much less being asked them ourselves—during our first decade in Washington. During those years, my professional life was immersed in researching and advocating various economic/social/cultural/educational reforms and working on political campaigns for a variety of U.S. and Israeli leaders, not teaching Bible prophecy. I’m not saying such questions weren’t being asked and answered by others during this time. I’m just saying that I, apparently, wasn’t tuned in to such conversations.
    Over the course of the last decade, however—and even more so in the last few years—as such questions have come up more and more, I’m increasingly aware of and focused on this conversation, more so than at any other time in my life, ever since I left the campaign trail, went through what I call “political detox,” and began writing books about the growing geopolitical, religious, and economic