Can we discuss what some of the signs of the end times are, especially in relation to what’s going on in the United States today?

Probably the dominant signs of the end times that we see in the United States are found in two particular sections of Scripture—one Old Testament and one New. From the prophet Isaiah comes these verses: Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent. Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel—Isaiah 5:20-24. This is one of the ultimate pictures of deception that is contained in all Scripture, reminding us of the words that God gave Paul in looking at the end times: For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back (the Holy Spirit) will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And the lawless one (the Antichrist) will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness—Paul, II Thessalonians 2:7-12. Now, one of the interesting aspects of the Isaiah verses is the picture of rot that results from rejecting the law of God: “Their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust.” Certainly we can see how the United States has moved so far away from God’s law and God’s word for their own definition of right and good. From the New Testament comes these words of forewarning from the apostle Paul to his protégé Timothy, in some of the last words he ever wrote: In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths—Paul, II Timothy 4:1-4. The church is having less and less influence on the culture around us. While there may be many reasons for that, one reason is that the church of Jesus Christ stands for something that the world does not want to hear. We represent a standard of behavior, of right and wrong. Our very existence reminds people of that standard, whether they want to hear about it or not. The world wants to be free to think and behave without consequence, and without reminder of consequence. It’s one reason that evolution is so attractive: Evolution makes me a god—interestingly enough, the same temptation with which Satan triumphed over Eve in the Garden of Eden. In other words, evolution makes me the master of my life—the maker of the rules, the declarer of the judgments.

One last thought: Whatever our founding, we as a nation have drifted away from the Word of God—both from knowing it and from fleshing it out in our lives. When Christ was in the wilderness, being tempted by Satan, He responded to the first temptation with a quote from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy; remember the story? Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘MAN DOES NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT COMES FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD’”—Matthew 4:1-4 (quoting Deuteronomy 8:3b). As a consequence, we, as Paul saw, put ourselves at risk of becoming like infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming—Paul, Ephesians 4:14. Instead, it would be much more to our benefit to mirror what the ancient Israelites were told: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates—Deuteronomy 6:5-9. Right now we are very much, as a nation, a reflection of the final words of the Old Testament book of Judges: In those days . . . everyone did as he saw fit—Judges 21:25. Yet this is the place and time in which God has placed us. It is incredibly important that we wrap ourselves in the word of God, that we can know it and reflect it wherever God has placed us.

Now, the fact is, there is really no verifiable mention of the United States in the Bible. There is a sense that the United States will be greatly reduced in global standing by the time the events of the end times begin. There could be a couple of reasons for that: (1) we could simply by consequence of our own demise become inconsequential by the time the end times begin, or (2) as the most evangelized nation in the history of the world, a pre-tribulation rapture would take out a larger percentage of our population than any other nation on earth—maybe as many as 90-100 million people. That would obviously impact us greatly moving forward into the history of the end times. But, for right now, we still have opportunity to express Jesus Christ to the nation around us. We remain here for God’s purpose. Right now, that’s really all we need to know.