America at the Crossroads: Will we Survive Another 250 Years?

On the evening of July 3, 1776, the portly, 40-year-old John Adams sat in his candlelit room in Philadelphia and penned the following words to his wife, Abagail, in Massachusetts:

“The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by Solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.” 

Adams may have missed his proposed date of our National Day of Celebration, but he certainly didn’t miss the spirit of it. July 4 of this year marks the 250th anniversary of the founding of this nation that God has uniquely blessed, and, as Adams notes, we should celebrate it with fun and festivities, but also with “solemn acts of Devotion to God Almighty.” Why? Because God is the Source of every blessing we have experienced individually and together as a nation.

1. America’s Past: Blessing

That God has blessed the United States of America hardly seems worth pointing out; it’s so obviously true. Yet throughout Scripture, we’re commanded to remember—remember where we came from, remember whom we worship, and remember what God has done for us. 

To remember the Lord’s goodness to us in the past is an act of worship in the present. President Abraham Lincoln understood this. On September 18–20, 1863, Confederate forces repelled a Union advance in the Western theater at a place the Cherokee called the “River of Death.” It was an appropriate name since casualty reports from the Battle of Chickamauga equaled 34,624 dead and wounded—making it, next to Gettysburg, the second costliest battle of the Civil War.5

Despite the massive losses of thousands of soldiers  Lincoln had experienced just a few weeks earlier, President Lincoln looked heavenward and remembered how God had blessed the nation. On October 3, 1863, he issued a “Proclamation of Thanksgiving,” asking the American people to look heavenward and remember God’s blessings. 

Lincoln went on to specify the blessings the Lord had bestowed on the land, even in “the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity.”    

In his Proclamation of Thanksgiving, Lincoln clarified that these blessings were “the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.”  

Of course, we can look further back into America’s history to see more of God’s blessings on our nation. 

2. America’s Future: Judgment

Although our nation has historically been a place where the Word of God has flourished, resulting in God’s continual blessings, by the time the church is raptured and the end times begin, America will no longer be a land blessed by God because the Word of God will no longer flourish here.

And though we’re proud of America’s dominance on the world’s stage now, America will no longer be a dominant power during the end times. According to Scripture, the political and economic superpower during that future time will be a revived Roman Empire led by the Antichrist. 

The diminishment of the United States in the future shouldn’t come as a surprise. Nations rise and fall according to God’s sovereign providence, especially when those nations willfully reject God and His Word, turning their backs on His moral requirements. 

These nations that reject God should expect nothing less than “the wrath of God” (Romans 1:18). We see this throughout history. The Babylonian Empire lasted less than a century. The Persian Empire lasted about two centuries. The Greek Empire waned in less than three centuries. And though the mighty Roman Empire held out for nine centuries, it, too, experienced divine judgment.

America has survived for 250 years thus far. However, when we get to the future end times, the United States will cease to exist in any meaningful way as a constitutional republic, with three branches of government—legislative, executive, and judicial—and guaranteed constitutional rights like freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom to petition the government, freedom to bear arms, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures, freedom not to testify against ourselves, freedom of due process, freedom of trial by jury and innocent until proven guilty. In the future end-times tribulation, America will be just one of all the other nations rejecting Christ and following the Antichrist.

How will this happen? I believe there are at least three scenarios leading to the ultimate demise of America as we know it today—and the rapture of the church will play a significant role in each one.

• Moral Disintegration (2 Timothy 3:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:7-9)

As bad as things are in these last days in which you and I are living now, Paul warned that things are going to “proceed from bad to worse” (v. 13) as the last days eventually give way to the end times—that last seven years of Earth’s history known as the Great tribulation that will lead to the return of Jesus Christ.

Moral disintegration is a foregone conclusion during the end times, and not just because of what we’re witnessing today. When Jesus appears to rapture the church, all believers will be removed from the earth.  

Think about what will happen in our country and every country around the world when every Christian is removed. After all believers have been raptured to be with the Lord and the Holy Spirit, who indwells every believer, is removed, the father of sin (Satan) and the servant of sin (the Antichrist) will be allowed to run rampant and unchecked on earth during the future seven-year tribulation. In fact, it will only take seven years for the Earth to completely unravel.

• Military Confrontation (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18)

The rapture of the church will have other catastrophic effects on America, perhaps more so than on other nations, because of the high concentration of Christians in our country. Following the rapture, I believe the United States will suffer from widespread economic and civil devastation.

Think about what will happen when, in the blink of an eye, the millions upon millions of Christians in America disappear. Economically, businesses will go bankrupt because Christian CEOs and employees will no longer be here to do the work. Bills, mortgages, and other loans from now-absent believers will go unpaid and default. 

The stock market will tumble and crash. Local, state, and national government offices will be in disarray. Law enforcement officers and firefighters will not be available to respond to emergency needs. Utilities—water, electricity, sewage—will be curtailed. There will be a shortage of doctors and nurses, resulting in deaths. Planes with Christian pilots will fall from the sky. Trains and automobiles with missing drivers will crash. Crops will fail without Christian farmers, and grocery stores will not be stocked. Panic and chaos will rule the day, leading to looting and other crimes.

But perhaps most disturbing is the fact that, when the millions of Christians disappear at the rapture, our nation’s military will be gutted. With a weakened fighting force, the United States will be a prime target for a nuclear detonation or an attack from an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). America will still have enemies following the rapture, and some of them have or are developing the capabilities to attack us. A nuclear attack on one of our major cities—such as New York, Chicago, Dallas, or Los Angeles—would kill hundreds of thousands of people and throw an already struggling country into a tailspin economically and politically.

• Israeli Isolation (Genesis 12:3)

God has blessed America because of our friendship with the Jewish people and the state of Israel. We were the first nation to recognize the modern state of Israel in 1948, and we have been a close ally and staunch supporter of Israel, even moving our embassy to Jerusalem in 2018 despite a chorus of protests from Arab nations. And I believe that America’s steadfast support for Israel in spite of world opinion has been one reason for God’s blessing of our country.

Whether it is from moral disintegration, military confrontation, or Israeli isolation, the Bible is clear that America and every other nation in the world will cease to exist as we know it.   

You may be thinking at this point: “This is the most depressing patriotic message ever! Are you saying we should just sit on our hands and watch our country collapse?” Not at all.    

3. America’s Present: Choice

America’s past is past, and America’s ultimate future is set. There’s nothing we can do to change or alter what has gone before or what is ultimately coming. But what about America’s present? Is it a time of  God’s blessing or a time of God’s judgment? It is a time of choosing. We can choose to live in such a way that invites God’s blessings into our homes, our communities, and our nation. How do we do that? 

• Take a Stand
• Cast a Vote
• Say a Prayer
• Share the Gospel

While preparing this message, I went back and reread some of the messages my pastor and mentor, Dr. W. A. Criswell, preached in 1976 about turning America back to God. In one message, he said this, which I close with:

“I am a part of a nation, maybe a small part, but I am a part of the nation. . . . And the nation cannot repent until I repent. The nation cannot believe unless I believe. The nation cannot be baptized unless I am baptized. The nation cannot turn to God until I turn to God. The nation cannot be saved unless I am saved. The devotion and the fire and the flame must start in me. Lord, send revival, and let it begin with me.”

That is the prayer of every Christian who loves God and loves America.