Christians believe that on Good Friday, Jesus died in place of the sinful believers who put their trust in his salvation, and rose from the dead on Easter — a preview of what’s to come on the Day of the Lord. The end-time prophecies in the Bible apply to all nations of the world. But do they have anything specific to say about the U.S.A.?
In his book, What the Bible Has to Say About the U.S.A.: The Old Testament Speaks to Americans Today, Bible scholar and veteran Christian author David S. Heeren takes readers on a fascinating exploration into the book of Hosea, where he draws striking parallels between ancient Israel and modern America. Heeren details the cultural characteristics that the two nations share during their periods of decline, centuries after their initial settlements, namely: Money vs. Morality, Lawlessness, Humanism (the deification of humanity), Liberalism, Globalism, Life vs. Convenience, New Age (and other religions that Heeren calls “hostile to Christianity”), God’s love (the book’s most important chapter), Cunning Commerce, Sexual License and Environmentalism.
Heeren compels readers to ponder questions such as, Are we headed for a crisis even worse than COVID? Will moral deterioration result in upheaval that could impact all levels of American society? What can Christians do to prevent a total collapse? And how should we prepare for whatever lies ahead?
“He (God) no more wants to see American civilization crumble than He desired the collapse of ancient Israel,” Heeren explained. “So we should not ignore prophetic details that seem relevant to our imperiled nation. Reproduction of conditions could result in repetition of consequences.”
In the book’s final chapter, Heeren brings the discussion full circle, with a description of a great spiritual revival — as prophetic as some of the Bible's end-time texts that anticipate the very same thing.
“Prophet Zechariah said one-third of all human beings will rise into heaven on earth’s final day,” Heeren added. “According to recent estimations by evangelists Billy Graham and D. James Kennedy, the number 33 percent is way too high. That number, according to Kennedy and Graham and others, probably right now is less than 10 percent. Talk about revival!”
I had a chance to learn more in this interview.
Why did you write this book? I wrote this book near the beginning of an end-time series concerning biblical end-time prophecy, and in a very real sense this book has taken on characteristics of prophecy on its own. The book emphasizes ten subjects that the Bible declared to be problematic for the ancient Israelites which have become equally threatening to the outlook for the U.S.A. They were problematic when my book was written but are much worse now nine years later. Book's first edition was published in 2013, although the most prominent edition was the one recently published.
Why is it important for Christians to realize that the Old Testament still has implications for us today? The entire Bible is relevant today, and it doesn't matter if the subject matter is Israel or the U.S.A., a nation that of course is not even mentioned in the Bible. But just as the Israelites repeated the same sins over and over until God took punitive measures, we can expect similar judgmental results in our land if we, like the Israelites, disrespect the sacredness of God's greatest creation, human life. We have murdered nearly 75-milloion unborn babies and a lot more by leaving to die infants when the abortions were botched. More and more often, we are choosing monetary gain when it clashes with morality. Many of our foremost leaders are sexual deviants and/or political exploiters with underlying Marxist intent. Other topics included in the book for discussion because of the terrible influence they are having on our culture, include humanism, liberalism, globalism, false religions rooted in the occult, and dishonest business practices similar to those described by the prophet Hosea. But the bottom line theme of God's love transcends everything else in Hosea's book and is featured at the heart of the book's climactic section (chapter 11).
How can people use the lessons from the Old Testament to help guide decision-making for today's crises and challenges? The Old Testament should be studied with as much diligence and seriousness as the New, even by Christians. This is so because the God of the Bible does not change. He reigns over times of prosperity and depravity. His word in both testaments is always true, always needful, always applicable to matters at hand. God's love is prominent in both testaments, not just in Hosea 11, but the entire book of Song of Songs and many of the psalms. Our God of love speaks of loving everyone, even enemies.
Author David S. Heeren is an award-winning journalist and author of 18 books. A personal prayer identical to that of Isaiah (Is. 6:8) led him to change his career emphasis from sports writing to Christian writing in 2007. Since that time, he has published nine books with Christian themes, five of which deal with biblical end-time prophecy. His book, The High Sign, which identifies the most likely sign of Jesus’ Second Coming, received a double-four-star (perfect) rating from the Online Book Club — the highest rating awarded by the club. Heeren was recently approved for inclusion in Who’s Who.
His upcoming Christian novel, Year of Our Lord, has been praised by literary critic David Dickerson as “by far the most exciting in the In His Steps series.”
To learn more, please visit: www.endtimesmystery.com.
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