The final essay of this 4-part series attempts to bring together the ideas presented in the first three parts. The elements in the mashup about America’s fate come from the books The Fourth Turning, The Unseen Realm, and This Present Darkness. They derive from secular, Biblical non-fiction, and Christian fiction concepts. Is it any wonder I call this a mashup? Hopefully, from all this, however, we can bring a sense of cohesion and, if nothing else, an interesting hypothetical view of the fate of America in these latter days.
Under the speculative assumption that the majority of the notions presented in these three sources are generally true, what do we have?
Through the cyclical fates of history that demonstrate a repetitive pattern, America has entered a period characterized by great disruption. Unrest and chaos are affecting our nation in unprecedented ways. It’s not simply from one spot that this trouble arises, but from every conceivable aspect of our society. These woes are gathering momentum. From multiple perspectives we think we’ve reached a new low, but the bottom seems capable of dropping further. Eventually the butterfly will flap its wings in some remote corner of the world. This will trigger a critical reaction that impacts every single one of these cultural ingredients. The ultimate crisis climax will be unprecedented.
God has ordained a ruling hierarchy throughout the earth. His original intention was for His divine sons that He placed over the nations to point Gentiles, i.e. non-Jews, to Him. That didn’t work out so well. Even though He knew the outcome, maybe He still held out hope that some of these rebellious entities would come to their senses. No, probably not. It seems that once any beings, whether spiritual or human, in their free will choose to turn from the Source of Truth, a downward spiral causes them to grow more hardened against God and resistant to His love.
In the case of the sons of God, they seemingly all drank Satan’s Kool-Aid and ruled unjustly. God has already judged them; however, He hasn’t yet implemented their punishment. They remain in their positions of power over the nations thinking that in their cumulative, delusional might they can successfully defeat God.
The divine son over America is the one in question. Where does he stand? He certainly was faithful in the beginning. Our nation’s history reflects this fact in the way that we generally acted as a people and how the blessings of God were showered upon us. But that’s changed. The major shift appears to have occurred in the 1960s. Why? Interestingly, when we refer back to The Fourth Turning concepts, that era was the Second Turning, and one characterized by an awakening of consciousness, a period of questioning authority, anti-institutionalism, and increasing turbulence. It’s almost as if the rebellious minions go through their own cycles; this was theirs when they woke up. And maybe that’s not so far from the truth. If we look at the cycles in the Book of Judges, we get something like the four turnings of history. Again, from that secular view, those turnings are: High – Awakening – Unraveling – Crisis. In Judges we see: God’s deliverance resulting in: Reverence and adoration toward Him (High) – Peace in the Land, where conditions are so good that God is forgotten and other gods become known (Awakening) – Israel does evil as they pursue other gods (Unraveling) – God punishes Israel (Crisis). In the Biblical narrative, God raises up a savior who delivers Israel and the cycle begins again. It’s not necessarily a perfect match, but it’s close.
Why in Israel did the people turn away? Why in America have people turned away? What causes the hot and cold conditions of peoples’ hearts? How is that related to the gods, other than God, that people follow?
It may be that a willing heart, obedience, and prayer are keys. When the people of God increase and, as true disciples of Jesus Christ do as the Lord commands, He rains down His favor in blessings, whether material or spiritual. Since God inevitably has a remnant in place, it may be that as it rises up in prayer and more people come to the Lord, the powers and authorities in high places are impacted. Maybe the son of God over America has always been loyal to Him, but based on how the human population under his guidance reacts, it determines his strength. It could be that the ebb and flow, the highs and lows of faith in this nation and loyalty to God are intertwined with the divine son spiritually in place over America. There may be a symbiotic relationship of sorts between the people of God and this ruling entity who reports to his Father.
If we envision how the dark forces in the fictional town of Ashton were able to increase in might, it was because so few of the townspeople truly served God. Only as the prayerful remnant woke up were the heavenly host able to rise in numbers and grow in their ability to fight the darkness. The parallel to Judges and to our nation past and future may indicate that something like this has regularly occurred.
In the Judges paradigm in our parallels with Israel, and in considering that we’re in the heart of the Fourth Turning, this means that America is on the cusp of major judgment from God. His divine ruling son over America has either weakened significantly or has turned away from God. The praying people in our nation have dwindled as the church has fallen into apostasy and is seeking other gods, while God haters are increasing exponentially. The dark cloud over us is growing in intensity every day. Something has to happen, and it will.
God has it planned out. He’s got the big picture in view. Fortunately, followers of Jesus Christ who know the Word of God also know the end of the story. At this juncture with all this mashup of ideas coalescing, a BIG event is on the horizon. Many of us believe it’ll be the Rapture. That’ll be the triggering event, the butterfly flapping its wings. As a result, all the cultural and societal ingredients that are currently held in stasis by God’s gracious hand will collapse.
We who believe in Jesus will be removed, and God’s wrath will be poured out in the last great crisis of the Fourth Turning through the inevitable, final spiritual battle, as God’s rebellious sons make their last gasp effort to remain relevant. Neither they nor the dragon, Satan himself, will succeed. As America is dragged under by this conflagration of epic proportions in the Tribulation, God will have His way. His plans and purposes will come to fruition.
The rebellious divine sons will receive their judgment, as will their ringleader. All of humanity that has chosen to follow the ways of self and that worships these other gods will likewise suffer an unimaginable fate. America, if it emerges in some form after the Tribulation, will look a lot different than it does today. In the Millennium it’ll be a nation comprised of those who love the Lord, as will all countries on earth at that immediate time.
Even better, we as Raptured believers will have glorified bodies and will join with Christ to rule with Him over the nations. What a world that will be!