America's Prophetic Future

Although the United States of America is never mentioned directly in biblical prophecy, there is a scripture contained in the Old Testament’s Book of Daniel that seems to speak of the U.S.

That scripture, that’s part of a prophetic vision concerning the end times that Daniel received from the archangel Gabriel about 2,600 years ago, speaks of a world power that Gabriel described allegorically as a “shaggy goat” with a large prominent horn between its eyes. (Daniel 8:21) Daniel revealed that the horn on the goat represents “the king of Greece” and this nation will travel a great distance across the world in the last days to confront and destroy a global nemesis that Daniel metaphorically called a two-horned ram (Daniel 8:3) located in what used to be known as Persia. Gabriel revealed that the two-horned ram represents “the kings of Media and Persia.” (Daniel 8:20)

Ancient Persia is now known as modern Iran, so Daniel’s prophecy is being fulfilled in our current time. But who was Media? Ancient Media was a kingdom located to the Northwest of Persia, and encompassed much of what is known today as Iraq. And so, Daniel’s prophecy concerning two major troublemakers on the end-time world stage is clear; they are Iraq (Media) and Iran. (Persia)

What does the ram and its two horns symbolize? The ram represents fundamental Islam that seeks to destroy Israel; overthrow western civilization and establish a global caliphate. The two horns represent the kings of Media and Persia. Daniel revealed that “one of the horns was longer (Iraq) than the other (Iran) but (it) grew up later.” (Daniel 8:3) Who is the King of Media? He was former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein who presented a threat to that region and the entire world with chemical and biological weapons. And he had plans to develop nuclear weapons that Israel curtailed in 1981 when the Israelis bombed Hussein’s nuclear reactor located at Al Tuwaitha.

The ram’s longer horn symbolizes that Iraq was a dangerous power before Iran. The smaller horn that grew up later symbolizes Iran’s rise to a dangerous power that began in 1979 with the Ayatollah Khomeini’s Islamic Revolution after the Shah of Iran was overthrown. Hussein feared the Iranian revolution and waged a long and bloody war against Iran beginning in 1980 and finally ending in 1988 when both nations agreed to a U.N. brokered cease fire. During that long war, Iraq also developed chemical and biological weapons that Hussein not only used against the Iranians, but even those living inside his own nation that he suspected of treason.

But it wasn’t until 1990 when Hussein invaded the tiny nation of Kuwait that the United States, led by President George H.W. Bush put together a military coalition of nations that came to Kuwait’s rescue and drove Hussein’s army out of that nation. The U.S. led coalition did serious damage to Hussein’s military capabilities and then the U.N. subsequently established military restrictions and economic sanctions against Iraq. This was the beginning of the fulfillment of Daniel’s ancient prophecy.

But the U.S. led invasion of Iraq in 1990 didn’t put Iraq completely out of business and another U.S. led coalition had to return again in 2003 to finish the job after Hussein had violated several U.N. resolutions by reconstituting his military. The U.S. suspected Hussein of bankrolling the deadly Sept. 11, 2001 al Qaeda terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and New York City’s World Trade Center. The U.S. also believed that Hussein had reconstituted a secretive nuclear and chemical weapons program, though no weapons were ever found after the 2003 invasion.

So far, we’ve established the identities of the ram and its two horns contained in Daniel’s ancient prophecy. But how can we determine that the one-horned shaggy goat is indeed a military power led by the United States? Gabriel described this goat as the King of Greece. Could modern Greece actually be the nation that will overthrow Iran and destroy its nuclear weapons program? That’s impossible. Modern Greece is financially bankrupt and has no military to speak of. The Greeks would be no match for the Iranians, let alone a nation such as Costa Rica. This part of Daniel’s prophecy has puzzled biblical scholars for centuries.

Some scholars believed that Daniel’s revelation was fulfilled in 331 B.C. when Macedonian King Alexander the Great conquered Persia. But that wasn’t the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy because that wasn’t the time of the end that Gabriel revealed the prophecy concerned. (Daniel 8:17) When Alexander invaded ancient Persia, Christ’s appearance on earth was still more than three centuries away. So Alexander’s invasion of Persia didn’t fulfill Daniel 8.

Then why did Gabriel refer to modern Iran’s conqueror as the King of Greece when he explained the vision to Daniel? Because Greece was the most prominent gentile nation in the ancient world. And the gentiles were often referred to as “Greeks.” For example, in his epistle to the early Roman church, the apostle Paul wrote that he was “obligated to both Greeks and non-Greeks” (Romans 1:14) to share the gospel.

In his first epistle to the early church in Corinth, Paul wrote that “Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom” (1Corinthians 1:22) seeking proof that Jesus Christ was indeed the Messiah. And in his epistle to the church in Galatia, Paul wrote that “there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28) Again, Paul substituted the term Greek for gentile. If he literally referred only to Greeks in that statement then he excluded many people from God’s grace. If that’s what Paul meant to convey, then Christ didn’t die for everyone. But we know that Christ did.

Gabriel’s revelation to Daniel then clearly means that the archangel was referring to a powerful western nation rather than the literal nation of Greece. That nation is undoubtedly the United States. Another strong clue concerning this nation’s identity comes from Daniel’s vision when the prophet revealed that the goat “came from the west, crossing the whole earth without touching the ground.” (Daniel 8:5) The literal nation of Greece is located to the Northwest of Iran and wouldn’t have to travel across the entire globe to confront the Persian nation. Daniel’s description of the goat crossing the entire earth without touching the ground suggests a powerful air-strike by the United States against Iran.

Certainly, the time of Iran’s fall is extremely close. The Iranians are developing nuclear weapons that they plan to use to destroy Israel and then use against various targets throughout Europe where U.S. military bases exist. The Iranians believe that they have been commissioned by Allah to destroy Israel and overthrow western civilization by launching a series of devastating nuclear strikes all across the world in preparation for the appearance of the Imam Mahdi and the establishment of a global Islamic caliphate. But they will be stopped.

Not coincidently, Israel was prepared to strike Iran earlier this year until someone inside the Obama Administration leaked the plan to the world media. While Israel isn’t going to be the nation to bring down Iran, America’s betrayal of the Jewish nation is going to have prophetic and dire consequences. After the United States finally--albeit reluctantly--destroys Iran’s nuclear program and brings down the Islamic regime, the U.S. is going to be judged severely for her betrayal of Israel and collapse as a global superpower.

Daniel revealed: “The goat became very great, but at the height of his power his large horn was broken off, and in its place four prominent horns grew up toward the four winds of heaven.” (Daniel 8:8) The large horn on the goat’s head symbolizes the U.S. When it’s “broken off” the U.S. will fall as a world superpower and in its place, four new nations will emerge as world powers.

Why will America fall? Because she has betrayed Israel and put the Jewish nation in harms way by leaking sensitive military information to the world. Though President Barack Obama is loyal to his militant antiwar base and is reluctant to strike Iran, he’ll have no choice but to launch an attack against Iran before the Persian nation strikes Israel and the world. And then America’s end will be at hand.