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The Late Great United States: What Bible Prophecy Reveals about America's Last Days
Is it possible the United States, a superpower without peer in history, might not be a key player as the world makes its way down the road to the Battle of Armageddon?
This is the central question explored by prophecy expert Mark Hitchcock in The Late Great United States, a fascinating behind-the-headlines look at numerous current events and how they relate to what the Bible says about the last days.
Americans are accustomed to seeing their country center stage as a world power, but as Hitchcock carefully details, this may not be the case in the final scene. Based on extensive research of the Bible and other sources, The Late Great United States provides compelling and often surprising answers to questions like
•Does the Bible say anything about America in the last days?
•How could the U.S. fit into God’s prophetic plan?
•Will America survive?
•Might the anti-Christ come from America?
•Could America’s addiction to oil be her undoing?
•Will America be destroyed by a nuclear attack?
•Could America fall from within as a result of moral corruption?
•Is America still a “blessed” nation?
•How should individual Christians respond to a world in chaos?
Regardless of America's final fate and the outcome of dire events at the end of the age, Hitchcock urges us to find our hope in a God who will not forsake us–no matter what cataclysms we experience on earth.
This is the central question explored by prophecy expert Mark Hitchcock in The Late Great United States, a fascinating behind-the-headlines look at numerous current events and how they relate to what the Bible says about the last days.
Americans are accustomed to seeing their country center stage as a world power, but as Hitchcock carefully details, this may not be the case in the final scene. Based on extensive research of the Bible and other sources, The Late Great United States provides compelling and often surprising answers to questions like
•Does the Bible say anything about America in the last days?
•How could the U.S. fit into God’s prophetic plan?
•Will America survive?
•Might the anti-Christ come from America?
•Could America’s addiction to oil be her undoing?
•Will America be destroyed by a nuclear attack?
•Could America fall from within as a result of moral corruption?
•Is America still a “blessed” nation?
•How should individual Christians respond to a world in chaos?
Regardless of America's final fate and the outcome of dire events at the end of the age, Hitchcock urges us to find our hope in a God who will not forsake us–no matter what cataclysms we experience on earth.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 2008
39 people are currently reading
90 people want to read
About the author
Mark Hitchcock
115 books116 followersMark Hitchcock was born and raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He attended Oklahoma State University and graduated from law school in 1984. After working for a judge at the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals for four years, Mark was led to attend Dallas Theological Seminary, graduating in 1991. Since that time, he has served as senior pastor of Faith Bible Church in Edmond, Oklahoma. He completed his PhD at Dallas Theological Seminary in 2005 and serves as an associate professor of Bible exposition at DTS. He has authored over thirty books related to end-time Bible prophecy that have sold over one million copies. His books have been translated into over ten languages. Mark is a frequent speaker at churches and prophecy conferences both in the United States and internationally. Mark and his wife, Cheryl, live in Edmond, Oklahoma. They have two sons, Justin (married to Natalee) and Samuel, and two grandchildren..
You can also connect with Mark on Facebook
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 10, 2019
The sad fact is that Hitchcock is actually a decent scholar when he wants to be, as evidenced in his debating against Hankadox. This isn’t one of those moments. Part of the book was shock-warfare on the coming peak oil crisis and economic collapse. That really didn’t pan out, though. Other chapters are actually pretty good, such as his chapter on sexual morality. He even cited Charles Hodge and R.C. Sproul! Other chapters were….well….you’ll see.
Observations
If some variant of futurism is true, or at least logically possible, then it is quite reasonable to suspect that America will play a prophetic role.
Weaker claim: “America is clearly part of the general framework of prophecy” (Hitchcock 12).
If it is reasonable to think America plays some role, then what is that role? Hitchcock explores several options:
America = Babylon the Great. New York City would be the heart of it. Unfortunately, the only people who would hold this view are erstwhile literalists, which means that Babylon must be in Iraq (17). A much stronger argument against America = Babylon is the fact that Revelation mentions the Euphrates twice, suggesting a nearby location.
While I disagree with his specifics, he does give a good prophecy timeline (38).
Criticisms
Hitchcock holds to the now exegetically-debunked line that Rosh = Russia (12, 36).
Chapter 3 outlines the standard pretribulational view. It’s wrong but I am not going to spell it out here. I was somewhat surprised to see a throw-away concession to pre-wrath view: “Between the rapture and the beginning of the seven-year Tribulation will fall a time period that could be days, weeks, months, or possibly even years” (37). Change “seven-year” to “3 ½” and we are in business.
While he doesn’t make this specific argument, on his view Jesus can’t return at just any time. A number of things must take place: America’s role diminished. And even if the revived Roman Empire isn’t established until after the Rapture, the apparatus must first be in place.
His chapter on Israel was just bad--and I say this as a pre-wrath premillennialist. Let’s work through it. I am going to skip over the bad exegesis of Genesis 12 and why we must support Israel. Let’s get to the section on Replacement Theology. Pretend for a moment that I don’t hold to Covenant Theology. His arguments fail aside from that. He writes, “Replacement theology has been the fuel within Christendom that energized medieval anti-Semitism” (129). This is a textbook example of the genetic fallacy. Terrible things happened to Jews in the Middle Ages, and we can blame most of it on Rome.
According to Michael Vlach “The acceptance or rejection of supersessionism may also influence how one views the modern state of Israel” (quoted on p.129). On one sense this is true, full preterists hate the modern state of Israel and American dispensationalists will die for it. Aside from that the statement doesn’t say all that much. Since it uses the word “may” we can reword it:
“Also, The acceptance or rejection of supersessionism may or may not influence how one views the modern state of Israel.”
Thomas Ice writes, “Wherever replacement theology has flourished, the Jews have had to run for cover.” This is 100% false. Cromwell, no dispensationalist himself, invited the Jews back. The Westminster Confession and its Catechisms imply a future conversion of Israel, which implies among other things the survival of the Jews. This is just getting silly. For some reason Jews have always wanted to come to America, even with all of the replacement theologians in it.
I am not saying we shouldn’t abandon Israel. I think moderate cases can be made for supporting them. The Luciferians at the UN hate Israel, so supporting Israel would upset them. That’s good enough for me.
There is also the Rosh = Russia = Gog/Magog issue. Because the Hebrew term Rosh sounds like the English word Russia, taken from the old Slavic ‘Rus from Prince Vladimir of Kiev, that means that Rosh of Ezekiel 38 = modern day Russia. You following me on this? Good. This is what is called the False Etymology fallacy. There are more substantial problems, though. The KJV, ESV, and others translate it as The chief prince of Meschech and Tubal. The NKJV and NASB translate it as the prince of Rosh, making it a place. Daniel Block gives a mediating, and probably correct translation, ““Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince, chief of Meshech and Tubal.”
I’m actually undecided on the identity of Magog. I think it refers to some kind of evil cosmic North (which makes sense given the Hebrew view of tsaphon and Bashan/Hermon). Regardless, almost every Bible atlas today places Gog/Magog in Turkey, not Russia. So if Rush/Russia is the Antichrist, then that means he is in control of the modern-day nation of Turkey. Not likely.
Observations
If some variant of futurism is true, or at least logically possible, then it is quite reasonable to suspect that America will play a prophetic role.
Weaker claim: “America is clearly part of the general framework of prophecy” (Hitchcock 12).
If it is reasonable to think America plays some role, then what is that role? Hitchcock explores several options:
America = Babylon the Great. New York City would be the heart of it. Unfortunately, the only people who would hold this view are erstwhile literalists, which means that Babylon must be in Iraq (17). A much stronger argument against America = Babylon is the fact that Revelation mentions the Euphrates twice, suggesting a nearby location.
While I disagree with his specifics, he does give a good prophecy timeline (38).
Criticisms
Hitchcock holds to the now exegetically-debunked line that Rosh = Russia (12, 36).
Chapter 3 outlines the standard pretribulational view. It’s wrong but I am not going to spell it out here. I was somewhat surprised to see a throw-away concession to pre-wrath view: “Between the rapture and the beginning of the seven-year Tribulation will fall a time period that could be days, weeks, months, or possibly even years” (37). Change “seven-year” to “3 ½” and we are in business.
While he doesn’t make this specific argument, on his view Jesus can’t return at just any time. A number of things must take place: America’s role diminished. And even if the revived Roman Empire isn’t established until after the Rapture, the apparatus must first be in place.
His chapter on Israel was just bad--and I say this as a pre-wrath premillennialist. Let’s work through it. I am going to skip over the bad exegesis of Genesis 12 and why we must support Israel. Let’s get to the section on Replacement Theology. Pretend for a moment that I don’t hold to Covenant Theology. His arguments fail aside from that. He writes, “Replacement theology has been the fuel within Christendom that energized medieval anti-Semitism” (129). This is a textbook example of the genetic fallacy. Terrible things happened to Jews in the Middle Ages, and we can blame most of it on Rome.
According to Michael Vlach “The acceptance or rejection of supersessionism may also influence how one views the modern state of Israel” (quoted on p.129). On one sense this is true, full preterists hate the modern state of Israel and American dispensationalists will die for it. Aside from that the statement doesn’t say all that much. Since it uses the word “may” we can reword it:
“Also, The acceptance or rejection of supersessionism may or may not influence how one views the modern state of Israel.”
Thomas Ice writes, “Wherever replacement theology has flourished, the Jews have had to run for cover.” This is 100% false. Cromwell, no dispensationalist himself, invited the Jews back. The Westminster Confession and its Catechisms imply a future conversion of Israel, which implies among other things the survival of the Jews. This is just getting silly. For some reason Jews have always wanted to come to America, even with all of the replacement theologians in it.
I am not saying we shouldn’t abandon Israel. I think moderate cases can be made for supporting them. The Luciferians at the UN hate Israel, so supporting Israel would upset them. That’s good enough for me.
There is also the Rosh = Russia = Gog/Magog issue. Because the Hebrew term Rosh sounds like the English word Russia, taken from the old Slavic ‘Rus from Prince Vladimir of Kiev, that means that Rosh of Ezekiel 38 = modern day Russia. You following me on this? Good. This is what is called the False Etymology fallacy. There are more substantial problems, though. The KJV, ESV, and others translate it as The chief prince of Meschech and Tubal. The NKJV and NASB translate it as the prince of Rosh, making it a place. Daniel Block gives a mediating, and probably correct translation, ““Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince, chief of Meshech and Tubal.”
I’m actually undecided on the identity of Magog. I think it refers to some kind of evil cosmic North (which makes sense given the Hebrew view of tsaphon and Bashan/Hermon). Regardless, almost every Bible atlas today places Gog/Magog in Turkey, not Russia. So if Rush/Russia is the Antichrist, then that means he is in control of the modern-day nation of Turkey. Not likely.
November 15, 2018
Despite its age, this book is relevant and informative for today. The author presents multiple ideas as to what happens to the United States in the future with support for and against those proposals. He also explains how we are currently under God's judgement now and how important the United States' relationship with Israel is for both countries.
March 29, 2010
Not bad. When the Christians are Raptured out of America, there won't be a whole lot (good) left... Duhhh. It won't matter where America is in prophecy. It won't be the America we curently know and love. We'll be just like the rest of the world....
July 21, 2013
In carefully reading this book the reader will learn that America’s absence from Bible prophecy may be a result of God’s judgment. What Hitchcock presents is the simple fact that we in America are already reaping that judgement.
January 30, 2010
This was a very interesting book and answered alot of my own questions as to the continuing fall of the U.S. because of the dismisal of God in our nation.
November 1, 2010
Second time reading. Just amazing that Gods word holds up for 6000 years and is just as relevent today as it was then.
February 24, 2011
Good book
August 11, 2012
Clear, well-supported ideas about what the future of the U.S. may hold. One of the best features of this book is that the author presents different viewpoints, not just his own.
July 23, 2017
Interesting and informative.
December 14, 2018
A theological and political analysis of prophetic literature.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews