A new documentary movie, America: Imagine the World Without Her, addresses reasons America could cease to exist. Does the Bible prophesy a world without America?
Over 35 years ago Dinesh D’Souza left his native India and came to America to live the American dream. Yet he now says he fears for America’s future. Specifically, he fears that America will cease to be the beacon of freedom and hope that it has been. He has recently laid out his reasons for those fears in a new movie (and book) titled America: Imagine the World Without Her.
You don’t have to subscribe to Mr. D’Souza’s worldview to be troubled by some of the trends he addresses.
The American dream—vanishing?
The simple definition of the American dream is that people can become successful if they have a goal, are willing to apply themselves and work hard.
Besides fleeing from intolerable religious persecution and social deprivation, millions have made their way as immigrants to the United States throughout its history to follow the American dream. This is what brought Mr. D’Souza here. He left the poverty and corruption of India to start a new life in the United States of America.
In the movie he talks about Alexis de Tocqueville, a Frenchman who traveled to America in the early 19th century to learn what was special about the new nation. He carefully observed Americans and what made them so different from the rest of the world.
The two items that stood out most to Tocqueville were:
The ordinary man’s desire to succeed by being enterprising and innovative, which included hard work.
The emphasis on religion in American society and culture.
Many commentators have looked at America today and have perceived that the work ethic that drove Americans in the past does not seem as strong anymore. Simply put, various statistics indicate that Americans are getting lazy. Statistics also show that Americans are becoming increasingly less religious as well.
If Tocqueville was correct in assessing these two factors as causes for America’s success, should their decline be a cause for concern?
Are we seeing America slowly decline by a process of national suicide? By multiple measures, the United States is a nation in decline.
America’s wealth
Much of the movie is devoted to the subject of America’s wealth. Mr. D’Souza seeks to demonstrate that America has created its wealth by its entrepreneurial spirit. He believes it was by production that America became an economic powerhouse.
But there is more to the story. The Bible tells the underlying reason America became the richest single nation in history.
It was because of the faithfulness of Abraham that America (along with Great Britain) inherited the unconditional promises of national greatness God made to him.
But God also decreed that national sin would result in those blessings being removed. We encourage you to read Leviticus 26:14-45 very closely.
America’s self-destruction
Concerning America’s continuing self-destruction, Mr. D’Souza quotes President Abraham Lincoln, who famously said:
“Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant to step the Ocean and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest, with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”
Are we seeing America slowly decline by a process of national suicide? By multiple measures, the United States is a nation in decline.
But President Lincoln was wrong about one thing—that it would be impossible for a foreign invader to destroy the United States.
Because of our national sins, God has been removing His protection and blessings from us. Bible prophecy indicates that a prophetic time called “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7) is coming, and it will affect the modern descendants of ancient Israel. The Bible indicates that the time of Jacob’s trouble will include America’s military defeat and captivity (verse 3).
Thankfully, the Bible does offer a way to be protected from this coming time. “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36). You can escape this coming time by repenting of your sins and living your life in alignment with God’s laws.
You can read more about this coming time of trouble that the American and British people will face in the article “Jacob’s Trouble: What Is It?”
Photo courtesy of AMERICAFILM, LLC.
Date Posted: July 9, 2014
About the Author
Tim Groves
Tim Groves attends the Jefferson, Georgia, congregation of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, where he serves as a deacon.
He has been married to his wife, Teresa, for over 30 years. Together, they have two daughters and two sons and live in South Carolina. They moved there from Ohio in 1997 to flee the cold northern winters and allow him to do the things he really enjoys, like roaming though automobile junkyards looking for hidden treasures from times long past.
by Tim Groves
