The outlook for America is extremely bleak and from my contacts with American Christians I wonder if they really understand the situation facing them. There is a desperate need for prayer if America is to be saved from collapsing into violent disorder and chaos in the coming months.

Just look at the situation facing the USA seeking to recover law and order in its city streets after the violent disorders of the Black Lives Matter demonstrations, following the untimely death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police. There have been many calls for structural change in the whole public life of America, including the defunding of the police which has already been heeded in several American states.

Milwaukee and Portland have defunded their policing of school systems, according to a report in The Week,¹ which also reported that Los Angeles is cutting $150 million from its police budget and giving it to education and health initiatives. Oklahoma is doing something similar and so is New York. Minneapolis City Council has decided to replace their police department with a ‘Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention’, which will be put to voters in November.

But there is plenty of statistical evidence in sociological studies to show that putting more police on the streets does reduce violent crime. So, for American cities to be reducing their police forces at this particular time in the nation’s history is remarkable. It is an indicator of the chaotic state of community relationships in the USA, where their President shows little signs of a clear, firm statesmanlike response to the situation. If ever such a hand were needed in the nation’s history, it is surely now.

Nervousness and Volatility

The confluence of widespread social unrest on racial issues at the same time as the coronavirus pandemic that has already caused fundamental disturbances of the American economy is extremely serious for the future outlook of the nation. America already has the largest national debt in the world, running into trillions of dollars. President Trump has initiated a trade war with China that has worldwide implications for the international economy and financial stability that can already be seen in the nervousness and volatility of the stock markets.

The confluence of widespread social unrest on racial issues at the same time as the coronavirus pandemic is extremely serious for the future outlook of the nation.

President Trump has added to this anxiety and uncertainty in the nation by suggesting that the November Presidential election should be postponed. But with the number of infections of the coronavirus increasing in many states across the USA and the largest number of deaths in the world so far, the plight of America is becoming of profound significance for the rest of the world. It is the world’s largest economy and strongest nation, but all the indicators point to the possibilities of economic collapse in the autumn, as many firms will not survive the pandemic and unemployment may become astronomic, surpassing the problems of the ‘Great Recession’ of the 1920s.

If all the projected unemployment, together with unresolved racial problems due to the endemic racial prejudice that has been part of the American way of life since the days of slavery, coincide with a second wave of the pandemic, the social situation in the USA could become chaotic to the point of national collapse of the economy, law and order, and social stability. Worldwide we are rapidly moving to the point where all the nations have been building up a mountain of debt to support their unemployed during times of lockdown, but the banks are no longer able to make money and to sustain the ever-increasing demands upon them.

Weighed on the Scales

Americans have basked in their status of world domination since the days of the Second World War and the collapse of the British Empire. But whereas the British took their values of ‘justice’ and ‘service’ into their colonial administration, albeit from attitudes of superiority (our divine right to rule), Americans have simply paraded their power and affluence for self-aggrandisement. All the indicators now point to a coming collapse of the mighty. It is as though we have reached the point that Daniel saw in Babylon when he interpreted the King’s dream – “God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting” (Dan 5:26-27).

I’ve no doubt that among America’s enemies such as Iran, few tears will be shed if the USA collapses. But the great danger is that China will move into the power vacuum and the last state will be far worse than the first. The repercussions across the world, and especially in the less economically advantaged nations, could be extremely severe without American aid to support them – especially as this is coming at the same time as a plague of locusts has hit many nations in the Middle East and Africa depriving them of the harvest that should feed them through the coming winter.

The social situation in the USA could become chaotic to the point of national collapse of the economy, law and order, and social stability.

Searching the Scriptures

Why have all these troubles converged at this time in the history of the world? We need to search the scriptures for answers to these massive questions. A good start would be looking at Daniel’s prayer, where he said: “Just as it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favour of the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. The Lord did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us for the Lord our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.”

Surely repentance and turning is urgently required – especially in those nations who have centuries of Judeo-Christian heritage and have based their values upon the Bible. It is these nations that should be leading the world now in seeking to know what God is saying to us through these dramatic events that are taking place.

It is only as we listen to the Lord that we will gain understanding of why this is happening; only as we grasp what God is saying to us can there be any hope of coming out of the days that lie ahead with peace and prosperity. The only hope for the nations lies in God and in him alone, for there is no other way of salvation. He has already declared, “Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear. They will say of me, in the Lord alone are righteousness and strength. All who have raged against him will be put to shame” (Isa 45:23-24).

References

1 25 July 2020