While sitting on the Mount of Olives, Jesus Christ’s disciples came to him privately to ask about the signs of the end times.
As detailed in Matthew 24, Jesus explained that prior to his return there would be great religious deception, “wars and rumors of wars,” “famines and earthquakes in various places,” but that these are just the “beginning of birth pains.”
He continued, saying his followers would face persecution and death, many would “turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,” and that “because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.”
“For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again,” Jesus said. “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.”
When Jesus spoke these stunning words two thousand years ago, a war that could decimate the population of planet Earth wasn’t technologically possible.
But for the first time in history, humanity now possesses the technologies — nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction — that could kill everyone in the world.
Nearly a third of the Bible is prophetic in nature, and a substantial proportion of these prophecies pertain to World War III. Yet, the world’s reigning superpower — the United States of America — seems strangely absent from the biblical end-times scenario.
So, what happens to America? Could it be destroyed in a surprise nuclear, “Super-EMP” (electromagnetic pulse), or some other devastating attack before or during the Tribulation?
“We do not find the reigning superpower on the face of the earth anywhere in the last days’ scenario,” noted Harvest Christian Fellowship Pastor Greg Laurie, as quoted in Paul McGuire and I’s bestselling book, Trumpocalypse: The End-Times President, a Battle Against the Globalist Elite, and the Countdown to Armageddon, a copy of which we understand was given to President Donald Trump. “Other nations emerge. So where is America? I pray we are not out of the picture because we have been in some kind of nuclear conflict.”
The Historic Trump-Kim Summit
Laurie’s remarks came several months before Trump’s meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore where Trump committed to provide security guarantees to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Chairman Kim reaffirmed his commitment to denuclearization.
“There is no limit to what North Korea can achieve when it gives up its nuclear weapons and embraces commerce and engagement with the rest of the world,” Trump said during the press conference. “Chairman Kim and I just signed a joint statement in which he reaffirmed his ‘unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.’ Today is the beginning of an arduous process. Our eyes are wide open, but peace is always worth the effort, especially in this case.”
The summit followed a year in which Kim repeatedly threatened to attack America with nuclear weapons, saying: “The entire mainland of the US is within the range of our nuclear weapons and the nuclear button is always on the desk of my office.” Trump, in his counterpunch, tweeted: “I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!”
At the time, an NBC News/Survey Monkey National Security Poll found that 76 percent of Americans were worried that America would become involved in a major war over the next four years. Former CIA director John Brennan estimated the chance of war at 20-25 percent, while Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, put the probability at 50-50.
Following the summit, Franklin Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelist Association, described the meeting, which had been thought impossible for 65 years, as “almost a surreal moment.”
“The historic Trump-Kim handshake and the dialogue that followed represented a promising first step forward – a step toward peace,” Graham wrote in a FoxNews.com article. “Relations with North Korea have troubled U.S. administrations of both political parties for decades. Bringing to pass this initial step toward a new era of peace and cooperation took strength and courage on our president’s part.”
Is North Korea’s Promise to Denuclearize a Ruse?
Despite optimism by Graham, Trump and others, North Korea has a long track record of breaking promises about its nuclear weapons programs, and there is no evidence that Kim will be more trustworthy than his father or grandfather.
The question on the minds of many is whether this is merely a ruse by the North Korea dictator to buy more time to work on the nation’s long-range ballistic missiles to ensure that they can hit the continental United States.
“If there is one thing that has defined North Korea’s diplomatic process in the past it is the consistent use of deception,” New York Times bestselling author Joel Rosenberg wrote in his blog. “In my recent political thriller, The Kremlin Conspiracy, the leaders of Russia and North Korea announce a big ‘denuclearization’ agreement. However, it is a ruse—a deceptive ploy designed to fool the world to lower their collective guard while laying the groundwork for a Russian-North Korean-Iranian nuclear alliance that is planning to attack the United States, Israel and the Western alliance. Could we be seeing this fictional premise play out in real life?”
In Trumpocalypse, McGuire and I explore this scenario in great depth, noting that Russian President Vladimir Putin admires Tsargrad TV chief editor and commentator Aleksandr Dugin — described by Foreign Affairs magazine as “Putin’s Brain” — who once opined that “the American Empire should be destroyed. And at one point, it will be.”
For decades following the end of the Cold War in 1991, geopolitical and military experts thought the world was relatively safe from the threat of nuclear war, but that has changed in recent years as the global balance of military power has shifted toward an anti-American alliance consisting of Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and other nations.
In recent decades, Russian defectors claimed that the former Soviet Union’s ultimate strategy was to subvert and destroy the United States. Former KGB officer Anatoliy Golitsyn warned in his 1984 book New Lies for Old that the Soviet Union planned a massive campaign of deception that would include fake reforms and a fake collapse of communism designed to fool the West into thinking the Cold War had ended so it would reduce its nuclear forces, leaving it vulnerable to attack.
If that was indeed the strategy of the communists, it worked. After the Cold War, America’s nuclear program was curtailed with a halt in nuclear testing, production of new nuclear weapons, and a dramatic reduction in nuclear weapon stockpiles. The nuclear experts who gathered at the “Lurking Crises, Hidden Opportunities” conference at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs in late 2016 noted that America’s nuclear arsenal of B-52s, B-2s, Trident submarines, and Minuteman III missiles are now “dangerously outdated.”
What Does the Bible Say about North Korea?
While America and North Korea aren’t directly mentioned in biblical prophecies, Daniel 11 refers to the “king of the South,” the “king of the North,” and a third power located to “the east” when the final world war occurs. Revelation 16:12 calls this third power “the kings of the East.”
At this time, Revelation 13:7 indicates the Antichrist will have gained power over all nations on Earth, but as events unfold various parts the world will revolt and attack the Antichrist and his forces.
While Scripture isn’t entirely clear how to classify these groups, the “king of the South” may be a reference to a coalition of Middle Eastern and African nations, likely including Iran. The “king of the North” could be a great army from Europe, and the “kings of the East” are probably Russia, China and other Asian nations, perhaps North Korea.
What’s interesting about these biblical passages is that there is substantial evidence that North Korea has been helping Iran with its nuclear program for years, and that Russia has been providing both nations with nuclear expertise. Meanwhile, a close reading of Daniel 11 seems to indicate that an aggressive Islamic nation, perhaps Iran, is involved in the outbreak of World War III.
If this is true, it means that the nuclear weapons North Korea has been developing over the years will likely contribute to the unparalleled death and destruction that occurs during World War III and the Battle of Armageddon.
What Happens to America?
Returning to the question I raised earlier, does the Bible foretell the fate of America in the end times?
For decades, Bible scholars have been perplexed by the apparent omission of the United States in the last days’ scenario. In exploring this question, some prophecy experts say millions of people will disappear in the Rapture — resulting in the collapse of the United States. Others say America will experience a series of devastating natural disasters, a catastrophic economic crash, or a nuclear attack — eliminating or dramatically reducing America’s role on the world stage as end-time events unfold.
Over the last fifty years, the standard prophetic scenario — popularized in Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth and Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkin’s Left Behind series — held that America would decline as a world power, paving the way for the European Union (“revived Roman Empire”) to dominate geopolitics, and then the Antichrist would rise to power in Europe and lead an alliance of “ten kings.”
In our first book in this series, The Babylon Code: Solving the Bible’s Greatest End-Times Mystery, we argued that the Antichrist and False Prophet will oversee a one-world government, cashless society and universal religion during the Tribulation. Revelation 16-19 describes this geopolitical, commercial, and religious system as “Mystery, Babylon” and “Babylon the Great.” At some point, we believe that something catastrophic may happen to America, paving the way for the rise of the Antichrist and False Prophet to oversee this global system, or that America will become part or head of this worldwide system.
As people have watched North Korea and Russia threaten the United States with nuclear weapons in recent years, a growing number of prophecy experts have concluded that the rise of the Antichrist and False Prophet could follow the destruction of America.
Chuck Missler, S. Douglas Woodward, the late Times Square Church Pastor David Wilkerson and others believe prophecies about the “daughter of Babylon” and “Babylon the Great” in Isaiah 47, Jeremiah 50-51, and Revelation 17-18 indicate that America will suffer a nuclear attack at some point, plunging the world into chaos. Afterward, to preserve the peace and security of the world, it’s believed that the United Nations would likely assume global power, create a world government, and usher in the rule of the Antichrist and False Prophet.
Will the Singapore Summit Bring Peace or World War III?
Taking into consideration these prophecies, the pressing question is whether the Trump-Kim summit can bring peace to the world, and if so, for how long.
The agreement that Trump and Kim signed is vague, includes no timetable, along with no provisions to verify that North Korea has indeed destroyed its nuclear weapons and facilities.
“The high-level goals listed in the joint statement Trump and Kim issued after their meeting are extremely vague, but concrete steps are required, if the nuclear risk that North Korea poses to the United States and the international community is to be reduced,” the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, keeper of the Doomsday Clock, said in a statement.
“The vagueness of the joint statement creates a distinct possibility that it will quickly evaporate, with regrettable — and possibly catastrophic — results for the region and the world. The United States should insist that the North formally agree to cease all nuclear weapons tests, missile launches, and fissile material production while talks continue. Without such an agreement, talks could drag on fruitlessly for years, perhaps even acting as a cover for continued development of North Korea’s nuclear capabilities.”
Another dynamic that Trump and White House negotiators should consider as negotiations get underway is the role of China. China has propped up North Korea for decades and has used the “Hermit Kingdom” as a tool to distract the United States as it increases its power in Asia.
Indeed, some military experts believe the denuclearization of North Korea could help China achieve its long-term goal of reducing American influence in the region and establishing China as a world superpower.
If this is the case, and if Trump and his team are successful in negotiating the denuclearization of North Korea, the Trump-Kim summit could ironically lead to the fulfillment of biblical prophecies regarding the “kings of the East”—the emerging superpower lead by Russia and China that the Bible says will play a major part in World War III.
So, can Trump stop the “Trumpocalypse?” As we wrote in Trumpocalypse, 100 percent of the Bible’s prophecies, including those about World War III, will be fulfilled, yet only God knows “the day and hour.”
Trump may successfully negotiate the denuclearization of North Korea, and we should certainly pray that the Lord gives our president wisdom and favor, but all biblical prophecies will be fulfilled on God’s timetable.
In the meantime, it’s our job to redeem the time that God has given us by sharing the good news with others and helping awaken the church and world to the lateness of the hour on God’s prophetic clock.
This article appeared in the August issue of Prophecy in the News magazine. Discover more about our #1 bestselling FaithWords/Hachette book Trumpocalypse at https://prophecyinthenews.com/bookstore/trumpocalypse
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