What The Bible Has To Say About The USA: The Old Testament Speaks To Americans Today

By David S Heeren

End-time prophecies of the Bible apply in general to all nations of the world. But do they have anything specific to say about the U.S.A.? Is this nation's evident spiritual and moral decay already bearing bitter fruit? Are we headed for a crisis even worse than COVID19, one that leaves us with a solitary option of spiritual revival if we are to

• Language: English
• Publisher: URLink Print & Media, LLC
• Release date: Apr 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781647537074

David S Heeren

Author David S. Heeren has written 16 books, including four with end-time themes deriving from the Bible's prophecies. What the Bible Has to Say about the U.S.A. is the only one of the four dealing specifically with the U.S.A. Heeren has earned 15 awards during a writing career spanning six genres of work. He got a double-four-star (perfect) rating from the Online Book Club for The High Sign, which gives persuasive evidence pointing to the identity of the celestial sign of Jesus' Second Coming.

Book preview

WHAT THE BIBLE HAS TO SAY ABOUT THE U.S.A

THE OLD TESTAMENT SPEAKS TO AMERICANS TODAY

DAVID S. HEEREN

What the Bible Has to Say About the USA

Second Edition

Copyright © 2021 by David S. Heeren. All rights reserved.

www.endtimesmystery.com

First Edition was published by Lighthouse Christian Publishing in 2013

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the author except as provided by USA copyright law.

The opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of URLink Print and Media.

1603 Capitol Ave., Suite 310 Cheyenne, Wyoming USA 82001

1-888-980-6523 | [e-mail]

URLink Print and Media is committed to excellence in the publishing industry.

Book design copyright © 2021 by URLink Print and Media. All rights reserved.

Published in the United States of America

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021903532

ISBN 978-1-64753-706-7 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64753-707-4 (Digital)

11.02.21

Contents

Author’s Preface

Chapter One: GOMER: Money vs. Morality

Chapter Two: MIZPAH & TABOR: Lawlessness

Chapter Three: ADAM: Humanism

Chapter Four: ASSYRIA: Liberalism

Chapter Five: EGYPT: Globalism

Chapter Six: BAAL PEOR: Life vs. Convenience

Chapter Seven: BETH AVEN: New Age

Chapter Eight: ADMAH & ZEBOIIM: God’s Love from A to Z

Chapter Nine: CANAAN: Cunning Commerce

Chapter Ten: BAAL: Sexual License

Chapter Eleven: LEBANON: Environmentalism

Chapter Twelve: Forty-Forty Foresight

Endnotes

Author’s Preface

If the Shoe Fits

The first time I was asked why I was writing a book based on the biblical book of Hosea, I said it was because the prophet had written about the United States. Later, I realized this wasn’t correct: In Hosea’s book he makes clear that he is prophesying about Israel.

My next thought was that ancient Israel, as described by Hosea, was a type of the United States. But this wasn’t true, either. Hosea’s prophecy may be typologically related to the United States, but there is no clear evidence in the Bible that it is, and the Bible is a book that interprets itself.

But if Hosea’s prophecy was not explicitly about the United States and was not necessarily a type of America, what relevance does it have for us?

It’s a case of being fitted for the correct-sized shoe.

When former U.S. Solicitor General Robert H. Bork wrote a book entitled Slouching Towards Gomorrah, the theme was clear. Bork was questioning the destiny of this nation: Because of its moral decadence, would the United States wind up in smoking ruins as did its ancient counterpart? Although they are not clearly identified as scriptural types, ancient Israel and modern America are similar in many ways. Both nations were founded, under the guidance of God, by men and women most of whom were believers in Him. In the beginning, in both lands, there was an awareness of God, so that all blessings were believed to have come directly from His hand.

The first Thanksgiving celebration was a gathering of colonists with their American Indian friends. Together, they gave thanks to God for His provision. It was a feast similar to the ancient Jewish festival of ingathering.

The Israel described by Hosea in his prophecy was similar to America in many details. Here is an outline of the first eleven chapters of this book, showing the cultural characteristics held in common by the two nations during their periods of decline, centuries after the initial settlements:

MONEY vs. MORALITY (Hosea 1-3).

LAWLESSNESS (Hosea 4-5).

HUMANISM (Hosea 6).

LIBERALISM (Hosea 7).

GLOBALISM (Hosea 8).

LIFE vs. CONVENIENCE (Hosea 9).

NEW AGE (Hosea 10).

GOD’S LOVE (Hosea 11).

CUNNING COMMERCE (Hosea 12).

SEXUAL LICENSE (Hosea 13).

ENVIRONMENTALISM (Hosea 14).

This is not a perfect outline. Subject matter about some of the themes, particularly sexual license, runs throughout Hosea’s prophecy. Not all of the themes break precisely between chapters of Hosea’s book as they are divided in the Bible.

And of course a universal theme such as God’s love is applicable to any culture. God loves human beings, even those who rebel against His authority. The theme of God’s love falls where we should expect the climactic chapter to be placed, about two-thirds of the way through this book. But there are many other examples of God’s love scattered through the rest of Hosea’s prophecies.

The other ten topics have to do with degradation. The immoral conditions described by Hosea apply to the United States of today, but also seem applicable to other nations.

A Russian citizen alive during the latter days of the tsars, or a German living in the aftermath of World War I, probably could have recognized similar cultural disintegration. The Communist and Nazi regimes, guilty of torturing and murdering millions, and of fomenting wars and terrorism, arose from the moral ash piles of those two nations.

Was it God’s intention to include nations other than Israel in Hosea’s prophecy? Who can read the mind of God? But the likelihood is that God did so intend. While serving as associate pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Rob Allen used the word transcultural to describe the Bible. During a study of the book of Joshua, Allen said: Whatever culture you live in, the Bible applies to you.

What we know about God from scriptures supports this statement. We know God’s love is universal and eternal. He cares as much about us as He did about the ancient Israelites. If it was His intention, through the prophet, to warn His ancient people to repent of their sins, we should expect Him also to warn backslidden Russia, Germany and the U.S.A.

He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He no more wants to see American civilization crumble than He desired the collapse of ancient Israel. So we should not ignore prophetic details that seem relevant to our imperiled nation.

Reproduction of conditions could result in repetition of consequences.

If it seems a stretch to compare the cultures of ancient Israel and the contemporary United States, here’s a practical illustration. The Bible, in John chapter four, tells about a woman who met Jesus at a well. He discerned that she had been married five times and was living then with a man who was not her husband. He told her the truth about her sordid lifestyle.

An American man reads the story about Jesus and the woman at the well. He has lived with five women since his only marriage ended in divorce. There are four ways he can respond to the story:

It’s about a woman, not a man. Doesn’t apply to me.

It happened two-thousand years ago. Doesn’t apply to me.

The woman had five marriages and one affair. I have had one marriage and five affairs. Doesn’t apply to me.

Time for me to repent.

The reader who thinks the best response is No. 4 should have no difficulty with the premises of this book.

Chapter One

GOMER: Money vs. Morality

Then the Lord said to me, Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin-cakes.

— Hosea 3:1

Two Christian friends sat over lunch in conversation. They began discussing a budget deficit at the church they attended. One of the two, Robert, had been a tither for many years. Between bites of a chicken sandwich he said: It bothers me that the church is having financial problems. This couldn’t happen if everyone presented the Lord’s tithe, even if no one gave a cent for an offering.

After saying this Robert realized he might have offended his friend: He had no way of knowing if Barton tithed. Glancing up at Barton’s face, he found out. Barton, a millionaire corporate executive, was scowling and shaking his head.

Robert thought about apologizing but reconsidered. If Barton was not a tither and felt insulted by his remarks, it was okay. Jesus never apologized for telling the truth, even if what he said was deeply insulting to his listeners. After a few moments of silence, while both men continued to eat, Barton said, Robert, you know, we are talking about an awful lot of money here.

Barton’s problem was that he thought more highly of his financial resources than the Lord. He was ignorant or indifferent to the fact that it was the Lord who had blessed him with the talent to earn money and the opportunity to live in a nation where it was possible to prosper.

Barton was a spiritual cousin to Gomer, wife of Hosea. Like Gomer, Barton had settled into a temple of Baal. He was more concerned about personal luxuries than the kingdom of God. He turned down an opportunity to use his money for the advancement of God’s kingdom in ways that would insure the storing up of treasure in heaven for himself.

Robert was different. He had experienced the love of God in an unusual way. Early in his marriage, he and his wife decided to tithe and to give as much as possible above their tithe for free-will offerings, even during a time of recession when they were raising children.

A series of unexpected expenses left them unable to raise the money to make a mortgage payment for three consecutive months. Robert prayed about it but couldn’t bring himself to the point of trusting God so completely that he could obey the command of Jesus not to be anxious.

On the day before his mortgage was to be foreclosed Robert went to church in a state of near panic. He had a decision to make: Should he place his tithe check in the offering plate as usual, or should he keep the money as a start toward saving his home? He prayed, swallowed hard, and put the money in the offering plate.

He spent most of the worship hour in a state of anxiety. He worried through lunch and all afternoon. In the evening, still worrying, he returned with his family to church.

After the evening service the associate pastor came up to him and handed him an envelope. The Lord told me to give this to you, he said, then turned and walked away. The envelope contained a check for precisely the amount needed for a mortgage payment.

Robert was astounded. He had not told the associate pastor or anyone else at church about his family’s financial problem. He had tithed, and God had fulfilled the promise He had made through the prophet Malachi:

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. (Malachi 3:10)

Not only did God bless Robert with a miraculous gift that saved his home, but he then provided sufficient income so that this family experienced no more fiscal crises for more than three decades.

Opportunities opened up for Robert to share his miraculous story with thousands of people. His testimony, recounted in a book, reached halfway around the world. A Christian man living under difficult conditions in the Middle East contacted him to say that his faith had been strengthened after he read the account of Robert’s fiscal miracle.

A pragmatic person might say that Robert was foolhardy in risking his family home. But there was no risk. God had promised to bless the tither and Robert had tithed. God kept his promise with a love gift that the tither would not forget, and then went a step farther by blessing others who heard or read his story.

This book is about an era of moral and spiritual torpor in the United States. But it is also about the faithfulness of God to preserve America, if its Christian population is faithful to him, as Robert was.

Hosea and Gomer

Gomer was a greedy Israelite. She chose the squalor of prostitution to support a lavish lifestyle. In the first three chapters of the biblical book of Hosea, Gomer’s self-centered attitude was contrasted to the Godcenteredness of her husband. While Hosea remained poor but maintained his integrity, Gomer sacrificed her honor to gain possession of luxuries.

The story of Hosea and Gomer began with God telling the prophet: Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land [of Israel] is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord. (Hosea 1:2)

This established a prophetic link between Gomer and Israel. Gomer was a harlot. Israel had committed spiritual harlotry by worshipping idols instead of God. Hosea married Gomer, but she refused to change her lifestyle.

She bore one legitimate child to him and also had two illegitimate children.

Dissatisfied with the simple lifestyle of her husband, she coveted rich foods, expensive clothing, cosmetics and alcoholic beverages. She left her husband and three children and returned to her former profession.

In those days harlots were street-walkers or temple prostitutes. The Hebrew word used to describe Gomer’s profession referred to both sexual adultery and spiritual idolatry, so perhaps she was a temple whore. The infernal nature of pagan temples was implied by their dual purpose. Enter the front door and capitulate to a demonic idol. Walk around back to the portal of prostitution.

Whether Gomer walked the streets or worked in a pagan temple, she did not earn as much as she had before marrying Hosea. She was older now and not so pretty. Men no longer were attracted to her, and she had lost all favor with God.

At this point, the morality of husband and wife are dichotomized. Hosea continues to love Gomer, in spite of her fading beauty and unfaithfulness. When she resumes her immoral profession, instead of divorcing her, he exposes himself to public ridicule by going after her: I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. (Hosea 2:6)

Hosea did what he could to dissuade Gomer from harlotry. Perhaps he found her walking the streets and pleaded with her to return home. If she was a temple prostitute, he may have lingered near the door, imploring men not to enter. If they ignored him, his last entreaty could have been: Don’t ask for Gomer. She is my wife, the mother of three children.

Whatever the reason – whether it was Gomer’s age, Hosea’s intrusion, God’s displeasure, or a combination of all three – Gomer’s business failed and she became a slave. Still thinking more of economic well-being than moral consequences, she came to a decision: I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now. (Hosea 2:7)

The price Hosea paid to buy her back was that of a slave. He didn’t have enough money to make the full purchase but gave all that he had, fifteen shekels of silver. To complete the deal he added ten bushels of barley. This was probably most of the food he had in store for his family. It was a loving sacrifice.

After Gomer returned, Hosea had a talk with her. He told her that from then on she must be faithful to him. He assured her of forgiveness and pledged his support to her. We may assume that this time Gomer was faithful, because the Bible does not say she left again. No longer a harlot, she became fulfilled in the love of her husband.

Complete Deliverance

I will not show my love to her children, because they are the children of adultery.

— Hosea 2:4

The story of Gomer and Hosea has allegorical characteristics. Gomer represented Israel’s most powerful tribe, Ephraim, in its greed and idolatry. Nineteenth-century biblical scholar Adam Clarke wrote, in the introduction to his commentary on the book of Hosea:

This prostitute woman (Gomer), and the children who were born of her, were a figure and a kind of real prophecy which described the idolatry and infidelity of Samaria (the land inhabited by Ephraim) and the ten tribes, formerly the Lord’s spouse, but who afterward became idolatrous and corrupt.[1]

The name Ephraim meant double-fruit. Since God is unchanging, Gomer’s lifestyle and many other details in the book of the prophet Hosea may have figuratively foreshadowed the unfaithfulness of God’s people to Him in nations that experienced his material blessings in ways similar to Israel. A nation that seems to be a perfect fit for the latter-day role of Ephraim is the United States of America.

The name Gomer meant completion, in the sense of either absolute perfection or total failure. Gomer experienced both kinds of completion. When she gave in to her materialistic cravings, she turned to prostitution and became an immoral failure in the sight of God. When she repented and became faithful to her husband, she achieved a kind of success in her relationship to him.

The name Hosea meant to deliver. It was from the Hebrew yasha, which meant to be open, wide, free or safe. Hosea’s name derived from the same linguistic root as the name Joshua, which meant the Lord delivered. Translated from the Hebrew of the Old Testament into the Greek of the New Testament, the name Joshua becomes Jesus.

Jesus is our deliverer in the same way as Hosea was Gomer’s. Just as Hosea loved his wife Gomer and set her free from a self-destructive lifestyle, so Jesus loves and delivers His bride, the church, from sin and death. He pursues His spiritual bride, even when she wanders into moral wastelands. He woos her to Himself, weds her and does not divorce her even when she becomes profligate:

Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. (Hosea 2:14) If Hosea was a type of Christ, Gomer may have represented inconstant Christian believers. The couple had only one legitimate child, Jezreel, whose name meant God scatters. Jehovah chose that name for the child because He was planning to punish his unfaithful people by putting an end to their kingdom. There would be a massacre at Jezreel. (Hosea 1:4) And then the Israelites would be scattered in exile.

The Lord reinforced this prophecy by selecting the names Lo-Ruhamah (not loved) and Lo-Ammi (not my people) for the two illegitimate children born to Gomer. The children’s illegitimacy was associated with the spiritual degeneration of God’s people Israel. The Israelites had become guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord. (Hosea 1:2)

Gomer seems to have typified an Israel unfaithful to Jehovah. Since Hosea may be viewed as a type of Christ, Gomer may be likened to a profligate new Israel, the bride (church) of Christ. (Galatians 6:14-16, Revelation 19:7-9)

At first, Gomer was an idolater and a whore. Later, she became a faithful wife. The same pattern is followed in the lives of some Christians. Their success or failure, from God’s perspective, depends upon their relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ, who loves them and delivers them from sin.

A good test to determine if our attitude is as greedy as Gomer’s is this:

Do we base our lives on God’s promise to supply all of our needs? (Philippians 4:19) Or do we, like Gomer, insist on having more? Must we have two cars when we need only one? Must we purchase a new wardrobe every year?

One sign of America’s deterioration during the past forty-seven years – the time span covered by this book – is the massive debts accumulated by the U.S. government and most of its people. Symbol of this condition is the credit card. It’s about greed, wanting and demanding more and more of the luxuries of life, as did Gomer, regardless of the cost in terms of money and morality.

An unprecedented number of people are stealing from stores, cheating each other and pilfering identities in order to slake their greed. This is a condition that has worsened during the past forty-seven years.

Modern Idolatry

I will punish her for the days she burned incense to the Baals; she decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but me she forgot, declares the Lord.

— Hosea 2:13

Jesus didn’t wait until people patched up their lives before accepting them: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

Hosea’s attitude toward Gomer was like that of the Lord. When Jehovah told Hosea to marry her, she was living in sin. The prophet obeyed the command at great risk to his reputation. Jesus risked his reputation by accepting an invitation to eat dinner at the home of a greedy tax collector. He treated the man with love and respect and changed his life.

From heaven the Lord still does the same through His Spirit for people such as Gomer who slide to the extreme of materialism, which is idolatry. Even though we may not actually live in temples of Baal, as Gomer likely did for a large part of her life, anything that holds more value for us than God is by definition an idol.

Modern idols include luxurious houses, boats, motor vehicles, computers, clothing, jewelry, rich foods, and the money required to purchase these things. There is nothing wrong with possessing fine things so long as they do not become the primary motivational force in our lives, relegating our relationship with God to a secondary position.

Expel the Wicked

She has not acknowledged that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil, who lavished on her the silver and gold — which they used for Baal.

— Hosea 2:8

After experiencing the miracle that saved his home, Robert continued to tithe. But as time passed and he became a church deacon and then an elder, he witnessed things that discouraged him.

He and another elder were called to the home of a woman who had loaned a large sum of money to another member of the church. The recipient of the loan, in a Gomer-like spending spree, had squandered the money. She refused to repay it.

After discussing the situation with both women, Robert asked the elders to expel the sinning woman from the church and restore her membership only after the debt had been repaid. He believed the woman was guilty of