Apocalypse Now!

This may be old news for some of you — and by old, I mean you may have heard about it this morning, like I did — but I wanted to share it because I find it quite interesting.

Igor Panarin, the dean of the school of future diplomats for Russia’s Foreign Ministry, is predicting the collapse of the United States of America within two to three years.

He anticipates Barack Obama declaring martial law within 2009, with the Union breaking apart into separate “rump-states” (six, by Panarin’s count) in 2010. He even predicts Alaska returning to Russian control.

Among other things, he also declares that Russia and China will emerge as new world superpowers.

Attempting to predict major events like this is an extremely difficult thing to do, especially given the cessation of the gift of prophecy over 1,900 years ago. My own end of the world in 2015 speculation is already irrelevant due to a peace treaty or covenant not being established with Israel last year.

If I may share just a few observations, though…

• Something like twenty states have legislation proposed or on the table that redeclares their Tenth Amendment sovereignty; in other words, a growing number of politicians (and citizens in general, for that matter) feel that the federal government has grossly overstepped their bounds and, like Captain Picard to Lily, are declaring “this far, no farther.”

• More than once within the past few weeks, I have heard rumors and speculation that we may be on the verge of civil war (Matthew 24:6), and like America’s first civil war, the issue would once again be state sovereignty. The outcome of the first civil war stripped states of some of their sovereignty, and ever since then, the federal government has ballooned into a megalithic behemoth which is increasingly reaching into what should be the vicinity of local politics, local sovereignty.

• If I were to mash together what I’ve been hearing from these various sources and what Igor Panarin has predicted, we end up with martial law being declared to squelch uprisings of those who would see power returned to the states. The conflict eventually leaves the nation fragmented, and the United States of America is no more.

• Now, never one to miss a beat, prophecy teacher Irvin Baxter really believes that the USA will be present and involved during the events of the seven year Tribulation period described in the Bible, defending Israel for a period of three and a half years (Revelation 12:14); however, that’s assuming that Israel being given “wings of the great eagle” to fly to safety refers to the USA, given the use of the bald eagle as a national bird and symbol.

• Both Russia and China may play important roles in the end times as well: Russia is often, at least in Dispensationalist literature, linked with Gog and Magog (Revelation 20:8), pagan nations which attack Israel during the end times but which subsequently meet their end in fire sent down by God. Historically, it is thought that these nations occupied much of the land north of Israel, including what is today the Ukraine, Russia, and so on. Likewise, China is the only nation which would be capable of producing an army of 200,000,000 soldiers (Revelation 9:16).

• Nearly two thousand years ago, John prophesied that the end times would be characterized by a one world government and economy. Today, politicians already talk about the “global economy,” money is increasingly being generalized — the European Union has the Euro, for instance. Efforts have been taken to unite North America as one union, following Europe’s lead. The United Nations seems to want an increasing level of control over nations, sacrificing the sovereignty of the nations in the process. Globalization is inevitable, but it is not something to be desired.

• As a very “duh” observation, the end times are to be characterized by wicked, rampant sin. People will call evil good and good evil. The wicked will be rewarded while the righteous are punished. What do we have today? All over the world, leaders have come to power who are friendly to both the abortionist and the homosexual, who themselves are no strangers to divorce, adultery, or various other corruptions. Sinners worldwide are becoming emboldened, even crass in their revelings in their sin. All of this is evidence of our out-of-control spiral to the End.

Or maybe all of this is just sheer coincidence. That’s entirely possible; I’m simply sharing my observations, so you be the judge!

However, at the very least, that circumstances are hurtling toward an configuration that matches pretty much perfectly with the Scriptures’ thousands of years old prophesies is pretty intriguing.

Whatever happens, the next decade or so is going to be a very interesting time to be alive.

However, let me go on record as saying that I hope Igor Panarin is wrong — critics in Russia point out that it is more likely that Russia is on the verge of collapse, not the USA (and for Russia’s sake, I hope they are wrong too). Still, I welcome the end, the culmination of history as we know it and the inauguration of an eternal kingdom. Come, Lord Jesus!