Forgotten History That Reveals Our Future!

Most of you reading this live in safe, stable neighborhoods—some of you have lived in the same home for decades. Many enjoy the stability of a long-time residence, sending their children to local schools, knowing and trusting the neighbors, and the financial stability of paying off a home. However, life is not that way for everyone.

Today, we see mass migrations as people pick up what possessions they can carry and flee violent conflicts or set out for a better life. This is true in the Middle East and Africa, as well as in Central and South America. Millions fled Syria, not because they hated their birth country, but simply to survive. Although circumstances differ, we see mass migration out of Venezuela. People love their homes. They love their countries and their cultures, with their unique customs, foods, and ways of life. We can only imagine what it is like and mourn for those who must uproot their old lives to seek new lives elsewhere. It is difficult for most of us to fully understand what they are going through.

Moreover, it is difficult to imagine that in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and other currently stable countries, we could someday be in the same situation. What must it be like to lose everything you have worked for and set out to a destination unknown?

Mass deportations and migrations are not new. Just prior to the Second World War, thousands of Jews and others packed up and left Europe before escape routes closed, and those left behind found themselves captives in a hellscape, captives of the Holocaust. The American Dust Bowl and Great Depression years saw many in Oklahoma lose their farms and homes to start anew in the Central Valley of California. Others fled Russia during its revolution, earlier in the twentieth century.

Forgotten History, Lost Understanding

Most professing Christians are woefully lacking in understanding of the Bible and the history of the Israelite peoples. They do not know that the Jews were only a small portion of what was known as the nation of Israel, yet this is evident in the Bible for any who care to read it. After King Solomon’s death, his son Rehoboam so angered the northern ten tribes that they rejected him as king and split off into a separate nation, retaining the name “the house of Israel.” The Jews and Benjamites were left to form the house of Judah, still in allegiance to the throne of David and keeping Jerusalem as their capital. This is all a matter of history (1 Kings 12) and has relevance for our modern world.

One of history’s greatest forced migrations occurred in the eighth century B.C., when the Assyrian Empire overthrew these northern ten tribes and relocated the population to an area between the Black and Caspian Seas. More than one hundred years later, the Jews were also taken captive, but this time by the Chaldeans, who transported them to Babylon. It is difficult for Americans and British-descended peoples to relate to losing on the battlefield and going into captivity, but Bible prophecy declares it will happen again—to us!

Think it can’t happen? The United States still stands as a beacon of hope, the “Promised Land” for millions seeking safety and a more prosperous life. But all is not well beneath the surface. Consider America’s debt of $22 trillion and how divided the nation is. Yes, we look like the “king of the hill” at the moment, but can a house so badly divided against itself stand? And how long will a loving Creator tolerate our moral cesspool of casting off all restraint? How long will He tolerate the murder of millions of innocent babies, even up to the moment of birth—and after?

The house of Judah became the people we know as the Jews, but what became of the the ancient house of Israel, to the north? That portion of Abraham’s descendants are sometimes referred to as “the lost ten tribes,” because most historians don’t seem to know where they disappeared to. But are they truly lost?

They are certainly not lost at the end of the age, and the Bible describes them as being a people clearly distinct from the Jews. The prophet Ezekiel told of a time yet future when both Israel and Judah, represented by two separate sticks, will be gathered together and no longer divided (Ezekiel 37:15–24). How can this be if one “stick” does not exist?

At that time, ancient King David will be resurrected and made king over all twelve tribes of Israel, and the twelve Apostles of Christ will each rule over one of the tribes (Ezekiel 34:23–24; 37:24; Matthew 19:28). Why is that message neglected in the churches of our lands?

If the Jews and Israel are two distinct groups and both exist at the end of the age, the thinking person ought to be asking, “Who are these lost tribes? Can they be found?” You should care about the answers.

The Missing Key

In the Bible, we read of end-time prophecies concerning Jerusalem and Damascus. There are also prophecies regarding Egypt, Ethiopia, and Libya—nations dwarfed by China, Russia, and India. If the Bible is relevant for all ages, why would we not expect to read about the United States, Britain, France, and Germany?  The answer is that we do read of them, but not by these modern names.

Some prophecies apply to regions of the earth, such as that of an army of 200 million men coming from east of the Euphrates River (Revelation 9:13–16). Interestingly, that is the only region of the world that could quickly muster such an army.

Other prophecies are more specific and apply to nations in which many of you currently live, but those nations are referred to by their ancient names. Understanding the identity of modern nations provides the key to understanding end-time Bible prophecy, and the biblical picture for our day is not pretty, at least in the short term. Our Western nations have rejected our Creator, and our Creator is going to reject us: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children” (Hosea 4:6).

One of the most important publications we have ever offered is The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy. You need this resource, as it opens a world of understanding. Another resource is a crucial article, available upon request, which identifies another ancient nation: “Resurgent Germany: A Fourth Reich?” The ancient Assyrians are rising again, and the United States is encouraging them to do so, calling on them to spend more on defense. We haven’t learned the lesson of two world wars.

I understand that it sounds preposterous to assert that America and the British-descended peoples are going to be conquered and taken from their comfortable homes into slavery, but it will happen. Note that you read it here. We are in for some startling events in the years just ahead—events that will propel our world toward the climax of the age.

Religious persecution, unthinkable three decades ago, is even now a reality in the United States, Canada, Australia, and parts of Europe. Biblical values, once the bedrock of our civilizations, are being cast off at lightning speed. Our world is descending into chaos, morally and geopolitically. As Robert Kagan writes in The Jungle Grows Back: America and Our Imperiled World, “[W]e have now forgotten, that when things start to go wrong, they can go very wrong very quickly, that once a world order breaks down, the worst qualities of humanity emerge from under the rocks and run wild” (p. 24).

Prepare for troubled times ahead. Going “off the grid” will not save you. Continuing to “serve God” with comfortable pagan practices will prove a fatal mistake. Our peoples need to repent of rejecting our Creator, taking Him for granted, and attempting to reshape Him into our own image. The world we know is coming to an end. Exactly how soon, I cannot say, but the handwriting is on the wall. Much has yet to happen in the fulfillment of end-time prophecies, but there will be surprises along the way for many—and when the end comes, it will come suddenly.