What the World Needs from America

Come January 20, 2025, the most powerful country in the world will come under new leadership as Donald J. Trump is inaugurated president of the United States of America for the second time. Of course, that assumes nothing will happen between this article’s publication and the inauguration—an uncertain assumption in this increasingly chaotic world, especially with a new president who experienced two assassination attempts while he was merely a candidate.

This new leadership bears with it the hopes and dreams of the millions who voted for it. Many have concluded that the numbers who turned out to vote for Mr. Trump amount to giving him a mandate, though the shape and details of that mandate are a bit of a question mark. To be sure, most want the country’s economy in a healthier state: For all the talk of good economic indicators, Americans find that those “indicators” aren’t filling their wallets or paying their growing bills. Many citizens want to see the U.S. border controlled more tightly, concerned about what they see as a tidal wave of illegal immigrants using up financial resources that could have been directed toward their own needs. Others are concerned about the “woke” agendas they see in their schools—often happy to “live and let live,” but not wanting ideologies forced onto them or, in particular, forced into their children’s minds.

Perhaps the truest statement one could make about the November elections is that Americans decided they need something different. To be sure, the weeks and months to come will be interesting to watch.

And Americans won’t be the only ones watching. America’s change in government will do far more than affect the lives of its own citizens. Whether or not it should be, America is the world’s leading nation. As we wrote in “The End of Pax Americana” in our June 2022 issue, the nation’s unchallenged power and authority around the world was able to foster global peace and prosperity for decades after World War II at levels unheard of in human history—even if some of that peace was more pretense than reality.

Whether or not the U.S. truly is the indispensable nation it once was, it still holds a combination of power, wealth, and influence on world affairs that no other nation can match—if America catches a cold, the rest of the world sneezes. Changes in the U.S. mean changes for the rest of the world.

So, for all the desires Americans have for their new government, what are the desires of the world? What does the world want from the United States? More importantly, what does it need?

A Mixed Bag of Hopes and Fears About America’s Future

The answer will vary depending on which leaders and which nations you ask.

Russia and Ukraine

Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky surely longs for American money and military support to continue flowing into his war chests. Meanwhile, his opponent, Russian president Vladimir Putin, hopes to find a U.S. president more sympathetic to his interests and more desirous of a peaceful end that allows him to retain Ukrainian territory he’s taken and to save face in his nation.

The Abraham Accords

In the Middle East, many may be hanging their hopes on Mr. Trump’s penchant for “big deals.” While he angered many in the Arab world when he moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, the Abraham Accords signed during his administration—involving Israel, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates—were the most substantial peace agreement in the region since Israel’s establishment in 1948. Some have even speculated that Saudi Arabia’s potential support for such peace might have contributed to Hamas’ decision to launch its abhorrent attack on October 7, 2023, hoping to bring chaos to the region and undermine those peaceful overtures. Still, many hope America under Mr. Trump will relaunch his administration’s earlier efforts, perhaps even ending the Gaza conflict.

Europe’s Perspective

In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has, in the past, expressed great disdain for Mr. Trump. While Mr. Starmer surely hopes to continue America and Britain’s celebrated “special relationship,” he no doubt hopes that the U.S. president will keep to himself, while he and his Labour colleagues seek to enact policies for the UK more akin to what a Harris administration might have brought to the United States.

Across Europe, leaders worried about Mr. Trump’s “America First” declarations may be wondering whether long-standing American money, support, and protection will begin to dry up. If so, they may find they need to fill the void by looking eastward instead of westward for new alliances and partners.

Populism and Global Commerce

Around the world, nations with nationalist or populist leaders are likely looking for the new administration to support their own efforts. Mr. Trump has called Argentina’s libertarian, government-reducing president Javier Milei his “favorite president,” and America’s influence on the International Monetary Fund is likely to be of great interest to Mr. Milei as he seeks funding for his nation’s growing needs.

President Xi Jinping of China, on the other hand, may be more wary. While Mr. Trump has boasted of his rapport with the leader of the second-most populous nation in the world, his promise of a return to punitive trade tariffs will keep Mr. Xi very invested in what America chooses to do over the next four years.

Why America?

Such are the world’s hopes and fears as it waits for the U.S. to decide again just what sort of nation it really is. A policeman for the world? An economic juggernaut bringing prosperity for all? A nation focused inward, unconcerned about the fate of those beyond its borders? With all the change promised by the incoming administration, the world waits anxiously to see what sort of America will appear after the dust settles.

But why America? How has one nation come to have this influence in the world? Such questions were once asked of the United Kingdom but are now asked of her former colony. The answer to those questions—the real reason for the place of prominence the U.S. now holds—is entirely unknown to the world’s top economists, historians, and politicians.

Yet that answer reveals what the world truly needs from America. It reveals what the nation truly can do to fundamentally improve the condition of the world, raise the living standards of peoples everywhere, bring peace where there is conflict, and provide profound hope to an increasingly hopeless humanity.

What the world’s top experts do not know—but what God has revealed to true Christians, His faithful servants—is that the United States and other British-descended nations have received an abundance of God-given blessings they did not earn, beneficial circumstances they did not create, and successes for which they can take no credit. Why? Because God has set them apart for a purpose.

Those nations are inheritors of the blessings God promised to the ancient patriarch Abraham, connected to the ten “lost tribes” of Israel. Around 930 BC, the biblical nation of Israel split into two parts. The southern portion, consisting primarily of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, became the nation of Judah—the Jews—and its descendants are seen in the modern Jewish people and the modern nation of Israel. But the northern ten tribes became a separate nation, continuing under the name Israel—until it was eventually destroyed, cast into captivity, and scattered among the nations, because it had profaned God’s laws, routinely breaking His Sabbaths and embracing idol worship (see Ezekiel 20).

Israel profaned God’s laws, but the promises He had made to its patriarch Abraham and his descendants were unconditional (Genesis 22:16–18). Though the disobedience of Israel and Judah would cause Him to delay those blessings for a time, God did fulfill His promise to bestow those blessings, giving His people another opportunity to reveal their hearts to Him—either to show that they appreciate their God, will follow His ways, and will fulfill His desire for them, or to turn against Him again in rebellion and self-will.

To those of you who have not studied this in your own Bibles, this may be hard to believe. We sympathize! But it is the only explanation consistent with the historical rise of these nations and with the prophetic promises recorded in God’s infallible word. As always, we urge you not to take our word on the matter, but to research it for yourself in your own Bible. Please request our free resource The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy or read it online at TomorrowsWorld.org. It will show you beyond a doubt that the reason the U.S. and the British people became the most powerful nations in human history is not what the academic and political classes will tell you. It is not due to America somehow being “better” than all other nations—as “American Exceptionalism” pundits will claim—nor is it due to heartless and oppressive colonizing and exploitation as “progressives” will claim. The truth is in your Bible, and you need to understand and prove it for yourself! When you do, it becomes crystal clear what the world truly needs from America—however much we may despair that America will truly fulfill that need.

God’s Will for the United States

To understand better, let’s look to the ancient beginnings of the Israelite nation. God does not change (Malachi 3:6), and His calling and purposes for a people do not disappear—indeed, they are irrevocable (Romans 11:29). The Eternal says He will ensure that His plans come to fruition! As He declares through the pen of Isaiah, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).

And what was God’s purpose for ancient Israel? His servant Moses explained:

Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day? (Deuteronomy 4:5–8).

God desired that ancient Israel would be a light the world—not for its freedoms of speech or religion, its free-market capitalism, its multiculturalism, or its political philosophies.

Rather, the Eternal sought for a nation to be a shining example of the blessings that come from fully embracing the Creator of the universe and His laws, His guidance, and His way of life, and from the privilege of having Him live among them to make them His own special people.

Has the U.S. Ever Fulfilled That Purpose?

Some may believe that “Uncle Sam” has fulfilled that lofty purpose in the past—and needs only to embrace its old values to fulfill that purpose again. After all, America’s devotion to free-market capitalism has raised its citizens’ standard of living so greatly that desperate migrants from all around the world seek by the millions to cross the border into the U.S. by any means necessary—legal or illegal.

Prosperity—or Greed and Profiteering?

Nations around the world have sought to duplicate America’s economic success with their own takes on capitalism and free markets. Yet, at the same time, American-style free-market capitalism has put tawdry consumer passion and greedy profit-seeking exploitation in the driver’s seat of national culture. Practically anything that will make a buck—whether uplifting social enrichment or decadent cultural poison—turns the gears of industry, ready to feed consumers whatever their carnal hearts desire, with no concern for the effect on morals, values, physical and mental health, or the very character of the populace.

Liberty—or License?

The founding principles of radical individual freedom at the heart of the “Land of Liberty” have inspired freedom-seekers around the globe, standing in stark contrast to the persecution and centralized control that have crushed billions living under oppressive regimes. Yet those same principles of “freedom” have allowed the rise of self-degrading lifestyles and the growth of perverted subcultures that are eating away at the morals and societal structure of peoples and nations around the globe.

Freedom of Speech—or Freedom to Sin?

America’s vaunted free-speech rights enable the preaching of the Gospel by this magazine from our headquarters in North Carolina, a freedom we at Tomorrow’s World appreciate and for which we thank God, knowing firsthand how difficult it can be to preach the true Gospel in many other nations. And it remains true that American institutions still distribute more Bibles to the world than those of any other nation—though the vast majority of those Bibles are now printed in China. But those same free-speech rights also help to make the U.S. the world’s top producer of pornography, and the impact of those Bibles pales in comparison to the toxic and tragic impact of just 4 percent of the human population producing more than a quarter of the world’s video filth and hosting 60 percent of all pornographic websites.

No, the United States of America has not fulfilled God’s purpose. It never has. Rather than shine atop a hill as an example of God’s laws and love in action, the nation has been an example of just another country eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, all while enjoying the unearned blessings of its forefather Abraham. America hasn’t exported God’s way of life—it has exported the American way of life. And those who can’t see the real differences between the two are profoundly confused.

What the World Truly Needs from America

So, at this moment of transition for the most powerful country in the world, what does the rest of the world truly need from it? What could the U.S. do that would not only provide the greatest benefit to other nations, but also serve itself in the greatest way possible?

Repent. Plain and simple.

Not a façade of repentance. Not a shallow, “We have to do better.” Not a partial repentance, where certain biblical values are “rediscovered” and embraced while others are set aside as being inconsistent with American ideas of diversity and personal freedom. No—a coast-to-coast, border-to-border turning to God and rejecting of sin. National repentance on par with Jonah 3:5–10. The real deal.

The world needs the U.S. to rediscover its real roots—roots that go back far further than 1776, 1619, and even 1492. It needs to rediscover the real source of its blessings—the humble obedience of Abraham—and to fully embrace the only path to retaining those blessings without interruption: wholehearted and complete obedience to the God who has cared for it and uncompromising submission to His supreme rulership.

In the days of King Solomon, after the dedication of the temple, the Eternal God spoke to the king some powerful words that are often quoted but rarely embraced in full: “When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people,” God said, “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:13–14).

The difficulties, trials, and burdens facing the U.S. are not fundamentally from policies and politics, though such factors certainly play their role. Rather, they are due to its people’s stubborn unwillingness to turn—completely and without reservation—to the God who created them and the Savior who died for them. They are due to Americans’ addiction to self-will—their willingness to attach the name “Christian” to a motley and chaotic range of beliefs and practices that bear little or no resemblance to what Jesus Christ Himself established when He founded His Church.

The greatest single change the American people could make, for the benefit of the nations of the world, would be to turn to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in utter and complete repentance, with a newfound passion for obedience and with hearts devoted to serving the cause of the Eternal in all things. The U.S. would then become not only the example God has always longed for it to be, but also a vehicle for blessings unbounded—not only for itself, but for all peoples in every nation of the world.

And those blessings would not be mere material blessings. America has been a source of material blessings for the world for many decades, yet the hollow nature of those physical blessings is starting to turn and rot. And they would not be blessings of “unbounded freedom”—the freedom of a railcar finally “freed” from its tracks, careening out of control before it crashes, rusts, and decays. Rather, those blessings would be the genuine blessings that flow from coming under the reign of the Savior of humanity, shedding the weight of sins that ensnare and corrupt, experiencing the gift of His Holy Spirit and the transformation it brings, and embracing the laws that uplift a people as they learn to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

Will America Repent?

What is the likelihood of such a turn? Will we see a national repentance? We cannot call such a change of national heart a revival—for, since its founding, the United States of America has never been in such a state of obedience as the world needs it to embrace.

But if there is no change of heart, we do know what awaits. Bible prophecy makes it clear: Our world will soon see the virtually unchallenged ascendancy of a counterfeit Christianity that will expand throughout the earth “conquering and to conquer” (Revelation 6:2). That deceitful, compromised church—already the “Christian” norm in the world today—will be led by a miracle-working false prophet who will work alongside the prophesied “beast” of Revelation in the form of a revived Holy Roman Empire in Europe (Revelation 13:11–14).

Together, the economic, military, and political powerhouse they wield, imbued with religious fervor, will bring about the downfall of the U.S. and other British-descended nations of the world in a time of suffering known as the Great Tribulation. Many prophecies in the Old and New Testaments, including Jesus Christ’s own words, describe this coming time as one of suffering “as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:21). In those years, persecution of true Christians—those who keep the Ten Commandments and follow the faith and actual teachings of Jesus Christ (Revelation 12:17)—will be brutal as the false, counterfeit Christianity reigns triumphantly. The wicked of the world will be enriched. Those who compromise will enjoy safety. And the righteous will suffer.

Those years will continue until Christ returns and establishes His Kingdom—which will crush that false system and blow it away like dust in the wind (Daniel 2:34–35, 44).

The world needs spiritual leadership from America. The world needs the U.S. to repent of its national disobedience to God and needs its citizens to fully embrace their Creator and His desires for their nation, their families, and their individual lives. It might seem a tall order, but God doesn’t limit His demands to those things that are likely to happen. And whether He achieves His purpose for America before Christ’s return or afterward, He will achieve His purpose—for the U.S. and for the rest of the world.

In the meantime, each of us individually must choose whether to continue being part of the problem—those who pick and choose among the commands of God and teachings of Jesus, distorting them with our own plans, purposes, and sense of right and wrong—or to be part of Christ’s solution and fully embrace all that He asks of us. The Father is looking now for those who will do just that (John 4:23–24).