[The following was posted to a blog discussing contrary prophecies of America’s restoration against those prophesying irreversible, unavoidable decline, judgment and collapse of America. The discussion was centered on Scott Webster’s recent book, Arc of Empires, which this ministry considers a must-read for American prophetic intercessors.]

One thought to consider is that the conflict in prophecies is not unlike the high contrast in prophecies we see in the Old Testament regarding Israel's future, sometimes within the same book. In the time prior to the Babylonian captivity, there were already prophecies predicting the restoration of Israel, such as in Isaiah. It is not inconceivable that some of those prophecies may have been used to contradict Jeremiah's prophecies about imminent Babylonian invasion. 

The Old Testament restoration prophecies have yet to be truly fulfilled though they are thousands of years old. In that time, many generations have come and gone, each believing in the possibility of that fulfillment in its time, while seeing nothing but judgment occur. That is how it was at the time of Christ, for example.

At the same time, misinterpretation of those prophecies existed because the regenerative meanings of restoration could not be foreseen. People tend to view restoration through a reconstructive lens rather than a regenerative one that looks forward to an entirely different kind of restoration. This too was the problem at the time of Christ. Isaiah's restoration prophecies were still out there, and people were trusting in them, yet Jesus was prophesying destruction. And destruction is what came.

All this to say that it is not necessarily that prophecies of American restoration are entirely untrue, but rather that those prophesying such don't have God's regenerative view on what those prophecies mean, but are looking through a reconstructive lens. (These are the same people who were prophesying "turnaround" at every election for the past couple decades.) Those prophecies may be yet for generations to come, and they don't preclude the prophecies of near term decline and destruction in the "Jeremiah-styled" present tense.  All such considerations belong to the realm of testing Scott describes.

For me, it is especially important to know that we are at the end of the Times of the Gentiles. God is not going backward to reconstruct any nation under the terms of that era. The existence of all nations under that canopy is one of necessary decline and will necessarily be dramatically reshaped to conform to the new spiritual governmental era that will exist under the immediate rule of Christ on the horizon. I therefore see all prophecies of national restorations only in that future context. 

Chris Anderson

First Love Ministry
- a ministry of Anglemar Fellowship
http://www.firstloveministry.org

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