Tag Archive for: united states

…5 Forasmuch as thou sayest I bless thee because of thy wealth, so shall I make it plain that I curse thee…” (BOBK 65:5)

“… 21 Woe unto that nation, for they kill and eat their children to sustain their old age. Their babies have no graves, but their cry cometh up unto me.
22 As they bled their womb, so shall I bleed their heritage, and unto a mightier people will I give their land.
23 They have removed life for convenience; I shall remove the convenience of life. I send them the bug. (BOBK 64:21-23)

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[written in June 2010]

Introduction
In light of some of the seemingly scary events going on in the news lately, I felt I should write this to help others try and get a perspective on the possible future of our nation and world. Although this article mostly highlights negative events likely on the horizon, I hope the reader will not take a pessimistic outlook on the future.  Things are never all doom and gloom. But by having a general idea of what the future likely holds, we can make more informed decisions on how to best stay happy and thriving regardless of the sociopolitical or economic conditions. I believe the world is in a general upward progression, which means that even though there are regional or global difficulties such as WWII or the great depression, those events really didn’t physically affect most people in the world (just certain areas of the world), and neither will future events… generally speaking.

In this article I’d like to go over the prophesies found in the 1997 Jewish prophetic work, The Book of Ben Kathryn and present my interpretation of the picture it paints of world events over the next 70 years. Though the majority deals with the coming Middle-east war and turning of Israel to the Messiah, much of the prophecy deals with the economic future of the United States. This modern Jewish prophecy is generally positive and deals primarily with the “end of the Times of the Gentiles” and Restoration of Israel (major topics covered by early Mormon visionaries as well). Please see ‘Introduction to The Book of Ben Kathryn‘ for details concerning the prophecy’s background.

America’s Economic Elephant in the Room

Judging from what you see in the media, it seems there are few who grasp the gravity of our nation’s financial insolvency. This year (2010) marks the beginning year for cash deficits for the Medicare program, and Social Security / Medicaid are soon to follow. Just as the foolish political and corporate practices of speculation and financial irresponsibility led to the widespread insolvency of global banks and the near ‘great depression-like’ global collapse of western banking systems two years ago, so is our nation now stepping into a period of out of control debt brought on by entitlement programs Social Security, government pensions, private pensions and Medicare/Medicaid (to say nothing of funding for the new health care reform bill).

The post war baby boom lasted from 1946-1964 producing a record 77 million births in the US. 2011 marks the year where those born in the beginning of the boom will reach age 65 and begin receiving social security benefits. By 2029 the last of the living 77 million baby boomers will begin receiving their social security checks & pensions.  Because both parties have been continually borrowing from the Social Security fund to cover annual budget deficits, the Social Security and Medicare fund will begin running catastrophic deficits by 2030 (latest projections), many say equaling over half the total funds income. Much like the banks which have crippled the world’s current economy, sometime in the decades of the 2020’s and 2030’s, the United States public will have to finally confront the fact that it is financially screwed. China, Japan and other lenders will not continue to lend America trillions of dollars every year when hope of payback becomes bleak, and no other country is going to pick up the slack. Nor can we inflate our way out of entitlement program deficits as we could foreign debt. As our day of financial reckoning comes closer, we will begin to wake up as we must continually find ways to cover the deficit… raise taxes? Cut spending? Defer the social security age? Risk runaway inflation by just printing money? (more and more QE?) Default on some debt? Go to negative interest rates & destroy bond yields (and thus foreign investment)? Pass new trillion dollar entitlement programs and bailouts one after another?! borrow! borrow! Gaslight the public and slowly erode freedom to stop capital flight!

http://www.iousathemovie.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/12/AR2009051200252.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_United_States_federal_budget
http://www.usgovernmentrevenue.com/

It really doesn’t take much research to see the mathematical impossibilities of the raising generation sustaining the retiring baby boomer generations entitlements. The entitlement programs may be the best example of financial difficulties which lay ahead, but they are also just one of many. All we need to do is look to japan’s lost decades, and unmanageable debt to see what the eventual consequences of the 2006 sub-prime market collapse will be. On top of this we have the precarious situation created by the private pension aspect of the derivatives market. I won’t even go there for now… (See http://demonocracy.info for a great page illustrating the amount of money we are talking about, AND read one of the many, many available books written on the inevitable pension crisis.)

I encourage everyone to do just a bit of research to get a feel for our nation’s true financial situation. You can bend the dates and numbers a bit depending on how you interpret things, but unless we do some major sacrificing, and change our trajectory, all the facts lead to less than three decades before we become (like the USSR, Argentina, Japan & many other examples) undeniably insolvent. Our best hope would be that the nation might start significantly delaying Social Security benefits and dissolving Medicare/Medicaid promises enough to balance our bottom line and then try to inflate our way out of debt… but given our current political situation, I don’t think even that’s going to happen. And where empires are concerned, financial decline or collapse almost always is accompanied by political strife and breakup. We need only look at the recent breakup of the British and Russian empires, and numerous other historical examples to guess what the future may hold for us. (see the Great Depression, Fall of the Soviet Ruble, Argentinian Financial Collapse). Prophecy suggests America’s decline & breakup will be a slow one. But only time will tell how we deal with the problem we have created for ourselves… but come what may, the world has gone through similar things and yet life goes on with winners and losers. So don’t look at this as just a prediction of total gloom and doom! With god’s help, the smart and selfless can prosper and/or have joy through catastrophe. There are beautiful lessons and experiences to be had in times of sacrifice.

Background to the Prophecy

The Book of Ben Kathryn purports to be a modern revelation to Judah through a modern prophet (the first true Jewish Prophet in modern times), heralding the end of the Times of the Gentiles and the turning of the Jews to the Messiah with the final ‘Restoration of Israel.’ The text states it was given to Jachanan ben Kathryn (John, son of Kathryn) first in the year 1995/96. From what I can gather, the author is a Messianic Jew, born among the Gentiles (in the West?) but taken at an early age to Israel. His texts points out that he did not seek out his calling, and in fact apparently tried actively to flee from it (BOBK 1:2,9). As a prophet he is commanded to take no followers, and even now lives unpretentiously out of the public eye waiting for an expected command to begin his mission and work miracles and reforms during a time of coming Middle East war and battle over of Jerusalem.

(See this post for a background the the Book of Ben Kathryn)

In this article I’ll go through some of the books content and focus mainly on what it says about the United States, Europe and the coming war with a new Islamic Coalition. To begin with, however I’d like to give an example of the book’s poetic form and Hebrew composition (it was revealed/channeled in both Hebrew & English). This chapter deals with coming transition of God’s Spirit and favor from the Gentiles (of Europe and America) to Israel (people of the Middle East) and Latin Americas as the Times of the Gentiles come to a close. As you read, try to find all the references to Old Testament verses and New Testament allusions… there appears to be one or more in every verse and literally thousands within the 73 chapters. Compare for instance chapter 19 in the Book of Ben Kathryn with its allusions to the “restoration of Israel” as taught in Micah ch. 5 of the Bible. The “seven shepherds” in verse six are a reference to Micah 5:5. Coincidentally these same Biblical verses are referenced in multiple parts of the LDS church’s, Book of Mormon.

CHAPTER 19
WOE unto the rebelling nations, and woe to the horde of mischief makers, who say “It is” and therein is found the will of God, and a blessing to be ordained; the purpose of whose council is to overturn the word of the LORD; who make themselves the center and by their own council mold the LORD’s doings to justify their set ways.
2 Lo, the nations imagine a vain thing; their mind is in league with deception. Each man formeth me in their own image, and if I were to send them a prophet they would not hearken. Not with stones form they my image, but with their vain minds and self-seeking spirits form they my image. Better they made a dumb idol than pollute my ways, saith the LORD. For an idol hath no power of itself to teach any man its dumb ways nor enlighten a suppliant with its ignorance. The ignorant seeketh an idol and remaineth in his first estate, but a fool seeketh the counsel of the foolish and is made like unto his foolish image.
3 Vanity is deceit itself, above all deceptions wherein the sons of flesh deceive themselves. And I the LORD regard no one more foolish than they who fear not at my word. Is not an idol worshiper and him that revereth a carved trunk less foolish than they who take my name upon their lips and do not my ways? who declare I live and then declare I speak not clearly, and that I have not made the heart in mine own image?
4 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Is not the melting of snow a slow and steady process? In like manner shall such be overthrown. Destruction shall come upon them, by my hand shall it come, and who can save them in that day? Yet by grace it is thought, and by mercy it is written: Only they who call upon the LORD shall escape.
5 When indeed have the nations sought me, saith the LORD, and who in my far journey hath taken hold of me by the hand that he should lead me in his ways? Doth not a shepherd take his sheep to seasonal grass, and when the season turneth yet again doth he not take them to the old pastures and the old cotes to graze? Behold as the sheep graze he mendeth the cotes and then leadeth them into safety. Or seeing a fire come to the seasonal grass, will he not hasten, especially when seeing that the old grass groweth ready?
6 Therefore thus prophecy thou unto thy brethren, the children of Israel, So am I a shepherd unto Israel, saith the LORD, and so shall I do. Follow my paths and come to my sheepcote, for my shepherds have gathered speckled sheep. But I will not mix ye, saith the LORD. I shall sack my shepherds and scatter their speckled beasts. And from my pure sheep I shall raise me up seven shepherds. For from sheep born of another pasture, of the seasonal grounds, shall I speak unto this people and lead my people back, counsel them, govern them, and restore them to the old cotes.
7 My name shall be carried back as the holy things of old, and upon my people, my chosen generation, shall it reside. From the islands afar off shall they return, from Tartessos, Gog, Ashkanaz, and America. Britain shall give forth; Sepharad shall stretch forth its hands and carry my people. Kittim shall boast and rejoice, and shall fill my courts. Ishmael shall come by caravans and shall deck thee, O Judah, with the wealth of the East. Cathay shall come with aloes and ointments, and whithersoever the nations encounter thee, my beloved of Judah, my chosen of Israel, shall they carry you, and ye shall all rejoice in the LORD.
8 And the word of the LORD moreover came unto me, saying: And in that day this parable shall guide them: I came to my cote and, behold, my shepherd was gone and my sheep unattended. And I was wroth with my shepherd and I sought him on the high and rocky hills. There I met him, in a place between the tight rocks, in his arms a strange lamb. And I chode with him. Why hast thou left, seeing there were no sheep missing? And he said: “I went forth to seek, perchance any stranger had happed into thy domain. And, behold, I have found one, lame, this one in mine arms, who could not pass through thy land. And I have brought her, even as a little ewe lamb.”
9 A son speaketh unto me. This is the voice of him that loveth me. Surely thou hast done well, my shepherd; for so shall I take of the strangers’ lambs, and so is a diligent shepherd before me. (BOBK chap. 19)

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Judgments
The book contains a considerable amount of prophecy, including the foretelling of incredible miracles which will be done by it’s prophet to prove to the world his words. Miracles such as raising the dead, restoring missing limbs and missing sight. However, much of the content most relavent to his article pertains to judgments given in the prophecy against the United States and Israel. Apart from the unrelenting and yet subtle chiding of Israel for its wickedness and rejection of the Messiah, the Lord chides America in the book for our love and trust of money, disintegrating legal system, disintegration of personal liberties, and general forsaking of our Judeo-Christian legal Heritage. Following are a few of the judgments issued against the Modern Nation of Israel, America, and the Gentile Nations in general (Nations which were founded on the Judeo-Christian covenant and are implicitly governed by the higher dimensional group responsible for Biblical Scripture and culture).

Foremost among the judgments and prophesies is the issue of America’s heaping of debt upon future generations to pay for the current baby boomer’s hegemonic wars, healthcare, frivolous abortions and religious hypocrisy. Keep in mind this prophecy was first given in 1996 and published online in 2006, well before the current national economic catastrophe. As I have watched the economic and political events of the last few years, I have often been impressed by the following verses, where America is compared to the wicked in ancient times who “killed and ate their children” to save their own lives during a siege (Jer 19:9, Lam 4:10).

” 21 Woe unto that nation [America], for they kill and eat their children to sustain their old age. Their babies have no graves, but their cry cometh up unto me. As they bled their womb, so shall I bleed their heritage…
23 They have removed life for convenience; I shall remove the convenience of life… (BOBK 64:21-23)

” 14 …No more shall they kill and eat their children; no more shall the meek be a prey and the speaker of justice a target. They shall pray unto me, but I shall harden their hearts that they reprove, even reprove the LORD God, that I may bring upon these nations the wrath they have courted for generations. For too long did they raise their bloody hands to me in piety and praise.” (BOBK 45:14)

Israel and the western world is also chided for the rejection of our culture’s judeo-christian/biblical foundation and their creator.

“…BE not dismayed at the ways of the heathen and the signs which their own minds conceive. For one leaneth his elbow upon the mantel and smoketh long on his pipe. There he expoundeth a new idea. He hath gravened another idol. It is without form. It speaketh from his mind, “Lo, here I am,” and he followeth wherever it listeth.
2 The nations [Gentiles] come together and say: “Let us conspire to throw off the LORD, for so was his anointed created in the days of our ancient.” Be not dismayed at their oracle, for it is quicksilver and it cannot take form. It shall be poison to the mouth that speaketh; poison to the ear that receiveth.” (BOBK 15:1-2)
18 …What graven image so evened the scales and so ordered fairness as unto the LORD? Nay, they cannot, for they own nothing. The world is not theirs, nor have they possession of a speck of dust. The LORD breatheth and the meadow flowereth; he sigheth and the forests clap their hands. Man fashioneth thereof what he listeth, but the tree was made by the LORD.

Also politically mandated planned parenthood,

“…What have they formed that ye should treat your minds as gods? for I see a land laid waste; and the whole earth, it is upside down. He who stoppeth the womb createth not, but saith “Come not forth” to that which I have sewn together. Behold, it was never spoken by my mouth, nor did it ever come into mine heart, that man should so stray and that the righteous should say “It must be.” (BOBK 15:3)

And of course, America’s out of control abortion rates.

“…your minds have carved vanity, and destruction is your artificer’s tool. Your cities whittle the soul; your babes are buried in canning jars. All creation languisheth under your artificer’s tool; and under the hand that formed it and under the mind that brought it about” (BOBK 15:19)

Also, Modern Flower-Children who seek “love” (unrealistic pacifism) at the expense of justice and common sense,

“11 For, indeed, ye are an oppression to my soul. It is not oppression to stop the oppressor, nor tyranny to say no to the tyrant, saith the LORD. Behold, I declare you the tyrant and the oppressor, ye who will not hearken unto my words to perform them and my laws to do them…
16 Therefore thus saith the LORD, I shall cut off the prophets from you, even the blemish from you when she saith “That is hardly loving;” and the shaker of heads and the roller of eyes; and they who glorify an action and condemn a reaction; and he who magnifieth himself by study to overturn my words shall no longer be a guide unto you. Surely, they who say “Wrath cometh not upon the Earth” shall find that day an undoing, for it cometh not save for them and they who in like manner thwart justice and who mock reproof. (BOBK 15:11,16)

America’s disintegrating legal system.

“5 …for thou makest merchandise of justice, and at the call for swift punishment thou brokerest law. Thou makest them bankrupt who defend themselves, and he who hath no money hath no advocate. Thou declarest the process and not the outcome to be justice. For a thing of nought thou lettest men be accused, and findest them guilty of suspicion because of the demands of the prudery of gainsayers and gainseekers. Seedy grandeur motivateth the arrogant, and for money thou wilt mull over a word to bring the innocent to book. The feet of thy constables are set to earn thee money, and the innocent and meek are ravished at the same time.” (BOBK 65:5)

As a result of these things, America will suffer a slow decline, which will result in the nation’s eventual depopulation, division into five polities and the eventual founding of the promised American Zion.

” 15 Swiftly came entropy upon France, likewise upon Russia; so too upon China— the servant sat upon the horse and the princes walked on foot, the thing which I hate in mine heart, saith the LORD. Though swiftly it came upon them, slowly shall it come upon you. As a creeping fog in the night shall it come, and ye shall not be delivered after three generations except by division.
16 Thou art a wondrous flower, O America. Thy roots spread far, and it taketh much nourishment to maintain the beauty of thy petals. But when the ground is all roots, wherewith shall it be nourished? The great flower dieth and becometh the nourishment for seeds dropped by birds. The flowers that spring forth shall grow from thee. Thy flesh shall sustain five flowers and then they shall cast their seed and there shall be a garden. (BOBK 65:15-16)

14 …Hear now and pay heed, O giddy nation [America]: Thou art wicked and yet I have not sent thy feet quickly to the dust. Thou art not worthy, yet thou hast tasted long of my mercy. Doth not the keeper of the king’s forest have mercy upon the tender sapling? Yet when the great oak is mighty but diseased and rotten, doth he not anon cut it down to make light for the sapling to grow? How much quicker shall it be done when the king himself seeth the forest and declareth and commandeth straightway that it should be so ordered? Behold, I cut down a mighty oak so that a tender sapling can grow. (BOBK 64:14)

The “tender sapling” mentioned above is an obvious allusion to the “tender one” mentioned in Ezekiel 17:22. In reality, nearly every verse in the Book of Ben Kathryn contains multiple allusions and correspondences to biblical verses and prophesies.

22 Thus saith the Lord God; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent:
23 In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.
24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the Lord have spoken and have done it. (Ezekiel 17:22–24)

The flower and garden mentioned in verse 16 of the Book of Ben Kathryn quoted above is an allusion to Isaiah 28:1–4, where the Lord prophesies against America (See this paper for more info on America as Ephraim & Northern Kingdom dualism).

“1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!
2 Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:
4 And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.”(Isaiah 28:1–4)

The Book of Ben Kathryn explains further the role of the “mighty and strong one” mentioned both in Isaiah 28:2 and in 85:7-12 of the LDS Doctrine & Covenants. Further insight can also be found in following the allusion made in verse 14 to the “mighty oak” of Isaiah 1:26–31 as well the oak which “casts its leaves/seed” or Isaiah 6:11–13 (see also 2 Ne. 16:13).

There are literally thousands of subtle allusions to Isaiah in these few chapters of the Book of Ben Kathryn. And of interest to Mormon’s might be the way the Book of Mormon seems to answer many of the questions that the Book of Ben Kathryn leaves hanging. For instance, who are the “others” that America “loathes”, who shall inherit the land of promise if the Gentiles don’t repent?

20 So shall I do unto that mighty people [America], for their skirt is a filthy one, and their houses of prayer whitewashed pens, and the land is soiled with bloodguiltness. I shall give their lands quietly to others that they loath. As they openly cheated, so shall those that come after subtly steal. For merchants rule over them and they think my blessings are in wealth and usury. (BOBK 64:20)

The Book of Mormon goes into great detail about the promises of God to the Latin American and Indigenous people of North America. As well as the consequences which will come upon the Gentile [European] inhabitants of America if they chose to try and interfere with the fulfillment of the promises made to those peoples. 3 Nephi 21 sums those promises as well as the consequences for unjust interference. The Gentiles who were “set up as a free people” on this land, (people of the United States of America) are in a favored situation to aid in the latter-day restoration of both Zion in the Middle-East and the New Jerusalem in this land, but if they turn from Christian laws, interfere or fight against Biblical promises, their cities and civilization will be destroyed.

4 For it is wisdom in the Father that they [Americans] should be established in this land [The United States], and be set up as a free people by the power of the Father, that these things might come forth from them [Gentiles/Americans] unto a remnant of your seed [Latin & Indiginous North Americans], that the covenant of the Father may be fulfilled which he hath covenanted with his people, O house of Israel;

The Book of Ben Kathryn clarifies how America’s cities will be slowly “cut off” and “destroyed” out of our midst, as well as alluding to how our nation will be depopulated and “given to others”.

18 Their cities are as heaps of fall leaves, of passing decay that rotteth, should it be left long if it heapeth. They are the gathering of bright colours; but they are brittle, and water only causeth them to rot. There is no regeneration for a leaf cast from the branch. Fire and wind are the only solution; so shall I burn some in heaps, what man hath heapt; and so shall I scatter some that a congregation of them rot not the soil at the time of rain, and the watering of the labourer.
19 Howl ye for the fine buildings; they shall come down slowly at their own hand, and with a yawn shall she depart from among nations, from being Queen of nations; for I have heard the cry of the black man and the red man wherewith they have cried unto me… (BOBK 64:18-19)

Much like the Book of Mormon, the Book of Ben Kathryn teaches that America was created like Israel to be an archetype, “parable”, or teaching tool to symbolically teach the world how heaven guides, leads and judges all the nations of the earth.

12 Hearken attentively, for this is of the LORD: Thus saith the LORD, So do I make thy [Israel’s] harvest a bitter one, and thy grape fit for the spitting out of it. Though I lift up thy skirt and offend America with thy nakedness, yet shall it be only for a season.
13 But I lift up the skirt of America and until the end I shall make them a a proverb unto all nations. For I lift up their skirt to thee now, that thou mayest know what kind of lovers thy baseness hath taken to thee.

The following sections can come accross as pesemistic, negative and fear-based, but I think it is important to remember that prophecy is never set in stone. Man’s actions can change future probabilities and that is why true prophecy is always quite nebulous. The following verses suggest the slow decline of the U.S. will begin with simultaneous attack on Israel and America. The attack on American soil may be a single (nuclear?) attack on the heart of the nation, followed by a pandemic caused either by biological warfare or natural epidemic.

…The same that delivereth thee from bondage art thou then in bondage to.
22 When they [America] had power they did not hearken unto my spirit, but burnt Japan with fire [Atomic Bombs], which thing I commanded them not. I gave their secrets to others, and in fear did I give that generation life [cold war]. Fear turned to foolishness, and foolishness turned to lies. For one tooth they took ten, for the lives of 1000 took they 100,000. [Iraqi war] 23 Behold, saith the LORD, weepings and howlings unto thee. I declare not joy. I repay according to thy ways. Oh the howl of the great city upon the river River and the bareness of thy columns, for that day shall come, and thou shalt not punish the Ishmaelite. (BOBK 65:22-23)

[Its possible these attacks will not be simultaneous and that America might desert Israel for some other reason.]

Although not specifically defined, it seems that these verses seem to suggest that the United States as the only country to ever use nuclear weapons on its enemies will also have the same used upon us. Japan killed 2,350 of our people in Pearl Harbor, and we killed 225,000+ in Hiroshima & Nagasaki. (plus over 1/2 million civilian deaths in conventional bombings). Extremists killed nearly 3,000 Americans in the 9/11 attacks but the Iraqi and Afghanistan retribution wars caused hundreds of thousands of Arab deaths and destabilized the entire region to this day. There are many fringe articles on the web which detail how higher beings watching the earth, specifically forbade the United States in using its nuclear technology —apparently as justice for our disobedience the technology may be allowed to be used in a single occurrence against us. (hopefully we repent and this doesn’t happen!) As far as further deciphering the allusions; the Mississippi River is the most prominent river in the nation whose name comes from an indigenous word meaning “River” or “Great River”. Cities on the Mississippi with “columns” or skyscrapers include New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and St. Louis, Missouri.

However, I think the nebulous language of this prophecy leaves room for these karma balancing events being much smaller, more natural occurrences. Possibly the nuclear event could be a smaller event caused by natural processes such as that which occurred to the Fukashima reactor in Japan? Or possibly simply the use of “clean” or tactical nuclear weapons. It is important to note that this prophecy says all these things will occur slow and steady as “the melting of snow”. So we don’t need to fear some horrible bleak future or apocalyptic end-time war.

Hope for the Future

It’s noteworthy how similar the warnings and pessimistic prophesies in the Book of Ben Kathryn concerning the United States are to those found in the Book of Mormon and LDS Doctrine and Covenants. But the Book of Mormon also gives a more hopeful picture that certain regions of the United States might actually fair quite well during its coming political strife and breakup. The Book of Mormon gives specific lists of the issues which will plague the end-epoch gentiles and gives common sense instruction on what it takes to be “numbered among God’s people” in order to avoid the natural judgments and war caused by social “wickedness”.

13 But if the Gentiles will repent and return unto me, saith the Father, behold they shall be numbered among my people, O house of Israel.
14 And I will not suffer my people, who are of the house of Israel, to go through among them, and tread them down, saith the Father. (3 Ne 16:13–14)

2 Turn, all ye Gentiles, from your wicked ways; and repent of your evil doings, of your lyings and deceivings, and of your whoredoms, and of your secret abominations, and your idolatries, and of your murders, and your priestcrafts, and your envyings, and your strifes, and from all your wickedness and abominations, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, that ye may receive a remission of your sins, and be filled with the Holy Ghost, that ye may be numbered with my people who are of the house of Israel. (3 Ne 30:2)

Most Mormon’s like to take these verses and the many other’s like them in the Book of Mormon to mean that Baptism in the Mormon Church is the way to be saved from coming calamity and “numbered with [God’s] people”.  However, I think these warnings are based far more in common sense. To me these verses say that those regions of the Christian world which keep political and social corruption and crime at bay will fare well during the coming period of civil strife. ….

Summary of Events
Great detail is given as to the acts which shall start the chain of events which culminates in the destruction/attack on Jerusalem, the modern nation of Israel and the decline of the United States. In trying to keep this paper focused on the United States, I will simply outline many of the remaining events in the prophecy below; and leave the pages of verses which detail the Middle Eastern aspects of these events to another paper (see “The Coming Battle of God & Magog“).

-The United States will continue to pressure the nation of Israel into disarmament (BOBK 65:3), with the underlying pledge that we will protect them from Arab aggression. (BOBK 66:19)
-America will continue to bankrupt itself in the process of trying to police the world. (65:9)
-Afterwards, America & Israel will follow the new precedence of “pre-emptive war” by striking neighboring Syria? [text says Assyria, which had its capital in Nineveh or Modern Mosul, Iraq. thus it could be Syria, Iraq Turkey or Iran, but will very likely be an attack on ISIL which is headquartered in Mosul] (20:20)
-A Syrian/Iraqi group will have been plotting with neighboring Arab countries to attack Israel (ISIL?). Israel’s attack will give them the impetus and Arab support to carry out their plans of mass destruction. (12:4 44:8, 66:1-3)
-The destruction/attack on Jerusalem will lead many of apostate Christianity to believe Armageddon is here and Christ is coming. When their preconceived notions of the Second Coming are not met, many will lose faith. (16:1-3, 16:9-10,12)
-The ensuing war will destabilize the entire region, leading eventually to the necessity of Turkey and Egypt stepping in to make peace. The United States will have its own issues to deal with at home, and will thus play little part in the war it essentially helped create (66:4-5)
-In the end an Islamic/Arab empire similar to the Ottoman Caliphate will emerge to challenge the European Union as a world power. (66:4-5)
-Much like the LDS Church within the U.S., Israel is to be brought into captivity one last time (by this new Islamic Empire). During this 70 year captivity God will begin the Gathering of His People to Jerusalem. (63:1,5; 64:5-6)
-During this 70 year captivity, God will raise up scores of prophets to Israel, eventually causing a massive conversion of millions of Jews & Arabs to this new Messianic movement. (22:2-3)
-At the end of this 70 year captivity, Israel will again become an independent nation, the Temple will be rebuilt, and Jerusalem will eventually become the new “Rome” in the ensuing wholesale conversion of the region. This regional religious transformation will exceed even the wholesale conversion of the Roman Empire regions of the first four centuries to Christianity. (5:4-5, 46:11, etc.)

11 …As Jerusalem yielded to Constantinople, and as Constantinople yielded to Rome, and as Rome yielded to Wittenberg, so shall Wittenberg yield back to Jerusalem. The time shall return. (BOBK 46:11)

It appears that with the Syrian (Islamic State?) attack of Jerusalem; stationed American troops will be unexpectedly drawn home, leaving the city defenseless. The reason for this unexpected retreat appears to be the result of some sort of pandemic or Biological Warfare.

7 Go call him the eagle if thou wish. But he shall have a woman’s head and a man’s desires; a scepter she carrieth to tilt the scales of justice. The LORD is a mighty archer, and I have brought me down many a swift bird of prey, and lured many a chicken hawk from the nest of its neighbour.
8 And the LORD instructed me, Go place a caldron at Damascus Gate, for out of the north I will bring tumult on this land and on this city Jerusalem. It shall be a river. The American shall pass through this gate to Joppa way, as a river also, and he shall no more return. For I make Jerusalem a caldron and the Syrian as the boiling water seeking its stony hearth. (BOBK 44:7-8)

18 And thou, O shrewish Israel, brag not, for thou didst bring the American upon thee not as a wife but as an harlot, and they shall despise thee for this after a time. Thou spokest softly into their ears. Thou wast sure in thine imagination that they should deliver thee, and thou luredst them to go up after and against thine enemies.
19 Yet I shall confound them before thine enemies. They shall ravage the serpent’s head but be driven home by a flea. Thy pledge shall be broken, thy wealth no longer barter. (BOBK 66:18-19)

4 …Thy rest upon the Gentiles is vanity, and thy embassies to America to deliver thee pointless. The Lion of the Isles will not come to thy rescue. But I say, Nay, go thou not up, whole Britain, nor send thou the Scot with the American, lest thou sufferest a greater wound from thine ally. (BOBK 45:4)

23 They have removed life for convenience; I shall remove the convenience of life. I send them the bug. See a wonder: by a speck the Earth is destroyed; against the multitude of tininess can no army fight. The LORD hath spoken. (BOBK 64:23)

“Chased home by a flea” and being destroyed by a “bug” seems to fit only with a pandemic of some sort. This interpretation fits well with the prophecy given in the Doctrine and Covenants concerning the end of the Times of the Gentiles. In fact a shadow or type of a plague associated with the end of the times of the gentiles is given in the Spanish Flue Pandemic which killed over 40 million people in Europe and throughout the world just after WWI. (see my paper on the times of the gentiles to see the history repeating types laid out in the hundred years between Christ and the complete destruction of Israel, Joseph Smith and the destruction of Europe/WWII, and the final end of the times of the gentiles). It also seems that this plague is a perfect candidate to cause the final blow to the U.S. economy, the cause for some of our cities being left desolate without attack, as well as poetic justice for an ailing population of baby boomers that was willing to “kill” their children’s economic future in order to “sustain its old age” (Social Security/Medicaid/Medicare/Health Care Reform).

30 And in that generation shall the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
31 And there shall be men standing in that generation, that shall not pass until they shall see an overflowing scourge; for a desolating sickness shall cover the land.
32 But my disciples shall stand in holy places, and shall not be moved; but among the wicked, men shall lift up their voices and curse God and die.
33 And there shall be earthquakes also in divers places, and many desolations; yet men will harden their hearts against me, and they will take up the sword, one against another, and they will kill one another. (D&C 45:30–33)

See my paper of the times of the gentiles to see the additional Ciphers God gives to Daniel’s 70 week prophesies to aid in our understanding of when the 70 week times of the Gentiles is to come to an end.

THUS saith the LORD thy God, in the year of the 70th [week] of the Gentiles set thy face to the east, and set it to the west, to the north and then to the south, and prophecy thou against them: Your times come to the full. The LORD God setteth ye a time to repent… (BOBK 21:1)

The fall of the great and powerful secular democracies of the United States and Israel and the eventual rise of the new political systems of Israel and the New Jerusalem in America will indeed be a “Marvelous Work and a Wonder”. In that day kings shall indeed “shut their mouths” and “that which they had not heard, shall they consider”. Where much is given, much is required, and the United States has been given more than any other nation in the world. In less than one hundred years it has gone from being a small backwards country ravaged by Civil War, to the world’s third most populous country, fourth largest by land, and first largest by economy, military might and political influence. We have tried to do good, but we are losing our way as we cast off the God in whom we should trust—we have forsaken the principles of justice, freedom, humility, equality and democracy that are required for heaven’s blessings.

As America becomes more aware of its financial insolvency, people will start to get scared and angry. When people get scared, countries which have given their governments too much power suffer. During WWI & WWII, nearly every socialist country ended up on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain. Be that socialist Poland, Hungary, Yugoslavia, socialist Germany or the Socialist Soviet Republic. Countries which give their governments too much power are like empty thrones, just waiting for despots and corrupt government officials to take control. Those who want to abdicate their Christian responsibility to take care of themselves and their neighbors to their governments are asking for foolish and corrupt leaders, oppression and repression. The Book of Ben Kathryn suggests this will increasingly become the outcome in the United States over the ensuing decades.

7 Therefore, saith the LORD, I shall send the piper, and he shall entrance thee from thy pulpit and lead thee from thy gates with a merry jig. Thou art foolish, O America. Thou shalt play them a tune and make them to follow thee. But thou knowest not where thou goest. The servant shall sit on the horse and play the pipe, and thy leaders shall hold the tail and dance.
8 Everything ye call a conspiracy I will make a conspiracy unto you. Everyone’s home shall ye make a fortress and your neighbour shall be your tyrant. The world shall pick your wealth. For when ye try and defend yourselves, even your leaders shall pull at the horse’s tail and upset your defense.
9 Thou hast made thy walls strong and thy gates a glittering with jewels, ears as unto pomegranates, eyes as unto rubies, and hearts as unto sapphires, cold and blue. Yet thy gates through which thou makest merchandise of the world shall be desolate. No man can bring them down. Hast thou not even magnified them unto God? Nevertheless, thou shalt return from thy jig, and there weep at the decay; in the cleft of thine elbow deep weeping; arms shall hide thine eyes, hide them from the desolation because the LORD caused them to decay; and the weeds thereupon shall embolden the predator and the small nation.
10 …What say ye of Precedence? —shall it make bribery not bribery; and extortion, is it any different? How the complacent braggeth! How the wine vat bubbleth with languish! What is left after one purgeth the winepress of the pulp? Bitterness is left, as a heart that is sewn with salt. No more can a good thing grow, or a tender shoot reach for the sun. (BOBK 65:7-10)

What shall we do then, knowing that our nation is headed for a decline and breakup like the USSR– and that its future is decay and division? When you think about it… the same has been true for every large nation and empire on earth, so it really shouldn’t come as a surprise and doesn’t need to be that big of a deal. The answers to our coming problems are the same also… be smart and if social stability looks threatened in your region, simply move before it escalates. Even with the USSR’s fiscal crisis and breakup, many regions fared quite well, and I imagine many fiscally responsible and socially stable regions of the U.S. will be no different. The decline of the U.S. is prophesied to be slow, and Japan is a decade ahead of us as it goes through the same decay… so if we watch them or Argentina, or Russia we can be guided in how to make smart choices to avoid the big problems inherent in our nation’s slow decline.

And we can stay positive with the hope that some parts of our Nation will prosper and win as good people instinctively move from areas plagued with gang violence and social strife to areas that have things more together.  We can stay positive with our faith that even after the breakup of the United States into “five flowers”, one of those flowers will create an even better system than the one that made America a beacon of hope in the first place. One of those five flowers will join with Latin America, Jerusalem, the Middle East and the rest of the good people of the world to achieve the hope of world peace and harmony we all hold out faith for.

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The identity of Gog and Magog https:/1137/the-identity-of-gog-and-magog/

The End of the Times of the Gentiles https:/86/the-end-of-the-times-of-the-gentiles/

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