Rising Debt Is Forcing America to Slash Military Spending
The United States can no longer afford to be the world’s policeman. The national debt has skyrocketed to $21 trillion, and the federal budget deficit has ballooned to $779 billion. The crisis has prompted President Donald Trump to call on each U.S. cabinet office to slash 5 percent from its budget by fiscal year 2020. According to Deputy Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan, the U.S. military will have to cut $33 billion from the national defense budget to meet this target.
While the Pentagon could probably slash its budget by 5 percent simply by cutting wasteful spending, newly released figures from the Congressional Budget Office (cbo) show that much more drastic cuts loom on the horizon. As entitlement spending and interest payments on the national debt consume an ever increasing portion of the federal budget, the government will be forced to reduce its defense spending to 1930s levels.
The decline in U.S. military power fulfills a major Bible prophecy.
America’s Decline
Financial historian Niall Ferguson has warned that nations and empires usually fall apart when the costs of servicing their debts exceed the cost of defending their borders. The United States is dangerously close to this tipping point.
The cbo recently disclosed that the interest on the national debt rose to $371 billion in 2018. That is a 20 percent jump over the previous year and roughly half the amount the nation spends on its military.
Based on current budget projections, the government will spend over 3 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product on interest payments in 2028. Meanwhile, it will spend 6.8 percent of the nation’s gdp on health care, 6 percent on social security, and only 2.6 percent on the military. That means base defense spending is projected to fall from 3.1 percent of gdp in 2018 to 2.6 percent in 2028. The last time U.S. military spending fell to such a low level, the Great Depression was devastating the economy and Nazi Germany was rising.
If powers like China and the European Union continue to boost their defense spending toward 2 percent of gdp, they will quickly catch up to the U.S. in terms of military technology and prowess.
Prophesied Destruction
The late Herbert W. Armstrong explained in his landmark book The United States and Britain in Prophecy that the Anglo-Saxon peoples who settled the U.S. and Britain are the descendants of ancient Israel. This astonishing truth means that the Bible’s end-time prophecies concerning Israel are primarily directed at the United States and Britain.
Chapter 14 of his book explains a specific prophecy in Micah 5:7-15. This passage speaks specifically about these modern nations of Israel today. It describes America’s wealth and dominance today, before prophesying its sudden destruction.
In this prophecy, God says that He will cut off the horses of Israel and destroy their chariots. Then He will cut off the cities of the land and throw down its strongholds. In other words, at the moment America reaches the zenith of its power, God will cut off its armaments and throw down its strongholds. He will break the pride of America’s power, because the people have turned away from God’s law to embrace false teachers who teach lawlessness. They endorse sins like abortion, adultery, drug abuse, homosexuality, lying, Sabbath-breaking and sexual promiscuity.
America’s current debt woes are leading to the sudden collapse of its military power. This is correction from God, and when this correction becomes intense enough, people will acknowledge their transgressions, repent and seek God.
To learn more about why God is correcting the United States, request a free copy of The United States and Britain in Prophecy, by Herbert W. Armstrong.
