America Under Attack Was Prophesied

Why has America fallen into such a terrible condition so quickly?

This nation’s founders desired to establish the government of God on Earth. It has had an amazing history and blessings like no other single nation has ever had.

But now it is destroying itself! Millions of people in America and beyond are asking, What is going on? What is happening to our country? People are confused and deceived, and no one has answers.

Prominent Americans are committing unimaginable treachery. But there is a far stronger malevolent force at work that we must know about. And you can be sure that Bible prophecy has something to say about it! Would God let all that is happening occur in the world today and not tell you why it is happening? If you know the Bible, you know God would not do that. He always sends somebody to let people know why it is happening. But it is not an easy message for people to accept.

America is experiencing a crisis we cannot ignore. Many people are praying for God to stop the terrible problems afflicting our nation. Is He answering them? No, He is not! God will not truly solve those problems until we repent—and I mean a real repentance!

It will get far worse very soon if we don’t heed God. If our people still refuse to truly repent of our sins, Hosea 5:5-7 bluntly prophesy what will happen to “Israel,” “Ephraim” and “Judah.” These are prophetic names for America (the most powerful nation today descended from ancient Israel), Britain and the modern-day Jewish nation in the Middle East. These nations will all collapse—and all within just one month!

My book America Under Attack addresses the ongoing self-destruction of the United States of America. Even more, it explains—as no other book does—not only what is happening to America but why. It reveals how this shocking trend is connected to the prophecies of the Holy Bible—right down to specific times and specific personalities.

I published the first edition in 2013 as a small 35-page booklet. It received an excellent response. Because this subject is crucial, I published a greatly expanded second edition in 2022, then a further expansion in 2023. This 219-page third edition with an added chapter is the first hardback book I have ever published. Given the importance and uniqueness of the message and the urgency of the times, I wanted it to be special.

America Under Attack illuminates the catastrophe taking place in this nation today.

Kings

The Bible contains many more sobering prophecies like Hosea’s, which have been proclaimed for more than 90 years, first by Herbert W. Armstrong and now the Philadelphia Church of God. America Under Attack adds a newly understood prophecy from 2 Kings. Let’s look at one of the main scriptural passages it explains: 2 Kings 14:26-27.

Along with Joshua, Judges and Samuel, the book of Kings (later divided into 1 and 2 Kings) constitutes the part of the Bible called the former prophets. These books were written by prophets of God. Few people realize this, but most of the prophecy in these books is for modern Israel in our day. (Prove this by requesting my book The Former Prophets: How to Become a King. All of our literature is free.)

2 Kings 14:26-27 state, “For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel. And the Lord said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven: but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.” The Ferrar Fenton translation reads, “For the Ever-living pitied the immeasurable miseries of Israel both without and within, when there was no ease for Israel” (verse 26).

America Under Attack explains how we are living through the end-time fulfillment of this prophecy.

People are concerned about and frightened by America’s affliction: suicidal finances and economics, overstretched military, agitated racial divisions, government tyranny, rampant lying, horrible drug problems, exploding crime, radical sexual perversions and many other problems. These problems are genuine cause for concern!

Verse 27 shows that there is a force trying to “blot out the name of Israel from under heaven.” This is an evil force that opposes everything God is about—and Israel is crucial to God’s master plan! Do you know that master plan and the role Israel plays in it?

Prophetic Israel includes the modern-day nations of America and Britain. Spiritual Israel is the congregation of Spirit-begotten Christians, the true Church of God (e.g. Galatians 6:16; Romans 9:6-8). God’s plan has always been to use Israel as His instrument to bring all people of all nations to salvation! This is a foundational truth that anybody can prove with enough prayer and study and submission to God. (Request Herbert W. Armstrong’s book The Incredible Human Potential to learn more.)

The one who wants to destroy Israel and everything God is working to accomplish with mankind is the adversary, Satan the devil. Satan wants to blot out that name completely. He works through men to do that. This is what is so bitter!

Satan’s goal to blot out that name from “under heaven” means everybody who has ever lived under heaven! That is how much Satan hates human beings and the potential God has given us! But God has a plan for all those people in history, and Israel plays a major role. God is going to resurrect those who died and didn’t know Him. He will give them the chance to really know Him and His plan for the first time.

God had to prevent the name of Israel from being blotted out! And this prophecy shows that God is going to save Israel, temporarily, through a modern-day Jeroboam. As I show in America Under Attack, that role is being fulfilled by Donald Trump.

Of course, this man has some serious sins and problems; it isn’t because of his righteousness that God is using him. But Mr. Trump is going to receive the opportunity to restore some stability to America, for a short time. Donald Trump is coming back.

“Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he warred, and how he recovered Damascus, and Hamath …” (2 Kings 14:28). Mr. Trump will have to war his way back. Watch for him to do just that!

But the national revival that he oversees will be brief. Its purpose, as another prophecy shows, is to give the people of America one last opportunity to repent before the worst time of suffering ever strikes. Anciently, after Jeroboam’s reign, Assyria conquered Israel. Unless people repent, the same is about to happen again. But God still leaves the window open for individuals to take advantage of, to turn to Him and be protected.

This is explained thoroughly in America Under Attack. It shows how Satan is orchestrating it all by using one man in particular, an end-time counterpart of an ancient enemy of Israel: Antiochus iv Epiphanes.

Antiochus

The book of Daniel was written only for this end time. The prophet was told, “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end …” (Daniel 12:4). This is describing our day. “… Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end” (verse 9). God said not even Daniel would understand what he was recording but that his prophecy would be unsealed in our day. (Request my booklet Daniel—Unsealed at Last! to learn more.)

Daniel 8 is an end-time prophecy about a deceptive leader who attacks God’s people and wreaks terrible destruction. “And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land” (verse 9). Virtually all commentaries agree this is a prophecy of Antiochus iv Epiphanes. This man was a wicked Seleucid king who obtained rule in Palestine in 176 b.c. through deceit and flattery. He attacked the Jews in a despicable way. He killed many men, women and children, and he enjoyed it—he did everything he could to destroy the Jewish faith itself!

This man was possessed by the devil! The devil knows God’s plan for the Jews and the other tribes of Israel—even if they themselves have forgotten.

What the commentaries don’t understand, however, is that what happened in the second century b.c. was only a type of a more important fulfillment of this prophecy in the end time. That is what the end-time book of Daniel is most concerned about.

I witnessed firsthand the end-time fulfillment in the Church of God. A modern-day “Antiochus” gained high office and cast the truth to the ground, destroying the Church (verse 12). This is explained in the first book I wrote, back in 1989: Malachi’s Message to God’s Church Today (request a free copy).

What we have seen in recent years shows something extraordinary: Satan used the same blueprint within the physical nations of Israel. He brought to power an Antiochus who destroys the nation from within! America Under Attack proves this thoroughly.

These two books, Malachi’s Message and America Under Attack, are similar in important ways. Both are about exposing a Satan-possessed leader. Both explain the prophecy of Daniel 8 thoroughly. Both show how the language of ferocious warfare in this prophecy applies to the destruction within spiritual and physical Israel. Both expose how Satan uses a man to try to blot out the name of Israel!

Attacking Spiritual Israel, Then Physical Israel

“And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them” (Daniel 8:10). “The host of the stars” means the angels of God! “Host” can refer to an army of angels, demons or men. This is describing violent spiritual warfare between demons and angels!

Now compare this with Revelation 12:7-12. This passage also depicts spiritual warfare and shows how Satan and his host were cast down to Earth. He and all the millions of demons are now confined here and unleashing unspeakable ruin. What was the first target of their wrath? Verse 13 shows it was God’s Church, symbolized by a woman.

Back in Daniel 8, we see how these demonic forces destroyed the work of the Church (there called “the daily sacrifice,” or “the daily”; verses 9-13). As Daniel—Unsealed at Last! explains, this passage is about Satan’s army attacking God’s Church—spiritual Israel—by working through an end-time Antiochus. This man attacked God’s people from within the Church and wreaked terrifying destruction!

I personally experienced this nightmare. After Herbert W. Armstrong died in 1986, his successors—one in particular—“cast down the truth to the ground” doctrine by doctrine (verse 12) and dismantled the Church! The truth Mr. Armstrong taught was obliterated by a man at the top—an Antiochus in spiritual Israel. He and his followers cast out of the Church everybody who held fast the truth. It was a stunning display of what happens when the devil gets control of a man at the top. My son’s free book Raising the Ruins documents the whole story.

Spiritual Israel was the primary target of these demonic forces—but next on their list was physical Israel! When Satan and millions of demons are cast down to Earth, wouldn’t that dramatically intensify the evil not only in the Church but also in America, Britain and the Jewish state? It would be foolish to think it wouldn’t!

Daniel’s prophecy gives us incredible insight into what happened to God’s Church. It also exposes the attack plan Satan used against the end-time nations of physical Israel. It was the same plan of attack in both cases. Just as in God’s Church, Satan used an Antiochus.

This is a second Antiochus: a man at the top of America’s government, driven by a diabolical goal to blot out even the name of Israel!

Malachi’s Message exposes the Antiochus in spiritual Israel, and America Under Attack exposes the Antiochus in physical Israel.

This evil power wreaks enormous destruction, including casting down the truth to the ground (verses 10-12). These verses are dual: They are directed to spiritual Israel (the Church) and physical Israel—three nations especially. Among those three nations, the American superpower is most prominent because of all the power and riches God has given us. We didn’t gain those riches from our own ingenuity but because God gave us that wealth. Still, many people are now fighting against Christ and casting truth to the ground!

Horrible things are happening in America by design. Even many Republicans utterly fail to understand this. Radical people are committing terrible acts. The destruction in God’s Church was a forerunner of the destruction in the nation. God’s spiritual truth was cast down to the ground in spiritual Israel—and you see the same devastation on a physical level in America. The U.S. Constitution was based on many biblical principles and designed for a moral and religious people. But religion, morals, founding principles, the Constitution and the rule of law are being trashed and trampled.

If you understand what you are seeing, you realize that the ultimate aim here is not only to blot out traditions and principles in general everywhere, but specifically to blot out traditions and principles in the modern nations of Israel that trace back to the Bible. The goal is indeed to blot out the name of Israel!

God uses military language to describe these events. He wants us to understand that we are in a spiritual war. Most people today simply do not recognize this. All this evil is designed, and it is destroying this nation from within. We must let God show us what is happening.

Within the Church, God revealed the magnitude of what we were dealing with. 2 Thessalonians 2 shows that one man, a “son of perdition,” got control of God’s Church. Scripture uses that term only one other time: when Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus Christ. When Judas decided to help people kill Christ, Satan entered into him (John 13:27). That is what the son of perdition is all about! Satan gets control of an Antiochus and will commit as much violence as possible.

There is an Antiochus in the United States. He is in control, and he hates everything about America and its founding that traces back to God. He exerted great power during his two terms in office, in opposing President Donald Trump, in forcing him out of the presidency with a fraudulent election, and in installing a pretender-to-the-throne president that he controlled. In the process, the principles, institutions and safeguards that had lasted for generations were damaged and destroyed.

It is easy to see truth being cast to the ground in America today. Barack Obama has revealed that he hates the Constitution. He is lawless in the way he pursues his destructive goals. He is all about lawlessness! He exalts lies, not truth. And so many other government officials follow his leadership.

‘By Reason of Transgression’

Why is God allowing Satan to inflict such destruction? Daniel 8:12 shows that it is “by reason of transgression.” Verse 23 says in the “latter time … the transgressors are come to the full ….” God is punishing us because of the terrible sins of God’s people and of America and Britain!

God’s Work has a message to deliver to the United States. America is under attack! An Antiochus is trying to blot out America and all that it stands for.

Thankfully, Antiochus’s reign in America will soon end. “Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he warred, and how he recovered Damascus, and Hamath …” (2 Kings 14:28). Donald Trump is an end-time type of Jeroboam. He will fight, successfully, to retake the presidency. When he returns to power, there will be a short respite. Things will get better for a little while, and people will think the trouble is over.

But it is not over! The respite will be permanent and worthwhile only if people repent of their sins.

This is a message to Israel, both spiritual and physical. We have to heed God’s warning and willingly submit ourselves to Him. God does not force His truth and His way on anybody. That is partly why God’s Church is such a little flock today (e.g. Luke 12:32). There should be millions of people supporting God’s Work—but there is not because the opposition is so fierce today. You must be willing to fight the spiritual war. If you do, and you succeed with the power of God, what a wonderful victory that is!

That gives you some background to help you understand the essential content of America Under Attack. This book, like Malachi’s Message, thoroughly exposes this satanic movement.

Now here is something truly extraordinary.

We have known for years that Malachi’s Message was specifically prophesied in the Bible. I will give you some of that proof here. After the third edition of America Under Attack was printed, I wondered whether this important and urgent message was also specifically prophesied. I believe God answered that question and showed me something I had not known before.

The Little Book

In Revelation 10, the Apostle John describes a “little book” being delivered by a mighty angel. This is set during a time of “no more delay” (verse 6; Revised Standard Version). It is a time when God allows events to progress rapidly toward their climax. That time is now.

Verses 8-9 say this about the “little book”: “And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.”

As I prove in my booklet The Little Book, this “little book” is Malachi’s Message, the first book I wrote. God revealed that the Church had entered the Laodicean era. He showed me in detail through the Bible what it was that had caused the devastation in the Church and what to do about it.

That message was sweet as honey in our mouth: It is sweet to receive understanding from God about the true cause of events, devastating as those events are.

“And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter” (verse 10). That same message is also bitter in the belly. It reveals that thousands upon thousands of God’s people are going to lose their eternal lives! So many people who read Malachi’s Message had this experience.

Immediately after this comes the commission that God has given the Philadelphia Church of God (pcg) today: “And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings” (verse 11). This entire passage is deeply personal to those of us in God’s remnant Church.

Here is the prophecy about Malachi’s Message, which exposed Satan’s destructive actions within spiritual Israel, God’s Church.

Now let’s look at a prophecy in the book of Ezekiel that has strong parallels with this passage in Revelation.

Ezekiel’s Scroll

The Prophet Ezekiel wrote his message to the Israelites, but Israel had already gone into captivity over 100 years prior. That tells us that his message wasn’t for Israel then—it is for Israel today. He prophesied of nuclear weapons and cities being left without inhabitant! The book of Ezekiel contains some of the Bible’s strongest prophecies, and they are clearly for the end time.

This is a horrifying message to accept—but Ezekiel also said that at the end of these events, Israel will know God! That is a bittersweet message.

God asks in Ezekiel 33:11, “[W]hy will ye die, O house of Israel?” God doesn’t want us to die. Instead, He says, “[T]urn ye, turn ye from your evil ways …” (verse 11). He is trying to bring about our repentance!

It is for that ultimate purpose that God instructs the Prophet Ezekiel to deliver a specific message in a specific way.

“And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation …” (Ezekiel 2:3). The original Hebrew word for “nation” actually means nations—plural. This is directed at nations today. There were 12 tribes of Israel whose descendants are being cursed in this end time, and three in particular have really stirred God’s wrath!

“For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. … and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God. And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them” (verses 4-5). God is warning of terrible things coming, and there is a prophet on the scene. God is saying this, so you can be absolutely certain it will happen. We must know who that prophet is, or we could never understand this.

Verse 6 shows that we are going to experience some terribly stormy times—but God tells us not to fear. Amid trials and tests, He will care for us and give us wonderful miracles.

Up to this point in the prophecy, there is no little book. But then there is something similar.

God primarily aims this message at the superpower of Israel—America—because in many ways the superpower leads Britain and the Jewish state today. Referring to these nations, not the Church, God tells Ezekiel, “And thou [one man] shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear [refuse]: for they are most rebellious. But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee” (verses 7-8). Here, as with the little book of Revelation 10, God’s man is told to eat this message.

“And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe” (verses 9-10). So here is “a roll of a book,” or a great scroll, with this important message.

The little book of Revelation 10 was bitter, and this book in Ezekiel 2 contains lamentations, mourning and woe. There is bad news here too—real bitterness. As we will see, it describes terrible destruction to come on our nations. We do not want to see this happen to anybody!

Ezekiel’s vision continues in the next chapter: “Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll [much like the little book], and go speak unto the house of Israel”—three nations in particular (Ezekiel 3:1). We must do something with this message. God tells us to get out and “speak unto the house of Israel.” That is my job, and God’s people have a duty to back and support me in that work.

Look at the context: There is no discussion of the Laodicean Church yet. God is aiming this at the nations of Israel. This is a warning we must publish! God says, Eat this, and get this message out there! It is to nations, not to the Church.

“So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll. And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness” (verses 2-3).

So just as in Revelation 10, here is a message sweet in the mouth and bitter in the belly. The language is very similar to the little book. But these verses are talking about a different book.

A Past Mistake

Because of the similarities between these two prophecies, I believed for years that the “little book” of Revelation 10 was the same as the “roll of a book” in Ezekiel 2 and 3. I have come to recognize that I was wrong about that.

We are human, and we make mistakes from time to time. But when I make a mistake, I correct it. I have to do that, or my job working with God would be over.

When Mr. Armstrong made mistakes, he corrected them. He didn’t quite understand the Laodicean era, for example. But now we are in that era, and we can correct those errors. Even the original apostles thought the end time would come during their lifetimes. Did God reject them because of that? No, He remained silent so they would be more motivated to get the Work done then, even though the time of the end would not come for another 2,000 years.

Mr. Armstrong also said he was amazed by the similarities between the little book of Revelation 10 and the roll of a book in Ezekiel 2 and 3. But God has revealed new truth about this.

The similarities between the “little book” and this “roll of a book” are clear, and that is because both books have the same goal: exposing how Satan uses an Antiochus against God’s plan!

One exposes the Antiochus inside a Church; the other an Antiochus inside a nation. The fact that God uses the same words to describe both shows the similarity in theme between these two books.

What is contained in the roll of a book is one single prophecy. It is like the little book because its purpose is the same, but it is a different book. This “roll of a book” is directed at a nation, America, and it truly is a bitter message!

In noting the differences between the Ezekiel scroll and the Revelation 10 book, Forerunner’s Commentary notes that Ezekiel’s scroll is open and readable, while Revelation’s scroll is sealed. This seems to indicate that the book described here is more understandable to the public than Malachi’s Message, which is aimed directly at the Church.

Watch the story flow, because Ezekiel 2 and 3 are a single prophecy that leads into the Great Tribulation and beyond.

The Ferrar Fenton renders Ezekiel 2:8-9 this way: “‘You, however, Son of Adam, listen to what I say to you;—be not rebellious,—like that rebellious family. Open your mouth and eat what I give you.’ Then I looked and saw a hand approach me, with a Roll-book in it, and it spread it before me ….” The Jewish Publication Society translation of verse 9 says, “And when I looked, behold, a hand was put forth unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein.” It is about a book—a book about lamentations, mourning and woe that lead into the Great Tribulation!

I know of no book that fits this description like America Under Attack. It is, in fact, a prophecy about America Under Attack.

The context shows this. As I write in Ezekiel—The End-Time Prophet, “Keep your mind on the story flow in Ezekiel 3. Remember, the book of Ezekiel has a story flow. So the context is a key to understanding this book.” The context gives evidence of America Under Attack. This book is about another Antiochus, a man who tries to blot out the name of Israel.

God has to reveal this truth. I can of myself do nothing. That is what the Bible says about all of us (John 5:30; 15:5). God is everything. We have to go to Him to get help when we need it.

Each person has to prove this to himself. You cannot simply guess about something so important.

Two Different, but Related, Messages

Revelation 10 speaks of a “little book,” whereas Ezekiel 2:9 says, “an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein.” It wasn’t a huge scroll, but something you could hold in your hand. It is “a roll of a book,” not the little book.

The little book, Malachi’s Message, is 148 pages. America Under Attack is 212 pages. God didn’t call it a “big book,” but He called it a book, not a little book. I think that makes this one a little bigger, and certainly it is a book.

After Mr. Armstrong died, everything was falling apart in our Church, and people at the top, led by an Antiochus, were casting truth to the ground! There was widespread, rank deceit. We couldn’t understand what was happening. What were we to do? We were confused. What a catastrophe! But then the little book came and we knew exactly what was happening.

What is happening today in America? People don’t know. All over the world, people know something is terribly wrong. But they don’t understand! America Under Attack explains what this catastrophe is all about.

What other book besides America Under Attack could possibly be referenced here? There is not, nor ever will be, another book like it.

When you realize that an Antiochus is on the scene, that narrows this down even further. The spiritual Antiochus is called “the son of perdition” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). This man is just like Judas Iscariot, whom Satan entered just before he betrayed Jesus Christ (John 13:27). God wants to make sure we have a book to explain this. By doing that, we expose Satan the devil.

We already faced the Antiochus who destroyed the Church, so we understand the political Antiochus well. We know what it means for such a man to get control of our country. The Worldwide Church of God (wcg) was destroyed, and 95 percent of God’s people are gone! This is a blistering warning! So we tell people about the crisis in America and why it is here.

America’s massive and growing debt is a deadly national security threat. People are pouring over the southern border; cartels are making billions bringing drugs, sick people, prisoners and terrorists into our nation. Everybody who loves this country is appalled! They can’t understand why God won’t stop this. Even religious people are puzzled. We explain why God isn’t answering their prayers to correct the situation. America Under Attack explains it, just like Malachi’s Message did for the Church.

“But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted” (Ezekiel 3:7). We have to understand what is coming and get this message to the world, even against powerful resistance. And we must brace ourselves for serious opposition!

God’s Sons

Starting in Ezekiel 3:11, there is a shift in focus. Verse 11 has the first mention in Ezekiel 3 of the Laodiceans, or spiritual Israel. That in itself tells you something: There is much here that doesn’t even address the situation explained in the little book.

Here, the message is directed at God’s Church: “And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord God; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear” (verse 11). “Them of the captivity” were Jews with Ezekiel in Babylon; this was a type of what is happening today.

“The children” should read “the sons” (Companion Bible). These are the people of God—His Spirit-begotten sons! “The children of thy people” are God’s Family! Every member of God’s Church is a son of God. They are growing into the Family of God.

But notice: These people are “of the captivity”—captives. These are the Laodiceans in this end time—people who have been captured by Satan the devil. Tragically, 95 percent of God’s own people have turned away from God! Read more about this in Revelation 3:14-22.

I was fired from that church for holding fast the truth. A lot of the members of the pcg today were also kicked out. But we never gave up on what Mr. Armstrong taught because we had proved it and knew it was right. Even if Mr. Armstrong himself had turned away, we would not have followed him! That is the way it must be. We must not look to men but to God and the truth He gives us through His Word.

“So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness …” (verse 14). In verse 3, sweet as honey; in verse 14, bitterness. Once again, the language parallels that of the little book, which is why I believed that is what this was referring to.

“Then I came to them of the captivity … and remained there astonished among them seven days” (verse 15). Ezekiel—The End-Time Prophet explains these seven days and the day-for-a-year prophetic principle (see Ezekiel 4:6). These “seven days” are the first seven years of the Philadelphia Church of God, when we focused on distributing Malachi’s Message to the spiritual captives of the Laodicean Church, those true Christians who were falling away from God’s truth. We urged people to remember the truth God had given them, summarized in Mr. Armstrong’s final book, Mystery of the Ages. We warned that Church leaders were deceptively destroying that truth while claiming not to. One Church area had 100,000 copies of the book left and destroyed them all! As the betrayal grew stronger and stronger, it could no longer be hidden. They soon believed that everything Mr. Armstrong had written had to be destroyed! They wanted the truth blotted out.

Prelude to Tribulation

Then something changed: “And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me” (Ezekiel 3:16-17). At that point, our focus was no longer on the Laodiceans but back on the nations.

God showed us that we had to get Mystery of the Ages to the largest audience possible, and we began printing and distributing that book freely. The destroyers in the wcg fought us in court to blot that out as well! We won in district court, lost in appellate court, and made an unanswered appeal to the Supreme Court. But the Supreme Court of heaven gave us the victory: Having won on appeal and entering a damages trial to determine the pcg’s legal punishment, wcg leaders called us to settle the dispute out of court. We refused until they yielded the full copyrights to Mystery of the Ages and 18 other works by Mr. Armstrong and even the documents and information that came to light during the case. It was a miraculous victory.

That victory gave us a message for the whole world! We proclaim the truth in Mystery of the Ages, which is essentially “all things restored” by Mr. Armstrong. But now with time being as short as it is, we also emphasize a warning message as we prophesy again. We have a watchman message for the nations—on The Key of David, in the Trumpet, the Trumpet Daily and so much more.

Ezekiel was not a watchman—he was a captive among a people who had already gone into captivity. But he was a prophet. God says, though, there will be a watchman and a prophet on the scene in this end time. God tells this watchman to warn people so they can be saved from terrible suffering and even from losing their eternal lives.

In verse 18, God says that if we fail to warn people, He will hold us responsible for their blood! God has given His people a critical job that must be done.

In the story flow in Ezekiel, this leads right into God’s people being taken to a place of safety (verse 22). Verse 26 describes the famine of the word (prophesied in Amos 8:11-12), when the watchman work is over. Then comes the Great Tribulation, which is described beginning in Ezekiel 4.

Ezekiel 4:2 describes a “siege against” Israel. There is a trade war and a siege against America in particular, but also the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. This besiegement is already beginning. God Himself is bringing it against our peoples to correct them. This marks the start of the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21).

Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 describe what happens. Deuteronomy 28:52 says, “And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates ….” Have enemy nations done this? Britain and America once possessed all the important gates of international trade, and now they have lost almost all of them! Who now will control these trade routes? It is the tyrants who rule during the “times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24). Deuteronomy 31:29 says this “evil will befall you in the latter days.” This is for us today!

Ezekiel 5 shows how this economic siege sparks three parts of the Great Tribulation. Verses 1-2 say, “And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber’s razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair. Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled”—that is part one. That siege will precipitate the death of over a hundred million people!

Verse 2 concludes, “[A]nd thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife”—that is part two: a nuclear attack. “[A]nd a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them”—that is part three: captivity.

This is a terrifying prophecy of how the nations of Israel will be conquered and destroyed!

Then verse 3 contains this fascinating detail: “Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts.” This refers to the people of God that God will protect.

Ezekiel paints a truly horrifying picture! People are fighting God—and now God is against them! (verse 8). “And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all thine abominations” (verse 9). It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Getting to Know God

How bad will conditions get? Can you emotionally handle what Ezekiel 5:10 says will happen to America? If God isn’t protecting you, this is what you will have to live through!

Ezekiel 6:6 prophesies, “In all your dwellingplaces the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.” What terrifying punishment! (This is all explained in my book Ezekiel—The End-Time Prophet.)

Then verses 8 and 9 say, “Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries. And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives ….” This says that the Laodiceans will be slaves around the world—but there, in captivity, they will be speaking for God! That is inspiring.

“And they shall know that I am the Lord, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them” (verse 10). Ezekiel says 23 more times by God’s inspiration that they are going to get to know the God whom they reject today! As terrible as these crises are, thankfully in the end they will cause people to come to know the living Almighty God!

People need to be warned of what is coming. We need to do all we can to get America Under Attack out to this world. They need it! God has given this book at this time so we can be a witness to them and give them time to repent before God. If they really understood what is coming, surely it would impact and motivate them. This will be the worst suffering man has ever experienced! And God holds His faithful people accountable for warning them. We should be thankful to have the opportunity.

Ezekiel prophesies some horrendous events that are coming—but they will last only a short time. And God says they are leading to a wonderful, hope-filled conclusion! Soon all these troubles will be over forever, and the majestic prophecies of the wonderful World Tomorrow will come to pass before our eyes!

So many people today are deeply sad, discouraged and hopeless. But not God’s faithful people! In our Church, in our colleges in Oklahoma and in Britain, and at our institute of archaeology in Jerusalem, we are building the bright, shining hope of God!

God is re-creating Himself in man, and there is nothing more exciting than this wonderful truth! Genesis 1:26 shows that God made us to look like Him, and we now have to build the character of God—to be made in His image. Do that and you will be in the Family of God for all eternity! Nobody can keep you out of that if you really want it. You have a choice.

I urge you to take action and throw your support behind this Work—informing people of the spiritual dimension of the destruction we see, warning of what is to come, and delivering the true hope of God about the wonderful world He is about to establish!