Chapter 14 – Downfall of America

        

A day belonging to Jehovah is near – A day of clouds, an appointed time of nations it will prove to be.”   – Ezekiel 30:3 –

The world now stands at the brink of one of the most shocking events in history. What may be deemed by many today to be very unlikely, even unthinkable, will become tomorrow’s bold-cap headlines. It will take place because the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has decreed it; for the “event” will herald the very commencement of the fear-inspiring day of Jehovah. According to Ezekiel, that day will be a dark time for the peoples of the world, “a day of clouds, an appointed time of nations it will prove to be.”.

What exactly is the “appointed time of nations”? 

The phrase is very similar to the expression Jesus used when referring to the appointed times for the nations to trample Jerusalem. The “appointed times of the nations,” as it is called in the 21st chapter of Luke, is the period when Christ begins ruling as king in the midst of his enemies, and in response the terrified and enraged nations cling defiantly to their power and viciously persecute the sons of the kingdom, for which sin heaven ultimately brings the nations into judgment. 

The “appointed time of nations” commences with the outbreak of global war and the leading nations of the world experience a resounding crash.

Although the prophecies of Isaiah and Ezekiel portray the coming crash in an ancient setting in connection with the overthrow of Tyre and Egypt, it is apparent that the fall of both Egypt and Tyre cast profound prophetic shadows that extend down to the actual “day belonging to Jehovah.” The fate of Tyre and Egypt portend nothing less than the astonishing downfall of the present Anglo-American dual world power. (Tyre typifies the City of London, whereas Egypt represents the United States of America.) 

Actually, that ancient Egypt symbolizes America is not a new concept for Jehovah’s Witnesses. About 50 years ago the Watchtower interpreted “Egypt” in Daniel’s prophecy, in connection with the war between the king of the north and south, as applying to the United States. 

The Watchtower insightfully recognized that since the Ptolemies’ Egypt was the original king of the south following the breakup of Alexander’s vast empire, the appearance of “Egypt” during the time of the end is, therefore, representative of the king of the south at that time. Unfortunately, though, the Watchtower has interpreted the prophecy as having been fulfilled during the Cold War. According to their commentary on Daniel America did not “prove to be an escapee” from the expansionist thrusts of the now non-existent USSR. However, although their interpretation of Daniel is out of focus, at least the Watchtower has introduced Jehovah’s Witnesses to the concept that “Egypt” typifies America. 

NO OTHER TREE IN THE GARDEN OF GOD

The prophecy in the 31st chapter of Ezekiel likens the nation of Assyria to a towering cedar of Lebanon; a tree so grand it was as if it put its top into the very clouds of heaven. But God had that nation cut down by Babylon. So, in speaking to Pharaoh God likens Egypt to a lofty cedar too, a cedar that is destined to have the same fate as the Assyrian cedar. Verses 1-5 read: “And it occurred further that in the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of Jehovah occurred to me, saying:  ‘Son of man, say to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to his crowd, ‘Whom have you come to resemble in your greatness? Look! An Assyrian, a cedar in Lebanon, pretty in bough, with a woody thicket offering shadow, and high in stature, so that among the clouds its treetop proved to be. Waters were what made it get big; the watery deep caused it to grow high. With its streams it was going all around its planting place; and its channels it sent forth to all the trees of the field. That is why it grew higher in its stature than all the other trees of the field.’”

At the time the prophecy was conveyed to Ezekiel, the Babylonian kingdom was just beginning to challenge Egypt for supremacy. After the fall of Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, and Pharaoh Necho’s humbling defeat by Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish in 629 BCE, Babylon fully established itself as the newly ascendant imperial power. Nevertheless, because Egypt had been an established civilization for well over a thousand years before Nebuchadnezzar came on the scene, and it had accumulated great wealth and prestige in the eyes of the surrounding nations, those nations, including Judah, ill-advisedly looked to Egypt for their security—as if it were a luxuriant shade tree under whose shadow they could find refuge. 

Because of the expansive apocalyptic language employed in the denunciation against Egypt, it is apparent that Jehovah is projecting his judgments far beyond the ancient land of the Nile. And indeed, the Watchtower teaches that there is a modern parallel to the prophecy. 

According to Bethel’s preferred interpretation, though, the giant cedar does not symbolize any single nation; instead, it is believed to represent Satan’s entire political system. But if that is the correct interpretation, how must it be understood that no other trees could compare with the Assyrian and Egyptian cedar? If the cedar represents the entire system, of which all nations are a part, there would be no other treelike national entities to compare it to, would there? 

The Watchtower awkwardly tries to grapple with this obvious discrepancy in the May 15, 1977, Watchtower, saying:

“This worldwide political system of things has produced many boughs to carry its abundance of shadegiving foliage, so as to cover and protect the political needs of all worldly nations. Each treelike nation would like to be a world power to dominate all else, thus being an enviable organization.”

The Watchtower’s explanation does not really address the fact that the prophecy compares the Assyrian cedar to other trees and that no other treelike nation could compare to the towering cedar of Lebanon. Reasoning on the matter further: Were all the nations that existed in the ancient world part of Assyria or Egypt? No, of course not. However, all other national groups in existence then were lesser nations in relation to Assyria and Egypt. It is true that both Egypt and Assyria were part of the same imperial system; but it is equally true that only one nation can be the most dominant nation at any given time. So, after Assyria was felled, Egypt then became the dominant nation, at least until Babylon toppled it too. In fact, the fall of Assyria was used as a portent of Egypt’s demise. 

It is simply not reasonable that Egypt represents a world power comprised of all nations on earth. Besides, that is not even consistent with the identity the Watchtower has assigned to the “Egypt” that is subjugated by the king of the north during the time of the end. 

The Watchtower has blindly overlooked the fact that Ezekiel strongly emphasizes the point that all other nations stand relative to, but are incomparable in relation to the majesty of the Egyptian cedar. The prophecy describes it this way: Other cedars were no match for it in the garden of God. As for juniper trees, they bore no resemblance as respects its boughs. And plane trees themselves did not prove to be like it in branches. No other tree in the garden of God resembled it in its prettiness. Pretty is the way that I made it in the abundance of its foliage, and all the other trees of Eden that were in the garden of the true God kept envying it.” (Ezekiel 31:8-9)

The prophecy under consideration is indisputably intended to convey a simple truth; namely, that in ancient times no nation on earth could compare to Egypt. 

It is apparent that the description of the Egyptian cedar applies even more especially to the United States. Truthfully, what other nation in the world can compare with America? Who can argue against the fact that America is the greatest nation that has ever existed? It is a fact of modern history that many peoples have envied the freedom and prosperity of the United States and have looked to it for leadership, inspiration, protection and financial assistance. The United States now stands as the sole superpower and the wealthiest nation on earth—a bastion of liberty and font of freedom. And that is why the scripture says: “all the other trees of Eden that were in the garden of the true God kept envying it.” 

Since it was founded as the first sovereign nation of the New World millions of individuals fleeing oppression and poverty have flocked to America’s shores in order to avail themselves of an opportunity for a better way of life. And since breaking free from the British Empire America has inspired many nations in Europe, Asia and South America to adopt the American model and emulate the American system of economy. 

The 20th century was called the American Century for good reason. It is no exaggeration that all nations have lived under the shadow cast by the antitypical Egyptian cedar. Because of empowering and educating the common man and tapping into that vast reservoir of human creativity the American system has unleashed the greater human potential and brought about astounding discoveries and inventions that have benefited all of mankind. 

By elevating its citizens from the level of serfs and attracting ambitious and brilliant emigrants from around the globe, by fostering development, research, and an entrepreneurial spirit and by building an extensive infrastructure, the American system has developed into the most successful and prosperous economic system ever devised. 

Apparently that is what is meant by the water source that feeds the Egyptian cedar—waters being a biblical symbol for peoples and nations, hence: “Waters were what made it get big; the watery deep caused it to grow high.”

Of course, in the past America has also oppressed its own native and African populations and done many other wicked things. But to put things in perspective, ancient Assyria and Egypt also utilized slavery and oppressed other peoples, yet the prophecy speaks of them as being the envy of all the other nations. So, it is in a relative sense that any nation stands above the others. 

But why does God refer to the political nations under Satan’s control as if they were trees in the Garden of Eden? Did God actually establish the present system of nations? Yes, he did, at least indirectly. When God ‘came down’ and confused mankind’s languages to thwart the building of the Tower of Babel, in effect, Jehovah established the basis for the various national groups that have since evolved. 

Furthermore, the Hebrew prophecies contain God’s many judgments against ancient nations, some of which God condemned to oblivion and which have long since ceased to exist as a result. No doubt this is why Paul stated at Romans 13:1: “The existing authorities stand placed in their relative positions by God.” So, it is only by God’s authority that the present ordering of nations exists. 

When the Devil was tempting Jesus by offering him all of the kingdoms of the earth, even he admitted that the glory and authority of those kingdoms had been delivered to him by God. Ever since mankind was expelled from Eden, and especially since post-Flood Babel, God has allowed for various authorities to exist and exercise authority in order to serve as an alternative to tribalism, anarchy or absolutism, until such time as Jehovah hands over the kingdom to Christ. 

Since “there is no authority except by God,” it is as if the nations were “planted” by God in the sense that they only exist by his permission and ultimately they serve his purpose.

“TYRANTS OF THE NATIONS WILL CUT IT DOWN”

It is a fitting illustration, then, that the various trees in Eden should logically symbolize all the nations on earth up until the time Jehovah himself becomes king; whereas Egypt represents the leading nation—as if the grandest tree in the entire garden of God’s planting. However, when Jehovah’s work nears completion the nations are to be cut down—felled just like timber—beginning with the grandest tree in Eden! Ezekiel 31:10-14 foretells: 

“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘For the reason that you became high in stature, so that it put its treetop even among the clouds and its heart became exalted because of its height, I shall also give it into the hand of the despot of the nations. Without fail he will act against it. According to its wickedness I will drive it out. And strangers, the tyrants of the nations, will cut it down, and people will abandon it upon the mountains; and in all the valleys its foliage will certainly fall, and its branches will be broken among all the streambeds of the earth. And out from its shade all the peoples of the earth will come down and abandon it. Upon its fallen trunk all the flying creatures of the heavens will reside, and upon its branches there will certainly come to be all the wild beasts of the field.”

The prophecy goes on to state that although the greatest tree goes down first, all the national trees are destined for “the land down below”—Sheol, the pit of death: “To the end that none of the watered trees may become high in their stature, or put their treetops even among the clouds, and that none drinking water may stand up against them in their height, for they will certainly all of them be given to death, to the land down below, in the midst of the sons of mankind, to those going down into the pit.”

The prophecy definitely speaks beyond the affairs of the ancient world. That is evident from the fact that God’s judgment includes all the nations and kings—“all of them being given in death.” 

It should be noted, too, the Babylonian conquest of Egypt did not spell death for the nation. Egypt existed in the days of Jesus. And, of course, there is a modern state of Egypt as well. So, it is evident that the prophecy foreshadows something on a much grander scale. As the Watchtower has recognized, the fall of the “trees of Eden” presages an awesome judgment yet to come. But, how will the greater Egypt be brought down? Jehovah answers through Ezekiel: “I shall also give it into the hand of the despot of the nations. Without fail he will act against it…And strangers, the tyrants of the nations, will cut it down…” 

In Ezekiel’s day, the nation-destroying despot proved to be Nebuchadnezzar. But who might serve in the role of the modern tyrannical despot of the nations? As shocking as it may seem, the Watchtower claims Jesus Christ is the modern-day tyrant prefigured by Nebuchadnezzar. The 1977 Watchtower previously quoted, states:

“Who is the modern “despot of the nations,” and who are the “strangers, the tyrants of the nations”? They are the fear-inspiring Communist bloc of nations, are they not? To this we flatly answer, No! For the Communist nations dwell under the spreading boughs of the symbolic “cedar in Lebanon” as much as the liberal, democratic nations do… It will not be Jehovah’s Christian witnesses, who today number just some two million scattered among 210 lands around the globe. They are not despotic, not tyrannical, and strike no terror in people’s hearts, for which reason they are openly persecuted as a helpless, defenseless religious minority. Not a puny earthly instrument, but a mighty heavenly instrument is what Jehovah will use. Jehovah’s instrument is the glorified Jesus Christ and his armies of heavenly angels.” 

The Watchtower offers no valid explanation for assigning Christ the unflattering role of the modern “despot of the nations.” It is bewildering that the article states that Jehovah’s Witnesses are not tyrannical or despotic, yet Jesus is! But reasoning on the matter further, if the ancient “despot of the nations,” Nebuchadnezzar, prefigures Christ at Armageddon, what is foreshadowed by the fact that the Babylonian kingdom was also “cut down” by Cyrus, whom Jehovah referred to as “my anointed one?” Obviously, the Watchtower does not quite have these vital prophetic matters in clear focus.

According to prophecy, Jehovah God has an imperial “woodcutter” who has been assigned that task of cutting down the nations prior to Armageddon. Afterwards, then the tyrant of the nations himself is destroyed by Christ. That is apparent from the 14th chapter of Isaiah, where the nations are said to rejoice when the “woodcutter” is finally cut down. The prophet Isaiah was told to raise up a proverbial saying against the king of Babylon in view of his own demise at Jehovah’s hand. Isaiah 14:5-8 reads: “Jehovah has broken the rod of the wicked ones, the staff of the ruling ones, the one striking peoples in fury with a stroke incessantly, the one subduing nations in sheer anger with a persecution without restraint. The whole earth has come to rest, has become free of disturbance. People have become cheerful with joyful cries. Even the juniper trees have also rejoiced at you, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, ‘Ever since you have lain down, no woodcutter comes up against us.’” 

Verse 12 says of Babylon: “How you have been cut down to the earth, you who were disabling the nations!”

Clearly, the “despot of the nations” does not foreshadow Christ. Jesus could hardly be described as persecuting nations “without restraint.” So who are the “tyrants of the nations”? 

The modern despot or tyrants of the nations is a small clique of ultra wealthy bankers, businessmen and property holders, who have a feudalistic mindset and make up what is known as the Anglo-Dutch financier oligarchy. Since the days of the privately owned East India Company associated with the British Empire, this financier cartel has gradually established an invisible empire over the world’s financial, economic and political systems. But the parasitical, wealth-extracting financial system imposed upon the underlying productive economies of the nations is now in an advanced state of collapse. The day is rapidly approaching when the two systems will be drawn into an all out war for domination. God’s prophetic word reveals that the imperial system will prevail and the United States of America and the entire system of sovereign nation-states will be cut down—destroyed. 

The felling of the nations at the hands of the tyrant occurs as a result of the opening of the sixth seal of Revelation, which results in the symbolic political luminaries of the heavens being plunged into darkness. Ezekiel uses apocalyptic language very similar to Revelation in  describing the ramifications of the fall of Egypt. The prophet says: “And when you get extinguished I will cover the heavens and darken their stars. As for the sun, with clouds I shall cover it, and the moon itself will not let its light shine. All the luminaries of light in the heavens—I shall darken them on your account, and I will put darkness upon your land.”

Bible students will immediately recognize that Jesus also used the exact same symbolism when he was foretelling the earth-shaking events that would occur during his presence. At Matthew 24:29 Jesus said: “Immediately after the tribulation in those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” 

Just imagine the horror and sickening dread the nations will feel when the greatest nation in the world is slain by Jehovah’s tyrannical executioner! Jehovah’s prophet goes on to depict the reaction to Egypt’s downfall: “And on its account the trees of the field will all swoon away. At the sound of its downfall I shall certainly cause nations to rock when I bring it down to Sheol with those going down into the pit, and in the land down below all the trees of Eden…”

Ezekiel 32:9-10 continues: “And at you I shall certainly cause many peoples to be awestruck, and their kings themselves will shudder in horror at you when I brandish my sword in their faces, and they will have to tremble every moment, each one for his own soul, on the day of your downfall.” 

 “ITS FOUNDATIONS ARE TORN DOWN”

 In the prophecy of the king of the north and south, Daniel 11:42-43 says, in part: “And as regards the land of Egypt, she will not prove to be an escapee. And he will rule over the hidden treasures of the gold and the silver and over all the desirable things of Egypt.” The king of the north is to rule over “all the desirable things of Egypt.”Since America’s wealth has never been ruled over by the Soviet Union—whom the Watchtower contends was the king of the north—the prophecy must await a future fulfillment. Interestingly, Ezekiel 30:4b confirms that Egypt’s wealth will be confiscated. That verse reads: “And they actually take its wealth and its foundations are torn down.” 

Not only its great wealth and resources, but also the very “foundations” of the United States, which is the Constitution and various institutions that regulate industry and the economy, are to be “torn down”—destroyed. So, the prophecy has forecasted the complete end of the constitutional republic of the United States.

The 32nd chapter of Ezekiel is even more graphic as to what is to occur. There it depicts Egypt as the gutted carcass of a marine monster that becomes mere carrion for the beasts of all the earth to feast upon:

“And I must abandon you on the land. Upon the surface of the field I shall hurl you. And on you I will cause all the flying creatures of the heavens to reside, and off you I will satisfy the wild beasts of the whole earth. And I will put your flesh upon the mountains and fill the valleys with the refuse of you. And I will cause the land to drink up your discharged matter, from your blood, upon the mountains; and streambeds themselves will be filled up from you.” 

What does this grisly imagery signify? The above prophecy certainly seems to be overstating the fall of the ancient land of Egypt. After all, how is it that the national “wild beasts of all the earth” could feed upon the fallen pharaoh? Yet, when we consider what would happen to the United States in the event of a catastrophic financial blowout of the Dollar, it would seem to be the perfect analogy. 

Such a disaster would render the United States into a Third World nation literally overnight. Instead of towering over other nations as before, the world’s greatest nation would bear little distinction from them, as if the other beastlike nations literally consumed its flesh, blood and “discharged matter”! Instead of towering over lesser nations like a mountain, the valleys being filled with the refuse of the fallen king would indicate a leveling of the playing field, as the saying goes.

It is well known that the United States has both an enormous budget and trade deficit. In recent years the U.S. trade deficit has averaged an astounding 60 billion dollars per month! That is an annualized imbalance of nearly three-quarters of a trillion dollars. (Ironically, the U.S. trade deficit is balancing out due to the swift collapse of the price of oil and the choking off of imported items, further accelerating the global financial collapse.)

The U.S. government’s own budget deficit is even greater than the nation’s trade deficit. As of the beginning of 2009, the U.S. annual budget deficit is projected to exceed one trillion dollars for the first time in history. But that does not include the trillions of dollars politicians are preparing to throw into the yawning abyss in an ongoing attempt to bailout the bankrupt Wall Street system. The individual states of the United States are similarly sinking into a quicksand of debt. California being the most indebted is facing default on its debt, which would be nothing less than catastrophic for the citizens of that state. 

As it stands presently, the world’s sole superpower is totally dependent upon attracting foreign investors to continue to finance its massive deficits. China, for example, holds well over one trillion dollars of U.S. debt. All sober economists admit that the situation is unsustainable—but no one has a solution. The sudden withdrawal of foreign capital from U.S. treasuries and other investment instruments would have a disastrous impact upon not only American institutions, but the entire dollar-denominated global financial system would also quickly unravel. 

And now that Congress appears intent on foolishly committing the resources of the U.S. Treasury to bailing out the busted bankers, whose total exposure in the global derivatives casino is over one thousand trillion, the once as good-as-gold U.S. Dollar has been doomed by its protectors to a hyperinflationary trajectory into oblivion. 

The 19th chapter of Isaiah also foretells economic doom is in store for Egypt. In verses 5-7, Jehovah says that he will dry up the Nile River and all its canals. The Nile was the lifeblood of ancient Egypt. The Egyptians had devised an ingenious system of irrigation canals, whereby the entire region was watered and thus produced abundantly. It would have been an unprecedented national calamity if the Nile were to dry up. Of course, Babylon’s army engineers did not literally cause Egypt’s mighty Nile River to run dry and it is doubtful that God caused or even foresaw a disastrous drought. God’s prophet merely portrayed the utter ruin that would come upon the once-thriving breadbasket of the Mediterranean, a ruin so complete it was as if God had literally caused the Nile to run dry. In reality, Jehovah would merely “deliver up Egypt into the hand of a hard master.” 

The 9th and 10th verses indicate the extent of that economic collapse by saying: “And the workers in carded flax must become ashamed; also the loom workers on white fabrics. And her weavers must become crushed, all wage workers grieved in soul.” It would seem that Jehovah’s prophet has, by extension, forecasted a great economic depression that will destroy many of the wealthy and the working class and from which the American Pharaoh will never recover. 

‘THE PRINCES HAVE ACTED FOOLISHLY’

According to the prophecy recorded in the 19th chapter of Isaiah, internal strife and political ineptitude was also a determining factor that doomed Egypt to fall. 

What might this portend for the Greater Egypt?

In order to appreciate where we stand today, it is necessary to take a broader look at modern history. Until the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia ended the strangle hold the Catholic Empire had upon Western Europe, there was no such thing as a truly sovereign nation-state—only empires and their subjects. Since that time, history can only be fully understood in the light of the antagonism and struggle between the two competing systems of the empire and the sovereign nation-state. The long-range goal of the procurators of the British Empire is to eventually eliminate the nation-state altogether and revert to imperial rule—using the United Nations in New York as the administrative and judicial capital of the New World Empire. The call for an end to the Westphalian system is growing louder and louder.

In the last thirty years, the ongoing rivalry between the American system and the British system is reflected in policies such as the British free trade versus American protectionism. Whereas, formerly the American system built the nation through investment in industry, infrastructure development and education, thereby empowering all citizens to most effectively transmit the power of their labors into the physical economy, decades of neglect and looting the world through usury and financial gimmickry has now brought the United States and the entire financial system it dominates to the brink of collapse. 

Obviously, this situation did not just happen overnight. It is the result of gross mismanagement and corruption over many years. Accordingly, at Isaiah 19:11-13, Jehovah ridicules Pharaoh’s counselors for their incompetence, saying in verse 13: “The princes of Zoan have acted foolishly, the princes of Noph have been deceived, and the key men of her tribes have caused Egypt to wander about.” 

With amazing acumen the prophecy describes the present political situation within the United States. The princes of Noph and Zoan may well represent the cabinet members and other advisers of the modern-day Pharaoh. “The key men of her tribes” appropriately depict the elected representatives of the American people. Foolishly, the very leaders have allowed themselves to be deceived into adopting policies and initiatives that are intended to destroy their own nation! 

At the present moment of this writing, the doom of the United States is being sealed by corrupt, cowardly and inept politicians, who simply cannot bring themselves to legislate against or regulate the financial predators who are bringing the nation to ruin and who are now demanding to be paid for their work! No wonder Jehovah derides the nation’s leaders as mere deluded fools!

Many American patriots have voiced their concern that their once-prosperous nation is being run into the ground, but in spite of all the talk by well-meaning political leaders and businessmen, the downward spiral relentlessly continues. How true, the prophet’s following words: “Jehovah himself has mingled in her the spirit of disconcertedness; and they have caused Egypt to wander about in all its work, just as someone drunk is made to wander about in his vomit. And Egypt will not come to have any work that the head or tail, the shoot or the rush, can do.” It matters little which political party is in control, no modern-day Egyptian leader can lead their doomed nation back from the precipice of catastrophe. Jehovah has, in effect, weighed the nation in the balance and found it wanting. 

THE CITY OF TEARING DOWN 

One of the most intriguing aspects of Isaiah’s prophecy against Egypt is what is written in the 18th verse. There, it says: “In that day there will prove to be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Canaan and swearing to Jehovah of armies. The City of Tearing Down will one city be called.” 

At the time the prophecy was recorded the language of Canaan was Hebrew. So, in the modern application, the “language of Canaan” is the spiritual dialect spoken by the Israel of God, with a “vast mixed company” of non-Israelites also being fluent in speaking the language of Scripture. Just as ancient Egypt was at various times a haven for Jehovah’s people—including the infant Jesus—the United States has also provided an environment that has allowed Jehovah’s Witnesses to thrive and flourish. As evidence of that fact, approximately one million souls, consisting of both spiritual Israelites as well as a vast mixed company of “Egyptians,” are “swearing to Jehovah of armies” by their public ministry. 

The United States is often called a melting pot because of its ethnically diverse population. Because the work of Jehovah’s Witnesses originated in America in the late 1800’s, immigrants from various nations took the message back to their native homelands, thus proving a blessing to them. The United States has also served as a fertile seedbed for thousands of missionaries, who have in turn gone to the far corners of the earth with the message of Jehovah’s kingdom. And, because of the relative prosperity of the States compared with less affluent nations, the worldwide work of Jehovah’s Witnesses has advanced because of the many material contributions and support of generous American contributors. That is why the last verse of the 19th chapter of Isaiah says: “Blessed be my people, Egypt.” But, what about the one city called “The City of Tearing Down”?

Since ancient Egypt was invaded and torn down by hostile forces that came from outside the nation, it is interesting that one of Egypt’s own cities would bear the prophetic designation as “The City of Tearing Down.”Keep in mind that both Assyria and Babylon were each Jehovah’s instruments for tearing down the nations at different times. And as such, in prophecy Jehovah specifically calls his destructive agent the “ruinous man.” 

Isaiah 54:16 says: “I myself, too, have created the ruinous man for wrecking work.” Isaiah 13:5 outlines the nature and extent of the work of Jehovah’s executioner saying: “They are coming from far away, from the extremity of the heavens, Jehovah and the weapons of his denunciation, to wreck all the earth.”

In the modern fulfillment, the eighth king serves as Jehovah’s ultimate imperial executioner. The Watchtower long ago recognized that fact, but no longer seems to emphasize it. At any rate, if America is eventually supplanted by the United Nations Organization and the present nation-state system is torn down, as is the intention of the globalist cabal, then New York City would replace Washington D.C. and London as the primary world capital.  

So, “the City of Tearing Down” would be a most-apt title for New York City at that time. Perhaps, even more astoundingly accurate, the 19th chapter of Isaiah goes on to say: “In that day there will prove to be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to Jehovah beside its boundary. And it must prove to be for a sign and for a witness to Jehovah of armies in the land of Egypt; for they will cry out to Jehovah because of the oppressors, and he will send them a savior, even a grand one, who will actually deliver them.” 

Located in the same City of Tearing Down, on the coastal boundary of modern Egypt, is the Bethel headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses. While most people of the world do not attach any special importance to the name of Jehovah, Jehovah’s Witnesses do. So does God. Despite various opinions as to the exact pronunciation of God’s name, Jehovah’s Witnesses have spearheaded the effort to have the name of Jehovah recognized as the Creator’s distinctive and sacred name. 

Just as Jehovah acknowledged the crude stone altars his true worshippers erected in his honor during Bible times, from God’s vantage point the Bethel headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses stands before him as an altar and monument to his name. The grand savior, whom Jehovah will send to his oppressed people during that time, can be none other than Jesus Christ when he is fully empowered as earth’s new king.

According to the prophecies of Isaiah and Ezekiel, the fall of the modern nation of Egypt will mark the beginning of Jehovah’s Judgment Day upon the present wicked system of things. Ezekiel indicates this very thing, where he says: “This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: ‘Howl, you people, ‘Alas for the day!’ for a day is near, yes, a day belonging to Jehovah is near. A day of clouds, an appointed time of nations it will prove to be.”

For a certainty, the sudden downfall of America will shock the world. But the United States does not fall alone. The Anglo-American dyad comprising the seventh king must fall together, which is the topic of the next chapter.