ISSUE 410
Prophetic Brief
Insight and Analysis for the 21st Century
New Video Series
We are living in an unmatched time
in the earth; a time when crisis is
erupting through natural disasters,
political destabilization, and
economic meltdown.   state, undercutting the
Politicians and religious leaders are
all weighing in on these events, but
they don’t seem to have the
answers to a world in intense
distress, and are rightly wondering:
What in the World
is Going On?
 ta%ered
 flag
 following
 the
 tornado
 that
 struck
 Joplin,
 MO
In this series of Prophetic Briefs,
Scott Webster addresses questions
that are on people’s minds, and
brings prophetic perspective to the
events happening in the earth
today, so that we can stand
effectively in a day when so many
things are falling apart.
View the full six episodes in the
series “What in the World is Going
On” at scottwebsterministries.org.
© 2011 SCOTT WEBSTER MINISTRIES.
JUNE 1ST 2011
Anatomy of a Nation in Decline - Part 3
Reference Point – Crisis is Global 2
Prophets had keen insight into the rise and fall of empires. Jeremiah
declared that God Himself was summoning the Babylonian empire to carry
Judah off as slaves. Years later Daniel prayed and the heavens shook with
spiritual conflict that did not even include the present Babylonian empire; it
was the princes of Persia and Greece, the spiritual architecture of future
empires, which fought against God’s messenger coming to Daniel. Empires
rise and fall and there is spiritual cause and effect behind their ascendancy
and their decline. American empire dominated the 20th century, but it is
now in a serious state of decay at a time when the whole earth is lurching
towards crisis.
No nation dominated the 20th century like American empire, though its
ascendance was not without rival. Both Germany and Japan’s imperial
ambitions were broken in WWII, while the Soviet’s emerged from the war
deeply wounded but committed to compete with the U.S., something they
seemed to do on a military level. But empires must first have massive
economic strength, something the socialist experiment destroyed when they
seized the property of individual citizens and required them to work for the
profit motivation
inherent in human
beings. For example,
before the Soviet
takeover of the Baltic
region in the 1930s,
Ukraine had served as
the breadbasket which
fed the entire region.
However, by 1980
when the American
farm worker produced
enough food to supply A
sixty-five people, his
Russian equivalent turned out enough to feed only eight1. The socialist
system didn’t create wealth, it produced shared poverty. The Cold War was
won on the economic battlefield, not the military one, and over a period of
decades the superiority of American empire over the Soviet version became
more and more apparent.
Yet even before World War II the U.S. had a decisive advantage and was
emerging as the dominant nation; in 1929, nearly half of all global industrial
production – 44.5% - was based in the U.S. (Germany had 11.6%, Great
Britain 9.3, France 7 and the Soviet Union 4.6). During the war years the
American advantage grew as U.S. GNP increased 60% between 1939 and
1Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, Economic Change and Military Conflict
From 1500 to 2000 (New York, 1987), p 431
Page 1 of 5
 ISSUE 410 JUNE 1ST 2011

Jeremiah 1:15 (NIV)

I am about to summon all
the peoples of the northern
kingdoms," declares the
LORD. "eir kings will
come and set up their
thrones in the entrance of
the gates of Jerusalem;
they will come against all
her surrounding walls
and against all the towns
of Judah

1945. As WWII drew to a close, America was firmly entrenched as the

center of global economic strength seen in the following measurements: Jeremiah was clear that
a) US exports were more than double its imports after World War II
geopolitical changes were
coming to the nation. He said
b) America possessed almost 2/3rds of the world’s gold reserves
that  kings would set up their
c) The nation possessed more than half of the world’s entire .
manufacturing capacity thrones at the gates of
d) America ranked first in the world as producers of oil, steel, airplanes, Jerusalem, indicating that a
automobiles and electronics foreign tribunal would judge
e) The dollar displaced the British pound sterling as the global reserve life in Israel, overtaking their
currency legal system and imposing
f) In 1948, American per capita income was four times larger than the laws from afar (1:14). That
combined per capita incomes of Great Britain, France, West Germany would produce a clear and
and Italy2
obvious impact in the life of
g) The U.S. used their economic and political influence to formalize a
global order of trade through the construction of the Bretton Woods every person.
institutions (IMF, the World Bank and GATT/WTO); allowing the U.S. He also declared that the
to become the central arbiter of global finance and trade policy. hedge that protected their
Economic Strength Equates to Military Dominance nation was breached (they will
Like empires before it, American economic strength was parlayed into come against all her
military dominance. After the Civil War in America, the U.S. naval fleet surrounding walls) and that the
was pathetic, consisting of 600 (wooden) vessels which sat rotting in the every social class and sector of
harbors. The United States Navy was ranked 12th in the world, behind
nations including Denmark and Chile3. U.S. policymakers understood that society would be impacted
to be a global power they had to control the sea lanes, and over a period of (and against all the towns of
time large and consistent investment was made not only in the navy but Judah, 1:15). What if all the
also in a broad military industrial complex.
cities and towns of America
Some Americans don’t like to think of the nation as an empire, but are going to be impacted? We
comparisons indicate a strong similarity with historic imperial powers. For have to know what is going to
example, in 2005 the U.S. had 38 large and medium sized military
facilities spread around the globe – mostly air and naval bases for bombers occur, and most importantly
2 Andrew
we must know how God wants
Bacevich, The Limits of Power, (New York, 2008), p 25
3Townsend Hoopes and Douglas Brinkley, Driven Patriot, The Life and Times of James Forrestal, us to respond.
(Annapolis, MD, 1992), p 341
© 2011 SCOTT WEBSTER MINISTRIES. Page 2 of 5
 ISSUE 410 JUNE 1ST 2011

and fleets. This is almost exactly equal to Britain’s 36 naval bases and army garrisons possessed at its imperial
zenith in 1889, and to the 37 bases required to police Rome’s empire at its height in 117 AD. These remarkably
similar numbers prompted one analyst to speculate that perhaps the optimum number of major citadels and
fortresses required for an imperial power to dominate the world is somewhere between 35-404.

Today America imports and consumes. The nation cannot subsist on its own productive capacity. It has gone from
being the earth’s largest global creditor to its largest debtor. In 1980 the average household indebtedness was 67%
of disposable income; by 2005 it was 132% - people spent more than they produced. In 2005 alone, America
households extracted $750 billion against the value of their homes, 2/3rds of which was spent on personal
consumption – cars, vacations, credit card debt, etc. Self-indulgence, the core of imperial expansion, has crippled
every empire to date and the America experience is affirming that we are not an exception.

China is on the Rise

In the meantime China is ascending. Their economy is so strong that they have more than $3 trillion in cash
reserves; that amount of money would allow them to buy all of the real estate in Manhattan and Washington, DC
and still have 80% of their foreign reserves left over. Or they could purchase Apple, Microsoft, IBM and Google
for just one-third of their reserves. In 2008 Beijing outbid two Russian consortiums as well as American mining
company Phelps Dodge to secure Afghanistan’s Aynak copper field. Expected to sell for $2 billion, China paid
$3.5 billion for the copper field – estimated to be the largest undeveloped field in the world, it has been virtually
untouched since the Soviet invasion in 1979. The investment involves the construction of a $500 million electrical
plant and a railway from Tajikistan to Pakistan to support exploration.

The mine will be in full operation in about five years and will lead to the employment of 10,000 Afghans, while
$400 million of royalties will accrue to the Afghan government yearly – more than half of that countries present
yearly budget. In addition the EU has hired Chinese firms for various construction projects in Afghanistan,
including road restoration activities and other infrastructure projects. President Karzai has publicly declared his
ambition to emulate “America’s democracy and China’s economic success”, and it seems that China is reaping
economic and political benefits from U.S. efforts in Afghanistan while bearing none of the costs.

The rise of China is not just economic. They are building a J-20 stealth fighter as well as a deep water navy. They
tested the fighter in flight on the same day American Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was in Beijing to meet
with Hu Jintao, and in March and April of 2010 a flotilla of six ships from China’s North Sea Fleet set sail,
passing near Okinawa on its way to the strategic Malacca Strait between Malaysia and Indonesia; through which
flows much of China’s inbound shipping, including vital oil and minerals. Once there, the flotilla conducted live
fire and anti-submarine exercises. The clear message being sent from Beijing to Washington: there is more than
one big (military) kid on the block these days, a message reinforced by China’s sinking of South Korean warships
last year.

Some Other Realities

A multi-polar world The U.S. benefitted from its role as the uni-polar global power from the fall of the Soviet
empire until it began to fade and other powers emerged. The poles that will compete for power on the global stage
4 Chalmers Johnson, Nemesis, (New York, 2006) p 138

© 2011 SCOTT WEBSTER MINISTRIES. Page 3 of 5

 ISSUE 410 JUNE 1ST 2011

all have advantages as well as a set of challenges which they will have to manage. The U.S. is still powerful
militarily but weakening economically. China is emerging but fears that its red hot economy will overheat and
meltdown; they will also have to be very careful in choosing when and how to utilize military power to advance
their aims. The EU has the largest GDP in the world, but some
of its states are so weak (Greece, Ireland and Portugal) that
they threaten the economic viability of the union. India is
rising and is projected to become the world’s largest economy
by 2050, but it needs to solve internal impediments to
economic growth as well as carefully posture themselves on
the world stage, especially in light of their location next to
nuclear armed rival Pakistan to the west and China to the
north. Brazil and South Africa are rising economic powers in
their respective regions and are seeking to influence events
beyond their current spheres. You can read more about a
multi-polar world in our newsletter from 2009.

A swiftly changing world: Rome was a great empire with a huge territory for probably 300 to 400 years; other
empires have come and gone much more quickly. One of the reasons that America's moment at the top was short-
lived is that history is moving much more quickly than it used to, a reality that is partly fueled by technology as
countries that get into the digital age are propelled into fast-forward.
Developments in nations will occur quickly and balance of power among
the nations will be in a constant state of flux.
A Developed PROPHETIC
PERSPECTIVE
A less stable world: The demise of the U.S. lessens their role as the global
policeman. Europe has not had to spend much on defense in the last 60 A fresh look
years, and NATO still is strongly led by the United States commitment to at Prophetic
defend Europe and act. For example, when NATO declared a no fly zone in Operations
Libya they began military operations by launching 112 cruise missiles from a
against Libya – 110 of those missiles were fired by the U.S. at the cost of Kingdom
$1 million each. That does not include the cost of the fleet of ships, fuel, Viewpoint.
command staff, etc. and one has to wonder how long America can afford to
engage in military spending before they run out of money? Their reduced Now
role will make the world less stable. Available>

Don’t Stop Reading!

I know some are wondering why I am writing all this stuff about empires rising and falling, their economies and
military developments – what does it have to do with us? But don’t stop trying to understand! Jeremiah was clear
that geopolitical changes were coming to the nation. He said that kings would set up their thrones at the gates of
Jerusalem, indicating that a foreign tribunal would judge life in Israel,
overtaking their legal system and imposing laws from afar (1:14). That
would produce a clear and obvious impact in the life of every person.

He also declared that the hedge that protected their nation was breached
(they will come against all her surrounding walls) and that the every social
class and sector of society would be impacted (and against all the towns of
Judah, Jeremiah 1:15). What if all the cities and towns of America are 2778 Cumberland Blvd
going to be impacted? We have to know what is going to occur, and most Suite 163
importantly we must know how God wants us to respond. Symrna GA 30080
The American mind is a unique thing. We have been shaped by growing up Tel: 678.302.3052
in a nation that held global sway during our entire lifetime, but now that admin@scottwebsterministries.org
this reality is changing we have to know what our response must be. As www.scottwebsterministries.org
those who have faith in Christ, is there a particular spiritual stance we © 2011 Scott Webster Ministries.
should have concerning the decline of the nation? How should we pray and All Rights Reserved.
think about America’s role in the world? What about our role as believers? © 2011 Copyright by SWM, copy and
Important questions to be dealt with in the next article… duplication without permission is prohibited.

© 2011 SCOTT WEBSTER MINISTRIES. Page 4 of 5

ISSUE 410 JUNE 1ST 2011

Reference Points
In order to correctly understand this prophetic analysis we must first deal with the context of our
knowledge about key principles and platforms. I am calling these Reference Points, and to benefit
from this prophetic word they must be understood, accepted and referred back to while reading.

A series of crises has been released upon the earth and all nations will be
1. Crisis is Global      impacted. There are three key reasons we are focusing on the U.S.
specifically

He is superintending the events of the earth, and will use both “light” and
2. God is Sovereign “darkness” events to accomplish His purposes

3. We are Living in The dealings of God in the earth (and the U.S.) are part of end time
movements and realities. No man knows the day or the hour, but we are
the End Times               intended to understand times and seasons

Therefore behind the natural decline that we can see there is a spiritual
4. Behind Nations is source. It manifests as political, economic and social but the source of it is
a Spiritual Reality       unseen. What is pushing the earth is not natural and it cannot be perceived
by earth’s intelligence

5. God’s Heart is God’s judgments are redemptive, and the heart of Anatomy of a Nation in
Decline is not anger or an anti-American stance, it is a redemptive
Redemptive                bringing of awareness and correctness

6. This is a Call to This is not a call to repentance so that God will change the course of a
nation, it is a call for us to be spiritually aware so that we can prepare and
Awareness move into heightened levels of partnership with God’s end time purposes

Releasing The New Prophetic Dimension • Activating The Capacity To Build • Obeying The Command To Finish
© 2011 SCOTT WEBSTER MINISTRIES. Page 5 of 5