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A Russian professor named Igor Parnarin has been predicting for a decade that the U.S. will fall apart in 2010. It will happen, he says, because of unrestrained immigration, economic decline and moral degradation that will fracture the United States and lead to a civil war, the collapse of the dollar, and the breaking apart of the U.S. into six pieces, with Alaska reverting back to Russia. The professor even gives odds–55-45%–that it will actually happen.

On one hand, it is very hard to imagine a scenario in which the United States could literally become disunited. But with the global economy reeling, does anyone really know what is and is not possible? 

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From a biblical standpoint, there is nothing inherently implausible about his thesis. All human empires eventually come to an end. Only one kingdom is eternal-–the kingdom Christ will establish when he returns.

Sometimes those of us who live in the United States think that we are virtually untouchable among the nations. Consider these sobering words from today’s Breakpoint commentary by Chuck Colson:

I no longer know for sure that America has a special place in God’s sovereign plan for the world. I could argue that we have in the past. No other nation has played such a positive role—from helping the poor to defeating tyranny to stopping the spread of disease (just like we’re doing in Africa today in the fight against AIDS).

But we will be unable to continue to be a force for good in the world if we are bankrupt. The fact is, we are bankrupt today, neck-deep in debt, and our people have become self-indulgent. And it starts with us: the Church. 

Students of Bible prophecy often wonder why the Bible contains no clear allusions to the U.S. in the endtime events that lead up to the return of Christ. Perhaps it will be because the U.S. as we have known it will cease to exist. As I sit here typing these words, it seems fantastically farfetched to say that. And I put no particular faith in what the Russian professor said. But he lives in a country that only 25 years ago went by a different name and seemed invincible–the Soviet Union.

No nation remains great forever.
No superpower lasts forever.
No nation has a special claim on God.

We are living in the days when the Lord is shaking the nations in preparation for the coming of the Lord. Check out Hebrews 12:26-27 and get ready for more shaking to come.