Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak recently stated that the US economic crisis and internal problems have reduced its dominance in the Middle East. Speaking before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Barak said these problems have reduced the US’s ability to project force. For this reason, he affirmed that there are cracks in his hegemony and dominance in the Middle East.

Unfortunately, this loss of dominance and influence was bound to happen to the US for three reasons. First, the United States is not found in Bible prophecy. This is mainly because he will have turned away from Israel (which the White House has been doing for the last three years). But also, for the US to be absent from end times prophecy, it will have to lose influence in the Middle East by the time end times treaty negotiations begin.

Focusing on this last point, we can see that as a result of the Arab Spring (the uprisings in the Middle East over the past year), the US is in a diminished position in the region. In fact, Washington has lost most of its regional influence during the last three years of the Obama administration. As a result, the US has much less bargaining power than before.

For example, one of the things that makes Iran even more dangerous is that the Iranian rulers see the United States as weak. They have seen the United States withdraw from Iraq and abandon the war in Afghanistan. Furthermore, the relationship between the United States and Pakistan is falling apart. Thus, they see that the United States has lost significant influence in the Middle East and does not seem to have the strength or the stomach for a protracted war.

Furthermore, the Syrian regime is no longer afraid of the United States; because he sees the American president giving ground in the Middle East. As a result, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad no longer sees the United States as a threat to his sovereignty.

Furthermore, the start of a difficult election year means that President Obama is unlikely to engage in a regional peace initiative or anything that sounds like pressure on Israel. Thus, the US will remain on the sidelines, further reducing its influence in the international community.

An illustration of this last point can be seen in the fact that the United States will not be in the spotlight when Israelis and Palestinians meet this week to discuss negotiations. Although this is not a formal negotiation, it is significant that the US is not directly involved and it seems to be a harbinger that the US will not be directly involved in a future regional treaty with Israel.

I have been predicting that the United States will not be involved in the end-time treaty with Israel. Although the talks between Israel and Palestine will not lead to an end-time treaty, still, the absence of the US in these preliminary talks seems to be a prophetic preliminary and lends more credence to the absence of the US in the biblical prophecy.

These illustrations demonstrate that the United States has lost a significant amount of influence in the region. In fact, it has so little influence among the Arab states and European countries that it seems that the United States has already stepped out of the prophetic picture.

So, as we have seen, the first reason the US had to lose dominance and influence is because it is absent from Bible prophecy. There is another reason why US dominance needed to be significantly reduced, and it has to do with the Obama administration’s treatment of Israel.

The White House’s adversarial treatment of Israel over the last three years demands consequences. In Genesis 12:3, God promised to bring trouble to anyone who brings trouble to Israel. It seems that one of the consequences of the Obama administration’s problems with Israel is the loss of influence in the Middle East. This consequence has removed the United States from the prophetic picture.

A third reason why US influence in the region needed to diminish is that there is no place in biblical prophecy for a superpower. Instead, due to economic and political problems, the world will converge into a one world government, which will operate that way for the last three and a half years before Christ returns. Therefore, it will be necessary to eliminate the superpower status of the United States.

With respect to the United States, we are seeing these realities take shape before our very eyes. In recent years, the United States has lost significant influence, not only in the Middle East, but also on the international stage. In addition to the political loss, the United States faces a challenging economic crisis that could also sink the nation.

It’s easy to blame leaders for this downward spiral; however, we must keep in mind that it is God who directs the entire movement with respect to the nations. No one gets any kind of authority or power without Him putting that individual there; and He does it according to his perfect kingdom plan. Therefore, the dwindling superpower status of the US is part of God’s plan to fulfill his prophetic agenda. Although it is difficult to watch America sinking, we must realize that we are privileged to live in a time when we can see God working so clearly to fulfill his plan for the end times. Furthermore, we need to see the unfolding of God’s plan as an exhortation to be ready, because it looks like Christ may be coming for us soon!