How America Won and Lost the Panama Canal

How America Won and Lost the Panama Canal
President Donald Trump says the Panama Canal may have to be brought back under United States’ control. This is a bold statement that should get our attention.
In a Dec. 21, 2024, Truth Social post, Mr. Trump said he is concerned about the high fees American shipping companies must pay Panama to use the canal. He noted that about 70 percent of the Panama Canal’s shipping business comes from the United States. This in spite of the fact that it took America 10 years to build the canal at a cost of more than $8.6 billion in today’s dollars, as well as more than 5,600 American lives and thousands more besides. But the nation decided to sell it to Panama for a dollar.
More importantly, President Trump is concerned about the control the Chinese have at both ends of the canal. During World War ii, German U-boats and Italian submarines sank Allied ships in the Caribbean Sea in an attempt to blockade the Panama Canal and cut off the flow of oil from Venezuela to the United States. China could do something similar unless it is forcibly stopped.
This is perhaps the world’s most strategic canal. Given how much trading goes on all over the oceans, strategic waterways like the Panama Canal are called sea gates. The Panama Canal is probably the most prestigious of these in the world. In fact, in Bible prophecy it is referred to as “the gate.” That’s right! If Americans want to know how we came to possess this canal that is so important to our national security—and how we lost it—we must look to Bible prophecy.
‘Permanent Neutrality’
“Panama granted the U.S. the right to build the canal and control the land on either side in 1904,” Axios reported. “In 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed a treaty that returned the canal to full Panamanian control by the end of 1999 in exchange for its permanent neutrality.”
President Trump believes that Carter was naive to do this, and he is now highlighting how Panama is not living up to its end of the bargain. The U.S. gave it the canal on condition that it would remain neutral and politically nonaligned. Yet the government of Panama has granted concessions to China, allowing it to operate the ports of Balboa and Cristobal. That is hardly “neutrality”! That is Panama siding with America’s enemies. Something is dangerously wrong!
In his post, Mr. Trump wrote, “If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question. To the officials of Panama, please be guided accordingly.”
In this same post, he noted, “It was solely for Panama to manage, not China or anyone else. We would and will never let it fall into the wrong hands.” He is very concerned about Panama’s betrayal of America, and he may be willing to take action to reclaim it.
Yet President Trump doesn’t know what the Bible says about why America won and lost the canal.
Making America Great
Did you know that God Himself gave the Panama Canal to America? How many people even think about that today? Who would even talk about that today? There is a lot in the Bible about the Panama Canal and other sea gates. This is spectacular understanding!
President Theodore Roosevelt was deeply convicted of the strategic advantages of a canal that would connect the two great oceans. It cost America around $375 million to build. Also some 7,600 men died from malaria, yellow fever and other diseases while building the canal.
The late Charles Krauthammer wrote that the “strategic jewel” that was the Panama Canal launched America “to the rank of great power” (Time, Dec. 27, 1999). Other nations had tried and failed to carve a channel through that land, and only America succeeded. Everybody could recognize that this was a world power! The canal played a major part in making America great, the greatest single nation ever in world history—a reality that was also prophesied!
The Panama Canal was a tremendous blessing for America and, really, everyone else as well. It slashed shipping costs and opened up free trade and all kinds of services and blessings to the whole world! America shared this canal with the whole world in a way that Panama is not sharing it today.
Globalsecurity.org discusses how vital the canal was to America during World War ii: “When the United States found itself enmeshed in a two-ocean war, the Panama Canal suddenly became the most strategic point on the globe.” The canal enabled free movement of the U.S. Navy between the Atlantic and the Pacific. Had the Nazis shut down the canal, they would have cut the U.S. military and economy in two, severely weakening it.
Even during the Cold War, America retained great power using that strategic gateway. No other maritime gate on Earth was as important to the U.S.—not even close.
Consider all these facts. America built that canal at a dear cost in men and treasure. It is the single most strategic sea gate in the world for America.
And we sold it for a dollar.
Why did that happen? What was the reasoning to give it to Panama? It never belonged to Panama anyhow. We had an agreement that made the Panamanians a great deal of money. Yet America just walked away from it. How can you explain that? Bible prophecy explains it!
China’s Dangerous Move
In 2021, I wrote a booklet titled China’s Dangerous Move Against America on this subject and how it is explained in biblical prophecy. You need to read this booklet. It tells an amazing story.
On March 1, 1997, the giant Chinese corporation Hutchinson Whampoa took control of the American-constructed ports at each end of the Panama Canal. This company is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.
China is acting extremely aggressively in the world today. It possesses an enormous army. It is rapidly expanding its Navy and Air Force. It is a nuclear power with a lot of nuclear bombs. It is working to undermine America economically. It is spying on America and stealing its intellectual property. China is one of America’s greatest enemies right now. This is what President Trump is so concerned about.
Half of America’s maritime trade goes through the Gulf of Mexico. For China to have control over this strategic waterway located at America’s underbelly is extremely dangerous.
The U.S. Naval Institute wrote, “The Chinese will leverage their Latin American presence when they feel it’s necessary.” In other words, they will set up military bases, and they can do so quickly. What could America do to prevent that without having to expend a lot of power?
The fact that President Trump is speaking out so forcefully about this is truly fascinating. China really has made itself into a superpower—in some ways more powerful than the United States. But biblical prophecy indicates that China is probably going to be knocked down a bit, and it is possible that this will be a factor in that happening.
We don’t know yet how this will all work out. Challenging the United States in its own backyard could end up diminishing China’s power. It would be a real loss for China to lose control of the Panama Canal, yet that might just happen.
God might give this gate back to America. I would not be shocked to see that happen because of all the miracles that took place during Donald Trump’s political campaign. Remember the first assassination attempt on his life, when he miraculously turned the right way at the right moment and the bullet only grazed his ear. Many people believe that God had a hand in that, and He did!
Bible prophecy even tells you that this man would war his way back (2 Kings 14:28). Will this warring include the recovery of the Panama Canal?
Fear God, Take Your Own Part
Donald Trump values what God gave to America. In many ways, he has a similar outlook as President Theodore Roosevelt.
In his famous “Strenuous Life” speech, President Roosevelt said: “If we stand idly by, if we seek merely swollen, slothful ease and ignoble peace, if we shrink from the hard contests where men must win at hazard of their lives and at the risk of all they hold dear, then the bolder and stronger peoples will pass us by and will win for themselves the domination of the world” (April 10, 1899).
That is the way this world operates. Right now, America is being dominated by China because we have allowed it!
Roosevelt wrote a book titled Fear God and Take Your Own Part. This is America’s president saying we must fear God and do our part! This man contributed mightily to American greatness, forging the nation into a world power by constructing the Panama Canal, building up the U.S. Navy, and sending the “great white fleet” around the world.
Shouldn’t we consider why President Roosevelt feared God before he stepped out and did great things like this, like digging the Panama Canal?
Just a couple generations later, during the Carter administration, a small group of Panamanians began protesting, and America just rolled over and handed them the canal. We had no pride in our power and no world vision. Our leaders were fantasizing like little children. They had no understanding of God’s prophecies concerning America and Britain.
Do you know those prophecies?
The Gate
Genesis 35:11 prophesies of “a nation and a company of nations”: America and Britain. Read the explanation in The United States and Britain in Prophecy. If you don’t have that book, you need it, and we will send you a free copy. It explains the Bible’s prophecies of these two nations.
Deuteronomy 28:52 says that one specific way God would bless these two powers was by giving them control over gates. These gates are the maritime ports and passages that world trade flows through and even, in some cases, land gates (i.e. mountain passes and railroads).
Did you know that, at one point, Britain and America possessed every major gate in the world? My booklet China’s Dangerous Move Against America lists them all. America and Britain ruled the world. But it was God who gave all of those gifts to us! He said He would give us the sea gates of our enemies, which helped make us great powers. What awesome gifts those were.
The Bible’s prophecies about those sea gates alone prove to you where Israel is today. Prophetic Israel is America and Britain. We have the birthright promises.
Genesis 22:17 says, “That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore ….” This shows how immense the family of Abraham was—largely through his grandson Israel.
That verse ends, “… and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies”—the gate! Out of all the gates, God calls only one “the gate.” Deuteronomy 28 speaks of “gates,” plural, an accurate translation of the Hebrew. But Genesis 22 has the singular word “gate.” Which gate do you think that is? Well, which is the most powerful gate there ever has been in this world?
Clearly the gate of Genesis 22:17 is the Panama Canal. It really was God’s special gift to America. God gave it to us! How awesome that God would give us the gate—a special gate to make America great and powerful like no other canal has made any nation. There simply hasn’t been another miraculous endowment like the Panama Canal. It was a great gift from God Himself!
Giving America the Panama Canal is one of the best blessings God has ever given to America. The canal has served the world for decades. It was a great gift given by God through an outstanding leader, Theodore Roosevelt, because he feared God. God rewarded us because of that fear in one man! And there were many others who thought that way at that time. This is at the heart of everything. If America wants to gain the Panama Canal back, we must fear God. We must show God we fear Him—not just say we do or act like we do, but truly show that fear by obeying Him and enlisting His help!
Loss
God gave us so much—but what have we done with it? We have lost nearly all of those gates. Why?
God says that if we don’t obey Him, He will break our will and our pride in our power (Leviticus 26:19). Today, America and Britain have no pride in our power like we should. This is a terrible warning from God, and we must take it seriously!
We have departed from God today. This is not about a certain group of people or a Republican or Democratic view. This is about all of us. God says that if we want to be great, we will be great only through God and fearing Him.
God really emphasizes the gate. Perhaps this indicates that there may be more history made there. Maybe President Donald Trump will gain back American control of it. He has the power to take action, and undoubtedly more miracles will come if we learn a lesson in the process.
2 Kings 14:26-28 tell you about an American resurgence, but it is up to the American people to decide how big the resurgence will be. God will honor our repentance and our faith.
God wants to teach us how to fear Him so we do not have to be punished for our sins. And when you turn away from a gift like that, which God has given us, that is a sin!
China is gobbling up much of what belongs to America, and we are letting it happen. That is going to end to a great extent very soon, but only for a temporary time—unless we learn the lesson of fearing God!