Geography impacts everything from the food we eat to the clothes we wear and the lives we lead. Individuals, governments, economies, militaries and alliances find themselves almost completely at its mercy. Even with today’s cutting-edge technology, it still takes tremendous skill and vast resources to overcome obstacles imposed by temperature, distance, water and gravity.

Are the locations of Earth’s mountains, deserts, jungles, resources, rivers, seas, people and borders random? They have a tremendous impact on world affairs.

The Trumpet analyzes world events through the lens of Bible prophecy given by God thousands of years ago. The Bible has a terrific track record of the prophecies of God coming to pass just as He said they would. The question thus arises: How does God ensure that these prophecies are fulfilled?

There is more than one answer to that question. But consider: The God who commands prophecy and swears to perform His will (Isaiah 46:9-11) is the same God who created our planet’s geography. And when you study geography in this light, you see considerable evidence of the significant role it plays in serving God’s prophetic purposes.

‘In Wisdom Have You Made Them All’

Geography is, most simply, the study of spaces, places and how humans interact with their environment. Whether it’s how an ocean current affects a nearby island’s vegetation, how a government chooses to diversify its economy, or how a natural resource impacts the politics of a particular region, geography analyzes our planet’s vast interconnectedness.

As the Bible reveals, that vast interconnectedness was created by God.

God is the one who forms our planet’s mountains and wind currents (Amos 4:13). He commands the earthquakes and volcanoes that shape Earth (Psalm 104:32). He is in charge of Earth’s rivers and the lands they water (verses 6-12). He is the father of rain (Job 38:25-28), and can turn a verdant, fruitful land into a dry, barren wilderness, or vice versa (Psalm 107:33-35). And God has shaped much of the modern political scene simply by the placement of Earth’s riches: fossil fuels, precious minerals, phosphates and renewable resources like wood and food.

The Bible reveals that God takes an active role in drawing the borders of Earth’s human geography (Acts 17:26; Deuteronomy 32:8), deciding which nations live where and who leads them (Daniel 4:17). God can use the physical geography of a place to impact its human geography. An island nation, like Japan, relies greatly on fishing and a navy. A jungle, like the one in New Guinea, diversifies a cultural landscape. Navigable rivers and open plains connect people. Deserts and mountains divide people. Accessibility to resources can make the difference between a democratic government or an authoritarian regime. A single sea gate can make an otherwise insignificant country one of the most strategically important places on the planet. (Read about this in our article “Who Cares About Sea Gates?”).

“O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches” (Psalm 104:24). Our planet’s geography is not random; studying it reveals God’s wisdom.

Geography in Prophecy

The Trumpet does not make forecasts based on geography. History is full of geopolitical analysts who have gotten things wrong. (Read “The Graveyard of Failed Geopolitical Forecasts” at theTrumpet.com/22006.) The “father of geopolitics,” Sir Halford Mackinder, believed rail power would overtake sea power. George Friedman and Meredith Lebard published a book predicting a war between the United States and Japan by 2011. Since then, Friedman has predicted that the United States is still in the early stages of its superpower status and that the European Union will soon disintegrate. Along the same lines, realist analyst Peter Zeihan predicts that Germany’s and China’s economies will collapse amid an age of American dominance. Geography plays a significant part these predictions.

The Trumpet expects the opposite of these outcomes. We don’t ignore geography—but we rely solely on Bible prophecy for our forecasts. History shows that anything outside of that is bound to fail eventually.

However, when we analyze geography in light of Bible prophecy, it starts to become clear: No matter where we look on Earth, we can see God behind it, contributing to His overall master plan for the planet and the humans who inhabit it. Imagine how different today’s political climate would be if the Himalayas didn’t exist, if North and South America were not connected, if the Sahara weren’t a desert, if there were no oil in the Middle East, if the Chinese colonized the New World before Europe did, and if the German people lived in modern-day Kazakhstan. When you understand how God foretells prophetic events, it becomes obvious that God didn’t want any of those situations.

Clearly, geography is a critical tool God uses to shape world events. It isn’t the only means: Sometimes, God directly intervenes with a great leader, fulfills a purpose with one of His chosen people, or works a supernatural miracle. On top of this, innovation, strategy and morality unquestionably impact society.

But geography is one means God does use to fulfill His purposes on Earth. The more we study it in light of His master plan, the more we can see and appreciate the great wisdom of our planet’s Creator.

Europe

For decades, the Trumpet and its predecessor, the Plain Truth, have forecast a coming clash between a German-led “king of the north” power bloc and a Russia-dominated “kings of the east” power bloc (Daniel 11:44-45). In many ways, this rivalry is fueled by geography.

One of the most important physical features in Europe is the European Plain—a flat, arable, funnel-shaped plain outlined by the Jizera and Carpathian Mountains. For Germany, these mountains act as a protective barrier that enables it to expand safely eastward. For Russia, however, there are no natural borders protecting its thousand-mile western border, leaving its only defense to soldiers and tanks. If Russia doesn’t constantly push westward, it is bound to have its European border pushed back.

The Bible prophesies that Britain would command a world-ruling empire, which God also largely fulfilled through geographical means. (Read “The Geography of Great Britain’s Greatness”). Despite Europe’s extreme northern latitude, the Atlantic Gulf Stream gives it the perfect climate for arable farming and civilization. This is in contrast to the Russian cold, which makes a powerful navy and maritime trade connections virtually impossible through frozen waters. This shows why Russia has a proclivity to invade places like Ukraine, “the breadbasket of Europe.” Add on Russia’s near-monopoly on European fossil fuels, and the pieces are perfectly in place for the fulfillment of a major Bible prophecy.

Africa

Africa is one of the most resource-rich places on the planet. The Democratic Republic of the Congo alone is estimated to have over $24 trillion in raw materials. Africa’s richness was key to European colonialism, which fueled a great part of the Industrial Revolution.

Yet Africa has produced no major powers. Geography is a significant reason for that: The continent lacks easily navigable rivers and natural harbors, and its man-made political borders combine wildly different climates and ethnicities under fragile governments.

This is why Africa, in addition to being one of the richest continents on the planet, is also one of the poorest.

Middle East and North Africa

What North Africa and the Middle East lack in favorable climate and arable land, they make up for in fossil fuel resources. These oil and gas reserves amplify the importance of this region’s three major sea gates: the Suez Canal, the Bab el-Mandeb and the Strait of Hormuz.

The Middle East’s central location straddling Europe, Africa and Asia has made it the backdrop for some of history’s most important conflicts: like between Alexander and Persia, Rome and Parthia, Byzantines and Ottomans, Catholic crusaders and Muslim conquerors—and a major end-time conflict prophesied in Daniel 11 between the “king of the north” and an Iran-led “king of the south” (verses 40-43). The king of the south is prophesied to control both Egypt and Ethiopia, each of which lie at opposite ends of the Red Sea and dictate control of the Nile River.

Asia

To the east are China and India: two massive, nuclear-armed superpowers with the two largest populations on Earth. Usually, two powers this big and this close would be timeless rivals; as expected, they are by no means close allies. But aside from some relatively minor friction in the past few decades, they have had no major wars—thanks to the virtually impassable Himalayan wall of rock and ice between them. This facilitates their participation in the prophesied “kings of the east” (theTrumpet.com/13189).

Jurisdiction over the Tibetan Plateau gives China control over its own major rivers’ water sources, which are vital to China’s gargantuan population. It also gives China control of Southeast Asia’s primary rivers, enabling it to establish a dominant sphere of influence in Indochina. After all, if China ever decided to build a hydroelectric dam upstream—like the massive one currently under construction on the Brahmaputra—the dam would have a tremendous impact on those living downstream. Tibet also gives China a military advantage over the Indian subcontinent from atop its high ground.

At the same time, China largely functions as an island, due to the fact that it is surrounded by the ocean to the east, deserts to the north, impassable mountains to the west and jungles and other difficult terrain to the south. Within these advantageous confines, the Chinese developed a great civilization, but its power projection into the rest of the world has been comparatively limited. Bible prophecy, however, shows that has been changing.

Adjacent to China are the vast steppes of Central Asia, where non-arable grasslands require its nomadic inhabitants to constantly move to find new grazing pasture. This nomadic tendency helped facilitate the rise of several large khanates throughout history, including the massive Mongolian Empire. But today, with a dominant Russia and China, Central Asia is an important treasure trove between them—helping supply these prophesied kings of the east with fossil fuels, mercury, gold, platinum and silver.

To the south lie the unforgiving mountains of Afghanistan, which create such strategic depth that conquering the territory has proved an unwinnable challenge to Mongols, British, Soviets and, most recently, Americans.

The New World

With vast expanses of arable farmland, a plethora of natural resources, long stretches of navigable rivers, a friendly neighbor to the north, and two massive oceans protecting it, the United States has arguably the most desirable geography in the world. (Read last month’s feature “Mapping a Superpower”). After all, God prophesied that it would become a massive superpower (as proved in our free book The United States and Britain in Prophecy). After establishing its many Pacific Ocean bases and completing the Panama Canal in Latin America, the U.S. truly became a global superpower.

However, God also prophesies that these blessings can be lost. The Panama Canal was relinquished to Chinese influence, and the U.S.’s economic connections to the resource-rich countries of South America are being taken over by Europe. Should the U.S. refuse to repent, a militarized Europe can use these geostrategic connections to the New World to fulfill its prophesied role as America’s punisher. (Read “America Is Being Besieged Economically”).