The Unraveling of the English-Speaking Peoples

Eighty-five years ago, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and United States President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Atlantic Charter in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. This secret rendezvous was the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders since World War ii began. This was part of Churchill’s “charm offensive” to bring America into the war. Roosevelt was reluctant to go to Congress without a direct provocation. For Britain to have a realistic chance at continuing the struggle against Adolf Hitler, Churchill needed more supplies, finances and support from the “arsenal of democracy.”

As Churchill told Jock Colville, one of his private secretaries: “No lover ever studied every whim of his mistress as I did those of President Roosevelt.”

After three days of talks, the text of the Atlantic Charter was agreed upon, primarily drafted by Sir Alexander Cadogan, chief civil servant at the British Foreign Office. With great fanfare displaying the unity between these English-speaking peoples, the two leaders signed their names to this charter on August 12:

The president of the United States of America and the prime minister, Mr. Churchill, representing His Majesty’s government in the United Kingdom, being met together, deem it right to make known certain common principles in the national policies of their respective countries on which they base their hopes for a better future of the world.

The eight points of the Atlantic Charter are:

• No Territorial Aggrandizement
• No Territorial Changes Without Consent
• Self-Determination
• Access to Raw Materials
• Economic Cooperation
• Freedom From Fear and Want
• Freedom of the Seas
• Disarmament

Twenty-six nations signed onto the Atlantic Charter, and it became the precursor to the United Nations Charter. It was a display of unity between the English-speaking peoples, as no other peoples would have made a declaration for a postwar world based on freedom, fair play and justice. The alliance between the United States and the British Empire shaped the world order, bringing relative peace and prosperity to the world.

Although there have been many disagreements, wars and mistakes, the demonic regimes of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and Communist China show the alternative.

The sudden rise of the English-speaking peoples to world power at the start of the 19th century has been the subject of dozens of books and theories. It was by divine design, as spelled out in the late Herbert W. Armstrong’s book The United States and Britain in Prophecy. The national greatness of the English-speaking peoples was prophesied in the Bible. God blessed these nations physically because of the spiritual obedience by their forefather Abraham. God precisely timed the rise of these nations and the specific blessings they would receive.

The America-Britain alliance that saved the world, symbolized in the Atlantic Charter, was prophesied in Micah 5:8-9: “And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.”

Mr. Armstrong wrote:

So this prophecy shows that at the very time we were receiving God’s blessings, we were a tremendous blessing to the other nations of the Earth—for it is our peoples who have rescued the other nations of the world time and again through the Marshall Plan, the Point Four program, the Alliance for Progress, the hundreds of millions of bushels of wheat for India and other starving nations, etc. The Hoover Program saved up vast food supplies after World War i. It saved millions in other nations from starvation! … It is our peoples who have been like a “lion” among the other nations of the Earth—preserving in two great world wars the peace of the world and stability for all human life on this planet!

After the triumph in World War ii, Churchill published his famous series A History of the English-Speaking Peoples in 1956 and explained why he wrote it: “It is in the hope that contemplation of the trials and tribulations of our forefathers may not only fortify the English-speaking peoples of today, but also play some small part in uniting the whole world, that I present this account.”

Yet the Bible also outlines the decline of America and Britain if they rebelled against God. “Just as God has bestowed on us such material blessings as never before came to any nations,” continued Mr. Armstrong, “now to correct us so we may enjoy such blessings, He is going to bring upon our peoples such national disaster as has never before struck any nation! Many prophecies describe this!”

The unraveling of the English-speaking peoples was prophesied in the Bible. The institutions that united the English-speaking peoples are under attack, severing the common culture, language and traditions that bound us together. As the curses on each nation increase, we become more divided.

World alliances are being flipped on their head. Donald Trump’s America increasingly looks at Britain, Canada and Australia as adversaries, and for good reason: Their socialist-Communist governments actively aided the Democrat conspiracies against him and have policies that undermine Trump’s agenda.

America’s trade war with Canada, Britain’s trepidation at supporting the Iran war, and their flirting with Europe are aligning these nations against America.

Meanwhile, America is embracing Arab alliances, as well as Russia, China and India. Trump does not respect traditional diplomacy and views international relationships as transactional, regardless of historical loyalty or betrayal.

The world order based on the Atlantic Charter is dead. The bonds of culture and language are being broken. The English-speaking peoples who shaped it are no longer united in common purpose. This “special relationship” is nearly dead. This betrays the English-speaking peoples’ true origin, which is not Rome or Athens but Jerusalem—from the Bible!

Despite the division, Hosea 5:5 says Britain and America will fall together. God holds the British and American peoples to the standard of His law and their biblical heritage, far different from any other peoples. With God’s blessings comes responsibility and accountability.

Around 1800, the world entered the age of the English-speaking peoples, where these birthright nations of Britain and America dominated and shaped the world. But that era is prophesied to be eclipsed by “the times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24), a time of extreme violence dominated by empires out of Europe, Russia and China.

This is a prophetic trend we watch carefully at theTrumpet.com.

Placentia Bay in Newfoundland today is just as beautiful as 85 years ago, but the harbor has declined. The U.S. military base is abandoned and rotting, the land is undeveloped, and the scenes of mighty warships and important visitors are a distant memory. This is symbolic of the decline in the relationships between the English-speaking peoples.

Now is a good time to read and study The United States and Britain in Prophecy to see where this decline is leading.