I Saw the Destruction of America
[Note: To assist the reader, the following text contains minor editing of punctuation, grammar, and the addition of headings. As well, the quoted Scriptures have been updated to the New American Standard Bible (NASB).]
The following vision was received by Evangelist A. A. Allen on July 4, 1954.
I Was at the Top of the Empire State Building
As I stood atop the Empire State Building, I could see the Statue of Liberty, illuminating the gateway to the New World. Here, spread before me like an animated map, is an area sixty or eighty miles in diameter. I was amazed that the Spirit of the Lord should so move me there atop the Empire State Building. Why should I feel such a surge of His Spirit and power there?
Suddenly I heard the voice of the Lord. It was as clear and as distinct as a voice could be. It seemed to come from the very midst of the giant telescope. But when I looked at the telescope, I knew it hadn't come from there, but directly from heaven. The voice said, "For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars" (2 Chron. 16: 9 NASB).
Immediately when I heard the voice of God, I knew this was a quotation of Scripture. But never before had a thing come to me so forcibly by the power of the Spirit. The ticking of the telescope stopped. The man before me had used up his dime’s worth. As he stepped away I knew that I was next. As I stepped to the telescope and dropped in my dime, immediately the ticking started again. This ticking was an automatic clock which would allow me to use the telescope for a definite limited time only.
I Saw All of North America
As I swung the telescope to the North, suddenly the Spirit of God came upon me in a way that I had never thought of before. Seemingly in the spirit I was entirely caught away. I knew that the telescope itself had nothing to do with the distance which I was suddenly enabled to see; for I seemed to see things far beyond the range of the telescope, even on a bright clear day. It was simply that God had chosen this time to reveal these things to me; for as I looked through the telescope, it was not Manhattan Island that I saw but a far larger view.
That morning much of the view was impaired by fog. But suddenly, as the Spirit of the Lord came upon me, the fog seemed to clear until it seemed that I could see for thousands of miles. But that which I was looking upon was not Manhattan Island; it was all of the North American Continent spread out before me as a map is spread upon a table. It was not the East River and the Hudson River that I saw on either side, but the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. And instead of the Statue of Liberty standing there in the bay on her small island, I saw her standing far out in the Gulf of Mexico. She was between me and the United States. I suddenly realized that the telescope had nothing to do with what I was seeing, but that it was a vision coming directly from God. And to prove this to myself I took my eyes away from the telescope so that I was no longer looking through the lens; but the same scene remained before me.
There, clear and distinct, lay all the North American Continent with all its great cities. To the North lay the Great Lakes. Far to the Northeast was New York City. I could see Seattle and Portland far to the Northwest. Down the West Coast, there were San Francisco and Los Angeles. Closer in the foreground, there lay New Orleans at the center of the Gulf Coast area. I could see the great towering ranges of the Rocky Mountains, and trace with my eye the Continental Divide. All this and more I could see spread out before me as a great map upon a table.
The Statue of Liberty Staggered
And as l looked, suddenly from the sky I saw a giant hand reach down. That gigantic hand was reaching out toward the Statue of Liberty. In a moment her gleaming torch was torn from her hand, and in it instead was placed a cup. And I saw protruding from that great cup a giant sword, shining as if a great light had been turned upon its glistening edge. Never before had I seen such a sharp, glistening, dangerous sword. It seemed to threaten all the world. As the great cup was placed in the hand of the Statue of Liberty, I heard these words, "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Drink, be drunk, vomit, fall and rise no more because of the sword which I will send among you.'" As I heard these words, I recognized them as a quotation from Jeremiah 25:27 [NASB].
I was amazed to hear the Statue of Liberty speak out in reply, "I WILL NOT DRINK!" Then as the voice of the thunder, I heard again the voice of the Lord, saying, "'Thus says the LORD of hosts: "YOU SHALL SURELY DRINK!" (Jer.25:28 NASB). Then suddenly the giant hand forced the cup to the lips of the Statue of Liberty, and she became powerless to defend herself. The mighty hand of God forced her to drink every drop from the cup. As she drank the bitter dregs, these were the words that I heard, "Shall you be completely free from punishment? You will not be free from punishment; for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth," declares the LORD of hosts" (Jer. 25:29 NASB).
When the cup was withdrawn from the lips of the Statue of Liberty, I noticed the sword was missing from the cup, which could mean but one thing: THE CONTENTS OF THE CUP HAD BEEN COMPLETELY CONSUMED! I knew that the sword merely typified war, death, and destruction, which is no doubt on the way.
Then as one drunken on too much wine, I saw the Statue of Liberty become unsteady on her feet and begin to stagger and to lose her balance. I saw her splashing in the Gulf, trying to regain her balance. I saw her stagger again and again and fall to her knees. As I saw her desperate attempts to regain her balance and rise to her feet again, my heart was moved as never before with compassion for her struggles. But as she staggered there in the gulf, once again I heard these words, "You shall drink and be drunken, and spew, and fall, and arise no more because of the sword that I shall send among you."
As I watched, I wondered if the Statue of Liberty would ever be able to regain her feet; if she would ever stand again. And as I watched, it seemed that with all her power she struggled to rise, and finally staggered to her feet again, and stood there swaying drunkenly. I felt sure that at any moment she would fall again, possibly never to rise. I seemed overwhelmed with a desire to reach out my hand to keep her head above water, for I knew that if she ever fell again she would drown there in the Gulf. [But for the believer in Christ:] "You will not be afraid of the terror by night, Or of the arrow that flies by day; Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon" (Psalms 91:5, 6 NASB).
A Dark Skeleton Arose
Then as I watched, another amazing thing was taking place. Far to the Northwest, just out over Alaska, a huge, black cloud was arising. As it rose, it was as black as night. It seemed to be in the shape of a man's head. As it continued to arise, I observed two light spots in the black cloud. It rose further, and a gaping hole appeared. I could see that the black cloud was taking the shape of a skull, for now the huge, white, gaping mouth was plainly visible. Finally the head was complete. Then the shoulders began to appear, and on either side long, black arms.
It seemed that what I saw was the entire North American Continent spread out like a map upon a table with this terrible skeleton-formed cloud rising from behind the table. It rose steadily until the form was visible down to the waist. At the waist the skeleton seemed to bend towards the United States, stretching forth a hand toward the East and one toward the West; one toward New York and one toward Seattle. As the awful form stretched forward, I could see that the entire attention seemed to be focused upon the U.S., overlooking Canada at least for the time being. As I saw the horrible black cloud in the form of a skeleton bending towards America, bending from the waist over, reaching down toward Chicago and out towards both coasts, I knew its one interest was to destroy the multitudes.
As I watched in horror, the great black cloud stopped just above the great lakes region, and turned its face towards New York City. Then out of the horrible, great gaping mouth began to appear wisps of white vapor which looked like smoke, as a cigarette smoker would blow puffs of smoke from his mouth. These whitish vapors were being blown toward New York City. The smoke began to spread, until it had covered all the eastern part of the United States. Then the skeleton turned to the West, and out of the horrible mouth and nostrils came another great puff of white smoke. This time it was blown in the direction of the West Coast. In a few moments time the entire West Coast and L.A. area was covered with its vapors. Then towards the center came a third great puff. As I watched, St. Louis and Kansas City were enveloped in its white vapors. Then on it came towards New Orleans. Then on they swept until they reached the Statue of Liberty where she stood staggering drunkenly in the blue waters of the Gulf.
Liberty Fell and Died
As the white vapors began to spread around the head of the statue, she took in but one gasping breath, and then began to cough as though to rid her lungs of the horrible vapors she had inhaled. One could readily discern by the coughing that those white vapors had seared her lungs. What were these white vapors? Could they signify bacteriological warfare or nerve gas that could destroy multitudes of people in a few moments time? Then I heard the voice of God, as He spoke again:
Behold, the LORD lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants. And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor. The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the LORD has spoken this word.
The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away. The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left. (Isaiah 24:1—6 NASB)
As I watched, the coughing grew worse. It sounded like a person that was about to cough out his lungs. The Statue was moaning and groaning. She was in mortal agony. The pain must have been terrific as again and again she tried to clear her lungs of those horrible white vapors. I watched her there in the Gulf as she staggered, clutching her lungs and her breast with her hands. Then she fell to her knees. In a moment she gave one final cough and made a last desperate effort to rise from her knees, and then fell face forward into the waters of the Gulf and lay still as death. Tears ran down my face as I realized that she was dead! Only the lapping of the waves splashing over her body, which was partly under the water and partly out of water, broke the silence. "A fire consumes before them And behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them But a desolate wilderness behind them" (Joel 2:3 NASB)
Multitudes Fell Like Liberty
Suddenly the silence was shattered by the screaming of sirens. The sirens seemed to scream, "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Never before had I heard such shrill, screaming sirens. They seemed to be everywhere; to the North, South, East and West. There seemed to be multitudes of sirens. And as I looked, I saw people everywhere running. But it seemed none of them ran more than a few paces, and then they fell. And even as I had seen the Statue struggling to regain her poise and balance, and finally falling to die on her face, I now saw millions of people falling in the streets and on the sidewalks, struggling. I heard their screams for mercy and help.
I heard their horrible coughing as though their lungs had been seared with fire. I heard the moanings and groanings of the doomed and the dying. As I watched, a few finally reached shelters, and above the moaning and groaning I heard these words:
'A clamor has come to the end of the earth, Because the LORD has a controversy with the nations. He is entering into judgment with all flesh; As for the wicked, He has given them to the sword,' declares the LORD."
Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, evil is going forth From nation to nation, And a great storm is being stirred up From the remotest parts of the earth. Those slain by the LORD on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be lamented, gathered or buried; they will be like dung on the face of the ground.” (Jer. 25:31—33 NASB)
Missiles Came from All Around
Then suddenly I saw from the Atlantic and from the Pacific and out of the Gulf, rocket-like objects that seemed to come up like fish leaping out of the water. High into the air they leaped. Each headed in a different direction, but every one towards the U.S. On The ground, the sirens screamed louder. And up from the ground I saw similar rockets begin to ascend. To me, these appeared to be interceptor rockets, although they arose from different points all over the U.S. However, none of them seemed to be successful in intercepting the rockets that had arisen from the ocean on every side. These rockets finally reached their maximum height, slowly turned over, and fell back toward the earth in defeat.
Then suddenly, the rockets which had leaped out of the ocean like fish all exploded at once. The explosion was ear-splitting. The next thing which I saw was a huge ball of fire. The only thing I have ever seen which resembled the thing I saw in my vision was the picture of the explosion of the H-bomb in the South Pacific. In my vision, it was so real I seemed to feel a searing heat from it.
As the vision spread before my eyes, and I viewed the widespread desolation brought about by the terrific explosions, I could not help thinking, "While the defenders of our nation have quibbled over what means of defense to use, and neglected the only true means of defense—faith and dependence upon the true and living God—the thing which she greatly feared has come unto her! How true it has proven that "Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman watches but in vain" (Psalms 127:1b).
Then as the noise of the battle subsided, to my ears came this quotation from Joel, the second chapter:
Blow a trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the LORD is coming; Surely it is near, A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn is spread over the mountains, So there is a great and mighty people; There has never been anything like it, Nor will there be again after it To the years of many generations.
A fire consumes before them And behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them But a desolate wilderness behind them, And nothing at all escapes them. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; And like war horses, so they run. (Joel 2:1—4 NASB).