Isaiah 23:13

Verse 13 “Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness;: they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof; and he brought it to ruin.”

Chaldea is another name for Babylon. The king of Assyria had only a short time earlier taken the nomadic mountain tribal people (the Chaldees) that lived further north and settled them in Babylon. The king had assigned these people to live there to incorporate them into his people for fresh blood for his armies. Eventually the Chaldees became strong in themselves and threw off the yoke of Assyria to establish the Babylonian empire. The last part of the verse is a little ambiguous as to whom is brought to ruin. I believe that is because God wants this verse to be applied in more than one way. We do know that Tyre was brought to ruin, although not entirely at this time. The Chaldees set up siege towers against Tyre from which to hurl missiles (the ancient kinds such as boulders) , and did bring the city down, although they were not the ones who brought about Tyre‘s complete demise. That was Alexander the Great. Another way to take this verse is to see God referring to the eventual destruction of Assyria at the hand of the Chaldees or Babylon, and Babylon's demise later on because of their own king. What makes it ambiguous is the use of the word "he" when referring to the one who brings the nation to ruin. For the verse to refer to the Chaldees bringing Tyre to ruin, it should say "they". By using the pronoun "he", it refers back to the antecedent "the Assyrian." To read it exactly as it grammatically should be taken, it would actually say that the Assyrian king who founded the Chaldean empire did, after they had put up siege towers and palaces, bring the Chaldean empire to ruin, yet that did not happen. They were brought to ruin by the Medo-Persians. Therefore it is obviously referring to something else. This is where seeing it as a future fulfillment of the Assyrian (antichrist) bringing about the end of Babylon the Whore becomes a viable interpretation.

Now comes an interesting correlation. If this is referring to America, we can see a clear connection. We are a people who was not. In all of history America (unlike even Central and South America where were the great Mayan and Incan empires) was never a nation (or kingdom or empire) until a few hundred years ago. There were tribal groups, but never did they become the great empires such as those further south. This land was ( and in some places still is) a wilderness when it was settled. We see how America has set up her “towers” (built her military bases) and raised her “palaces” (built her great buildings) around the country. The conundrum is, who is the Assyrian who founded us supposed to be? Now we come into some very interesting speculation. In other verses in the Isaiah, the Assyrian is another reference for the antichrist. Is. 10:14, 14:25, 30:31.31:8. All of these verses are referring to the Assyrian as the enemy of God in the end times. We know from Revelation that the antichrist is more than a human being. He is a spirit that has indwelt all of the oppressors of Israel over the history of the world. Is this verse telling us that America was essentially founded by the same evil spirit who inhabited the other seven kings of the seven "mountains" in Revelation, and who will inhabit the antichrist?

Many people would take issue with this statement, as they believe that America was founded as a Christian country. I believe it is true that God ordained the founding of America to be a land from which the gospel would go forth, but in learning the true history of America, we see that it really was not founded by Christian men as most people believe. The first “modern” settlement of America was at Roanoke, Virginia, but as all people who remember the history they have studied know, this settlement disappeared and it remained a mystery as to what happened to the inhabitants, although there are theories as to what happened. The next settlement was Jamestown, Virginia. Its settlement was not due to any spiritual reasons, but for monetary and power gain. They had great difficulties, opposition from the natives, and eventually the original settlement was abandoned as they moved inland. Their purpose remained unchanged though. The next settlement was Plymouth, Massachusetts. While This was a diverse group, as it included not only Christians, but the military people they hired to protect them, as well as servants, and other skilled laborers, the reason for this settlement was religious in nature. Its people’s original intent was not for monetary or power gain, but for religious freedom to worship God in truth, apart from the apostate church, and without persecution. God had prepared a place and the situation for this people to arrive and survive, although their life was not without severe problems. God weeded many out of this group the first winter. Because of this group, Christians like to believe that this country was settled as a Christian country. In the respect that God brought His people here to have a place where He could be worshiped in truth, they are correct, but that is not the whole story. A hundred and fifty years later when we declared our independence from Britain and set up our own constitution and country, it was a different story. While the leaders who signed the declaration and made our constitution all had the veneer of being Christians, the truth is most were not true Christians. The vast majority of them were Freemasons and Deists, including the "Father" of our country. (For Christians who believe George Washington was a true Christian, a close perusal of his letters tells otherwise. They indicate he was also a deist, like Thomas Jefferson. And he most certainly was a Freemason.) The first, that our founding fathers were all masons, is well documented. The second can be discerned by reading the correspondence which they wrote, whether official or of a private nature. This country was established by the Freemasons as an independent country from which they would eventually create the New World Order. There is much that one can find on this subject in books and online to prove this, so I do not feel the need to delve into this subject at the moment, as it will divert us from the subject at hand. The point in bringing this up at all was to show that the spirit of antichrist, through the machinations of the Freemasons, was really the founder of America and its laws as an independent nation, not a group of Christian men.