Forty percent of Americans see some prophetic significance to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to a new survey published by the Joshua Fund.
The poll was conducted by McLaughlin & Associates between March 17 and 22 and asked questions of 1,000 American adults. The Joshua Fund is a non-profit organization founded by Joel and Lynn Rosenberg to “mobilize Christians to bless Israel.”
Specifically, the survey asked, “Do you agree or disagree that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has ignited the biggest land war in Europe since World War II, is one of the signs that Jesus spoke of in the Bible when he warned that there would be ‘wars and rumors of wars’ in the ‘last days’?”
The poll found that more than 100 million Americans (40% of those polled, based on the most recent population survey) said they agree that the invasion is a sign of biblical prophecy, while 40% disagree. Some 20% said they did not know.
“That’s an enormous number,” said Rosenberg in a write up about the poll. “By no means are all these Christians, much less Evangelical Christians.”
When broken down by religion, only 7% of atheists believe the Russian invasion is a sign of the last days. Ten percent of agnostics agree, 19% of self-identified secular Americans, 28% of Jews, 37% of Catholics, 54% of Protestants and 70% of Evangelical born-again Christians agree.
There were more Trump supporters than Biden supporters who said the war was a sign of prophecy. Forty-four percent of those who voted for Trump said they agree compared to 36% of Biden supporters.
Some prominent Christian leaders, including evangelist Pat Robertson, have speculated that the Russia-Ukraine war has set into motion the “end-of-day” prophecies as described in the book of Ezekiel (known to Biblical scholars and religious people as the War of Gog & Magog).
Others have disagreed.
“My colleagues at the Joshua Fund and I believe it is premature to draw such a conclusion,” Rosenberg said. “Ezekiel 38 and 39 do not describe a Russian invasion of Ukraine… Ezekiel described a military alliance led by Russia and Iran against a prophetically reborn State of Israel in the ‘last days.’ This war has never happened in human history, and the prophecy has yet to pass.”
'COVID-19 sign of biblical prophecy'
In the same survey, respondents were asked if they think the COVID pandemic is one of the signs that Jesus spoke about in the Bible when he warned that there would be severe “plagues” in the last days.
A similar 40% of Americans said they believe COVID-19 is a sign of biblical prophecies being fulfilled, while 41% disagreed. The rest did not know.
The Joshua Fund through McLaughlin & Associated asked a similar question in March 2020, almost immediately after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, only 29% of respondents said they agreed that the virus was a sign “that we are living in what the Bible calls the last days.”
“We have seen an early 11-point increase over the last Joshua Fund poll,” Rosenberg said. “That is significant.”
The poll also asked questions about how effective Americans think the Iranian nuclear deal will be and what Iran would do if it acquired a nuclear weapon.