When Tony Blair announced this spring that he would step down in late June as Great Britain's prime minister, immediate speculation began as to the future of relations between Britain and America.

Blair and President George W. Bush have had a very close working relationship since 9/11, with Britain being the leading partner in the subsequent war on terror and the ground battles in Afghanistan and Iraq. Blair took a fair bit of criticism, especially from his home press, for the unabashed cooperation he gave to Bush. Prior to President Bush's election, Blair developed close ties with former President Bill Clinton.

Blair's successor, Gordon Brown, is known to favor America (he has regularly vacationed in New England), but is under pressure to distance himself from President Bush. Recent statements from Brown appointees indicate there may be a change in tone rather than substance. No one for now really looks for significant changes to occur in this Anglo-American partnership.

Tests of the relationship

A recent article by John O'Sullivan in London's Telegraph shows the mistake it has been when any British leader has thought of distancing Britain's foreign policy from America's. In the early 1970s when Great Britain joined the then European Community (now EU), Prime Minister Edward Heath said Britain would pursue policies closer to those of France and Germany.

"With Opec quadrupling its oil prices and Arab countries threatening an oil boycott, this looked like a combination of hard-headed national interest and European idealism.

"In fact it was foolish self-deception. Heath's posturing took place almost immediately before a series of geo-political threats to Britain (and Europe) revealed the necessity of the link: Opec, hyper-inflation, the installation of Soviet SS-20 missiles in Eastern Europe, terrorism, crises in southern Africa, the rise of the Soviet Navy, the invasion of Afghanistan. Europe could not possibly deal with these crises without the US" ("Special Relationship Will Survive—as Before," July 14, 2007).

It was not until Ronald Reagan entered office in 1980 that this relationship was solidly reaffirmed. Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher forged a deep relationship based on the understanding that the fortunes of the two nations were firmly linked.

The late 1980s saw the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Iron Curtain that divided Europe. As Germany began to reunite, President George H.W. Bush tried for a time to place more reliance on Germany, rather than Britain. This was rationalized because Germany had a stronger economy than Britain and reunification was a priority in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse.

O'Sullivan shows how premature this action was. "Before Washington could relax, however, Kuwait was invaded by Saddam Hussein. Germany was very little use in that conflict despite its large economy. It had a land-locked army, a constitution that forbade intervention abroad, and a national pacifist sensibility.

"What Washington needed was allies with armies, intelligence services, strategic mobility, and a foreign policy tradition of upholding international order.

"Indeed, the British were sometimes more determined than Washington. Over Kuwait Thatcher issued her famous encouragement: 'This is no time to go wobbly, George.' She and John Major helped to win the first Gulf war and make it internationally respectable.

"The special relationship was once more in favour where—with wobbles over Kosovo and Iraq—it has remained in both capitals," John O'Sullivan wrote (ibid.).

O'Sullivan concluded that this "special relationship" is anchored in two facts. "First, because Britain and the US (and Australia, Canada, New Zealand and India) share a common language, culture, and legal and political traditions, they tend to see the world in much the same way. The 'Anglosphere' countries believe in a liberal international order and are more prepared to uphold it by force than other liberal powers.

"Second, since 1941 Britain and the US (and, again, countries such as Australia, Canada, etc.) have developed practices of mutual cooperation in fields as various as war, trade, electronic spying, investment, and international institution-building" (ibid.).

O'Sullivan is correct on these two points but leaves out the most important reason for this ongoing relationship.

The biblical dimension

America and Great Britain, and the other English-speaking nations, are joined as they are because their existence, identity and power are rooted in the biblical promises made to the patriarch Abraham and his descendants. Because God made promises to reward the obedience of this man, these peoples have inherited earth's choicest lands and in modern times have exercised a global dominance that is unparalleled in world history.

World leaders do not recognize this truth, but it represents the missing biblical dimension in world affairs.

Without this key, you cannot fully understand why today's world works as it does. It explains why Great Britain, through its past empire, ruled more than a quarter of the world's people and a fifth of its land. With this knowledge you can know why America has grown to become the largest single power the world has known.

Because of God's blessings, these two nations over the past 250 years have largely left a legacy that has done more good than harm, wherever they have gone.

This is not to ignore or excuse mistakes made in the treatment of other peoples. God will hold the United States and Britain accountable for actions that have strayed from the high standards set out in the book these English-speaking nations have spread around the world—the Bible. But despite today's trends of relativism, multiculturalism and revisionist history, the English-speaking nations have a legacy that is higher than most. Where they have gone they have lifted humanity toward what Churchill described as a "broad sun-lit upland."

The full story can be found in our booklet The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy. A copy can be read or requested on the Web at www.wnponline.org or by writing to the nearest office listed on page 15.

Joseph's blessings overflow

The biblical patriarch Jacob prophesied the blessing these two nations would be as he lay dying. His sons were gathered around his bed while he told them what would become of their descendants "in the last days" (Genesis 49:1).

Verse 22 contains the vision for Joseph, whose two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, carried the promise to their descendants, Great Britain and the United States. Notice what it says: "Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well; his branches run over the wall."

Ephraim and Manasseh were to be rich and blessed with material abundance. No modern nations fit this description any better than America and Great Britain.

This aspect of the prophecy is brought out in a recently published work, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900 by Andrew Roberts. This history covers the period from 1900 to the present and provides a detailed narrative of the impact of Great Britain and America during this period.

When the economic history of this period is studied, the unique American form of capitalism stands out as a system that has brought great wealth not only to America but to other nations who have adopted its fundamentals. Roberts comments, "…throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first it was the Anglo-American form of capitalism, of free enterprise, free trade and laissez-faire economics that has consistently produced more prosperity than any other model" (2007, p. 22).

Between 1844 and 1862 the British Parliament enacted legislation, called Company Acts, that guaranteed business interests and enabled the growth of market capitalism. These limited liability laws ensured that investors would only lose what they put into the firm.

"That, along with the public trading of shares of equal value, opened up the modern capitalist system that has brought prosperity to every society that has ever properly adopted it, while civilizations that once outstripped the West yet failed to develop private sector companies—notably China and the Islamic world—fell farther and farther behind" (ibid., p. 39).

To this day, as evidenced by the Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom, the nations that have been directly touched by this form of economic system rank highest in basic aspects of freedom dealing with trade, business, property rights and other essential aspects of economic development. Hong Kong and Singapore, two examples of former colonies influenced by Great Britain, ranked along with the English-speaking nations in the top 10. Their standard of living ranks among the highest in the world.

British and U.S. generosity has also "blessed" the nations. The United States has spent billions of dollars relieving AIDS distress in Africa and providing debt-relief throughout the third world. When the massive tsunami hit Indonesia in late 2004, American and Australian naval ships were the first to arrive with food and medical supplies to begin relief efforts.

Roberts turns around an expression to illustrate the benefit many of the less fortunate nations receive from Anglo-American abundance.

"The hackneyed line that 'When America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold' also has its obverse side, that when virtuous phenomena take place in America, the rest of the world benefits. When American doctors find a cure for various diseases—as they do more than any other nation—all can celebrate." He praises, without fully understanding the power of his phrase, "America's willingness…to extend her birthright across the globe" (ibid., pp. 639-640).

More could be illustrated from many examples. Indeed, Joseph's birthright, realized in these modern peoples, is a "fruitful bough by a well; [whose] branches run over the wall" to the far corners of the earth. History speaks for itself.

The English-speaking peoples are not inherently better than others. Their blessings and place among the nations are the result of God's promises. Yes, they have enacted superior systems of government that safeguard individual liberty, property rights and public safety. Yes, they have economic systems that reward initiative and hard work while creating opportunity for amassing wealth.

But credit for those basic freedoms enshrined in law must ultimately be given to God. The principles behind many of them are found in the pages of the Bible. So, to the degree those laws and principles have been followed, the credit lies with God.

Coming time of "Jacob's trouble"

There is every reason for this special relationship to continue. The ties of language, culture, history and prophecy are too deep. But that is not to say there will be continued smooth sailing. There are many factors at work that will dramatically alter their role in the world.

We who live in, and love, the United States and Great Britain, must realize that despite our exalted role and national blessings, God is not pleased with the many national sins that continue to eat away like a cancer within our body. There is a moral and spiritual sickness that, if not addressed and changed, will result in God removing His hand of blessing from these nations.

The Bible foretells a period called "Jacob's trouble" when there will be national distress and tribulation. We have covered this point in many past articles in World News and Prophecy.

There are powers today, circling like vultures, that wish the United States and Britain harm and want to take the leading role in world affairs. The war on terror is but one example of scattered Islamic fundamentalists connected by a desire to end the dominance of the West, especially America. China continues to build its military capability and seeks to dominate Asia and remove all American influence from the region.

And then there is Europe, a sleeper slowly emerging as a superpower that will one day challenge America and Great Britian for the role of global power.

Until then, America and Britain continue to work in tandem, promoting their brand of democracy and capitalism. The special relationship continues. But when their day in the sun concludes, it will be a different world than today. And those who seek their demise may find themselves wishing for a return to the time when the Union Jack and Stars and Stripes flew together over the world. WNP