Is the Collapse of Main Street a Prophetic Sign?

I don't leave my house much anymore. After getting stabbed investigating a child trafficking operation out west a few years back, I developed severe PTSD and became something of a hermit. But every now and then, I need to brave the world outside.

Today I bundled up and zipped down to the local Dollar General on my e-scooter. The harsh fluorescent lights and chemical smell hit me as soon as I walked in. It's the same in every small town - the family-owned hardware store, the diner, the pharmacy... all being fed into the corporate machine. Main Street is dying, and in its place rises the grey and lifeless Dollar General.

Is this the decline of America's soul, unfolding in real-time before our eyes? A prophecy come to life?

The biblical warning signs are as clear as the flashing neon of those discount store signs. From Amos to Revelation, Scripture is filled with visions of a coming age defined by the voracious consumption of human souls by the great beast of unchecked greed and materialism.

"The merchant uses dishonest scales and loves to defraud," the prophet Hosea thundered. "Ephraim boasts, 'I am very rich; I have become wealthy. With all my wealth they will not find in me any iniquity or sin.'" (Hosea 12:7-8)

That could be the mission statement of Dollar General. Discount the value of community. Extinguish the flame of the entrepreneurial spirit. Reduce the infinite worth of the human person to a barcode and a price tag.

As I stood there in the sterile aisles, clutching my purchased necessities, I couldn't shake the growing sense that I was witnessing the death of something sacred. The loss of a way of life. The unraveling of the social fabric, right before my eyes.

Unless we heed the warnings of Scripture and take action, the soul of our nation may be past the point of no return. From the crumbling downtowns to the rise of the corporate oligarchy, the prophetic timeline is unfolding with unsettling precision. The only question is - will we have the courage to stand and fight?