2 Nephi 20

2 Nephi 20:5-6 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger...I will send him against a hypocritical nation.  We already know that the Lord has a history of using what might be considered wicked nations to punish what are supposed to be his righteous/covenant nations.  So which nations does he use today and does the United States qualify as one of his covenant nations?  This land is supposed to be choice above all other lands, free from kings, and a place of freedom as long as the inhabitants of the land worship Jesus Christ, but does that mean that we are also eligible for being scourged by wicked nations when we forget Christ?  And what is the danger inherent in winning against those wicked nations on our own terms and by our own might rather than looking to the Lord and repenting?  King Noah's people drove back the Lamanites and celebrated their own might only to be brought into bondage a couple of years later.

20:12 Wherefore it shall come to pass that when the Lord hat performed his whole work upon Mount Zion and upon Jerusalem (that is, after the Lord will have allowed Assyria to destroy Jerusalem), I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks for he saith: By the strength of my hand and by my wisdom I have done these things. Wow.  poor guy.  He gets used and then punished for not recognizing that he is being used.  Still, he was a wicked fellow, but oddly, it's not saying that he will be punished for being wicked, but that he is being punished for thinking that by his own strength he had been able to overcome the Lord's covenant people.  But what non-believer anywhere would think, "A god I don't believe in is going to help me whup up on the people who do believe in him"? It seems like that may be a somewhat unreasonable expectation.