Prophecy unfolds...

By Mark Malaszczyk

"After many days you will be mustered; in the latter years you will go against the land that is restored from war, the land where people were gathered from many nations upon the mountains of Israel [Judea and Samaria ~Westbank]." — Ezekiel 38:8

"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. The Palestinian people know better than to consent to having their future, rights and fate toyed with." — Article Thirteen of the Hamas Charter

"A Palestinian unity government will not be established if it obligates Hamas to recognize Israel," said a Hamas official. — Ahmed Yousef, September 22, 2006

World War III is unfolding before our very eyes. It is not evangelical extremism that leads one to the Book of Ezekiel of the Old Testament in searching for answers to the current Middle Eastern crises. It is an eerie correlation between the Torah and these most recent developments. Ahmed Yousef, political advisor to the Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh , stated that "instead of recognizing Israel, Hamas was prepared to agree to a long-term truce for five or ten years, until the occupation withdraws." [1] The Bible refers to a seven-year peace with Israel and its neighbors that will be broken after three and one-half years by an individual that many theologians argue represents the Anti-Christ. [Daniel 9:27] My purpose here is not to generate a 'Last Days' Sermon; the goal is to offer a thought that knowledge of Scripture is very useful to understanding the current dynamics of the Middle East.

Many in the West generally view the Middle East as rapidly changing and utterly unpredictable. Simply stated, it is all too complex to comprehend. In fact, much of what is currently happening is forecast through the word of God as communicated in the Bible, dating back to days of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael. As per the Book of Genesis:

And Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before You!" But God said, "No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year." [2]

"Muslims believe the Jews changed and distorted the Bible in order to establish themselves as the heirs of Abraham's Covenant blessings [over Ishmael and his line]. However, they fail to explain how the New Testament clearly teaches that the Covenant was made with Isaac and his descendants. Jealousy and resentment has created an unparalleled hate which has set off wars and atrocities for four thousand years. It was the title deed to the land of Israel, which God promised to Abraham's lineage that has been the source of the friction between the Jews and the Arabs right up to the present day." [3]

While it may appear on the surface to be a Palestinian, Syrian, and/or Lebanese marriage between Hamas and Hezbollah that generates the main transnational terrorist threat to Israel and the West, all signs both diplomatically and theologically point to the lands of ancient Persia. Iran is at the heart of the problem. As Ross Mackenzie has pointed out:

Iran is the principal culprit. It detests the West — notably as represented in Israel and the United States. Iran funds Hamas and, through Syria, makes Hezbollah possible. The raison d'etre of both Hamas and Hezbollah is to destroy both Israel and the U.S.

Islamofascist Hezbollah began building its power base in Lebanon with the 1976 Syrian incursion into Lebanon — where Syrian expeditionary forces remained until last year. (Israel went into southern Lebanon in 1982 and remained until 2000.) Syrian and Hezbollah influence in Lebanon runs high. Hezbollah controls 20 percent of the seats in the Lebanese parliament and three cabinet posts. Syria, even without its troops, wields extensive political power — and Syria's Assad regime probably arranged or carried out the assassination of pro-Western Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Prior to 9/11, Hezbollah caused the death of more Americans than any other terror group. Now al-Qaida holds that enviable distinction. Hamas and its sister goon groups have targeted and killed more Israelis than any other. All — Hezbollah, al-Qaida, Hamas, et al. — are of the same malign ilk. To begin what may be Armageddon, Hezbollah launched at or into Israel (1) Russian-made Katyusha rockets (oddly, Russia does not define Hezbollah as a terrorist entity), (2) Iranian C-802 missiles and (3) missiles of Syrian manufacture.

Referencing Ayatollah Khamenei of Iran, Hezbollah has boasted enlisting 2,000 to commit terror in "every corner of the world to jeopardize Israel and America's interests. We are only waiting for the supreme leader's green light to take action. If America wants to ignite World War III, we welcome it." [4]

The entire world heard the president of Iran recently call into question the accuracy of the Nazi Holocaust and clearly state that "God willing, with the force of God behind it, we shall soon experience a world without the United States and Zionism." [5] It needs to be noted that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not a madman; he is not mentally imbalanced. He is being shrewd, calculating and very sequential in his choice of words and actions. According to Slater Bakhtavar, Ahmadinejad's approach is rooted in the Shi'te messianic belief of a strange, numinous twelfth imam who went into seclusion over a thousand years ago. Bakhvatar explains:

The Hidden Imam is a central concept in the teachings of Shi'te Islam. Born Muhammad al-Mahdi he ventured into a cave in 941 AD hidden by a gate called the Gate of Occultation. The doctrine of Occultation professes Allah aided the cloaking of the Imam away from the eyes of man so that he could be kept alive until his return. Shi'tes believe that the Twelfth Imam will return to lead the religious battle between good and evil when the world has become consummately nefarious.

According to Shi'te orthodoxy humans may not force or hasten the return of the Imam, but the Hojjateiehs a group of which Ahmadinejad is a member, opine that humans may stir up chaos to encourage his return. With his recent rhetoric vowing for the destruction of Israel, demanding deportation of the Jews to Europe and denying the Holocaust that the President seems to be doing just that. In fact, his messianic axiom of the Twelfth Imam and the subsequent suppression of the forces of evil [modern day US, UK, Israel and many other nations] is central to Ahmadinejad's foreign policy. The Iranian government's official policy has undercut efforts of the international community by rejecting a United Nations deadline to suspend Iran's nuclear program, threatening to quit the Non-Proliferation Treaty and vying that "nothing can stop Iran's path to nuclear technology." In anticipation of a stand off with the West Iran recently clinched agreements with eight different Middle East insurgency groups to carry out suicide attacks against Israeli, British and US interests across the world. Ironically this plan is called 'Judgment Day.'

During a private meeting with an Iranian cleric in November Ahmadinejad claimed that while giving a speech before the United Nations he felt "the atmosphere change and for 27 to 28 minutes the leaders did not blink" "they were astonished.. it had opened their eyes and ears to the Islamic Republic." He further said that he felt the hand of God upon him as he delivered his omniscient speech. In his egocentric fantasy world the Iranian President likely sees himself as a deputy of the Imam with a divine mission to encourage his arrival. His references to the Imam in conjunction with threats to wipe countries off the face of earth should be taken seriously. Foreign policy experts should examine the Islamic Republic from both a political and religious perspective. To the clerical regime the return of the Imam is not a mere possibility, but a surety. Their attitude towards the international community seems to point at their preparation for that day.

International concerns aside, there are domestic reasons for the regimes erratic behavior. After 27 years of executions, floggings, stoning, oppression of political dissent, violation of women's rights, oppression of religious minorities, the largest brain drain in the world, rampant prostitution, crime, drug use and mass unemployment the Islamic Republic is domestically quite loathed. In fact, recent student polls show that close to eighty five percent of the population supports fundamental democratic changes in the regime. Iranian students have consistently poured into the streets in pro-Democracy protests only to be violently suppressed, jailed, tortured and often murdered. But, dictatorships can only oppress for so long and it's only a matter of time before Iran explodes in a pro-Western democratic revolution. The regime knows that the only way they can leave any kind of legacy is by invoking nationalistic pride by pushing the country into another war and unlike the Iran-Iraq war this time they're paving the way for the return of the Twelfth Imam.

From challenging the world to enhancing Iran's nuclear programs every issue is implemented for the arrival of Mahdi. The Islamic Republic is not vying for war because they're too arrogant to understand they will be crushed. They're vying for war because they believe Mahdi will return to help them defeat the United States and others who dare stand up to them .[6]

Prophecy is driving those who wish to crush the freedom-loving peoples of the western world, and is has become increasingly important that an over-secularized, post-modernist West return to Scripture to understand the true threat level unfolding before our very eyes. Could Ahmadiniejad be the 'king of the South' in the Book of Daniel? It is too soon to tell, and it might be too bold of a theological stretch to make at this juncture. But it is not unreasonable to offer the idea that "after 1,900 years, the restoration of a Jewish homeland in the Middle East was necessary to fulfill ancient prophecies [one] can find in the Bible. This region, once a "political backwater" of little or no interest to the Western powers, is destined to become the center of the final global crisis that will usher in cataclysmic events leading humanity to the brink of extinction — and ultimately change our world forever." [7]

With this is mind, what should America's next moves be? This author agrees with Mr. Mackenzie when he concludes that the United States should:

(a) Resist joining the jackal pack demanding Israel's hide. Israel has no choice — never has had any other choice — but to retaliate 100-fold against invasion or heinous provocation. It is dealing with Hamas in Gaza; it needs time to deal with Hezbollah in Lebanon — to destroy Hezbollah's infrastructure, bases and missile caches. Israel cannot afford to remain long in Lebanon. But it should remain certainly long enough to cripple Hezbollah and to establish a larger security area in southern Lebanon to protect northern Israel from further Lebanese-based missile attack.

And

(b) Go to the nexus of the terror web — the mother lode — and demolish Iran's advancing nuclear capability. Now. Luminaries and deep-thinkers [called] for a ceasefire (notably on the part of Israel). But, asks U.N. Ambassador John Bolton: "How do you get a ceasefire with a terrorist organization?" Good question. You get it by going to its sources — of money, training and malignant thinking. If Iran is the principal source, the principal culprit, then Iran ought to be our principal target. [8]

If we are committed to winning the War on Terror, then we must go for the main artery of the beast, not the peripheral extremities. Furthermore, the United States must remain loyal to Israel. It is the only true democratic state in the Middle East, and a priceless ally for our long-term interests in the region. It makes sense politically, militarily, and diplomatically to support Israel and to destroy the growing threat in Teheran. Let us remember the failure of Munich; we have an Islamofascist on the rise in Ahmadinejad. There is nothing that can appease his desire to fulfill the prophecy of al-Mahdi. The American response must be rooted in the Book of Genesis: I shall bless those who bless thee and curse those who curse thee and the races of the whole world will be blest in thee. One need not be an evangelical to understand the significance of this phrase, and the moral obligation of the United States to stand up to evil.

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© Mark Malaszczyk