US, Iran, Israel, Hamas
End-Time Crises

As End Time drama continues to unfold, a pseudo apocalyptic Messianic scenario involving Iran, Israel and the US has moved to center stage. According to the London Times, Iran’s new president, Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is no ordinary Islamic firebrand, mouthing threats for Israel—to “be wiped off the map”—and veiled threats to the US if it attempts to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear arsenal.

What makes Mr. Ahmadinejad’s Islamic piety so ominous is his devotion to the Hidden Imam or Mahdi, the Messianic-like figure of Shi’a Islam. Mr. Ahmadinejad believes that his government must prepare Iran for the Mahdi’s return. The Mahdi is believed to have gone into “occlusion” in the ninth century at the age of five. His return is to be preceded by cosmic chaos, war and bloodshed. After a cataclysmic confrontation with evil and darkness, the Mahdi will lead the world into an era of universal peace. Mr. Ahmadinejad believes the return of the Mahdi will come within the next two years, and he will rule for seven years.

Many worry that Iran’s president actually relishes a clash with the West in the conviction that it would rekindle the spirit of the Islamic revolution and speed up the arrival of the Hidden Imam.

“The Weak Say I am Strong.”

Joel 3:10, “Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong,” is being fulfilled by an apocalyptic Iran intimidating the Western world. There is no bigotry like religious bigotry, and no fanaticism like religious fanaticism. What makes the time element of this scenario so imminently threatening is that Iran, by the middle of March, will have produced enough enriched uranium to manufacture a nuclear arsenal. Of course Iran claims her nuclear program is only for electrical energy. However, Iran already has the missiles to deliver nuclear warheads.

The permanent members of the Security Council, US, England, France, Russia and China, have agreed to haul Iran before their powerful body to settle the disputed nuclear program. UN sanctions took seven years before Libya’s Khadafi surrendered his nuclear program. Russia and China, close allies and trading partners of Iran, could purposely delay or veto UN sanctions against Iran. China is the number one oil and gas importer from Iran. The two countries are bound by energy deals reaching a total value of $120 billion and growing. While the US and EU are forging diplomatic strategy to halt Iran’s nuclear program, China signed its largest energy deal yet with Iran and promised to block any veto attempts by the UN.

If UN sanctions fail, the US has threatened to bomb Iran’s nuclear site. Also Israel has its own plans. IDF pilots have completed their training for Israeli attacks on Iran, the British Sunday Times reported. The article stated that Israel’s elite 69th Squadron of F-15Is have been equipped with weapons that will be tested in combat for the first time and two missile submarines are on standby, one in the Persian Gulf and the second in the Haifa Bay. The Times also stated that IDF ground forces would be flown by helicopter into Iran to take out targets that could not be destroyed by air strikes. Iran’s nuclear facilities are reportedly dispersed at some forty underground sites throughout Iran. A former IDF chief of staff has stated that Israel can handle this mission.

Now the apocalyptic Messianic response. The commander in chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said, “If we come under military attack, we will respond with our very effective missile defense.” Military experts say Iran’s Shahab-3 missiles have a range of about 1,250 miles, implying Israel, US bases in Iraq, and foreign troops in Iraq lie within striking distance. An Iranian leader said, “If you think its bad now in Iraq, imagine 6,000 Iranian revolutionary guards and intelligence agents joining the insurgency.”

Western diplomatic sources said that Iran recently completed its largest military exercise in years. The military conducted an air and sea exercise designed to test capabilities to strike US and Arab targets throughout the Persian Gulf. “This exercise was meant to show the West that Iran could stop all oil shipments to the Gulf and destroy numerous oil facilities in Arab countries that the US and Western powers are dependent on.”

Will President Ahmadinejad pursue his Islamic Messiah quest at any cost? Only time will tell.

End Time Prophecies Heating Up in Israel.

While Iran attempts to play out Islamic apocalyptic Messianism, a biblical apocalyptic scenario is unfolding in Israel. We are living in the End Time and Israel is a major focal point of End Time prophecy. The new Israeli State is a miracle of history prophesied in our Bible.

The return of the Jewish people to their ancient homeland (Jer. 16:14,15; 30:10); its reclamation of wasteland to grow incredible bounties of fruit and vegetables (Amos 9:14); climatic changes (Zech. 8:11,12; Joel 2:21-23); and the capture of biblical Jerusalem (Zech. 12:2,5) were prophesied. Israel’s boundaries, which include the Golan Heights, Gaza and the West Bank, were foretold (Gen. 15:18-21; Mic. 7:14; Zeph. 2:7; Zech. 10:9,10).

Beginning about 1878 returning Jews engineered a network of cities, produced unparalleled agriculture and created valuable industries, interconnected by highways and exporting facilities--unheard of and undreamt of in the surrounding Arab countries. Arabs by the tens of thousands poured into the Land of Israel to tap into this newly developing vibrant economic enterprise until 1948, the year Israel by UN decree declared itself an independent state. Even President Roosevelt in the 1940s observed that the massive influx of Arabs was stimulated by the economic benefits of the dynamic Jewish enterprise.

Of course the new Israeli State, like most nations, enforced strict immigration laws for all but the Jews. Remember, the Arab nations banned Jews from immigrating and living in their Arab lands. Some, like Saudi Arabia, even refuse to let Jews visit. During Israel’s War of Independence when the armies of six Arab nations marched against Israel threatening “to push the Jews into the sea,” the majority of Arabs in Israel fled mainly to Jordan and Egypt.

The Arab nations of Jordan and Egypt captured the so-called “West Bank” and Gaza respectively in the 1948 war. They herded the refugees in squalid camps in the “West Bank” and Gaza. With a higher birth rate than any people in the world, their population grew rapidly. In the 1967 war when Israel rightly acquired their ancient territories of Samaria and Judea (“West Bank” and Gaza), they also inherited the Arabs who had chosen to leave Israel in the 1948 war and were now living in the Refugee Camps established by Jordan and Egypt.

Israel provided their newly acquired Arab wards with conveniences, utilities, health care, and university education unheard of under the Jordanian and Egyptian administrations. Under Jordan and Egypt, unemployment had reached 83% in some areas. Israel permitted the Arab Refugees to come into Israel proper to work. Unemployment decreased to 1% in 1985. But rumblings were increasingly heard since the early 1970s.

The agents of Arafat sowed the seeds of revolt, especially among the youth in Gaza and the “West Bank.” Finally a majority agreed to rally under the banner of a Palestinian identity instead of an Arab identity. Using the weapon of terrorism, Arafat demanded all the land of Israel for a Palestinian State. Then for tactical reasons, the territorial demands seemingly shrunk to only a Palestinian State on the “West Bank” and Gaza. Yet in Arafat’s speeches to his people, he still promised all the land of Israel for a Palestinian State.

Why do the US and nations of Europe demand a Palestinian State in the “West Bank” and Gaza? It’s very simple. Without Arab oil the US and Europe would quickly bankrupt. If they do not demand a Palestinian State from Israel, their Arab oil will be cut off. Therefore, the US and Europe back two states, Palestinian and Jewish, in the one land Israel.

In 1989 an Islamic fundamentalist party named Hamas began to wage an unprecedented war of terror. They demanded a Palestinian State in all of the land of Israel. With the death of Arafat, Hamas grew in popularity among Palestinians. In a recent election of the so-called Palestinian people, Hamas overwhelmingly defeated the PLO. At this writing, Israel refuses to negotiate peace with Hamas unless it stops terrorism and recognizes Israel’s right to exist as a state. The US and Europe refuse to donate millions of dollars to the Palestinian Authority until Hamas renounces terrorism and recognizes Israel’s right as a nation.

Hamas will resolve this problem and move on with the big picture. The big picture is that the Palestinians won the war of terrorism. Consequently, the candidates of the three major parties running in Israel’s next election in March are for the first time committed to a Palestinian State in Gaza and most of the “West Bank.” Yes, this is sad. But what man proposes, God disposes. Probably at some point terrorism waged against the then truncated Israel will erupt into a war with other Arab nations.

However it plays out, the Bible indicates there will be a future Arab-Israeli war before the tribulation is completed. Israel will regain Gaza, all of the “West Bank” and all of Golan Heights. In addition, Israel will acquire at least the western part of Jordan, the southern part of Lebanon, and perhaps part of Syria. Closely related time-wise to this war will begin a massive immigration of Jews from the US, Europe and the former Soviet Republic that will solve the demographic problem of the Jewish State once and for all.