ARE IRAN’S ACTIONS SETTING THE GROUNDWORK FOR THE FULFILLMENT OF BIBLICAL ARMAGEDDON?
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 3:11pm by Rob Kerby – The Blaze
Should
we be worried that Iran is about to tip the entire world into World
War III? Are some folks reading far too much into all of today’s
saber-rattling? Are they drawing wild conclusions from popular
interpretations of Bible prophecy flying around the Internet? Or
is history’s final battle just around the corner?
Many
Christians grew up hearing that the Bible foretells of one final war
between Israel and many of the nations of the world. Popular
interpretations of Old Testament prophecies leave little doubt that
Israel – as “God’s
chosen people”
– will win.
For
example, Isaiah
17
tells
of a war that results in the capital of today’s revolt-torn Syria,
Damascus, the world’s oldest continually inhabited city,ceasing
to exist and becoming a “ruinous heap.” So,
is this the beginning of the end?
A
number of Internet commentators have also thought it relevant to
report odd reports in the news of strange,
trumpet-like noises heard around the world, citing
such scriptures such as Ezekiel
7:14: “They
have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to the
battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.”
They
cite a number of such
trumpet reports on YouTube, that
do-it-yourself video website where anybody with a video camera can
post their homemade news report, movie or a video of their baby
dancing with their cat.
They
also pass along Bible prophecy tidbits, such as a 2009
report by Campbell Robertson in the New
York Times: “The
Euphrates is drying up. Strangled by the water policies of Iraq’s
neighbors, Turkey and Syria, a two-year drought and years of misuse
by Iraq and its farmers, the river is significantly smaller than it
was just a few years ago.”
Even
the Times acknowledged
the biblical relevance, calling the river “so crucial to the birth
of civilization that the Book of Revelation prophesied its drying up
as a sign of the end times.” Indeed,Revelations
16:12-14 foretells:
“And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river
Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the
kings of the east might be prepared to gather them to the battle of
that great day of God Almighty.”
But
does a lack of water in Iraq’s main waterway mean Armageddon is on
the horizon? And do the much-cited Bible prophecies foretell
a nuclear
Iran wiping Isreal off of the map?
For that matter, is the Islamic Republic of Iran even mentioned
anywhere in, say, Isaiah 17, Psalm 83 or Zechariah 12?
The
prophet Daniel describes Persia as having a major role in world
events. Iranians will tell you they are modern-day Persia. But
there’s no Persia in such key end-of-times prophecies as Psalms
83:8, which tells us that “even Assyria has joined them; they lend
support to the sons of Lot.” Assyria? It ceased to be a world power
about 2,500 years ago. But, get out your atlas of the ancient world
and you’ll see that it included parts of Iran.
Psalm
83 predicts defeat for those who will attack Israel, particularly
those intending to “wipe her off the map.” Iran’s
president, Mahmoud
Amadinijad has repeatedly made that specific promise. In
fact, he has repeatedly
lectured the General Assembly of
the United Nations during his annual addresses to that body, telling
them that the Shi’ite messiah, the “Hidden Imam” is about to
return to Earth to establish worldwide Islam – but cannot return
until Iran has eliminated Israel.
In
the Bible, the prophet Jeremiah doesn’t specifically mention Iran
or Persia in his visions of the end. However, he does mention Elam –
an ancient power which included Iranian territory. Jeremiah
49:34-39 says
Elam will experience devastation and the scattering of her population
to many other nations as a result of the same attack that devastates
Damascus.
Could
there actually be such a war? Is Damascus at risk?
Throughout
the Cold War, a policy of “Mutual Assured Destruction” kept NATO
and the USSR from going at each other with nuclear weapons. It was
well understood that automatic systems and official policies were in
place that would trigger a massive response– even if the attacked
nation was in ashes. Had the Soviets wiped out U.S. leadership and
command, the consequences would have been submarine-launched total
devastation of Russia.
So
why should Iran expect anything less? A senior official in Iran’s
Revolutionary Guard a few days ago told a Tehran newspaper that the
United States is within reach of Iranian attack. If the U.S. hits key
targets in Iran to halt its nuclear weapons program, “we
will have a crushing response,” said Massoud Jazayeri, quoted
by Reuters, the British news agency. “We will not only act in the
boundaries of the Middle East and the Persian Gulf; no place in
America will be safe from our attacks.”
Surely
he knows that the U.S. response to an Iranian attack – particularly
a nuclear strike – would be cataclysmic. If Iran somehow managed to
nuke Washington, D.C., no Russian or Chinese veto in the United
Nations could prevent Tehran and every other major Iranian city from
becoming smoking, radioactive ruins two or three times over. Mutual
assured destruction has been U.S. policy for 50 years and even the
most peace-minded leadership in the White House would have an
impossible time tempering a response to a nuclear Pearl Harbor.
But
Iran has indicated that they don’t fear such a fate.
“Are
Iran’s Leaders, Well…Crazy?”
ask Kimo Quaintance and Bernd Kaussler on The
Diplomat magazine’s website. “The most vocal
supporters of preventative military strikes against Iran’s nuclear
weapons program claim that Iran is developing nukes to use them,
rather than to deter the United States and its allies from invasion.
“This
inversion of the Cold War theory of nuclear deterrence assumes that
Iran doesn’t have the capacity for rational choice. After all, as
the argument goes, if the Iranians are crazy, then the certainty of
national suicide won’t stop them from seizing the opportunity to
unleash their new nuclear weapons on Israel.
“A
state that believes the end of the world is coming (never mind
thinking it has the special responsibility to usher in Armageddon)
can’t be considered likely to weigh costs and benefits in any
rational, self-preserving way.”
Or
perhaps does Iran disbelieve the U.S. would retaliate? Just days ago,
not 24 hours after Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned the United States that
any pre-emptive strike against Iran by the U.S. or Israel would
violate international law, Moscow put muscle into his warning. On
April 3, the Russian guided missile destroyer Smetliviy and
its support group arrived in the Syrian port of Tartus from its Black
Sea base for a naval exercise.
Just
the day before, the Israeli news analysis website DEBKAfile
reported that Russia and Iran are set to counter any U.S. Israeli
strike against Iran.
Lavrov’s comments, made during a visit to Armenia, stopped short of
threatening any consequences.
“But,”
reported Reuters, “they backed up and were in tune with the
explicit threat from Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
of strong Iranian resistance to foreign intervention in Syria and a
vow to defend Damascus as the ‘center of resistance against
Israel.’”
So,
does Iran think Russia would protect them?
All
this comes as Saudi Arabia and Qatar have established an
international fund to pay a regular wage to rebel fighters in the
Syrian Free Army, which is trying to depose the current pro-Iranian
regime in Damascus. Meanwhile, Reuters reported that the U.S., Israel
and Greece have engaged in a “shadowy air-naval exercise” in the
Mediterranean codenamed “Noble Dina.”
“It
appears to range across a broad sweep of sea up to Crete and
including the waters off Turkey, Cyprus, and Israel Navy bases in
Haifa and Ashdod ports,” reported the British news agency. The
American, Israeli and Greek fleets are reportedly led by the USS
Enterprise strike
force and supported by a British Royal Navy flotilla.
So,
are we dancing around the edge of the abyss? Is Armageddon around the
corner? Internet prophecy enthusiasts are certain of it. They cite
Luke 21:20, which tells us “And when ye shall see Jerusalem
compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is
nigh.”
How
about the repeated warnings from Russian and China that the U.S.
should not intervene in the Syrian civil war? Or reports that the
U.S., France, Great Britain, Turkey and Italy are planning to
implement an aerial blockade of Damascus without United Nations
backing?
Turkey?
Why would anybody give any thought to Turkey? Historians would remind
that Turkey was the Ottoman Empire that defeated the Crusaders and
for almost 1,000 years held onto Palestine until those same former
crusaders won World War I? Turkey also ruled Syria during that time
period. And Iraq. And Iran.
Some
who enjoy end-of-the-world debate would say that the United States is
not mentioned in Bible prophesy. Others respond that a great “he
goat” from the West will retaliate against the Medians (modern
Syria) and Persia (today’s Iran) in the final battles. Daniel 8:5-6
foretells: “And as I was considering, behold, a he-goat came from
the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground:
and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. And he came to the
ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river,
and ran unto him in the fury of his power.”
What
will be the result of such super-powers butting heads? Prophecy
enthusiasts cite Isaiah 17:1, which tells us that “Behold, Damascus
is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap”
and Isaiah 17:3, which predicts victory for Israel: “The fortress
also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the
remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of
Israel, saith the Lord of hosts.”
Isaiah
17:7 goes on to say, “At that day shall a man look to his Maker,
and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.
Without
a doubt, whether you believe in Bible prophecy or not, today the
Middle East is the most keenly watched area of the world. And little
wonder – it is central to the economic stability of the world.
Conflicts in the Middle East inevitably draw in the major powers. As
a result, for many years it has been the most likely place for World
War III to begin.
Why
do the superpowers care about the Middle East? The same kinds of
conflict in Indonesia’s East Timor or South America’s Andes or
between nations along Africa’s Great Rift seldom drag in the
super-powers or prompt worries about Armageddon.
What
is it about the Middle East that holds our attention? An easy answer
is: Oil. The
world’s economies are dependent upon Middle Eastern petroleum.
After the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Arabs used the oil weapon to
devastating effect. Western economies were severely disrupted. The
developed nations suffered crippling burdens of inflation, recession,
debt and unemployment.
So,
what’s next? The battle of Armageddon is described in part in
Ezekiel 38: the prophet foresees a massive confederacy of nations
invading Israel. The leader of the confederacy is called Gog of the
land of Magog. Many Bible students have expected Russia to fulfill
the role of Gog. Magog was an ancient name for the land of the
Scythians in the southern part of what is now Russia. This invader
unites other enemies against Israel.
Israel
is referred to in Ezekiel 38:8 as: “The land that is brought back
from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the
mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought
forth out of the nations.”
Ezekiel
38:5 adds that in league with Gog (Russia) will be “Persia (Iran),
Ethiopia, and Libya.” Impoverished Ethiopia? A player in the final
battle? In the Old Testament, “Ethiopia” often refers to the Nile
valley south of Egypt, including Nubia (today’s Sudan and the new
nation of South Sudan) and Abyssinia (today’s Ethiopia and
Somalia). Ethiopia in Bible times was an influential country – home
of the legendary Queen of Sheba.
Today,
the former Ethiopian province of Somalia is frequently in the news as
a collapsed state with no government. Its anarchy has spawned
ruthless pirates stalking the busy shipping lanes in and out of the
oil-rich Persian Gulf, constantly taking ships and crews hostage –
and holding them for multi-million-dollar ransoms. And Sudan has been
the site of a horrific genocide – as the Arab north has attempted
ethnic cleansing of the predominantly black population of the
oil-rich south — with the West and China squaring off, hoping to be
the recipients of that oil.
What
about Libya? This oil-rich nation for years financed worldwide
terrorism and was responsible for one of the worst mass-murders of
civilians, the bombing of a PanAm 747 airliner over Lockerbie,
Scotland.
Jeremiah
3:17 foretells that all these enemies of Israel “shall call
Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be
gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem.” Indeed,
Jerusalem is at the meeting point of three continents. Ezekiel 5:5
says: “Thus saith the Lord God; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in
the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.”
Ancient
cartographers, taking this passage literally, placed Jerusalem at the
center of their maps, an example of which is the famous Mappa Mundi
in England’s Hereford Cathedral.
As
the Daily
Telegraph newspaper
commented, ”It
is interesting to note, in the affairs of the proposed sale of
Hereford Cathedral’s Mappa Mundi, all those superior smiles at the
childish medieval way it shows Jerusalem at the center of the world.
But Jerusalem is the center of the world. We may be overwhelmingly
reminded of this in due course – and sooner than we may think.”
Article
courtesy of Beliefnet.com,
the distinct online resource for inspiration and spirituality where
you’ll find thousands of inspiring features, uplifting stories and
access to other great resources.
[I post this for information only. It is a reflection of some Christian thinking and food for thought. We know one thing for sure, God's Word will be fulfilled exactly as it is written.]
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