How long will God allow the earth and its inhabitants to destroy themselves before He intervenes?

The Bible has proven to be absolutely dependable. Therefore we can trust it as the source of reliable information about the meaning of the events of our day and what those events tell us about our hope for the future as we look forward to the return of Christ.
The Lord Jesus himself spoke of the wisdom of discerning the signs of the times and of taking appropriate action as we weight for his return. See Matthew Ch. 24 and Mark Ch. 13

Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” Matthew 24:3

Why is a fledgling country [Israel] with a population of slightly more than seven million and a total land space hardly larger than New Jersey mentioned in the nightly news more than any other nation except the United States and why is Israel important in prophecy?

For answers we must turn not to the evening news or the front page of the newspaper, but to the Bible.

Israel’s story begins with God’s sovereign purpose revealed in the first book of the Bible, Genesis. Apparently God finds Abraham and his descendants to be of enormous importance. The very proportion of the coverage tells us something about the importance of Israel. Only two chapters are given to the whole story of creation. One chapter records the fall of man. Eight chapters cover the thousands of years from creation to the time of Abraham. Then we find that fully thirty-eight chapters deal with the life stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the progenitors of the Jewish race.

Israel is important because the fulfillment of God’s covenant with its founder Abraham greatly affects every one of us. The playing out of prophetic events concerning Israel places us in the last days of history’s timeline. The miraculous survival of God’s covenant people, the Jews, demonstrates God’s providence and His ability to accomplish His purpose in the face of what seems to human minds impossible odds. The existence of Israel today is exhibit A in the lineup of convincing evidences that the Bible’s prophecies concerning the future will be fulfilled. To this day, the issue of who controls Israel, the Promised Land, is the most volatile in international politics.

Do the boundaries of present-day Israel fulfill God’s promise to Israel in the Old Testament?

The land promised to Abraham covers much more area than what the present nation of Israel occupies. Genesis 15:18 tells us that it stretches all the way from the Mediterranean Sea on the west to the Euphrates River on the east. Ezekiel fixes the northern boundary of Israel at Hamath, one hundred miles north of Damascus (Ezekiel 48:1), and the southern boundary at Kadesh, about one hundred miles south of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 48:28).

Today, Israel is one-nineteenth the size of California and roughly the size of our third smallest state, New Jersey. It is 260 miles at its longest point, 60 miles at its widest, and three miles at its narrowest.

When you look at a map and locate that tiny strip of land that Israel now claims, you can see that she does not now, nor has she ever, fully occupied the land that was described to Abraham in God’s covenant promise. If Israel were currently occupying all the land promised to her, she would control present-day Israel, Lebanon, the West Bank of Jordan, and substantial portions of Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.

Will the Jews ever realize the fulfillment of God’s covenant to possess Israel as an everlasting possession?

The prophet Isaiah asserted that it would happen. He prophesied that the Lord would “set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left” (Isaiah 11:11). God also addressed the issue through Ezekiel when He said, “I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land” (Ezekiel 36:24).

The fulfillment of those prophecies was set in motion on May 14, 1948, when the U.S. recognized the new state of Israel. On the evening of that announcement, popular radio commentator Lowell Thomas said in his broadcast that Americans in every part of the country would be turning to their Bibles for historical background enabling them to understand “this day in history.” And indeed, as prophecies found in Isaiah, Ezekiel, Matthew, and Revelation show, both the Old Testament and the New Testament pointed to this day when the Jews would return to the land promised them and initiate fulfillment of the ancient prophecies.

The Israeli government established the State of Israel, thus fulfilling the twenty-five-hundred-year-old prophecy recorded in the Bible.

Is Israel’s presence in her land today the final fulfillment of God’s promise to regather His people?

The answer is no! What is happening in Israel today is primarily the result of a secular Zionist movement, whereas Ezekiel wrote about a spiritual return of God’s people to Him when he said:

For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land . . . . Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; . . . I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God (Ezekiel 36:24–28 NASB).

The return of Jews to the newly refounded nation of Israel is the first stage of that regathering, but it certainly does not fulfill the requirements of a spiritual return to the Lord.

From the moment of God’s promise to Abraham to this present hour, the prophecies concerning Israel’s total possession and blessing in the land remain unfulfilled. The most dramatic events lie ahead of us.

What events regarding Israel’s total possession of the land remain unfulfilled?

I srael has been attacked over and over since its founding, sometimes in all-out wars and incessantly by terrorists. The Jewish people have survived by remaining vigilant, but they long for peace. According to the Bible, a future leader will fulfill this longing by brokering a seven-year peace deal with Israel’s enemies. But Scripture also tells us that this peace plan will be broken, and Israel will be attacked once again, this time as never before. Countless armies will amass against the boxed-in nation, leaving it with no human hope of victory. Only Christ’s return, His judgment, and His reign will finally bring true peace to Israel.

It is then that God’s covenant with Abraham will reach its ultimate fulfillment. The Jews will return to the Lord and, as Ezekiel and Jeremiah prophesied, they will be His people and He will be their God. The borders of the land will expand to the dimensions described in Genesis 15 and Ezekiel 48. Christ’s return will also fulfill the prophecy of Jeremiah that God would gather the Jews: “Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them . . . I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. They shall be My people, and I will be their God” (Jeremiah 32:37–38).

Ezekiel makes it clear that this gathering means God will return every single living Jew back to their land. For he writes that the Lord said He would gather them again to their own land “and . . . none of them [will be] captive any longer” (Ezekiel 39:28).

Today we see this prophecy being fulfilled right before our eyes. In 2006, for the first time in nineteen hundred years, Israel became home to the largest Jewish community in the world, surpassing the Jewish population in the United States. From the 650,000 who returned when the Jewish state was founded in 1948, the population of Israel has swelled to approximately 5.4 million, and it is expected to exceed 6 million by 2020.

Does oil hold a key to the prophetic events of the future?

Oil explains why the Bible focuses its end-time attention on the Middle East, and, more than any factor other than the nation of Israel oil, holds the key to the prophetic events of the future.

Few would question the fact that oil has become the new basis for our world economy. It is now the stuff of life, the commodity most highly valued by the industrialized and emerging nations of the world, the blood that flows through their economic veins and gives life to prosperity in today’s global economy. The greatest source of that lifeblood is now in the Middle East, and so that is where the eyes of the world are focused.

What does this tell us about coming events? In Luke’s gospel, Jesus contrasts our ability to discern weather signs with our inability to understand the more important signs of the time: “You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it that you do not discern this time?” (Luke 12:56). Surely the world’s fascination with oil—a highly valuable commodity with a source in lands hostile or borderline hostile to Israel and to us—qualifies as a “sign.”

What do oil and the garden of Eden have in common?

My friend Robert Morgan flew into New Orleans several years ago, and the man who met him at the airport was a geophysicist for a major oil company. Driving to the hotel, he explained to Robert that oil deposits result from the decomposition of plant and animal life now buried by eons of time. Oil is found all over the world, he said, even under the ice of the Arctic and Antarctic. That means forests and abundant vegetation once covered the world until destroyed in a vast global cataclysm (such as a worldwide flood).

The geophysicist went on to say that the earth’s richest, deepest, and largest deposits of petroleum lie under the sands of countries just to the east of Israel in the location pinpointed in the Bible as the garden of Eden. Eden was a teeming expanse of forests, foliage, and gardens with rich fertility unparalleled in human history.

Barren sand and blazing desert now exist where once grew a garden flourishing with dense, lush flora, the likes of which the world has not seen since. It was destroyed in some disastrous upheaval and has decayed into the largest deposits of oil in the world. I had never before imagined that the gasoline I pump into my car might be the ruined remains of the rich, vast foliage of the garden of Eden.

It’s ironic to think that Satan may finance the Battle of Armageddon at the end of human history with revenues generated from the garden he spoiled at the beginning of human history.

Oil explains why the Bible focuses its end-time attention on the Middle East.

How does today’s oil situation align with prophecy?

Since there are no substantive oil deposits in Israel today, we must continue to deal with the reality of a world in which oil remains in the possession of countries hostile to us and to Israel. For example, Ezekiel foretold a time when Russia would attack Israel. In detailing how the military aggression would take place, the prophet listed a coalition of some of the nations that would join with Russia in the attack. “Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet” (Ezekiel 38:5).

Until March 21, 1935, Persia was the official name of the country we now call Iran. Not once in the past twenty-five hundred years has Russia formed a military connection with Persia/Iran—until now. But now these two nations have formed a military alliance that continues to be strengthened by the political situation in our world. Russia recently signed a billion-dollar deal to sell missiles and other weaponry to Iran. And the connection is even broader, as Joel C. Rosenberg, former aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, points out: “Over 1000 Iranian nuclear scientists have been trained in Russia by senior Russian scientists.”5 Here is an end-time alliance that was prophesied twenty-five hundred years ago, and in the last few years it has become a reality. Obviously, the stage is being set!

Oil is the new gold in the world economy and holds the key to the prophetic events of the future.

What is America’s place in end-time prophecy?

No specific mention of the United States or any other country in North or South America can be found in the Bible. One reason may be that in the grand scheme of history, the U.S. is a new kid on the block. As a nation, it is less than 250 years old—much younger than the nations of Bible times that are featured in biblical prophecy. In fact, the Bible makes no mention of most nations in the modern world. The ancient prophets were primarily concerned with the Holy Land and its immediate neighbors. Areas remote from Israel do not figure in prophecy and are not mentioned in the Bible.

John Walvoord posited one theory that suggests, “America will be in the mix of the political realignments that foreshadow the end of time through our nations of origin. Most citizens of the United States of America have come from Europe, and their sympathies would more naturally be with a European alliance. . . .” And we can see signs of such realignments taking place today.

With the usual presidential fanfare in April of 2007, President Bush welcomed European Union Commission President Jos Barroso and the serving President of the European Council, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in the Rose Garden of the White House. These three leaders signed the Framework for Advancing Transatlantic Economic Integration between the United States of America and the European Union. Less than seven months after its signing, the Transatlantic Economic Council held its first official meeting in Washington, D.C. In a joint statement it was announced, “Since April, the United States and the European Union have made substantial progress in removing barriers to trade and investment and in easing regulatory burdens.”

On the surface there seems to be nothing ominous about such an agreement; it appears to be simply about freeing up economic trade between nations. But a similar, less publicized meeting was held in March 2008 at the State Department, which focused on linking the U.S., Mexico, and Canada in a “North American community with the European Union” in anticipation of the “creation of a ‘Transatlantic Economic Union’ between the European Union and North America.” One participant—whose identity is protected by the Chatham House Rule, which permits information to be disseminated without attribution to guarantee confidentiality— made this revealing statement:

North America should be a premiere platform to establish continental institutions. That’s why we need to move the security perimeters to include the whole continent, especially as we open the borders between North American countries for expanding free trade.

Statements such as this reveal an intention toward union that has implications far beyond mere economic trade. And considering the speed at which leaders are pushing union between nations, it appears that it will not be long before we see such a union instituted.

Is the unification of Europe foretold in Scripture?

More than two thousand years ago, God gave His servant Daniel a vision of the future that we recognize as the most comprehensive prophetic insight ever given to man. Through Daniel, God gave a composite history of the remaining days of the world. The first kingdom was Babylon, which was to be followed by the Medes and Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, and the last world kingdom which would be made up from a restored Roman Empire.

According to Daniel, there is to be yet another division of the Roman Empire. He foretells a time when the Roman Empire will consist of ten kingdoms or leaders (Daniel 2:41–43; 7:7, 24). We know this ten-kingdom prophecy remains in the future because not only has the ten-leader form of the Roman Empire never existed in history, but neither has such a kingdom been suddenly crushed as prophecy indicates. Daniel 2 states that the Roman Empire in its final form will experience sudden destruction.

The Roman Empire of Jesus’ day did not end suddenly. It gradually deteriorated and declined over many centuries until the western part, the Holy Roman Empire, fell in AD 476, and the eastern part, the Byzantine Empire, fell in AD 1453. You can hardly imagine a more gradual slide from glory to oblivion! We must conclude, then, that some form of the Roman Empire must emerge in the end times, and according to Daniel, it will be in place prior to the coming of Christ to rule and reign over the earth. The unification of Europe is really the reunification of the Roman Empire. Today the concentration of power in the European Union signals the beginning of a new world order.

Will there be a one world leader?

According to Daniel’s prophecy, a supreme leader will rise from among the ten-leader confederacy in Europe: “And another shall rise after them; he shall be different from the first ones, and shall subdue three kings. He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time” (Daniel 7:24–25). This leader will become the final world dictator. We know him as the Antichrist. The new European Union is one of the conditional preludes to the coming of the Antichrist. As Arno Froese, executive director of Midnight Call Ministries, writes:

The new European power structure will fulfill the prophetic predictions which tell us that a one world system will be implemented. When established, it will fall into the hands of the Antichrist.

Will there be a treaty between the one world leader and Israel?

In the ninth chapter of Daniel’s prophecy, he tells us of a treaty that will be signed between God’s people and the world leader who will head the realigned Roman Empire: “Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering” (Daniel 9:27). Daniel tells us here that Israel will sign a treaty with the Antichrist, and that this treaty will be forged to last for a “week,” literally in prophetic language, a “week of years,” or seven years. This treaty will be an attempt to settle the Arab-Israeli controversy that today focuses the world’s attention on the Middle East. After three and one-half years, that treaty will be broken, and the countdown to Armageddon will begin.

The prophecies of Daniel show us what time it is: the hands on the prophetic clock are moving toward midnight. The warning has been sounded, and we will do well to heed it.

What is the Axis of Evil?

On January 29, 2002, in his State of the Union address, President George W. Bush used the term Axis of Evil for the first time. He identified Iran, Iraq, and North Korea as “states . . . [who are] arming to threaten the peace of the world . . . These regimes,” he said, “pose a grave threat and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred.” On May 6, 2002, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton gave a speech titled, “Beyond the Axis of Evil” in which he added three more rogue states to the axis: Libya, Syria, and Cuba. Today the term Axis of Evil includes all six states.

Why is one particular nation that is on the Axis of Evil list of special interest to us?

One nation on this Axis of Evil list is of special interest to us because we find that it is also on God’s list. That nation, Iran, and that list are found in the 38th and 39th chapters of Ezekiel. These chapters, written some twenty-six hundred years ago, give us one of the most important and dramatic prophecies in all Scripture. It is commonly referred to as the prophecy against Gog and Magog, and it is the most detailed prophecy concerning war in the entire Bible. The prophecy predicts an invasion of Israel in the last days— an invasion comprised of enormous masses of troops from a coalition of nations led by Iran and Russia.

This invasion will occur shortly after Israel signs a covenant with the new leader of the European Union. Because of this agreement, Israel will be at peace with her Islamic neighbors. The people of Israel will believe that the European powers will protect them from any outside aggressor or invader . . . especially from Russia, which will have joined forces with Iran to develop weapons for the purpose of utterly destroying Israel.

The events unfolding in today’s world are ominously threatening to unsettle institutions, reorder national political alignments, change the balance of world power, and destabilize the equitable distribution of resources.

What present-day nations will form a coalition that will march against Israel as prophesied by Ezekiel?

Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords. Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer and all its troops; the house of Togarmah from the far north and all its troops—many people are with you. Prepare yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you; and be a guard for them”’ (Ezekiel 38:1–7).

As you can see, Ezekiel’s prophecy begins with a list of proper names. Many of these names identify certain grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Noah who were the fathers of nations that for a time bore their names (see Genesis 10). These nations, which today no longer bear their original names, will ultimately form a coalition that will march against Israel. As we identify these nations by their present names and locate them on today’s world map, we can see how the stage is being set for this predicted Russian/Islamic invasion of Israel.

Gog is an exception on Ezekiel’s list. Gog is not one of the descendants of Noah listed in Genesis 10. This name, however, is found eleven times in Ezekiel 38–39. It is not the name of a nation, but rather the title of the ruler of Magog—the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal—the one who leads the invasion against Israel. In fact, Gog means “ruler” or “the man on top.” It is clear that Gog is an individual rather than a nation because God addresses him as such several times in this prophecy (Ezekiel 38:14; 39:1). Furthermore, Gog is explicitly called a prince and a ruler in Ezekiel 38:2 and 39:1.

What is the status of Russia’s joining forces with Iran and other Muslim nations?

In October 2007, during Russian president Vladimir Putin’s first-ever visit to Iran, an Iranian newspaper reported that he “reassured Iran that the Bushehr nuclear reactor, a billion dollar energy project being built by Russia and dogged by delays would be completed.” The report went on to suggest “maybe the most important result of Putin’s trip is to show the independence of Russia toward America and the West.” Putin made other first-time-ever visits of a Russian leader to the Muslim nations of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, and, most recently, Libya. By all reports, his visits were successful financially, resulting in lucrative agreements and contracts for further joint efforts in the production of oil and the exploration of natural gas reserves.

Apparently the Russian president was successful politically as well. In Libya, President Gadhafi and Putin agreed that the United Nations “needs to be reformed in order to face an ‘imbalance of forces’ internationally,” and especially “the Security Council with which we can work together to resolve problems. In other words, by working together they could remove the veto power held by the U.S. and be able to advance their mutual causes.”

As the mother bear regains her strength, she is actively seeking to draw her brood back into her den.

When will Israel be invaded?

Ezekiel does not give a specific date for the invasion, but he does give us ways to identify the time when it will occur: “After many days . . . in the latter years . . .” (Ezekiel 38:8); “On that day when My people of Israel dwell safely . . .” (v. 14); “It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against my land” (v. 16).

The prophet tells us that the invasion of Israel will take place sometime in the future “latter years”. It will happen at a time when Israel is dwelling in peace and safety and not involved in conflict with other nations.

Has there ever been such a time in Israel’s history? No, there has not. Is today such a time? No! When will there be such a time? The only period in Israel’s life that meets this requirement is the time immediately following the Rapture of the church when the Antichrist and the European Union make a treaty with Israel to guarantee her peace and security. When this treaty is signed, the people of Israel will relax the diligence they have been forced to maintain since the founding of their nation in 1948. They will rely on the treaty and turn their attention away from defense to concentrate on increasing their wealth. Israel will truly be a land of unwalled villages. Her defenses will be down, and she will be woefully unprepared for the invasion by the armies of Russia and the coalition.

The nation of Israel is a democratic republic surrounded by twenty-two hostile Arab/ Islamic dictatorships that are 640 times her size and 60 times her population.

What is the purpose of the invasion of Israel?

There are three primary goals for the future invasion of Israel. The first goal will be to seize her land. As Ezekiel puts it, “to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited” (Ezekiel 38:12). The second goal of the invaders will be to steal Israel’s wealth: “to take plunder and to take booty, to stretch out your hand . . . against a people gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land . . . to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder” (vv. 12–13).

And there is plenty of wealth to be plundered in modern Israel, as we can see by the following quote from a recent article in the Jerusalem Post: “Despite a population of only slightly more than 7 million people . . . Israel is now home to more than 7,200 millionaires. . . . Of the 500 wealthiest people in the world, six are now Israeli, and all told, Israel’s rich had assets in 2007 of more than $35 billion. . . . Israel’s GDP is almost double that of any other Middle East country.”

According to one “prosperity index,” Israel exported goods and services of more than $70 billion in 2008 including $34.2 billion from the technology sector alone. “Israel is the highest-ranking Middle Eastern country in the index.”

Finally, the invading nations have as their ultimate goal the wholesale slaughter of Israel’s people: “I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates . . . to stretch out your hand . . . against a people gathered from the nations . . . You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land.” (Ezekiel 38:11, 12, 16). The accumulated historical hatred for the Jews will drive these armies forward with the assurance that, this time, the people of Israel will not escape death.

What is God’s purpose in the war and destruction described in Ezekiel’s prophecy?

To understand what is going on in the war and destruction described in Ezekiel’s prophecy, we must first consider the sovereignty of God’s plan. Even in the most devastating of times, God is still in control. In fact, He often orchestrates events to bring about His purposes. He tells us what He will do to Israel’s enemies in no uncertain terms: “I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen” (Ezekiel 38:4); “It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land.” (v. 16); “I will turn you around and lead you on, bringing you up from the far north, and bring you against the mountains of Israel” (Ezekiel 39:2).

The Old Testament, especially, is intended to show that God is the sovereign ruler over all. Even though men try to thwart His plan and wreak great destruction, God’s purpose will always win out. When Ezekiel says that God will bring the enemy against His land, he is simply saying that God will bring these nations to the doom which their wickedness inevitably demands. Everyone accomplishes God’s will in the end. Those who conform to His will accomplish it willingly; those who do not conform accomplish it inadvertently as an unwitting tool in His hands.

God’s purpose in the cataclysmic battle of the last days is very clear and very simple. God intends for people to recognize Him as the Lord God of heaven whose name is holy, whose glory fills the universe, and whom men must recognize as sovereign if they are to find the peace and joy He desires for His people.

As Ezekiel shows us so vividly, God’s destruction of the Axis of Evil in the last days will accomplish the salvation of His people, the nation of Israel. By identifying this Axis of Evil as modern nations who are unwittingly bent on fulfilling this devastating prophecy, we can clearly see how present events will lead to the ultimate accomplishment of God’s purposes.

What does Islam mean and how many followers does it have?

The name Islam literally means “submission.” A Muslim is “one who submits to God.” According to conservative estimates, there are about 1.5 billion Muslims in our world today. Approximately 1.4 million live in the United States, which is about 6 percent of the U.S. adult population. While we usually associate Islam with the Middle East, the largest Muslim populations are actually in Asia.

While the majority of the world’s 1.5 Muslims want no part of the deadly violence and attempt to live in peace with their neighbors, the number of radicals who preach violence and terror is mushrooming around the world.

What is the history of Islam?

According to Islamic tradition, the founder of Islam, Mohammad, was born in Mecca (in present-day Saudi Arabia) in AD 570. Mohammad’s father died before the prophet was born, and his mother died when he was six years old. He was raised by his paternal grandfather, grew up to become a camel driver and then a merchant, and, at the age of twenty-six, married a wealthy caravan owner named Khadija.

Mohammad worked in professions that brought him into contact with a number of Christians and Jews who caused him to question the religion of his own people. He was forty years old and meditating in a cave outside Mecca when he received his first revelation. From that moment on, according to his testimony, God occasionally revealed messages to him, which he declared to the people. These messages, which Mohammad received throughout his life, form the verses of the Qu’ran, which Muslims regard as the divine word of God.

In the seventh century Arabian world of Mohammad, the people worshiped over 360 different gods, one for each day of the lunar year. One of these was the moon god, the male counterpart to the female sun god. The moon god was called by various names, one of which was Allah, and it was the favorite god of Mohammad’s family.

As Mohammad began to promote his new religion, it was only natural that he would choose to elevate the moon god Allah and declare him to be the one true God. His devotion to Allah was single-minded and fierce, and in establishing and spreading his religion of Islam, Mohammad slaughtered thousands of people who resisted conversion. As his instructions to his followers show, there was no subtlety in his evangelistic technique: “Who relinquishes his faith, kill him . . . I have been ordered by Allah to fight with people till they testify there is no god but Allah, and M[o]ham-mad is his messenger.”

Who are the Shi’ites and the Sunnis, and why are they a threat to Christians?

Opposition in Mecca forced Mohammad and his followers to flee to Medina in AD 620, where he became the head of the first Muslim community. In AD 631 he returned to Mecca, where he died the following year. At his death the Islamic community became bitterly divided over the question of who would be Mohammad’s successor. Even today that division survives in the two Islamic sects, now known as the Shi’ites and the Sunnis. Conflict between these sects is one of the major stress points in Iraq and throughout the Islamic world.

At the death of Mohammad, the group we know as the Sunni followed the leadership of Abu Bakr, one of Mohammad’s fathers-in-law. The Sunni now comprise about 90 percent of the Islamic world. They believe that Mohammad’s spiritual gifts died with him and that their only authority today is the Qu’ran. The Baath party of Saddam Hussein was part of the Sunni sect.

The Shi’ites maintained that Mohammad passed on a legacy of personal authority in addition to the Qu’ran, as author Winfried Corduan explains:

The Shi’ites, on the other hand, identified with Muhammad’s son-in-law Ali, whom they saw as possessing a spiritual endowment directly from the prophet. The Shi’ites believe that their leaders, the imams, have authority on par with the Qu’ran. It is the Shi’ites that believe that the 12th imam went into concealment hundreds of years ago and continues to live there until he returns as the Mahdi . . . the Muslim Messiah!

Abu Bakr succeeded Mohammad, and he and his successors launched jihads, or holy wars, that spread the religion of Islam from northern Spain to India and threatened Christian Europe. Christians resisted the threat, and a series of wars followed that drove the Islamic invaders back into the Middle Eastern countries, where they still dominate. Their zeal to have their religion dominate the world has not diminished, however, and it remains a threat to all who do not maintain vigilance.

What does jihad mean?

The most frightening word associated with Islam is jihad. Sometimes called the “sixth pillar” of Islam, jihad actually means “struggle.” The greater jihad is the inner struggle of each Muslim to submit to Allah. The lesser jihad is the outward struggle to defend the Islamic community. This is the jihad that strikes fear in the heart of Islamic enemies. Militant Muslims take jihad to mean more than just passive defense of Islam; to them it authorizes the expansion of the Islamic religion even by means of deadly aggression.

The overt hatred for the West expressed in jihad has already spawned many deadly attacks, and the fanaticism that produced them has not diminished. In her book, completed only days before her assassination, former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto wrote that one of the primary aims of the militants is:

to provoke a clash of civilizations between the West and . . . Islam. The great hope of the militants is a collision, an explosion between the values of the West and what the extremists claim to be the values of Islam. . . . The attacks on September 11, 2001, heralded the . . . dream of bloody confrontation . . . If the fanatics and extremists prevail . . . then a great fitna (disorder through schism or division) would sweep the world. Here lies their ultimate goal: chaos.

The hatred that the Muslims have for the Jews needs no documentation. But the settlement of Israel into her homeland in 1948 took this hatred to a level of murderous fury. The militants and radicals refer to Israel as “little Satan” and the United States as “big Satan”, and they are determined to wipe both countries off the map.

What is fatah?

We can easily see and resist the effects of jihad in militant terrorism, but we have trouble seeing and resisting the more subtle strategy that the Muslims call fatah. Fatah is infiltration, moving into a country in numbers large enough to affect the culture. It means taking advantage of tolerant laws and accommodative policies to insert the influence of Islam. In places where a military invasion will not succeed, the slow, systematic, and unrelenting methods of fatah are conquering whole nations. An illustration is:

A demographic revolution is taking place today in France. Some experts are projecting that by the year 2040, 80 percent of the population of France will be Muslim. At that point the Muslim majority will control commerce, industry, education, and religion. They will also control the government, as well, and occupy all the key positions in the French Parliament. And a Muslim will be president.

What are other terms used to describe the Islamic goal of world domination?

Other terms used to describe the Islamic goal of world domination are biological jihad or demographic jihad, which describe the nonviolent strategy of Muslims moving into Europe and the West and having more babies than their hosts. Within several generations they hope to repopulate traditionally Christian cultures with their own people, and they are certainly on track to reach that goal. According to a Vatican report issued recently, the Roman Catholic Church understands this: “For the first time in history, we are no longer at the top: Muslims have overtaken us.”

Does Islam hope to return its Messiah?

The answer to this is a resounding yes! This Islamic hope surfaced in a speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a disciple of Ayatollah Khomeni, the cleric who launched the successful 1979 revolution that turned Iran into a strict Islamic state. In 2005, Ahmadinejad was called before the United Nations Security Council to explain his continued determination to develop nuclear weapons. He began his speech by declaring: “In the Name of the God of Mercy, Compassion, Peace, Freedom, and Justice . . . ,” and he ended his speech with this prayer: “I pray to you to hasten the emergence of your last repository, the promised one, that perfect and pure human being, the one that will fill this world with justice and peace.” The “promised one” in Ahmadinejad’s prayer was a reference to the Twelfth Imam, a figure in Shi’ite teaching that parallels the figure of Al-Mahdi in Sunni teaching. In essence, both of these titles refer to the Islamic messiah who is yet to come.

Shi’ia Islam believes that the Twelfth Imam can appear only during a time of worldwide chaos. This explains many of Ahmadinejad’s defiant actions—why he presses forward with his nuclear program in spite of world censure and why he is adamant about destroying Israel. In his infamous speech of October 25, 2005, he said, “‘Israel must be wiped off the map’, and he warned leaders of Muslim nations who recognized the state of Israel that they would face ‘the wrath of their own people.’” With these defiant and divisive actions, Ahmadinejad is fomenting the chaotic environment that he believes will induce the Islamic messiah to come. In a televised speech in 2008, Ahmadinejad reiterated: “What we have right now is the last chapter . . . Accept that the life of Zionists will sooner or later come to an end.”23 On March 14, Ahmadinejad “swept the nationwide ballot with about 70 percent support.”

The world as a whole does not seem to be taking Ahmadinejad seriously, but the people of Israel are an exception. They understand that he is determined to destroy them. And the words of the prophet Ezekiel back up that understanding. He tells us that Iran’s (Iran is now the name of the biblical Persia) hatred toward the Jewish nation will play an important role in a major end-time battle.

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