http://www.raptureready.com/rr-iraq.html
The Problem is Supernatural
A reasonable question for those who truly seek world peace is this: Why is Israel always at the center of the problem that threatens to involve the whole world in thermonuclear war?
World leaders cannot understand the answer God’s Word, the Bible, gives to this “reasonable” question. This is because the leaders of the world reason in line with Satan’s thinking, not in line with God’s thinking, which comes from His perfect foreknowledge. Today’s world leaders believe they can find the formula for peace totally apart from taking into consideration God’s explanation of the supernatural causes involved.
Concerning the obstacles Israel presents to Middle East and world peace in our time, God, through revelation given in symbolic language to the prophet John, tells about ancient hatred that spawned and perpetuates the problem:
"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days" (Rev. 12:1-6).
Revelation, chapter 12, tells about a “woman,” which refers to Israel, the Jewish people out of whom the Deliverer, Jesus Christ, will come. The great red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns, whose tail draws one-third of the stars, refers to Satan. The stars are the angels who rebelled and followed Lucifer, who was cast out of Heaven.
Satan hates Israel because it is the nation chosen by God to bring the Savior into the world. The Devil, as he is also called, is prophesied to do all within his considerable power to destroy that people. Antichrist will be the Devil’s world dictator who will try to carry out Israel’s destruction, as outlined in Daniel, chapters 7, 8, 9, and 11, and in Revelation chapter 13.
So again we ask the question: Are the dramatic events we have witnessed in Iraq since “Iraqi Freedom” brought about dramatic changes there the ignition of Armageddon? Saddam Hussein and most all other dictators in the Middle East have long been blood-vowed to completely destroy Israel. They have stated they want every Jew drowned in the Mediterranean or to meet an even more terrible fate.
In that sense, Iraq and the other enemy nations of God’s chosen people bring history tick after tick of the prophetic clock ever closer to that final battle in the valley God’s Word calls Armageddon.
At the same time, the answer is “no;” the dynamic drama playing out in Iraq won’t be the thing that sets the Armageddon war campaign in motion. We have God’s Word on it. Jesus Christ, who was and is God the Son, said, ““And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet” (Matt. 24:4).
The world has been in this time of “wars and rumors of wars” throughout history. Jesus here did, however, strongly imply that there will be a great increase in the number of wars and rumors of wars as the end of the age draws near. There will be, Jesus prophesied, wars and rumors of war with greater frequency and intensity. Certainly, the 20th century was the bloodiest of all centuries, with millions of people killed in war. Certainly, too, with the fear of thermonuclear war and the horrific destruction it would bring, “rumors of wars” were more pronounced than at any other time. “But the end is not yet,” Christ said. The war with Saddam’s genocidal forces was but one more of the “rumors of war” that became a war in fact.
The Problem is Supernatural
A reasonable question for those who truly seek world peace is this: Why is Israel always at the center of the problem that threatens to involve the whole world in thermonuclear war?
World leaders cannot understand the answer God’s Word, the Bible, gives to this “reasonable” question. This is because the leaders of the world reason in line with Satan’s thinking, not in line with God’s thinking, which comes from His perfect foreknowledge. Today’s world leaders believe they can find the formula for peace totally apart from taking into consideration God’s explanation of the supernatural causes involved.
Concerning the obstacles Israel presents to Middle East and world peace in our time, God, through revelation given in symbolic language to the prophet John, tells about ancient hatred that spawned and perpetuates the problem:
"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days" (Rev. 12:1-6).
Revelation, chapter 12, tells about a “woman,” which refers to Israel, the Jewish people out of whom the Deliverer, Jesus Christ, will come. The great red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns, whose tail draws one-third of the stars, refers to Satan. The stars are the angels who rebelled and followed Lucifer, who was cast out of Heaven.
Satan hates Israel because it is the nation chosen by God to bring the Savior into the world. The Devil, as he is also called, is prophesied to do all within his considerable power to destroy that people. Antichrist will be the Devil’s world dictator who will try to carry out Israel’s destruction, as outlined in Daniel, chapters 7, 8, 9, and 11, and in Revelation chapter 13.
So again we ask the question: Are the dramatic events we have witnessed in Iraq since “Iraqi Freedom” brought about dramatic changes there the ignition of Armageddon? Saddam Hussein and most all other dictators in the Middle East have long been blood-vowed to completely destroy Israel. They have stated they want every Jew drowned in the Mediterranean or to meet an even more terrible fate.
In that sense, Iraq and the other enemy nations of God’s chosen people bring history tick after tick of the prophetic clock ever closer to that final battle in the valley God’s Word calls Armageddon.
At the same time, the answer is “no;” the dynamic drama playing out in Iraq won’t be the thing that sets the Armageddon war campaign in motion. We have God’s Word on it. Jesus Christ, who was and is God the Son, said, ““And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet” (Matt. 24:4).
The world has been in this time of “wars and rumors of wars” throughout history. Jesus here did, however, strongly imply that there will be a great increase in the number of wars and rumors of wars as the end of the age draws near. There will be, Jesus prophesied, wars and rumors of war with greater frequency and intensity. Certainly, the 20th century was the bloodiest of all centuries, with millions of people killed in war. Certainly, too, with the fear of thermonuclear war and the horrific destruction it would bring, “rumors of wars” were more pronounced than at any other time. “But the end is not yet,” Christ said. The war with Saddam’s genocidal forces was but one more of the “rumors of war” that became a war in fact.