And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. (Rev. 12:7)

What looked like a way for Iran to avoid being referred to the UN Security Council for sanctions, while depriving the US and Israel of justification for a pre-emptive strike, has apparently hit the skids.  The plan was for Russia to operate Iran’s nuclear fuel enrichment program in Russian territory with spent fuel rods being returned to Russia to insure no weapons grade enrichment took place in Iran.  Iran agreed to part of the plan but has refused to stop its own enrichment program.  This is a deal breaker, so the EU 3 are meeting with Iranonce more in a last ditch effort to avoid the UN referral.

Iran has consistently said that its nuclear program is intended for peaceful purposes only, so why not take advantage of this opportunity resolve the issue?

The answer lies in Shiite Islam’s definition of peace.  To them it’s a condition that will exist only after Israel and Islam’s other enemies are destroyed and all the world is brought under submission.  Only then can the Moslem Messiah, al Mahdi, establish the world wide Islamic rule that brings peace.

According to Moslem oral traditions (not written in the Koran) al Mahdi, who they believe disappeared in 941AD, will return to Earth when conditions have become so chaotic and desperate that he alone can save us.  Iranian President Ahmadinejad believes he has been brought to power specifically to hasten al Mahdi’s return by plunging the world into such a state, and he believes he can accomplish this within 2 years.

He’s also said that the US is the major obstacle to this plan, even going so far as accusing the US of trying to usurp al Mahdi’s role by imposing its own brand of peace upon the world.

So What’s The Problem?

When Iran’s President says he wants peace, he really means that he wants to bring the world to the brink of disaster by wiping Israel off the map and destroying the US so he can accelerate al Mahdis’ return to establish the world wide Islamic rule that brings lasting peace to Earth.  Accepting Russia’s solution to his enrichment problems would have the opposite effect, so he can’t do it.

US President Bush says he wants peace too.  But what he really means is that he wants to facilitate regime changes (start revolutions) in certain Middle Eastern countries, unseating their oppressive governments.  He believes that given the alternative, the newly liberated people in these countries would choose democracy, and that the increased personal freedom and economic opportunity that a democratic form of government brings would foster a climate of lasting peace.

While these two strategies appear to have the same ultimate goal in view, and while both presidents have alluded to divine purpose in their lives (obviously from different sources), their approaches to achieving that goal couldn’t possibly be more incompatible.  Islamic rule is not democratic, and a democracy can’t tolerate an all powerful clergy imposing religious law.

Compounding the problem, Western mentality says that when two parties with similar goals disagree over implementation they sit down to negotiate and compromise until their differences are resolved.  In Islam the only condition under which compromise is acceptable is when it buys the Moslem party enough time to gain the strength necessary to destroy the non-Moslem.  So while the EU 3 has been working with US support to negotiate a compromise to accommodate Iran’s nuclear aspirations, Iran has been using the time to secretly gain the strength it will need to succeed in imposing its will on the world. Sooner or later this dance has to end as the parties’ real intentions become known.

That time may soon be upon us.  Even the multi-culturally minded Europeans can only be pushed so far and the recent “cartoon Jihad” might have been the last straw.  “Freedom of speech is not up for negotiation,” declared Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, summing up a consensus that has only grown stronger as the cries of outrage from the Muslim world grow louder.

“We demand a new social contract,” says Jan Wolter Wabeke, High Court Judge in The Hague. “We no longer accept that people don’t learn our language, we require that they send their daughters to school, and we demand they stop bringing in young brides from the desert and locking them up in third-floor apartments.” It’s finally dawning on Europeans that multi-culturalism is not part of the Islamic lexicon.

Before long it will become obvious even in diplomatic circles that Iran is intent on fomenting an international crisis, and that no amount of appeasement will put them off the track.

Déjà vu All Over Again
We all witnessed these tactics on a slightly smaller scale a few years ago when Yasser Arafat turned down the best deal Israel could ever offer in the land for peace negotiations.  Bill Clinton was desperate to end his presidency with a victory big enough to overshadow his disgraceful behavior while in office, and he saw Middle East Peace as his ticket to redemption.

Under intense pressure from Clinton, Israeli PM Ehud Barak offered Arafat everything he could ever have hoped for, and more.  But like he’d been saying to all who would listen right from the start, Arafat didn’t want peace.  He wanted Israel destroyed, and was only buying time till he was strong enough to do it. So he turned down the deal, went home and started the Intifada.  When he later told Clinton what a great man he was, Clinton replied, “I am a failure, and you have made me one.”

My God Is Bigger Than Yours
If President Ahmadinejad really is the religious zealot he appears to be, then for him bringing the world to the brink of disaster is a matter of religious integrity. It’s the fulfillment of his calling, an act of obedience to his god.  No amount of negotiation, appeasement or compromise will deter him.

And if that’s true, it’s well past time for the rest of us to realize that no strategy of man can prevail against him.  If the US or Israel launches a pre-emptive attack, he’s won.  If we give in to his demands, he’ll just keep upping the ante until someone does strike.  His goal is chaos, and anything short of that means failing his god.

As Christians we know that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephes. 6:12). The world is not used to thinking in these terms, but in this next few months we may well see a lot more than just a test of will between two powerful nations. We just might be witnessing the run-up to war in the heavenlies.  If you listen carefully you can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah.

“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.  When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.  But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself.”(Ezekiel 33:7-9)

I’m a self-appointed observer, not a God-appointed watchman, so it’s not really my job to warn my countrymen of an approaching enemy.  I limit my efforts to periodically drawing comparisons between current events and Bible Prophecy.  I do this to demonstrate the validity of Scripture in the hope that those who read my articles will attach more significance to God’s Word as a guide for their daily living and will also read my more traditional Bible Studies.

Others have a more specific calling, like Hal Lindsey, who recently abandoned the world’s most popular biblically based TV news report rather than submit to network censorship where Islam is concerned.  He’s taken a lot of heat for his stance, considered by some in the Christian Community to be excessively narrow and “unloving.”

In his most recent editorial, “The Enemy Within” Hal in effect revealed that he is a God-appointed watchman. Then he explained in detail the extensive foothold radical Islam has gained in the US in recent years in yet another clear wake up call to the rest of us.  From the response to date, I wonder if anyone’s listening.  Both within and outside the church majority opinion seems to lie somewhere between treading lightly for fear of offending Moslem sensitivity at one end to obvious fawning over followers of the so-called “religion of peace” at the other.

Nobody likes bad news, even when it’s true.  A whole gaggle of “prophets” denied Jeremiah’s warning that judgment was coming to Israel, even as they stood on the city walls and watched the Babylonians get ready to burn Jerusalemto the ground.

And how about Hitler’s run-up to WW2?  Bad enough that the politicians were blindly following their cowardly appeasement policies, but where was the Christian majority?  The world finally learned that denial isn’t a workable strategy when you’re dealing with a spiritually driven enemy, but by then it cost 50 million casualties to stop Hitler. Are we about to discover this again? Bad news may be unpleasant but it’s necessary, and we better pay attention.  Fore warned is fore armed, after all.  And remember, the penalty for not learning from history is that you have to repeat it.

If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another …
The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. (1Timothy 4:1)

As serious as the situation with radical Islam is, in a spiritual sense a threat just as dangerous as our “head-in-the-sand” response to Islam has materialized before our very eyes.  As I look at the current state of what passes for Christianity today, I’m convinced that Paul was really using his letter to Timothy to warn us, not him.

To me, much of the “seeker friendly” movement has abandoned the fundamentals of our faith in an effort to attract everyone while offending no one, turning Sunday services into up-tempo variety shows and mistaking attendance figures and bank deposits for evangelistic success.  The greatest obstacle to gaining the truth is the assumption that you already have it.

Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. (John 6:53-55)

He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you?”  From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. (John 6:59-61,66)

He was talking about communion, the ceremony that memorializes the giving of his life for the remission of sin.  But not everyone could accept this, and many turned away.  I venture to say that many in the seeker friendly church today would be similarly offended if they ever heard a real salvation message with an altar call and were told that it’s the only path to eternal life.

To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. (Rev. 3:14-17)

Since several leaders of the seeker friendly movement also advocate reconstructionism, they must believe that the lukewarm gospel they preach is necessary to achieve their “convert-the-world” goals, watering down the message to a point where no one could object to it.  This even though the Lord has never equated church attendance with salvation.  The re-emergence of the Laodicean church in the world is a sign of the nearness of the end, and the seeker-friendly movement seems to fit the description.

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

It’s said that as many as 175,000 new believers are born-again every day, mostly in China India and Africa, while in the US, church “growth” is more a function of migration than anything else. And are these 175,000 third world converts responding to the construction of huge campuses in their towns, and the arrival of professional musicians and cast members to entertain them?  No.  They meet secretly in barns, caves and forests, often without professional leadership of any kind, and respond to signs and wonders as the Holy Spirit moves powerfully among them. Where are the miracles in the seeker friendly church? Or are they practicing a form of godliness while denying its power?

… Or Another

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

One of the great myths in the church today is the “inclusivism” taught in some liberal denominations. It claims there are many roads to eternal life and as long as people are sincere in their beliefs, no matter who they worship as God, they’ll find their way to salvation. This attitude has propelled all sorts of pagan and even Satanic cults into the mainstream of religious thought, all in the name of unity. (Lately pagan environmentalists are being joined by reconstructionistChurch leaders in an effort to fight global warming.  Reconstructionists have to save the earth for Jesus.)

But Jesus said, Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it”. (Matt 7:13-14)  I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. (John 10:9) I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)  Sounds pretty exclusive to me.

Back To The (Near) Future
In recent articles I’ve pointed out the similarities between Islamic prophecies of the Mahdi, or Moslem Messiah, and Biblical prophecies of the anti-Christ.  I’ve shown how the President of Iran is trying to goad the world into war to hasten his Mahdi’s return, believing that by doing so he’ll be ushering in an era of worldwide peace under Islamic rule. Given the UN’s track record, odds are he’ll succeed, at least at the war part.

All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world. (Rev. 13:8)

The Mahdi / anti-Christ’s ‘ arrival will be a time of great excitement, with people everywhere believing that the savior of the world has come to bring the peace they’ve longed for.  They’ll all marvel at the power and presence of their pseudo savior.  Among them will be countless thousands, who although they regularly attended seeker-friendly services, never heard a clear gospel message or an invitation to confess and be saved. They’ll be joined by the cults and the inclusivists who believe that at the end of the day sincerity is all that matters. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.(Romans 1:21)

While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. (1 Thes. 5:3)

But alas, all too soon they’ll realize he’s an imposter and they’re stuck in the deadliest period of time in history, a time that half of them won’t survive.  A few will wonder what ever became of you, their narrow-minded exclusivist Christian friend. They’ll recall little bits of the gospel you tried to teach them, and start rummaging through their stuff for that New Testament you forced on them. Because of what you told them, they’ll be able to figure out how to ask the Lord to save them before they miss their last chance.

You did take time to tell them before you disappeared, didn’t you?  I mean, you wouldn’t keep something this important to yourself, would you?