THE CURRENT CONFLICT AND THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES

The reality of the outworking of the spiritual war

I started writing this newsletter about 18 months ago because I was concerned about the difficulty of obtaining accurate information about what was happening in the world and also trying to provide some context about the signs of the times. My inspiration was the Sons of Issachar, who at the time of King David in Israel were described as – “men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel should do” – (1 Chronicles 12:32).

I wrote in my last newsletter that we needed to keep our attention on Israel because this ultimately was the focus of the coming conflict. I didn’t realize  how close this conflict was and the evil that was about to be unleashed. Of course, it has significance far beyond the Middle East.

Like all my readers, I was shocked at the barbarity, ferocity and terror unleashed on unsuspecting Israeli citizens near the border with Gaza this week and each day more horror is revealed. The conflict is particularly difficult for we in the secular West to understand. Mostly, the struggle is portrayed by the media as the downtrodden Palestinians on a quest for justice against an oppressive Israeli state. However, it is the outworking of a more fundamental spiritual conflict that has its foundation almost 4,000 years ago in Abraham, the “father” of both Islam and Judaism.

The Foundations of the Conflict

Two sons were born to Abraham. One son, Ishmael, was the son by his wife Sarai’s servant Hagar and the other son, Isaac, was borne by Abraham’s wife Sarah (see Genesis 16). In essence, Ishmael was the son of Abraham’s own efforts to create a dynasty whereas Isaac was the son of God’s impossible promise. Isaac was a gift of God, in Abraham and Sarah’s old age, and in fact God’s desire to bless all nations.

Remarkably, the end result of this battle between the “flesh” and the “spirit” is that we are faced today with the conflict of two spiritual worldviews – one that comes down from the line of Isaac and is founded on God’s promises, and one that comes down from the line of Ishmael and is founded on man’s best efforts. As from the beginning, man’s efforts to make himself like God ends in disaster.

The horrifying events around Gaza highlight a conflict between two opposing worldviews. The Judeo-Christian worldview, which has been in the ascendancy for almost 2,000 years is being radically challenged today by a combined assault from both secular Marxism (note the support for Hamas from groups like Black Lives Matter - see this link) and fundamental Islamic theology that sees jihad and death as the path to a “glorious” future. If we stand back from current events, it is possible to see a road that leads toward a final conflict between the forces of good and evil.

Antisemitism

Hatred of the Jews is an ongoing theme of world history and goes back to the foundation of the Hebrew nation in Egypt and even earlier, when the 70 members of Jacob’s family moved from Canaan (the Promised Land) because of the severe drought (see Genesis 46 and 47). By the time of Moses, around 1,500 BC, the original Hebrews (the 12 sons of Jacob and their families) had grown into the millions. Pharaoh ordered the killing of all newborn Hebrew male babies (Exodus 1:22) because of concern that Egypt would be overrun since the population of Hebrews had grown so vast.

Following God’s promises and declaration to Pharaoh to “let My people go” (Exodus 9:1), the Hebrews, led by Moses, left Egypt to go to a “land flowing with milk and honey” (Numbers 14:8). This was Canaan, the “Promised Land” - a land promised by God to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  To this day, there has been ongoing conflict over the land since Moses’ protégé Joshua, first led the Hebrew nation (the Jews), across the Jordan into Canaan around 1,400 BC.

From the earliest times there have been attempts to annihilate the Jews and a notable event is recorded around the time of Jesus’ birth. King Herod, a ruler in Jerusalem appointed by the Romans, ordered the killing of all the male children around Bethlehem when Jesus was born (Matthew 2:16) because the “King of the Jews” – Jesus – was reported to have been born there (Matthew 2:1-2). Herod could see that this “king” was likely to be a future threat.

After Jesus’  death in AD 33, there was ongoing trouble with the Roman occupiers of Jerusalem and the Romans ordered the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 which resulted in many Jews being killed and the rest were dispersed around the region. Importantly, the temple in Jerusalem, the site of Jewish sacrifices and worship, was completely destroyed, as Jesus had forecast almost 40 years before (Mark 13:1-2).

Jesus spoke at length about the period prior to His return to the earth and this is outlined in Matthew 24. In summary, He said that there was going to be deception, pestilence, wars, earthquakes and a lot of trouble. However, His good news of the Kingdom of God would be preached to all nations before the end and His return. This perspective is an important one to bear in mind as we step back from the trouble and conflict in the world today to try to see the big picture.

Subsequently Jews have been targeted for annihilation by various countries in the West throughout the last 2,000 years and even within the Christian  church there seems to have been an ingrained antisemitism. At the heart of this antisemitism was the concept that the Jews killed Jesus and therefore had been cast aside by God. This is incorrect as God’s promises are unconditional (Genesis 12:7; Genesis 13:14-15; Genesis 15:18).

The most recent and most horrific of the attempts to destroy the Jews was the Holocaust by the Nazis during WWII. However, this was just the most recent on a long history of attempts at Jewish extermination. Is worthwhile examining this website - see this link - which demonstrates the dates and extraordinary number of attempts to eliminate the Jews. We need to understand that this has been part of world history in ancient and modern times.

When you examine this in totality, you realize that the current conflict was never about land and economic justice but is just a symptom of a deeper spiritual conflict that has its origin more than 4,000 years ago.

The Spiritual Battle

So – the horror we have witnessed in the various video images that we have seen this week is another appalling event in a long chain of incidents that really have nothing to do with territory or justice for Palestinians. Attempts to bring about a negotiated settlement of the Middle East conflict will never be possible until the end of the age. The conflict is a symptom of a much bigger spiritual battle that involves the hatred of Jews. This hatred is widespread even today and was demonstrated by the pro-Hamas protests that took place around the world, even in Sydney where there were chants of “gas the Jews”. Why is this so?

This is where the spiritual world comes into play. Satan and his band of supporting angels who wanted to usurp God, were removed from God’s presence (Isaiah 14:12-14) aeons ago. The end result is an ongoing struggle between the forces of good and evil.

The Bible tells us that satan came to “steal, and to kill and to destroy” whereas Jesus came to bring “…life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).  This is the fundamental nature of the battle that we are witnessing in various forms today. When we see death, destruction and disaster, these are the forces of satan at work, whereas life, joy and love are God’s gift to us. We have a choice of where to give our support.

When you understand the ongoing hatred against the Jews over thousands of years, you realize that the current events fit into a broader historical and spiritual context. God chose a people, through whom He would work out His purposes on the earth and remarkably in Genesis 18:18, God says that through Abraham “all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him”. In an earlier section of Genesis, God said to Abram that He would “bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3). These are remarkable promises.

Once God created a special family, the Jews, for His purposes, they have been a target by satan, who opposes everything of God, for destruction. So the conflict that we witness today will continue until the end of the age when Jesus returns. Not only the Jews, but God’s city Jerusalem (Psalm 48), will continue to be under attack and threat.

While there have been many horrific events that the Jews have suffered over the ages, Islam has been an implacable foe since the time of Muhammad, who came to prominence in the 6^th to 7^th  centuries and gave rise to the religion of Islam which dominates the Middle East, parts of Asia and now increasingly the West. This ancient enmity which is spiritual in its foundations, is what fuels the terrible events that we have seen this  last week near the border with Gaza.

The Rise of Islam and the Coming of the Mahdi (“The Guided One”)

The rise of Islam, supported by the enormous wealth of the oil kingdoms since WWII, has led to ongoing conflicts and has brought to light the spiritual battle between Islam and the West. Islam has a hatred for the secular West that the West doesn’t understand. Most think of Islam as just another religious option in a world that celebrates “diversity, equity and inclusion”. However, Islam has no time for “diversity, equity and inclusion” and the leaders believe that their mandate is to spread the message by jihad, often translated as “struggle”.

There have been attempts to promote the idea of jihad as an inner spiritual struggle but as Islam has spread into the West, its aims are clear. With the various horrific attacks that have been carried out around the world in the name of Islam, the true Islamic believers cry out “Allahu Akbar” – translated as “our god is the greatest”. Death seems to be a hallmark of Islam and the deaths of the so-called “martyrs” is celebrated and rewarded by Islamic leaders, including those of Hamas.

It is important to understand that Islam is not just another religion. It is an economic, political, cultural and religious system that has only one aim – world domination as demonstrated by the translation of the word Islam - submission.  

Sunni v Shi’ite

There are two main branches of Islam – Sunni and Shi’ite and the split in these groups has its foundation in challenges around the successor to Muhammad after his death in AD 632. There is fierce enmity between the two branches of Islam which played out in the 10 year war between Iraq and Iran during the time of Saddam Hussein, which resulted in several million casualties - see this link.

There are now more than 2 billion Muslims spread throughout the world. The Sunnis are by far the majority (around 85-90% of Muslims). You can remember this by the saying I heard once, “everything is coming up Sunni”!

The Shi’ites, while constituting the remaining 10-15% of Muslims, are by far the dominant sect in Iran. Both the Sunnis and Shi’ites want to see the imposition of Sharia law, as outlined by Muhammad in the Qur’an and the hadiths and practised in every Islamic country – see this link. Muslims believe that this is the only valid law. Since its foundation, Islam has sought to spread its message by subjugation and war, and it has been extremely successful.

Figure 1. Sunnis v Shi’ites in the Middle East – source

The Shi’ites in Iran are particularly militant in their opposition to Israel and Iran has been a major sponsor of terrorism in Lebanon and Gaza. Despite repeated vows to annihilate the state of Israel (the leaders also declare “death to the big satan” – the US), the West has not taken these threats seriously. This is because of a failure to understand that Islam is a complete “system” of life that seeks to impose its ways and its ways are non-negotiable.

The Mahdi and the Final Conflict

An important but little understood foundation of Islam is the idea of the coming Mahdi – a mystical messianice figure who will return at the end of a final conflict and force conversion of the world to Islam. The Shi’ites have a different view of the Mahdi, whom they call “The Twelfth Imam”. There is a fascinating fictional series - see this link - by Joel Rosenberg that I have read and provides some great insights into the concept of the Twelfth Imam.

All the main clerics and politicians in Iran are known as “Twelvers” and believe in the 12^th Imam. This is how the 12^th Imam is described in learnreligions.com

“They believe that a series of Imams was appointed to carry on the Prophet Muhammad's message and that these Imam rank above all other prophets except for Muhammad himself. The 12th, Muhammad al-Mahdi, is believed by these Shiites to have been born in present-day Iraq in 869 and never to have died, only gone into hiding. Twelvers—not other Shiites or Sunni Muslims—believe that al-Mahdi will return as a messiah…”.

Sunnis also believe in the Mahdi but that he has not yet appeared.

Former Iranian President Ahmadinejad was a keen proponent of “Twelverism” and even spoke about this at the UN. In an interesting story about Mahdism published in 2008, President Ahmadinejad spoke at a conference in Tehran and is reported to have

“emphasized the imminent coming of the Twelfth Imam and how the process of globalization was Allah’s way of preparing the world for it. The various sessions of the conference all echoed this theme of the Mahdi’s impending arrival, and how the Islamic Republic of Iran was in the vanguard of paving the way for his coming.” (my emphases)

The Twelvers believe that by hastening global conflict, they can bring forward the reappearance of the Mahdi who then will force global submission to Islam. Given the power and the nature of the Mahdi, is not impossible that this person could be the one described in the Book of Revelation of the Bible, as the antichrist.

The West has largely become secular and atheist and so this theology and the idea of the Mahdi makes no sense and is generally ignored. Muslims are invited into Western countries without any realization by Western leaders that they are really wheeling in a spiritual Trojan horse. The whole basis of Islam is “submission” and so even though generally small in numbers, assimilation into Western ways is not an option but rather there is a desire to force the West to submit to Islam. You can see this today in the changing face of the United Kingdom.

Remarkably, the West has already “submitted” to Iran in various negotiations that have involved the US and Europe, in relation to the acquistion of nuclear technologies. This “submission” recently was demonstrated by the Biden administration’s unfreezing of US$6 billion of Iranian funds held in South Korean banks (but currently on hold following the brutal attacks of Hamas which have been claimed to have the financial and logistical backing of Iran).

It is not widely known that Islam means submission and since its founder put to the sword any opposition in Medina and Mecca between 625 and 640AD, the focus of Islam has been to spread the teachings of the “true prophet” and by force, to bring the whole world under the rule of Islam.

Most in the secular West fail to understand that we are in the midst of a spiritual war and at its heart, the current conflict in Gaza is another terrible and serious step in what is seen by many Islamic leaders as the legitimate aim of extermination of all Jews and the forced submission of the rest of the world to the teachings of Muhammad and the imposition of Sharia Law. This is why many see the acquisition of a nuclear weapon by Iran as being so serious. Iran has repeatedly declared that they will “wipe Israel off the map” and their theological foundation is that such an event and the global war that ensues will bring about the reappearance of the Mahdi.

The Problem for the West

The secular West is caught in the headlights and there are many who believe that there is a peace that can be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians via a “two state solution”. There is no possibility of this happening, no matter how skilled the negotiators, when you understand the fundamental differences that are at the heart of Islam and Judaism. If such a peace is negotiated successfully, it is a bad sign!

This is where the end-times prophecies of the Bible are helpful. The Bible tells us that in the last days there will be a man, who rises up to take control of the world and does bring about a remarkable peace settlement with Israel and their neighbours - for a 3.5 year period. When such a peace settlement is announced – head for the hills!

This attractive, evil and remarkable man is the ultimate deceiver, the antichrist, who then demands worship of himself and the loyalty of everyone on the earth. A mark will be required (Revelation 13:16-17) on the right hand or forehead. We have had a taste of such a requirement with the digital “mark” being required with the COVID-19 “vaccines”.

The ”Christian” West has taken in millions of Muslims who have fled from the conflict created by the West itself following the 9/11 attacks. Because of a commitment to “diversity, equity and inclusion” and the lack of any understanding of the fundamentals of Muslim theology, many in the West believed that this diversity was a good thing and just another religious option. However, Islam itself believes something completely different. Islam wants to see the submission of the West to Muslim theology and Sharia Law. This is one of the reasons why after the horror of the attacks on Jews near Gaza, Muslims in western cities held celebration rallies to support the actions taken by Hamas. While this is shocking to westerners, it is totally consistent with Islamic ideology.

The West, with its Judeo-Christian foundations, may have sown the seeds of its own destruction by its inclusive policies, failing to understand the fundamental differences between Islam and the West’s own Judeo-Christian roots.

When I heard about the brutal attack by Hamas on Israeli communities, the barbarism was so horrific that I immediately thought that the attack was meant to draw Israel into a war that could have much wider ramifications. It will be hard for the West not to be ensnared in a wider battle and you don’t have to have too much imagination to see this becoming Word War III. Temporarily, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has been pushed off the front pages of the newspapers but the division lines are increasingly clear: Russia and China will side with Iran against the West and the risk of nuclear war escalates by the day. Because of all the West’s weapons being sent to the Ukraine and now Israel, eventually we may be left defenseless. Taiwanese leaders must be getting very nervous.

What do we do? Because we are in the midst of a spiritual war, prayer is one of the most effective tools. In Psalm 122, King David writes:

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you.
Peace be within your walls,
Prosperity within your palaces.”
For the sake of my brethren and companions,
I will now say, “Peace be within you.”
Because of the house of the LORD our God
I will seek your good.” (Psalm 122:6-9).

We need to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and also to recognize that we need to resist those who come to “steal, and to kill and destroy” and support Jesus’ mission to bring “abundant life” (John 10:10).

A simple test advocated by Jesus was to test the fruits of what you see. He said: “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” (Matthew 7:18-20).

If you see death, destruction and mayhem, you know that the origins are from a bad tree which will be “thrown into the fire”.

Where we see love, abundant life and peace, these are the fruits of the good tree. We must be careful not to get caught in the false justice movement where the fruits are only death and destruction.

OTHER STORIES THAT CAUGHT MY ATTENTION THIS WEEK

The “Invasion” of the West?

You can tell that the border crisis has finally become significant when you have the mayors of Democrat “sanctuary” cities complaining about the influx of illegal immigrants. Presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has said that 6 or 7 million illegal immigrants have entered the US since Joe Biden took office in January 2021 but this is an underestimation. No-one knows how may illegal immigrants are undetected and it could be as many again. The lack of will to do anything about the southern border is not incompetence but part of a left wing plan to destroy the US economy and political system in alignment with UN policy to create adherence to a global agenda.

The eminent California-based historian Victor Davis Hansen (VDH) published an article recently titled Here’s How the Biden Admin Destroyed Our Immigration Law

VDH writes:

“Since early 2021 we have witnessed somewhere between 7 million and 8 million illegal entries across the now-nonexistent southern border of the U.S.…. But why did the Biden administration deliberately unleash the largest influx across the southern border in U.S. history?

The ethnic chauvinists and Democratic Party elites needed new constituents, given their increasingly unpopular agendas. They feared that the more legal Latino immigrants assimilated and integrated into American society, the less happy they became with left-wing radical abortion, racial, transgender, crime, and green fixations.

Democratic grandees always had bragged that illegal immigration would create what they called “The New Democratic Majority” in “Demography Is Destiny” fashion. Now they slander critics as “racists” who object to left-wing efforts to use illegal immigration to turn southwestern red states blue.”

VDH concludes his article in this way:

“Polls continue to show that the American people support measured, diverse, legal, and meritocratic immigration as much as they oppose mass illegal immigration into their country and the subsequent loss of American sovereignty on the border.

They understand what the Biden administration does not: No nation in history has survived once its borders were destroyed, once its citizenship was rendered no different from mere residence, and once its neighbors with impunity undermined its sovereignty.” (my emphasis)

Interestingly, a similar extensive “invasion” by boats has been occurring in the United Kingdom (the UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman has called this a “hurricane of migrants”. The UK government is rendered impotent by the activist judges on the European Court of Human Rights.

There also has been a European “invasion” by asylum seekers since 2020 – see this link, which has changed the face of Europe.

The whole process has been promoted by the United Nations as outlined in an article by Todd Bensman in Breitbart News in 2022 . I recently waded through the UN’s “Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration”.

The 36 page document is a travesty and written seemingly so that no-one understands what is in it.  It was published in 2019 before the widespread availability of AI but seems to have been compiled by a random phrase generator. The authors also manage to weave “sustainability” and “gender responsiveness” into the text. In case you haven’t time to read further, here is just one sentence of the section on being “gender responsive”:

“It mainstreams a gender perspective and promotes gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, recognizing their independence, agency and leadership in order to move away from addressing migrant women primarily through a lens of victimhood”.

How can the UN get away with this gobblydegook? It is only because no-one reads it but nonetheless, it is important because it drives global immigration policy and a core UN philosophy to eliminate national borders.

17 Million Deaths from COVID-19 Vaccination?

Data keep emerging from many different sources about the long-term damage from the various experimental vaccines – particularly the mRNA vaccines. There still have been no case-controlled studies that have been done but the key statistic of excess mortality (compared with previous years) is dramatically increased in all countries where the vaccine was widely used. A recent article in the Epoch Times -  cited a recent September study by Correlation Research in the Public Interest - about vaccine-associated mortality in the Southern Hemisphere - see this link.

The study included 17 southern hemisphere countries - Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Malaysia, New Zealand, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Suriname, Thailand and Uruguay. These countries represent about 10% of the worldwide COVID-19 “vaccine” injections of all types, with just under an average of 2 injections per person. The study has not been peer-reviewed and may well run into push back because it does not support the positive COVID-19 vaccine narrative.

The Epoch Times author (Megan Redshaw) highlights the summary information and writes:

“After analyzing mortality data, the researchers calculated a mean all-ages fatal toxicity by injection of vDFR (vaccine dose fatality rate – which is the ratio of inferred vaccine-induced deaths to vaccine doses delivered) of one death per 800 injections across all ages and countries. This equates to 17 million COVID-19 vaccine-related deaths worldwide from 13.25 billion injections as of Sept. 2, 2023.

"This would correspond to a mass iatrogenic event that killed (0.213 ± 0.006) % of the world population (1 death per 470 living persons, in less than 3 years), and did not measurably prevent any deaths," the authors said. They found the overall risk of death induced by COVID-19 vaccines is 1,000 times greater than previously reported in data from clinical trials, adverse event monitoring, and cause-of-death statistics obtained from death certificates.”

The information in these articles is horrifying and seems to have been ignored by public health officials. Many states (including Texas) have vaccine mandates despite evidence of lack of efficacy and serious impacts on health. The negative impact of the COVID-19 vaccines has been virtually ignored by the media and most politicians. It demonstrates the power of Big Pharma.

The Danger of Phone Location Data

A recent article highlighted the danger of our phones and their location data. Most of us are oblivious to this data collection but many of the January 6th protestors were arrested because their phone location data showed where they were and so provided evidence to law enforcement authorities.

Patrick Wood has published an article in the last week in Technocracy News that is important - see this link. In a story from Wikepedia Commons, they write:

“Geofencing” often begins with an innocent click. Smartphone apps ask if they can access location to improve service. When users say they yes, they often don’t realize that the apps that help them drive, cook, or pray are likely reselling their information to far-flung for-profit entities. This and other information detailing people’s behaviors and preferences is valuable for businesses trying to target customers. The global location intelligence market was estimated at $16 billion last year, according to Grand View Research, which predicts that figure will grow to $51 billion by 2030.

While it is legal for private companies to broker this information, constitutional questions arise when government accesses data from a third party that it would be prohibited from collecting on its own.”

We all need to take much more care about our location data, which are being used for a range of nefarious purposes, including by the government.

Is America Nearing Fall of Rome Status?

A recent article published in The Daily Signal this month, asks a question which many in the West have been asking as the rule of law disintegrates and what is good is described as evil and evil as good (see Isaiah 5:20). The article is worth reading and here is a short section to whet your appetite:

“Financial mismanagement doomed Rome and now threatens America.

Confiscatory taxes drove commerce out of the Roman Empire, or underground in ragtag form, while idle laborers turned to bread lines. Today, excessive taxation and regulation sends jobs overseas, and the unemployed are on welfare.

Rome’s failure to curtail its spending as it simultaneously throttled its own economy eventually turned the empire’s finances into the equivalent of a Ponzi scheme. Debt rose at unsustainable and accelerating rates. Today, the United States has over $33 trillion in federal debt, roughly a quarter-million dollars per household.

As decline set in, Rome doubled down on spending, borrowing, inflating, and war, using bread and circuses to tranquilize an angry and desperate populace.

Foreign wars were used to refocus the population on an external enemy and to export unemployed men. Soaring military expenditures meant there wasn’t enough wealth left to finance actual military readiness, leaving the empire vulnerable to barbarian invasions on its unsecured borders.”

Conclusions

What a horrifying week it has been. The images of the terrible destruction and killing have impacted us all and it is hard to understand how this could happen. However, when you understand that we are in a titanic spiritual struggle, many pieces fall into place.

The Bible assures us that Jesus will return to bring true justice to the earth and the Book of Matthew (Matthew 12:21) identifies Him as the one of whom the prophet Isaiah wrote 700 years before Jesus’ birth, when Isaiah wrote:

“Behold! My Servant whom I uphold,
My Elect One in whom My soul delights!
I have put My Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth justice to the nations.” (Isaiah 42:1).

We need to be alert, watch and pray, and put the current troubles into the broad sweep of biblical history. It is important to understand the times and know that there is a coming King, who will bring life and bring it abundantly, despite the troubles ahead.