Another Step Toward War with Iran

Last month the Israelis conducted war games in the Mediterranean that were seen by experts as a practice war with Iran. This came on the heels of an Israeli cabinet minister's statement that they would have "no choice" but to attack Iran if America does not do it first.

So yesterday the Iranians responded by test-firing some medium and long-range missiles of their own, just to show that if someone attacks them, they do have the capability of responding with some serious bite.

"Israel's military sent warplanes over the eastern Mediterranean for a large military exercise in June that U.S. officials described as a possible rehearsal for a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, which the West fears are aimed at producing atomic weapons.

"Iran says its nuclear program is geared only toward generating electricity, not weapons.

"The Israeli exercise was widely interpreted as a show of force as well as a practice on skills needed to execute a long-range strike mission.

"Shaul Mofaz, an Israeli Cabinet minister, set off an international uproar last month by saying in a published interview that Israel would have 'no choice' but to attack Iran if it doesn't halt its nuclear program. Mofaz is a former military chief and defense minister, and has been Israel's representative in a strategic dialogue on Iran with U.S. officials."

Quotation from:

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/iran-test-fires-9-missiles-to-show-might/20080709062209990001?icid=200100397x1205453193x1200253567

The U.S. government is already preparing for war with Iran, according to a CNN report:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/06/29/us.iran/index.html

We seem to be in the final days of preparation before the final act begins, wherein Persia (Iran) in some way brings down Babylon. The arms of silver are about to overthrow the head of gold (Daniel 2) in a repeat of biblical prophecy. This does not necessarily mean that Iran will come out unscathed, or even that it will win the war as such. It is just that every military event has consequences, many of them unintended. The unintended consequences are the ones that God has hidden from military planners, because these hidden consequences are the ones that He has intended--usually for purposes of divine judgment.

To me, all of this is simply the outworking of my 1986 vision of the two gulf wars, which I wrote about in my book by that title (posted online). As I saw it, the ultimate consequence was the destruction of Jerusalem. Isaiah 29:5, 6 seems to indicate that it will ultimately be nuclear, though it may not begin that way. Things have a way of escalating as desperation sets in on either side.

When the Israelis developed its nuclear program in the 1960's, it became only a matter of time before their neighbors would do the same. That time has already come. I don't know if the Iranians actually have nuclear weapons, but Howard Blum's book, The Gold of Exodus, claims that the Saudis developed a nuclear arsenal in the 1980's at their military base at Jabal al-lawz, the site of the original Mount Sinai in Arabia.

Perhaps the Iranian situation will put the spark to the tinder that will enflame the entire Middle East. Keep in mind also that the prophecy of the destruction of Damascus in Isaiah 17:1 has yet to be fulfilled. It would seem from this that Syria will be involved in the coming conflict, assuming that this prophecy would be fulfilled at the same time as Isaiah's prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem.

Because the evangelical Christians generally believe that the "Rapture" will occur beforehand, so that the Church is able to escape these problems; and because they believe that Jesus will return and save the Jews from destruction at the last minute--you need to know the real story, so that you can explain it to them when they realize that it didn't happen in the way that they were taught. There will be millions of Christians scared to death and in danger of losing their faith altogether. Someone needs to have the answers ahead of time in order to be part of the solution, rather than the problem.

Now is the time of spiritual preparation. That is the most important kind of preparation that you can do, because in that day, truth will be priceless.