The Spiritual Battle Heats Up in the Middle East

I am deeply troubled by what is happening in Iraq right now.  It would appear that all the American men and women who gave their lives so sacrificially, while many others gave of their arms, legs, eyes, and ears for the cause of Iraqi Freedom, may have done so with futility.  Let's be clear about one thing: this is not a struggle for the control of Iraq, but for the establishment of an Islamic Empire in the Middle East, patterned like those of the Caliphates of old.

The major antagonist is known as ISIS - The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.  However, it is also known as ISIL - The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.  Now the word Levant refers to the area that exists between Egypt and Iraq; in other words, if one looks at a map, the Levant includes all the lands of the ancient Assyrian Empire.  Today that would include: Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, parts of Turkey, and Egypt.  The goal of ISIL is not just the creation of an Islamic Caliphate within the borders of Syria and Iraq, but to also include all of the Middle East. 

Just today we have learned that ISIL or ISIS - no matter the name, they are one in the same - has captured control of the main border crossing from Syria into Jordan and from Syria into Iraq.  It is that crossing from Syria into Jordan that presents some huge concerns, not only for King Hussein and the people of Jordan, but also for Prime Minister Netanyahu and the people of Israel.  Since the Yom Kippur War in 1973, and exemplified by Jordan's treaty with Israel in 1994, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has achieved relative stability - at least by Middle East standards.  If one looks at a map of the Middle East, three of Israel's neighbors have either gone through or are going through times of civil war and/or unrest: Lebanon - has been in a state of civil war for the past three decades; Syria - has been riled by civil war for the past three years; and Egypt - where, only through military intervention, was a civil war prevented.  That only leaves Saudi Arabia and Jordan as neighbors of Israel with relative stability. 

Now, we know that the intent and purpose of radical Islamic extremists is the destruction of Israel.  That is clear from the charter of Hamas (Gaza) and Hezbollah (Lebanon).  Few remember that it is also clearly stated in the charter of the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) of which the present PA (Palestinian Authority) is a part.  Although promised during the Oslo Accords, that phrase within the PLO charter has never been removed. 

An article, written by F. Michael Maloof today at the WND website, is most alarming.  The article can be found at www.wnd.com/2014/06/iraq-invaders-threaten-nuke-attack-on-israel.  "The well-organized army of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, claims it has access to nuclear weapons and a will to use them to 'liberate' Palestine from Israel as part of its 'Islamic Spring,' according to a WND source in the region.  Franklin Lamb, an international lawyer based in Beirut and Damascus, said the move is part of the ISIS aim of creating a caliphate under strict Islamic law, stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to Iraq. ... Lamb said ISIS can do what no other Arab, Muslim or Western backers of resistance have been able to accomplish.  He quoted the ISIS member as saying, 'All countries in this region are playing the sectarian card just as they have long played the Palestinian card, but the difference with ISIS is that we are serious about Palestine and they are not.  Tel Aviv will fall as fast as Mosul when the time is right.'"  And from where would these ISIS fighters get their nuclear weapons?  According to the article, one source might be Pakistan, home to more than 30 terrorist groups; a second source might be Saudi Arabia, which has threatened to get its own nuclear weapons if Iran has those same weapons. 

Friends, if Baghdad falls to the ISIS rebels, I believe a greater threat will hang over the entire Middle East region than when Saddam Hussein was in power.  ISIS will not stop with Baghdad.  They will want Amman.  They will want Beirut.  They will want Damascus.  And their eventual target will be Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.  They view themselves as preparing the way for the Twelfth Iman whose coming will initiate a new Islamic Caliphate throughout the region.  Dedicated Muslim fighters from around the world are joining ISIS fighters there in Syria and Iraq.  And, should they return to their home countries, they will carry with them that hatred for anyone that will not willingly bend to their Islamic intentions. 

This is not the time to be lulled into sleep.  This is not the time to be apathetic and pretend that what is happening half-a-world away will not impact you. except for perhaps at the gas pumps.  Friends, this is a battle between the spiritual forces that seek to control this world.  In the Book of Daniel, this is seen as the battle between Michael and the Prince of Persia (read Daniel 10).  Paul describes it in Ephesians as the struggle with the spiritual forces of darkness (read Ephesians 6).  Whatever you call it, it is representative of that final battle that will occur at the end of the age where the forces under the Antichrist will march defiantly against Jerusalem and the Messiah Himself (read Revelation 19).  It is time we have our spiritual houses in order, for the coming of the Lord is drawing ever closer.