The eye of the storm

By Hal Lindsey

This week, Christians celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ – a time traditionally set aside to reflect on the event that the Bible says “conquered death” and made provision for man’s reconciliation with God.

But this Resurrection Sunday promises to be another reminder that while death has been conquered in principle, in practice, it is still very much at work in trouble spots around the globe.

Osama bin Laden appears to be alive and well, as unconventional intelligence sources and analysis of conventional sources have suggested all along. He was spotted at an Afghani checkpoint less than two weeks ago, according to published news reports.

The Department of Justice continues to maintain American security forces at a heightened state of alert, suggesting they know something that they aren’t telling. Rep. Edward Markey of Massachusetts made headlines over the weekend outlining the sorry state of readiness at the nation’s nuclear and chemical facilities.
According to recent intelligence reports, Beijing concluded a secret armaments deal with Pakistan, obligating China to provide Islamabad with assistance with both missile and nuclear technology. Although ostensibly a U.S. “partner” in the war on terror, Pakistan is still an Islamic nation – with typically Islamic views regarding the existence of Israel. China’s links to Pakistan draw China, peripherally, at least, into the Middle East equation.

By virtue of its alliances and diplomatic agreements with most of the Arab belligerents in the Middle East, Moscow also finds itself drawn inexorably, deeper into the conflict, and invariably on the Arab side.

Pakistan and India remained poised on the brink of what could easily become a nuclear war in South Asia. India’s nuclear patron is Moscow, while Islamabad owes its nuclear breakthrough to China’s aid and patronage, further complicating the geopolitical situation there.

The U.S. war on terror has American troops in harm’s way in a half-dozen countries we know of, and probably many more we don’t know of. Some of those countries welcome the U.S. while many others resent it deeply.

We are planning to widen the war, certainly to Iraq, possibly to Iran – and, from there, nobody can say for sure.

To call the global security situation “tense” is an understatement of biblical proportions. There are many fuses around the planet that could ignite a global war.

And there, in the eye of the storm, sits Israel. Focus the microscope a little more closely and it sharpens on the tiny city of Jerusalem. Remove the Jews from the equation, put the Arabs in sole control of Jerusalem and its surroundings … and what happens?

Essentially, nobody has anything to fight over. Without the distraction of the Arab-Israeli conflict, defusing the tensions between Pakistan and India would be a global top priority. Since both sides face probable nuclear annihilation in the event of war, both sides would be amenable to discussion, if not for the distraction of the Islamic jihad against the West.

Bible prophecy hangs on the existence of Israel in the last days. The entire end-times scenario revolves around the existence of a Jewish state and the global effort to annihilate it.

Without the existence of Israel, the picture painted by the Bible for the last days would bear no resemblance to current events.

But the outline of events scheduled for the last days before the return of the Messiah demands a state of Israel. It demands a global opposition to its existence. It demands the world divide itself according to which side they take concerning Israel.

It demands that most international dialogue revolve around a city of 400,000 in the center of a country that would fit inside the state of Georgia seven times. It also demands that the majority of the international community would line up solidly against Israel.

Twenty-five hundred years ago, the Bible prophets made the restoration of Israel to the Land of Promise the key event that would set in motion a precise pattern of political, ideological and diplomatic events that would lead the world to the brink of total disaster.

God predicted, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went … For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land.” (Ezekiel 36:22-24)

It is at this time that the Bible predicts a global war will break out because of a dispute over Jerusalem between Israel and the surrounding nations, which are today all Muslim. This war will become so catastrophic that only the return of the Messiah, Jesus, will save the world from annihilation.

The nations, leaders, political alliances and military objectives that are involved in these prophecies were impossible prior to Israel’s rebirth in 1948. But today, the particulars of these prophecies read like today’s headlines.


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Hal Lindsey

Hal Lindsey is the best-selling non-fiction writer alive today. Among his 20 books are "Late Great Planet Earth," his follow-up on that explosive best-seller, "Planet Earth: The Final Chapter" and "Everlasting Hatred: The Roots of Jihad." See his website The Hal Lindsey Report. Read more of Hal Lindsey's articles here.