Fighting Against God's Plan (1)

Many American Christians see Islam as a threat to their peace. They want to engage in war against the forces of Islam in the Middle East. Some are keen to bomb Iran. Others want to send the marines against ISIS in Syria and Iraq. They do not understand that they are fighting against God’s purposes.

God has allowed the revival of Islam as part of his plan for history. The seven seals of Revelation mark a transition from an old season to a new one. When Jesus opened the first of the seven seals, a man on a white horse carrying a bow rode forth (Rev 6:1-2). This horseman represents the revival and advance of Islam. (I explain this more fully at White Horseman).

The advance of Islam got underway with the Islamic Revolution in 1978 that overthrew a dictator that had been put in place by the CIA. This was also a fulfilment of Daniel’s vision of the two-horned ram (Dan 8:1-4).

Although this transitional event was part of God’s plan, the United States continued to engage in economic and political wars with Iran, but unsurprisingly they all failed. Jimmy Carter sent an invading force in attempt to rescue some hostages, but it crashed in the desert. In 1980, the US encouraged and supported an Iraqi invasion of Iran, but this failed too. Since then the US has continued a trade war against Iran but without success.

The US is currently using economic sanction to prevent Iran from refining uranium for nuclear power, something that they are entitled to do under international law. The US will fail in this effort too, because it needs Iranian support against ISIS in northern Iraq.

Each attempt to exert military power in the Middle East has strengthened the very forces that it has opposed. The reason that has happened is that they are fighting against God’s purpose. That will always end in failure, no matter how strong the military power.

The disastrous US invasion of Iraq not only destroyed the country, but established Iranian political influence in Iraq. The US did the dirty work to allow Iran to expand its power.

The US drone war against Yemen has brought Houti people to power in that Nation. They are a Shia group, which will more naturally align with Iran.

The persistent pointless US-supported, Israeli invasions of southern Lebanon lead to the emergence of Hezbollah as the most powerful political force in Lebanon. It is a Shia group sympathetic to Iran.

The US fight against Iran has failed, and actually made Iran into one of the most powerful influences in the Middle East. Fighting against a force that was released when Jesus opened a seal was a mistake. Fighting against God’s purposes is always unwise.

Iran will not invade Israel. It simply does not have the military capability to invade a country 3000 kilometres away across a desert. The possibility is only taken seriously by political leaders who need a bogeyman to justify their own political power and military expansion.

Iran will join with a military coalition that attacks the Beast in Israel in a battle that will be so bad that it will destroy the military and political power as a moral force forever. But that is well in the future.

Christian nations will not defeat the advance of Islam by engaging in a military war against it. The best defence against militant Islam is the gospel of Jesus preached in the power of the Spirit. The gospel will win whereas military and political power will lose with unexpected consequences.