Fighting Against God's Plan (2)
The advance of Islam, together with the other three horsemen of Revelation are events that God allows in order to expose the hubris of political and military power. The powerful nations of the world respond to these events by seizing immense political powers for themselves. By gorging on political power, they allow the Terrible Beast described in Revelation and Daniel to emerge.
The Roman Empire was not something odd. It was just a typical empire from that time, but more effective, more ruthless and more powerful than others. The Beast of Revelation will not be something different or unusual in its time. It will not be something totally new and different, like in the in the Left Behind series. The Beast will just be a very powerful nation that uses military, economic and political power to control events all over the world. It will gather an alliance of smaller nations to assist it accomplish its purposes.
Christians who understand what is happening will oppose the Beast, but they will not fight it with military or political power, because that would be playing into its strength, because in a political contest, power will always win. They will speak against it prophetically, and the response will be savage. Many Christians will be martyred for challenging the militaristic and political heart of the Beast.
These prophetic Christians will be among the martyrs John saw under the altar, crying out for justice, when the fifth seal was opened (Rev 6:9=11). The first four seals cause trouble that allows Beast to emerge. The opening of the fifth seal allows it to persecute Christians.
A state of Israel based on political and military power is not God’s purpose for his people. He wants Israel to export wisdom, peace and law (Is 2:2-4), not military hardware. The current militaristic state will have to be swept away before God’s purposes can be fulfilled.
The Israeli people who have chosen military and power for their salvation will get what they want. The Beast of Revelation, which is the ultimate political and military power will invade Israel, and they will get such a dose of extreme military and political power that they will hate it forever (Dan 11:13-16).
God has allowed ISIS to emerge in the Sunni areas of Iraq and Syria, so that the Beast will invade the Middle East. This will take a while to happen, but the identify of the Beast will be revealed, when it invades the Middle East to try and destroy ISIS. American Christians who want to send the marines in against ISIS, are implicitly wanting America to the Beast of Revelation.
Christians who are advocating military force against Iran and ISIS will find themselves operating as cheerleaders for the Beast as it emerges. They will find themselves operating as horned prophets, advocating their enemy and opposing the purposes of God. Many will get sucked into deception and will not realise until too late that they cannot escape.
6 comments:
Excellent post. Here in the US, support for military force has become almost an article of faith among the vast majority of evangelicals, and it's nearly impossible to find an American Protestant (aside from theological liberals) who cares one-thousandth as much for Palestinian Christians as for the Israeli army. I've lived in the West Bank, worshiped with Arab Christians every Sunday, and met with numerous church leaders in various denominations, and I have been unable to convince one living soul in the US that most of the suffering in the West Bank is caused by the Israeli army and not by Muslims, that whatever our politics or our eschatology might be--even if we are dispensationalists--the Body of Christ comes first. What could be simpler than that? It is as if Christians have lost their minds and have taken their hearts away from their brothers and sisters and given them to the forces of naked worldliness.
You say: Iran will not attack Israel.
That they will attack and the result of that attack is well prophesied in the Bible.
We know that Elam was part of the Mede & Persian empire, now modern Iran. Isaiah 21:2b, 22:6 both say how God will motivate them to fire nuke missiles and ground invade Israel by their proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah.
The result is: Jeremiah 49:35 and Ezekiel 32:24-25
Anon, You are right. American militarism is destroying Christianity in the Middle East. I understand that Iran now has more Christians then American-rescued Iraq. Pretty sad.
Jan, chopping up OT prophecies and twisting them to say what you want them to say is a dangerous game. Is 21:1-12 is a prophesy about the Desert by the Sea, which is probably Babylon, or perhaps Arabia, but definitely not Israel.
Jer 35:34-39 warns that Elam would disappear, and that happened long ago, but v.39 promised that Elam would be restored. That happened in 1979. v.38 says that the kingdom of God will be established in Elam. Christians should be praying for that, not trying to bomb them.
Ron, ignoring prophesies is a more foolish game. Iran WILL get nukes, what do you think they want them for?
Anon: I have lived in the West Bank and I totally refute your assertion that the IDF are responsible for the 'suffering' of the Palestinians. They are, in fact far better off under the Israeli's that their kinsmen in the nations near by.
Fun fact: the Jordanian penal code was written by a Christian law professor. I knew his son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren.
I also know a man who led a team of evangelical American missionaries in Iraq, and on a visit to his home church he was asked whether US military intervention had been a good thing. He said that he was no expert on politics, but that from his point of view as a minister, Iraqi Christians had been better off under Saddam. A member of the board of elders demanded that he apologize for making un-American remarks. Just shows you where priorities are.
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