Pray for Peace; Prepare for War—end-time prophecy and the Middle East

Old City of Jerusalem, with Muslim Gold Mosque in background.

 

 

End-Time Prophecy

 

By becoming aware of end-time prophecies regarding Israel and the Middle
East, we can be more effective in prayer and action.

 

The Bible gives us insight into certain future events, as yet unseen, not to
frighten us, but to forewarn and prepare us.  

 

“The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and
pay the penalty.”  (Proverbs 27:12)

 

We might look at current events from a political or an economic viewpoint,
but only when we bring in the Word of God do we have a three
dimensional perspective.
 

 

 

 

 

Judgment on Elam

 

“This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning
Elam [Iran].”  (Jeremiah 49:34)

 

The Prophet Jeremiah gave a warning about a coming judgment on Elam,
which is an ancient name for the modern nation of Iran.

 

As a prophet, Jeremiah’s track record is impeccable.  He foresaw the New
Covenant as well as the destruction of Judah by Babylon.

 

For this word, the prophet was arrested and thrown into a dungeon.  Back
then, like today, people preferred false prophets who declared peace and
prosperity, but Jeremiah spoke the truth even though it was unpopular.

 

Just like Jeremiah, our calling is to tell the truth, not to make people feel
happy by saying all will be well.

 

This prophecy is for the ‘end times’.  The fact that Israel was re-born in
1948 is proof that we are living in the last days.  According to Jeremiah,
God will break the military and political power of Iran and scatter its people
to all nations.
 

 

Muslim clerics at an Iranian missile test site.

 

“See, I will break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might.  I will bring
against Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven; I will scatter
them to the four winds, and there will not be a nation where Elam’s exiles
do not go.”  (Jeremiah 49:35–36)

 

God’s judgment against Elam (Iran) is specifically directed towards its
government leaders, as Jeremiah also says that God will establish His
sovereign rule in the midst of Iran and in the end will restore them.

 

God’s purpose in judgment is never vindictive but always redemptive
in purpose–in order that all people of every race, tongue and tribe will
come to know that He is the Lord Adonai.

 

“‘I will shatter Elam before their foes, before those who want to kill them; I

will bring disaster on them, even my fierce anger,’ declares the Lord.  ‘I will
pursue them with the sword until I have made an end of them.  I will set my
throne in Elam and destroy her king and officials,’ declares the Lord.  ‘Yet
I will restore the fortunes of Elam in days to come,’ declares the Lord."
(Jeremiah 49:37-39)

 

 

Iranian protesters gather in the Piccadilly Gardens area of England,
waving flags and holding banners to protest against the ongoing hangings
of Iranian citizens and the "dictatorship" of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

 

 

Tyranny and the Iranian Exile

 

“I will bring against Elam [Iran] the four winds from the four quarters of
heaven; I will scatter them to the four winds….”  (Jeremiah 49:35–36)

 

Some consider that this Iranian exile prophesied in Jeremiah has already begun.

 

In 1979, many Iranians fearing the radical regime of the Islamic Revolution
fled the country.  

 

Approximately five million Iranians now live in exile, scattered across the
world, with one million of them now residing in the United States.

 

Radical Islam has brought a horrible evil to the people of Iran.  The country
is now characterized by political executions, arrests, imprisonments and
torture.  Drug and alcohol abuse has skyrocketed.  Freedom of speech is
suppressed.

 

The country has been devastated by poverty as the leadership hoards the
wealth for their own selves and spends huge sums on building their military
forces and developing nuclear weaponry.

 

This has triggered economic sanctions that make it even harder for the
common people of Iran to survive.  
 

 

Three Generations: Iranian women in Zanjan, Northern Iran, where
women's rights are limited.

 

 

Anti-Israel Stance Brings Judgment 

 

Today, Iranians live under an evil tyranny.

 

That tyranny has a spiritual aspect, since the people are trapped in a system
that is taking them away from God.  Iran is one of the most fiercely ‘anti-
Israel’ and ‘anti-Yeshua/Jesus’ nations on the planet.

 

Christianity is outlawed in Iran, and the Christians there are persecuted.

 

Daily, the leadership of Iran publicly broadcasts vile threats and curses
against Israel and the Jewish people.  By doing so, they are opposing God
and bringing their nation under a curse.

 

God has promised, “I will bless those that bless you (Israel) and will curse
those that curse you.”  (Genesis 12:3)

 

 

The president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has had a
long-time policy of refusing to recognize Israel as a
legitimate state, and has urged Palestinians to continue
armed resistance to Israel.  He has publically declared
that Israel should be wiped off the face of the map.

 

 

Move of God: Iranians Come to Faith in Yeshua

 

We must pray that God will save our enemies, not just judge them.  Indeed,
God is moving among Iranians.

 

Presently, over one million Shiite Muslim Iranians have come to faith in
Messiah Yeshua (Jesus).  

 

One Iranian Muslim convert, Hormoz Shariat, called the ‘Billy Graham’ of
the Muslim world, is a research scientist with a PhD in computer engineering.

 

He used to be a radical Muslim who shouted on the streets of Iran, “Death
to Israel!  Death to America!” 
 

 

Anti-Shah demonstrators marching near a shopping area in Tehran on
December 27, 1978.

 

In 1979, he and his wife (an “American Christian” who had converted to
Islam and moved to Iran) came to the United States to pursue a higher
education in graduate school.  Shariat, however, felt empty spiritually and
trapped in a loveless marriage.

 

Distraught, and on the verge of divorce, he began to study the Koran.
When he found few answers there, he began to study the Bible as well.

 

The Lord was also at work in his wife, and she became a born-again
Believer first, through people who shared the Gospel with her, including
the janitor in her building, who spoke very poor English.

 

Shariat was astonished by the change he witnessed in his wife.
 

 

Hormoz Shariat

 

Even though coming to faith in Yeshua was a difficult road for him because

he tried to find all the answers intellectually, he too eventually became a
born-again follower of Yeshua.

 

With a passion to reach their own people, they founded a television ministry
in which over 250 million Iranians have given their lives to God through
Yeshua since December 2001.

 

God is doing something great even in our worst enemy!  He is calling to the
individual hearts of Iranians.

 

God loves Israel, but He also loves the people of Iran.  Nevertheless, Iran
as a nation seems bent on war with Israel, and God will deal with them
as a nation.

 

 

Israel is surrounded by hostile Arab neighbors threatening her extinction.

 

Iran has the oldest Jewish Diaspora in the world with perhaps 25,000 Jews,
the second largest Jewish population in the Middle East after Israel.  Had it
not been for persecution and forced conversion, there would be more Jews
in Iran.  Thirteen Jews have been executed in Iran since the Islamic Revolution. 

 

Jews have lived in this area of the world since the 6th century BCE (First Temple).

 

To reach Iranians everywhere, the Messianic Prophecy Bible will translated into Farsi.

 

  

The Looming War with Iran

 

“The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and
the heavens will tremble.  But the Lord will be a refuge for His people, a
stronghold for the people of Israel.”  (Joel 3:16) 

 

Please join us in praying for the protection of Israel in the coming war with Iran.

 

At the same time that we pray for peace, we must also prepare
for war.

 

These two are not mutually exclusive or contradictory—we need to do both:
Pray for peace and prepare for war.  

 

Each of us, especially in Israel, needs to seek God for specifics as to what
we can do to prepare for coming events.

 

If it's a biological war, our gas masks will do little and if it's a nuclear war,
nothing can protect us, except angels diverting the nuclear warheads.

 

Pray that Israelis would turn to God and to Messiah, Yeshua, in the
time of Jacob’s Trouble.  
 

 

 

 

“He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”  (Psalm 121:4)