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The Middle East today is a cauldron of turmoil, and much of that turmoil has been stirred up by a mysterious group called ISIS that seems to have come out of nowhere. What is this group? What are they all about? And how do they relate to what the Bible says about Israel and the Arabs in the end times?
Identifying ISIS
ISIS is a Sunni Muslim group that has transformed rapidly from a terrorist group into a full fledged army. And I mean rapidly!
The group was founded by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He is a recluse, and so he keeps to himself. Likely he's afraid of assassination. He never stays in the same place per night. He's moving around all the time. He's only made two public appearances since he formed ISIS. Because al-Baghdadi is a real recluse, there is very, very little known about this particular man.
What we do know about al-Baghdadi is that he became the leader of an Al Qaeda group that was called ISI, standing for the Islamic State of Iraq, because he began to launch terror attacks across Iraq with the idea of taking over Iraq and turning it into a pure Muslim State under Sharia Law. In 2013, he ventured into Syria and he changed the name of his group to ISIS, standing for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. He later changed it again to ISIL, meaning the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant. Levant is a French word which means the Middle East. So, you can see how he is expanding his reach. Al-Baghdadi started out with Iraq, then went into Iraq and Syria, and then expanded into Iraq and the entire Middle East.
Al-Baghdadi's most important public appearance was in June 2014 where he made a public speech and for the first time declared the establishment of the Islamic State. So, today he calls his organization IS — I-S — for the Islamic State.
What Motivates ISIS
Al-Baghdadi's pronouncement was the most important pronouncement that had been made by a Muslim in many, many years. Keep in mind that no Muslim Caliphate, meaning no Muslim Empire, has existed since the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in 1922. When he declared an Islamic State, he was instituting an Islamic caliphate. Radical Muslims all over the world became excited. They began to flood into the Middle East because they wanted to be part of the establishment of the next Muslim caliphate. In building the next Muslim empire, these Muslims hope their's will be the empire that will take over the entire world.
The real motivation that drives ISIS is of course religion, specifically the commands of the Quran. These are the verses right out of the Muslim holy book that they live by: "To fight non-Muslims until you exterminate all other religions, leaving Islam as the one and only religion in the world."
What are they doing? They are following the dictates of their holy book. Mohammad is quoted in the Hadith as saying, "I have been ordered to fight with the people until they say, 'None has the right to be worshipped except Allah.'"
ISIS has become very quickly identified by their use of indescribable, widespread, radical terror, and this is all in accordance with the Quran. In addition to military force, the Quran orders Muslims to terrorize non-Muslims. Sura 8:60 reads, "Strike terror in the hearts of the enemies of Allah and in your enemies." Allah then assures his followers that he will help them do this: "I will instill terror in the hearts of unbelievers. Smite them above their necks, and smite all their fingertips off them. It is not you who slay them it is Allah."
Concerning jihad, or Holy War, Mohammad says the Quran guarantees Paradise to those who fight for Allah. In fact, in the Muslim religion, the only guarantee you have that you will go to Heaven is if you die in combat fighting for Allah. Otherwise, there is no guarantee whatsoever. Even Mohammad said he wasn't sure whether he would go to Heaven or not.
Dying for Allah is presented as better than living. If you are killed or die in the way of Allah, forgiveness and mercy from Allah are far better than amassing all worldly wealth. It is a great thing to die for Allah.
Martyrs are also promised a sensual and luxurious life in Paradise. In short, the Muslim paradise is one of eternal decadence.
Purposes of ISIS
You'd be surprised at what their number one goal is. Their number one goal always has been to overthrow the secular rulers of the Islamic states. That's why Egypt is number one on their hit list. ISIS wants to take out the secular leaders of Egypt and put someone in there who is an Ayatollah, meaning one who is a cleric. They want to take out all of the secular leaders of all the Islamic countries, and that they believe will then produce their Islamic caliphate.
ISIS's number two goal is to take back the land of Palestine for Allah while exterminating Israel in the process. One of the reasons why they are so determined to do that is because the Quran teaches that if you ever conquer a land for Allah it becomes his. Allah only owns the land Muslims conquer. Should they lose that land, Muslims have an absolute obligation to go back and conquer it again. That is interesting, for the Bible says the whole world belongs to our God, but according to the Quran, the only thing that belongs to Allah is what has been conquered by the sword.
The Ayatollah Khomeini argued that the reason that the Arabic Muslim countries have fallen into such disrepair in the 18th and 19th Centuries simply was because they sat on the sidelines and allowed Israel to be established, therefore Islam has an obligation to destroy Israel.
ISIS's number three goal is to conquer the rest of the world for Allah, and that includes of course the United States of America. Those are the three purposes of ISIS.
What ISIS Respects
The Arab world respects only strength. Only strength!
You don't get peace through appeasement. As Winston Churchill once said, "Appeasement never works because when you go down that road sooner or later you are going to be eaten by the crocodile." That's exactly what happens with appeasement.
Do you remember Britian's Prime Minister Chamberlain who tried to appease Hitler during WWII? Do you know what Chamberlain said on his death bed? He said, "It would have all been alright if Hitler hadn't lied to me." Well what do you expect Hitler to do?
Right now the U.S. is negotiating with Iran. What do we expect Iran to do? They are going to lie to us. They don't care anything about truth. They don't care anything about honor or valor. They are going to do whatever they can to get ahead and produce a nuclear bomb so that they can drop it on Israel.
The Fate of ISIS
I can say with confidence what is going to happen to them because the Bible makes it very clear.
Psalm 83 indicates that Israel will be attacked in the end times by a coalition of Muslim states that share a common border with the Jewish State. In other words, those Arab States that have a common border with Israel are all going to attack Israel in the end times.
Psalm 83 says the bordering nations will attack Israel for the purpose of wiping out the nation. These nations would today include Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
So what's going to happen? Psalm 83 doesn't tell us, but other verses in the Bible tell us. Zechariah 12:6 reveals, "That in the end times Israel will be like a firepot among pieces of wood, and a flaming torch among sheaves, so that they will consume on the right hand on the left all the surrounding peoples. In that day the Lord God [Yahweh] will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And the one who is feeble among them that day will be like David, and the House of David will be like God, like the Angel of the Lord before them."
Tiny Israel, the size of the state of New Jersey, is going to be like David against Goliath in the end times. Zechariah 12:9 continues, "In that day I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem."
There is no doubt ISIS's fate is already settled. God is going to destroy them sooner or later if they try to come against Israel. It's probably during that time that the prophecy is going to be fulfilled that is mentioned twice in the Bible — Isaiah 17 and Jeremiah 49. It says that in one of these wars of the end times Damascus will be destroyed and will never be built again. I suspect that Damascus will start hitting Israel with missiles that contain poisonous gas. And, I suspect that the Israelis will respond with nuclear weapons blowing Damascus off the face of the earth. We know for sure that Damascus will cease to exist.
Then will come the War of Gog and Magog as mentioned in Ezekiel 38-39. Here is what I think is going to happen. This is just a speculation, but here is what I think is going to happen. After the War of Psalm 83, when the Jewish IDF's military force conquers all the Arab forces, the Arab nations will be in a panic. They will turn to their natural ally, which is Russia, and they will call for Russia to come to their aid. Russia will come down with all of its current allies, which happen to be Turkey, Iran, and others like that, for they're all Muslim States. They will come.
So, first we have the war of the inner ring of Islamic nations, and now we have the war of the outer ring of states around Israel, and that's called the War of Gog and Magog. So great will be the invasion of Israel at that time by Russia and all of its allies that they will be well beyond anything that the Israeli forces can handle. And so, we are told that God Himself will handle it. We are told that God will destroy all these armies supernaturally upon the mountains of Israel.
God is going to handle these Muslim nations. They don't have a chance!
To read the full article, visit The Christ in Prophecy Journal.
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