Middle East Update

                Every conservative Christian writer who covers Mid-East affairs, at some point, scans the news for some item that might be shown to be relevant to the conservative interpretation of prophecy.   This, because it is where we get most of our knowledge of the things going on in that part of the world, but also because the news is full of stories that lend reality to the hope of the expected and prophesied peace treaty between Israel and “many,” even though violence rages daily.  We know that the world is concerned about this region, and wants to find a just and workable solution to the bitter anger that divides the peoples of that part of the world.  We read or watch the news with an eye toward that which might show a bit more clearly that we are fast approaching the end of the age. 

The danger in that is the risk of becoming a sensationalist, one who twists current events habitually so that they fit in some unnatural way into the overall skein of prophecy, lending immediacy where it is not really found.  Those whose work revolves solely, or almost solely, around prophetic themes follow this practice more than others.  It lends a momentary hope, but then, when immediacy turns into the empty passage of time, disillusionment darkens the mind and heart.  There is sufficient evidence in the simple facts of prophecy, especially when they are compared with the current geo-political stage, to make every saint’s hope alive and exciting.

One of the pitfalls of watching the daily turn of events in the Middle East for “signs” is that hope has to be regenerated each morning.  If the news is bad, then that is taken as a bad thing, and the day is made less hopeful, and not more hopeful.  What is important to consider is the fact that the prophecies have recently — within the last sixty years or so — begun to unfold, with the charter being granted Israel as a sovereign state in 1948.  It is an ongoing process.  At no other time has God opened the fulfillment of prophecies, and then stopped them in mid-stroke.  He will not this time.  The process has begun, and we are marching inexorably, and at an increasing rate of speed, toward, not Armageddon, but heaven.  The certainty of our hope is not in the daily details, but in the fact that the process has begun, and is advancing daily.

The progress of the prophecies concerning the end of this age received a big boost, when Anwar Sadat made peace with Menachem Begin.  That isolated treaty between Egypt and Israel was not an event, but a process.  Just like everything prophetic, it occurred over a period of time.  The process received another shot in the arm with the Oslo Accords, and again, in the tireless work that President Clinton poured into it during both his terms in the White House.  There are major steps forward, hurdles overcome, road maps that lead to roadblocks, high points and low points during the process.  These we note with enthusiasm, not because their occurrence is significant in themselves, but because they are signals to us that important things are happening in geo-diplomacy that might in a moment’s time lead to our departure in the rapture.  The treaty that Daniel spoke of will come as an unexpected breakthrough, however, not as the conclusion of some protracted round of negotiations.

Many Christians leaders have attempted to identify specific details, such as the bar code being the mark of the beast.  Now, the currently fashionable mark is the computer chip implanted under the skin.  The fact is, we do not know, and we do not need to know.  What we need to know is that the devil is going to give some world leader a plan for peace that will be subtly sinister, but will be accepted by universal acclamation, and before that peace plan is ratified in the Israeli Knesset, the Church will be translated.  Who knows?  Perhaps it will be a bar code imprinted on a computer chip. 

By stepping back and taking a broader view of this process, our hope becomes less frenetic and more assured.  We have the peaceful assurance that God is working, even now, through the events that shape the process that leads to our homecoming.  It is entirely possible that the man who is to broker that treaty is in office somewhere right now.  The issue is not that somebody in Gaza fired a rocket into Israel yesterday, or that  Secretary of State Rice is meeting with Middle Eastern leaders.  The issue is that the prophecies are unfolding, and they will not stop.  We have every reason to hope and believe that we will be alive at the rapture of the Church.

It is interesting to note that Israel's Cabinet has voted to include a Muslim among its numbers.  Galeb Magadla is a "minister without portfolio," which means that he hasn't any regular, official duties and responsibilities, but he is expected to be used to attempt to bridge the gap between the government and those Muslim towns and villages that feel they do not receive the support from the government that mainly Jewish  areas receive.

It appears that Ehud Olmert will not retain his post of Prime Minister after Israel's next election.  His popularity plummeted after last year's war with Hezbollah, and he has not recovered.  Most Israeli citizens feel that Israel ought to have fought the war more aggressively and decisively.  Many pundits believe that Benjamin Netanyahu will regain the office he lost in 1999.  He was Prime Minister from 1996 to 1999.  He had served various positions in the government, and the hawkish statesman has said publicly that he will seek the office again. 

Ultimately, it doesn't matter at all who occupies that office.  Israel is going to do the things that she is prophesied to do, and she will make whatever political and territorial concessions she has to make in order to arrange "peace" with her neighbors.