 Introduction: Worlds in Turmoil
You need to understand what is prophesied to yet happen in the Middle
East. Whether you realize it or not, or understand it or not, events
there are destined to affect the lives of every person on earth.
Read this informative booklet to understand these prophecies.
Where were you on Sept. 11, 2001 If you're like most people,
the horrifying images and emotions of that day are permanently etched
into your mind. Who can forget the sight of a giant airliner slamming
into the World Trade Center, the trapped men and women plunging to their
deaths, the collapse of the towers and the cloud of pulverized concrete
and debris that covered Manhattan
The awful events of that day changed our world forever. At the beginning
of a new century, it heralded a new age of mass terrorism directed at
civilians. America's sense of security—that it could never
happen on its shores—was forever shattered. Other nations quickly
realized that similar catastrophes could strike their cities. Ever since,
terrorism has become a very real threat for countless millions around
the globe.
That day's horror also catapulted the Middle East to the forefront
on news programs around the world. Suddenly, what was happening thousands
of miles away could affect people regardless of where they lived. A region
that, to many, had seemed irrelevant now became the focus of attention
as nations everywhere awakened to the reality of how the Middle East
impacts us all.
The reality quickly came home that problems thousands of miles away
can have a greater impact on us than decisions made by our own local
or national governments. The fall of the Twin Towers had an immediate
effect on the American economy far greater than any decision made on
nearby Wall Street, with an estimated $100 billion loss in direct damages
and $2 trillion in short-term stock market losses.
The Middle East affects us all
 But Sept. 11 was not the start of terrorism, Islamic fundamentalism
or conflict in the Middle East. As part of a historic continuum, it was
simply the date on which the accumulated problems of thousands of years
finally reached America's shores.
Considering how much the Middle East now dominates the news, it's
hard to believe that at the beginning of the last century the Middle
East "was of only marginal concern" to the Western world. "The
region had become a political backwater," according to historian
David Fromkin, author of A Peace to End All Peace (1989, p.
24), a book about the birth of the modern Middle East. "Few Europeans
of Churchill's generation knew or cared what went on in the languid
empires of the Ottoman Sultan or the Persian Shah," he notes (p.
25).
A century later, however, nations around the world are all affected
by what happens in this volatile region. The global economy runs on oil,
most of which lies under the sand of Middle Eastern deserts. Oil is the
lifeblood of Western economies and affluence, and a plentiful and cheap
supply is essential to continued Western prosperity. This dependence
on oil has fundamentally altered the Western nations' relationship
with the region, transforming it into a strategically vital part of the
world.
A second fundamental change has taken place in the Middle East in the
last 100 years—the creation of many new nations, which has vastly
complicated the politics of the area. The establishment of one country
in particular has led to a cycle of violence and upheaval that is seemingly
without end. Yet, surprisingly, the Bible prophesied the establishment
of this nation thousands of years ago and predicted the growing conflict
that would follow its rebirth.
A peace to end all peace
World War I was often called "the war to end all wars." At
the close of the peace conference following the worst conflict in history,
Archibald Wavell, an officer who served with the British Army in Palestine
and was later promoted to field marshal, prophetically declared, "After 'the
war to end war' they seem to have been pretty successful in Paris
at making a 'Peace to end Peace'" (Fromkin, p. 5).
Before World War I the Middle East was dominated by the Ottoman Empire,
the empire of the Turks who ruled over all the lands whose names are
now so familiar to us. The countries that are now Turkey, Lebanon, Syria,
Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, Israel and others were all ruled by a declining
empire that had once also presided over vast lands in both North Africa
and southeastern Europe. Within this empire different peoples lived in
relative harmony. About 40 percent of the people were Turks and 40 percent
Arabs, with the remainder a mixture of different ethnic groups—Armenians
and Jews being the most numerous of these.
It might have continued this way were it not for World War I. At the
onset of war, it was not clear which side the Ottoman Empire would support.
Both the British and the Germans courted the Turks. Finally the sultan
opted to support the German kaiser, a fatal decision that ultimately
led to the birth of many new nations—and wars seemingly without
end. One of the nations that eventually came into being was the Jewish
state of Israel, complicating the geopolitical situation in the region
and destined to affect all nations on earth.
What few realize is this one crucial fact: After 1,900 years, the restoration
of a Jewish homeland in the Middle East was necessary to fulfill ancient
prophecies you can find in the Bible. This region, once a "political
backwater" of little or no interest to the Western powers, is destined
to become the center of the final global crisis that will usher in cataclysmic
events leading humanity to the brink of extinction—and ultimately
change our world forever.
In the following pages you'll learn the astounding story of the
past, present and future of this crucial region that was laid out thousands
of years ago—the story of the Middle East in Bible prophecy. |
