After the train bombings in the Indian city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) on July 11, there was fairly extensive reporting on the terror attacks in the Lansing State Journal, the daily newspaper that serves the state capital of Michigan. The chief suspects, according to the Associated Press article, were "Kashmiri separatists."

Not once were the words Muslim or Islamic mentioned, in keeping with the tenets of political correctness that still maintain that all religions are equally valid and that Islam is really a religion of peace! However, Kashmiri separatists are all Muslims, fighting to break away from predominantly Hindu India and unite with the Islamic nation of Pakistan.

At the same time, it should be noted that a number of trains were blown up in Mumbai, all within 11 minutes. Simultaneous attacks are a trademark of al-Qaeda. These attacks on the rapid transit system in India's financial capital are very similar to previous attacks in Madrid in 2004 and in London in 2005.

Following the July 11 attacks, security was heightened in New York, America's financial capital. It appears increasingly as if al-Qaeda is targeting financial centers in an attempt to bring down the Western financial system. Mumbai, the financial center at the heart of one of the world's fastest-growing economies, was the most likely target in India for this reason.

The bombings all took place in the rush hour, again copying those in Madrid and London, indicating the bombings are the work of a regional al-Qaeda affiliate, as Muslim militants around the world increasingly work together to achieve the common goal of Islamic domination.

The attacks in Mumbai were just one incident that hit the headlines for one day in what is increasingly being called "The Long War," a conflict seemingly without end.

Increasingly, it appears that the radical followers of Islam are winning against a Western world that is more and more divided, both between the various governments and also within the individual countries themselves.

The spread of radical Islam is becoming more evident, with Somalia being the latest country to fall under the control of fundamentalists.

Iraq is undergoing civil strife between its two main factions, the followers of Sunni Islam who supported the previous leader, Saddam Hussein, and the majority Shia Muslims who receive much of their support from Iran.

In neighboring Iran, a theocratic government is threatening to develop nuclear weapons to rid the world of Israel. Its president promises a "real holocaust" against the United States and Britain. Iran supports the anti-Western regime in Syria and backs Hamas in the Palestinian territories.

Iran also supports Hezbollah, the group whose increasing rocket attacks on Israeli cities resulted in an Israeli counterattack in Lebanon. This now means that there are three ongoing major conflicts against radical Islam—Israel/Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Commenting on the international nature of the threat from radical Islam, syndicated columnist Cal Thomas wrote: "The turmoil in the Middle East will not stay in the Middle East. This is a world war and the first shots have already been fired in Europe and America" ("Foes Want Israel Gone," Lansing State Journal, July 24, 2006).

He added: "The latest upheaval in the Middle East may subside but the objectives of those whose aim is Israel's destruction will not. The enemies of Israel, Europe and America believe this is all-out war."

Further east, it is becoming more clear that Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai controls very little of his country. The Taliban, ousted by U.S.-led coalition forces four years ago, are now back in force and, together with various warlords, control most of the country. The United States has redeployed many of its forces from the country, but U.S. allies Britain, Canada and Holland have filled the gap. These three countries are suffering heavy casualties in another war without end.

Homegrown terrorism

Meanwhile, at home, these same countries are worried about further domestic terror attacks, their homeland security agencies uncovering plot after plot. It can't be long before they fail to uncover plans for another terrorist attack and ordinary people suffer again at the hands of religious fanatics, intent on bringing about a clash of civilizations between the West and Islam.

The attacks in Mumbai came a little over a year after the subway bombings in London.

July 7 was the one-year anniversary of the attacks that killed 52 innocent people. Increasingly concerned that the perpetrators of the 2005 attacks were all British born, fairly affluent Muslims, "no less than eight surveys of Muslim opinion in the United Kingdom" have been conducted within the last 12 months (Daniel Pipes, "Trouble in Londonstan," New York Sun, July 11, 2006.)

There are nearly 2 million Muslims living in the United Kingdom, out of a total population of about 60 million. Fifty years ago, only a handful of Muslims inhabited Great Britain. Lax immigration policies and an emphasis on multiculturalism have encouraged the development of one of the world's most diverse societies, a condition currently being exploited by militant Islamists.

These surveys show that the vast majority of Muslims in the United Kingdom identify first and foremost with their religion. Only 7 percent in one poll and 12 percent in another said they identified more with Britain than with Islam.

Incredibly, 7 percent endorsed suicide attacks on civilians in the United Kingdom. Of even greater concern, 12 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds, the ones most likely to be suicide bombers, approved of this. Between 16 percent and 21 percent approved of suicide attacks on the British military, while 28 percent of those aged 18 to 24 approved. One percent, or 16,000 people, said they would be willing to blow themselves up in an attack on British civilians aimed at ending "decadent and immoral" Western society.

Cal Thomas observed: "In an online story the London Daily Telegraph subsequently removed ‘for legal reasons,' Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo warned that British Muslims could soon form a state within Britain. Dr. Sookhdeo, a former Muslim, said, ‘in a decade, you will see parts of English cities which are controlled by Muslim clerics and which follow, not the common law, but aspects of Muslim sharia law" (ibid.).

In a July 7 BBC World Service interview with Winston Churchill, the grandson of the wartime leader, Sir Winston Churchill, it was disclosed that 37 percent of British Muslims thought that attacks on British Jews were always justified.

Mr. Churchill also pointed out that the situation was worse in France where 10 percent of the population is already Muslim and 30 percent of those are under 20 years of age. In a generation or two, Mr. Churchill observed, the majority will be Muslim. Ironically, it was the French who first inflicted a major blow against Islamic forces in the Battle of Poitiers in A.D. 732, halting the spread of Islam into Europe.

It should be clear to all that the threat from radical Islam is growing. It should also be noted that a major focus of worldwide terrorism does seem to be on financial targets like London, New York and Mumbai, in a clear attempt to destroy confidence, upon which the Western economic system is built.

Fulfillment of Bible prophecy

In the biblical prophetic book of Revelation, we read an account of what are known as the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, four symbolic horsemen that bring destruction upon the world in the years immediately prior to the second coming of Jesus Christ.

The first horseman rides a white horse and carries a bow, a threatening weapon. This horseman "went out conquering and to conquer" (Revelation 6:2). He is followed in rapid succession by the second horseman, who rides a fiery red horse. The first symbolizes false religion, the second, war. One inevitably follows the other. (For a deeper understanding of this, please request our free booklet The Book of Revelation Unveiled.)

Undoubtedly far worse things must come upon the world for us to see the total fulfillment of this passage of Scripture, but we are certainly now seeing a similar pattern emerging, of false religion intent on forcing itself upon the world–and the resultant conflict that is progressively worsening.

The Old Testament book of Daniel also prophesies of an end-time clash of civilizations between the biblical king of the North (a successor to the Roman Empire) and the king of the South (a modern successor to the ancient Egyptian empire of the Ptolemys that ended with Cleopatra in the first century B.C.).

A powerful Islamic force is now starting to emerge that may contribute significantly to the fulfillment of this end-time prophecy. "At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him [the king of the North]; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen and with many ships" (Daniel 11:40).

It remains to be seen exactly what this "attack" is. Some translations use the word "push." It could be an economic threat, like cutting off Mideast oil, on which Europe is heavily dependent. It may be terrorism. Whatever it is, it must be big, to bring about a coalition of European nations that sends a powerful military force into the nations of the Middle East.

We need to be aware of the growing threat from Islamic terrorists and the possible implications for the world.

For more information on this, write for our free booklet The Middle East in Bible Prophecy. WNP

---