Saudi and end times- Ishmael

 

Saudi prince’s US$500-billion megacity shows signs of life

The walls are covered with graffiti in the sleepy fishing village of Khurayba. There are supplications to God, advertisements for vacation rentals and house painters. Near the local school, there’s a scribbled plea: “Open the windows of hope and drive out the despair.”

It’s here in northwest Saudi Arabia that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wants investors to put their money to realize his US$500 billion vision for the region. Called “Neom,” it promises to be the most freewheeling part of the kingdom, with state-of-the-art resorts and smart technologies run by robots.

But it’s also here where the risks to the 33-year-old prince’s grand plan for his country are writ large. Neom is the boldest pillar of a social and economic transformation that so far has seen at least as many delays as successes. Indeed, the question since the prince announced the vast development at an extravaganza in 2017 has been whether it can become a reality.

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What Does Bible Prophecy Say About Saudi Arabia?

This article is taken from an email communication between Bill Koenig and Bill Salus on July 25, 2018. Bill Koenig is a White House correspondent, Bible prophecy teacher and author of the best selling book entitled, “Eye to Eye: Facing the Consequences of Dividing Israel“. He is also the founder of the Internet news site called, “World Watch Daily.”

(Bill Koenig (left) / Bill Salus (right)

Bill Koenig Question to Bill Salus

Bill,

“How about this new Saudi City at the top of the Red Sea? Check out this link below.”

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/saudi-prince-s-megacity-shows-signs-of-life-1.1292162

Bill Salus Answer to Bill Koenig

Bill,
“It will be interesting to see if this becomes the next bigger and better Dubai.

From a prophetic perspective, guys like Joel Richardson are watching this closely as a candidate city for end times Ecclesiastical Babylon. He believes that Islam is the whore of Babylon and presently thinks Mecca is that great city. I debated him on this topic and it’s available to watch on this DVD below.

(Click HERE to buy the DVD for $19.95)

Neom is going to be located in nearby proximity to the ancient territory of Dedan. Refer to the Ezekiel 38 map below.
Dedan is in at least 3 end times prophecies listed below. These prophecies don’t bid well for Dedan. I covered all of this in my Psalm 83: The Missing Prophecy Revealed book.

1. Warning to Dedan (Saudis) to not support Edom (Palestinians) in their Arab confederacy that wars against Israel.

Judgment on Edom

“Against Edom. Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished? Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Dedan! For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, The time that I will punish him.” (Jeremiah 49:7-8)

2. Dedan ignores the warning of Jeremiah 49:7-8 and many Saudis get killed in the war, probably Psalm 83 related. (The Saudis appear to be the Ishmaelites of Psalm 83:6).

Proclamation Against Edom

“Thus says the Lord God: “Because of what Edom did against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has greatly offended by avenging itself on them,” therefore thus says the Lord God: “I will also stretch out My hand against Edom, cut off man and beast from it, and make it desolate from Teman; Dedan shall fall by the sword. I will lay My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel, that they may do in Edom according to My anger and according to My fury; and they shall know My vengeance,” says the Lord God.”” (Ezekiel 25:12-14)

3. Dedan, being adversely affected by Ezekiel 25:12-14, is reduced to becoming a mere protester in the verse below.

Protesting the Magog Invasion of Israel

“Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?” (Ezekiel 38:13)

 

A. Arabia in the Bible is Modern Saudi Arabia:

1. Arabia in the Bible is always, without exception, the land of Midian. (Modern Saudi Arabia).
2. Arabia is associated with Kedar. Kedar is called "men of the east" Jer 49:28.
3. Kedar was the son of Ishmael, who intermarried with the Midianites and lived south east of the Dead Sea. "These are their genealogies: the firstborn of Ishmael was Nebaioth, then Kedar" 1 Chronicles 1:29
4. Ishmael settled in Shur and the wilderness of Paran: Gen 16:12; 21:21; 25:18

5.      "Now Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac; but to the sons of his concubines [Hagar], Abraham gave gifts while he was still living, and sent them away from his son Isaac eastward, to the land of the east." (Genesis 25:5–6)

6. “He put him in mind, that when Abraham was come alone out of Mesopotamia into Canaan, he had been made happy, not only in other respects, but that when his wife was at first barren, she was afterwards by him enabled to conceive seed, and bear him sons. That he left to Ishmael and to his posterity the country of Arabia; as also to his sons by Ketura, Troglodytis: and to Isaac, Canaan.” (Josephus Antiquities 2.213)
7. Ezek 27:21 clearly shows that Arabia meant Saudi Arabia: "Arabia and all the princes of Kedar". Kedar was
8. Isaiah describes Arabia as including Kedar (Ishmael's son): "The oracle about Arabia. In the thickets of Arabia you must spend the night, O caravans of Dedanites. ... all the splendor of Kedar will terminate" Isaiah 21:13, 16
9. In describing the swath of land from Babylon (Hazor) to Saudi Arabia (Kedar) Jeremiah 49:28 tells Hazor (Babylon) to invade Kedar (Saudi Arabia) calling them "men of the east". "Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated. Thus says the Lord, "Arise, go up to Kedar And devastate the men of the east. " Jeremiah 49:28
10. Therefore Arabia = Ishmaelites, Midianites, Kedarites, Wildernesses of Shur and Paran, Midian
11. The Ishmaelites, Midianites, Kedarites never lived west of the Arabah valley in the Negev.

 

B. Josephus said that Hagar and Ishmael lived in Arabia Felix (Saudi Arabia)

1.      Find Hagar and Ishmael, Find Mt. Sinai.

a.       Scripture says that Ismael settled in the Wilderness of Shur which is in Midian.

b.      According to Josephus, at the time of Abraham, Ketura’s son Midian settled in Troglodytis, which was universally defined by other ancient geographers, as the western shoreline of the Arabian gulf in Egypt and Ethiopia.

c.       The three distinct geographic areas outlined by Josephus which correspond to one of Abraham’s wives marks Mt. Sinai in Arabia Felix.

2.      Josephus defines Arabia Happy as where Hagar and Ishmael lived and where Mt. Sinai is located:

a.       “That he [Abraham] left to Ishmael and to his posterity the country of Arabia [Felix - Antiquities 1.239]; as also to his sons by Ketura, Troglodytis: and to Isaac, Canaan.” (Josephus Antiquities 2.213)

b.      Abraham’s children through Ketura and Hagar took possession of Troglodytis, and the country of Arabia the Happy [Arabia Felix], as far as it reaches to the Red Sea.” (Josephus Antiquities 1.238–239)

c.       Moses was in the country of the Troglodytes at Midian in 1486 BC when he married Jethro’s daughter: (Josephus Antiquities 2.257–260)

3.      Following Midian:

a.       Josephus tells us that originally, Ketura’s sons, including Midian, had settled in Troglodytis and Hagar’s sons including Ishmael, had settled from “Havalia to Shur” [Wilderness of Shur] in Arabia Felix.

b.      Scripture tells us that in 1899 BC Joseph was sold to the Midianites/Ishmaelites, who had become one tribe (likely through intermarriage).

c.       Josephus tells us that Moses in 1486 BC fled to Midian which Josephus describes as the country of the Troglodytes (Josephus Ant. 2.257–260).

d.      Josephus is the only ancient geographer to say that Midian at the Wilderness of Shur, was the land of Troglodytis because he understood that originally, all the sons of Ketura had located near the Egyptian, Ethiopian border on the opposite side of Arabia Felix but that Midian moved back to join tribes with Ishmael in Shur.

4.       Josephus identifies three distinct geographic areas (Canaan, Arabia Felix, Troglodytis) and marks Mt. Sinai to be in Arabia Felix, which at the time of Paul, included all of Saudi Arabia south of the Gulf of Aqaba including Midian.

 

See: main page on Mt. Sinai in Arabia

 

C. Commentaries on Gal 4:25: Mt. Sinai in Arabia

1. "For Sinai is a mountain in Arabia. It calls attention to the geographical position of Sinai, giving definiteness to our conception of the great mountain and silently reminding us that it was the home of Hagar's children. ... For, that Mount Sinai is in the land of Hagar's children, whether or not the mountain bore her name, reveals in clear light the appropriateness of Paul's allegory." (Commentary on Galatians, Joseph Agar Beet, 1885 AD, Gal 4:25, p135)
2. "What is actually new in Paul's argument lies in the first clause. The manuscript tradition of the text shows the problems that early copyists and translators had with this argument. Paul's intention here is to equate Hagar with Mount Sinai in Arabia. How does he arrive at this? The reader is first reminded that Paul himself was in Arabia (cf. 1:17) and will therefore credit him with a certain local familiarity. Arabia is indicated both by the name Hagar as well as by the location of Mount Sinai. Hagar is, to be sure, an Egyptian according to Gen. 16:1, but the region that is later accorded to her son Ishmael and his offspring is to be found in Arabia (cf. Gen. 25:6, 18). There one can also find Hagar as the name of a locality (cf. 1 Chron. 5:10, 19-20; Ps. 83:6), and this name may be preserved today in the place named Chegra. In the vicinity of this modern city of Chegra, however, to which the Hagar/Ishmael traditions seem to be related, is also the possible location (according to the geographic concepts of the Old Testament) of Mount Sinai, on which Moses received the law. Not until around the fourth century C.E. was it located on the peninsula that is known to us as Sinai. The writers of "the five books of Moses" seem to identify the "reed sea" with the Gulf of Aqaba, not with the Red Sea, and to have imagined Mount Sinai in the mountains that one can find in today's atlases south of the city of Tabuk in extreme northwest Saudi Arabia, where the city of Chegra also lies. The only question is whether the mountains actually bore the name Hagar from that city. That, however, is what Paul seems to assert here, for that is where the logic of his argument seems to rest. Paul is apparently referring to information that he acquired during his stay in Arabia (cf. 1:17). After the rationale for equating Hagar with Mount Sinai, the allegorical explanation now goes further, saying that Hagar therefore corresponds to the present Jerusalem because-and here Paul harks back again to 4:1-7-the present Jerusalem is in slavery just as Hagar and her children were." (Galatians, A Continental Commentary, Luhrmann, Dieter, 1992 AD, Gal 4:25)
3. "for Hagar is a mountain in Arabia (it); for Mount Sinai is in Arabia (S, C, G). C. K. Barrett ("The Allegory of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar," 163-64) notes that "a decisive consideration in favor of the long text is that the omission of Hagar leaves a bare piece of geographical information of little interest to the readers or relevance to the context." In the Greek text, Hagar is governed by the neuter article to (literally, "the Hagar") which is not translated in English. The article indicates that it is not Hagar the person that Paul has in mind but the word "Hagar" which is in the text; for this reason Hagar is placed in quotation marks. Paul may have associated Hagar with Mount Sinai because Sinai is located in Arabia, the land of Hagar's descendants through Ishmael. See Ps 83:6 which speaks of the "Hagrites." It is less likely that Paul is dependent upon the linguistic similarity between the Arabic word hajar ("rock" or "cliff") and certain place names of the Sinai peninsula. (Galatians, Matera, Frank J., 1992 AD, Gal 4:25)
4. "For Agar is Mount Sinai. Represents Sinai. This Mount Sinai is in Arabia, the very home of Ishmael and his race. Some also add that one name of the mountain is Hagar, but this is not certain." (The People's New Testament, B.W. Johnson, 1891 AD, Gal 4:25)
5. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia. The condition of the text at this point is rather uncertain. Some manuscripts have (a) de Hagar Sina, (b) some gar Hagar Sina, (c) some de Sina, and (d) others gar Sina. The points at issue are (a) whether the word Hagar should be included or omitted and (b) whether the clause should be introduced by gar or de. The major uncial texts are divided between the first and third readings and the oldest papyrus text has the second reading. Hence, there is a good bit of uncertainty regarding exactly how this should read. The problem is caused by the meaning of the phrase being dubious; the scribes probably emended the text to make the sense of the passage clearer. Another suggestion is that this phrase is a gloss transferred from the margin of the text, a not very likely possibility because of the uncertainty of its meaning. Two explanations of this verse are worthy of our attention. These two positions are summarized for us as follows: So far as can be determined from the rather uncertain text, the equating of Hagar with Sinai is suggested either by the location of Sinai in Arabia, the land of Ishmael and his progeny, or by the linguistic similarity of an Arabian word hajar (rock or cliff), with which certain place names on the Sinaitic peninsula seem to be related (Theological Dictionary New Testament, 1:56). The two positions then are as follows: (1) Paul is arguing that the word Hagar sounds like an Arabian term used to refer to a mountain in the Sinai peninsula; (2) Paul is arguing that Sinai is located in the land possessed by the descendants of Ishmael. In arguing against the first interpretation, Lightfoot seems correct in charging that it is not likely that Paul would have expected the Greek-speaking Galatians to have understood his meaning if he were arguing that the word Hagar sounds like hagar in Arabian speech. Secondly, the proof that hagar was ever used to refer to Mt. Sinai is rather uncertain. The evidences that have been cited are Chrysostom in the fourth century and a Bohemian traveler of the year 1598 (Lightfoot 195). Neither is evidence of what was current in Paul's day. The weakness of these two arguments is sufficient reason for rejecting this explanation. The other interpretation simply has Paul further identifying who Hagar represents in the allegory. To Hagar (this Hagar) identifies Hagar, not as the woman, but as the Hagar of the allegory. His argument is that Mt. Sinai is located in Arabia, the land inherited by the descendants of Ishmael and outside the limits of Canaan, the land of promise. This ties Mt. Sinai and the giving of the Law to the side of Ishmael rather than to Isaac. And answereth to Jerusalem which now is. The word answereth means "to stand or march in the same row with ... hence to stand over against, be parallel with." The word was used to refer to a file of soldiers. It shows that Mt. Sinai stands on the side of Ishmael and not on the side of Isaac. (Galatians, Mike Willis,1994 AD, Gal 4:25)
6. ""one [covenant coming] from Mount Sinai..., that is Hagar; but Mount Sinai lies in Arabia, yet it corresponds to the present Jerusalem": This is the reading of the oldest Pauline manuscript. (P46) and it is supported by several others. Another well attested reading is: "Now Hagar means Mt. Sinai in Arabia." In either case, wishing to emphasize that the slavery the Law introduced was the condition of the rejected son of Abraham, Paul identifies Hagar with the Sinai pact and the "present Jerusalem." Verse 25a is a geographical detail explaining how Hagar, although connected with a holy place outside of the Promised Land, is yet equated with the "present Jerusalem." Geographically, Hagar represents a place in Arabia, but even so she stands for enslavement and so corresponds to Jerusalem. But why does Paul mention Arabia at all? possibly because Mt. Sinai is in Arabia, which is Ishmaelite territory: he thus associates the Sinai pact with the eponymous patriarch of Arabian tribes (see Gn 25:12-18; Ps 82:7). He thus suggests that the Law itself stems from a situation extrinsic to the promised Land and to the real descendants of Abraham. Paul's Jewish colleagues would not have been happy with this allegory. (The Jerome Biblical commentary, Brown, R. E., Fitzmyer, J. A., & Murphy, R. E. 1968 AD, Gal 4:25)
7. "In this case the actual meaning of Paul's typology is more evident than the historical referent that lies behind it. On what basis could Paul equate Hagar with Mount Sinai, and why did he make the seemingly gratuitous allusion to Arabia? After all, Paul was not giving a geography lesson or writing a travel guide for visitors to the Holy Land. Some have pointed to the similarity in sound between the name Hagar and a similar Semitic word meaning "rock" or "crag." It is more likely, however, that Paul was here reflecting a certain geographical orientation acquired during his earlier sojourn in Arabia (cf. 1:17). According to Gen 25 (vv. 6, 18), Hagar and Ishmael were expelled to "the land of the East," that is, to the region later known as Arabia. The name Hagar also appears in other Old Testament texts (cf. 1 Cron 5:10, 19-20; Ps 83:6) to describe the geographical locality south of the Dead Sea and north of the Arabian peninsula. The word "Hagar" itself is still preserved in the name of the modern city of Chegra, located in what is today the extreme northwestern section of Saudi Arabia. According to certain ancient traditions, the mountain range near this vicinity was believed to be the site of Mount Sinai, where Moses received the law. Assuming that Paul had a certain local familiarity with this region and was cognizant of the popular traditions linking both the expulsion of Hagar and the giving of the law to this particular region, it is not surprising that he would have found a certain typological congruence in the identification of Hagar and Mount Sinai. By emphasizing that Mount Sinai is in Arabia, the land of the Ishmaelites, Paul was preparing his readers for the dramatic reversal he was about to make in the received interpretation of the Sarah-Hagar analogy." (New American Commentary, George, T., 1994 AD, Gal 4:25)
8. “For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia (mount Sinai was then called Agar by the Arabians) (Matthew Henry, Gal 4:25)
9. "Arabia" included Mount Sinai, south of Judea, as well as the northward area mentioned in 1:17. The Nabataean Arabs were viewed as Ishmaelites, descendants of Hagar, in Paul's day, thus making the connection clearer to ancient readers familiar with eastern Mediterranean geography. (The IVP Bible background commentary, Keener, C. S., 1993 AD, Gal 4:25)
10. "Although the heartland of the Arab nations was what is known today as Saudi Arabia, the Romans gave the name Arabia to a province of their empire which lay south and east of Palestine, in the corner of the Mediterranean world between Syria and Egypt. It comprehended the Negev, southern Syria, all of Jordan, and northwest Saudi Arabia." ... "when Augustus added to his realm the former kingdom of Judaea as a province under equestrian procurators, there remained in the circuit of imperial provinces along the desert's edge only the space extending across the Sinai, from Egypt into and encompassing the Negev, together with the entire territory of Transjordan, from the Syrian Hawran to the Gulf of 'Aqaba. It was this substantial tract that Trajan annexed in A. D. 106 under the name of the province of Arabia. This was Roman Arabia, as distinct from the land of incense and perfume in the south of the [Arabian] peninsula, which was known as the kingdom of Saba, or, to the Romans, Arabia Felix." (G. W. Bowersock, Roman Arabia, 1983, p 1-2)

 

See: main page on Mt. Sinai in Arabia

 

D. Discussion:

1.      In AD 70, Apion located Mt. Sinai in the Sinai Peninsula, but did not believe that the modern Sinai Peninsula was part of Arabia. This creates a problem for those today who say the Sinai Peninsula was considered as being “Arabia”.

a.       Josephus comments: “However, our admirable author Apion has before told us, that “they came to Judea in six days’ time;” and again, that “Moses went up to a mountain that lay between Egypt and Arabia, which was called Sinai, and was concealed there forty days, and that when he came down from thence he gave laws to the Jews.” But then, how was it possible for them to tarry forty days in a desert place where there was no water, and at the same time to pass all over the country between that and Judea in the six days?" (Josephus, Against Apion 2.25)

b.      It is important to realize that Apion made deliberate attempts at creating a false narrative about the exodus. In other words, if Apion placed Mt. Sinai in the Sinai Peninsula, we can be certain it is not located there. “This is that novel account which the Egyptian Apion gives us concerning the Jews’ departure out of Egypt, and is no better than a contrivance of his own. But why should we wonder at the lies he tells us about our forefathers, when he affirms them to be of Egyptian original, when he lies also about himself?” (Josephus, Against Apion 2.28)

2.      Arabia in the Old Testament was well defined to include Midian and east of the Arabah Valley where Edom lived. Arabia in the Bible was never considered as being in the Sinai Peninsula. 1 Chron 1:29-31 tells us that Kedar and Tema were sons of Ishmael who lived in Midian (Arabia). Dedan was associated with Arabia, Edom, Kedar, Tema in Jeremiah 25:23-24; 49:7-8. From a strict Bible definition, Arabia specifically excluded the Sinai Peninsula:

The Sinai Peninsula was never considered to be Arabia
	Saudi Arabia (Midian)	Sinai Peninsula
Arabia had many kings: 2 Chron. 9:14; Jer. 25:24	Yes	No
Paid Tax to Solomon: 2 Chronicles 9:14	Yes	No
Silver and gold mines: 2 Chron. 9:14-15	Yes	No (copper, turquoise)
Arabia is where Hagar and Ishmael lived: Genesis 16:12; 21:21; 25:18	Yes	No
Arabia is where Kedar, Tema and Dedan lived: Isa 21:13; Jer 25:23-24; Ezek 27:21	Yes	No
Arabs bordered the Ethiopians: 2 Chronicles 21:16	Yes	No

1. "besides that from the traders and the wares of the merchants and all the kings of the Arabs and the governors of the country. " 1 Kings 10:15
2. "besides that which the traders and merchants brought; and all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon." 2 Chronicles 9:14
3. "The oracle about Arabia. In the thickets of Arabia you must spend the night, O caravans of Dedanites. " Isaiah 21:13
4. "Dedan, Tema, Buz and all who cut the corners of their hair, and all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the foreign people who dwell in the desert" Jeremiah 25:23-24
5. "Dedan traded with you in saddlecloths for riding. Arabia and all the princes of Kedar, they were your customers for lambs, rams and goats; for these they were your customers. " Ezekiel 27:21
6. "Then the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabs who bordered the Ethiopians; " 2 Chronicles 21:16

 

Conclusion:

1.      In Gal 4:25 Paul said that Hagar and Ishmael represented Mt. Sinai in Arabia.

a.       Josephus said that Hagar and Ishmael lived in Arabia Felix, which is Saudi Arabia. (Josephus Antiquities 1.238–239; 2.213).

b.      Hagar and Ishmael lived in Shur, which is near Midian.

2.      Mt. Sinai is not located in the Sinai Peninsula:

a.       Scriptures says that Ismael lived between Havalia and Shur, “east” of his brothers in Saudi Arabia, not west of his brothers in the Sinai Peninsula: Genesis 16:12; 25:5-6; 25:18; 21:21; Psalm 83:6

b.      Arabia in the Old Testament always means Saudi Arabia, without exception.

c.       At no point in history has the Sinai Peninsula been defined as Arabia Felix by any ancient geographer.

d.      At the time of Paul, the Sinai Peninsula was not defined as Arabia Petra by any ancient geographer.

e.      Only after AD 106 was the Sinai Peninsula annexed by Trajan and defined as Arabia Petra.

3.      In Gal 1:17 Paul went to Mt. Sinai in Arabia in AD 36 at the time of his initial conversion to fulfill one of the 40 ways that he was a type of Moses.

In November 2014, Erdogan announced the formation of a new Islamic Union and called Saudi Arabia the enemy. Turkey doesn’t like Saudi Arabia much better than Iran does. Saudi Arabia, the US, and Israel all have a mutual enemy – Iran. Both Saudi Arabia and Israel were vehemently opposed to the Obama/Iran nuclear deal. Turkey and Saudi Arabia’s relationship began thawing a couple of years ago. Turkey supports the Muslim Brotherhood while Saudi Arabia does not.

In early 2018, MBS (Mohammed Bin Salman) accused Turkey of supporting Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood. He also said the country was working towards building a new Ottoman Empire with Erdogan as the Caliph. Turkey currently holds the presidency of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a coalition of 57 Muslim states. In previous articles, I’ve explained what the OIC is really about.

The Vatican has enormous influence internationally, but it lacks the military of days past. This will be offset by an alliance with Turkey, which has the largest military in the Middle East. The two beasts.

Erdogan seized the opportunity to build relations with Qatar after Saudi Arabia cut ties. Ezekiel 38 tells us Iran and Turkey will build an alliance. They won’t just align against Israel and the US, but Saudi Arabia too. The Proxy wars happening between Saudi Arabia and Iran are going to end in direct conflict. The Bible tells us that Elam (Iran) will destroy Saudi Arabia. This is an event that has not taken place yet. When the invasion of Israel begins, Saudi Arabia (Ishmael) does not go against her cousin, Israel (Jacob). But Israel’s brother, Esau, will go against them.

The Bible says of Saudi Arabia, “Its streams shall be turned into pitch (tar, oil) and its dust into brimstone; its land shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night or day; its smoke shall ascend forever” (Isaiah 34:9-10).

Pitch is oil. Saudi Arabia has plenty of it too.

Saudi Arabia can’t be trusted, but they are a strategic ally to both the US and Israel right now. They are a necessary evil. The Democratic Party is already calling for regime change. The Bush and Obama administrations both lit the entire Middle East on fire with their regime changes.

Iran and Saudi Arabia may be enemies, but they both hold strict Islamic views, and both countries have banned Christianity. The countries that form against Israel in Psalm 83 and the Ezekiel war are also listed as the worst countries for Christians.

If you bring a Bible to Saudi Arabia, you can be punished by death, usually by beheading. Choosing to follow Christ results in harassment and usually death. Christians are severely persecuted, but Christianity continues to grow. There are about two million Christians inside Saudi Arabia. They attend underground churches and keep their Bibles hidden.

The vast majority of Christians cannot buy or sell in Muslim countries across the world, just as Jesus warned us.

The entire basis for Christianity is denied by Muslims, across the board. You don’t have to be a “radical” to believe this. But God’s word tells us, “If you do not have the Father, you do not have the Son.”

With all of its major faults, Saudi Arabia is one major Middle East country that doesn’t incessantly harass Israel over Jerusalem and the Palestinians, though they do support a “peaceful” two-state solution. They eagerly await President Trump’s peace plan to unveil, and feel it will be “the deal of a century.”

Obama may have bowed to the Saudi King, but he later earned scorn by the Saudi government. This has led to the warming relationship between the two nations, which makes Saudi Arabia even more hated by her neighbors. Iran considers the US “The great Satan.”

The Bible tells us that Saudi Arabia will (along with the US) question the Islamic army marching towards Jerusalem.

“Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? (Ezekiel 38:13).

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS, pledged to protect his kingdom from “Iran’s efforts to dominate the Muslim world.” He also said, “We will work to have the battle in Iran rather than in Saudi Arabia.”

The Saudi foreign minister said, “We must denounce our hatred toward Israel and begin to normalize ties with the Jewish nation.” He also voiced opposition to Hamas.

Columnist Abdul-Hamdi Razaq  said in a Saudi paper, “We are tired of defending the Palestinian cause that you have sold for cheap to an MB (Muslim Brotherhood) gang whose way you followed, even though they have lost their own way.”

The Palestinians refuse to meet or negotiate with Israel or the US.  And Saudi Arabia, for some reason, sees the Palestinian cause for what it really is and has grown tired of it. Iran, Turkey and much of the Middle East, however, still view Israel as the enemy.

There’s not much that unites Muslims across the Middle East because of the Shia/Sunni divide. But Erdogan is pushing to unite Muslims across the world by invading Jerusalem. This will unite both Sunni’s and Shi’a Muslims. The Turkey/Iranian/Russian coalition.

There’s also not much that unites Israel with Muslim countries, but this appears to be happening right before our eyes. PM Netanyahu visited the nation of Oman this week, being the first Israeli leader since 1996 to do so. Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Foreign Minister of Oman, which borders and is allied with Saudi Arabia, said, “Israel is a state present in the region, and we all understand this.”

He went on to say, “The world is also aware of this fact. Maybe it is time for Israel to be treated the same as other states and also bare the same obligations.”

The Palestinians don’t want peace. Even some Muslims are starting to acknowledge that fact. So the Hamas riots have started to escalate again, only Israel doesn’t have to contend with Obama if they strike back. Israel is fed up with the kite bombs and attacks on its citizens.

Two Israelis were murdered last week, and a missile landed in a residential home with children. Israel is ready to go to war; these riots have gone on long enough with no end in sight. Hamas has organized the Gaza riots and encouraged Palestinians to rush the border fence. With a strong ally in office, Israeli cabinet members are openly advocating for war with Hamas.

Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman warned that Israel has “exhausted all options” and “only the most powerful blow to Hamas will help.”

He went on to say, “Fifteen thousand people do not come of their own accord to the border fence alone, by foot. They come in organized shuttles, with Hamas paying thousands of shekels for every bus. They pay $3,000 for every man killed, $500 for every severe injury, and $200 for every medium injury and below. This is institutionalized, organized action.”

(This reminds me of our own organized invasion planned by the Democrats).

Over the weekend of October 27, Israeli fighter jets struck dozens of sites across the Gaza Strip after Hamas fired about 30 rockets into Israel. It is the heaviest exchange of fire in several weeks. A group called “Islamic Jihad” in the Gaza Strip initiated the attack on Israel. They are a group that works with Hamas. Five Palestinians were shot by sniper fire at the border.

Israeli IDF Spokesman Ronen Manelis said the rockets fired at Israel Friday night were “directed from Damascus and the Iranian Quds Force.” He went on to say no one is immune from Israeli strikes, in Gaza or out. He said Israel is ready for a “scenario in which we will expand our strikes.”

“We have delivered clear messages of this fact to the relevant parties,” he said, adding that, in the IDF’s response, “no one is immune, not in the Gaza Strip nor outside of it.”

Israel going to war with Hamas will lead Turkey and Iran to be even more vocal in calling for an Islamic army to invade Jerusalem. Erdogan, when speaking to the Pope, said, “We need to work together to preserve Jerusalem’s status. The messages you will convey to the Catholic world on this are important.”

The Psalm 83 war is on the horizon. I am convinced these riots are what lead to this massive war. This will bring cries of peace that lead to the confirmation or acknowledgement of the Abrahamic covenant.

If the Psalm 83 war is this close, then the return of Jesus is just as close.

There are abominations written across the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Where Jesus Christ was crucified for our sins, the Dome glares a denial of who Jesus is. The Koran denies the crucifixion in Surah 3:54-55; 4:157-158; 5:117, 120. The Koran denies God has a Son in Surah 2:116; 5:72; 4:171; 6:101; 10:68; 19:35, and the Trinity is denied in Surah 3:64; 4:116, 171; 5:27; 9:30-31.

This strong denial of Jesus Christ will be what brings Muslims and Jews together to worship the same man. Jerusalem will be the center of the one-world government where blasphemy against Him is visible to all.

Written on the outside of the Dome are the following words: “To Allah who has not taken a son and who doesn’t have any partner in dominion nor any protector out of humbleness. Magnify Him greatly. Muhammad is Allah’s messenger” (Qur’an 17:111).

It also says, “nor say anything but the truth about Allah. The Messiah Jesus, son of Mary, was only Allah’s messenger, His word that He committed to Mary, and a spirit proceeding from Him. So believe in Allah and His messengers. Do not say ‘three.”

But the Bible tells us, “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also” (1 John 2:22-23).

Notice they acknowledge Jesus, Son of Mary. Catholics worship Mary more than Jesus. Muslims in their Koran recognize Jesus (Isa) existed and was the son of a divine woman named Mary. They all acknowledge Jesus existed, but deny His power and who He really is. Muslims even acknowledge the virgin birth.

2 Timothy 3:5 “having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”

All of these religions will be united under a common agreement or acknowledgement – something that involves the name Jesus and that can fool people. They will be fooled for one reason. They don’t know Jesus.

“Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition” (Rev 17:9-11).

Revelation 13:3 “And I saw one of his heads [empires] as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed.”

Revelation 13 says that one of the heads had a fatal wound but that it will be healed. Beasts refer to Antichrist kingdoms. The beast in Revelation 17 (Antichrist) is a revived kingdom from the past, the seventh Kingdom to be exact. The Bible says the seventh and eighth kingdoms are the same.

The head wound is not the wound of a literal man, but an entire Empire or Nation. Or a Reich. The Ottoman Empire suffered a fatal wound in 1924. Nobody foresaw Turkey rising to power again the way it has. Erdogan is gaining power all over the Middle East, meaning the Antichrist has healed its head wound.

Five Antichrist Kingdoms fell prior to John’s vision. He lived under the sixth which was Rome. The seventh Empire, the Ottoman Empire, ruled large areas of the Middle East and Europe for nearly 500 years. It was the Ottomans that forged a deal with the Crusaders that the Vatican sent, for Jerusalem.

The previous Antichrist kingdoms were Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. The seventh Antichrist Kingdom to control Jerusalem was the Ottoman Empire. Remember, everything in the Bible is centered on Jerusalem.

There have been nine Caliphates (Islamic Empire or rule) so far; that represents nine of the ten Kings in Revelation 17. The last was the Ottoman Empire which lasted 500 years. The Ottoman revival under Erdogan would make it the tenth Caliphate or Islamic Empire. It’s led by a caliph, who is the Islamic political and religious leader. There have been many Caliphs or leaders under these nine Islamic dynasties, but only nine caliphates. The Caliph is considered to be the successor to Muhammad.

Muslims are anxiously waiting for their Mahdi (more in part 1) just as Jews are anxiously awaiting their Meshiach or Messiah. Who they are waiting for is our Antichrist.

The Roman Catholic Church and Islam have both killed Christians and Jews, and they have warred with each other over possession of Jerusalem. Both feel Jerusalem belongs to them. The false prophet and Antichrist will both join together in promotion of this end-time beast or government. They have a shared idea of conquest in taking possession of Israel from the Jews.

It’s important to note that each of the previous Kingdoms ruled the Middle East, but especially Jerusalem.

The Bible is not focused on the West or anywhere else; it is focused on Jerusalem. In the biblical view of things, Jerusalem is the center of the earth, the center for everything that happens in the days leading to Jesus’s return.

Those blasphemous words written on the Dome won’t be there much longer. The King of Kings is returning, and He’s going to rule the world from Jerusalem. The sun may have not set anywhere on the British Empire, but when Jesus returns, His brightness will be the Sun, and neither his kingdom, nor His light will ever go out.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation” (Romans 5:8-11).

The Rise of the Sword of Islam

    Saudi Arabia is in the news a lot these days. It is a country that many people in the West do not understand or know very much about. Yet almost everybody knows that Saudi Arabia has lots and lots of oil. They also know that Saudi Arabia is a strict Islamic State that is the birthplace and home of the religion of Islam. And they also know that it is the home of a man known as Osama Bin Laden.

    For many centuries the Arabian Peninsula was little more than a vast dormant desert filled with nomadic tribes that were continually overrun by outside empires, such as Egypt and Turkey. But all of that changed with the conclusion of World War I and the emergence of the infamous House of Saud. Abdul Aziz Ibn Abdar-Rahman, better known as ‘Ibn Saud,’ and later as King Saud managed to consolidate the many tribes of the Arabian Peninsula and transformed the Arabian desert into the modern kingdom state of Saudi Arabia in 1932.

    But the Saudi Peninsula is a region that has a very long, mysterious and legendary history. The Arabian desert’s harsh climate has historically limited very much settlement or city building, and the few cities that flourished served as an Arabian crossroads for trade and commerce between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf seaports. In the 7^th century, the Arabian dessert region fostered the beginning of the Muslim era when Muhammad organized his followers and launched a successful campaign to recapture Mecca. Soon thereafter Muhammad instituted the religion of Islam. Many Arab tribes joined Muhammad before his death in 632 and afterwards the Muslims continued their expansion across the Arabian Peninsula and into Syria, Mesopotamia (Iraq), Persia and westwards into Egypt and North Africa all the way to Spain. The Islamic sword also reached eastward, finally reaching Indonesia. The sword of Islam has become a major geo-political lynchpin throughout the world. 

   

The History of the Hashemites and the House of Saud

     The current Middle East crisis between the Israelis and the Arab world is the result of some of the most incredible blunders in history. Perhaps there is no greater blunder than some promises made by a British regional military commander to a bunch of backward camel-riding Arab Muslims from Western Arabia. Lt. Colonel T. E. Lawrence was sent by the British to recruit the enlistment of the help of the Arab Muslim tribes of the western Arabian region. The British needed them to act as irregular raiders against the eastern flank of the Ottoman Turkish army, thus helping the British Army to defeat them in the greater Middle East region during WWI. The principle tribe Lawrence enlisted was known as the Hashemites, who were then the guardians of the holy Muslim sites of Mecca and Medina, until the rise of Ibn Saud.

    T. E. Lawrence and his infamous treaty with the Hashemites would have been only an obscure and forgotten footnote in the British Middle East campaign of World War I if were not for the legends built up around the character, "Lawrence of Arabia."By the time the Treaty of Sevres was negotiated in 1920, the British felt compelled to keep Lawrence of Arabia's promise to the chieftains of an Arab tribe called the Hashemites. The political structure of the Middle East today is the result of that promise. The Treaty of Sevres permitted the British to seize pieces of the Ottoman Empire, which had ruled the Middle East for centuries, but had allied themselves with the Germans in WWI. Instead of British colonies, the Ottoman territories were called League of Nations' mandates, for which the British badly needed puppet rulers. Thus the expanded rise of the Hashemite Royal family of Arabia.

    Sir Lawrence of Arabia persuaded the British Crown to put together three provinces of the old Ottoman Empire and make one country called Iraq and give it to a Hashemite prince named Feisal. The people of these three provinces have hated each other for centuries, and that is still evidenced today as America attempts to forge a new democratic state in Iraq. Apart from a ruthless dictator like Saddam Hussein, no one has ever been able to mesh them together. Lawrence also was able to persuade the British to betray their mandate to create a homeland for the Jews. When the House of Saud drove the Hashemites out of Mecca and Medina, Lawrence persuaded the British to give Prince Abdullah the land mandated to the Jews known as Trans-Jordan as a consolation prize. (a ¾ betrayal of the Balfour Declaration) Today, Transjordan is today is known as the Royal Kingdom of Jordan. These events have helped set up a coming catastrophe that the Bible predicts someday will result in a global war against Israel. It is amazing what momentous prophetic events are set in motion by the interrelationships of nations and kings. But then, nothing of mans imaginations and schemes escapes God fore-knowledge.

The Cup and Sword that Intoxicates the Nations

    The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah prophesied about a “cup and a sword” that would be sent out to all the nations of the world in the Last Days, to intoxicate them into a madness, and bring them down against the city of Jerusalem. This “cup of fury” or “cup of trembling” (Isaiah 51:17) is God’s way of drawing a line in the sand, in defense of his Holy name, and of his Holy city. This cup of fury (filled with abominations) will cause the sword to be sent to all the powerful nations of the earth, and to geo-politically entice them into the great controversy over Zion, a controversy that is caused to swirl in the end-times by the Kings of Arabia, and the burdensome conflict over Israel.

   

    Jeremiah 25:15-17 For thus saith the Lord God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. Then took I the cup at the Lord's hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the Lord had sent me:

 

    Jeremiah 25:18-24 To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day; Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod, Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon, And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea, Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners, And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert,

 

In History and Geography 

  Askelon, Azzah, Ekron, and Ashdod were cities of ancient Philistia that make up today’s Palestine. Edom, Ammon and Moab were peoples of north and southern Idumaea that make up today’s kingdom of Jordan. Dedan was of Cush, or Northeastern Africa and Arabia, Tema, a son of Ishmael made up Egypt and Arabia, while Buz, a son of Nahor represented Mesopotamia. Zimri was an Arabian tribe that still represents the Arabian Peninsula. The Medes (Elam) make up today’s modern state of Iran, and Sheshak makes up Babylon. The kings of Tyrus and Zidon make up Lebanon. Uz was the son of Aram, and made up the land of Mt. Seir, and a nation of people that hated Israel.

 

The Wine Cup

    But it is Jerusalem that is the wine cup of God’s fury. It is a cup of fury that has been filling up for centuries! Jerusalem is the city chosen by Jehovah for his name, and yet Israel became enamored of the gods about her and abandoned Jehovah and allowed the holy city to become a harlot. Therefore God has allowed Jerusalem to be trodden down not only of Gentile rulers, but also of pagan gods. Allah (Islam) has laid a claim not only upon Mecca and Medina (Arabia) but also upon Jerusalem, making Jerusalem the bone of contention and controversy between Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.

    Utilizing the prophet Jeremiah, God is forecasting the 70 year subjection of Israel known as the Babylonian Captivity, but the prophecy peers far out beyond that era to a later time when God would permit (send) a sword from the Arabian lands to the powers in the north, far and near, even unto the kings of the whole earth to entice them into the Valley of Decision scenario depicted by Joel, and the event that we modern eschatologists refer to as Armageddon. (Zechariah 122-3; Joel 3:14; Revelation 16:14-19, 19:18-19) That sword is shown as having its rise in Arabia, among the descendants of the ancient tribes mentioned in verses 18-24. These kings and lands make up modern states of Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and the whole of the Arabian Peninsula. That sword is likely interpreted to be the religion of fundamentalist Islam. Islam is symbolized world-wide by the sword, and most nations under Islam utilize the sword as its banner.

  

The Crafty Counsel of the Arabs

    Psalms 83:1-8 Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee: The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. 

 

    While these are all various ancient names, today they comprise the modern Arab states. For instance, in verse 6, Edom was in southern Jordan; Ishmael was the father of the Ishmaelites, one segment of the Arab world; Moab was in central Jordan; the Hagarenes were from Egypt. In verse 7, Gebal was up in Lebanon; Ammon was northern Jordan; Amalek was in the Sinai Peninsula; Philistia was in the Gaza Strip; Tyre was up in Lebanon. In verse 8, Assyria comprises all of what is today Iraq and quite a bit of Syria. Only since 1948 have all these nations combined forces against Israel. Such a total Arab alignment never occurred in ancient times. After the Six Day War of 1967, one Arab leader after another has clearly stated that the only way of gaining peace in the Middle East is by the total annihilation of Israel as a nation.

 

A Prophecy Concerning Ishmael

   Ishmael is often depicted as being the father of the Arab world. Ishmael was of course a son of Abraham (as was Isaac through Sarah) Ishmael’s mother was an Egyptian, making Ishmael half Egyptian and a half Semite of the House of Abraham. The descendants of Ishamel, along with Esau, and Edom made up much of the Arab world. Kedar, Hazor, Dedan, Sheba, Raamah (Ezekiel 27) were later Arabian merchants.

 

   Genesis 16:12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

 

   The first prophecy concerning Ishmael is that "he would be a wild ass among men." In Abraham’s day, there were packs of wild asses that roamed the desert. Ishmael and his descendants are characterized as being similar to these wild asses. Secondly, "his hand shall be against every man." The second characteristic of Ishmael was that of aggression. He would be against every man, attacking those with whom he has contact. Thirdly, "every man’s hand shall be against him." As he displayed aggression, he would bring upon himself retaliation. We have certainly seen this principle to be true in the History of Israel since 1948. On various occasions the Arab states have been aggressors against Israel, either by means of military conflict or terrorist action. This always nearly elicited some kind of Israeli response and/or retaliation in fulfillment of this prophecy. Fourthly, "he shall dwell over against his brother." The expression "dwell over against" is a Hebrew idiom meaning to dwell in a state of hostility. He would live side by side with his brother, but side by side in a state of hostility, as is the state of the Arab/Jewish situation today.

The Sword of Fury Arises

    The towns of Mecca and Medina, both of which were thriving cultural and commercial center before and after Muhammad, are the holiest cities of Islam and the Saudi Royal kingdom today takes and holds the responsibility for protecting their integrity with the utmost seriousness. They have been outposts of commerce between traveling caravans and empires for centuries. More importantly, however is the fact that these Arabian cities came to be the birthplace of Islam, the religion of the sword.

    Arabia was absorbed into the Turkish Ottoman Empire during the 16th century, after the capture of Mecca by the Turks in 1517, but subsequent local rulers were allowed a great deal of autonomy. Under Turkish supervision, successive Sherifs of Mecca governed the territory of the Hijaz, (the western part of the Arabian Peninsula including the Red Sea coast as far south as Yemen) until the onset of World War I.

     In 1914 the British armed forces Chief Lord Kitchener offered the Sharif of Mecca a deal under which Hijaz would acquire independence, guaranteed by the UK, on condition that the Sharif supported the military campaign against the Turks. The Sharif accepted, and after the Turkish defeat, the Kingdom of Hijaz was recognized as independent at the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres. However, on the other side of the peninsula, (east of the Hijaz) the leading potentate was Abdul Aziz Ibn Abdar-Rahman, better known as ‘Ibn Saud,’ the ruler of the province of Najd. In 1915, the government of India, then under British rule, recognized Najd and some other territories along the Persian Gulf as possessions of Ibn Saud. Throughout the 1920s, military clashes between Ibn Saud’s troops and forces loyal to the Hashemite King of Hijaz, Hussein, grew more frequent as the decisive struggle for control of the Arabian peninsula took place.

      The British and other Western powers switched their support between the two sides as it suited them. Eventually, Ibn Saud finally pushed out the Hashemites altogether, and in 1926 he was recognized as the ruler of the Kingdoms of Hijaz and Najd. In 1932 this became the United Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Hashemites, now dispossessed of Mecca and Median were consoled with the thrones of Iraq and Transjordan (later Jordan). Then in 1933 something else happened that would change the world for good. The first explorations began for oil and vast deposits were discovered in the eastern part of the country. This set Saudi Arabia on the road to its current economic prosperity, and its elite position as oil distributor to the whole world.

   Ibn Saud’s descendants comprise the dynasty which has ruled Saudi Arabia since 1932. They like most Saudis, are adherents to the strict Wahhabi sect of Islam, which subscribes to Sunni Muslim doctrine, and its Islamic laws are strictly enforced by the mutawwa (religious police). The oil search of the 1930s brought the USA into contact with Saudi Arabia for the first time in history. America quickly became the House of Saud’s principal Western ally.

    Nonetheless, there is one issue on which Saudi Arabian and US policies are implacably opposed, and that issue is Israel. Washington’s consistent and traditional support for the Jewish State has been a constant source of friction for Saudi Arabia. This became spectacularly clear in 1973 when Saudi Arabia and Iran, two of the USA’s staunchest allies in the region, led the OPEC cartel in trumping up the price of oil overnight in response to America’s support for Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

     The mid-70’s period of cool relations between Saudi Arabia and the US was eased somewhat with the fall of the Shah and the revolution of fundamentalist Islam in Iran under Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. Iran was perceived to pose a threat to Saudi Arabia for a number of reasons: the Shia branch of Islam followed by the Iranian mullahs is fundamentally opposed to the Sunni Wahhabi interpretation of Islam which prevails in Saudi Arabia under the House of Saud. Moreover, Iran is an important strategic force in the Gulf in its own right. For those reasons, as well as Arab solidarity, Saudi Arabia provided massive financial support, to the tune of over US$100 million to Saddam Hussein’s regime during the Iran–Iraq war, which lasted most of the decade of the 1980s. The Saudis were thus astonished in 1991 when, following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, Saddam’s forces seemed to be poised to strike south and occupy parts of Saudi Arabia. After initial doubts and furious debates within the royal family, the US-led UN coalition was authorized to base its forces in the country prior to the ‘Desert Storm’ military operation which Iraq out of Kuwait. After the expulsion of the Iraqis from Kuwait, the Saudis backed the US policy of ‘dual containment’ designed to keep both Iran and Iraq in check. US forces have remained in the country ever since, in what has become a very sensitive political issue, and which would later became a point of contention for Osama Bin Laden.

 

v     (the US policy of dual containment was devised and orchestrated originally by Zbigniev Brezinzki under the Carter Administration in the late 1970’s)

     As the turn of the second millennium drew near, the House of Saud was gradually becoming more and more disillusioned with the US dual containment strategy in the Middle East. In particular they grew leery of US hostility towards the Shiite Republic of Iran with whom they attempted to develop closer relations, especially since both nations held interests over practical issues such as OPEC oil pricing. Second, there was growing internal dissent over the continuing presence of US bases on Saudi territory: this is one of the key complaints of the Al-Qaeda organization which carried out the ‘9-11’ atrocities in the USA (the majority of the members of the 20-strong hijacking team were Saudi nationals). Third, since 1995, the health of King Fahd has grown steadily worse: he is now an invalid, and the country is under the effective control of Crown Prince Abdullah who is generally more skeptical of western policies in the region than King Fahd. In late 2002, faced with continued Saudi prevarication over the issue, the Americans moved their main Gulf command center to Qatar, and the 2003 war on Iraq and Saddam Hussein was directed from there.

    As the main arbiter of world oil prices, by virtue of being the largest OPEC producer, the Saudis are also subject to strong international pressure to keep a lid on prices. Saudi Arabia’s political future is unstable and uncertain, and that fact is a huge factor in the confidence of the great oil-consuming (US) economies. Crown Prince Abdullah belongs to a generation of leaders who have governed Saudi Arabia since the death of Abdul Aziz, all of whom are now in their seventies. Hence there is no clear line of succession and there may develop a debilitating power struggle among the 6000 male descendants who now make up the House of Saud, something Al Qaeda is keen on using for its benefit. The most likely victors are the branch of the family descended from one of Ibn Saud’s wives, bint Sudairi, who forms a powerful clan within the clan (commonly known as the ‘Sudairi Seven’). Abdullah is not among them, but all occupy key ministerial, administrative and diplomatic posts throughout Saudi Arabia.

      In 2002, the United States was Saudi Arabia’s top trade partner, with 18.7 percent of its exports going to America and 11.2 percent of Saudi imports coming from the United States. About 17 percent of US oil imports annually came from Saudi Arabia. With its strong infrastructure, the kingdom is also best poised to expand oil production should disruptions occur in other parts of the world, such as when Venezuelan workers went on strike earlier this year. "Saudi Arabia is likely to remain the world's largest oil producer for the foreseeable future," the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration states in energy report. Saudi Arabia is eager to maintain and even expand its market share in the United States for a variety of economic and strategic reasons. The Saudi royal family often uses its oil revenues to buy protection from the more extreme elements in Saudi society, and it usually looks to the US for military hardware or security alliances. Even a temporary disruption to US demands on the Saudi oil supply could result in serious instability and jeopardize the royal family's political status, and also affect America’s position in the oil rich Arabian Peninsula. 

 

A Whirlwind from the Coasts of the Earth

 

    Jeremiah 25:31-32 A noise shall come even unto the ends of the earth, for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.

 

    Might it be that the United States is the great whirlwind that is raised from the coasts of the earth? The US is known by the geographic euphemisms of the East Coast and the West Coast. The vast majority of America’s population and industrial-technical base is located along its coastal regions, including cities such as New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Baltimore, San Francisco, Houston, San Diego, Seattle-Tacoma, New Orleans, Tampa-Miami, and on and one the list goes. Then still other US cities lie with river access to coastal outlets such as Detroit, Chicago, and St. Louis. Truly, America is a coastal power, with the greatest naval armada in the history of nations.

   Also, America is a seacoast super-power that is greatly and logistically distanced from the region of the Middle East. No other present national power could be described in the fashion depicted by Jeremiah for the Last Days, as “one that comes to the Mid-east region from the far-away coasts” of the earth. This prophecy has unique implications given the fact that the US has the history with Saudi Arabia that it has had for the last seven decades since the discovery of oil in the Arabian dessert. In light of America’s current economic-geo-political involvement in Iraq, and the Middle East it would seem that the coastal whirlwind so described by Jeremiah is already beginning to blow, and may be gathering steam for the prophesied scenario in Jeremiah 25:33.

 

The Saudi Arabia-US Alliance is Shaky

    The infamous Saudi-US alliance came about as a result of the discovery of large reserves of oil in the Arabian dessert region in 1935. The US is the world’s largest consumer of oil while the Saudi kingdom is the world’s largest oil exporter. These two factors lie at the heart of the shaky and often quarrelsome alliance between the two nations. The Standard Oil Company discovered oil in the Saudi kingdom in 1936, and commercial oil production began during World War II. The oil reserves, nearly 1/3 of the world’s known reserves, allowed the Saudi kingdom to become very wealthy. Saudi Arabia was neutral until nearly the end of WWII, and it was permitted to be a charter member of the United Nations in 1945. The country joined also the Arab League in 1945 and took part in the 1948–1949 war of extermination against Israel. Saudi Arabia still to this day does not recognize the state of Israel.

     But there often comes a time in the history of relations with every oppressive state when the need for change is suddenly and widely understood to be imperative. The US is obviously approaching that point in its relationship with Saudi Arabia. Inevitably, in the affairs between nations an incident occurs that undermines the legitimacy of the alliance. For the US and Saudi Arabia, such an incident might have occurred on September 11, 2001. Indeed, the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon by 19 terrorists, 15 of whom were Saudi subjects, did as much to subvert the authority of the Saudi monarchy at home as it did to warn the world of the menace of Arabic Wahhabism, the totalitarian form of Islam that inspires al Qaeda and is the Saudi kingdom's state religion. The same event, of course, also made obvious the need for the United States to alter its cozy relationship with the Saudi monarchy, and to seek strategic modifications. Rudely awakened by the 9-11 blow, Americans who cared to follow news from the kingdom have been able to learn a great deal. In early 2002, there was the revelation that the Saudi government openly funds, and continues to fund "martyrdom," including suicide bombings in the Palestinian confrontation with Israel; and it has done so to the tune of $400 million in 2001 alone. International investigation of terrorist financing has confirmed the role of Saudi-backed Islamic charities in such terror-related activities, including inside the United States. Saudi authorities repeatedly affirm their commitment to the war on terror, but continue to fail to deliver on promises to shut down terror-funding charities and apprehend rich supporters of al Qaeda inside the Saudi kingdom. And how can they, seeing as how the State religion of Wahibism teaches terrorist ideals.

    Another shaky factor in the US-Saudi alliance is the recent liberation of Iraq, and the specter most terrifying for the House of Saud, is that of a Western-oriented, proto-democratic regime on Saudi Arabia's long northern border. Such an Iraq would almost assuredly be led by Shia Muslims, whom the Wahhabis view about as favorable as the Nazis viewed the Jews. The US-Saudi relationship is unique in our history, and redefining it in the light of what Americans now know about terrorism, Wahhabism, 9-11, and Saudi kingdom’s hatred of Israel is very serious business.  

    The first task before any future presidential administration remains what it was on September 12: to obtain a full and transparent accounting of Saudi involvement in 9/11, no matter how high it reaches into ruling circles. Saudi Arabia is a country that sponsored the Taliban regime of Afghanistan. It is the country that bans any form of Jewish or Christian worship, even in the privacy of individual homes. The Saudis have a history of stonewalling U.S. anti-terror efforts going back to the Khobar Towers in 1996. Indeed, Saudi Arabia is among, if not the largest, states that support terrorism in the world. The Saudi royal family fears Wahabbi Islam a lot more than it does the West and has been financing militant Wahabbis, who finance terror for years. The Saudis no longer fear Iraq. Saudi Arabia is America's largest arms customer, $39 billion since the Gulf War, and the Russians would be only too happy to step in and assume any unfulfilled defense contracts. On the other hand, America imported 1.7 million barrels of Saudi oil per day last year. Crown Prince Abdullah castigated the US for supporting the Israelis in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. According to Prince Abdullah, America's failure to interfere on Yasser Arafat's behalf is "indefensible," saying Israel is the reason for suicide bombings, suggesting that Israeli checkpoints, retaliatory strikes, incursions and gunfights are the cause of Palestinian suicide attacks, rather than being the result of them. The oil rich Middle East countries use their oil reserves and market share-production as a political lever to influence America to stop supporting Israel’s right to exist, and to force American diplomats to coerce Israel into false peace deals.

 

    Saudi Arabia has drafted a strategic plan that envisions the end of a US military umbrella over the kingdom and the procurement of nuclear weapons. Western intelligence sources said that the Saudi leadership has begun seriously considering the option of acquiring or developing its own nuclear weapons. Saudi rulers believe that nuclear weapons are required to save the Saudi regime from Iran, (remember the Persia-Russia alliance from Ezekiel 38:5) and its Shiite brand of Islam, and from bands of thugs such as Al Qaeda, which many in the Royal family see as being an unwitting tool of the Zionists.

    In fact, Saudi Arabia may be America’s worst enemy. American leaders are being foolish and are deceived to think that we can have any kind of stable and secure relations with a nation made up of Wahabis, the sect of Islam that is the most deadly in funding and carrying out the kind of

terrorism that attacked our country on 9/11. But one presidential administration after another shields this dark-side image of Saudi Arabia due to political correctness, cheap oil, and the current alliance mantra: She is assisting us in our war on terror. Thus she is excluded from the “axis of evil” nations and continues being wined and dined in America as her leaders visit and display false admiration and respect for us. But the fact is that both pre and post 9/11, Arabia did nothing to expose the threat against us. Arabia helped finance the 9/11 attack on us and also finances the Arafat-Palestinian terrorists against Israel. The Saudi record against us has been consistent, starting with the oil boycotts of the 1970’s. Yet we repeatedly, for the sake of cheap gasoline, and continued motoring, look the other way on these matters.

    The FBI and the CIA have demanded total transparency from the Saudi Arabians in the light of their double game: contributing, on the one hand, millions of dollars in "charity" not only to Hamas but also to other extremist organizations in their country, while at the same time ostensibly supporting the US in its war against terror. For these reasons, Crown Prince Abdullah sponsored a Saudi initiative holding out an illusory solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Saudi "peace plan" was based on an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders, after which Saudi Arabia would participate in achieving peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and the Arab countries in general. In reality the Saudis were trying to divert attention away from their responsibilities for Islamic Jihad terror and focus it on the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. In the spring of 2002 the State Department was looking for a way to get Israel to make concessions to long-time Saudi ally Yasser Arafat, and accusing Israel of "rejecting the Saudi peace initiative" was a lot easier than confronting the Saudi terrorist-hothouse. It is now clear that the Saudi initiative was simple political duplicity. In any case it didn't help the royal house and it proves something is rotten in the Arabian desert kingdom. The Saudi’s often refer to the “wedge” when talking about America’s war on terror and the Israel-Palestinian Conflict. The Wedge is diplomatic double speak about the conspiracy of the terrorists to drive a wedge between the US and the Saudi Kingdom.

 

Ezekiel’s Prophecy Concerning Arabia

    Ezekiel 38 and 39 probably is referring to the Saudi kingdom in his prophecy about the Russian invasion of Israel. Ezekiel 38:13 pictures Sheba and Dedan asking of Russia; (Ezekiel 38:13 Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?) Very clearly, the American umbrella of protection-alliance for Saudi Arabia has been removed at this later point in history! (late-tribulation)

 

    Ezekiel 38:8-13 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, (Israel) and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them. Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee. Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: (nuclear war?) And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land. Sheba, and Dedan, (Saudi Arabia) and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? (oil perhaps?) hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?

 

    

The Sword of Wahabism in Saudi Arabia

    The first great modern expression of the awakening of the Arab Islam in the 18th century which inspired many political-religious movements fighting against Turkish domination and the influence of the European powers. Its founder, Mohamed Ibn Abd-al-Wahab, was born in 1703 near Riyadh. He preached an uncompromising Islam, casting out all the precepts after the third century of Hegira and interpreting the Quran in its most severe form. Rising up against the loosening of moral standards and foreign influences, he converted Mohamad Ibn-Saud, from Dehriya, who quickly established himself as the monarch of the Nedj. His successors conquered the greatest part of what is today Saudi Arabia. Opposed to any form of idolatry, they destroyed the shrines of Kerbala (Shiite city in Iraq where US forces have recently met stiff resistance by the Shiite cleric Al Sadr, June, 2004) in 1802, of Mecca in 1803 and of Medina in 1805. They were however defeated in 1811 by the army of the Egyptian Ottoman ruler Mehemed Ali who acted on behalf of Turkey and were equipped with European weapons. As a result the Holy cities of Mecca and Medina came under Turkish-Ottoman rule.

    Relying on “warrior-preachers”, known as Ikhwans, ("Brothers" in Arabic) Wahabism remained a thriving force in the center of the peninsula, the conquest of which it assumed at the beginning of the 20th century under the leadership of future King Ibn Saud. (House of Saud) After Hedjaz and the Holy cities of Mecca and Medina were subjugated, which drove the Hashemite family into exile, the Wahabi movement led to the 1932 creation of the Kingdom of  Saudi Arabia.

 

King Ibn Saud (1882–1953)

 

The 20^th Century History of the House of Saud

    In 1902, Abdul Aziz recaptured Riyadh, the Al-Saud dynasty's ancestral capital, from the rival Al-Rashid family. Continuing his conquests, Abdul Aziz subdued Al-Hasa, the rest of Nejd, and the Hijaz between 1913 and 1926. In 1932, these regions were unified as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Boundaries with Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait were established by a series of treaties negotiated in the 1920s, with two "neutral zones," one with Iraq and the other with Kuwait created. The Saudi-Kuwaiti neutral zone was administratively partitioned in 1971, with each state continuing to share the petroleum resources of the former zone equally. Tentative agreement on the partition of the Saudi-Iraqi neutral zone was reached in 1981, and partition was finalized by 1983. The country's southern boundary with Yemen was partially defined by the 1934 Treaty of Taif, which ended a brief border war between the two states. A June 2000 treaty further delineated portions of the boundary with Yemen. The location and status of Saudi Arabia's boundary with the United Arab Emirates is not final; a defacto boundary reflects a 1974 agreement. The border between Saudi Arabia and Qatar was resolved in March 2001. The border with Oman also is not demarcated.

   King Abdul Aziz died in 1953 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Saud, who reigned for 11 years. In 1964, Saud abdicated in favor of his half-brother, Faisal, who had served as Foreign Minister. Because of fiscal difficulties, King Saud had been persuaded in 1958 to delegate direct conduct of Saudi Government affairs to Faisal as Prime Minister; Saud briefly regained control of the government in 1960-62. In October 1962, Faisal outlined a broad reform program, stressing economic development. Faisal was proclaimed King of Saudi Arabia in 1964 by senior royal family members and religious leaders.

   The mid-1960s saw external pressures generated by Saudi-Egyptian differences over Yemen. When civil war broke out in 1962 between Yemeni royalists and republicans, Egyptian forces entered Yemen to support the new republican government, while Saudi Arabia backed the royalists. Tensions subsided only after 1967, when Egypt withdrew its troops from Yemen. Saudi forces did not participate in the Six-Day (Arab-Israeli) War of June 1967, but the government later provided annual subsidies to Egypt, Jordan, and Syria to support their economies. During the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, Saudi Arabia participated in the Arab oil boycott of the United States and Netherlands. A member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Saudi Arabia had joined other member countries in moderate oil price increases beginning in 1971. After the 1973 war, the price of oil rose substantially, dramatically increasing Saudi Arabia's wealth and political influence.

    In 1975, King Faisal was assassinated by a nephew, who was executed after an extensive investigation concluded that he acted alone. Faisal was succeeded by his half-brother Khalid as King and Prime Minister; their half-brother Prince Fahd was named Crown Prince and First Deputy Prime Minister. King Khalid empowered Crown Prince Fahd to oversee many aspects of the government's international and domestic affairs. Economic development continued rapidly under King Khalid, and the kingdom assumed a more influential role in regional politics and international economic and financial matters.

   In June 1982, King Khalid died, and Fahd became King and Prime Minister in a smooth transition. Another half-brother, Prince Abdullah, Commander of the Saudi National Guard, was named Crown Prince and First Deputy Prime Minister. King Fahd's brother, Prince Sultan, the Minister of Defense and Aviation, became Second Deputy Prime Minister. Under King Fahd, the Saudi economy adjusted to sharply lower oil revenues resulting from declining global oil prices. Saudi Arabia supported neutral shipping in the Gulf during periods of the Iran-Iraq war and aided Iraq's war-strained economy. King Fahd played a major part in bringing about the August 1988 cease-fire between Iraq and Iran and in organizing and strengthening the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a group of six Arabian Gulf states dedicated to fostering regional economic cooperation and peaceful development.

     In 1990-91, King Fahd played a key role before and during the Gulf war. King Fahd's action also consolidated the coalition of forces against Iraq and helped define the tone of the operation as a multilateral effort to reestablish the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Kuwait. Acting as a rallying point and personal spokesman for the coalition, King Fahd helped bring together his nation's GCC allies, Western allies, and Arab allies, as well as nonaligned nations from Africa and the emerging democracies of eastern Europe. He used his influence as Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to persuade other Arab and Islamic nations to join the coalition.

     King Fahd suffered a stroke in November 1995. Since 1997, Crown Prince Abdullah has taken on much of the day-to-day responsibilities of running the government. Saudi Arabia is a monarchy ruled by the sons and grandsons of King Abd Al Aziz Al Saud, and that the Holy Qur'an is the constitution of the country, which is governed on the basis of Islamic law (Shari'a). There are no political parties or national elections. The king's powers are limited because he must observe the Shari'a and other Saudi traditions. He also must retain a consensus of the Saudi royal family, religious leaders (ulema), and other important elements in Saudi society. The leading members of the royal family choose the king from among themselves with the subsequent approval of the ulema. The kingdom is divided into 13 provinces governed by princes or close relatives of the royal family.

 

 

Arabia and the Influence of OPEC

    The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a permanent, intergovernmental Organization, created at the Baghdad Conference in 1960, by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. The five Founding Members were later joined by eight other Members: Qatar (1961); Indonesia (1962); Socialist Peoples Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1962); United Arab Emirates (1967); Algeria (1969); Nigeria (1971); Ecuador (1973–1992) and Gabon (1975–1994). OPEC had its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, in the first five years of its existence. The headquarters was later moved to Vienna, Austria, on September 1, 1965. OPEC rose to international prominence during the 1970’s as its Member Countries, and especially Saudi Arabia took control of their domestic petroleum industries and acquired a major say in the pricing of crude oil on world markets. Saudi Arabia continues to play the major influence on OPEC decisions. There were two oil pricing crises triggered by the Saudi promoted Arab oil embargo in 1973 and during the outbreak of the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

    OPEC stands the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. It has a lot of influence on the world economy and upon world affairs. Saudi Arabia and the smaller, oil-rich Arab states on the Persian Gulf, fearful that they might become Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's next targets if Iran conquered Iraq, made large financial contributions to the Iraqi war effort during the 1980s. At the same time, cheating by other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), competition from nonmember oil producers, and conservation efforts by consuming nations combined to drive down the world price of oil. Saudi Arabia has one-third of all known oil reserves, but falling demand and rising production outside OPEC combined to reduce its oil revenues from $120 billion in 1980 to less than $25 billion in 1985, threatening the country with domestic unrest and undermining its influence in the Gulf area.

    At the start of 1996, King Fahd passed authority to Crown Prince Abdullah. In 1998 the House of Saud's oil income fell by 40% because of a worldwide decline in prices, and it entered its first recession in 6 years. In 2000, Saudi Arabia, along with other OPEC nations experiencing a recession, decided to reduce production to raise oil prices. In 2001, OPEC cut oil production three additional times. Saudi Arabia's relations with the U.S. were strained after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, as 15 of the suicide bombers and 100 of the 150 captured Al Qaeda militants in Afghanistan were Saudis. Despite the monarchy's close ties to the West, much of the extremely influential religious establishment has supported anti-Americanism and Islamic militancy.

   In March 2002, Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia offered a Middle East peace plan at the annual Arab summit: all Arab governments would offer “normal relations and the security of Israel in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Arab lands, recognition of an independent Palestinian state with noble Jerusalem as its capital, and the return of the Palestinian refugees.” This was an extraordinary offer because it promised the backing of the entire Arab world. The Saudi plan nevertheless seemed unrealistic in the concessions it expected from Israel. And without a cease-fire in Israel’s ongoing terrorist war with Yasser Arafat, much less an agreement to negotiate between the Israelis and Palestinians, the plan languished, but has since been largely incorporated into the Quartet sponsored Roadmap Plan. 

   In August of 2003, following the U.S.-led war on Iraq in March and April 2003, the United States withdrew its troops stationed in Saudi Arabia, due to political pressure from the Saudi’s. The U.S. had maintained troops in the country for the previous decade, a source of great controversy in the strongly conservative Islamic country. One of the major reasons for the Sept. 11 attacks, according to Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden, was the presence of U.S. troops in the home of Islam's holiest sites, Medina and Mecca. On May 12, suicide bombers killed 34, including 8 Americans, at housing compounds for Westerners in Riyadh. Al-Qaeda was suspected. Saudi Arabia's commitment to antiterrorist measures was again called into question by the US and other countries. In July, the U.S. Congress bitterly criticized Saudi Arabia's alleged financing of terrorist organizations and for harboring a civil servant who had ties to two of the September 11 hijackers. While the Saudi government has arrested a sizeable number of suspected terrorists in the past year, it remains a hotbed of Islamic militancy, and is constantly a target of Al Qaeda extremists who wish to drive a permanent wedge between the Saudi-US alliance.

    Through the 1950s, the Saudi government built its infrastructure around the oil industry, and the wealth of the region grew exponentially. The Saudi royal family spared no expense in building up their kingdom and their own personal international portfolio’s. One enterprising young construction magnate who played a critical role in this early development and expansion was an enterprising man named Muhammad Awad bin Laden, who became one of the wealthiest men in the world as a result. Muhammad bin Laden crafted intimate ties with the royal family, and as they built the Saudi empire together; bin Laden became a hero of the state and a powerful dealer in Arab-Muslim influences. In 1955, he had his 17th son, a boy named Osama bin Laden, a development which was an event that didn't seem particularly important at the time, but September 11^th and a group called Al Qaeda changed all that.

 

The Saudi-Iraq Connections

    To begin to get a grasp on what the current trouble in Iraq is all about, the Saudi connection cannot be overlooked. Iraq was created by the British in 1921 after World War I, has been a fountain for Arab nationalist distaste for the creation of a Jewish homeland since the day Iraq was created. When Winston Churchill was Secretary for the British colonies in 1921, he helped out in creating the modern States of Iraq, Jordan and Palestine. Palestine, as it was presented under the Balfour Declaration was intended to be in its entirety a homeland for Jewish people under British Mandate. Great Britain decided to carve out the present borders of Iraq and Jordan and hand them over to a couple of handpicked kings, Abdul and Feisal, the sons of the Sharif of Mecca.

   The British Mandate resulted in a June 14, 1921 announcement "to set up Arab governments”, in the new kingdoms and to have them take the responsibility in their respective regions, while maintaining friendly relations with Great Britain, and at the same time reducing the burden on the British Crown.

    Today, President Bush's concept of what is needed to reshape and stabilize the Middle East, (under the Bush Doctrine) particularly as it pertains to Iraq, is essentially the same as Winston Churchill's was back in the 1920’s. Palestine however, now severely partitioned into Israel and a projected new State of Palestine remains the volatile flash-point to the Middle East sceanrio. The problem, then as now, is that Arab nationalism, coupled with recent rise of (1979-present) Islam fundamentalism constantly threatens to overtake the European dream of a stable, cooperative Middle East tuned to Western sensibilities (EU concept) and willing to live peacefully with a Jewish State in its midst. (a purely American concept) Thus the EU and the US are constantly bickering with each other over the formula for extracting a peace and safety net across the Middle East. Had it not been for the unforeseen rise and rebirth of the modern State of Israel right in the middle of the 20^th century, (right on the doorstep of the Islamic-Arab world) perhaps the West could have realized a bilateral superpower alliance with the Arab world that would have assured utopia. Back in Churchill's era, radical Islamic Wahabi tribes ruled by a desert Sheik named Bin Saud caused trouble for the British vision. After incessant warfare with his rivals, Saud prevailed and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia was born. That country continues to this day to be the most determined promoter of an extreme form of Islam that is virulently anti-Semitic. Wahhabism, then and now, is at the heart of the Arab nationalist resistance to foreign influence, and is the basis for the rise of militant anti-US Islamic terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda. The primary reason these groups hate America as opposed to European is simply the traditional American Judeo-Christian support for Israel. It is at the heart of Osama bin Laden's crusade to get wedge the House of Saud from its eco-security alliance with the US, who he believes have sold out to the Americans without gaining geo-political assurances against Israel.

   With the break up of the Turkish Ottoman Empire that had ruled the Middle East for over 400 years, the Allied powers, consisting primarily of Great Britain, France and Italy, carved up the Middle East into the present Arab nation-states. The new borders that they carved out were oblivious to the ancient tribal lands, and this factor continues to fester and cause civil strife. For example, as an after thought they sought to come back and carve out a place for Kurdistan. But with the rise of the Turkish military under Kemal Ataturk, the Treaty of Sevres (1920), which called for creation of Kurdistan, left the Kurds a people without a country.

    This was the beginning of a long bloody persecution of the Kurds by the Turks, Syrians, Iraqis and Iranians. They all fear a united Kurdistan. The Kurds are natural warriors. Because of this, the Kurds have been relentlessly persecuted, suppressed and rejected as citizens by the nations that sit astride their ancient homelands. Hundreds of thousands of them have been slaughtered.

 

The Drunken Madness of the Sword leads to Armageddon

 

     The Lord God has declared that he will cause every nation to drink from the cup of his fury. In fact, whether the nations want to be involved in the controversy of Jerusalem or not, they are going to find that because of economics, religion and politics and international globalization that they cannot constrain themselves from being burdened with the evil designs the world has upon Israel and the city of Jerusalem.

    Jeremiah 25 concludes with the Armageddon scenario that is repeated in Revelation 14:14-20. It is that great Day of the Lord event when Jesus Christ shall roar as a lion from on high and appear on the horizon of Jerusalem’s eastern perimeter to trample the armies of the world that are gathered together around Jerusalem.

 

    Jeremiah 25:27-30 Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you. And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink. For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord of hosts. Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.

 

   Jeremiah 25:31 A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord.

 

     Islamic Fundamentalism has targeted two nations as their most hated enemy, Israel and the United States. They see the United States as the leader of Judeo-Christian culture, which in their view is the greatest threat to Islam.

    The history of the Arab peoples, the rise of Islam, the hostility they have maintained toward the Jews, and the present contention over the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem, all prove that the Bible is true and that we are in the very last days of the end time.

    Since America and the West of the last days must be ruled and led by the revived Roman culture of Europe, the United States must fade from power. It is on this basis that I see the Islamic world as the main force that will cause the demise of the US as the leader of the Western sphere of world power. Islamic terrorists now have the ability to destroy our economy and moral and social infrastructures, and in the process take tens of thousands of lives. No wonder President Bush so often says, “the war on terror is a war we must win”. On Sept. 20, 2001, President Bush speaking to the nation before a joint session of the Congress stated: "We will starve the terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place, until there is no refuge or no rest. And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." The President paused, drew a deep breath, and told the Congress, the country and the world, "From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime."

   As those last words fell from the President’s lips after 9-11, I wondered aloud deep within my soul, (and knowing a little bit of Bible Prophecy for our times) if he could possibly imagine how much of a challenge he was biting off, and how small the lack of support America would find from the rest of the world would likely be. I knew that the war on terror would find America more and more isolated from the building Global community that will ultimately embrace the Antichrist!

 

Saudi Arabia (King of the South?)

 

    Many people automatically assume that the King of the South will once again be Egypt, as it was in the first century, but I submit to you the strong likelihood that the Last Days Armageddon

King of the south depicted in the prophecies of Daniel will be the King of Mecca and Islamic progenitor.

 

    Daniel 11:40 And at the time of the end shall the “king of the south” (Saudi Arabia) push at him: (Antichrist) and the king of the north (Russia) shall come against him (Antichrist) like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.

 
    Daniel 11:41-43 He (Antichrist) shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. (Jordan--kingdom of the Hashemites) He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps. (Libya and Ethiopia represent the southern flank of the Russia-Persia alliance in Ezekiel 38 and 39)