The Beginning of the End: The Alignment of the Nations Against Israel/Program 4

Introduction

Benjamin Netanyahu: I think we have to do everything in our power to prevent the arming of Iran with nuclear weapons. On this, I have to say, there is absolute unanimity in Israel.

Moshe Arens: Nuclear capability in the hands of the Iranians is not only a threat against Israel, that’s a threat to the world.

Jimmy DeYoung: John, Iran is the major threat according to the Israeli intelligence community as far as the Jewish State of Israel is concerned. But it’s not the only threat in this neighborhood.

Netanyahu: We’re being not only being told that we’ll be wiped off the face of the earth, but also that Iranian-backed proxies are establishing themselves at our doorsteps and rocketing our people.

Gen. Jerry Boykin: I think it’s only a matter of time until there will be another attack out of south Lebanon, again supported by the Syrian, as well as the Iranians.

Ankerberg: People want to know, what are the nations that are mentioned in the Bible, in prophecy that will have a role in the end-time scenario of what happens here in Israel?

DeYoung: We are now seeing a list of Arab nations, with the exception of Russia, who will form this coalition to come against Israel in the last days.

Boykin: People say this is a war of ideas; no, this is just like every other war, it’s a war for terrain. And that terrain is the whole world. And radical Islam is a treat to the entire world. It is now the fastest growing religion.

Netanyahu: Islam rejects any territorial or political solution. It wants the dissolution of the State of Israel. And this is the problem; this is the source of the problem. This is why it’s becoming so dangerous, because how can you negotiate with somebody who wants your destruction?

Ankerberg: Israel and Iran are in the news almost every day and world fears of a possible Israeli military attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities are growing. Many Americans think that Israel is a country so far away that it really doesn’t matter to us what happens over there. But when you visit Israel, you get a different feel for the people and the country. Today we will take you to some of the borders of Israel, and show you the beauty of the Golan Heights, the Sea of Galilee, and the Jordan River Valley. And then we will talk about a military nightmare. What unthinkable consequences would occur if a nuclear exchange between Iran and Israel were to take place? You will hear what experts are saying about how many people would die, and what could happen to oil supplies for the whole world. Finally, we will try to draw some conclusions as to where we are at in history according to what God has revealed in Bible prophecy. We begin today just outside of Jerusalem, where Jimmy and I were discussing Iran and some of Israel’s other neighbors.

DeYoung: John, Iran is the major threat according to the Israeli intelligence community as far as the Jewish State of Israel is concerned. But it’s not the only threat in this neighborhood. You have three borders that surround the State of Israel. The longest border with Jordan, you have Syria in the north, you have Lebanon in the North, and you have Egypt and the Gaza Strip in the South. And these nations as well will play, according to biblical prophecy, a key role in attacking the Jewish State of Israel. But even today there are reports that the troops are massing in Jordan. You have a very volatile situation as far as the Gaza Strip is concerned.

Ankerberg: Yeah, headlines in the paper.

DeYoung: You know what I think would be a neat idea. Take my Land Rover; let’s go to the different borders and show people that basically in a day – and I’ll show you this can happen – in a day we can go to every border that is touching Israel today and show how that is the neighborhood, a very tough neighborhood, that these people live in.

DeYoung: Now, just up here I am going to turn off to the left and we are going to get off the beaten path. Don’t worry about the sign there that says “Danger: Land Mines.”

Ankerberg: Thanks a lot.

DeYoung: Don’t get off the beaten path. This is the Jordan Valley down below us here. And the southern end of the Sea of Galilee will come into view in just a moment.

DeYoung: John, I want to show you something here.

Ankerberg: Alright.

DeYoung: We’ll pull off the road. Just before we go up here let me point out to you. See, there’s the southern end of the Sea of Galilee. And from this particular perspective we can see the Jordan Valley. And as we come around and we walk up onto this bunker that dates back to the 1967 Six-Day War, we can see the mountains of Gilead, which would be one of the mountain ranges going down the Jordan Valley. And then we’re right here in the foothills of the Golan Height. Come on up here to the bunker and we can reenact some of that Six-Day War that was a decisive war as far as the Jewish people were concerned and the nation of Israel. The fact is that this was an active bunker.

DeYoung: John, this was an actual bunker dating back to 1967, and that was the time of the Six-Day War in the first of June in 1967. You had Israel under attack from the east by Jordan, which is right across there, represented by the mountains of Gilead. From the North you had Syria. They were coming in and trying to destroy the Jewish nation. And, in fact, Syria was basically encamped right here on the Golan Height. And you can see again as we look out there on the Sea of Galilee, what a position it gives a military operation to be able to destroy the Jewish nation and this fertile valley here below, probably one of the bread baskets, there are so many bread basket areas as far as Israel is concerned. And then in the south you had Egypt attacking. So from every direction there were enemies of Israel attacking the Jewish state. What is almost miraculous, God-like, in six days the Israelis were able to push back the Egyptians, basically wiped out their air force. They were able to push back the Jordanians and push back the Syrians and set up these buffer zones. This is a very fertile valley; and it’s a valley that all nations would like to have. Israel at this point has it.

Ankerberg: They are farming up here on the high spots, too.

DeYoung: Yes. But it’s a strategically very important position for any military.

Ankerberg: Alright, I am looking up there, it looks like there’s some kind of checkpoint. What’s up there?

DeYoung: You want to go see?

Ankerberg: Yeah.

DeYoung: Come on let’s get back in the Land Rover and we will drive up there and I’ll show you.

Ankerberg: Well, Jimmy, I wasn’t expecting this at the top of the mountain.

DeYoung: You know, most people are not, John, but I bring people here because I want them to understand how strategic this piece of geography is. It’s the Golan Heights. We’re looking now over the Sea of Galilee. This is a 14 mile lake, seven miles across. Look over there. You can see Tiberias. It’s a major tourist area.

Ankerberg: Beautiful.

DeYoung: Yes it is. But this is the major water source, John, for the entire State of Israel. And if indeed somebody can control this spot, they could shut the water off for the Israeli people.

John, I wanted to bring you up here so you could visualize this. There’s been only one President ever of the United States up here, only one Secretary of State. And yet America, the European Union, United Nations, making decisions trying to force the Jewish state to give away this piece of property.

Ankerberg: Israel is a very beautiful country. But as you walk the streets of its cities and talk with its people and their leaders, you can sense the tension in the air. Let me take you back to the worn streets of the Old City of Jerusalem where we talked about what the Bible says Israel will be facing in the days ahead.

DeYoung: You know, John, as we walk among the Palestinian community here in the Old City of Jerusalem and the Arab Quarter, I am reminded that there is going to be a conflict. It’s one that’s been going on for 4,000 years. It started with Esau and Jacob, in Genesis 25. You can trace throughout the entire Bible how this conflict continued, and even today it’s the major focus of the world. All the terrorist leaders say the problem in the Middle East is because the Israelis will not give back to the Palestinians the land that is rightfully theirs. Now, this is a piece of real estate, the area of the Old City of Jerusalem including the Temple Mount, that the Palestinians claim to be theirs. Well, there is going to be a continuing conflict, and the Bible tells us that ultimately, the book of Obadiah, it talks about that ultimately when the Messiah, Jesus Christ, comes back, that’s when the conflict will be completed. In fact, the Jews will be, the Bible says in Obadiah, they will be the fire, the wood that is burning. And the Edomites, the descendents of Esau, the Palestinians, will be the stubble in that fire. They will be burned up and a people that will never be ever again in history. But we are walking right in the middle of all of that which is going to be the center focus in this battle.

Ankerberg: Yeah. I find it also interesting that these folks are looking for a messiah as well, except it’s not Jesus.

DeYoung: Of course, they are looking for the Mahdi, the Islamic messiah. Everybody must realize that eschatology is not only reserved for the Jewish people, or even in fact for the Christian people. The Muslim world has an eschatology. They believe their messiah, the Mahdi, is coming. And in fact, more and more of the Islamic literature is pointing to the city of Jerusalem, right here, this piece of land, to this location, for the messiah to be able to rule over a Caliphate. That is a kingdom, an Islamic kingdom, under the leadership of Allah with the messiah headquartered right on the Temple Mount here in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Ankerberg: You know, daily in the headlines here in Jerusalem, you hear about the Iranian threat. It’s not just every other day; it’s every day they’ve got an article. And sometimes it’s the number one page in the newspapers here. This assembly in back of us has to make decisions about Iran. How does this play in with prophecy in the days ahead?

DeYoung: Well, I can tell you this. The leader of the opposition, Benjamin Netanyahu, has stood there at that podium and addressed this Knesset and said this is the number one threat. We have returned to the days of World War II and the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler. Now, he was referring to President Ahmadinejad of Iran. Israeli intelligence says that is their number one threat: the Iranian military might that is being put together; the possibility of a nuclear weapon of mass destruction being brought into existence to be placed as a warhead on one of those long-range missiles that they’ve developed. In fact, President Ahmadinejad said he has 1600 missiles that can hit any spot in the State of Israel. So that is the number one threat.

Ankerberg: Next, let’s listen to Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu’s full answer to Jimmy’s question on Iran.

DeYoung: Mr. Netanyahu, you recently compared Hitler with President Ahmadinejad of Iran. Would you please restate what you said, and do you still consider that to be the case?

Netanyahu: I said a year and a half ago that the year is 1938 and Iran is Germany and it’s racing to acquire nuclear weapons. Well, if that’s the case, then we’re in 1939. Our intelligence chiefs have publicly said that it would take Iran three years to develop the critical knowledge to produce a weapon. Well, there are now about two years left. They haven’t changed, as far as I know, their assessment.

And you asked me about comparisons with Hitler. Well, let me show you, let me give you one comparison. There are obviously differences. One is advancing the supremacy of race, the other is advancing the supremacy of creed. It’s different societies, different histories. But the use of unbridled power; the physical elimination of enemies that takes place all the time, all the time. I’m not sure the world press is fully aware of what is happening inside Iran and how enemies are simply being dispatched, simply being dispatched; I mean, killed, murdered all the time and publicly too. Publicly, and not only quietly. This is taking place all the time in Iran. And the imposition by a small sect imposing its will with violent means on the society at large, and for the purpose of outward aggression. There are these similarities. Here’s a dissimilarity. The dissimilarity is that whereas in the previous case they embarked, that regime embarked on a global conflict before developing nuclear weapons, this regime is first developing nuclear weapons before it embarks on a global conflict. Now, you know, if the Middle East turns into a nuclear powder keg, that’s very, very bad. I mean, you really don’t, we really don’t want that happening in our world.

Ankerberg: Now why is it that no one in the world wants a nuclear powder keg in the Middle East? What would happen if Iran does get the bomb and the unthinkable happens, a nuclear exchange with Israel occurs? Anthony Cordesman, an American national security analyst who has also served as a Director of Intelligence Assessment in the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense has written: “If Tehran gets the bomb and a nuclear exchange with Israel occurs, some 16 million to 28 million Iranians would be dead within 21 days, and between 200,000 to 800,000 Israelis would die. Jordan would also suffer severe radiation damage from an Iranian strike on Tel Aviv.” He estimates that, “It is theoretically possible that the Israeli state, economy and organized society might just survive, but Iran would not survive as an organized society.”

Further, Cordesman expects that Israel would need to keep a “reserve strike capability to ensure no other power can capitalize on the Iranian strike” and might target “key Arab neighbors” such as Syria, Egypt, and the Persian Gulf states.” He goes on to say, “A full-scale Israeli attack on Syria would kill up to 18 million people within 21 days, and a Syrian recovery would not be possible. At the same time, a Syrian attack on Israel with all of its chemical and biological warfare assets could kill up to 800,000 Israelis. But,” he says, “Israeli society would still recover.”

Then if there’s an Israeli attack on Egypt, Cordesman does not give a death toll here, but believes it would certainly be in the tens of millions. He does say, “it would mean the end of Egypt as a functioning society.” Then Cordesman says we must recognize that “the oil wells, refineries and ports along the Gulf would also be targets in the event of a mass nuclear response by an Israel convinced that it was being dealt a potentially mortal blow.” The resulting nuclear contamination would mean the permanent loss of oil from the Middle East.

He sums it up this way: “Being contained within the region, such a nuclear exchange might not be Armageddon for the human race; but it would certainly be Armageddon for the global economy.” Martin Walker of United Press International has stated that, “Anthony Cordesman’s analysis spells out “the end of Persian civilization, quite probably the end of Egyptian civilization, and the end of the Oil Age.”

Ankerberg: After listening to Benjamin Netanyahu warn the world about Iran how does that fit in with where God says history is headed?

DeYoung: Well, we talked about the fact that the nations that are going to align themselves will be basically the Middle Eastern Islamic Arab nations, with one exception, Russia, which is the Magog of Ezekiel 38:2. But if you know the real demographics of Russia, not too long down the road in the early 2010s and 2012s we are going to be talking about a period of time when the demographics in Russia will change and Muslims will be the majority of the people not only in the populous but in the military as well. But Iran is a major player in all that happens and today they are the number one enemy of Israel. Israel and the world in fact is focused on what’s happening in Iran. That’s not happenstance, that is Bible prophecy being prepared to being fulfilled.

Ankerberg: Jimmy, the whole reason we are doing these series of programs is so that people will come to understand the Bible prophecies and also realize that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is the coming Messiah, He is coming back. History does have a place where it’s going and there will be an end and there will be a judgment. Meantime there is salvation. To people that are listening, what would you tell them about how to come into a relationship with that very important person, the very Son of God Jesus Christ, who is coming again soon?

DeYoung: Well, of course, if you are a lost person without Jesus Christ you need to consider the facts. Many secular Jews are saying that the fact that the Jewish people are back in the land of Israel is a miracle. It is a promise in God’s word that is being fulfilled. If you do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you need to think those things through; because if that is true then there is truth in the fact if you die without Jesus Christ you go to hell forever. I’m not trying to scare you, I’m simply telling you what is biblical fact, biblical truth.

Now, the way to come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is to put your belief in the fact that Jesus Christ is the Savior. He came, He died: that’s historic fact as well. He was buried; He resurrected, the only man to ever resurrect. He said, “I am the Savior of the world. All you need to do to receive that: admit you are a sinner, admit you need a Savior, believe that I can give you eternal life and call upon Me to save you.” Simple as ABC, Admit, Believe and Call, and you can come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The facts are there; you need to consider the facts and then make that decision to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Ankerberg: I think that when people think of prophecy they think of scatterbrained ideas by people that don’t know what they are talking about. But what we’re putting before them is solid evidence that anybody can see, gigantic evidence that should be preaching a message all by itself to them if they just look.

DeYoung: If you know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior you must be a student of Bible prophecy. One in every three pages in the Bible is prophetic. God has a plan and we are seeing that plan unfold on a daily basis. You cannot read the newspaper; you cannot listen to the television news reports without seeing God at work in our world today. In light of that, in light of the fact that current events in the truth found in Bible prophecy is unfolding that plan that God has for the end times, you need to understand that, make sure you are prepared for Jesus Christ to come back at any moment. And then, as your preparation has been made, live pure. Paul told Titus, “Lay aside ungodliness and worldly lust, live soberly godly and righteously.” I am sure Titus must have said, “Paul how do you do that?” He said, “Looking for the blessed hope of the glorious appearing of Christ.” And as you look for Him, be productive until He does come. He could in fact come today.