It’s beginning to look a lot like . . . Shar’ia, all around the . . . Middle East!  One of the developments that should be catching our eye is the number of countries who are part of the Arab Spring who are now turning into Islamist states.  This should not be too shocking to us since the dominant religious view in all these states is Islam.  But what should get our attention is how these countries are adopting Islamic Shar’ia law as the law of the land. 

We’ve watched as countries like Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia have all had revolutions of sorts.  These were hailed by our current president and even by some conservative commentators as the “Arab Spring.”  This name was given to this movement (which also touched many other countries in the Middle East) because they were wrongly interpreted as a yearning for freedom, liberty, and western democracy.  Yet what we are watching in the wake of this Arab Spring is a concerted movement toward Islamic states who are trading their opportunity for western style democracy for states ruled by Shar’ia Islamic Law. 

Anyone who has read anything about Shar’ia Law knows that it does not even slightly look like western democracy.  If you want a look at what these states may become in the future, do not look to the United States – look to Iran.  Iran is an Islamic state that functions under Shar’ia Law.  Rather than being a movement that stimulates freedom of thought – these states will now enforce Islam as its mandatory religion.  What we have seen in Islamic states is a repression of freedom of religion, a repression of freedom of thought, and a repression of freedom of expression.  When Muslims convert to Christianity, they are given a death sentence.  When woman are deemed to be out of line morally by their family – outrageous acts are allowed, even “honor killing.”  Rather than a refreshing breath of spring – this is more like a chilling blast of winter when it comes to freedom and liberty.

But probably the most disturbing thing that is coming due to the so-called Arab Spring is the destabilization of the region and its march toward war.  Demonstrations in both Libya and Egypt have turned dangerously violent when it comes toward the nation of Israel.  In recent months we’ve even watched as riotous crowds have invaded the Israeli Embassy in Cairo.  They stormed the compound and tore down the flag of Israel in defiance.  These problems are only going to increase because an Islamic state that is ruled by Shar’ia Law tends to be a state that is also antagonistic toward Israel’s presence in the Middle East.  They have a very serious problem with Israel being in Jerusalem – which Islam holds as its third most holy place.  In the past year we’ve watched the attitude of Turkey, which was previously a moderate Muslim nation, turn very sour toward Israel.  Turkey even helped to sponsor groups that are trying to break through the blockade that Israel has put around the Palestinian territories to keep advanced military arms from being shipped to their ports.  The weapons that get through in various ways are then used on Israel in rocket attacks and other incursions.  It all adds up to a growing number of Arab “Spring-ed” countries that are turning more radical in their Islamic views. 

What are we to do about these things?  First of all, we need to realize that our current administration really does not have a clue when it comes to what is going on in the Islamic world.  They think that western style democracy is taking hold – when in reality – these states are going to be little more than another Iran in the region.  We need to pray and ask God to give discernment to those in our government – in the State Department as well as the White House.  They need to see what is happening and be willing to say that Islamic states that turn to Shar’ia Law are going to be states that desire the destruction of Israel.  It might also behoove them to see that those who call Israel the little Satan – also refer to the United States as the “great Satan.”  Call it a hunch – but I think that is not a positive designation – nor a friendly one. 

For those of us who understand the Bible, we need to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.  We also need to be aware that there is a possibility that this current trend may be an alignment for a future prophetic event called the Gog-Magog invasion.  This is a group of nations who will surround Israel – and will seek to destroy her.  When they do this (you can read about it in Ezekiel 37-38) God delivers Israel by a miracle.  In that miraculous deliverance, God destroys the armies – and the nations themselves with an intervention from heaven.  Just for your information, the nations who are presently turning towards a more radical version of Islam and Shar’ia Law are like a who’s who of the nations listed in Ezekiel.  The only nation not moving toward Islam in this group is Russia.  That problem is solved quite easily as Russia has a mutual defense and military pact with several of these nations.  Thus, seeing Russia led into this invasion is not a difficult thing to consider. 

We live in interesting and perilous times.  The world is experiencing upheavals that could be the birth pangs mentioned in Scripture – that are a precursor to the seven year tribulation period and the second coming of Christ.  We may not be able to stop the political forces that are at work, but we can allow their presence and their growing menace to be a reminder to us.  Jesus said that we should work the works of God while it is still day – because the night is coming when no man can work.  Don’t take your freedoms for granted.  Use them to communicate the gospel – and to make disciples of Jesus Christ every day you can.  It may soon be night – when it will be far more difficult to do those works.

The north-African region has been a hotbed of controversy for the past year.  We’ve watched as first Egypt, and now Libya have gone through popular uprisings of the people to overthrow their current dictators in favor of . . . well that is yet to be decided hasn’t it.  Our president boasts that these events of the “Arab Spring” as he calls it, will result in greater freedom and peace for the entire region.  Yet as time moves on – it seems that his predictions – as well as his actions are going to bring anything but peace in this region. 

Egypt was supposed to become a wonderful democracy after the political overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, their former dictator.  Please understand that I am not a Mubarak fan – he was a brutal dictator.  But as we’ve learned over the years often in matters of foreign affairs, the devil we know is often better than the devil we do not know.  Such seems to be the case with Egypt.  What seems to be rising out of the ashes of the Mubarak regime is a fragile alliance between the military and the Muslim Brotherhood.  This second group has proven to be a radical Islamic group who desire Islamic law to rule Egypt.  They also are a group who does not favor peace with Israel.  All this took a new turn as a series of events recently have caused Israeli Egyptian relations to reach their lowest point in almost 30 years. 

The Sinai Peninsula has been the site of a series of attacks by Gaza-based militants which resulted in the deaths of eight Israelis.  When Israel retaliated against these terrorists, three Egyptians with their defense forces were killed.  This resulted in demonstrations in the streets in Egypt – and even an unprecedented call for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador there.  One demonstrator climbed up and ripped down the Israeli flag from their embassy in Egypt.  Currently negotiators and envoys from several nations are seeking to defuse the situation.  There has also been a rare Israeli government apology for the deaths of the Egyptians. 

What this situation is revealing is that the former government of Hosni Mubarak, which desired more peaceful relations with Israel, is being replaced with a far more anti-Israeli government that reflects the position of the Muslim Brotherhood.  Times are changing in the Islamic world.  This is also true in Libya as well.  The Obama administration has entered into military actions with that state in the hope that their dictator, Khadaffi, may be overthrown.  But once again, what is in the wake of this overthrow is a government that will be far more agreeable to the demands of the Muslim street.  As with the situation in Egypt, the Muslim street’s views are better represented by the Muslim Brotherhood than by more moderate Muslims (if there are any when it comes to Israel). 

What does all this mean to us who believe that the Last Days of the Bible are going to come to pass just as God has promised?  It means that there are ominous developments that point to a group of nations eerily similar to that of Ezekiel 38:1-6 are arising in this region – all of which are becoming more and more anti-Israel in their political views.  Egypt is listed in this group, along with Libya as well.  Added to this group is the ancient location of Ethiopia.  The geography of this place better fits the nation of Northern Sudan which is another radical Islamic state.  When you add Turkey to this group – things start getting a little wild, since Turkey has elected a far more radical Islamic government, which has become far less friendly with Israel over the past 2-3 years.  The other nations mentioned in Ezekiel 38 include the “- stan” nations of the Russian Steppe region – Khazakstan, Tagikistan, etc.  These are joined with Iran, whose hatred for Israel is unmatched by any other nation on earth presently.  The final piece of this puzzle is Russia, which now has strengthened its ties with these nations who will one day come together to attack Israel from the north. 

Our president thinks that what has happened in Egypt and Libya is a good thing.  He hopes for new governments in these two states (and Syria is not too far behind them either) where their former dictator is replaced with pro-western democracies that will bring a new era of peace to the Middle East.  That is not happening currently, but instead these nations are being more and more radicalized.  This means that we are facing a serious crisis in the region.  One that will most likely lead to a war that will engulf the entire region.  This is not a “good thing” – but rather a “God thing.”  God is setting up this region along previously prophesied lines – for an event He has told us WILL come prior to the start of the 7 year Great Tribulation period.  As we watch these nations further radicalized in their views toward Israel, we can know that whether things are as imminent as we think or not – the alignment of nations is very similar to that of the Biblical narrative.  Is this just the luck of the draw – or the unseen hand of God getting things ready for the return of Christ?  It should be no shock to those of you who know me that I strongly believe it is the latter of these two things.  Stay ready saints – and keep yourself in the love of God and the preparation of your heart for His imminent return.  But then again – this should not be done because of the nightly news – but because of the command of Scripture.

Events surrounding our military actions in Libya are being viewed with a collective yawn in many parts of our country.  Yet what has happened and the way that it was done send shivers down the spines of those who realize that protections that our constitution are supposed to give us - and the way that it is not being followed.  Yet for me, the danger here has been a long time coming - and has very little to do with our constitution.

A brief word of explanation is in order.  Recent events in Libya have drawn the attention of our government.  It is no shock to anyone conversant with history to know that the president of Libya is an insane thug who rules by the unjust use of power, torture, and intimidation of his people.  It is just that recent events have drawn our attention to the mental unstability of Khadafi.  Those events involved his people rising up and challenging his authority.  As things quickly turned toxic in his nation he began to do greater and greater injustices to his people - and eventually he began using his air-force to bomb his enemies into submission.  At that point the UN decided to jump into the fray - being urged by Europe to do something.  What is not truthfully being reported to us is that Europe gets a large amount of their oil and gasoline from Libya - but for now we will leave that hot potatoe alone.  To make a long story significantly shorter - the UN authorized a no-fly zone to be put into place.  Sound military strategy and theory mandated that in doing this Libya's air defense capability be destroyed - as well as aspects of their air-force as well.  This steamed ahead - and resulted in our country using its military to strike with its air-force to start the operation.  Here is where things get sticky consitutionally.

What the constitution requires for us to act militarily is a declaration of war.  This is to be done by the Congress - who then turns the operations of the war itself over to the presidency - who then prosecutes the war toward victory.  Over the past couple of decades this whole aspect of our constitutional process has gotten foggy to say the least.  More and more we have chosen to have Congress approve military action short of a declaration of war.  But, even in these situations, we at least followed aspects of the Constitution having Congress involved in the decision making process.  But, this time, under our current administration, this process was completely ignored - and the president authorized an action on his own.  He did so on his own authority - and apart from any true submission to the ruling documents of our country.  Again, as I said at the beginning of this article, outside of a few statements, our country has used the ends (a crazy dictator killing his own people) to justify the means (our president ignoring the law and acting on his own).  But this action - along with countless others bode very ominous things for our country.  Let me explain.

Jesus made a very interesting and ominous comment in the Sermon on the Mount.  He said, that if the salt has lost its savor - it is good for nothing any longer, except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men."  Throughout the history of the world this has happened again and agian as nations that began with Christian principles and ways, turned from them.  In each and every situation what happened was that a godless ruler arose and pretty much crushed the church as a dictatorship developed in that country.  Now some reading this may not be putting two and two together, so let me make this far more plain to you.

We currently do not have any political party that is willing to truly put moral issues at the forefront of its platform.  Some might protest saying that the Republicans have a platform opposing abortion.  This is true, but I do not think anyone is under the delusion that they truly have acted to DO something about it.  In addition to this I have watched with a broken heart as this country (and both parties) have done nothing about the growing homosexual agenda.  Homosexual marriage is gaining ground every year - as our elected officials have done little more than posture for votes about the issue.  In the TRUE picture of our nation it is NOT the economy stupid - it is our morals - and our penchant to ignore and overlook the call of Scripture to be a godly nation that matters.  Some decry the foolish decisions being made in the highest levels of our government.  They wonder why decisions are being promoted that in effect are weakening and destroying our nation.  Yet, none of these things are all that strange to me any longer.  They are not strange because I am watching the evangelical movement in the United States leave God.  They have decided that the moral issues of our day are global warming, social justice, and painting Israel as an evil state that is hurting the Palestinians.  They do this while we continue to exterminate 4000 babies a day - and call what God considers an abomination - not so bad. 

The "Ominous" truth that I see on our horizon is that of Matthew chapter 5:13 where Jesus says, "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.  We've lost our saltiness and have become as tasteless as the world around us.  We no longer speak with any biblical relevence to our society - because we are fear speaking the things said in the Bible.  Therefore we will continue to watch our governing officials make no sense whatsoever.  They will continue to weaken our nation.  They will continue to ignore the Constitution and rule on their own authority.  In fact, one day, unless we repent and return to God with all our hearts, I believe we will watch as our Constitutional Republic goes down in flames and is replaced by a dictatorship or an Oligarchy of the few.  In that day - in light of how unpopular true biblical Christianity is becoming, we will then watch the systematic persecution of the church in America.  I know that to some this may sound borderline crazy - but the more I study the Scriptures - the more I see it rising on the horizon of our own historical context. 

How can we stop this from happening?  First of all, I am not sure we can - nor am I convinced that God may not be engineering such a thing in His providence.  The issue is if it is too late for us to truly "turn our nation around."  But the real question here is not whether we can salvage our nation - but whether we are going to salvage our testimony in the midst of it.  That is the real question to answer here.  The church needs to repent - you and I need to repent.  We need to return to Biblical Christianity - that puts the gospel and the glory and honor of God first and foremost in our lives.  That would be a start.  Then we need to turn from our sin and boldly preach and live the gospel of Jesus Christ.  This may actually speed up the persecution in our nation.  If we begin boldly proclaiming the gospel - people may become very offended with it.  But that is not really the issue is it.  THE issue for us is whether we are going to hold fast to the truth - preach it - live it - and if necessary - die for it.  When the church begins living this way - it will return to its true roots.  And those roots are not set in the protection of any one nation or people - but are firmly set in working for a kingdom that is not of this world.