God's War on Terror: Islam, Prophecy and the Bible

by Walid Shoebat

  Consider now the case of the coming of the Messiah as found in Micah 5. Western Christians refer to this chapter simply as the Christmas story and a prophecy of the place of Jesus’ birth. Yet a careful study of this chapter in conjunction with Joel 2 reveals that at the time of the second coming, there will also be several nations that will come to the aid of Israel as well as raptured believers who come down with Christ to aid Israel in defeating the Antichrist and his Muslim hordes. I know, you’re shocked because I stated that this enemy is Muslim—just keep reading. I have included the full text of the chapters we will discuss so you can refer to them in detail. It is better not to accept any claim, mine included, unless you examine each word from the text like a good Berean. May I suggest you review the underlined verses first, then go and study the full chapter of Micah 5:

  “1)Now gather yourself in troops O daughter of troops; he has laid siege against us; they will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek. 2)But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. 3)Therefore he shall give them up, until the time that she who is in labor has given birth; then the remnant of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel. 4)And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD His God; and they shall abide, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth; 5)and this one shall be peace. When the Assyrian comes into our land, and when he treads in our palaces, then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princely men. 6)They shall waste with the sword the land of Assyria, and the land of Nimrod at its entrances; thus he shall deliver us from the Assyrian, when he comes into our land and when he treads within our borders. 7)Then the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples, like dew from the LORD, like showers on the grass that tarry for no man nor wait for the sons of men. 8)And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, who, if he passes through, both treads down and tears in pieces, and none can deliver. 9)Your hand shall be lifted against your adversaries, and all your enemies shall be cut off. 10)And it shall be in that day, says the LORD, that I will cut off your horses from your midst and destroy your chariots. 11)I will cut off the cities of your land and throw down all your strongholds. 12)I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you all have no soothsayers. 13)Your carved images I will also cut off, and your sacred pillars from your midst; You shall no more worship the work of your hands; 14)I will pluck your wooden images from your midst; Thus I will destroy your cities. 15)I will execute vengeance in anger and fury on the nations that have not heard. Let’s walk through it together, now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek” (Micah 5)

  In verse 1 of Micah 5 above, the Messiah is struck in accordance with Isaiah 53 where the Messiah is smitten and afflicted. This is also in alignment with Genesis 3:15 where God prophesied to Satan the serpent that he would one day strike the heel of the Messiah. Though Satan smites the “judge of Israel,” God has a response: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though you be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” (Micah 5:2)

  The Gospels record that this passage was referenced by the chief priests. (Matthew 2:4-5) The Jews of Jesus day knew this passage well. They longed for its fulfillment because it says that: “Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor gives birth and the rest of his brethren return to join the Israelites” (v. 3).

  How is Israel abandoned?

  Who is “she who is in labor?”

  Who are these that He calls “His Brethren?”

  These terms are so crucial. Indeed, we need to explain this whole scenario carefully.

  So let’s start at the beginning. In order to explain Micah 5 we need to first connect it with all that is taught in Joel. With patience, slow and careful reading you will get it, and when you do, you will never be the same. Do you know why I say that you will never be the same? Because if you are a Christian who loves the God of Israel, you will come to understand how you will be involved in the unfolding of all of this. You will also see the necessity to stand with Israel. You will finally understand why so many ministries stand with Israel’s right to the land and to stop this nonsense that Israel doesn’t matter. You will finally understand what God has been talking about this whole time and how He reconciles between Himself, His adopted children, and brethren (Christians) and His physical brethren—Israel. Remember—read slowly. Take your time. It is crucial to start with the Book of Joel to see why and how Christ rescues Israel in accordance with Micah 5. Joel 2 also speaks of this rescue mission:

  1)Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the LORD is coming, for it is at hand: 2)A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, the like of whom has never been; nor will there ever be any such after them, even for many successive generations. 3)A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns; the land is like the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; surely nothing shall escape them. 4)Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; and like swift steeds, so they run. 5)With a noise like chariots over mountaintops they leap, like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble, like a strong people set in battle array. 6)Before them the people writhe in pain; all faces are drained of color. 7)They run like mighty men, they climb the wall like men of war; every one marches in formation, and they do not break ranks. 8)They do not push one another; every one marches in his own column. Though they lunge between the weapons, they are not cut down. 9)They run to and fro in the city, they run on the wall; they climb into the houses, they enter at the windows like a thief. 10)The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble; the sun and moon grow dark, and the stars diminish their brightness. 11)The LORD gives voice before His army, for His camp is very great; for strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; who can endure it? 12)”Now, therefore,” says the LORD, “Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” 13)So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. 14)Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him—a grain offering and a drink offering For the LORD your God? 15)Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly; 16)Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and nursing babes; let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, and the bride from her dressing room. 17)Let the priests, who minister to the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar; let them say, “Spare your people, O LORD, and do not give your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” 18)Then the LORD will be zealous for His land, and pity His people. 19)The LORD will answer and say to His people, “Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil, and you will be satisfied by them; I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.” 20)“But I will remove far from you the Northern army, and will drive him away into a barren and desolate land, with his face toward the Eastern sea, and his back toward the Western sea; His stench will come up, and his foul odor will rise, because he has done monstrous things.” 21)Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, For the LORD has done marvelous things! 22)Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field; for the open pastures are springing up, and the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their strength.
23)Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God; for He has given you the former rain faithfully, and He will cause the rain to come down for you—the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month 24)the threshing floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil. 25)”So I will restore to you the years that the warming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, my great army which I sent among you 26)you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be put to shame. 27)Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: I am the LORD your God and there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame. 28)And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. 29)And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. 30)And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. 31)The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. 32)And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the remnant whom the LORD calls.” (Joel 2)

  LOCUSTS ARE LOCUSTS AND PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE

  One misconception must be cleared. In Joel 2 many think that it’s primarily speaking of an army of literal locusts. How so? These are human beings: “A people come, great and strong, the like of whom has never been; nor will there ever be any such after them” (Joel 2:2). These are not locusts but human beings with glorified bodies that do not die and cannot be killed: “Though they lunge between the weapons, they are not cut down” (Joel 2:8). Locusts do not fight in formation as these do: “they shall not break their ranks” (v. 7).

  The context of Joel 2 is not to be confused with Joel 1. The locusts in Joel 1 are literal locusts that swept throughout Israel and kept it desolate for two millennia. It is known that these swarms of locusts would invade the land from the Sahara, although these swarms ceased in 1959. Eilat had a minor hit in 2004, but the rest of Israel was spared. But this recent swarm was minor compared to the swarms of the past: “…in our times we have seen swarms of locusts cover the land of Judea, which upon the wind rising have been driven into the first and last seas; that is, into the Dead sea and Mediterranean sea; and when the shores of both seas have been filled with heaps of dead locusts, which the waters have thrown up, their rottenness and stench have been so very noxious as to corrupt the air, and produce a pestilence among men and beasts.”1 The swarms can reach great sizes: a swarm across the Red Sea in 1889 was estimated to cover two thousand square miles. A swarm is estimated to contain up to 120 million insects per mile.2

  Everyone knew of the locusts that invaded the land. My family would tell me of one particular locust invasion that occurred before Israel was established in which they had to close the wooden doors and window shutters. They could hear the swarms as they came and left within minutes. After they opened their windows, everything green was gone. The locusts would reach the Mediterranean and find nothing green left to eat and the miles of dead heaps of locusts would cover the shores of Israel. These accounts of locust invasions continued until Israel was restored as a nation: “And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.” (Joel 2:25)

  JOEL 2 – THE CHRISTIAN ARMY

  ARMY OF JOEL 2—WHO ARE THEY?

  Many regard the army of Joel 2 to be an evil army coming against Israel. They perceive this because this army greatly destroys by fire. But this is not sufficient evidence to conclude that the army of Joel 2 is an enemy of Israel. It’s simply misplacing the correct pieces of this puzzle. Psalm 50, Isaiah 13, Daniel 7, Zechariah 14, Matthew 24:31 and Joel 2 are the correct pieces that speak of the same story with both war and the Rapture in all six passages. The context of all these passages is the war and the catching away (Rapture). Whether the Rapture is a Pre-Tribulation, Mid-, or Post-Tribulation event is irrelevant at this point. The text is unclear in these as to the timing of the Rapture and could be argued by some to support a Post, yet we know that the battle itself will occur at the end of the Tribulation as commonly agreed. Whether the Rapture takes the believers before the seven years, then prepares them to come down for this battle later; or in the Middle; or we are caught up at the tail end to instantly participate in this, the timing is of no concern to Easterners; I predict that Westerners will wrestle with this issue and with each other until “The Kingdom comes.”

  THE WAR—DESTRUCTION BY FIRE

  Just because there is destruction in Joel 2, it doesn’t mean a wrong has been committed. God destroys nations for attacking Israel. This is not to be confused with the Destroyer, whose actions are for evil.

  “A fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous all around Him.” (Psalm 50:3)

  This is commonly agreed by most scholars to be speaking of Christ. He comes to destroy the enemies of Israel by fire. Which agrees and correlates perfectly with Joel 2: “A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns.” (Joel 2:3) It also agrees with Daniel 7:10: “A fiery stream issued and came before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him.” (Daniel 7:10) Scholars agree that both Daniel 7:10 and Psalm 50:3, are speaking about the Messiah’s coming. So why would anyone not also conclude that Joel 2 is speaking about the coming of the Messiah? The argument is that in Psalm 50:3 and Daniel 7, they are addressing a single person—Messiah, while Joel 2 is regarding a multitude of people.

  But this is not entirely accurate, as in Daniel 7:10, Messiah has a thousand thousands with Him. Who are these thousand thousands? These are the multitudes of believers as commonly agreed. This is the Messiah and his followers.

  Isaiah 13 also speaks of these followers. In Isaiah 12:6 it says: “Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst!” With Messiah being on earth in Israel’s midst, the call is on the sanctified ones: “I have also called My mighty ones for My anger—those who rejoice in My exaltation.” (Isaiah 13:3) Who are these “mighty ones?” Everyone would agree that these who exalt God are believers. They are His “mighty ones” and are called for “His anger” and to fight with Him in battle: “The Lord of hosts musters the army for battle.” (Isaiah 13:4) Why is He calling them “mighty ones?” They must have glorified bodies. Then He calls them an “army.” There can be no doubt that these are His followers. These are the same people in Joel 2:11: “The Lord gives voice before His army” (Joel 2:11). All of these passages fit together perfectly. Joel 2 covers both the Rapture and the War as well.

  Yes, you read it right—War.

  Western Christians cannot get a grip over this issue—they will be fighting a war against an Islamic invasion—the Battle for Jerusalem. It will be the last war that will finally bring peace. Yet Western Christians rarely talk about the literal war that we will be in after the Rapture. In the East, Christians already cry out, “how long O Lord?” Meanwhile Westerners argue about the timing of the Rapture. Every time the subject of the Rapture comes up, a sword fight almost ensues and casualties of war are counted on all sides as people walk out of churches to join others of their Rapture-timing persuasion. In the East, few are concerned with this Western argument; there is a land that is already in the Tribulation.

  Please don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that we are in the Great Tribulation period. I would hate it if you put words in my mouth. I have had people who accuse me of having a position. Well I do daily pray for a Pre-Tribulation Rapture, and always prepare for a Post. I am of neither position. You will find no Scripture that states we should squabble over the timing of the Rapture. The Scriptures say to be ready, so start packing. Now you might ask, “What do we n
eed to pack?” The answer is, nothing; you will receive your instructions once you meet with the King in the air. Are you ready? My job is simply to cry out—prepare the way, make straight the crooked roads, choose the narrow gate, choose wisely, choose Jerusalem for Israel not for the Muslims.

  Even my position on the Rapture which is having “no position” gets me in trouble in the West. Will we ever get beyond such arguments? When Muslim Fundamentalists take over a Christian society and begin to behead, they never ask what Rapture position any of their victims hold, neither do they ask their denomination. In the case of Islam we all need to unite.

  Now I just might get accused of being one of these who promote the One World Church. Not hardly. A One World Church would be a disaster in my opinion. It is good to have some differences; the ministry of Rebuke is an absolute necessity. It needs however, to switch from non-essentials to absolute essentials. As Islamic persecution increases, we shall see a dwindling of these non-essential arguments. This is why at times I pray for persecution. Satan fooled himself thinking that by killing us he would win. The fact is that everything Satan does ends up being used by God for good—when the crowds cried “crucify Him” God cried out “It is finished.” What a great victory. Okay, back to the subject.

  RAPTURE

  Both Isaiah 13:3-4 and Joel 2:11 are speaking about The Lord’s army. How could this army be bad? This army of the Lord in Joel 2 is the army that has just been Raptured: “Let the bridegroom go out from His chamber. And the bride from her dressing room” (Joel 2:16). Anytime the bridegroom goes out to meet the bride, it is none other than the Rapture. The purpose of the Rapture is this battle, and is clearly the same as in Psalm 50:4: “Gather My saints together to Me, Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice” (Psalm 50:4).