The Final Move Beyond Iraq: The Final Solution While the World Sleeps

by mike Evans

  It is ironic that the descendants of the very nation that were instrumental in returning the Jews to Jerusalem during the reign of King Cyrus now want them wiped off the map.

  Darius I wrested the Persian kingdom from the descendants of Cyrus the Great, but the establishment of his rule was fraught by skirmishes with the surrounding provinces. Darius proved to be quite the tactician. His trusted generals used the small army of Medes and Persians to great advantage and were able to solidify Darius’s rule over the entire Persian Empire.

  Darius was a forward-thinking ruler whose legal expertise produced the “Ordinance of Good Regulations” used to create a uniform code of law throughout the empire. He created a system of mail transport much like the Pony Express. Darius built a system of roads that reached 1,500 miles from Sardis in Turkey to Shustar (the site of Daniel’s overnight visit to the lions’ den). Darius I was succeeded by his son, Xerxes I—also known as Ahasuerus—the king who took the Jewess Hadassah (better known as Esther) as his queen.

  The story of Esther has all the elements of a modern-day love story: a beautiful young Jewish girl torn from her homeland and taken as a captive to Persia; a tyrannical ruler who banishes his queen from the royal throne—and initiates a search for her successor; and, of course, a dastardly villain, Haman, who desires to perpetrate genocide against the Jews:

  Then Haman said to King Xerxes, “There is a certain people dispersed and scattered among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom whose customs are different from those of all other people and who do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.”

  —ESTHER 3:8

  Esther’s cousin, Mordecai, challenges the queen to approach the king (a move that could be punishable by death) and ask for the salvation of her people. In encouraging her to do so, Mordecai confronts Esther with these timeless words:

  For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?

  —ESTHER 4:14

  Esther’s response to Mordecai is magnificent:

  Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.

  —ESTHER 4:16

  With great trepidation, Esther approaches Ahasuerus and is granted an audience with the king. The plan for the destruction of the Jews by the foul villain, Haman, is thwarted, and Esther’s people are allowed to live in peace in Shushan.

  Many empires fall prey to the march of time. However, in Persia—or Iran—the Arab onslaught produced a cultural mix that was unique. Persia would forever be dramatically influenced by the armies of Muhammad, but so would the conquerors be influenced by their Persian subjects. Arabic became a new language in addition to Farsi, Islam became the new religion, mosques were built, and Islamic customs became the norm for the people of Persia.

  Political correctness is not an invention of modern-day America; it has dictated the actions of people from the beginning of time. For many Iranian nobles, conversion to Islam was a politically correct move that enabled them to keep their vast holdings and coveted social position.

  For others, the impetus for conversion was tax evasion. Their Muslim superiors had levied an exorbitant tax against all non-Muslims, which they wished to avoid. Some Jews living in Iran were forced, on forfeiture of their lives, to convert to Islam. Many, such as the Zoroastrian priests, simply fled the country.

  Although the conquest of Iran by the Arab hordes was relatively violence-free, the ensuing struggle for leadership culminated in a bloody and lopsided battle. Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, and forces loyal to Caliph Yazid met on the plains of Karbala—today one of the holiest cities in Iraq. (It was to be a watershed event in Islam, for it was here that Hussein died, and it was here that the irreparable division between the Sunnis and the Shiites began.)

  THE TEMPLE OF DOOM

  Shia Islam was founded in a.d. 661 by Ali ibn Abi Talib. It was from his name that Shia evolved. It is literally a derivation of Shiat Ali—“partisans of Ali.” As a descendant of Muhammad, Ali was thought to be the last of the true caliphs. He was wildly popular until he came face-to-face in a battle with the army of the governor of Damascus in a.d. 661. It is said that the Damascene soldiers attached verses from the Quran to the tips of their spears. When faced with fighting a force hiding behind the words of Muhammad, Ali’s army declined to fight. Ali, left only with the option of negotiating with his enemy, sought appeasement. While he escaped death at the hands of his enemy in open combat, Ali was eventually killed by one of his own rabid followers.

  When Ali died, the governor of Damascus, Mu’awiya, anointed himself caliph. Ali’s son, Hassan, the rightful heir to the caliphate, died under suspicious circumstances, while the next in the line of succession, Hussein, agreed to do nothing until Mu’awiya died. He was soon disappointed yet again, however, when Mu’awiya’s son, Yazid, appropriated the position of caliph and went to battle against Hussein. The bloody battle of Karbala that erupted resulted in the deaths of Hussein and his army. Only Hussein’s baby boy survived the carnage, and he became the hope of reestablishing Ali’s claim to the caliphate.

  With the ascension of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the position of power in Iran, we have heard much about the last known descendant of Hussein, Muhammad al-Mahdi, or the Mahdi. Al-Mahdi was the Twelfth Imam in the line of Ali who disappeared down a well at the age of four. Refusing to believe that he was dead, his followers imbued him with timelessness. They declared him to be merely “hidden,” and that on some future date he would suddenly appear to reestablish an Islamic caliphate worldwide. Their eschatology, however, proved problematic; it espoused an apocalyptic upheaval in order for the Mahdi, or Hidden Imam, to ascend to his rightful place of leadership. These “Twelvers” championed the belief that every individual, regardless of their religious belief, would one day bow to Islam—or die.

  As time passed and the Mahdi failed to make an appearance, authority passed to the ulema, a body of mullahs endowed with the power to appoint a supreme leader. Perhaps one of the best-known imams was Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

  Notable among the various dynasties of Persia were the Safavids who ruled from 1501 to 1736. It was under this dynasty that Shia Islam became Iran’s official religion. It was also during this time that Persia was united as a single sovereignty that became the bridge to what we now know as Iran.

  It was the Afsharid leader Nadir Shah who first declared himself the shah of Iran in 1736. He invaded Khandahar in Afghanistan, and two years after assuming the throne in Iran, he overran India. He amassed great wealth, including the seizure of the renowned Peacock Throne and the 105-carat Koh-i-Noor (Persian for “mountain of light”) diamond. (The magnificent diamond was presented to Queen Victoria in 1851 and is now part of the celebrated British Crown Jewels.) Nadir Shah was a tyrannical ruler; his reign ended with his assassination in 1747.

  The Afsharid dynasty was followed by the Zand and Qajar dynasties. In 1906, Iran experienced a constitutional revolution that divided the power of rule between the shah and a parliamentary body called the Majlis. The last of the Qajar dynasty rulers, Ahmad Shah Qajar, was overthrown in a coup in 1921, and the Pahlavis—who sat on the Peacock Throne until 1979—took the power as shahs. Ahmad Shah Qajar died in exile in France in 1930.

  It was the first Pahlavi, Reza Shah Pahlavi the Great, who in 1935 asked the world to stop referring to his nation as Persia and to use the name Iran instead. Iran means “land of the Aryans” and was the name the natives used in referring to their country.4

  During more than twenty-five centuries of history, Persians have maintained their unique sense of identity. Though they converted to Islam, they have not always
followed the accepted views of the religion. To an extent, Zoroastrianism, the religion of the early Persians, colors the Iranian variety of Islam.

  Iran is now one of the largest countries not only in the Middle East, but also in the Islamic world. Because of past experiences, Iran has developed a thorny separatism. Invaded during both World Wars and later set upon by Iraq, Iran has reason to fear foreign influence.

  The borders of Iran remained largely unchanged during the twentieth century, but the desire to recapture the glory of the vast Persian Empire has apparently lain dormant. Perhaps this pragmatism is the driving force behind Iran’s seemingly sudden emergence as a budding player in the world’s nuclear superpower game.

  It was during the reign of the last shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, that plans to bring Iran into the nuclear age began. Bushehr was to be the site of the first two reactors, and, indeed, building on the site began in 1975. While the shah was still in control, research and development on fissile material production was also initiated. This, however, as well as all of the shah’s other ambitions, ended with the Islamic revolution of 1979.

  BABYLON WILL RISE AGAIN

  In my book Beyond Iraq: The Next Move, I discussed many of the biblical implications of the second Gulf War, including the fact that Saddam Hussein saw himself as Nebuchadnezzar reincarnate. It is odd to note that since the publication of that book, Hussein’s end was very much like that of Nebuchadnezzar:

  Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.

  —DANIEL 4:33

  Daniel had just prophesied to Nebuchadnezzar that he was going to go insane, be driven from his kingdom, and end up in the field hiding, looking like a wild animal. Precisely what happened to Nebuchadnezzar happened to Saddam Hussein. On December 13, 2003, U.S. soldiers found him completely disoriented, hiding in a hole, his hair and fingernails grown out, and looking like a wild man. It was no different.

  While Hussein’s “Babylon” fell with him, the spirit of Babylon identified in the Book of Revelation did not. It is important to note that Persia is not mentioned in the Book of Revelation, while Babylon—likely the name used to represent the entire region around where the ancient city sat—is used several times as the head of the forces that rise against those represented by the city of Jerusalem—the Jews. In Scripture, Babylon is the seat of Satan’s evil as much as Jerusalem is the seat of God’s righteousness. They symbolize the two alliances that meet against one another in the final battle of Armageddon.

  At the same time, however, the Book of Ezekiel describes the force that will rise against Israel during the End Times with these words, mentioning Persia and others by name:

  The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal; prophesy against him and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal…. Persia [Iran], Cush [other translations have Ethiopia or Sudan—possibly representing African Muslims] and Put [kjv: Libya]…[and] the many nations with you….

  “‘…After many days you will be called to arms. In future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war [Israel’s return to existence after WWII?], whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety. You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land.

  “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people—all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land.”’”

  “‘…In that day, when my people Israel are living in safety, will you not take notice of it? You will come from your place in the far north, you and many nations with you, all of them riding on horses, a great horde, a mighty army. You will advance against my people Israel like a cloud that covers the land.’”

  —EZEKIEL 38:1–3, 5–6, 8–12, 14–16

  Upon this assembly of nations against Israel, God declares He will pour out His wrath in what sounds very much like what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki:

  “‘When Gog attacks the land of Israel, my hot anger will be aroused, declares the Sovereign Lord. In my zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground…. I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’”

  —EZEKIEL 38:18–20, 22–23

  Did ancient prophets predict Armageddon would end in a nuclear holocaust? Many biblical scholars have suggested that it will. Just read the following passages and see what you think:

  Whoever flees at the sound of terror

  will fall into a pit;

  whoever climbs out of the pit

  will be caught in a snare.

  The floodgates of the heavens are opened,

  the foundations of the earth shake.

  The earth is broken up,

  the earth is split asunder,

  the earth is thoroughly shaken.

  The earth reels like a drunkard,

  it sways like a hut in the wind;

  so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion

  that it falls—never to rise again.

  —ISAIAH 24:18–20

  This is the plague with which the LORD will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.

  —ZECHARIAH 14:12

  By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men….

  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

  Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

  So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.

  —2 PETER 3:7, 10–24

  THE TRUE CALL OF BIBLE PROPHECY

  While the exact players in End-Time events are not necessarily clearly outlined in Scripture, the present situation depicts all of the nations of the earth aligned either with Babylon or Jerusalem. Although Ahmadinejad and his belief in the rise of the Mahdi through an apocalyptic world struggle are terrifying in and of themselves, we are not without hope. Listen, for a moment, to the words of Jesus:

  See to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come…. He who stands firm to the end will be saved.

  —MATTHEW 24:6, 13

  We don’t have the prophecies
of Scripture so that we can cower and hide. While the Islamofascists are working to bring on Armageddon in a demonic frenzy, Jesus gave us another purpose as we head toward the Great Tribulation:

  Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.

  —MATTHEW 24:20–22

  In other words, the severity of those last days—as well as the days we live in—depend greatly on the prayers and actions of Christians today. The Bible is not about trying to bring the end of the world as the Islamofascists hope to do, but about bringing salvation and God’s love and mercy to a world going increasingly mad. It is not difficult to see who is behind these activities when Jesus plainly told us: