MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN

December 1, 2006
by: S.R. Shearer

"And at the end time the KING OF THE SOUTH will collide with him [i.e., the Antichrist], and the KING OF THE NORTH will storm against him [i.e., the Antichrist] with chariots, with horsemen, and with many ships; and he [i.e., the Antichrist] will enter countries, overflow them, and pass through."

Daniel 11:40

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INTRODUCTION

Despite all the rhetoric coming out of Washington concerning a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, the very real fact of the matter is, Washington has no intention of pulling its troops out of that blood-soaked nation. In reality, all the talk of peace is nothing more than a ruse to buy the elites time to sort things out in Iraq - a ruse similar to the one used by the elites during the Vietnam War to extend the fighting there - a ruse that extended that war an additional five years beyond 1968; we speak here specifically of the "Paris Peace Talks" of 1968-1973.

TO THINK THAT THE OIL ELITES WOULD EVER GIVE UP THEIR DREAMS OF SEIZING THE OIL RESOURCES OF THE MIDDLE EAST IS NAÏVE AT BEST, AND JUST PLAIN STUPID AT WORST. The elites and their friends in Congress know it, and so do their Islamist enemies. The truth is, BOTH SIDES KNOW THAT A BATTLE IS LOOMING IN THE NEAR FUTURE WHICH WILL IN THE END LEAVE ONLY ONE SIDE STANDING. What's really going on in the Middle East is that both sides are maneuvering for advantage on the eve of battle, specifically the Gog / Magog War: Gog (so to speak) on one side, and the United States (i.e., Babylon) on the other.

In Lebanon, for example, Gog was outmaneuvered a little less than a ago by those forces in Lebanon allied with the United States - specifically the Christian Phalangists led by the Gemayel family - when Syria was forced to leave the Levant after the assassination of Lebanon's prime minister, Rafik Hariri. The so-called "Cedar Revolution" that forced Syria's departure from Lebanon after Hariri's murder was nothing more than the result of a rather ingenious American intrigue - an intrigue that forced the allies of Iran and Syria, specifically the Shiite community in Lebanon and Hezbollah, into a minority position in the government.

In September, Gog struck back in Lebanon by initiating a bloody war with Israel that succeeded in rallying great numbers of the Lebanese over to its side in the struggle for that country; specifically to the Hezbollah bloc and - ipso facto - to Syria's and Iran's camp in the struggle for control of the Levant. The recent assassination of Pierre Gemayel was Gog's attempt to "adjust" Lebanon's government in line with the new power equation in Lebanon - a power equation that now favors the Shiites over and against the Christians, the Druze and the Sunni Muslims.

THE SUNNIS AND THE SHIITES

And this at last brings us to the maneuvering that's now going on in Iraq; specifically the maneuvering that's occurring between the Shiites (i.e., the Shi`a) and the Sunnis. But a little background is in order here for one to understand what's happening.

According to most sources, approximately 75% of the world's Muslims are Sunni and approximately 25% are Shi`a. Today there are roughly 300 million Shi'as all over the world, and around three quarters of those reside in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Lebanon, Azerbaijan and Afghanistan - in other words, in lands NORTH of the nation of Israel.

The Sunnis make up the overwhelming majority in the rest of the Middle East, particularly in Saudi Arabia, Egypt (the most populated country of the Middle East), Libya, and the nations of North Africa - essentially, those countries that lie SOUTH of the Jewish state.

THE SHIITES AS THE "TWELVERS"

Most Shi'a are "Twelvers" and adhere to the belief that authority over the Islamic movement rests in a definite LINE OF SUCCESSION that can be traced from the first Imam (Ali ibn Abu Talib) to the Twelfth Imam (Muhammad ibn Hasan (also known as Muhammad al Mahdi, or the "Hidden Imam"); specifically:

Ali ibn Abu Talib (600-661), also known as Ali Amir al Mo'mineen (commander of the faithful), also know as Shah-e Mardan Ali (leader of men)
Hasan ibn Ali (625-669), also known as Hasan al Mujtaba
Husayn ibn Ali (626-680), also known as Husayn al Shaheed, also known as Sah H¸seyin
Ali ibn Husayn (658-713), also known as Ali Zainul Abideen
Muhammad ibn Ali (676-743), also known as Muhammad al Baqir
Jafar ibn Muhammad (703-765), also known as Jafar as Sadiq
Musa ibn Jafar (745-799), also known as Musa al Kazim
Ali ibn Musa (765-818), also known as Ali ar Ridha
Muhammad ibn Ali (810-835), also known as Muhammad al Jawad (Muhammad at Taqi), also known as Taki
Ali ibn Muhamad (827-868), also known as Ali al-Hadi, also known as Naki'
Hasan ibn Ali (846-874), also known as Hasan al Askari
Muhammad ibn Hasan (868-?), also known as Muhammad al Mahdi or the MAHDI, who was, as some allege, "hidden" miraculously in well near the Jamkaran mosque in Iran. There he has remained - preserved supernaturally - where the pious come to drop messages to him.

THE "OCCULTATION"

Before the Mahdi can emerge from hiding to establish absolute justice throughout the world, mankind must be prepared for his reappearance. There will come a point when all ideologies and doctrines will fail and when every leader and government will rise to solve problems but will fail. It will then become clear that no one is capable of establishing justice in the world except God's viceregent, the Mahdi.

The "hiding" of the Mahdi (so to speak) is referred to as the "Occultation," and its long duration is a trial for believers. Shi'as believe that God examines the believers for the faith in their hearts and their beliefs in relation to the existence of the Mahdi. It is said that all believers will meet the Mahdi at least once in their lives, though they will not know that it is he.

NOTE: It should be noted in this connection that Sunni Muslims do not consider Muhammad al-Mahdi to be the Mahdi; indeed, many Sunni scholars doubt that he even existed. They hold that the 11th Imam (i.e., Hasan ibn Ali) died at the age of 28 years without leaving any offspring. But while the Shi'as and the Sunnis differ on the identity of the Mahdi - with Shi'as believing that he was born in 868 and has been hidden by God to later emerge to fulfill his mission, and the Sunnis believing that he is yet to be born, or that he was born recently and has yet to emerge - BOTH the Shi'as and the Sunnis believe that when he does appear he will bring absolute peace and justice throughout the world by establishing Islam as the global religion.

A PROFOUND DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN SUNNIS AND SHIITES

The plain implication of this Shi'a belief is that the history of Islam between the time Muhammad ibn Hasan was hidden as the Mahdi (sometime between 868 A.D. and 880 A.D.) until now has been apostate. Thus - and this is very important - Shi'as consider the first three ruling Sunni Caliphs to be at the very least merely an historic occurrence and not something attached to faith, and at worst an history of apostasy - NOT SOMETHING CALCULATED TO MAKE SUNNI BELIEVERS PARTICULARLY HAPPY, and so much so that in many Sunni dominated countries, Shiites are officially discriminated against.

Indeed, in the Shi'a-majority provinces of Saudi Arabia (specifically, Hasa, Qatif and Hufuf on the Persian Gulf, and the western provinces of Jazan, Asir and Hijaz that have large Shi'a minorities) the Shi'a have been stripped of their religious identities. Less stringent forms of persecution are practiced by the Sunnis against the Shi'a elsewhere throughout the Middle East where the Sunnis dominate. And, as a matter of plain fact, who can blame the Sunnis? - what does one say to a group that refers to you theologically as an APOSTATE, and this belief is hardwired into the belief system of the Shi'a. In fact, it's probably not too much to say that the division between the Sunnis and the Shiites in the Islamic faith is more profound and basic on a theological level than is the difference between Protestantism and Catholicism in the Christian faith.

THE CURIOUS NORTH-SOUTH ARRANGEMENT
OF THE SHIITE AND SUNNI BRANCHES OF ISLAM

Now the important thing to be noted in all of this is the uncanny way the Scriptures align themselves with this reality. We speak specifically here of the Shi'a and Sunni division of Islam and to the geographic realities related to that division - with the Shiites located principally to the NORTH of Israel (e.g., Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, etc.), and the Sunnis located to the SOUTH of Israel (e.g., Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, etc.) and each in juxtaposition to the other. And so much so that each considers the other to be APOSTATE.

This, of course, does not speak to all the complexities of the Sunni / Shiite breakdown of Islam. There simply are not enough Shiites to go around that would permit the Shiite branch of Islam to totally control all the nations north of Israel. But the fact is, in Lebanon, where the Shiites do not constitute a majority of the population, they nonetheless exercise power way beyond what their numbers would suggest through Herzbollah - a Shiite phenomenon; and in Syria, the same is true: the Syrians are totally reliant on Herzbollah in their effort to regain control of Lebanon. In this connection it should be noted that what gives the Shiites power in those nations to the NORTH of Israel - power way beyond what their numbers would otherwise suggest - is that the Shiites, as a religion, actually control a nation-state, (Iran) while the Sunnis, as a religion, do not - at least not yet.

OTHER INTERESTING & VERY IMPORTANT
FACTS IN THE SUNNI / SHIITE FACE-OFF

This brings us to a very important point: and that is, for the most part the nations of Sunni Islam (i.e., the Islamic nations SOUTH of Israel) are client-states of the American New World Order System, while the nations of Shi'a Islam (i.e., the nations NORTH of the Jewish state) have already been RADICALIZED and are irrevocably aligned against the interests of the American New World Order System. Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia are ALL client-states of the American new World Order System, and while the populations of these countries may seeth with rage against the United States, the governments of these countries are slavishly aligned with the U.S.

Finally, two last things to keep in mind if one is going to be able to stay abreast of what's happening in the Middle East:

It should be borne in mind that Al Qaeda is an instrumentality of RADICAL Sunni Islam - AND IT HAS TAKEN THE SIDE OF THE SUNNI COMMUNITY IN THE FIGHTING IN IRAQ.
It should also be borne in mind that Herzbollah is an instrumentality of RADICAL Shiite Islam - AND IT HAS TAKEN THE SIDE OF THE SHIITE COMMUNITY IN THE FIGHTING IN IRAQ.

HOW ALL THIS RELATES TO THE FIGHTING IN IRAQ

The Sunnis and the Shi'as are now engaged in a deadly struggle with each other for control of Iraq, where the Shi'a dominate numerically, but the Sunni - until recently - dominated politically. The clumsy US tactics of "shock-and-awe" and "divide-and-rule" that were basically aimed at the Sunni power structure in Iraq inevitably produced an intractable anti-occupation insurgency based in the Sunni population, and fighting against the Shiite-led government of Nouri al-Maliki that the U.S. had put in power. The Sunnis began bombing Shiite mosques and raiding Shiite neighborhoods and were helped in this slaughter by Al Qaeda which, as we have already suggested, champions the cause of Sunni Islam and promotes the radical Wahibbist theology of that branch of the religion.

The Shi'a fundamentalists have answered the Sunni atrocities against Shi'a civilians with their own campaign of murder and slaughter. Shiite death squads - many of them trained in Syria by Herzbollah - are seeking to both wipe out their opponents and terrorize the Sunni population into bowing to their rule.

The United Nations estimates that close to one million people have been displaced with more than 360,000—mainly Sunnis—forced from their homes in the eight months since a revered Shiite mosque was blown up in February, allegedly by Sunni extremists. This catastrophic state of the country has prevented any progress toward opening up the country’s oil reserves to American corporations—the unstated, but real motive of the American invasion.

THE IRAQ STUDY GROUP

All this brings us back to the subject of our last article on the IRAQ STUDY GROUP. James Cogan writes:

"The Iraq Study Group’s solution to the chaos [in Iraq] is real politik at its crudest and most ruthless. With the bipartisan support of leading Democrats, BAKER IS PREPARING A REPORT THAT SUGGESTS THE US CAN STABILIZE IRAQ BY MAKING OVERTURES TO THE VERY SUNNI POPULATON IT HAS SPENT THE LAST THREE-AND-A-HALF YEARS REPRESSING. One of the group’s main proposals is an amnesty for the Sunni insurgency. According to sources of the London Times, 'feeler discussions' took place over the weekend in Jordan between US officials and representatives of the Islamic Army, one of the main Sunni insurgent groups."

Now why would the Americans decide to do business with the Sunnis? Why? - because they have finally "written off" the Shiites as a "lost cause" insofar as American Imperialism is concerned. The Shiites are irrevocably tied to the Iranians, who in turn are irrevocably anti-American insofar as America's goals in the Middle East are concerned. The Americans may eventually decide to "talk" to the Iranians as a result of pressure back home, but the elites who control American foreign policy know that Iran will never give in to American designs for the Middle East. If the Americans do decide to "talk" to the Iranians, all they will be trying to do is "buy time" for a "change of course" in Iraq. And what is that "change of course?" Cogan explains:

"The 'course change' revolves around the demand that the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki sanction a brutal crackdown to disarm the Mahdi Army and other Shiite militias, which are being systematically demonized as the main obstacle to the US agenda. So-called 'rogue' elements of the Mahdi Army are being blamed for both the frenzy of sectarian killings taking place across the country and the growing number of attacks on US troops."

In demanding that Maliki endorse an assault on the Shia militias, the US is calling on him to attack a major political prop of his highly unstable regime. The Iraqi prime minister, a leader of the Shiite Islamic Dawa Party, is dependent within Iraq on the Shia militias, and in particular on Sadr, who has a wide base of support within the Shia population in Baghdad and the south of the country. As a result, al-Maliki has steadfastly refused to obey his American masters. Indeed, instead of sanctioning a crackdown on the Mahdi Army, al-Maliki has opposed it. For example, on October 13, Maliki gave an interview to USA Today in which he made clear his opposition to US preparations for a bloody assault on Sadr City, saying,

“[T]he way the multinational forces are thinking of confronting this issue will destroy an entire neighborhood.”

As if to punctuate his opposition to an assault on the Mahdi Army, when - on October 25 - the US staged a raid on Sadr City, the attack provoked an angry response from Maliki, who demanded—and obtained—the release of a top Sadr aide seized by the Americans.

TOPPLING THE AL-MALIKI GOVERNMENT

Shortly after al-Maliki's interview with USA Today, United Press International (UPI), which is owned by the publishers of the right-wing Washington Times, published a report headlined "Coup Against Maliki Reported in the Making.' The article said,

"Iraqi army officers are reportedly planning to stage a military coup with US help to oust the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki."

The article went on to report that such a coup would be engineered "in case the efforts of Maliki’s government to restore order reached a dead end."

Concerning these coup rumors against the Maliki government, Peter Symonds writes:

"This would not be the first time that US imperialism has ousted one of its own puppets. In 1963, as American strategy in Vietnam was floundering, the … [American government] gave the green light to army plotters to overthrow South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem. While loyal to Washington, Diem’s autocratic methods had provoked popular opposition and undermined US efforts to strengthen the South Vietnamese army in its war against the National Liberation Front.

"On November 1, 1963, rebel army units mutinied and marched on the presidential palace in Saigon. Diem, who had escaped, rang the US ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, who assured the Vietnamese president that the US had no hand in the coup and expressed concern for his safety. A few hours later, the reassured Diem surrendered, only to be shot dead along with his notorious brother Ngo Dinh Nhu, and replaced by a military junta."

PLANS IN THE MAKING

Citing "Cairo-based Iraqi and Arab sources," the UPI wrote that "several Iraqi officers" had visited Washington recently "for talks with US officials on plans for replacing Maliki’s administration by a ‘national salvation’ government." The article continued,

"Among the prominent [Iraqi] officers were the deputy chief of staff, a Muslim Shiite, the intelligence chief, a Sunni, and the commander of the air force, a Kurd. It is believed the three would constitute the nucleus of the next government after the army takes over power."

The proposed plan, according to the article, stipulated that the new Iraqi army, with the assistance of US forces, would take power, suspend the constitution, dissolve parliament and form a new government. The military will also take direct control of the various provinces and the administration after imposing a state of emergency.

OBTAINING THE SUPPORT OF THE SUNNIS
IN TOPPLING THE AL-MALIKI GOVERNMENT

An Arab source also told UPI that certain Arab countries were informed of the plan and requested to offer their help in convincing the former leaders of the deposed Baath Party regime residing in their countries to refrain from obstructing the move and stop violence perpetrated by the party in Iraq. In return, they will be invited to participate in the government at a later stage.

What's going on here? What's going on is that the U.S. is choosing sides in the struggle between the Sunni and Shiite branches of Islam; it is taking the side of the Sunnis over and against the Shiites. And why is that? - because the U.S. hopes to enlist the support of its Sunni client states (e.g., Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, etc.) to end the civil war in Iraq by brutally cracking down on the Shiites. Columnist Joe Kay explains:

The American ruling elite is concerned about the power of the Shia militias for two reasons. First, there is enormous opposition among the Shia masses to the US occupation. Second, these groups have close ties to the Iranian regime.

"By eliminating the Baathist government, the US has created a power vacuum for Iran to fill, even as the US pursues a parallel strategy of undermining Iran and preparing future military action against that country. Any move against Iran, however, would require the US to create a new client regime based on a different combination of political and religio-ethnic forces within Iraq."

THE U.S. NEVER WANTED AN INDEPENDENT
OR DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT IN IRAQ

Symonds continues:

"The Bush administration has plenty of reasons to get rid of Maliki. In launching its invasion of Iraq, WASHINGTON NEVER WANTED AN INDEPENDENT OR DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT IN BAGHDAD. ITS AIMS WERE TO TRANSFORM THE COUNTRY INTO A PLIABLE CLIENT STATE THAT WOULD FUNCTION AS A BASE OF OPERATIONS TO FURTHER ITS DESIGNS THROUGHOUT THE REGION, PARTICULARLY AGAINST IRAN. But the White House has become increasingly dissatisfied with the political results of its military adventure. Because of its own disastrous miscalculations it has been forced to rely on a coalition government dominated by Shiite parties with longstanding connections to Tehran.

"Inside Iraq, the Bush administration’s calculations that Maliki’s 'government of national unity' would quell anti-American resistance and halt the descent into civil war have already proven worthless. Far from scaling back, the Pentagon has had to maintain troop levels and dispatch thousands of extra soldiers to Baghdad in a desperate effort to reconquer the capital …

"The removal of Maliki and the imposition of a subservient military regime would, at least in the short term, solve a few of the Bush administration’s political problems by removing any objections in Baghdad to a ruthless crackdown in the country and to US plans for new provocations against Iran and Syria."

Some will no doubt object to the fact that the U.S. is planning to overthrow the government of al-Maliki; they will point to the assurances that President Bush gave the other day in Ammon, Jordan to Maliki: That he "stands pat" behind Maliki. But one would do well to remember the assurances that Henry Cabot Lodge gave to Diem just before instituting a plot against him that led to Diem's murder.

What all this makes perfectly plain is this: From the outset, Washington’s aim was to create a pliable client state that would open Iraq’s vast oil and gas reserves to US-based energy conglomerates and allow its territory to be used for permanent US military bases. The White House operates with open contempt for any notion that Iraq is a sovereign state.

IT'S TOO LATE FOR THE U.S.
TO CHOOSE SIDES AND WIN

The problem with all this is that it's too late for the U.S. to choose sides. The catastrophe in Iraq has gotten too far out of control for that. Over 3,000 Iraqis - both Sunnis and Shiites - are being killed each month and large parts of the country, including much of Baghdad, have been plunged into utter chaos. All this blood-letting and turmoil has intensified the hatred BOTH the Sunnis and the Shiites in Iraq now have for the American military presence. A recent poll found that 92 percent of Sunnis support attacks on US forces. Where is there any room here for the U.S. to strike a bargain with the Sunni population in Iraq now? - despite the help that the U.S. might get from its Sunni client-states in the region.

Indeed, in recent months, both Shiite and Sunni guerillas have stepped up their military campaigns to drive out the occupation forces. Insurgents are carrying out 700 to 800 attacks against US targets every week. Last month, more than 100 American soldiers were killed and well over 800 wounded, and eight more American soldiers were killed in Baghdad just the other day.

BLOWBACK

What's more likely to happen is, rather than using its Sunni client-states in the region to tamp down the fighting in Iraq, the turmoil and concomitant RADICALIZATION that accompanies this turmoil will spread to America's Sunni client-states. That's called "BLOWBACK" - and al-Qaeda is there, doing everything in its power to fan this blowback along with other radical Sunni groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt - AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT THE BIBLE SUGGESTS WILL EVENTUALLY HAPPEN, i.e., that the so-called "moderate" Sunni governments SOUTH of Israel will be toppled and replaced with RADICALIZED Sunni governments.

When and how all this will occur is anyone's guess, but the process is already well advanced. The Bible says:

"A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." (Gal. 5:9)

And that's certainly what's happening in the Islamic world. The leaven of RADICAL Islam (both the Sunni and Shiite varieties, i.e., both the al-Qaeda variant of Sunni radicalism and the Herzbollah variety of Shiite radicalism) are spreading like leaven in a lump of dough.

THE KING OF THE NORTH
AND THE KING OF THE SOUTH

And so now at last one of the great mysteries of the Prophetic Scriptures is beginning to be revealed - and one must understand something here - that can mean nothing less than WE ARE CLOSE, VERY CLOSE, TO THE END.

What exactly are we talking about? The Bible speaks of two shadowy and murky figures emerging in the "end of days" called the "KING OF THE NORTH" and the "THE KING OF THE SOUTH" - and if one were to look out on the Middle East today, one would see their ghostly apparitions taking shape out of the chaos that is swirling about this area; two curling, twisting windstorms coming out of the desert: one appearing out of the NORTH, and the other coming out of SOUTH. Each of them spinning and whirling as it comes. And if one peers carefully into the surging, gyrating masses as they come, one can begin to make out a spectral figure taking shape in each of them - ghostly essences, fearful phantoms with fire in their eyes, murder in their hearts, dressed for war. Both of these pallid, cadaverous figures are related to the Gog / Magog War, and both of them come breathing slaughter against the United States (i.e., Babylon the Great). Specifically, the Bible says:

"And at the end time [same as "in the latter years" - cf. Daniel 11:40 and Ezekiel 38:8] the KING OF THE SOUTH will collide with him [i.e., the Antichrist - please see Daniel and the Latter Days by Robert Culver], and the KING OF THE NORTH will storm against him [again, the Antichrist] with chariots, with horsemen, and with many ships; and he [Antichrist] will enter countries, overflow them, and pass through.

"He [i.e., the Antichrist] will also enter the Beautiful Land [i.e., Israel], and many countries will fall …

"Then he [i.e., Antichrist] will stretch out his hand against other countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape.

"He [i.e., Antichrist] will gain control over the hidden treasures … [i.e., the oil of the Middle East] ...

"But rumors from the East and from the North will disturb him [i.e., Antichrist], and he [Antichrist] will go forth with great wrath to destroy and annihilate many. (Daniel 11:40-44)

Now it's not our purpose here to examine all the intricacies of the Gog / Magog War; nor is it our intention to delve into those other passages of Scripture that relate to this great struggle and Israel's part in it; specifically, Ezekiel 38 and 39, Matthew 24:4-21, and Revelation 12. [We have done that in very great detail in other articles; for those who are interested, we invite you to read our article, "Here Comes the Judge! With Fire in His Eyes and Darkness under His Feet."]

Suffice it to say here that - according to Daniel 11:40-44 - the Gog/Magog War will be initiated with a "push" by the KING OF THE SOUTH (i.e., the forces of Sunni Islam) against the Antichrist, whose forces are, as we know, located in the environs of Ancient Babylon (Iraq). Shortly thereafter, the KING OF THE NORTH (i.e., the forces of Shi'a Islam) will launch his attack, and between them, the KING OF THE NORTH and the KING OF THE SOUTH will attempt to trap the combined forces of Babylon in a giant pincer movement.

HATE MAKES STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

Obviously - very obviously - something has intervened in the fratricidal war between the Sunnis and the Shiites that has caused them to quit fighting each other, and coordinate their forces against "Babylon the Great." We are left to speculate as to what that is; perhaps, it is - as we indicated in our last article, "The Iraq Study Group" - an attack by Israel against Iran that so enrages the peoples of the Middle East that they are willing to lay aside their own differences to confront the greater threat: the combined forces of Israel and the United States. Hate makes strange bedfellows of us all.

That the forces of Sunni and Shi'a Islam will be UTTERLY destroyed in this upcoming struggle is made plain by these passages of Scripture and those in Ezekiel - even up to five-sixths of the Islamic population in the Middle East.

TAKE HEED TO YOURSELVES

Now the point to be made in all of what we have been discussing here is this:

"TAKE HEED TO YOURSELVES, LEST AT ANY TIME YOUR HEARTS BE OVERCHARGED WITH … THE CARES OF THIS LIFE, and so that day come upon you unawares.

"For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth." (Luke 21:34-35)

Are you "overcharged with … the cares of this life;" unable, therefore, to realize FULLY what's going on in the Middle East - BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES. Think about all the "random events" or "coincidences" that would have had to come together to place the armies of the United States (Babylon the Great) in the very heartland of Ancient Babylon AT THE PRECISE MOMENT THAT ONE CAN AT LAST BEGIN TO DISCERN THE FIGURES OF THE "KING OF THE NORTH," AND THE "KING OF THE SOUTH" RIDING OUT OF THE CHAOS THAT HAS ENGULFED THAT AREA, COMING STRAIGHT AT YOU! It would be impossible to calculate the chances of that happening as simply "random events of history."

Two thousand years ago, Jesus stood up in the synagogue in Nazareth, and the book of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him, and He read:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

"To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

"And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

"And he began to say unto them, THIS DAY IS THIS SCRIPTURE FULFILLED IN YOUR EARS." (Luke 4:16-19)

And so I say unto you all, THIS DAY IS SCRIPTURE BEING FULFILLED IN YOUR EYES - but like the people of Nazareth so many years ago, most of you are failing to react MEANINGFULLY (not minimally, but MEANINGFULLY) to these Scriptures. Instead - if not in so many words, then by your actions - you say in your hearts, "My lord delayeth his coming …" (Matthew 24:49), and the "responsibilities of this life" weigh too heavily upon me for me to do anything right now.