July 23, 2007
Pakistan: The Sixth Front
A few weeks ago, I read a report that said Israel faces danger on five
fronts. The article listed Hamas, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran as
potential sources of trouble for Israel.
The unfortunate thing about life is that there is no limit to what can go
wrong. In the past few days, I have noticed that Pakistan has
become a new front that needs to be watched.
Richard N. Haass, the head of the Council on Foreign Relations, was recently
interviewed by NBC News. The CFR has been called the most powerful agent of
United States foreign policy outside the State Department, and conspiracy
buffs point out that it is one of the groups that controls world affairs. Haass was
asked, "What nation keeps you up at night?" He answered that Pakistan is the one
nation that has him the most worried.
Pakistan is troubling because it plays a key role in the battle with Islamic
terrorists. Osama bin Laden and much of the Al Qaeda leadership are based in
the mountain region of that nation.
Pakistan is in a rough area of the world. You have Iran to the west and
Afghanistan to the north, and its long-time foe, India, to the East.
The biggest concern about Pakistan is its nuclear arsenal. With a stockpile
of around 40 nuclear weapons, it is the only Islamic nation that has the
bomb. It will take Iran at least a decade to reach the level of nuclear
capacity already achieved by Pakistan.
What has kept Pakistan off the list of problem nations is the fact that it is
controlled by a strong military leader with ties to the West. General Pervez
Musharraf took power on October 12, 1999 when he ousted Nawaz Sharif, the
elected Prime Minister, in a coup.
Washington views Musharraf as a friend and ally in the war on terrorism.
The Pakistan people have increasingly come to view him an unelected
quasi-dictator that is a puppet of the West. The War in Iraq has done much
to deepen this divide.
To resolve his credibility problem, Musharraf recently had his hand-picked
national congress declare himself to be the elected leader of state. In
October, Musharraf wants the body to extend his term of office for another
five years.
Lately, Musharraf has increasingly found himself beset by pro-democracy
opponents and Islamic militants. Pakistan's Supreme Court just ruled Friday
that his suspension of the country's chief justice earlier this year was
illegal. Earlier this month, a surge of violence swept Pakistan as a reaction to the government's
decision to storm the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad, where radical
Islamic militants were holed up and challenging Musharraf's rule.
The Bush Administration has also been pressuring Musharraf to launch an
aggressive campaign against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in the tribal regions
of Pakistan. The general has resisted taking large-scale military action
because it feared the reaction it might generate. A large portion of the Pakistani military is made of troops
from the tribal clans.
There is no guarantee that Musharraf will serve out his term even if he
manages to extend his time in office. In recent years, there have been
several attempts on his life. In December 2003, he survived an assassination
attempt when a powerful bomb went off minutes after his highly-guarded
convoy crossed a bridge. Musharraf was apparently saved by a jamming device
in his limousine. A few days later, two suicide bombers tried to assassinate
the general. In June of this year, there was another attempted
assassination, when an unknown group fired an anti-aircraft gun at
Musharraf's plane as it took off from a runway in Rawalpindi.
It's rather ironic that the West is trying to foster democracy in Iraq,
while at the same time, it would be horrified if an Islamic government would
be elected to power in Pakistan. I'm sure Washington will do its best to see
that Musharraf is replaced by another military leader.
What is unfortunate about living in the end times is that we will eventually
reach a point where the forces of darkness will achieve the upper hand and
all our worst nightmares will begin to come true. Unlike the world,
Christians have a hope that will spare us from calamity.
-- Todd
Fearful Sights
My friend Chris phoned me this past Wednesday evening from near New York City, where he makes his home. He had no sooner left the area of Manhattan where he works than an explosion erupted near Grand Central Station. Thankfully, he was safe at home in his apartment as he reported the scene while watching a local news channel.
People fled in terror, leaving their shoes askew on the concrete in some cases. Steam spewed and billowed skyward, soon reaching the tops of the surrounding skyscrapers. Thoughts went immediately to September 11, 2001, and the terror attacks that brought down the World Trade Towers.
It was a fearful sight, according to the reports, and Chris verified the on-the-scene reports were accurate. For at least one woman, the sight--and the carnage itself--was overwhelming. One of New York’s papers gave the following account:
“A massive underground explosion triggered a deadly volcano-like eruption in the heart of midtown yesterday, shooting a geyser of bricks, mud and debris some 30 stories high and blanketing the area in smoke. A middle-aged woman died at Bellevue Hospital after going into cardiac arrest when scalding, 400-degree steam vented uncontrollably from the ground near the Chrysler Building just feet from her, a doctor at Bellevue Hospital said” (The New York Daily News, Thursday, July 19, 2007, "One dead, dozens injured after steampipe erupts in midtown," by Jonathan Lemire, Oren Yaniv and Bill Hutchinson).
Terrorism has brought to this generation the kind of fearful sights and sounds that can and do produce heart failure, just as proved by the non-terroristic explosion described above. The mere thought that such a thing might be a deliberate attempt to murder and or maim us fulfills Jesus' prophetic words about what would be happening during the tribulation: “Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken” (Lk. 21: 26).
We aren’t in the tribulation yet, of course. Daniel’s seventieth week, the last seven years of human history leading up to Christ’s second coming, is, however, on the prophetic horizon of our time. The prophecy the Lord gave, as recorded above, tells us several things about the characteristics that will mark the days leading up to the second advent:
1. Men and women will suffer heart failure because of the horrendous nature of things they see happening. These occurrences will increase in frequency and magnitude with the apocalyptic birth pangs the planet will suffer as the world proceeds further into the endtime foretold by Jesus and the prophets.
2. This is because the powers of the heavens will be shaken. On the second point, most have interpreted this as meaning there will be great astrophysical things taking place. The Shumaker-Levy Comet slamming into Jupiter-type sites in space, for example. Perhaps the object crashing into one of earth’s oceans, as predicted in Revelation 8: 8.
I have often written about and spoken to this in exactly that way. And, that is a correct way of looking at the prophecy, I’m still convinced. But, the phrase “the powers of heaven shall be shaken” encompasses far more, I have come to believe.
Jesus’ words of foretelling found in Luke 17:26 again come into play: “And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the day of the Son of man…”
In the days of Noah, before the flood, the whole world was filled with violence (Gen. 6: 11, 13). At the same time, the powers in the heavenlies were shaken mightily, and a multitude of the one-third of the sons of God who rebelled with Lucifer determined to leave their first estate –the heavenly realm, and cohabitate on Planet Earth with flesh and blood daughters of men.
In considering the signals of the end of the age, while endeavoring to be good watchmen in discerning the times, it behooves us to think on the fact that these dual matters are asserting their fear-producing influence into this generation in an undeniable way. Violence and the terror that follows in its wake, and reports of an intriguing but troubling sort are on the increase.
Reports of UFO sightings, of extraterrestrial abductions, of ghostly apparitions, hauntings, and other-world anomalies are almost nightly fare, even capturing the attention of major news media outlets.
Peter Jennings, the late ABC anchor, narrated a serious documentary on UFOs shortly before his death. Larry King, CNN talk-show, host has on more than one occasion entertained a serious look at what’s going on in the night skies of this generation. A recent Roper poll found that fully 56 percent of Americans believe that UFOs are real in the sense that they are not merely figments of the imaginations of the people who report seeing them.
Interest has become so intense in possible visitors from other worlds that the entertainment industry is set to pour millions into feeding people the information and postulations they crave. For example, the creators of SCI-FI Channel's hit series, "Ghost Hunters," will air the search for paranormal phenomena of a different kind. "UFO Hunters" will be a series from Emmy Award winning executive producer Craig Piligian, Tom Thayer and Piligian's Pilgrim Films and Television. These set out to investigate claims of UFO sightings and ET experiences.
It seems the people of Planet Earth are being conditioned to accept the reality of visitors from other worlds at every level. Violence by earthlings is on the increase against their fellow passengers aboard spaceship earth. Are the spirits, against which we struggle (Eph. 6: 12,) at the heart of the growing evil our headlines prove pervade this generation?
The same “Sons of God” –the benai elohim of the fallen sort that once were a major factor in God’s having to judge the world in antediluvian times-- must be considered within the end-of-days mix. Are we seeing the fearful sights Jesus was referring to when He prophesied: “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of man”?
***A Must read –related to this topic!***
See Terry’s review of one of the best contemporary treatments of the subject involved in the above article. To see the review, go to: The Nephilim and the Pyramid of the Apocalypse
--Terry
