I want you to think about the adversaries in your life.

No, not the tax man or the bill collectors. Everyone deals with them. And I don’t mean pain and distress, health issues, past traumas, your HOA, family problems, or financial uncertainty. Most folks I know can relate to all – or a lot – of those things.

This is not about your job either. A lot of us get up every morning wondering if we have the strength to put our nose to the grindstone again. We all struggle in that space from time to time.

I’m talking about people.

I’m referring to the folks that don’t like you, who attack you, who put you down, and who conspire against you. I’m talking about people who mutter against you behind the scenes and who seem to disagree with you at every available opportunity.

I’m talking about those who have found part of their own identity in being a constant thorn in your side. Yeah – I’m talking about THOSE kinds of adversaries.

What!?! You don’t have any? What’s wrong with you?

In conversations I’ve had with several people lately, we’ve talked about these kinds of adversaries.

I didn’t bring the subject up. They did.

Those chats went something like this: General discussions about national affairs, Biblical doctrine, or politics gradually got more personal. Somewhere along the line, they told me they aren’t at odds with anyone – and as far as they see it, nobody’s got any issues with them.

What bothers me is they seem proud of that. They feel it’s some sort of badge of honor, a sign that they’re getting along and doing something right.

Excuse me while I barf!

Our world today doesn’t need any more dead fish that float downstream. It needs live, vigorous, determined fish who fight the flow and forge upstream. The world needs more fish who will battle the currents, bounce off the rocks, and assume the risks and challenges of swimming up and apart.

I am not a fish, and nor are you. But this analogy applies. Our current times are awash in compromise, spiritual erosion, and ‘wokeness.’ We urgently need people who will stand for virtue, speak the truth, and not endorse ‘politically correct’ opinions and ideas.

Said another way, the world desperately needs more people who are willing to take a few bumps and bruises and earn some adversaries. Even fierce ones!

I chanced upon an excerpt by 19th-century Scottish poet Charles Mackay. He pens this issue much better than I. Here is what he wrote:

“You have no enemies, you say?
Alas! my friend, the boast is poor;
He who has mingled in the fray
Of duty, that the brave endure,
Must have made foes! If you have none,
Small is the work that you have done.
You’ve hit no traitor on the hip,
You’ve dashed no cup from perjured lip,
You’ve never turned the wrong to right,
You’ve been a coward in the fight.”

I’m not clear if that’s the whole poem or part of it, but it’s enough to make the point. If one has earned no adversaries, then one has not stood for anything – or anyone.

They are a coward. That’s nothing to be proud of.

Look around you. Our world today is being ripped apart by unprincipled people. They are not concerned with law and order, and for them “the end justifies the means.” Their corruption is marked by an activism that’s fueled by ignorance and confidence.

They are determined to speak their mind, collect fake signatures, bury facts, promote senselessness, silence opposition, torch cars, assist criminals, and pull triggers.

What about the rest of us?

Speaking as a believer in Jesus Christ, I am mostly concerned with those who claim to be of the Christian faith. Many of that crowd gather each Sunday preoccupied with ‘fitting in,’ showing their tolerance, or being ‘attractive to the lost.’

Basically, they do whatever is necessary to not ‘rock the boat,’ ‘upset the apple cart,’ or ‘make waves.’

We live in perilous times when those in the faith are often more concerned with what they don’t want to be than they are concerned with what they SHOULD be. They’ve largely dismissed the fact that people who have chosen darkness rather than light (John 3:19) are often at odds with – and even hostile to – the truth.

Why?

Jesus Himself said we should expect the world to hate us – and that includes the things we stand for and support – because it first hated Him (John 15:18-20).

Several conclusions can be made here. First, if the lawless and misguided factions of this world have no bone to pick with you, if they feel you’ve got a lot in common with them – then you’re not standing for the truth!

Second, it’s not possible to do what’s right and avoid earning adversaries. You cannot have it both ways. In the same way you cannot run around with skunks without smelling like one, you cannot be a pioneer for truth without receiving arrows in your back.

And third – that whole badge of honor thing? It’s really about earning adversaries the right way.

While we are instructed to be at peace with everyone if it’s within our means to be so (Romans 12:18), this is no instruction to sidestep our personal responsibility to stand up for the truth. It’s to our own gain when we do the right thing the right way for the right reason (Luke 6:22).

The basic point needs to be stated again: to be right with God has often meant to be wrong with man. It’s always been that way…

When we demonstrate a right relationship with God; when we properly say the things that need to be said; when we stand up for law and order; when we ‘build our house upon the rock’ (Matt. 7:24-27); when we support God’s divinely created order of things; when we stand on the infallibility, authority, and completeness of God’s Word; when we expose the deeds of darkness; and when we fight for justice, we will become a target. We’ll gain adversaries.

That’s just the way it is. It’s part of living life as we are supposed to. It’s about REALLY being ‘salt’ and ‘light.’ There is no way around it.

If you don’t have any adversaries, you’ve got a problem.

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I’ve been receiving a lot of questions and comments about Iran lately. As a Bible prophecy teacher and writer, it comes with the territory.

But some of the questions I’ve received show there is little understanding of Scripture among many Christians today. For that matter, some questions and remarks show a poor understanding of geopolitical events, too.

“This means the antichrist is here.” (No, it doesn’t.)

“I think America will probably get taken out by Iran in this conflict – do you agree?” (No.)

“I didn’t think the War of Gog and Magog was supposed to start this way.” (It doesn’t.)

“Do you think America is going to lose this conflict because she is supporting Israel?” (No, and by the way, your antisemitism is showing.)

It’s obvious the church has done a lousy job of ‘equipping the saints’ (Eph. 4:12). That’s not hard to understand since a 2022 study from the Cultural Research Center shows only 37% of American senior pastors, and only 13% of teaching pastors have a Biblical worldview. Other studies show more than 75% of pastors today don’t teach anything on Bible prophecy.

But I teach a great deal on Bible prophecy along Colorado’s Front Range and into Wyoming, and I’ve faced plenty of illiteracy and hostility from church leaders as a result. Here are some comments I’ve received from this bunch recently:

“Your Bible prophecy series has nothing to do with the Gospel, and so it shouldn’t be taught. Get your priorities straight!!!”

“We believe in a progressive theology where all are welcome and none are judged.”

“Your belief that Bible prophecy is important shows that you are a narrow-minded Zionist and a Jew-lover.”

“You’re probably a dispensationalist who believes in the Rapture and Millennial Kingdom.”

I have many more ‘enlightened’ comments that I’ve received like those. But you get my point. We have a HUGE problem in the church today. Many pulpits are woke and shallow. A lot of pastors today are patting themselves on the back for every step they take towards apostasy.

So – what IS going on in Iran right now?

I suggest you go to Solid Bread Community’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@SolidBreadCommunity. This is my teaching ministry. At this YouTube link is a video of an in-depth lecture I taught this past weekend called “Iran, and the Current Conflict with Israel.” (By the way, please consider subscribing to this YouTube channel, and encourage others to do the same. Thanks.)

For THIS brief article, let me give you some high points of what is taking place in Iran right now:

This conflict in Iran is a further development of what began October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists from Gaza invaded southern Israel and initiated vicious, deranged, and demonically inspired atrocities against 20+ Israeli communities and their residents.

Israel formally declared war in response to these events, and she invoked Article 40A for the first time since the Yom Kippur War of 1973.

In short order, Israel found herself being attacked on multiple fronts, including Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, the Houthis from Yemen, and militants from the West Bank (Biblical Judea and Samaria). All these are Iranian proxies – funded and directed by Iran.

The blind hatred the left has towards Israel and the Jews quickly manifested. The libs called for Israel’s ‘restraint,’ and they began to promote lies that were easily disproven every time.

A lot has happened since all that started, but it is reasonable to suggest October 2023 probably kicked off the initial phases of the prophetic Psalm 83 war. That passage portends how Israel will be attacked by multiple proximal adversaries, the modern equivalents of which can be shown to be the very bunch that is waging conflict with Israel now.

Notably, this conflict in Psalm 83 starts with a group called ‘the tents of Edom.’ As my lecture (in the link provided here) exposes, this phrase perfectly describes the itinerant Palestinians SINCE Israel’s War of Independence in 1948 – but not before.

Also, these foes of Israel want the ‘pasturelands of God.’ Israel today – but again, not before 1948 – is known as a major agricultural powerhouse. Her verdancy and crop production is renowned, and 76% of Israel’s agricultural products are exported to the EU. Efforts are made by various folks to insist Psalm 83 was fulfilled in the ancient past, but the text – and details of our present times – suggest otherwise.

Now, we’re watching Iran get absolutely decimated. That’s an understatement. This present conflict, now roughly two weeks’ duration, is effectively the second stage of the ’12-day war’ in June 2025. Again, I believe we are seeing Bible prophecy being fulfilled in ‘real time,’ and the key passage for this is found in Jeremiah 49:34-39. ‘Elam’ in this passage, BTW, refers to the western side of Iran.

I don’t have space in this article to get into all the details of this prophecy (you can gain all that by listening to my lecture at the link above), but here are a few things to consider. According to this passage in Jeremiah, Iran will suffer the following:

‘The bow’ (the launching systems), and ‘mainstay of their might’ (their military resources), will be ‘broken.’ DONE. And that continues with bone-breaking effect.

Her ‘king and officials will be destroyed.’ DONE. That happened in the first hour of the conflict, and more of Iran’s leadership continues to be systematically destroyed. The most precarious job in the world right now is being a leader within the radical Islamic government in Iran.

‘The four winds’ will come against Iran. HAPPENING NOW. This means multiple adversaries will come against Iran. Right now, it’s primarily the US and Israel, but others are jumping in as we speak. Several Mideast nations, too, are stating they’re going to lend their support against Iran.

Iran will be ‘shattered before her foes,’ and ‘disaster will come upon’ her. DONE. And this utter domination of Iran, and the pounding of her military and infrastructure continues to be a beatdown the world has probably never seen before. You could practically fly a WW1 Sopwith Camel over Iran right now and emerge unscathed.

I’ll stop there. I have much more to say about all this – – AND I DO! But again, you’ll need to listen to the video I specified at the link above. If you do that, you’ll learn that this entire conflict is going to expand, new ‘wrinkles’ will develop, and Israel is likely to yet take some grievous hits. Some could be very painful. The total timeline is unknown.

But the Bible makes the case that Israel will emerge from it all victorious. All her proximal foes will be soundly defeated, and Israel will gain much territory. That comes with the rules of war.

The Bible clearly shows that Israel will be weakened, spent, and exhausted from all this. But she will also experience a relative ‘serenity’ and peace that she’s not known before this point.

And that condition partly sets up the subsequent prophetic War of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38 and 39. I think it is very likely that the details of this future conflict argue that Gog and Magog is a post-Rapture event.

But that’s another matter for another time….

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