Armageddon

Armageddon - Why should you care?

Deciphering biblical prophecy has always been a difficult and error prone task. One of the most popular subjects is the “End of Days” and its great battle of Armageddon. While the Bible book of Revelation, and Jesus’ own words, point to several “signs” as precursors it seems that “wars and rumors of wars” appeals to the largest audience as the sign to watch for. War between tribes, peoples and nations is not something new “under the Sun”. History proves that warfare is a common method of humanity to gain power, settle land disputes, conquer ‘other’ people and expand spheres of influence. There is also war that stems from religious purposes such as the imposition of one form of belief over another as Spain did with Catholicism during the time of the Conquistadors. The Crusades are an example of warfare to achieve control over a Holy Land for which another faith claims ‘ownership’. While ‘political wars’ eventually come to a conclusion this is not so for those motivated by religious purposes; the locality of the ‘battle’ may change but the warlike activities of the ‘holy warriors’ continue on elsewhere. Of what ‘type’ of war does the scriptures speak? Was Jesus pointing to political war or spiritually motivated war to those who were present when He said, “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. …” (Mark 13: 7 & 8). I suspect they thought He meant political as religious war was more from the time of Moses - the Islamic religion did not exist at the time of Jesus.

Most people think the conflicts between Israel and the Arab nations are politically based – a dispute over land and its control by one people over that of another. This mistake is easy to make when all you read or hear in the media focuses on the actions of political and national leaders. But, underlying this historic conflict is a deeper ‘relational’ and spiritual foundation. Some would say a ‘battle’ between Good and Evil, between God and the Devil. Nations founded on religious ‘roots’ cannot avoid the interplay between religion and government for control of those nations, nor the eventual conflict between differing faiths within those nations. The ‘founding fathers’ of the United States took this into consideration when crafting the words in the documents that form the basis for The American Way of life. Up to recent times the wars that America participated in were based on political themes. As a nation we do not ‘seek’ war but peace and thus Americans are, by and large, a complacent people until you happen to “attack” something for which they have strong feelings and then they respond quite vigorously, loudly and sometimes violently. But, for many, the attitude is “you do your thing and I’ll do mine”.

As a nation we hold values that are vastly different from those of other nations despite how some of the people in these nations may appear to be “like us”. The evidence for this is found in our ‘founding documents’ and body of laws based on those documents. Regardless of political persuasion most Americans believe in the ideals of: Freedom – speech, religion, living wherever one chooses; Democracy – majority rule, the right of citizens to choose their leaders by ballot in free elections; Capitalism – that one should and can make their ‘fortune’ in a free market, economic competition where those with the best products or services are the ‘winners’. For far too many years on the world ‘stage’ a battle raged between those who favored Socialism over Capitalism and vice versa. For all practical purposes the forces of capitalistic countries won the day. Today we have a growing global economy creating major changes in the welfare of people all over the world. This new economic system is still in the stages of maturing and not everyone likes this system as it ravages some and improves the lives of others. Regardless it is a potent force and is shaping the future of world trade and dependence of one country on that of others – indeed the Global Village is becoming a reality. So, why should you care?

Despite major advances in the economic well being of the citizens of many countries, there is another ‘force’ at work causing great fear and calamity and tearing at the fabric of world peace and prosperity for all. This force is that of a group who believe their religious beliefs and values and way of life are threatened by the encroaching new world paradigm resulting from the globalization of commerce. In this case the militant adherents to that religion are resorting to violence, such as the world has not witnessed before, to make their views known. This particular religious force is one for which the society of the believer and the religion are deeply connected. The effort to change the way nations interact on a global scale is by its very ‘nature’ one that causes change in a societies world-view. Conflict arises where this world-view is influenced by the religion of a society, especially when the religion requires strict adherence to social and religious law resulting from the theology of that religion. It is a basic fact that humans resist change whether for good or evil and ‘we’ve always done it that way’ is a mantra for many. Fear and emotion are the root causes for how people respond to change. In some fear causes inaction, in others emotions take over and fear causes violent reaction.

Religious dogma – a system of doctrines proclaimed true by a religious sect, also, a principle, belief, or statement of idea or opinion, especially one formally or authoritatively considered to be absolute truth – dictates the behavior of people living in societies where a religion is closely weaved with the values of that society. Examples are: Buddhism, Hinduism and Muslimism. Surprisingly those nations, which are considered “Christian” do not necessarily have an overriding or consistent set of beliefs to which all people within those countries adhere to, such societies, tend to be pluralistic in adopting or rejecting the teachings of the Christian faith. As such these societies are referred to as having ‘diverse’ values. But such Christian societies are not immune to dogmatic conflict within themselves whereas those in which the society and religion are hard to tell apart and most conflict in these stem from hatred towards ‘non-believers’. An example is the continuous ‘warfare’ between Muslims and Hindus, and in some cases Muslims against Christians, especially in those nations where Islamic belief is predominant. Now America has found itself ‘face to face’ with Islamic extremists who have vowed to bring ‘us’ to our knees and to defeat ‘the crusaders’ – the ‘christian nation’ of the Untied States of America. Like it or not Americans are in a ‘religious war’ and it makes no difference if you call yourself Christian or Jew or nothing at all. Which brings us back to Armageddon. Who are the ‘players’? From which ‘nations’ or peoples do they come? Is the great and terrible battle one related to political or spiritual matters? And, why should you care?

The simple fact is that the United States of America has, by the events of September 11, 2001, been thrust into a worldwide “war” against terrorists who hold to radical Islamic tenets. This war does not have a foreseeable “end” as this war is not about borders or economics but about religious belief where the old ways of life in the Mid-East and the new world-view sweeping the world are in prime conflict. Clarence Page, a syndicated columnist with the Tribune Media Services in Chicago, wrote (October 2003) “Today’s geopolitical realities merge religion with politics in ways America has not previously experienced or expected. We’d better get used to it.” This declaration was in response to the comments made by U.S. Army Lt. General William G. Boykin during speeches to Evangelical Christian groups. According to press reports General Boykin, deputy undersecretary of Defense for intelligence, had stated that Islamic extremists hate the United States, “because we’re a Christian nation, because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Christian.” Gen Boykin’s remarks caused quite uproar in the press and caused government authorities to react critically towards the General’s remarks. Cal Thomas, a Washington-area columnist, also syndicated by the Tribune Media Services, referred to the reaction to the General’s remarks as “the predictable uproar…” Clarence Page wrote that, “His church speeches risk causing more damage to America’s cause than all of the goodwill that his commander-in-chief, President Bush, has been trying mightily to build.” Cal Thomas noted that members of the Islamic faith are not trying to silence some of “their own” and pointed to remarks made by Mahathir Mohamad, prime minister of Malaysia, who had, at a recent meeting of the Organization of Islamic Conference in Malaysia, said “Jews are running and ruining the world.” the Conference was attended by kings, presidents and emirs from Islamic countries. According to press reports the prime minister’s remarks met with “applause” and “favorable response” from those in attendance and throughout Islamic societies; the Egyptian foreign minister called the remarks “a very wise assessment.” Mr. Thomas wrote, “There are no calls in the Islamic world for any of these speakers – from prime ministers to imams – to tone down, retract or repent for their rhetoric. There are only calls for Americans to remain silent about this growing threat.” So obviously the current world “crisis” should be something that every American cares about. Like it or not – you and yours are under attack by those who hate America and what it symbolizes both nationally and economically across the world. Is Armageddon just around the corner? Will the ongoing war against terrorism lead to a major conflagration of nations within the borders of Israel? Only time will tell!