Peace in the Middle East? Not this Life Time

By Hal Lindsey
The Hal Lindsey Report

On this week's edition of "The Hal Lindsey Report," Iran seems to be mounting a full-court press. Last week, Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad traveled to Syria. He met with Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah, and Hamas' founder Khaled Meshal.

The week before, Iran concluded a mutual defense pact with the Arab state of Qatar. That's a little tricky for the United States because Qatar is home to the headquarters of the U.S. Central Command and our largest airbase outside the US mainland.

Also last month, Syria's Foreign Minister became the first Syrian official to publicly threaten Israel's population centers. Following suit, Hezbollah's Nasrallah got very specific in his threats, too. Not to be outdone, when Ahmadinejad got back home, he once again threatened to "eradicate [Israel] once and for all."

It's all happening across the Middle East. And it's also happening inside Israel. Last week, the Palestinian Authority's spiritual leader issued a fatwa (religious edict) against Palestinians who work on Jewish construction sites. He called them 'traitors' who should be imprisoned. If they take it seriously, that would mean thousands more Palestinians unemployed.

Sheikh Taysar Tamimi didn't stop there, though. He also included Arabs who work on Jewish archaeological digs, especially those that might support Israel's claims to the land. Tamimi said that those archaeological zones are deviously intended to "judaize Jerusalem." He also accused Binyamin Netanyahu, all Jewish rabbis, and all extremist organizations of lying by asserting that Jerusalem was a Jewish city. I wonder if he includes King David in that group?

I suppose that's why PA President Mahmoud Abbas is now threatening a "religious war" over Israel's intention to declare the burial sites of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebeccah, Leah, and Rachel (in Hebron and Bethlehem) as "National Heritage" sites. The designation is a technical move that allows the Israeli government to appropriate money to the restoration and upkeep of those monuments. But the Muslims don't see it that way. They have apparently decided that the patriarchs buried in those tombs were really Muslims, so the Jews have no business being there. The Cave of the Patriarchs is Judaism's second holiest site after the Temple Mount. Rachel's Tomb is the third. Remember how testy the Muslims get over the Dome of the Rock? It only ranks as their third holiest site and they're willing to trigger World War III over it, yet the Jews are supposed to just walk away from Abraham's grave!

Now can you see why there will never be lasting, authentic peace in Israel until Jesus comes? There is no room for compromise on either side. And we Americans and Westerners just cannot understand it.

Last week's gigantic earthquake in Chile startled a world still grappling with the aftermath of the Haitian quake. Although Chile's greater affluence and more stringent building codes prevented the massive casualties experienced in Haiti, this quake spawned tsunamis that wreaked havoc along the coast. They even reached Japan and Russia. And while Japan was bracing for the tsunami, it suffered its own magnitude 7 earthquake!

Newsweek magazine recently asked the question: "Are Earthquakes Getting Worse?" Opinions vary, but one thing is certain. Jesus said that two of the "signs" of the last days would be "great earthquakes in various places" and "fearful sights." A "sign" is something that can be seen or heard. At no point in history have we been able to "see and hear" like we can today. Because of the advent of television, satellites, and the internet, we are able to see and hear "fearful sights" virtually as they happen. No more reading about them in the newspaper several weeks after they occurred. Today, we are always "on the scene." And in the last few years, we've been "on the scene" of great earthquakes all over the world - from the United States to the Indian Ocean to Iran to China to Italy to Haiti to Chile to Japan, and the list goes on.

And one of the results of being "on the scene" as soon as the tremors begin or the wave crashes is the enormous increase in anxiety and perplexity throughout the world - just as Jesus warned.

This week, I'll share with you the ten signs of the final days of this Age that Jesus detailed in Luke's Gospel. You will be stunned at how familiar they are. You see them on the news everyday!