Marie Komar (9 Aug 2005)
"Muslim Messiah?"

The Omega Letter Intelligence Digest
Vol: 47 Issue: 8 - Monday, August 08, 2005

Osama bin Laden: Muslim Messiah?
Despite years of living in caves or hiding out in remote villages along the Afghani-Pakistani borders, Osama bin Laden is apparently still alive and well and plotting new attacks against America.
Joe Farah's G-2 Bulletin this morning reports that there is evidence that al-Qaeda has obtained at least forty nuclear weapons from the former Soviet Union, and that many of them may already be inside the US. Among Osama's arsenal are suitcase nukes, nuclear mines, artillery shells, and, according to Farah, some missile warheads.
That last item on the list sent a shiver up my spine. As we have discussed in previous briefings, Iran recently tested a new missile the European Union dubbed 'a failure' because it 'unexpectedly' detonated 200 miles above the earth. I set off both 'failure' and 'unexpected' in quotes because the detonation wasn't unexpected and the test wasn't a failure.
For more than 40 years, the Pentagon has known that a nuclear weapon detonated high over the United States could knock out much of the nation's electrical and electronic infrastructure.
An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) from the nuclear explosion could shut down power plants, silence telecommunications, cut off radio and TV broadcasts, and fry the computer chips that control everything from financial transactions to water systems to airliners in flight.
The U.S. military discovered the power of EMP quite by chance in 1962. During a high-altitude test of a nuclear weapon, the U.S. detonated a 1.4-megaton nuclear bomb 250 miles above Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean.
The electromagnetic pulse from the explosion triggered widespread electric system failures in Hawaii 800 miles away. Street lights went out, telephone service was disrupted, fuses blew, radio broadcasts ceased and communications systems failed.
Soviet scientists discovered similar side effects when they tested nuclear bombs in the atmosphere over the Soviet Union. The EMP essentially causes a power surge that's strong enough to melt wires, damage transformers and destroy computer chips. An EMP burst is an unexpected side-effect of a nuclear explosion detonated in the atmosphere.
An EMP attack could touch off "unprecedented, cascading failures of our major infrastructures" that would "threaten the viability of the United States," a congressional commission warned last year.
Congressional hearings in 1997 and 1999 laid out the EMP threat, but generally were ignored. Even the U.S. military, which developed defenses against EMP attacks during Cold War, has let its guard down.
The military dramatically has increased its dependence on the electronics and information technology that are most susceptible to EMP. It also has mothballed EMP research and test facilities and abandoned requirements that systems be hardened to resist EMP attacks.
So said the findings of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack to the House Armed Services Committee. That is why the possibility that Osama has a nuclear missile warhead is so chilling.
Osama maintains a navy of tankers and other commercial vessels that could easily launch a mobile missile from just outside US waters. Given the proximity of the launch and the fact the missile need only reach an altitude of 200 miles to accomplish its mission, the chances we could destroy it after launch are minimal.
According to Congressional reports, a nuclear warhead detonated at an altitude of 200 miles (the height of the Iranian missile's 'accidental' detonation) would generate an EMP burst that would instantly destroy enough of the US technological infrastructure to throw the US back into the 1890's -- before cars, before airplanes, before telephones.
Most cars manufactured after 1974 would be destroyed by an EMP burst, because most engines after then depend on computers to regulate their operation. Older engines could be modified to work, eventually, but the newer the car, the more dependent the engine is on technology.
To all intents and purposes, an EMP burst would put the affected area afoot until they could get their cars fixed -- but gas would be so scarce and expensive that it wouldn't make much difference anyway.
Very few modern aircraft can even be flown without computer assistance. Modern passenger jets can't be flown manually, period. (The last time a passenger jet tried to land without computers, it crashed)
Forget about communications, telephone, telegraph and certainly television. The Internet won't be of much use to those in the affected area -- what good is an Internet when your computer is a mass of fried wiring? -- but it will still be in operation in much of the world.
We will be blinded, but our enemies will enjoy the full advantages of technology while we will be using candles to light our homes at night. In the event of physical attack from Islamic infiltrators, or even invading terrorists, most Americans have been disarmed as the result of the steady progression of gun control laws that have already made some US states virtually gun-free.
And that assumes that the rest of the world -- like France, Russia or China, for example, doesn't exploit our weakened condition to attack us outright and eliminate, as Jacques Chirac is fond of saying, the dangerous threat posed by a 'unipolar power' -- a code for the United States.
Farah's column answered the question, "If al Qaeda has nukes, why haven't they used them yet?" with a single word, 'patience'. Osama doesn't want to cripple America -- he wants, if possible, to kill it. Quoting Paul Williams' book "The al Qaeda Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime and the Coming Apocalypse;
"Designated targets include New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Houston, Las Vegas, and Valdez, Alaska, where the tankers are filled with oil from the Trans-Alaska pipeline. To orchestrate such an incredible event requires not only the shipment of the nukes into the United States but also the establishment of cells, the training of sleeper agents, the selection of sites, and the preparation of the weapons without detection from federal, state or local law enforcement officials. Unlike 9-11, that cost less than $350,000, this event already has cost a king's ransom, and bin Laden will not waste the billions in expenditures, the years of planning and his coveted 'crown jewels' on an attack that is ill-planned, poorly timed and carelessly coordinated."
Assessment:
Williams says that, among his devotees, Osama bin Laden is more than just a militant chieftain, he is the Muslim version of the Messiah. His followers address him with the title, 'awaited enlightened one' which is the title reserved for the Islamic Mahdi.
According to the Islamic Haddith, the 'Mahdi' is the last-days Islamic Messiah who will bring forth the 'Day of Islam' in which all people of the world will eventually submit to Allah and embrace Islam.
In Sunni Islam, the "Mahdi" is just one of several important figures, while the "Mahdi" of Shi'ite Islam has a real eschatological importance, and is in the future the most important figure for Islam as well as the world.
The Arabic term "Mahdi" is best translated with "divinely guided one".
The main principle of the Mahdi is that he is a figure that is absolutely guided by Allah. This guidance is stronger form of guidance than normal guidance, which usually involves a human being willfully acting according to the guidance of Allah. The Mahdi on the other hand, has nothing of this human element, and his acts will be in complete accordance to Allah's will.
The figure of Mahdi, and his mission, is not mentioned in the Koran, and there are practically nothing to be found among the reliable Haddith on him either. The idea of the Mahdi appears to be a development in the first 2-3 centuries of Islam.
In the case of the Shi'ite Mahdi many scholars have suggested that there is a clear inspiration coming from the Messiah-figure of Christianity and the concept of Judgment Day.
According to Islamic eschatology, (study of the last days) writes an Islamic scholar; "when the 'prophet' Jesus "returns to earth he will act together with the Mahdi, and the two will combine all their powers to bring religious moral values to prevail in the world. The Prophet Jesus will eliminate the Anti-Christ (Dajjal), the leader of the atheistic system in the world, and the Mahdi will assist him in that struggle. The Prophet Jesus and the Mahdi are two brothers with great love for one another in this world and in the hereafter. They will share the same thoughts and beliefs. The Mahdi will be the spiritual leader of the Islamic world, and the Prophet Jesus that of the Christian world. Under their twin leadership the world will enjoy great peace, security and happiness." (Adnan Oktar)
Oktar's interpretation of the Islamic Haddith has a familiar ring to it, since it fits perfectly with Christian eschatology.
"And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon." (Revelation 13:11)
In general, the U.S. is portrayed as the Great Babylon (cf Rev. 17:3-4) or the Antichrist himself. Most recent American Presidents (notably Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton) are said in one place or another to be agents of the Antichrist, and frequently threatened with punishment for their activities.
The Antichrist is said to manipulate all of the countries in the west, but his headquarters is invariably in the U.S. American economic and cultural activities are said to reflect the agenda of this demonic being, for which God will punish the country by various methods (earthquakes, nuclear attacks, etc.).
In a number of scenarios, the Muslims, after their conquest of Israel, go on to conquer Western Europe and the U.S. It goes without saying that American foreign policy is seen as the principal method of the Antichrist's control of the world.
Especially incomprehensible to Muslims is the continual American support of Israel; generally this can only be explained by a Jewish conspiracy theory .
The study of Muslim apocalyptic is absolutely essential to the understanding of modern Islam. Anyone who wishes to understand the huge influence which these groups have on the direction of Muslims will not be able to ignore them.
Consider our own belief that we are living in the last days, and how powerful our faith is in that reality. And while I believe Islamic faith is misplaced, only a fool could argue that it is insincere. (The willingness of young Islamic men to embark on suicide missions is proof positive of the sincerity of Islam's adherents.)
Note that there are three major combatants in the global arena and that all three of them are, first and foremost, spiritual combatants. It is a war between the spiritual forces of Christianity and Judaism against the spiritual forces of Islam. Remove the spiritual element, and the war is over.
The prize, for all sides in the conflict, is the conquest of the spiritual forces that are behind it. To Islam, it is the Great Satan of Christian Crusader America, secretly controlled by a Jewish antichrist whose goal is the destruction of Islam.
To America, it is the destruction of the theology of al-Qaeda, which the Bush administration mistakenly believes to be a perversion of 'true' Islam that was high-jacked by terrorists. To the Jews, the goal is to replace the hated 'Dome of the Rock' with the long-awaited third restoration of the Jewish Temple.
For any one side to win, the losing side will have to modify or abandon its faith. The Bible promises the Jews a restoration of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount in the last days. Since Christians and Jews share the same faith in Scripture, for a Jew or a Christian to accept a permanent Islamic sovereignty over the Temple Mount means Bible prophecy is wrong.
For Islam to accept a permanent Jewish presence in Israel or to abandon the war against the Great Satan America means Islamic prophecy is wrong.
This is key -- in either instance, one side or the other must abandon their faith to put an end to the conflict.
The fact is, we ARE living in the last days. It isn't just Christians who believe it. In Israel, there are signs up welcoming the soon coming of the Jewish Messiah. The Temple Mount Faithful is making preparations to lay the cornerstone for the Third Temple in preparation for His coming. The Temple Mount Institute has already made necessary preparations for the resumption of Temple worship.
The war on terror is being waged against an Islamic enemy that also believes that we are in the last days, and many Islamists already believe their messiah has come in the person of Osama bin Laden.
Scripture speaks of a great spiritual war raging in the heavenlies that spills out into the here and now during the Tribulation Period. Revelation pictures demonic warfare openly waged between the forces of Satan and the angels executing judgment on the earth during that period.
The spiritual conflict that eventually finds its way into the dimension of space and time is already raging. That means there isn't much time left for the Church Age.
Or for the Church to tell people about Jesus before it is too late.
Archives of past issues of The Omega Letter Intelligence Digest plus many other Omega Letter member features can be found at: www.omegaletter.com


The Omega Letter Intelligence Digest Vol: 47 Issue: 8 - Monday, August 08, 2005
Osama bin Laden: Muslim Messiah? Despite years of living in caves or hiding out in remote villages along the Afghani-Pakistani borders, Osama bin Laden is apparently still alive and well and plotting new attacks against America. Joe Farah's G-2 Bulletin this morning reports that there is evidence that al-Qaeda has obtained at least forty nuclear weapons from the former Soviet Union, and that many of them may already be inside the US. Among Osama's arsenal are suitcase nukes, nuclear mines, artillery shells, and, according to Farah, some missile warheads. That last item on the list sent a shiver up my spine. As we have discussed in previous briefings, Iran recently tested a new missile the European Union dubbed 'a failure' because it 'unexpectedly' detonated 200 miles above the earth. I set off both 'failure' and 'unexpected' in quotes because the detonation wasn't unexpected and the test wasn't a failure. For more than 40 years, the Pentagon has known that a nuclear weapon detonated high over the United States could knock out much of the nation's electrical and electronic infrastructure. An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) from the nuclear explosion could shut down power plants, silence telecommunications, cut off radio and TV broadcasts, and fry the computer chips that control everything from financial transactions to water systems to airliners in flight. The U.S. military discovered the power of EMP quite by chance in 1962. During a high-altitude test of a nuclear weapon, the U.S. detonated a 1.4-megaton nuclear bomb 250 miles above Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean. The electromagnetic pulse from the explosion triggered widespread electric system failures in Hawaii 800 miles away. Street lights went out, telephone service was disrupted, fuses blew, radio broadcasts ceased and communications systems failed. Soviet scientists discovered similar side effects when they tested nuclear bombs in the atmosphere over the Soviet Union. The EMP essentially causes a power surge that's strong enough to melt wires, damage transformers and destroy computer chips. An EMP burst is an unexpected side-effect of a nuclear explosion detonated in the atmosphere. An EMP attack could touch off "unprecedented, cascading failures of our major infrastructures" that would "threaten the viability of the United States," a congressional commission warned last year. Congressional hearings in 1997 and 1999 laid out the EMP threat, but generally were ignored. Even the U.S. military, which developed defenses against EMP attacks during Cold War, has let its guard down. The military dramatically has increased its dependence on the electronics and information technology that are most susceptible to EMP. It also has mothballed EMP research and test facilities and abandoned requirements that systems be hardened to resist EMP attacks. So said the findings of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack to the House Armed Services Committee. That is why the possibility that Osama has a nuclear missile warhead is so chilling. Osama maintains a navy of tankers and other commercial vessels that could easily launch a mobile missile from just outside US waters. Given the proximity of the launch and the fact the missile need only reach an altitude of 200 miles to accomplish its mission, the chances we could destroy it after launch are minimal. According to Congressional reports, a nuclear warhead detonated at an altitude of 200 miles (the height of the Iranian missile's 'accidental' detonation) would generate an EMP burst that would instantly destroy enough of the US technological infrastructure to throw the US back into the 1890's -- before cars, before airplanes, before telephones. Most cars manufactured after 1974 would be destroyed by an EMP burst, because most engines after then depend on computers to regulate their operation. Older engines could be modified to work, eventually, but the newer the car, the more dependent the engine is on technology. To all intents and purposes, an EMP burst would put the affected area afoot until they could get their cars fixed -- but gas would be so scarce and expensive that it wouldn't make much difference anyway. Very few modern aircraft can even be flown without computer assistance. Modern passenger jets can't be flown manually, period. (The last time a passenger jet tried to land without computers, it crashed) Forget about communications, telephone, telegraph and certainly television. The Internet won't be of much use to those in the affected area -- what good is an Internet when your computer is a mass of fried wiring? -- but it will still be in operation in much of the world. We will be blinded, but our enemies will enjoy the full advantages of technology while we will be using candles to light our homes at night. In the event of physical attack from Islamic infiltrators, or even invading terrorists, most Americans have been disarmed as the result of the steady progression of gun control laws that have already made some US states virtually gun-free. And that assumes that the rest of the world -- like France, Russia or China, for example, doesn't exploit our weakened condition to attack us outright and eliminate, as Jacques Chirac is fond of saying, the dangerous threat posed by a 'unipolar power' -- a code for the United States. Farah's column answered the question, "If al Qaeda has nukes, why haven't they used them yet?" with a single word, 'patience'. Osama doesn't want to cripple America -- he wants, if possible, to kill it. Quoting Paul Williams' book "The al Qaeda Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime and the Coming Apocalypse; "Designated targets include New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Houston, Las Vegas, and Valdez, Alaska, where the tankers are filled with oil from the Trans-Alaska pipeline. To orchestrate such an incredible event requires not only the shipment of the nukes into the United States but also the establishment of cells, the training of sleeper agents, the selection of sites, and the preparation of the weapons without detection from federal, state or local law enforcement officials. Unlike 9-11, that cost less than $350,000, this event already has cost a king's ransom, and bin Laden will not waste the billions in expenditures, the years of planning and his coveted 'crown jewels' on an attack that is ill-planned, poorly timed and carelessly coordinated." Assessment: Williams says that, among his devotees, Osama bin Laden is more than just a militant chieftain, he is the Muslim version of the Messiah. His followers address him with the title, 'awaited enlightened one' which is the title reserved for the Islamic Mahdi. According to the Islamic Haddith, the 'Mahdi' is the last-days Islamic Messiah who will bring forth the 'Day of Islam' in which all people of the world will eventually submit to Allah and embrace Islam. In Sunni Islam, the "Mahdi" is just one of several important figures, while the "Mahdi" of Shi'ite Islam has a real eschatological importance, and is in the future the most important figure for Islam as well as the world. The Arabic term "Mahdi" is best translated with "divinely guided one". The main principle of the Mahdi is that he is a figure that is absolutely guided by Allah. This guidance is stronger form of guidance than normal guidance, which usually involves a human being willfully acting according to the guidance of Allah. The Mahdi on the other hand, has nothing of this human element, and his acts will be in complete accordance to Allah's will. The figure of Mahdi, and his mission, is not mentioned in the Koran, and there are practically nothing to be found among the reliable Haddith on him either. The idea of the Mahdi appears to be a development in the first 2-3 centuries of Islam. In the case of the Shi'ite Mahdi many scholars have suggested that there is a clear inspiration coming from the Messiah-figure of Christianity and the concept of Judgment Day. According to Islamic eschatology, (study of the last days) writes an Islamic scholar; "when the 'prophet' Jesus "returns to earth he will act together with the Mahdi, and the two will combine all their powers to bring religious moral values to prevail in the world. The Prophet Jesus will eliminate the Anti-Christ (Dajjal), the leader of the atheistic system in the world, and the Mahdi will assist him in that struggle. The Prophet Jesus and the Mahdi are two brothers with great love for one another in this world and in the hereafter. They will share the same thoughts and beliefs. The Mahdi will be the spiritual leader of the Islamic world, and the Prophet Jesus that of the Christian world. Under their twin leadership the world will enjoy great peace, security and happiness." (Adnan Oktar) Oktar's interpretation of the Islamic Haddith has a familiar ring to it, since it fits perfectly with Christian eschatology. "And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon." (Revelation 13:11) In general, the U.S. is portrayed as the Great Babylon (cf Rev. 17:3-4) or the Antichrist himself. Most recent American Presidents (notably Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton) are said in one place or another to be agents of the Antichrist, and frequently threatened with punishment for their activities. The Antichrist is said to manipulate all of the countries in the west, but his headquarters is invariably in the U.S. American economic and cultural activities are said to reflect the agenda of this demonic being, for which God will punish the country by various methods (earthquakes, nuclear attacks, etc.). In a number of scenarios, the Muslims, after their conquest of Israel, go on to conquer Western Europe and the U.S. It goes without saying that American foreign policy is seen as the principal method of the Antichrist's control of the world. Especially incomprehensible to Muslims is the continual American support of Israel; generally this can only be explained by a Jewish conspiracy theory . The study of Muslim apocalyptic is absolutely essential to the understanding of modern Islam. Anyone who wishes to understand the huge influence which these groups have on the direction of Muslims will not be able to ignore them. Consider our own belief that we are living in the last days, and how powerful our faith is in that reality. And while I believe Islamic faith is misplaced, only a fool could argue that it is insincere. (The willingness of young Islamic men to embark on suicide missions is proof positive of the sincerity of Islam's adherents.) Note that there are three major combatants in the global arena and that all three of them are, first and foremost, spiritual combatants. It is a war between the spiritual forces of Christianity and Judaism against the spiritual forces of Islam. Remove the spiritual element, and the war is over. The prize, for all sides in the conflict, is the conquest of the spiritual forces that are behind it. To Islam, it is the Great Satan of Christian Crusader America, secretly controlled by a Jewish antichrist whose goal is the destruction of Islam. To America, it is the destruction of the theology of al-Qaeda, which the Bush administration mistakenly believes to be a perversion of 'true' Islam that was high-jacked by terrorists. To the Jews, the goal is to replace the hated 'Dome of the Rock' with the long-awaited third restoration of the Jewish Temple. For any one side to win, the losing side will have to modify or abandon its faith. The Bible promises the Jews a restoration of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount in the last days. Since Christians and Jews share the same faith in Scripture, for a Jew or a Christian to accept a permanent Islamic sovereignty over the Temple Mount means Bible prophecy is wrong. For Islam to accept a permanent Jewish presence in Israel or to abandon the war against the Great Satan America means Islamic prophecy is wrong. This is key -- in either instance, one side or the other must abandon their faith to put an end to the conflict. The fact is, we ARE living in the last days. It isn't just Christians who believe it. In Israel, there are signs up welcoming the soon coming of the Jewish Messiah. The Temple Mount Faithful is making preparations to lay the cornerstone for the Third Temple in preparation for His coming. The Temple Mount Institute has already made necessary preparations for the resumption of Temple worship. The war on terror is being waged against an Islamic enemy that also believes that we are in the last days, and many Islamists already believe their messiah has come in the person of Osama bin Laden. Scripture speaks of a great spiritual war raging in the heavenlies that spills out into the here and now during the Tribulation Period. Revelation pictures demonic warfare openly waged between the forces of Satan and the angels executing judgment on the earth during that period. The spiritual conflict that eventually finds its way into the dimension of space and time is already raging. That means there isn't much time left for the Church Age. Or for the Church to tell people about Jesus before it is too late. Archives of past issues of The Omega Letter Intelligence Digest plus many other Omega Letter member features can be found at: www.omegaletter.com