Mid-East War This Summer?

It’s like the proverbial broken record--or, I guess that would be “broken CD” in today’s jargon. This summer will be the time of that explosion in the Middle East that will set the world aflame, with petroleum the accelerant that ignites the conflict. We have heard the same dire predictions for at least the past five years. Still, the explosion hasn’t come.
I’ve received numerous copies of Joel Rosenberg’s blog article with the title “War this Summer?" and I’ve heard him talking about all-out war in the Middle East since before he spoke to the Pre-Trib Research Center group in Dallas a number of years ago. Rosenberg is not the only one who has declared early in every year recently past that war will erupt during the summer. Many have predicted that something would happen to spark war so violent that that prophetic region will not be able to contain the devastation. The likely results, it has been said by some, will be the “presumed” Psalms 83 war, or even the Gog-Magog war of Ezekiel 38-39.
Iran’s incessant movement toward developing a nuclear capability continues to raise the fear level of the international diplomatic actors. This is not without good reason. Iran’s chief political leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has, as we have pointed out many times, spewed hatred that includes the threat to wipe Israel off the map. But the same diplomat elitists seem to fear even more what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might do as a preemptive action against Iran’s nuclear weapon ambitions.
The worried diplomats talked with Iran about their nuclear program on Friday, April 13. Rosenberg relayed the gist of the talks by writing: “International negotiations with Iran went nowhere on Friday. More discussions are schedule for May, though Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said this was a gift to the Iranians who will have more time to enrich uranium and accelerate their weapons development program…”
The displeased Israeli prime minister said in a meeting with U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman: "My initial impression is that Iran has been given a freebie… [Iran] got five weeks to continue enrichment without any limitation, any inhibition."
Rosenberg wrote that the “fruitless” talks had no sooner ended than speculation of imminent war began revving up in Israel. The Times of Israel reported: "A major Israel TV station on Sunday night broadcast a detailed report on how Israel will go about attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities in the event that diplomacy and sanctions fail and Israel decides to carry out a military strike."
The newspaper’s reporter was apparently given unusual access to Israeli military inside planning, according to Rosenberg’s blog, donotreply@wordpress.com: "The report, screened on the main evening news of Channel 10, was remarkable both in terms of the access granted to the reporter, who said he had spent weeks with the pilots and other personnel he interviewed, and in the fact that his assessments on a strike were cleared by the military censor. No order to strike is likely to be given before the P5+1 talk with Iran resume in May, the reporter, Alon Ben-David, said. 'But the coming summer will not only be hot but tense.'”
Avi Lipkin, a well-known Jewish author and speaker on the Middle East war tensions and Islam’s likely part in Bible prophecy, drew my attention the morning of Tuesday, April 17. He was being interviewed by Dr. Larry Spargimino of Southwest Radio Ministries. His observations presented some rather unorthodox, but fascinating, food for prophetic thought. I want to share some of it with you.
The host asked his guest about the “horrific situation” that seems to be getting worse every day–referring to the building threat of war with regard to Iran and Israel. Lipkin launched into reasons to be considered and speculated upon what might happen in the region. He said that the Iranian people are “good people,” and there is a need for a regime change to make life better for them.
Then he made some rather startling statements.
Lipkin says he believes that President Obama, “the international conductor of the orchestra,” is going to lead a war against Iran, probably a month or two before his reelection. He then brings up the nuclear threat. But, this is not a major reason, he says, because the international community really doesn’t care if Israel is nuked out of existence.
Lipkin said the more important reason, in the eyes of the international diplomatic community, is the following: “The Saudis are more threatened than the Jews are. The Saudis are Sunnis. The Saudis will have their heads chopped off by the Iranians, because the Iranians see the Saudis as heretics, infidels and traitors…The Saudis are commanding Obama, and they say that your job is to destroy the Shiite threat–meaning the ayatollah regime. Replace it with another regime. And, secondly, your job after you get reelected is to destroy Israel…”
Lipkin said, “[Another] reason for the war [that is coming] is that President Obama needs this war to get re-elected. But, the war should not be now, according to Obama. The war should [take place] into the summer, or late summer, so that he can ride on this crest of new popularity. That the Jews and Christians will vote for him, because he saved Israel.”
Further, Lipkin stated that the real reason for the war is oil.
“The world is thirsty for oil. And, the one world order, which is in bed with the Moslems, is the harlot riding the dragon, in my opinion. The one-world government wants the oil. You cannot get to that oil until you destroy the Iranian regime and bring in an international regime that will be subservient to the oil companies.”
Avi Lipkin concluded by saying: “So, I think that these are the [reasons] for the war with Iran. I think it will happen sometime this year, probably much closer to the election than now.
But, I think that the Iranian regime will be removed, and then what we will see is that the Shiites in Syria, the Shiites in Lebanon will be terminated.
Then we are going to see a monolithic Sunni Armageddon army marching on Israel –which will probably be four or five years from now.”
I’ve noticed that Lipkin’s outlook on these matters –much of which doesn’t fit my own perspective—is in agreement with a growing number of opinions I come across on a daily basis these days. The cynicism is rampant. Many believe there will be a war this summer or in the early fall, and, like Avi Lipkin, believe it will be a war contrived in large part for political reasons in this presidential election year.
One thing certain is that the prophetic players are almost in alignment for the wind-up of the age. The shout from Christ to His church, therefore, can’t be far distant!
“After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter” (Revelation 4:1).
--Terry