ISIS – Just The Beginning?

Why does ISIS exist? Why is it advancing almost unchecked? I have prayed these things without an answer. But the answers are more complex than we would like to admit.

We would simply like for the refugees to be rescued, and the bloodshed to end. Human nature yearns for peace and security in the Middle East, and the threat against Israel as well as other nations to be removed. It’s heart-wrenching to hear of yet another atrocity, bomb blast, mass execution! The souls of all right-thinking people are wrenched with pity, and in this I include many ordinary Muslims and members of other religions.

But here lies the problem – and the answer. It’s not at a time of war, but when they say “peace and security!” that “sudden destruction comes upon them”.

1 Thess 5:2-4 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief…”

Jordan’s King Abdullah is reported to have said that Israel “must choose between the mentality of “Israel the fortress” or “living in peace and security with its neighbors.”” The pressure to do so will mount as the attacks grow fiercer, and as the borders fall, making Israel more and more vulnerable. But at what price, peace?

A Stick to Poke the Lion?

So does terrorism, and in particular ISIS, exist as a goad to Israel and to the rest of mankind, to test their allegiances? Will the world turn to Almighty God for deliverance, or will they seek another? I think we all know the answer to that question, because the bible tells us just who the world will worship in a crisis – the Leader of the all-powerful Beast Empire and his miracle-working False Prophet.

Some have recently speculated that this beastly ‘prince’ or leader will be Islamic and that the last-day empire will be the Islamic Caliphate. I do not believe it.

For one thing, Israel would not form a covenant of peace with Islam (and vice-versa) no matter how much pressure she endured. This present jihad movement knows nothing of peace and security, only death and destruction. Its goal is the total annihilation of Israel and all its enemies. ISIS seeks to rule by elimination, not by treaty. Nor would the leader of the Caliphate be worshipped by the world as the Beast is in the book of Revelation.

No, the part that ISIS plays is much more subtle than the beast kingdom of Revelation. I believe we have here the kind of Hegelian Principle that the world has experienced before, at the leading edge of a drastic realignment of the power structures.

What is the Hegelian Dialectic?

The Hegelian dialectical formula: A (thesis) versus B (anti-thesis) equals C (synthesis). For example: If (A) my idea of freedom conflicts with (B) your idea of freedom then (C) neither of us can be free until everyone agrees to be a slave.

This theory is useful for manipulation, for instance in the abortion debate. The belief (A) that life in the womb is sacred and should always be protected was challenged by (B) rape victims and those who inevitably seek backstreet abortions ought to be helped, leading to a compromise position (C) the synthesis = certain abortions are allowed, with various safeguards.

 

However, we know that once you take the lid off Pandora’s Box, you can’t stuff the contents back inside. Once limited abortion became legal, the journey towards abortion on demand for everyone began. Society was therefore moved toward the desired aim by the Hegelian Dialectic without even noticing.

The Dialectic in Use

In terms of race and colour, the Dialectic has worked like a charm to produce irrational fear of anything remotely ‘racist’, so that universal multiculturalism – one of the most cherished of the New Order’s aims – is now within its grasp. But we didn’t arrive here without decades of manipulation.

The original thesis (A) that colour, race, nationality and creed identified us as separate but equal was pitted against (B) that our national differences led to prejudice, slavery, discrimination, apartheid and all manner of horrors. When these beliefs were ramped up on either side to violence and warfare, we were bound to adopt (C) the synthesis of “unity in diversity” as a compromise.

Instead of difference, we had to accept sameness. One global family.

Now we live in terror of accidentally using certain words or appearing to discriminate in any way whatsoever – even without the intention. Children as young as five are monitored for their hate-speech in the playground. Under the old system, a genuine racist was rightly condemned, but now everyone is a suspect. We cannot use blackboards, put anyone on a ‘blacklist‘, wear braids , or enjoy the children’s cartoon Peppa Pig without giving offense.

Now instead of co-existence and tolerance (the situation in much of the UK before this started) all races are condemned to a life of nervous tension, holding to artificially-generated views that they secretly mock. A very uneasy truce has been called between camps that were not actually at loggerheads in the first place, only they were persuaded to believe that they were.

These are just a few of the examples of the way Hegel’s philosophy has been used against us.

Who was Hegel?

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) was a German philosopher who was a major figure in German idealism.

He revolutionized European philosophy and served as an important precursor to Continental philosophy, Marxism and historism. Hegel influenced many thinkers and writers whose own positions varied widely. Karl Barth described Hegel as a “Protestant Aquinas”, while Maurice Merleau-Ponty wrote that “All the great philosophical ideas of the past century – the philosophies of Marx and Nietzsche, phenomenology, German existentialism, and psychoanalysis – had their beginnings in Hegel”.

Hegel’s idea was, that when we start building up a theory (which he refers to as the ‘thesis’), everything seems to go fine for awhile. Then, as we start delving into the implications of the theory, we find that the deeper consequences seem to contradict the basic tenets of the theory. Eventually, this leads to the development of a completely incompatible theory, even a directly contradictory theory (the ‘antithesis’). Finally, we have a leap in our understanding, and create a brand-new theory that manages to combine these two apparently incompatible theories in a unique and unpredictable way (the ‘synthesis’).

This may be so. However, we can now see the Hegelian Dialectic being utilised by the Powers That Be in many manipulative ways, for instance in the concept of immigration.

Immigration

Idealists want to see a multi-cultural world. In this way they believe prejudice will end, and peace and harmony can come to mankind. But the general public don’t think that way. They prefer their own culture, race, nation and religion and take pride in them, but without necessarily being antagonistic to others. How to resolve this?

Create on the one hand an artificially tense situation with a massive influx of foreigners. Let the media concentrate on stories of overcrowding, job losses, criminal activity and discrimination to stir the public into a frenzy. Reduce border controls. Refuse to stem the flow of immigrants, and use laws (human rights) that favour them. At the same time denigrate and disenfranchise the native-born population by removing their own privileges and rights. Make them feel inferior in their own lands. Let national pride be called “xenophobia” and discontent become “hate-speech” so you can knock the two ideas together to cause an explosion.

The two opposing ideas of segregation (thesis) and integration (anti-thesis) are no longer held in isolated intellectual harmony, each having some worth, but are pitted against one another in a battle to the death, until the point is reached where “something must be done” to avoid disaster. Thus the hoped-for “synthesis” is achieved.

Then the cry of the world [they hope] ceases to be “send all the immigrants home” on one side, and “we have a right to the homes and jobs of you white racists, this is payback for your apartheid and slavery” on the other. The situation become unsustainable, and eventually a compromise has to be worked out to maintain order.

This compromise is the actual AIM of those who manipulate society. In this case, the aim is to merge all colours, religions and cultures into a one-world rainbow society!

World War Averted – For Something Far Worse

In the case of ISIS, we could see the concept of a bloody inhuman conquest as the ‘thesis’ and the ‘antithesis’ of hot-headed nations taking up arms in fear, and in defense of their country (Israel included) leading to the very real threat of a third world war.

The ‘thesis’ of “Islam must rule the world” is countered by the ‘antithesis’ of “we have a right to defend our freedom” and the situation intensifies unbearably until sane people everywhere demand that “something must be done”. Neither Islamic rule NOR war is wanted by the huge majority of people, but there appears to be no alternative.

(That is the situation we faced in Syria some years ago, when Assad faced a revolution of his own people, and we didn’t know which side to take. Do we support a ruthless dictator, or a terrorist uprising? Not an easy choice either way. So our governments stood back and, in effect, allowed the escalation of violence, and this current invasion by ISIS to take place there, resulting in much more suffering than Syria had known under Assad’s presidency.)

So we watch and wait, as the Hegelian Dialectic plays out. The “synthesis” that sits in the prized middle spot, secretly courted by global governments, is appeasement. Compromise.

Supporting Islam

There is at present a governmental drive to protect Muslims and bring in race-hate laws as a way to manage the crisis. Actually, it does nothing for either side, but is the visible tip of the appeasement iceberg.

On one side is the drive to conquer by force, destroying everything in its path; on the other is fear, revenge, retribution and warfare. In the middle we see uncertain, dithering western superpowers spouting ineffective pro-muslim rhetoric and vowing instant reprisals for ‘extremists’ who dare to object. This foolish peace-mongering is what the devil is really waiting for.

What happens? People eventually grow so disgusted with inaction, fear, and unjust persecution merely for forming an opinion, while thousands die horribly and millions of refugees continue to suffer, that the “something must be done” moment eventually arrives.

At that moment the world stage is prepared, the curtain twitches, and lo and behold the hero, the problem-solver, the world “messiah” appears on stage ready to wow humanity with his solution.

A Hero Will Rise: Man of Steel

Peace, Not War

The cause of the Beast, his modus operandi, is PEACE not war. There will be an optimum moment for his appearance on the world stage, and that moment cannot come until we are wringing our hands in utter despair, facing barbaric slaughter on the one hand and a possible nuclear war on the other.

Israel, too, must be brought to a fever pitch of fear and rage. Gagged by the UN, despised by all around her, distrusted by her western allies, she has the choice of looking to God or to the false messiah for deliverance. Sadly, the bible shows us that the majority will opt for the latter, and pay the consequences, while a small number of ‘zealots’ as they will be seen preach against it.

At that time perhaps we will see two prominent and powerful men call for repentance and trust in God, only to be rejected by almost everyone. These two anointed men – destined to be executed in Jerusalem – the bible calls the Two Witnesses. Revelation 11:1-14. Might we see a similar corporate witness arising from the Gentile Church, for the same reason?

Could The Coming King Be Muslim?

There has been intense debate about the nationality of the Beast, although it is certain that he is the president, king or leader of his empire/kingdom/nation. So we cannot separate the crowned horn or head of the Beast from the rest of his ‘body’ and that body consists of a confederacy of nations.

Interesting debate on this subject: http://focusonjerusalem.com/theidentityofthe7.html

Most evangelicals have identified his coming kingdom as a renewal of the might of Rome, and therefore he will either be a Pope (unlikely) or a coming king, prince or president of a European Union nation. Others claim he a Muslim, specifically “the Assyrian”.

• For instance see this carefully thought-out article here 
• On the other hand, see this opposite viewpoint which has just as much weight, if not more

At the end of his book, [Joel Richardson “Antichrist: Islam’s Awaited Messiah”] Richardson acknowledges that there is a major problem with his interpretation of end time events. The Bible says that the Antichrist will exalt himself above all gods and will display himself as being God (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). Richardson admits that it is almost impossible to imagine that any Muslim would ever claim to be God. Such a declaration would violate the very heart of Islamic theology.

But just as he explains away the meaning of Revelation 13:7 in a cavalier manner, Richardson proceeds to say that he thinks that the Islamic world will just simply be deceived into believing the Muslim Antichrist is God! To me, that is like saying night is day and day is night. There is a limit to deception. A person would have to cease being a Muslim in order to believe that any man could be God.

I believe the behavior of the Antichrist described in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 rules out any possibility that the Antichrist might prove to be a Muslim.

An equally important fact that I think rules out the possibility of a Muslim Antichrist is that prophecy states the Antichrist will make a covenant with Israel that will guarantee the nation’s security (Daniel 9:27 and Isaiah 28:14-22). It is preposterous to believe that Israel would ever trust its security to a Muslim leader.

I think these points are very valid, and worthy of consideration. I myself cannot see either Islam or Judaism accepting a Muslim as God and Messiah. Nor is Islam (at least the ISIS Caliphate part of it) a peace-seeking group eager to enter into a treaty with the Jews. That would be anathema to them!

It is much more likely – as I have tried to suggest throughout this article – that the final Peacemaker, who is primarily a political activist, libertarian and socialist rather than a war-monger set on bloodshed, is promoted to power by ISIS simply by being opposed to them! In that way he can claim to solve the world’s problems by a humanitarian act of peace and justice, and become beloved by all.

Even Israel will hail him as god-king, because of his [supposedly] benign power.

He comes with all demonic power to deceive, launched into public acclaim by the words of a miracle-working Prophet. Instead of the two faithful witnesses to God’s grace, we see a FALSE Witness arise with demonic impartation to woo Israel into their final apostasy. The two are put to death by the one! Truth is quenched by the LIE. (Rev 11:7)

Knowing this, we should be careful not to fall into fear on the one side, or complacency on the other. The End is not yet! God is always in charge and he knows the end from the beginning.

Conclusion

This, too, settles the problem of the continuing existence of groups like ISIS against all odds, if they are being used as a tool in God’s ultimate endtimes plan. In the same way that God used Pharaoh (Romans 9:17) to goad the idle Israelites out of Egypt, and Babylon to punish unfaithful Israel (Habakkuk 1:5-11) he is using Islamic terrorists for his purposes, but will eventually judge them for their barbarity.

The Lord once said: Look at the nations and watch, and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own.

It was hard for Israel to believe they would be conquered, just as it is hard for us to watch current events, but we must keep our eye on the endgame and trust God. There IS a reason.