God's Ancient Promise For Iran And The Ezekiel War

As I mentioned in my previous post : "Iranians Are Persians, Not Arabs," Persia  has ancient historic

ties to the Jewish people and their God. And even though few people may realize it, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob specifically mentioned the people of modern day Iran and proclaimed both future judgement and restoration for the Iranian people.


One of the ancient regions that the Persian empire arose from, now in modern day Iran, is Elam. God proclaimed through the prophet Jeremiah that because of some treacherous dealings this land will be judged one day, the monarchy will cease, and the Iranian people will be scattered around the world, very much like it happened to the Jewish people, but that eventually they will be restored to their country and that God will establish His throne there.


Now this could be confusing even to the most seasoned Bible student, because as we all know God said many times that He will be ruling  one day out of Jerusalem, so how will He establish His throne in Iran out of all places?


This seems like a contradiction until we  read it in the context of the entire Scripture. We will find out from Psalm 22: 3 that God establishes His throne upon the praises of His people, so if Iranians as a country turn to God, His throne will be established there upon their praises.


Now let us look at the prophetic Scripture passage that I mentioned above : "That which came as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying:
      “Thus says the LORD of hosts,
            ‘Behold, I am going to break the bow of Elam,
            The finest of their might.      ‘I will bring upon Elam the four winds
            From the four ends of heaven,
            And will scatter them to all these winds;
            And there will be no nation
            To which the outcasts of Elam will not go.      ‘So I will shatter Elam before their enemies
            And before those who seek their lives;
            And I will bring calamity upon them,
            Even My fierce anger,’ declares the LORD,
            ‘And I will send out the sword after them
            Until I have consumed them.      ‘Then I will set My throne in Elam
            And destroy out of it king and princes,’
            Declares the LORD.     ‘But it will come about in the last days
            That I will restore the fortunes of Elam,’”
            Declares the LORD. ( Jeremiah 49: 36-39)


Judgement has come upon Elam who later became Persia, then Iran because its rulers became hostile to the Jewish people, especially during the Second World War when the Iranian Shah sided for a time with Nazi Germany and renamed Persia, Iran, "The Land of Aryans." His descendants became proud and arrogant, so the Islamic Revolution became its judgement. The monarchy was destroyed as prophesied and many Iranians for the first time in their history were scattered among the nations of the world, but it also drew many Iranians to God. Thousands of them every year both in Iran and abroad became accepting Jesus as their Messiah even at the risk of death. So, it follows that God will fulfill the promise contained in the last verse of this prophecy and restore them.


My Biblically educated guess is that it will happen during the War of Gog and Magog described in the book of Ezekiel chapters 38-39. It is said there that Persia will be one of the nations that will be part of the alliance along with other Islamic nations such as Turkey and possibly even Russia, and join the attack against Israel where their armies will be destroyed.


The destruction of their army will allow the people of Iran to take back their country and to overthrow  the Islamic Republic themselves without any foreign intervention, so the fanatic zeal and hatred of this government against Israel will bring its ultimate destruction. It is just like God to do something like that.

Most Iranians Are Persians, Not Arabs

It is a Persian New Year right now, an ancient celebration of Spring and new life that is celebrated until this day in countries that used to belong to the ancient Persian Empire and are still influenced by its culture, that is well and alive today in Iran.

Most westerners make the mistake of thinking about Iran as an Arab country, especially since the Islamist minority had taken over the power in Iran in 1978-1979 Islamic Revolution, but the culture, art, and language of Iran are distinctly Persian, predating Islam by thousands of years.

As a matter of fact, Persia under king Cyrus the Great produced the first human rights code in history.

This empire was very different from all the others in that it was multicultural and multifaith empire. Persian kings did not destroy the cultural and religious heritage of the people they conquered, but allowed them to flourish. For example, they paid for the rebuilding of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem after it was destroyed, robbed, and desecrated by the Babylonians. For that, Persia, and especially King Cyrus has a venerated place in the Hebrew history.

And what is even more amazing is that King Cyrus was mentioned by name by the Hebrew prophet Isaiah a 100 years before he( King Cyrus) was even born! ( Isaiah 45: 1-6)
I think that this alone blew his mind away and favourably disposed him towards the Hebrews and their God who had called him in those prophetic Scriptures His "anointed shepherd."

Anyway, this tolerant and multicultural mindset is still present among the people of Iran and because of its history, besides the dominant Persian majority, there are many other ethnic minorities that live in Iran and still maintain their ethnic identity and languages, though after the Islamist takeover of Iran they have much less freedom than they had for ages before.

It is a very harsh reality for the people who are modern and cosmopolitan in nature to have to live under Shariah law, which is very foreign to them. For that reason over 6 million Iranians left Iran following the Revolution even though they still dearly love their country.

But the majority of them have to suffer in silence back in Iran because they cannot  or do not want to leave. The good news though is that most Iranians ( 70 %) are under the age of 35 and do not agree with the system they were forced to live under since their birth, so once the older generation that brought it in dies, the Islamic Revolution will die with them. It is just a matter of time.

To all those interested in knowing more about what is really happening in Iran, I recommend  reading of the book written by an Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Shirin Ebadi, "Until We Are Free." In it, she describes the story of her fight for human rights in Iran under the current regime and the persecution she and others like her faced  and are still facing as a result, especially those who are unknown and have no one to stand up for them.

Despite of all this oppression, Iran is experiencing the greatest spiritual awakening in its history with thousands of people coming to know Jesus as their King of Kings, the righteous King they always longed for, which in itself is a fulfillment of another ancient prophecy, but I will write about that next time...

Author's Note: This is a new version of an article titled "Persians, Not Arabs," that I first published on Triond back in 2006, but because the site has been taken down recently, I decided to republish it again since it generated so much interest garnishing more than 20, 000 views. I hope that this one will be equally successful. Feel free to share it with others and to comment.

"...And The Love of Many Shall Grow Cold" : Is Facebook Making Your Relationships Superficial?

Facebook and other social networking platforms allow us to keep in contact with more people including family, friends, acquaintances, and people whom we never met in person.

And this is a great tool, especially if like me, you have family and friends who live very far away from you and you cannot see them face to face that often.

But I noticed a considerable downside to this. It seems that because we are almost constantly connected to Facebook via our phones, tablets, and other devices and we interact with those people daily often by liking their content, commenting on what they post, and occasionally exchanging a few words by a Facebook chat, that it gives us an illusion of continuing relationship with them and it often begins to replace other more comprehensive forms of communication with the people we care about.

It is only an illusion, because liking someone's content, commenting on their photos, and occasionally exchanging few words cannot really maintain  real relationships. Those activities DO NOT equal having a real conversation with them.

Now, I get the fact that not everyone on your friends list is your real friend and when you have several hundred people there, you really cannot maintain real relationships with them all, so it will be natural that you will have this superficial relationships with most of them, but what is most disturbing to me is the fact that Facebook can turn even those real close relationships we used to enjoy with  friends and even family to the very superficial relationships we have with acquaintances and  strangers.

Personally, I consciously try to prevent this from happening with my close relationships, but I sadly discovered that others do not always make the effort and because of that many of my close relationships became superficial soon after those friends and family joined me on Facebook.

I used to talk on the phone with them or face to face in person, or via Skype regularly, which allowed us to really share our life experiences with one another. Now with most of them it is only short Facebook messages and likes. They really don't know what is happening in my life beyond what I share on Facebook ( which is very little) , and I don't know what is really happening in their lives. But the sad thing is that when I try to find out, I get only short polite and very concise answers, and it is only me who is making the effort. If I don't write to them asking how they are doing, they will not write or talk to me for years on end. This is NOT a relationship anymore. Real relationships go both ways, not just one, and real relationships demand that we make time for real conversations.

I am very thankful for those few friends and family who do make time to talk to me, and I do anything possible to make time for them, but there were quite a few relationships that were important to me that Facebook killed.

Let's not allow this to happen, especially if we are Christians. You know, liking things on Facebook or sitting in the same Church building for an hour every Sunday is not really fellowship. The Lord Jesus warned us of this when He predicted that in the end times "the love of many will grow cold" because of the lawlessness. The greatest law binding us together is the Law of love. When we allow the relationships with people we care about to become superficial, our love for them grows cold and we begin to practice lawlessness.

Evaluate the relationships you have today and make sure that they do not become superficial. make it a point to have real conversations with people you care about, and if your relationships became superficial, do whatever in your power to change that.

An update: In 2020, I finally left Facebook for good. Before cancelling my account, I sent private messages to people I wanted to keep in touch with and told them the ways, we can stay in contact after I leave. Only a few responded. Some did not even acknowledge my message, but kept mindlessly sending me links. It really hurt, but at least now I know who my real friends are and I am happier for it. Facebook is a friendship killer. I don't miss it at all.

Revelation 12 : Mystery of The Woman, Child, and The Dragon

Revelation 12 is a very interesting chapter in Bible prophecy. In the beginning of the Book of

Revelation itself, apostle John receives the information that what is being revealed to him in this book pertains to the events of his own time and to what will happen after this all the way to Jesus' glorious return, His 1000 year reign on earth, the last Judgement, and the creation of New Heavens and the New Earth.


This chapter begins with two signs in the heavens. First of the Woman clothed with the sun, with moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of 12 stars. She appears to be in labour pains and is about to deliver a male Child whom the Dragon ( another sign in heavens) waits to devour as soon as He is born.


That reminds all of us of the story of Jesus' birth and how the enemy induced  king Herod to try to kill baby Jesus, but an Angel of God warned Joseph in a dream and Mary, Joseph, and Jesus managed to escape to Egypt. The only thing is that it is talked of as a future event and by that time Jesus was no longer on earth and it was Jesus reveling to John this very thing, so what was Jesus talking about? Who is the woman, and the Child?


We must look to the symbolism used in prophetic Scriptures of the Old Testament to find the answer. There we find out that repeatedly the nation of Israel is being called the Woman, and God the Father calls Himself her Husband, so the Woman must be Israel.


Israel as the nation gave birth to the Messiah for which the Dragon ( Devil) hates her and tried to destroy her multiple times throughout the history, now she is reborn and being restored. Along with the Messiah, Israel also gave birth to the Church ( true followers of Jesus) and we are being called His body and His representatives on earth, so could it be possible that we are the Child? As the extension of the Messiah?


With this possibility in mind, let us look at what Revelation 12 predicts will happen. It says that after she bore the Child, her Child was caught up to heaven to the throne of God. We know that this is what happened to Jesus after His death and resurrection, so if the Child of the end times is an end time Church, it would follow that the same will happen to the Church. We call the rapture of the Saints. Before Jesus ascended back to Heaven, he told His disciples that He is going to prepare a place for them, so that when the time comes, they would be where He is also. apostle Paul predicted the same thing in his letters to the churches.


Then it describes the war that happened in heaven between the archangel Michael ( who protects Israel-Daniel) and the Dragon and his fallen angels. About Jesus during His earthly ministry talked about in the past tense, could a similar war, this time in second heaven take place in the future?


As the result of this war Satan and his angels were cast to earth and the saints of God overcame him by the blood of the lamb ( Jesus), by the word of their testimony, and did not love their lives even unto death.


It also predicts that right after he has been cast down to earth, the Dragon began persecuting the Woman, sending a flood against her, but the earth helped the Woman and swallowed the flood. Could this be describing and increase of demonic power on earth, and the persecution and armed conflict against Israel in the end times?


it follows that the Dragon began to be now enraged with the Woman after failed attempt to destroy her and went after her offspring who hold the testimony of Jesus,  that would be the Church. Perhaps after failed attacks against Israel the Devil would incite people whom he uses on earth to persecute the Church for standing with Israel.


Now many speculate that the coming arrangement of stars and planets in the constellation of Virgo that will appear on September 23, of this year is the very sign in the heavens spoken of by John in  Revelation 12:1.


If they are correct, it would mean that the events described here are going to begin to be fulfilled after this. There will be a spiritual outpouring of evil on the earth, followed by the attack on Israel, then on the Church before the rapture shortly before or even at Jesus' return. We don't know how long this period of time would be, but if it is about to begin this September, then we must get spiritually ready for it.