Ezekiel 38 Option
Best-selling author, Joel C. Rosenberg, again in the news discussing the 'Ezekiel Option' or the coming show down in the Middle East as detailed in Ezekiel 38 and 39. He lays out three options in dealing with the growing tension with Iran's nuclear program:
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is hailing the adoption of new U.N. sanctions on Iran as a victory for the Obama administration's policy of engagement with Tehran. She recently told reporters that the U.N. Security Council's vote in favor of fresh penalties proved that the administration had taken the right diplomatic approach in seeking to talk with Iran. But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has dismissed the latest sanctions, saying they are "like a used tissue."
Joel Rosenberg, author of Epicenter: How the Current Rumblings in the Middle East Will Change Your World, believes it is now going to take decisive action to stop Iran from getting the bomb.
"That would, at the minimum, mean essentially crippling Iran's gasoline imports. They import about 40 percent to 50 percent of it," he explains. "To do a blockade or some sort of quarantine…would force Iran's economy to slow down, if not shut down, and then could make the government regime vulnerable to overthrow, hopefully by moderates.
"But short of that, it's going to take massive air strikes, either by the United States – which under this administration is not going to do it – or by Israel," the author adds.
He further believes that the third option would have to be supernatural, and he uses the prophecy against Iran found in Ezekiel 38 and 39 as an example.
I am not sure why the world's leaders really think that a slightly stronger dose of sanctions will change Mr. Ahmadinjad's mind. His convictions and corresponding actions to those convictions, obviously run much deeper than politics. Mrs. Clinton is hailing the adoption of new U.N. sanctions on Iran as a victory for the Obama administration's policy of engagement with Tehran. Politicians seem much more eager to declare a win than bite the bullet and stop the coming train wreck Iran. Ahmadinejad said in a recent speech, Today, we should define our economic, cultural and political policies based on the policy of Imam Mahdi’s return. This Twelfth Imam that he was referring to is messianic figure in Islam believed to be hidden by Alah, and that he will return to bring about peace and Isamic rule on the earth. Ahmadenijad belongs to a qroup that believes human powers can effect his return.(1) It is apparent that he is working to that end.
According to Rosenberg, option 1, a U.S. air strike is not going to happen under the present administration. Option 2, would be an air strike by Israel, and this would be the only possibility to delay the Ezekiel 38 Option which would be option 3, divine intervention.
Ezekiel 38 tells us that an enemy of Israel, Gog, Meshech and Tubal shall decend upon Israel like a storm (38:9) from the far north (38:6) in the last days (38:8). Dr. VanImpe says that this enemy from north is modern day Russia. This dreaded enemy from the north will align itself with Israel's more familiar neighbor's, Persia, Etheopia, and Put. While this may seem obvious given Russia's alliance to protect Iran and resistance to sanctions (just recently agreed to place arms deal on hold), it is not so easy to take the ancient names from the text and place them on the modern day map. From the list of the northern enemy's allies, Persia and Put, are more easily updated to Iran and Lybia. Even though not all scholars would agree with Dr. VanImpe, we would be foolish to discount Russia's as a player given their present involvement with Iran as a supplier of nuclear technology and arms.
1. http://www.ashbrook.org/publicat/guest/05/vonheyking/twelfthimam.html
