While watching the BBC news aired on the American PBS network recently, I saw an interesting segment (fifth link) which showed and interviewed Christians who were fighting in a militia that was allied with Assad’s regime. The segment was about Christian militiamen who were allied to Assad’s forces as they were trying to retake the Christian city of Maaloula from the rebel Islamist forces.
A websearch located the first five links below which all include some information about Christians fighting on the side of Assad’s forces. Why? Because traditionally Assad has been tolerant of the Christian minority in Syria and the Christians know that the rebel Islamist Jihadis, if they defeat Assad’s forces, will either kill, persecute or expel the Christians. This is a part of the Syrian conflict that has not generally been appreciated: That Assad has been an Islamic moderate who has been tolerant of the Christian minority in Syria.
A glimpse at the future fate of Christians in Syria if the Islamist rebels win was likely glimpsed by the behavior of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt toward Christians after the Brotherhood was expelled from power by the Egyptian army (sixth link). This link reports that “at least 44 churches” have been burned by the Muslim Brotherhood since its leaders were arrested by the army. Consider that this is the kind of anti-Christian lawlessness and violence the Muslim Brotherhood has done when it is out of power! Just think of the persecution of Christians that would occur if the Muslim Brotherhood was in power again. I believe the Egyptian army did the right thing by removing the Muslim Brotherhood from power in Egypt, but, clearly, the army has to do more to protect the Christians in Egypt—who compose 10% of Egypt’s population and voters.
All the Mideast fighting is eventually going to sort out which nations in that region will be in the Gog-Magog alliance prophesied in Ezekiel 38 and which ones will not be part of that alliance. Ezekiel 38:2-6 specifically names Persia (Iran), Libya (Libya and other North Africans descended from “Phut”), and “Ethiopia” (actually translated from the word “Cush”) as being in the Gog-Magog alliance in a final global war at the end of the “latter days.” The descendants of Cush have left their name on the Hindu Kush mountains which straddle Pakistan and Afghanistan (a stronghold of Taliban and Al Queda-aligned groups), and this fact strongly infers both Pakistan and Afghanistan will eventually be lost to the western alliance (which will likely surprise few people outside the US State Department). Pakistan has already strongly allied itself to China, one of the main nations of the Gog-Magog alliance—as was discussed in a recent post. However, Egypt, Ishmael (the Arab nations) and Edom (Turkey and other groups) are not mentioned as allies of the Gog-Magog alliance. Egypt might have ended up in the Gog-Magog alliance if not for the decisive action of the Egyptian army to stop the Muslim Brotherhood. Turkey is in flux as their leader has Islamist tendencies, but the Turkish people have had large and nationwide demonstrations in recent months that they do not want sharia law or an Islamist state. The outcome of the Syrian conflict will determine whether that nation is finally aligned with the Gog-Magog alliance or not. For more on the linkages of biblically-identified nations and those ancient nations’ modern names, please read my article, What Ezekiel 38-39 Reveals about a Future World War III [PDF].
A troubling trend is visible in American actions in the Mideast. In Egypt, Obama threw the moderate leader Hosni Mubarak “under the bus” and Obama’s policies favored the Muslim Brotherhood’s rise to power. In Libya, the American and NATO forces went far beyond the UN authorization of a mere “no-fly zone” over Libya and actively bombed the smithereens out of Khaddafy’s forces—allowing the radical Islamists, including some identified by NATO’s top commander as being aligned with Al Queda, to take control of Libya. Now Obama’s recent policies seemed on a head-long charge to launch missile attacks at Syria until Russia’s Putin came forth with a new policy option that has put Russia in the driver’s seat for now concerning Syria’s future. If Obama had ordered the US military to launch cruise missiles at Syria, it would have made the US military the de facto allies of radical Islamist Jihadis and Al Queda-aligned fighters among the Syrian rebels. In Egypt, Libya and Syria, Obama’s policies have had America allied to the most radical Islamist Jihadi side in each of those nations civil wars or near civil war (in the case of Egypt). Does anyone else find this troubling?