Iran, Bush and the Second Coming
The tensions between the United States and Iran reached a new level over the past week. Following a series of announcements regarding its nuclear program and tests of new weapons systems, Tehran announced on Tuesday that it was purchasing the sophisticated Tor M1 anti-aircraft missile system from Russia. On Friday, the IAEA released its highly anticipated report on the Iranian nuclear program and its failure to meet UN Security Council deadline to stop its uranium enrichment efforts. Secretary of State Condi Rice warned Sunday that it was time for Iran and its President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to stop "playing games."
But while the differences between Washington and Tehran are threatening and growing, there are eerie similarities between presidents Bush and Ahmadinejad and their respective fundamentalist followers. For each, the strikingly analogous views regarding religious prophecy, second comings and the end of times for their respective Christian and Shiite eschatologies may be pushing Ahmadinejad and Bush inexorably towards war.
A recent piece by Matthias Kuntzel in the New Republic ("Ahmadinejad's Demons") presents a frightening picture of the Iranian side of the equation. Kuntzel portrays the Ahmadinejad as a "child of the revolution" fostering the cult of martyrdom and mass sacrifice that killed tens of thousands of young Iranians - the Basiji - during the war with Iraq in the 1980's. Just as Ayatollah Khomeini in 1980 called on Iranian children to martyr themselves in battle in the name of Hussein, the third imam and murdered grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, today's Iran of Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ali Khameini have created for a special military unit called "Commando of Voluntary Martyrs." The Martyrs unit now boasts 52,000 members and will soon be in place in every Iranian province.
Central to the ideology of Ahmadinejad and the hard liners in Tehran is the role of the return of the "Twelfth Imam." In Shiite theology, the second coming of this last of the Prophet Muhammad's direct male descendents - the Mahdi - signals the imminent deliverance of the world from evil. As Kuntzel describes:
At the end of this line, there is the "Twelfth Imam," who is named Muhammad. Some call him the Mahdi (the "divinely guided one"), though others say imam Zaman (from sahib-e zaman: "the ruler of time"). He was born in 869, the only son of the eleventh Imam. In 874, he disappeared without a trace, thereby bringing Muhammad's lineage to a close. In Shia mythology, however, the Twelfth Imam survived. The Shia believe that he merely withdrew from public view when he was five and that he will sooner or later emerge from his "occultation" in order to liberate the world from evil.
The killing of Hussein and the return of the Twelfth Imam are essential components of the language - and propaganda - of Ahmadinejad's Iran. He lauded what former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani deemed the "worthwhile" death of martyrdom, "Is there an art that is more beautiful, more divine, more eternal than the art of the martyr's death?" President Ahmadinejad last November declared, "The most important task of our Revolution is to prepare the way for the return of the Twelfth Imam." His government has even funded a research institute to study and if possible hasten the coming of "imam Zaman." And in his September 17, 2005 address to the UN General Assembly, Ahmadinejad implored God for the return of the Mahdi:
"O mighty Lord, I pray to you to hasten the emergence of your last repository, the promised one, that perfect and pure human being, the one that will fill this world with justice and peace."
All of which offers disturbing parallels between the Tehran regime and the worldview of President Bush and his fundamentalist followers in the American religious right. From the use of religious imagery and government funding of non-secular initiatives to the meaning of Israel, Armageddon and the second coming of Christ, Bush and the American Taliban see themselves as fulfilling biblical prophecy in the Middle East. In some important ways, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's mirror image may reside in the White House.
The influence and impact of evangelical thinking and language about the End of Times and divine intervention upon the Bush administration is made clear in books like Kevin Phillips' "American Theocracy" and Michael Lind's "Made in Texas." Phillips concludes that George W. Bush is convinced that "God wanted him to be president", a view backed by Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, who reported, "Among the things he said to us was: I believe that God wants me to be president." As White House official Tim Goeglein once put it, "I think President Bush is God's man at this hour, and I say this with a great sense of humility."
President Bush himself has not publicly claimed to have a divine mandate. (As Time reported after September 11, however, "privately, Bush even talked of being chosen by the grace of God to lead at that moment.") But Bush is clear in his belief that God's hand is at work in his presidency. Just last week, Bush defended his decision to invade Iraq, declaring:
"I base a lot of my foreign policy decisions on some things that I think are true. One, I believe there's an Almighty. And, secondly, I believe one of the great gifts of the Almighty is the desire in everybody's soul, regardless of what you look like or where you live, to be free."
During a February 2003 National Prayer Breakfast, the President intoned:
"We can be confident in the ways of Providence...Behind all of life and all of history, there's a dedication and purpose, set by the hand of a just and faithful God."
(For more on Bush's use of religious imagery, see "Bush's Religious Language" in The Nation and this commentary by his former speechwriter, Michael Gerson.)
During a March appearance in Cleveland, President Bush brushed aside the question, "Do you believe this, that the war in Iraq and the rise of terrorism are signs of the Apocalypse? And if not, why not?" While Bush may or may not literally believe that Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ are imminent, his radical right Republican base is another matter altogether. Appearing on CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight in March, Kevin Phillips noted that while Bush can't publicly state that he literally believes in the biblical prophecy of Armageddon in the Book of Revelations, his conservative Christian allies clearly do:
"A survey by "Newsweek" several years back found that 45 percent of American Christians believed in Armageddon, that it was coming. And about the same percentage thought the anti- Christ was already on Earth. Now, if you were to take the religious Christians, and the Republican coalition includes most of the religious Christians, you probably have about 55 percent of the Republican coalition that believes in this."
By "this," Phillips is referring to the end of times struggle in Israel, the conversion or mass death of Jews with the Second Coming of Christ. As Jerry Falwell put it, "scripture is clear on that." (Falwell also told Newsweek's Howard Fineman that he introduced George W. Bush to Tim LaHaye, author of the "Left Behind" series on the Second Coming and the Rapture.) That future, as Rod Dreher described it in the National Review four years ago:
"To Jews who adhere to ancient tradition, whose number include religious Israeli nationalists, the long-awaited Messiah will return to become the king of Israel and high priest of a rebuilt Temple, which can only be on Temple Mount. For Christian fundamentalists, Jesus Christ's return at the height of the battle of Armageddon, in which forces of the Antichrist clash in Israel with a 200 million-man army from the East, will require a Third Temple from which the Lord will begin a millennial reign."
The result for Bush's amen corner is what Fineman described as "Apocalypse Politics." That entails above all unswerving support for Israel. Israel is seen as ordained by God, a view held by 44% of Americans, according to a 2003 Pew Research survey. But the evangelical Christian Zionist movement goes further, seeing in Israel "a fulfillment of the biblical prophecy about the second coming of Jesus," a belief shared by 36% of Americans in the Pew research. For the Republican religious right, Israel must not only be staunchly supported in its conflict with the Palestinians, but that the conflict itself should be welcomed, even accelerated.
Bush's conservative Christian allies back Israel in both word and deed. Billy Graham and Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network offer daily prayers for Israel. For one-time presidential candidate Gary Bauer claimed, "America has an obligation to stand by Israel" because "God has promised that land to the Jewish people." Evangelicals organize pilgrimages and tours of Israel and even provide Jewish settlements in the West Bank with financial support. When the President Bush pressured Ariel Sharon in 2002 to pull back its tanks from towns in the West Bank, the White House received a hundred thousand emails from Falwell's followers and faced the Christian Coalition on Mall in Washington. Bush backed off. As the Village Voice reported in 2004, the Bush White House consulted with rapture Christians before finalizing its policy on Sharon's proposed Gaza withdrawal.
But the friends of Bush are not content to wait for the Second Coming of Christ and with it, the slaughter of the mass of Jews with the conversion of the remaining 144,000. As Falwell put it, the arrival of the End of Times should be prodded, advanced and cajoled:
"The danger, if there is a danger in believing in the imminence of the Lord's return - and I do, is to become a fatalist, that certain things are going to happen regardless and there's nothing we can do about them. That isn't true."
Nowhere is this desire to accelerate biblical prophecy more on display than in the ongoing effort to breed the symbolic "red heifer." Since the early 1990's, fundamentalist Christians in the United States have been trying to help breed the perfect calf that will signal the Second Coming. As the NRO's Dreher described the biblical role of the red heifer:
"The ashes of a flawless red heifer - an extremely rare creature - were required by the ancient Hebrews to purify worshipers who went into the Temple to pray. In modern times, rabbinical law forbids Jews from setting foot on the Temple Mount, thus violating the site where the Holy of Holies dwelled, until and unless they are ritually purified. Without a perfect red heifer to sacrifice, the Third Temple cannot be built, and Moshiach - the Messiah - will not come."
It's no wonder Haaretz columnist David Landau deemed the red heifer "a four-legged bomb" with the potential to "set the entire region on fire."
While some wait for the arrival of the biblically mandated bovine, the apocalyptic theocracies of Washington and Tehran seem on a collision course. As President Bush's supporters view themselves as "Israel's only safety belt," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls for Israel to be "wiped off the map." While the mullahs in Tehran look to the return of the Twelfth Imam to deliver them from evil, President Bush's allies await the Second Coming of Christ to usher in a millennium of peace. With their research institutes and breeding programs, the devout on both sides seek to accelerate the End of Times. And as their positions over the Iranian nuclear program harden, Presidents Bush and Ahmadinejad have more in common than they know.
I think you are way over the top on this. The radical right doesn't have the influence on U.S. foreign policy you think they do. And to compare American Christians to the fundamentalist Muslims in Iran is out of line.
Debbie,
I gotta part ways with you on this. I think the parallels between the madcap mullahs in Tehran and Bush's bunch are way too close for comfort.
I don't see in difference in them, myself.
Who can interpret the book of Revelation?
''Who is worthy to open the book,and loose the seals thereof?''
Could the site-administrator DELETE "GURU"s blatant comment-spam please? That "poster" is a just a link to a CD on Amazon. Thanks. That said, this is a great article, well-written and well-referenced with excellent links.
I don't see how anyone could read this article and not find it compelling. I doubt that an honest "Christian" belivever in eschatology would really find anything wrong here either, which is rather scary.
Thanks!
Maybe someone should delete John's comment.
What the hell are you talking about?Boy.
''Who is worthy to open the book,and loose the seals thereof?''
Posted by GURU at May 2, 2006 09:33 AM
Whom is worthy has already loosed thy seals and he doth not need thy words of a prophet, nor even the book, to view or understand that what lies within it.
He doth not need to read thy words, because thy vision, of revelation, cannot be expressed thru words, it or wisdom, which is but understanding, is inherent in all men and women, and it will reveal itself to you only if thy reject biases taught.
In you is the key and in you is the revelation.
''And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside,sealed with seven seals.''
Ahmadinejad did not say that Israel should be "wiped of the map". Ahmadinejad used on old quote from Khomeiny, and that says something like "will be wiped out by the forces of time."
The US president [was/is] member of a secret society, and the members of that club don't believe in god. So your president is fooling a lot of people with his religious show.
Your criminal president is a war criminal a should be put on trial for that. Read the Nuremberg principles if you don not believe it.
Te power structures of the greedy wealthy in the US are the same people who financed Hitler and Stalin, who are waging war against the poor classes of this planet, killing them of by keeping drugs to expensive, and preaching against condoms.
The real enemy are the rich classes, and as long as the poor people on this planet are divided, they win.
Why can a CEO have thousands of dollars an hour? For robbing the bussisness? Playing golf en bossing around the ones who do the real work? We can do without them. Go to your local CEO and ask what he does on a working day for al that millions he and his buddys are stealing from the poor.
There should come a sepration between wealth/money an politics, because wealth and politics are leading to corruption when mixed.
The way I see it, and more and more people over here in Europe is that the Bush administration, and the US army has committed, and still is committing warcrimes. Lets hope the United States peoples wake up in time and stop this greedy bloody orgy of the elite, and restore the principles of the people who wrote the US constitution.
One last thing...study modern (US) history. You know what you are if you know how you have become it...
A fellow earthling.
The major difference between Islamic extremists and President Bush and his right wing followers is that the Islamic extremists have and are taking away our basic human rights when they "martyr" themselves for Ala's sake murdering innocent people. What Hendik does not realize is that President Bush is one of the few remaining politicians who is standing by the principles our country was founded on; "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" and "One Nation under God" none of which Islamic extremists value. So when innocent civilians are attacked on our own soil we have the basic human right to protect our liberty and going to war against a tyrannical, extreme, murderous Middle East is a good start at doing that.
As far as Hendik's view on mixing money and politics, he needs to review history himself and realize that our country thrives because foreignors (even from Europe) left their own countries to come to a land that was prosperous and free!
Finally, to compare President Bush and radical Islam is to compare good with evil. One supports life and liberty and the other takes them away.
Sorry Hendik,
You are a bit off base, there is countless evidience that the regime in Iran is working for the elimenation of the Jewish state and it's supporters. In other words they want United States citzens dead. Not out of Iraq, not more generous to the poor, not a world power, they want us dead. Our children, our way of life. They will not be satisfied until we are an Islamic state, PERIOD. The terror will not end until that comes to pass. To blame Bush on this is a disservice to the 239 Marines who were killed in 1983 in Lebanon. Bush had little to do with this. Politics is the smoke you need to look through to find the truth...Islam is not about bringing peace to the world...it is about bringing Islam to the world. You in EU should recognize this beast, it is called Facism. Study your history and let me know if there are any similarities to the Nazi party.
The Parallelism between the Imam and Bible prophesy is no suprise. In the Bible we see Christ and the Anti-Christ. The Anti-Christ is the counterfeit to Christ and is evil.
All through the Bible we see this counterfeit to what God put in his word.
The big difference here is hte Imam requires war and destruction to return which the Iranian president is trying to create. He sees this as his destiny.
Don't expect anything good out of this guy.
bedrijfskleding
Holly Said:
The major difference between Islamic extremists and President Bush and his right wing followers is that the Islamic extremists have and are taking away our basic human rights when they "martyr" themselves for Ala's sake murdering innocent people. What Hendik does not realize is that President Bush is one of the few remaining politicians who is standing by the principles our country was founded on; "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" and "One Nation under God" none of which Islamic extremists value. So when innocent civilians are attacked on our own soil we have the basic human right to protect our liberty and going to war against a tyrannical, extreme, murderous Middle East is a good start at doing that.
Holly,
Your conclusions are based on a flawed premise. The "martyrs" that are being formed in the Middle East today are the direct result of the US supporting Israel in its conquering of territory that it has never been authorized to hold. We have supported Israel since its founding by UN fiat in 1948. We have supported Israel even after it has attacked our naval vessels in international waters. (c.f. USS Liberty incident)
Your premise is that we have done nothing to those in the Middle East to warrant being attacked. We have, in fact, supported a repressive regime that refuses to allow the lawful landowners of homes and other real property in Israel to return to their property nor even to sell it at market rates and begin again somewhere else. Israel has regularly prevented farmers from marketing their crops and children from returning to their families. The Palestinian people are being systematically oppressed by the government of Israel and they are fighting back in the only way left to them. I abhor the violence and pray that it will end but the only way to make it end is to force justice in the region - A justice that accounts for all things in the recent history of that blighted area.
As to president Bush standing on principles that our country was founded upon, I cannot disagree more. "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" was a fine bit of prose by Jefferson but "One nation under God" was a 1958 addition to the Pledge of Allegiance. It was nowhere to be found in the foundational documents of our country and would never have survived the process of editing the Declaration of Independence since there were at least 2 and probably more interpretations of Who/What God is in the room when the drafters were working on that inspired document. There is no monolithic understanding of God even now. I would venture to say that you have a vastly different approach to God than I do and yet we have both, apparently, devoted our lives to a pursuit of a meaningful relationship with God. Would you accept my interpretation of God's will? I think not. The reverse is most assuredly not possible either.
I would not *ever* accept a triumphalist, dispensational approach to my relationship with God. That is, unfortunately the tenor of the relationship that appears to be present between our benighted leaders and their own version of God.
If you would like to continue to follow those that lead you toward hatred of the abused and disenfranchised, then so be it, but we as a nation are slowly waking up to the very real dangers of the hell-bent "progress" of our country toward nihilistic dissolution. I pray that people will actually research the history of the Middle East in order to develop more real and valuable approaches to peace there.
AHMADINEJAD IS THE MESSIAH HIMSELF.
The rapture if you want to call it that(I prefer the word ressurection), can't happen for at least another 27 years. May I suggest you check out the website http://www.prophecycodebook.com
In his book Prophecy Code, Jeff manty decodes the rapture using (Daniel's week - 2520) from the prophecy of the seventy 'sevens.'
He says the secret to understanding the return of Christ is to know that this number 2520 is a number of years as well as days. As proof he connects this number to the years of Israel's reestablishment or the years 1897, 1948, and 1967 to the years 587, 536, and 517.
Manty uses this prophecies commencement as the key to unlocking the rapture. May I suggest you get a copy of his book you'll love it...
Peace be with the reader.
I am here to bring judgment to the living and the dead.
The Faithful Witness
i have just started reading items on this site especially related to the bible prophecy. the extent of arguments for and against is just immense...yet the biblical commands which we( those who belive) are plain and simple.
ok. let me re-write that. I have just started reading items on this site especially related to the bible prophecy. The extent of arguments for and against it just immense...yet the biblical commands ( which we struggle to follow - for those who believe) are plain and simple.
Your conclusions are based on a flawed premise. The "martyrs" that are being formed in the Middle East today are the direct result of the US supporting Israel in its conquering of territory that it has never been authorized to hold. We have supported Israel since its founding by UN fiat in 1948. We have supported Israel even after it has attacked our naval vessels in international waters. (c.f. USS Liberty incident)
you do have a point there
Thats true
nice