On September 18, 2014, Glenn Beck ran a special show on his internet TV network, and followed it the next day with a summary of the same material on his radio program. The TV show and summary both covered what Beck believes to be the origin of the current Arab-Israeli conflict: a 100-year-old agreement between the victors of WW I that effectively divided up the Ottoman Empire and created what would eventually become the borders of the Middle East as we know them today. If all you care to or can see is the material world, then Beck did a decent job of making his case. However, if you can see past the material manifestations of this world to the spiritual battle behind them, then you may know what Beck appears to have missed, and why it is much more important in its ramifications than the story Beck told last week.First, for those who are not so short-sighted as to see this post and the links in it and just type ‘TLD’ (too long; didn’t read), here is some of the background information Beck covered on his TV and radio programs:
The 100-Year-Old Agreement You Need to Know About to Understand What’s Driving the Islamic State
This 100-year-old agreement tells you everything you need to know about the ISIL end game
In a nutshell, Beck is arguing that everything going on in the Middle east today is the result of an agreement known as Sykes-Picot, or the Asia Minor Agreement. This was a secret agreement between what would become the victorious allied powers of WW I. It effectively carved up the Ottoman Empire, thus ending the Muslim Caliphate. The goal was to protect the trade routes to the Western nations by setting the different ethnic groups of the Middle East against each other. By arbitrarily re-drawing the historic boundaries of the Middle East, it was thought that natural enemies who suddenly found themselves forced into the same nation would spend their time fighting each other for control of those new nations and wouldn’t organize sufficiently enough to threaten the trade routes the West wanted to protect. So, Sykes (for England) and Picot (for France) drew up a map of how they would divide the Middle East after WW I:
Now, there is a great deal more to this history lesson, and Beck actually does a good job explaining it. However, Beck didn’t go back far enough. Had he done so, he would have found that Muslims have been at war with each other since the Sunni-Shi’ah split, as have the various tribes of Arab peoples. So the conflict in the Middle East goes back much further than Sykes-Picot. In fact, it goes back to the Bible, and the two sons of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael. That is the true root of the Arab-Israeli conflict. For those who are interested, this is an solid summary of the religious/historic roots of this conflict:
The Roots of the Israeli-Arab Conflict
Now, if you are one who does not care much for religion, I would offer you this word of caution: do not dismiss the information in the link above! Read it! You may not believe in any of it, but be sure of this: the Arabs/Muslims, Jews and Christians do! And, like it or not, believe it or not, it is what has driven this conflict since the time of Isaac and Ishmael.
On the other hand, if you are a believer — especially a Jew or Christian — understand that we are dealing with prophecy being fulfilled before our very eyes. Sykes-Picot ended the Ottoman Empire — the Caliphate. IN a real sense, that was a fatal head wound. However, if you look to the whole Arab Spring/ISIS/ISIL movement, then what you see is the Caliphate — the head — coming back to life. The fulfillment of prophecy does not end there. You might want to look up the story of Gideon. He was a pre-curser of Christ, the warrior: the Messiah our Jewish brethren are awaiting. Anyway, Gideon saved Israel from an ancient Arab enemy. As his reward, he asked for the jewelry worn by his fallen enemy. The Bible records that much of this jewelry was crescent-shaped (Judges 8:24-26). Many may scoff at this, but I wonder if it would change their mind to know that the star over the crescent moon is a near perfect depiction of the description the Bible gives of Satan’s boastful heart?
No matter what you chose to believe, what you are seeing in the headlines is the result of spiritual forces waring with each other. The headlines are nothing more than physical manifestations of this spiritual war. These events were foretold. God said this was — in part — so that we would know He is God. This means that what you are seeing in the Middle East is the fulfillment of prophecy.
The Oil for Your Lamp 