By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall magnify himself. Without warning he shall destroy many; and he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes; but, by no human hand, he shall be broken. Dan. 8:25

The “he” in this passage is the religion of Islam, and by 1299 that religion had become an empire, The Ottoman Empire. (See Also: Hermeneutics)

The Ottoman Empire or Porte, was the longest lasting dynastic empire in the history of the world, lasting from 1299 to 1923.

In 1844 with the signing of the Edict of Toleration the Ottoman Empire began a long decline, wasting away till World War One where most of its territory was divided between France and Great Britain. The last Caliph (Mehmed VI) was exiled in 1922.

The Islamic plague or Mussalman as they were called, had been the scourge of Europe for many centuries, but in the end the Empire imploded of its own accord. Or as the book of The Revelation put it, the Euphrates dried up. [Rev. 16:12] No nation attacked nor was there foreign or national insurgents. In the 19th century, Great Britain and France became alarmed at the coming chaos and tried stepping in to stop that chaos. Taking over the abandoned territories of the Empire, in order to provide some law and order. Or at least that is what they told themselves. Their political reasons at the time seem nonsensical in hind sight, but they did expand their respective Empires and at the time that seemed a good thing to them. It did open the way for them to  give the world the Suez Canal. (Yes I know that is a very simplified version of the history, but the history is not our point, go read it on Wikipedia, if you are curious)

Starting with Israel in 1948, these former territories of the Porte started forming governments and one by one becoming independent nations. Jump forward 50 years and the imploding chaos is no longer being hindered by Europeans laws.  These nations are continuing to pass away without a hand. America recently tried to stepped in, in a vain hope of bringing stability to the area, but only because of the oil. However in the last ten years the largest oil deposits in the world have been found in Canada and the USA. So it is most likely that America’s continuing to support and /or interfere in the internal affairs of these Islamic nations will probably come to an end. (But I’m no prophet, and America almost always keeps a base, where ever she has gone)

With the coming of the “Arab Spring” it appears that the chaos is only getting worse, as these national revolutions have no point, no leader, nor a compelling idea behind them, there is nothing to sustain such a movement. The Imams preaching hate of the West will only take them so far. Especially since it is the things of the West that the people want, electricity, running water, better food, computers, etc.

From Daniel 2 it is clear that these nations that were once under the control of the former imperial powers (for a full list of them click here) are doomed to be ground to dust and blow away like chaff. Whether this means they are ground culturally, spiritually, or physically, no one is quite sure. But between the grinding and the great mountain growing there must obviously be a period of anarchy.

As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it smote the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces;  then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Dan. 2:34 35

Expectations

Now most of us Historicists had imagined a rather utopian implosion. As Pre- Millennialist we had envisioned the physical return of the Messiah to the Mount of Olives, causing the Muslims to realize their grave mistake, and just ride their camels slowly off into the desert sunset.

While the A-Millennialist and the Post-Millennialist had envisioned that the preaching of the Gospel would bring salvation and Christianity to these nations.  For this position to be right we are going to need a very large movement of the Holy Spirit because all the virgins are in a deep sleep right now. [Matt. 25:1-13]

The Congregation of the Lord is just not prepared for any great missionary endeavor as we have been in the past. We have allowed all manner of paganism into the church, as well as the philosophies of men. We no longer have the zeal for the Gospel that our Fathers by faith had. The Messiah is clearly outside the church and is knocking on the door to be let in [Rev 3:20].  We have let the belt of truth slip off on to the ground.  And even though we have armies all over the world, they are no longer wearing the shoes of the Gospel of peace [Eph. 6:10-20].

(Just for your information, we are Pre-Millennialist.)

The Future

Todays mullas teach the common people that the Jews and Christian are responsible for all the evils in their lives. They spend all their time hating the West, instead of building the schools, and infrastructure that would make their own lives better. They want to go back to their Golden Years of and Empire that scourged Europe. But that is not to be. The Scripture says otherwise.

WE might want to look at church history to see what works when converting violent peoples, maybe it takes someone like the Viking prince Olaf Trygvesson, who will arise and force convert his own population. After all salvation by the sword worked for the Vikings. They went from the most feared people in Europe who made their livings by rape, murder, and pillaging, to some of the most docile people on earth.

Or perhaps we should pray that the Lord show us what He means in this passage. Once we know where we are going we can assist the establishment of the King and His Kingdom. After all the prayer is “Thy will be Done.”

They will Pass Away

What ever your view, of how this is to come about. We all think we are about to find out who is right. Then the cultural customs and practices of the Islamic peoples will fade just like the customs and practices the barbaric knights of Medieval Europe. Those knights of old now have faded and become nothing more than fantasies of knights saving damsels in distress, so that will be left of the customs and culture of the Islamic nations will be fantasies of those hot Arabian nights.

We think that we humans can make decisions that can change the course of history.  But the rise and fall of empires is in the hands of the spiritual world. No matter what we plan or scheme, if the spirit world says otherwise that is the way it will be.  We can organize, create proposals, concoct schedules, all to no avail. We are not in charge.

For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Eph. 6:12

and I will turn you about, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you forth, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords; Ezek. 38:4

Even Daniel, one of the most powerful men in both the Babylonian and Persian Empires could not get the answers he sought, without the spirit worlds interference.

And he said to me,  “O Daniel, man greatly beloved, give heed to the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you.” While he was speaking this word to me, I stood up trembling.  Then he said to me,  “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your mind to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words.  The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, so I left him there with the prince of the kingdom of Persia and came to make you understand what is to befall your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come.”  Dan. 10:11-14

We need to get our eyes off of what men are doing or think they are doing. Instead we need to be finding out what God is doing, what His plan is. What God has foreordained, cannot be stopped by humans. And it would be unwise to be standing in the wrong place, doing the wrong thing, when what He has foreordained begins to happen. Only in the arms of God is their salvation.

See Also: The Hoax of a One World Government