A few years ago, Israel was a terror to the Arabs in the Middle East. Now radical Islam—led by Iran—is a terror to Israel, as well as to millions of Arabs.

Why this alarming change in the volatile Middle East?

Iran has been the number-one sponsor of terrorism for many years. The Iranians are about to become a nuclear power, which is going to add a horrifying dimension to this violent region.

However, in spite of this black and gloomy scene, we are about to see peace in the Middle East very soon.

Israel’s Birth

Let’s look back at Israel’s recent history.

When World War ii ended, there were many Jewish refugees with no place to call home. Most of the world was sympathetic to these Jews.

In 1948, after a bitter struggle in the United Nations, these Jews (the modern descendants of the biblical tribe of Judah—the name Jew is just a shortened version of Judah) received a home when the land of Israel was declared a nation.

The Arabs attacked immediately.

The Jews had no real army and were losing the war after three weeks. Then the Arabs strangely agreed to a temporary UN-sponsored truce. This is exactly what Israel needed to rearm and train its weary troops—many of whom were nothing more than civilians with guns.

Shortly thereafter, the Arabs began fighting again. This time the Jews were well prepared and soon won the war.

Many of the Jews acknowledged that this was a miracle from God!

The Jews were determined fighters. This was their first sovereign nation in almost 2,000 years. Only death could make them surrender their new and only homeland. They had a strong faith in God. As a result, they experienced bountiful miracles in the following years.

Will to Fight

There continued to be many problems between the Jews and Arabs. These became so intense in 1967 that almost every nation in the world believed the Arabs were about to attack Israel again.

Egypt, Jordan and Syria allied to start a war. The Soviet Union strongly urged Egypt to attack. Egyptian troops poured into the Sinai and ordered UN forces out. War seemed imminent.

The Jews felt compelled to strike first. Jewish warplanes flew into Egypt and destroyed 300 Egyptian combat fighters in three hours. The Jews then captured all of the Sinai, the Suez Canal, East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Golan Heights in just six days.

Again, many Jews believed their nation had been saved by a series of godly miracles. They were inspired and joyfully optimistic about their future.

The attitude in Israel today is very different. A majority of the Jews are depressed about their future. Why the change? When did the miracles cease?

After the 1967 victory, Israel became prosperous and complacent. The Jews were lulled into a false sense of security. Meanwhile, terrorists began to pour into the nation.

In late 1973, the Jewish military ignored serious intelligence reports that the Arabs were again poised to attack. The assault occurred on October 6, during the solemn Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.

The Jews won the war in three weeks, with much aid from the Americans. Egypt was beaten, but not humiliated. Once again Jerusalem had been miraculously saved. Again, many Jews admitted that the Yom Kippur victory abounded with miracles—especially since the war started on one of their holiest days of the year.

But soon after, something dramatic changed in Israel.

Menachem Begin was elected prime minister in 1977. U.S. President Jimmy Carter persuaded him to give the Sinai back to Egypt in the late 1970s.

This was the beginning of the Israeli-Arab peace process. The Jews gave up land for a piece of paper. At this point, the course of their history took a dramatic and dangerous turn.

Mount Sinai

When the Jews gave the Sinai Peninsula back to Egypt, that probably included Mount Sinai, where God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses. This fiery mountain spectacle gave birth to the nation of Israel! The Sinai area was where the children of Israel wandered for 40 years as they rebelled against God’s law and His holy days.

Again, the biblical name for the modern nation called Israel is Judah. But the modern descendants of the ancient Israelites include several nations—including the U.S. and Britain. In other words, biblical Judah is only a small part of Israel today. America and the British people are also Israel. The prophecies about end-time Israel are primarily focused on those three nations. (For thorough proof, request our free book The United States and Britain in Prophecy.)

The U.S. and Britain both pressured the Jews to give the Sinai back to Egypt, even though our ancestors were right there with the Jews when God gave His law on Mount Sinai.

Why are these three nations in such serious trouble today? Giving the Sinai back to Egypt is at the heart of their problems!

The Jewish nation was born and sustained by faith and godly miracles. But the Jews’ faith is failing them today. The miracles have ceased.

Today, in spite of the fact that the Jews gave the Sinai back to Egypt—an unparalleled gift—Egypt is fast becoming one of Israel’s most hostile neighbors. That should show us that giving away land does not buy peace.

The Jews continue to give land for empty promises of peace. In 1993 on the White House lawn, the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat shook hands, and Israel surrendered bits of that hard-won, strategically important land in the hope that the Arabs could be simply bargained into giving up their goal of destroying the Jewish nation.

The Jews have also given Gaza, Jericho, Bethlehem and other West Bank areas back to the Palestinians. It seems the world has forgotten that those areas were won in a war where the Arabs were trying to annihilate the Jews. This land-for-peace process is almost unheard-of in history, except perhaps for what happened in South Africa.

The Jews have given back many biblical sites to the Arabs. America and Britain have strongly urged them to do so.

Throughout this terribly misnamed “peace” process—Israel giving up land and seeing no appreciable drop in violence—Palestinian leaders have consistently told politicians and media that they want peaceful coexistence with Israel while simultaneously promising to their own people that they will destroy Israel.

Now, after years of gambling with its own soil, Israel finds itself depleted of property and will. It has been terribly weakened and bloodied by its own policies—yet even today, Jewish leaders say they need to make concessions to the Arabs even if doing so will endanger Jews!

The Good News

The Intelligence Digest, Oct. 4, 1996, said this: “[T]he principal delusion underpinning the Middle East peace process, [is] that all problems can be solved by negotiation” (emphasis mine).

The deadly delusion that “all problems can be solved by negotiation” is going to lead Israel and the U.S. to disaster!

Adolf Hitler almost conquered the world because so many nations had that delusion before and during World War ii.

Such a philosophy destroys nations. No great nation has ever been built or sustained by such a belief! Any good history book should teach us that. Bible prophecy certainly does. It is a philosophy based on weakness. The Arabs see land-for-peace deals as a glaring weakness in the Jews and fully intend to exploit it! Any powerful nation that reasons from such weakness is plummeting to disaster!

Many of the leading politicians of the world are trying to bring peace to the Middle East. But they can’t because they don’t know how.

Very soon there is going to be peace in Jerusalem. That city is going to give birth to peace throughout the whole world!

You need to understand where these terrifying problems are leading. Paradoxically, these monstrous problems are a sign of the best news you could hear. To learn about that good news, request our free booklet Jerusalem in Prophecy.

It is darkest just before the dawn—and what a dawn we are about to see!