Hitchcock - Middle East Burning: Is the Spreading Unrest a Sign of the End Times?

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
EUGENE, OREGON

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MIDDLE EAST BURNING

Copyright 2012 by Mark Hitchcock

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hitchcock, Mark.

Middle East burning / Mark Hitchcock.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-7369-3996-6 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-4260-7 (eBook)

1. BiblePropheciesMiddle East. 2. Arab-Israeli conflictBiblical teaching.

3. BiblePropheciesEnd of the world. I. Title.

BS649.N45H58 2012

236.9dc23

2011024055

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Printed in the United States of America

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 / LB-SK / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To Gary Spencer
With gratitude for your faithful friendship and
the delightful gift of encouragement you
give to me and my family .

O ur world is on fire, and man without God will never be able to control the flames. The demons of hell have been let loose. The fires of passion, greed, hate, and lust are sweeping the world. We seem to be plunging madly toward ArmageddonThe world has been in flames before, but only in a limited sense. Today our world is a common neighborhood, all of it reachable in mere hours by physical flight and in seconds over the airwaves. This accessibility increases the spread of tension and dissension. Thus when the fires of war and lawlessness break out, they leap the national boundaries and cultural differences to become major conflagrations. The whole world is filled with riots, demonstrations, threats, warsThis is the generation destined to live in the midst of crisis, danger, fear, and death. We are like a people under sentence of death, waiting for the date to be set. We sense that something is about to happen.

B ILLY G RAHAM , W ORLD A FLAME (1965)

The turmoil in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Oman and Syria (and you aint seen nothing yet), coupled with the expected U.S. evacuation from Iraq and Afghanistan, the Iranian threat and the inherent non-reliability of international or Western guarantees and forces do not usher in Spring; they do usher in lethal geo-political twisters and floods .

Y ORAM E TTINGER

Democracy is like a streetcar. You ride it until you get to your destination and then you get off .

T URKISH PRIME MINISTER R ECIP T AYYIP E RDOGAN

It is still too early to tell whether the waves of change sweeping over the shores of North Africa and the Middle East will erode the foundations of autocracy or, conversely, whether they will merely substitute secular authoritarianism with Islamist totalitarianism .

A LI A LFONEH , T HE J ERUSALEM P OST

T he headlines during the spring months of 2011 said it all:

Apocalypse Now: Tsunamis. Earthquakes. Nuclear Meltdowns. Revolutions. Economies on the Brink. What the #@%! Is Next?

The Revolution

Fire from Egypt and Tunisia Flames Across Arab World

Where Is the Next Upheaval?

The Middle East Crisis Has Just Begun

Why Is the Middle East Burning and Can Anyone Put Out the Fire?

Gaddafis Last Stand

A World Turned Upside Down

It all began with one tiny spark on December 17, 2010. This spark ignited the blazing brush fire that is now raging across the Middle East. It started when an unemployed Tunisian, Mohamed Bouazizi, doused himself with paint thinner and lit a match. This desperate act of self-immolation was apparently due to the embarrassment and humiliation he suffered after the government confiscated apples he was selling so he could support his family. To make matters worse, Bouazizi was slapped in the face and publicly beaten twice. When his trip to the governors office was rebuffed, he believed he had been completely stripped of his dignity, so in a final act of despair he lit a match that ignited a revolution that has since reverberated throughout the Middle East.

Bouazizis action ignited street clashes that inspired nearly a dozen other men to set themselves on fire in Egypt, Algeria, and Mauritania and ultimately toppled the autocratic regime of Tunisia, which had been led by Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. The rage continues to spread across the Middle East, and dictators in the region are feeling the heat. Weve all seen the disturbing images of mayhem emanating from the Arab nations with no discernible end in sight. There are lulls and interruptions, but the future is uncertain. The explosive events have shocked, surprised, and stunned the world. The question on the minds of many people is this: Will the present wave of uprisings bring about new democracies in the Middle East, perhaps ones that are more friendly to the West and more benevolent to their own people? Will nations like Egypt become more moderate and remain at peace with Israel? Or will this swelling tide clear the way for radical Islamic leaders to take control of these nationsleaders who are even more oppressive than their predecessors and want to impose Islamic sharia law?

I live in Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin down the plains. At no time is that more true than in the spring. The gusty winds are great for wind power, but terrible when theres been a drought and a stray spark ends up igniting a grass fire. When these fires are whipped by the winds, they turn into vicious, unpredictable infernos that consume everything in their path.