Pax Domini

Pax Domini When it comes to strife, it seems “everything that’s old is new again,” especially as it relates to events in the Middle East. Unless a suitable formula for peace is found soon, the ancient hatreds in this volatile region, taken to their logical conclusion—will one day draw the world into a future conflagration of Biblical proportions. How close we are to midnight on the theoretical doomsday clock is anyone’s guess. But if we are to have any hope of being saved from this fate, a new emphasis must be placed on the only levers that have ever motivated mankind—interest or fear.

The world’s preoccupation with a Mid-East peace is based on achieving a level of stability that ensures the continued supply and distribution of the region‟s oil reserves. The purveyors of this fossil fuel however encircle the contested land of Israel—with the sovereignty of Jerusalem at stake. Achieving harmony amongst these different worldviews, from a region that has spawned the world‟s three major faiths, remains the enigma that demands the world‟s attention. Although they share a common ancestry through Abraham, the fundamental tenets of Islam, Judaism and Christianity cannot be reconciled—framing the real crux of these regional tensions. The surrounding Arab regimes in this melee are sustained by self-appointed, often dictatorial rule over a largely uneducated populace through a compulsory belief system that assails modernity. Islam‟s once proud heritage of thought leadership in the arts and sciences, have long since been overshadowed by the tendency of their closed societies to breed and stage terrorism. This environment has proven ideal for those allied with insurgent movements, acting as surrogates to covertly wage war against Israel and its chief ally, the United States. Proliferation of missile technology by these agents to rogue states also constitutes a serious threat to Mid-East stability. By comparison, the Arab plight that links the despot, the fundamentalist cleric dogma and the destitute zealots—provides stark contrast to a stable, prosperous and democratic state of Israel. As the dominant military power in the region, Israel has emerged virtually unscathed by Arab instigated wars in 1948, ‟56, ‟67 and „73. Since its‟ reformation in 1948 however, Israel has also enjoyed unequivocal support from successive US administrations, projecting the strength of the world‟s only remaining super-power to the region. However, to maintain a semblance of order between opposing Mid-East factions, Israel‟s military prowess has been bridled when confronting the guerilla-style insurgency that has arisen from spurious claims to land-rights for emigrating Arabs—ostensibly known as “Palestinians.” With secure access to the region‟s energy resources at stake, the US-Israeli alliance—designed to create a unilateral deterrent, curiously acts as a vacuum for opposing world powers as well. This chess-game of problematic issues sustains the cycle of strife and misery for both sides here, raising the specter of new attacks from surrounding Arab nations and their surrogate patrons. What‟s to become of this “Gordian knot” of issues that fuels both religious hatred, as well as secular threats to world peace? By searching the prophetic texts found in Scripture, history‟s final chapter for this region has already been penned. According to these texts, this generation will witness both the acceptance of a pretentious peace treaty, as well as new offensive campaigns launched against Israel. While these events are prophesied as an inevitable course for the nations involved, the individuals that comprise these factions are not left without personal recourse for realizing an ultimate peace. Rescue from what‟s predicted to befall this region though, will require the fortitude of personal introspection and the muting of cultural pride. While the proponents of these contending faiths have debated for ages, the key determinant of any faith‟s validity can be reduced to a simple yet profound litmus test—does it pardon, does it save?

March 1, 2002

Middle-East Commentary

Roy Tanner

To provide context for this standard consider the faith of Islam, which today boasts more than a billion adherents worldwide. The Islamic faith remains essentially unchanged from its original th composition by the prophet Mohammed in the 7 century. For all its noble tenets and strictures, Islam has no precedent for personal relationship with the Almighty or atonement for personal sin. This places the faith of Islam squarely in the camp of other belief systems that depend upon a “works” righteousness, or human achievement to win favor from their God. Since no attainable standard is articulated however, Muslims have no apparent means to secure their standing or receive forgiveness—only the foreboding, eventual reckoning with Allah‟s justice. Yet this precarious belief system is thrust upon many societies worldwide under the threat of death. Islam in summary makes no provision for the concept of grace or mercy. Obtaining grace relies on a theological concept found only in the Judeo-Christian doctrine of atonement, which enables God to accomplish something for mankind that we would never achieve on our own—perfection. The unmerited favor of grace, assumes that we‟re accountable to a sovereign Creator who demands that justice be served, yet He provides the means to this perfect standard through His compensating love. In deed, God‟s promise to reconcile humanity to Himself was accomplished at Calvary, such that those who put their trust in His “saving” work are set free from both the penalty and the power of their waywardness. This standard by grace, acts as history‟s fulcrum. Because sovereign omnipotence by definition is an attribute of God alone, it‟s been said that all of history is the outworking of His story. While God is not the author of chaos or evil, He has by design entrusted mankind with personal responsibility, bound only by free moral agency. Even though misuse of this volition is responsible for the inhumane acts visited upon this world, it was a necessary precondition for humanity if it was to fulfill the grander purpose for which it was created—to personally engage in relationship with the Almighty, by grace through faith. History will record that it was Israel‟s failure to fulfill their herald‟s role, extending God‟s invitation to the world—that brought about their subsequent judgment as a nation and dispersion throughout the world. Today, while the Jewish state has effectively been re-gathered, it has reemerged largely as a secular nation, still under persecution and no longer in search of the promised Messiah. Fortunately, the promises of God to His chosen people are irrevocable, and Israel‟s greatest days are yet future, at which time their blindness will be removed. Like the Jewish people who preceded them, the mantle for proclaiming God‟s desire to be reconciled to mankind was later entrusted to American Christendom, as a country founded on the premise of religious freedom. Now in its own post-Christian era, the US too has lost the distinctive momentum that their trust in God initially set in motion. Current policy initiatives of this US administration notwithstanding, the pervasive secular outlook of America—if left unchecked will surely plunge it headlong into obscurity. In fact, the eclipse of American dominance may well be brought about by the corresponding rise of a reunified Europe. In deed, the European Union that is in place today serves as the latest fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. As their chronologies intertwined with Israel, the empires of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome where displaced as prophesied, setting the stage for an end-time reunification of Europe. From this latter-day power will come a charismatic leader who will both negotiate and ultimately break a diabolical 7-year peace treaty between Israel and her neighboring enemies? Challenges to this leader‟s global power at the end of this period also set in motion a final conflict, which ushers in God‟s direct intervention, the consummation of history, and the beginning of the millennial Pax Domini—Messianic rule from Jerusalem. In the final analysis, world peace will ultimately be realized on God‟s terms, albeit at the expense of nations who wage their insurrection against the Almighty in vain. Although a sovereign God has predetermined this outcome, the choice of peace over peril has been extended throughout history—by grace through faith. Every other approach to earn God‟s favor—whether the 5 pillars of Islam, the iteration of religious ritual, or even Judaism without a Savior, is destined to wind-up as a tragic footnote in the history of mankind—as another vain attempt to satisfy human pride.

March 1, 2002

Middle-East Commentary

Roy Tanner