Feb 02, 2011

"As Egypt goes, so goes the Middle East."

With unrest and inevitable change in Egypt, the entire Middle East is shifting in a direction that we ought to watch and understand.

I do not view these changes necessarily as either good or bad. I am trying to focus on the consequences of change. All things have consequences.

When America decided to turn a blind eye to the dictatorship of President Mubarak in past years, it was because we found him useful to us. He agreed to continue a cold peace with Israel that his assassinated predecessor had signed.

But now he finds himself in a very precarious position. Even if he should hold out until September's elections, nothing will ever be the same again. His son, who was supposed to succeed him in the next election, has fled to England. It is the end of a planned dynasty. The ruling party is disintegrating, and it is clear now that Mubarak is President only because of past vote rigging. A fair vote would have sent him packing a long time ago.

Egyptian democracy was just a facade for another dictatorship after all, as it is in so many other places around the world.

The biggest losers in all of this will probably turn out to be the Israelis. Although they had complained about Mubarak's cold shoulder, they understood that a cold peace was better than a hot war. Now they are worried about who would replace Mubarak. Will the new Egypt repudiate the old 1979 peace agreement? Israeli news is saying,

"Political commentators expressed shock at how the United States as well as its major European allies appeared to be ready to dump a staunch strategic ally of three decades, simply to conform to the current ideology of political correctness."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/31/us-egypt-israel-usa-idUSTRE70U53720110131

"Political correctness"? Is that what this is about? Does it have nothing to do with Mubarak's  torture chambers, his jailing of opposition leaders, and vote rigging?

The point is that the Israelis are worried about how the changes in Egypt could affect them. They would do well to worry, what with Jer. 19:10-12 staring them in the face. That part of the world is moving another step toward the nuclear destruction of Jerusalem that Isaiah 29:1-6 describes. Isaiah tells us that God Himself has declared war on "Ariel," the poetic name for Jerusalem (Is. 29:2, 3).

I do not think this will happen until Ariel Sharon dies, since he appears to be a type of "Ariel," the City. Yet ever since 2006 when he was struck down by a stroke, he has been in a vegetative state, and this ought to be sufficient sign and warning to the people of Jerusalem to leave while they still have time.

Jordan is the other nation to have signed a peace treaty with Israel. They too are feeling the effects of this unrest in Egypt. The king of Jordan just sacked his entire cabinet and replaced the Prime Minister, in an effort to head off unrest and dissatisfaction in his own country.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/01/new-jordan-government-king-abdullah-ii_n_816755.html

Heads are rolling, and everyone is nervous and feeling neck pains. The two nations that the Israelis have counted on to keep the peace in the Middle East are being destabilized, and no one is sure what the outcome will be.

To know the final outcome, one needs to understand Bible prophecy.